August 30, 2008

Dallas World Aquarium

Well, Dave and I woke up this morning and decided that since his work schedule got changed on Friday because of the 4 hurricanes that are coming our way, especially Gustav and Hanna, we were going to spend some time together while we have it.

Looks like Dave will be at the Emergency Opeartions Center in Garland every day until further notice from 6pm to 6am. Bummer!

However, as a last minute decision, we ended up in downtown Dallas at the Dallas World Aquarium and later at Campisi's for lunch (my favorite downtown eatery).

Enjoy the pics

Black Foot Penguin


Channel Bill Toucan


Baby Crocodile


Bird eating spider


Arrau Turtle


Antillean manatee


Lionfish


Seahorse


Sawfish


Brown shark


David and sawfish



Photo opportunity


Jaguar


Eagle Ray


Flamingos

August 22, 2008

Teaching!

Well, Monday night will be the first time that I teach. I will be teaching an International Business 420 Class at my own Alma Mater (Texas A&M - commerce).
Very excited. Wish me luck!

It is a once a week class on Monday nights.

August 21, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONICA!

Today is Monica's B-Day! Everybody wish her a Happy Birthday. She is the big 2-5 today!


Glitter Graphics & Comments

August 18, 2008

LAMBADA

Wow, this song/dance brings back major memories, I am sure that My mom and my sister would agree.

This is a Brazilian song that came out in the 80's but was extremely popular in the early 90's. "Forbidden Dance", so called.

I remember being an 8-10 year old and this song would be playing everywhere, especially at parties and everyone danced!

I hope this bring back memories.... :)

August 17, 2008

Newly Remodeled Master Bathroom

So, after being in the house for 1 1/2 years, we finally made time to repaint the master bathroom. It was white, but after 4 years, the white paint turned a funny yellowish color so we decided to go ahead and take care of it.

We went to Lowes to compare colors and decide what we wanted. I put three sets of colors in front of Dave (blues, pink/maroon, greens). After very little deliberation we chose the CranApple and Antoinette Pink for our bathroom.

A trip to Ross saved the day with a few pictures and WHOLA! Let me know what you think.






August 15, 2008

NEW OFFICE POLICY!

NEW OFFICE POLICY

Dress Code:
1) You are advised to come to work dressed according to
your salary.

2) If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a
Gucci bag, we will assume you are doing well financially
and therefore do not need a raise.

3) If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your
money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and
therefore you do not need a raise.

4) If you dress just right, you are right where you need
to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

Sick Days:
We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof
of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

Personal Days:
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year.
They are called Saturdays & Sundays.

Bereavement Leave:
This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends,
relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend
the funeral arrangements in your place. In rare cases where employee involvement is
necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to
allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.

Bathroom Breaks:
Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet.
There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the
stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will
sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall
door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your
second offense, your picture will be posted on the
company bulletin board under the 'Chronic Offenders'
category. Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be
sectioned under the company's mental health policy.

Lunch Break:

* Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need
to eat more, so that they can look healthy.

* Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a
balanced meal to maintain their average figure.

* Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's
all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.

Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here
to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore,
all questions, comments, concerns, complaints,
frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations,
allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation
and input should be directed elsewhere.

The Management

August 11, 2008

RANDON VACATION PICTURES #2

GETTING READY TO GO EAT LUNCH AT HARD ROCK CAFE - GRAND CAYMAN



LA LA LA!



AFTER A HUGE JAMAICAN CHICKEN LUNCH



YES, I WAS EATING OCTOPUS AGAIN



TIME FOR SUSHI

RANDOM VACATION PICTURES

ARRRRR!


YO MAN!



SPORTING MY RUSTA GEAR



READY FOR THE DOLPHINS


ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME OR THE ICE CREAM CONE?

Oh No!

There are now 11 watermelons in my yard. They are taking over. :(
I hope everyone is prepared to eat some watermelons.

August 10, 2008

Update on the watermelon situation

We now have 3 baby watermelons

August 09, 2008

For T. Chelita!

I thought you might like to see this, the original singer of "Unchained Melody" which is one of my favorite songs of all times. Singer: "Righteous Brothers".

David & Golf

These pictures were taken on the ship. David was in a putting contest but did not win (although he did great). The pot was over $250. Bummer.

The rest of the pictures are with his golf teacher from England. He fixed his swing. He fixed it is good that now I have a broken window in my master bedroom from when Dave decided to practice his swing in my backyard.

Dave in a putting contest on the ship

August 06, 2008

Baby Watermelons

Some of you may or may not know but Dave and I been growing watermelons, by accident.
At some point, Monica and I were eating watermelon outside at the picnic table and we were spitting seeds on the brick "floor". I guess one of the seeds took and look what happened, I got baby watermelons growing through my bricks. I have two babies and about 30-40 flowers. Yikes!


Another useful link

Well, I just wanted to spread the joy around.

All of you know what a great fan I am of Craiglist and Ebay but now there is another great link you can use to find all kinds of great stuff.

This was featured on the news. WWW.FREECYCLE.ORG. This link is broken down by counties, buty you can be a member of multiple counties. Basically this site does not sell anything, what you do is post items you no longer want and the "readers" will contact you based on whether or not they need it. Also, you maybe looking for something for free as well....ex: fish, scraps of plywood, paintbrushes and etc....

All of these items are used and someone is simply no longer needs them or are trying to clear out their own clutter. Remember, none of these things cost any money.

Great thing about this, is that it keeps "junk" out of landfills by allowing someone else "pro-long" that items life span.

This morning I was able to find cross stitching kits and supplies from a lady who does not want them, who lives around the corner from me.

Anyway, you should give it a try. You can find anything on there for free...from children's bicycles to clean/fill dirt to pets and car parts. :)

August 05, 2008

Did you know?

I found this extremely interesting after discussing the Mayan history with a few colleagues. I learned something today and I wanted to share this with everyone.

Origin of the names of the days
The names of the days are in some cases derived from Teutonic deities or, such as in Romance languages, from Roman deities. The early Romans, around the first century, used Saturday as the first day of the week. As the worshipping of the Sun increased, the Sun's day (Sunday) advanced from position of the second day to the first day of the week (and saturday became the seventh day).

Sunday
The name comes from the Latin dies solis, meaning "sun's day": the name of a pagan Roman holiday. It is also called Dominica (Latin), the Day of God. The Romance languages, languages derived from the ancient Latin language (such as French, Spanish, and Italian), retain the root.

French: dimanche; Italian: domenica; Spanish: domingo
German: Sonntag; Dutch: zondag. [both: 'sun-day']

Monday
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, "the moon's day". This second day was sacred to the goddess of the moon.

French: lundi; Italian: lunedi. Spanish: lunes. [from Luna, "Moon"]
German: Montag; Dutch: maandag. [both: 'moon-day']

Tuesday
This day was named after the Norse god Tyr. The Romans named this day after their war-god Mars: dies Martis.

French: mardi; Italian: martedi; Spanish: martes.
The Germans call Dienstag (meaning "Assembly Day"), in The Netherlands it is known as dinsdag, in Danmark as tirsdag and in Sweden tisdag.

Wednesday

The day named to honor Wodan (Odin).
The Romans called it dies Mercurii, after their god Mercury.

French: mercredi; Italian: mercoledi; Spanish: miércoles.
German: Mittwoch; Dutch: woensdag.

Thursday
The day named after the Norse god Thor. In the Norse languages this day is called Torsdag.
The Romans named this day dies Jovis ("Jove's Day"), after Jove or Jupiter, their most important god.

French: jeudi; Italian: giovedi; Spanish: jueves.
German: Donnerstag; Dutch: donderdag.

Friday
The day in honor of the Norse goddess Frigg.
In Old High German this day was called frigedag.
To the Romans this day was sacred to the goddess Venus, and was known as dies veneris.

French: vendredi; Italian: venerdi; Spanish: viernes.
German: Freitag ; Dutch: vrijdag.

Saturday

This day was called dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day", by the ancient Romans in honor of Saturn. In Anglo-Saxon: sater daeg.

French: samedi; Italian: sabato; Spanish: sábádo.
German: Samstag; Dutch: zaterdag.
Swedish: Lördag; and in Danish and Norse: Lørdag ("washing day").

August 03, 2008

Mayan Ruins of Tulum (Playa del Carmen)

While in Mexico, we visited Mayan Ruins of Tulum. It was absolutely wonderful and a humbling experience. You were standing next to "buildings" from the 14th Century.
There is much we can say about Tulum althought this blog would be a mile long if I did. Here is brief history of Tulum and if you want more, go to this link.
http://www.playa.info/playa-del-carmen-info-mayan-ruins-of-tulum.html


The History of Tulum
The city of Tulum was at its height during the 13th-15th century, and is thus one of the later Mayan outposts. It flourished during the 14th century and was still inhabited when the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. Tulum was an important trading post for the Post classic Mayans. There is a beach where merchants could come ashore with their canoes. The highest building, El Castillo, was also a lighthouse to make navigation easier. When two torches aligned, it showed the way through the reef. During the Post classic period, the Maya started to use large seagoing canoes. The canoes were 40-50 feet long and hewn from mahogany or other tropical hardwoods. These canoes revolutionized trading in the Mundo Maya. Prior to the advent of this practice, they could only move what could be carried on a person's shoulders. The Maya didn't use wagons or beasts of burden, simply because their were no suitable big mammals in the area. Their trading voyages ranged from trips to the Gulf of Mexico, the coast of the Yucatán peninsula, and extending all the way to what is today Honduras. There is even evidence that they went as far as Costa Rica and Panama.














August 02, 2008

Dunn's River Falls ( Ocho Rios, Jamaica )

Before we went to play with the dolphins, we visited a Resort, called Dunn's River Falls which are famous in Jamaica. Ocho Rio means "Eight Rivers" however, in Jamaica there are only 4 rivers and one of those runs through Dunn's River Falls. The falls are very steep and very tall and the only way to climb them from bottom to top is to creat a human chain link and support each other as we climb. David and I used all kinds of muscles we never used before as we climbed. Suprisingly, we were not sore the next day. It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the top.

The falls grow every year as they generate themselves from travertine rock (result of precipitation of calcium carbonate from the river).

Enjoy (these were taken with a disposable camera, for obvious reasons)