January 27, 2000

packing and traveling

It's chilly out there with the north wind blowing. Of course, as usual there has to be really bad weather elsewhere for it to make its push to central Texas. I go to Houston to tomorrow for work and then we are staying over the weekend to see the play 'Wit.'

Niece Jenny writes that she is getting her nursery ready for baby Jack. Anne writes that she is decorating a room in a cowboy theme in her house. (Hence the fine photo filched from an ebay auction. Hey, you oughta go shop there! I'm going to tell her that she should make a collection of those little metal cowboy hats that were adverstising or something.

Work was OK. I continued to try to improve my presentation until finally sending it off to the conference people. It was rainy and cold and I wasn't sorry to just stay in and have nachos for lunch and get back to work quickly. I discovered in the lunch room that they now have free soup. It's those cups of junk that you resurrect with hot water (and they never really seem to work) but still...this is surely an odd benefit.

I came home a little late. There on the curb in my front yard was a husky-like dog that, I thought, could belong to the south neighbor. I stopped out in the driveway, put the car in neutral, pulled on the brake and got out. "Come here, sweet dog..." The dog did come toward me, right past me, into my open car door, between the seats and into the back. Settled comfortably in to be taken somewhere, watching the world go by out the window. I tried to coax he/her (I didn't look) out. Only vet tags, I found, getting friendly licks but no cooperation on exiting the car. OK, so I pulled into the garage with my furry companion, killed the engine and got out and opened the back door. Giving up, the dog got out, and trotted across my yard and to the south. I followed and looked around my neighbor's house just then hearing the neighbor at the front door haranging her children about letting the dog out. I guess he/she just went home in disgust. All night that dog was probably thinking, "I almost got to go for a ride!" This might be one of the dogs I saw kill a raccoon one night, but it was surely much more laid back.

We went to Fonda and had some comfort food for the cold. Cup of corn soup and molé enchiladas for me, tortilla soup and rotisserie chicken for FFP. A banker friend stopped by and allowed that his life was too busy. Our wine guy stopped by to say 'hi' on his way in to do a tasting with Tom, the owner. Lisa waited on us. We spied some friends we hadn't seen in a long while at the bar on our way out. It's nice to have a neighborhood place.

We packed. I tried to think about what I'd take next weekend on my business trip as opposed to this weekend to Houston. Ended up tossing this and that into the bag. We never travel without a plethora of gadgets and books. "Let's take both phones." Forrest always takes at least three books even though we won't be sitting around reading too much and he will probably visit the book store while I'm working. I'm just as guilty. I'm likely to take a stack of papers and, of course, I have all this work on my computer, a work book in my briefcase, papers I should review, etc. Sigh. Must be up early because I have to be in Houston at 9:30. I'd thought 10:30. Rats. So 6:30 or so will find me in the dark, headed to La Grange and the sacred stop at the Bon Ton Texaco for coffee and a sausage and jalapeno cheese roll.

"Pas de zéle."

"Never be eager!"

Charles-Maurice de Talleyreand-Périgord

ebay cowby