It's all about Donna

Happy New Year! I know that sounds trivial but it is sincere. I always look forward to the end of December and the beginning of the new year with an informal tradition started quite a few years when I was invited to a friend’s house to ring in the new year. We didn’t get to do it last year for a lot of reasons. I remember calling my girlfriend to let her know it was just wrong to not be at her house for the event. This year we didn’t miss the opportunity.

An enjoyable evening with my ranch friends Kate and Jheroen, Jeff and Kathy (hosts), Sandy and Chris. An intimate evening with good friends, good food, and a good time.

At the stroke of midnight, we toasted in the new year. I resolve to be a better friend. I think I’m a pretty good friend now, but there is always room for improvement. And these people have been very good friends to me, so it is my turn to start returning the favor.

I know this post is a bit disjointed. Funny. I ran across a term paper I had to write in high school. Even back then, the one markup I got was for making disjointed statements. I can see I come by the character flaw honestly.

So I shall continue my tradition of being disjointed, and close this post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today’s is Jheroen’s birthday. What do you get Dr. Particle Physicist who can buy anything he wants? I was told to write a poem. I’m really not good at poetry, but Haiku always intrigued me. So I took a stab at it and came up with this:

A Dutchman walks down
Sunny shady tree-lined trails
His Texas longhorns

Jheroen owns a gorgeous Texas longhorn cattle ranch. The Haiku works.

Happy Birthday, my friend!

And what an evening it was!

We met at this new restaurant called GoGo Gumbo. It’s a hole in the wall run by this wonderful chef who left the big city and bright lights of a posh Houston private club and opened this much more laid back eatery. He serves more than gumbo. I had the ‘Sliceberg Salad’ with blackened chicken, Yum! While I would have enjoyed the spicy flavors promised a little more, I understand that when you are running such a place in rural wide-spot Texas, you have to be careful how you spice and cook things. I wasn’t going to say anything, but my friends told me I should. So I did. So the next time I eat there, all I have to do is let Chef Kraig know it’s me and he can kick the chicken up a notch (I love true blackened chicken… I get disappointed when it doesn’t live up to its name). My meal was not bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it really was pretty darn good. I just happen to like spicy food. I really went for the Jack Daniels Chocolate Mouse Pie… talk about good. This wonderfully light, fluffy mousse pie is serves over a drizzle of tart berry sauce and when the two meet in your mouth, it is really, really good. Read the rest of this entry »

It is most definitely all about me!

The first highlight of my day was meeting up with my girlfriend Nancy. I met Nancy working at the BNSF Railway. She’s a technical writer with an extremely dry sense of humor. I miss working with Nancy. We became like sisters. I’ve never had an older sister. I think it could Nancy… after all she is older. To me, Nancy is one of the cool senior citizens. I know when she reads this she’ll probably shoot me. Isn’t that what sisters do? I always knew Nancy older than me, but she is so totally lucky because I think she is aging much more gracefully than I and as such, she looks at least 5 years younger than she really is. But, enough about Nancy. Today is all about me! Read the rest of this entry »