My sister lives in Wilmington, North Carolina. I hope Earl doesn’t hammer them. Between my sisters, either one or the other get threatened every hurricane season. My other sister lives close to New Orleans.
Which reminds me–I watched several shows about the five year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The one that really stuck with me was the interview of NBC Brian Williams. He was describing how he was in the thick of things. He saw the suffering, the hopelessness, the fear, but also the goodness in the majority of people. He saw the looting, the lawlessness. Several times he had the police surround his team as he reported because he feared he would be taken out by thugs in the street behind him.
Click here to see a clip of it. It still horrifies me that the Bush administration was so inept at handling the catastrophe. Spain even sent a rescue crew over to help before our own government responded.
We are in sunny California visiting relatives. Audrey and Chad went to tour Blizzard Entertainment. My 
cousin, Kevin Crook, took them. He’s been with the company for 12 years, when there were only 50 employees. Now there are over 1,000 in Irvine. He was the first legal consultant they hired. Everybody knows him. Audrey and Chad said it was awesome how everyone called out to him. And he is such a wonderful guy!
He set Chad up with a senior lead programmer who talked about how to get on with Blizzard, Chad’s dream job. Kevin and the lead took them out to eat at a wonderful Italian restaurant. They got the tour, and got all sorts of paraphernalia, which was fun. And Chad said they had a huge map of the world which showed every user that was online playing World of Warcraft.
They get their ideas for a storyline from a single sketch. Audrey said the art was unbelievable. One guy had art from ceiling to floor all over his four walls. You couldn’t see any space left. She couldn’t get over how detailed his pencil drawings were. She is motivated to start drawing again and practicing.
Chad got a decoder to protect his account from getting hacked. A couple of months ago he was hacked and lost everything. The company gave him back what he lost. Anyway, that’s a real problem because now a friend got hacked too. All of his characters were naked. The hackers sell the WOW gold and weapons for actual money to other players. Isn’t that insane?
Anyway, Chad hopes to get an internship with Blizzard next summer. I hope he gets one.
Yikes! I’m taking a college course on Foundations of Informational Design and Technology, and I had to record my voice. I’ve been having a heck of a time, but I did figure out how to use my webcam. UGH. I look like a bug with glasses and I have the biggest headphones on I’ve ever seen. Maybe that you’ve seen too!
Check it out!!
Intro
Look at this cool blunderbuss I found. It was showcased at the Steampunk festival in Sunnyvale, California. I would have loved to attend.
Read more about it and other gadgets at wired.com.
Check out our evening at Kiddie Park with my little niece, nephew, Audrey and Chad! Oh, and watch Grady, who is 5. He was really scrutinizing all the equipment, watching how the rides were fitted together and all the moving parts. I really think he’s going to be an engineer when he grows up! Riley is a doll, and as smart as can be. She knew exactly what ride she wanted to go on and where it was. Things got a little scary at times, but she put on a brave smile!! And she really got into the steering! They both had loads of fun–and so did we!
Finally! Tomorrow is the special day where Graebel Movers come to the Ponca house and pack all our stuff. The good thing about moving is that it forces you to get rid of junk. Which is so hard for me to do. And I have to be organized, which I admit, I’m horrible at doing! That is the part I dread–not being able to find things. And I pity the movers. How do they know how to label stuff? I mean, I have random things and lots of little figurines, vases, pictures and decorations.
We are partially moved into our new home already. We’ve been getting new furniture–searching for antiques to fit our 1925 house. So I am hoping that everything will fit. If not, I’ll sell stuff on Craigslist!
Then on Thursday the movers will pack everything on the moving truck. Then on Friday is when they will unload everything. We will unpack the boxes. I kind of wanted them to, but then everything will just be on the floor, which will be a mess. We figure we’ll just go through the boxes on our own time. Problem is what to do with the boxes once they’re empty. Ugh, moving is a drag, but I’m psyching myself up for it!
Audrey is going to Stillwater with Chad tomorrow. He’s got to take a test for summer school. And she is going to go through some of her stuff at the apartment while he’s in his exam–start taking things home because Chad is moving in with friends at the end of July. So a lot is going on!
I think my dh and I will just slip away after a cameo appearance and hang out at our favorite Mexican restaurant–drink a margarita and chill. And I’m really hoping that I’ll get a chance to write some. REALLY HOPING. Gotta get finished with this novel!
Audrey wants a puppy. I’m so surprised because like her dad, she has not been a huge dog lover, but I am. I have been around dogs all of my childhood, and most of my adult life. Anyway, Audrey always claimed she didn’t much care for dogs, but the last few months she has been showing an avid interest–playing with Candy Belle, etc. And Candy was so much more sociable than our Silky Terrier was. He never let Audrey get close to him, cuddle him, etc. And she really tried to win him over! Looking back, I realize this is probably why she didn’t much care for dogs back then because she thought all dogs were like our Silky Terrier. But now she knows differently from being around Candy Belle.
So we have been looking feverishly for the right one! She has been researching all the miniature breeds. I keep telling her to post, but she is too busy looking for a puppy. I tell her to talk about her puppy finds here on this site, but … well, you get the picture. But it has been a LONG time since I’ve seen her this excited and focused. I know she has lots more pictures/research to show than me. I have just been searching for the right pup and shooting ads over to her. She has been researching how to take care of tiny pooches. Like making her own dog food, the right carriers, puppy clothes, how to get them used to grooming, etc.
We’ve been looking at the Tulsa World classifieds online, and saw this ad about a Yorkie that some missionary woman took with her to Cameroon, Africa. The scenario was that she realized she couldn’t spend enough time with the pup and that the climate was too harsh for the baby. She wanted to give the puppy to a good home in Oklahoma since she used to go to school in Stillwater. Well. My heart went out to that little puppy. Found out that she wanted me to send $275 to ship the puppy to my doorstep! I was leery when I heard that. Then I saw three more ads similar to this. All of them claimed they were from Cameroon, and the puppy looked like the exact same one, with the same markings. I reported them all as spam. Ugh! I hope nobody falls for that!! I highly recommend that you stick to local breeders, where you can go visit the little pup before you spend money!
