It's a fun campus, really it is.

The Beaver arrived on Friday. After spending the 4th of July at my aunt and uncles, we headed home. I wanted to show him around campus and when I emailed the Hospitality department, they said that there weren't any official tours this Sunday but they would be open from 12-4. So we ate a quick lunch and headed out so could get there in time. Except when they said the visitors center would be open from 12-4, I guess they meant every other weekend. On this weekend, the one I asked about, it was closed for the holiday weekend.

Oh, well. I know the campus fairly well, having spent more of my life living here than pretty much anywhere else in the world, so I just made it up as I went. We walked all around, seeing Sul Ross, Sbisa, the Rec, Kyle Field, Rudder Tower, the Century tree, Fish Pond, G. Rollie White, some dorms and the Bonfire Memorial. It only took about an hour and a half which was long enough because we were both hot and I was beginning to get sunburned. It would have been nicer to go in the evening but remember, we hurried so we could make it to the visitors center. I still think he enjoyed it but I tried to get across the fact that normally, there are actually people here. But it is a Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend in the summer so the only people we saw were a couple of campus police men giving us funny looks.

Afterwards, I was going to take him out to eat at the Dixie Chicken but we didn't feel like a big meal (we'll try to get to it later this week) so I thought frozen custard from Shakes would be fun. It probably would have been except Shakes is also closed on Sunday. Geez, you would think I was back in Utah. In theory I like it when places are closed on Sunday but it is less than pleasant when you don't remember that and drive all the way down University to not have ice cream. We ended up at Dairy Queen. It's not the coolest place in College Station to show him, but you can't really beat two dipped ice cream cones for $3.

Calling All Aggies!

The Beav is coming to visit later this week. I'll pick him up Friday and we'll spend the holiday with my aunt, uncle, and cousins before heading back to good ol' BCS for a few days. He will be attending baseball camp for most of that time, but I am planning on dragging him away from that for a little while to show him around. I have to do a really good job showing off A&M's assets because, unfortunately, my other brother is a t-sip and might try to persuade the young Beaver to go to that other university in Texas. For obvious reasons, this will not do.

So I need your help! If you had 24-48 hrs in which to show a fun loving 15-year-old sports fan of the male persuasion around campus and town, where would you go? Where would you eat? What are the must-sees?

Thanks and gig'em,

Flu the Coop

There is a fair amount of swine flu activity going on here in Texas, where there have been 26 confirmed cases (Google map here). Closures have started to occur. One such move was to suspend all interscholastic activities (sports, music, etc) in Texas for about 2 weeks. There have also been several school closures, including the Fort Worth district.

It's hard to say what closures are appropriate, and which are over-reactions. The low mortality of the disease is one factor to consider, as well as level of inconvenience and economic cost. As Coyote Blog points out, politicians have every incentive to over-react and no incentive to consider costs vs. benefits of actions. This applies to the current situation as well as in scenarios such as hurricanes when deciding whether to order evacuations.

That being said, I think the move to suspend school activities is a good one. These activities can be made up, and preventing busloads of kids from traveling around the state seems like a good precaution. When schools close, though, the important thing is what kids do instead. If they go hang out at the mall like young hoodlums, the quarantine effect is lost. Some schools are closing despite the fact that they have no cases, some just for one day to disinfect. That seems excessive, and disinfecting a school sounds like trying to bail water out of a sinking boat. Since the flu lasts for several days, and kids get their grubby hands on everything, I don't think a one-day disinfect would make much difference.

What do you think? Is this a legitimate threat, or is it overblown?

You know you're in Texas...

Looking at my blog and my lack of postings lately, I was trying to think up something to write about. Sometimes I just have so much to say I have to space it, and sometimes I ...don't. But then I remember an event from two weeks ago that I had meant to write about but didn't get a chance to so this is technically old news, but too bad.

Anyway, our church* had a college/young adult hoe down. A old friend from my "living in the dorm days" invited me and so we found ourselves out in a field, eating chili with names like "My momma's crockpot is bigger than your momma's crockpot" and "Spread the wealthy around chili" and one with Bevo in the name but as other member of my family are t-sips, I'll leave it at that.

Then we settled around the fire for some smores, followed by some dancing. Although Craig and I haven't gotten a chance to really go out dancing since we moved back, it really was one of the things I missed while in Utah. So we filled our quota for the night with some two-stepping with a little polka throw in for fun. Now polka conjures up some crazy images in people's mind thanks to Weird Al but it is really similar to two-stepping. I just don't want to paint an misleading picture.

Then it was time for "games." Most people were not too sure about the first game, which involved "milking" a udder shapped bag of water tied to someone's stomach. They practically had to drag students out to participate, kicking and screaming. Actually, one guy did kick away from the game, refusing to participate. The sack races were more popular but nothing compared to the enthusiasm for the last game - cow chip throwing. They had plastic gloves for those not inclined to pick up poop with their bare hands, but not a single person used them. I was one of the few who did not participate in this activity, but Craig did. He was pretty good at the distance contest, coming in a close second but I must say his showing in the accuracy contest was abysmmal. But he wouldn't have wanted the prize anyway - a pair of palpatation gloves. Who wouldn't want that! Ah, just another fun friday night in Texas.

*Yes, you read that correctly, we finally found one, aren't you happy you don't have to listen to my church shopping rants anymore?

Museum Weekend!

First off, I want to thank all of you who commented on my "lonely" post. Each comment made me think as well as encouraged and uplifted me. I can almost guarantee that I will be talking about that subject again, but for now, let's talk about my weekend.

It was just what the doctor ordered. We had a great time seeing five different museums, meeting new friends, and catching up on family gossip.

We headed up to Ft. Worth on Friday night and stayed at my cousin T's house. Calling her "Cousin T" makes me picture here as a farmer girl with a piece of hay in her mouth which is weird and not at all accurate, just so ya know. But she is one of the most generous and fun people I know and it was great being able to hang out with her, even if it was only for a little while as she had to work a lot that weekend.

It was also a little sad for me because my grandparents lived with her from about the time I entered middle school so most of the memories of my grandparents revolve around that house. I have only spent one night there since my Grandma's funeral so being there without them around was really different and I was a lot more emotional than I would have thought. It has been a number of years since they died but when I walked through the door, it seemed like it was yesterday that I was there with them, playing Scrabble and swiming and hearing stories. It was sad but good since Craig was there and I was able to share those memories and experiences with him. I wish that he had been able to meet them, but having him around this weekend was a nice way to share that part of my life with him.

The next day we started off early at the parking lot to the Natural Science and History Museum. I say the parking lot because we found that easily enough, but we couldn't find the entrance to the actual museum. Eventually we discovered that, due to construction, it was combined with the Cowgirl museum. I knew that was happening but the website said it wouldn't start until Sunday; well, the website lied.

That meant that most of the museum was not available to see, but we did see some dinosaur stuff. Craig even enjoyed a moment to sit and relax in a footprint. The little baby sitting up in the real print is cute, but I still think Craig is cuter. I will admit I'm slightly biased though.

Then we headed upstairs to the Cowgirl museum. It was a lot more interesting than I would have thought. We saw lots of costumes, sat at our own mini juke boxes to listen to some country music (I picked Patsy Cline, Craig picked the Dixie Chicks) and even had a chance to try out rodeo skills.
And of course, we had to check out the gift shop on the way out.
Since we hadn't spent as much time as the Science and History Museum as we planned, we had time to check out the Kimbell Art Museum and their special exhibit on Impressionism. I'm so glad we did as it turned out to be my favorite museum. It was really busy and you had to push to see some of the more popular pieces but I got to see my favorite painting ever! If any of you are up in the Ft. Worth area and have time to check it out, I highly recommend it. And the non-free days are probably a lot less crowded.

We then took a break, rested our feet, and grabbed lunch with bloggity friend Tina and her Mr. Aggie. It is always a little awkward at first to meet people that you know through blogging, but don't really know but they were super nice and I, for one, had a fun time.

We then headed over to the log cabin village. It was crowded but fun and interesting. There were lots of special exhibits for the day but my feet were killing me by the end. Plus, I really had to go to the bathroom but there was only a porta-potty. If you know me, you know - I don't do porta-potties. And there would have been lots of cute photo opportunities, but that previous thing had me distracted and I didn't get any at all :-(

We finished at the Sid Richardson museum with its western art. I didn't really want to go to this one but it was Craig's pick and he went to mine so it was only fair. I actually liked it. They had a neat brochure that talked about the pictures without you having to stand right there to read it so I could sit and read about them and enjoy them. Plus there was nobody there most of the time and it was nice to enjoy the paintings in the quiet.

Thus ended our day of museums. Cousin T was able to take off the next morning so we had a nice brunch with her then headed back. Though Saturday was busy, the whole weekend seemed really relaxed and stress free. But even so, it is nice to be back home.

Do Try This at Home

After spending last night watching Geraldo and others standing out in the hurricane giving weather updates, I thought, "Hey, I can do that." In the name of citizen journalism, here is my Hurricane Ike report, filed a mere 100 miles or so from the eye of the storm:


Note: I would like to thank my brave camerawoman for venturing out into the storm with me.

Hurricane Day

That's right, school is canceled today due to Ike. That bad boy is supposed to reach this area during the overnight hours tonight. We are far enough from the sea that we would merely be hit with tropical storm conditions. The current forecast says we will get rain and about 50 mph winds. Of course, when Rita came in 2005, they predicted 10 inches of rain and 60 mph winds, and we didn't get much of anything. We were prepared, though, although our window-boarding skills were called into question.

Although things should be fine today, school was still called off, as a "precautionary measure." Non-essential employees also got the day off, and MacKenzie is apparently non-essential, in the eyes of the University. There are some evacuees rolling into town, so I suspect cancellation was done in part to keep people off the roads, although the University's action will allow some people the opportunity to drive home, and others (like me) the opportunity to go shopping or something. The University offered off-campus students lodging in a gym on campus if they are freaked out by all this. I think I'll decline that offer.

The exciting part of the hurricane is that I can pull out my neat emergency radio. It operates via hand crank, and has a light, siren, and cell phone charger. It receives AM/FM, TV, and weather band signals. You should get one.

100% Texan

We should be rolling into our final destination about right now. To mark the occasion, here's a little bit of Texas music. One of the things I most look forward to in Texas is a Kevin Fowler concert at the Texas Hall of Fame.