the laanba blog

A Tableu

This morning I went to Rice University to take some photographs.  I ran across an interesting scene.  There was a hawk sitting on a building.  Flying around the hawk and zipping in and out of trees were smaller birds (sparrows?  I don't know... just little normal birds).  On the ground was a dead rabbit. The hawk sat on the edge of the building looking at the rabbit.  The small birds would swoop in and attack the hawk, litterally bump into him while screeching and then fly away.  The whole time I watched the hawk just sat there letting these little birds bully him and he didn't make a single sound and didn't move at all.  When I walked on the path past the rabbit he certainly gave me the evil eye.  I wish I could have sat out there all day watching the scene unfold. 

Disney Ear Worm

You would think "It's a Small World" would be the song stuck in my head after my visit to Disney, but no.  It's this one.

My New Motto

And my new iPhone wallpaper.

Hometown

So here is a question.  What is your hometown?  When I hear the term hometown I think of it as the town that people grew up in, so for me my hometown is Harlingen.  But what about the city that I currently live in?  Is that also my hometown?  Can you have two hometowns?  Sometimes I want to brag on my hometown of Houston, but then I hesitate.  Is Houston really my hometown?

I know that I can call it anything I want, but I'm curious as to what you think of when you hear the term hometown.  And where are you living currently?  What do you call it?

P.S.  Obviously if you are currently living in the town you grew up in you are excused from this discussion.

P.P.S.  If this post doesn't make any sense blame the complete high that I am on from a perfect air show weekend.

Progress

I think I'm making progress on getting life back to normal.  I caught up with RSS feeds and Flickr accounts yesterday and I've stayed caught up for 24 whole hours!  That's longer than I've made it any other time this school year.  AND I left work today at 5:20.  5:20!  I know!  AND I've caught up with The Closer.  I've had the last three episodes of the season sitting on my DVR for a few months now.  AND I'm going to bed no later than 9:15 and I might actually read a book and everything.  Progress people, progress. 

Oops

My plans for this evening were to write a post about the things I used to plan the trip.  This will be my first time using Evernote after hearing Dave go on and on about it.  That led to some interesting organizational steps for the trip.  I also bought some iPhone applications to use. I wanted to write everything out before I went. 

But the bike was calling me this evening and since I have to pack it up and take it somewhere in Houston and then come back that took out a chunk of my evening.  So instead of a leisurely night I'm running around crazy trying to finish everything.  That's ok, I found the best place so far to ride and it was worth it.  So travel planning Laurie style will just have to wait until I get back.  

You can follow my trip on Twitter and Flickr. I have to go finish up some things because I leave early in the morning and I have to make sure everything is ready for the trip and in the apartment since my aunt stays here while I'm gone.  See you on the flipside.

Welcome Spring

I love spring.  

Spring and Fall are my two favorite seasons.  Unfortunately they are both the shortest seasons here in Houston.  I love the crisp, cool (but not cold) weather.  I love the budding flowers everywhere.  I love Spring Break!  I love the Rodeo and the Azalea Trail, two of my favorite events during the year.  Welcome Spring.

I do NOT love Daylight Savings Time, but oh well. Nothing can be 100% perfect.

Merry Christmas

Heading to the farm in a little while to spend Christmas with the family.  Merry Christmas to all of my readers who celebrate.  

Tonight's Activities

The Beginning:

The End:

Better pictures later.

You get one guess

Guess who has internet! And TV! And phone! Guess who is blissfully happy this evening.

You only get one guess.

But, something new. I will be shopping for a new TV because mine has decided to go very black. Sigh. I have the money in savings, but it isn't something I planned on doing anytime soon. And now I have to research. I think a 28" would be perfect, but apparently they come in 26" or 32".

Even that can not dampen my smile as I finally get to watch the evening news.

UPDATE: I am now the proud owner of an LG 26" LCD TV. Wheee! I set things up, got the connections going and was confused looking at, well frankly, not a good picture. I had read that the picture is disappointing on non-HD channels, but this was beyond that. It was just bad. Normally I research something for months, so being forced to do only a few days of research, I wondered if I had made a bad mistake. But then, THEN, I hit the magic button. The one setting that I hadn't set correctly and BAM. The change in picture was amazing. AMAZING. I haven't stopped smiling since. TV is back and better than ever. I can't wait to really see some shows that show off HD.