The Ballet

I’ve always liked dance (various types) and this year when I got an advertisement for the Texas Ballet’s upcoming season, I decided to buy season tickets. The season consists of fours shows: Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Stars and Premieres and Cinderella. It sounded like a pretty good lineup to me.

Although Gary wasn’t particularly interested, I figured I could find friends to go with me and I’d at least get him to one. This past weekend was Romeo and Juliet and Gary graciously agreed to go with me. I thought it was good and I believe Gary felt it was tolerable. :-)

The fun part of the evening was going down to Sundance Square beforehand to have dinner and then to Marble Slab (woo-hoo) for dessert. I do really like the downtown Ft. Worth area. It’s nice to just park and have everything in close walking distance. Of course, Bass Hall is beautiful. I’ve only been there once before (for The Nutcracker a few years ago).

Camping Trip

Gary and I went camping this weekend. We went up to Oklahoma to Chickasaw National Recreation area. I've been before and I think it's a nice campsite. We did have fun, but there were a few problems to deal with...

1) The extremely loud/drunk group in a nearby campsite the first night. We moved the second night because of them and we did so in the laziest way possible. We didn't take down the tent, we simply lifted it up and carried it down the road to a new site. I'm sure we looked a little silly, but it worked out pretty well.

2) It was just a tad bit chilly at night, 50 degrees the first night and 52 degrees the second night. One more blanket probably would have done the trick.

3) We took our bikes and did some cycling... but gosh those hills about kicked my butt. It was very hilly. I did get up to 30 mph on a downhill and actually had to use my breaks... fearing how fast I would be going otherwise. I'd hate to hit a rock at that speed and lose control.

4) I did the packing and actually managed to forget chairs. Oops! At least there was a picnic table on the campsite, but that's not exactly ideal for sitting by the campfire.

All in all though, it was fun and I started making a list on my computer of "things to take camping" so that I wouldn't forget important things like chairs, soap and cups next time. :-)

Dancing Away

Gary and I had our second dance class last night. We started to learn the swing and then learned how to intermingle the foxtrot and the swing. It was really fun. I do however think we have a lot to learn. This class is kind of an introduction, so we may want to look into taking a class on a particular type of dance when we finish this. Next week's agenda: the rumba.

Been Keeping Busy

Gosh, I’ve been pretty busy this last week.

Wednesday – I went to watch Gary play volleyball. This is actually a weekly thing. They won 2 of their 3 games this week, so that was good.

Thursday – Gary and I started a dance class. We learned to foxtrot in the first class. It was fun. Next week… swing.

Friday – We headed to see “Wicked” at the Music Hall at Fair Park. It was excellent. I really enjoyed it. The fair is going on now, so we went into the fairgrounds for a quick bite to eat beforehand. Mmmm – fair food. :-)

Saturday – We did the October Velo Bash Bike Rally in the morning. It was 29 miles. This is the first rally we’ve done in cool weather since that very first ride we did in Muenster this spring. It was in the low 50’s and it did rain a little bit on us, so it made for a rather cold ride. Padded shorts are good until they get wet. Then it takes forever for them to dry. Other than that it was a pretty good ride. The rest stops were strangely spaced (first after 12 miles, second after 16 miles, and then we had to go the remaining 13 miles – so that second stop was in a strange spot). Police traffic control was excellent – they were at pretty much every intersection. And the best part was it was in Frisco – very close to home.

Saturday evening - We went to the movie “Serenity”, which we both really liked. I recommend it.

Sunday – We ventured to the State Fair. I have lived in Texas for 10 years now, and I had never been to the fair, so I figured it was about time to check it out. Of course, we had to cheat on the diet a bit for some good fair food. Other than that, we walked around and saw lots of things, but honestly can’t imagine doing it every year. It wasn’t all that exciting to me. Maybe if we had caught the pig races… ha ha.

One More

ND Oct Storm3
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

I got an email from a friend that said they were really having trouble with the trees snapping off because of the weight of the snow. A quote from the paper: "This time of year, with leaves still on trees - two things happen. One is when high wind comes up, the leaves more or less act as a sail. The other thing is, heavy snow will collect on the leaves and that will increase the weight on the branch."

The Big Storm

ND Oct Storm2
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

Here's a pic from the big storm I mentioned. Notice the green leaves on the tree - lol.

The Rest of the Pictures

The rest of the pictures from San Francisco can be found on my Yahoo Photo Album.

San Francisco Trip

Gary and I went to San Francisco this weekend. We had a great time, but we didn’t have enough time to do everything we wanted to do.

I did manage to get an earlier flight so I got there shortly before noon. We headed for Golden Gate Park and the ocean. We found a cool restaurant with a view of the ocean for lunch. Afterwards, we strolled down the beach, however it was really foggy and visibility was not very good. We ventured out for the evening via the subway and then cable cars to go to Chinatown for dinner. The cable cars are certainly a unique experience.

Sunday we went to Fisherman’s Wharf area and rented bikes. We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and then on to Sausalito and Tiburon – about 16 miles according to the map. (I did really miss my computer on my bike). We had lunch in a cute café in Sausalito. We took a ferry back from Tiburon, going right past Alcatraz. It was a fun day. For dinner we went to a nice restaurant near the hotel.

Monday we headed to Muir Woods – a Redwood forest, via the “49 mile scenic route”. The drive was nice and the forest was very pretty. It would have been nice to have more time there, but we were then off to the airport to catch our flight home.

It was a really fun trip though and it will be nice to return sometime to hit the rest of the city that we didn’t have time for.

San Francisco

San Francisco Oct 2005
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

A quick picture of us from San Francisco.

I Wonder Why I Left?

An article in today's Fargo Forum stated:

"North Dakotans were bracing for the first major snowstorm of the season, with some areas of the state expecting as much as 8 inches just a few days after high temperatures topped 90 degrees."

And my favorite quote:

"We're tired mowing grass, raking leaves," he (street department worker) said. "But by the time Christmas comes around, it's 'That d___ snow.'"

A winter storm on October 4th/5th??? Yep - I don't miss that. :-)

I'm Off Again For Another Adventure

This weekend I’m off to San Francisco to meet up with Gary. He’s leaving today for a meeting he has there tomorrow. I’ll be heading out Saturday (hopefully morning) to meet him. I actually have an afternoon flight, but I am going to try to fly standby – which is actually a first for me, so should be a little adventure to start my adventure.

I’m looking forward to seeing the sights. I’ve been to California, but not to San Francisco, so I’m excited. Now I just have to figure out how to pack light while packing warm clothes. The highs will be in the 60’s some days. It will be weird to go to that when I’m used to 100 degree days here.

Ahhhh....

I haven’t had a chance to update this to brag a little. My boyfriend is sooo sweet. Tuesday was our 10 month “anniversary” and he brought me 10 roses. It was so out of the blue, it was *really* nice. He said he hoped to make my day and he did.

Thanks Gary! :-)

Picture from Rhode Island

Gary and Rachelle in RI
Originally uploaded by rkbk03.

Here's a pic of Gary and me in Newport.

Catching Up

I guess I haven’t been up to a whole lot lately… I just realized I haven’t had anything to write since I returned from RI.

I did have lunch with my friend, Angela, last week and it was fun to catch up with her, as always. I also had dinner with my friend, April, and again… nice to catch up.

As for the weekend… Friday night, Gary and I went to see Paula Poundstone at the Improv. She did the whole show, no opening act. I kinda like that since the opening acts are hit or miss. I really enjoyed her performance.

Saturday morning we intended on going to the Greenville Cotton Patch bike rally, however when the alarm went off at 5:30… we quickly decided, “why go all the way to Greenville for a bike ride, we can just go around White Rock Lake”. So we went back to sleep and then did that at a much more reasonable time. We did the White Rock Creek Trail plus the lake for the first time, so it was 23 miles. It was fun, but it was pretty hot by the time we finished – very close to 100 degrees.

Saturday night we went to the Ranger’s game with friend April, her boyfriend, his son, my sis and her boyfriend. It was a really exciting game. We won in the last inning. There were fireworks afterwards, which were also really good. There seemed to be a lot of unique ones that I had never seen before, so it was really cool.

FSMism

There has been much debate about the theory of Intelligent Design. More specifically, about whether it’s an appropriate topic for a science classroom. I think this open letter to the Kansas School Board makes an interesting point. And, extra credit, it’s amusing.

I like the artwork on the right side of the page. And don’t miss the theory on global warming. Clearly, there must be some causality.

Rhode Island Trip

Gary and I went to Rhode Island last week... got back Sunday. It was a fun trip. I got to meet his family and see lots of sites. We went to the casinos, the beach, Newport (including a tour through The Breakers mansion), and up to Amherst to see where Gary went to college. The weather was really nice, most days. The day we went to the beach was mid 80's and sunny.

We also went to a couple fun events. Friday night there was an End of Summer outdoor concert by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Saturday night we went to a Paw Sox baseball game.

Note for Liz... The Rhode Island paper has a section similar to Dallas' Guidelive. I was checking it out to see what was going on and guess who was on the cover?? The Spankers! They were at the Rhythm and Roots Festival... we didn't make it to the festival, but I thought it was kinda cool to see them on the cover.

It was a very nice trip.

Birthday Gift Ideas

I asked Gary what he would like for his birthday and the idea of an espresso maker came up. Today, he sends me a website link that says, “Espresso is messy. Really. If your significant other likes a tidy kitchen your relationship may not survive a home espresso machine."

I wonder if this should convince me that this is the item to get? Do we think an espresso maker is a good idea??

Ah well, it was funny. He did point out that line to me...

IKEA

We checked out IKEA this weekend. In a nutshell… I liked it! It was a cool store with a lot of things in the style I like. We only made it through the second floor. It was *really* crowded and it was huge. I’ll be looking forward to going on a weeknight, in a month or so. :-)

Red Hot Chili Pepper Bike Rally

Gary and I did the Red Hot Chili Pepper bike rally this weekend. We had fun, however I would have to say I was rather disappointed with the rally for several reasons.

First of all, it was difficult to get to the Calumet Community Center starting point due to the road being blocked. The directions on the website said to come in off of Jefferson and follow the signs to the rally. However the route to the center from Jefferson was blocked. We eventually found that it would have been much easier to come in from Davis on the North.

Unfortunately, due to the problem getting to the community center, we were off to a late start. The 20-mile route participants started at 8:00. By the time we got going, everyone else was gone. This also caused us trouble in determining where to go. We had a map, but it is rather unusual based on the other rallies we’ve been to, to not have the turns marked. We’ve started late before and never had a problem finding the route. In this case, we got to the end of the driveway of the community center and had to consult our map. OK… our fault for starting late, but not totally since the late start was caused by the first problem.

The next problem was that the route immediately took us out on to high traffic roads. Again, since we were late we didn’t have the luxury of the police blocked roads. Once we were out on Davis (which was a 3-lane busy road), a police car did come along and tell us that he would help us get through the Loop 12 intersection. The rest of the route, we found the police support rather lacking. It was understandable on the first part of our ride, since we did start out late. Everyone else would have already passed and the police could certainly have thought there were no more riders. On the second half of our ride however, we were in amongst riders who did the 40 & 60 miles routes. There was one particularly bad intersection where we had to cross 6 lanes (3 each direction) and the cross traffic did not have to stop. There was a hill, which would have made it difficult for the drivers to see us. I really don’t understand why they wouldn’t have had police at that intersection all day. Everyone had to pass that point twice. The police were there the first time we crossed it, but they weren’t there on the way back.

The rest stop was also disappointing, consisting of warm water, uncut oranges and some cookies. There were port-a-potties but no shade or chairs. We normally see rest stops with water and ice, sliced fruit (much easier to eat), cookies etc. and they are usually located somewhere with some shade.

There was a large hill at the end, which we knew about from reading the website. The problem with the hill was it was on Davis (the busy 3-lane road). Most cyclists took to the shoulder of the road since they were probably going 10mph at best. The shoulder was *covered* in glass. I’m surprised I only saw one person fixing a flat along there.

On top of all this, this was the most we’ve paid/donated to do a rally. The website indicated that they raised the price this year in order to have more police assistance. Hmmm…. I would hate to see what last year was like, if this year was an improvement.

I think I’ll pass on this rally next year.

Stupid Google Tricks

This just in … google the word “failure.” The top results indicate a vast [left/right]-wing conspiracy.