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Saturday, September 30, 2006

Alliance Air Show

I love air shows. But ..... urrrgh. Horrible TEXAS HEAT. It's almost October and still blazing hot. I was soooo looking forward to having a great time, but we had to leave early because it was it was just too hot to be enjoyable. If it's so much torture, it should be work and we should get paid. Actually at my office, it's just the opposite, the air conditioning is set to Finland temperatures or something. I'm always freezing, but at least I can put on a cardigan or sweater. (Plus it's not torture.) When it's too hot, what can I do, strip? Anyway, back to the air show. While the admission is free, we had to pay for parking ($10 - on grass and took almost half an hour), we decided to splurge for Flight Deck seating ($20 - no fancy chairs, no shade), and since you can't bring in food and drinks and it's a whole day event, we had to pay for food ($$) and water ($$$ - really dehydrated!). Plus the cost of gas driving all the way to Fort Worth and back. Ok, everything would have been worth the while if I enjoyed myself, which I did for a bit before I started losing consciousness. Bruce probably had a slightly better time. He's not as bothered by the heat as I am, then again he grew up in this scorching Texas summer heat, back in the days when the cars had "four by seventy" air conditioning! (for those uninitiated, that's four windows rolled down and driving at seventy miles per hour!)

Let's see, here are some of the performances that we saw (as much as I can remember before I almost fainted): U.S. Army Special Forces "Green Beret" parachute team carrying the American flag as they descended; aerial acrobatics with all kinds of rolls and loops and climbs; the F-15 Eagles and F-16 Falcons and F/A-18 Hornets; the Russian designed Mig-17 flown by Randy Ball; Tora! Tora! Tora! ... I believe that's when we started heading out. Missed the USAF Thunderbirds, since I think they were going to fly last, in the late afternoon. There were also static displays of many different aircrafts, including two C-130 Hercules airlifters, whose large wings proved useful even on the ground: providing shade! So funny to see all the people huddled together trying to grab the last few shaded spots under the likes of the C-130's (as well as the B-52 Stratofortress and B-17 Flying Fortress), but at that time, I wasn't laughing. I was just tring to get back to my car and blast some cool air in my face.

Lessons learnt: next time, bring an umbrella! or two!! Save some money and skip the Flight Deck... we can bring our own folding chairs, or even a blanket to spread on the grass will suffice. Stay off the concrete (which unfortunately the Flight Deck is on). In fact, the only advantage of the Flight Deck is a reserved seat. (well, maybe also a better view?) But both can be obtained by going there early (which we did anyway) and picking a spot with your own chairs/blankets. Eat a big breakfast and drink lots of water first. Wear a neck cooler thing (I actually have some! I didn't think to bring them...). For those with sensitive ears, bring some ear plugs, although they do sell them at the show for $1 each (pair), the cheapest thing I saw there. Oh, and apply sunblock thoroughly... I missed a spot on my left shoulder and got burnt!! Just that little spot but it's hurting quite a bit. My right shoulder is lucky because my big head blocked the sun for it. The left half of my face seems darker than my right half... hopefully it's just my imagination.

Heat is really exhausting. While I don't enjoy cold weather, I guess can handle extreme cold better than extreme heat. I functioned ok at -18C (0F), walking around in Helsinki in mid-February. But I think I'd still rather live here, and just stay indoors as much as possible. I'm not an outdoorsy person in case you haven't figured it out. I get my tan from computer monitor radiation instead of the sun!!

P/S. I think the title of this post should be "Complaining about Texas Heat" instead of "Alliance Air Show"....

cybette wrote this at 11:14 PM ... Comments (0)

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Blog classification?

cybette's blog is a personal blog. But I like to think it's more than that... there are lots of entries on music, technology, travel... (well, ok, most of the travel entries are still in my head awaiting their births). So I have a hard time whenever I'm asked to categorize my blog. I don't like to be pigeonholed, but being too diverse probably doesn't help either. One thing I kept reading about maintaining a good blog is to keep a common theme running through all the posts, so that the readers will come back knowing what to expect. But perhaps the element of surprise can be enticing too? And of course the common theme here is, well (trying not to sound too egoistic), me and my interests... :)

I suppose I could have used the "Category" function in Movable Type to sort my posts. I've attempted it a couple of times, but the myriad topics I've written about left me dazed and confused. Plus, sometimes I can write about 5 different subjects in a single entry! So I'll end up with a hundred tags and littering each post with several. Too much hassle for ... what are the benefits again? Actually I don't think I've ever used the category links on other people's blogs either. Ok, maybe once or twice, but usually clicking on them by accident (or boredom). If you are looking for something I've written previously, it's much easier to use the "Search" function (middle of left column on main page). You are also welcome to read through every single page until you find it!

That's what I did today, going through my brain dumps over the past 3 years. Not in great detail, but during the process I did a quick tally of topics. The results are not entirely unexpected, although there were some I thought I wrote more about (and others less).

Technology and toys

  • [23] photography (cameras, pictures, etc.)

  • [22] blogging (plus dealing with comment spam)

  • [12] interesting websites and tech stuff (e.g. Gmail, SETI)

  • [7] cell phones and mobile technology

  • [3] automobiles

Mostly personal

  • [29] "philosophical" ramblings and musings about life

  • [27] work life (including job-hunting and finances)

  • [21] friends

  • [16] love and relationships

  • [12] school and research

  • [12] sleeplessness and dreams

  • [10] family

  • [10] health and weight issues

  • [9] immigration stuff

Interests and misc.

  • [48] music (bands, concerts, musicals, lyrics, American Idol...)

  • [21] personality and temperament (quizzes, MBTI etc.)

  • [21] languages, writing (e.g. poems), and reading (books)

  • [17] travel and aviation

  • [12] "art" stuff like museums, cultural events, movies, and even comics (Cathy)

  • [10] charity and non-profit

  • [4] sports! (gasp!)

  • [10] sundry complaints

  • [countless] gratitude

Then there's also the occasional discussion about current events, as well as the weather (like the previous entry). So, what keeps you, my dear readers, coming back here? What would you like to see more of? Does the above represent the Carol you know (or give you more insight to the Carol that you might not know)? I'd love to hear your comments!

cybette wrote this at 03:12 AM ... Comments (3)

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

When (if) it rains, it pours

During a meeting at work yesterday, we were interrupted by an unfamiliar sound: thousands of droplets hitting the window all at once... A couple of us got up and drew apart the blinds to reveal a welcome sight - rain! A deluge, rather. Is the dry spell over? Can we stop paying hundreds of dollars on water to keep Bruce's butterfly garden looking beautiful, as well as our house foundation from cracking? As I drove home later in the downpour, I fantasized about the huge amounts of money we'd be saving (as well as the new camera I can buy with it), while keeping an eye (or both) on the road. Not just for myself but also for other drivers - we folks in Dallas aren't used to driving in rain! We're probably safer drivers on ice than in torrents (no relation to BitTorent).

Alas, when I was about 4 miles from home, it stopped. Sure it was still overcast and gloomy, but no rain. Dry as can be. My windshield wipers still going at full speed forlornly... I turned them off. Plop plop, couple more drops, and I fired them back up expectantly, but those were the final two notes of the grand but short concerto. We got very little rain at our house because the big rain clouds never made their rounds here. Fantasy unfulfilled, but there's always tomorrow! (Just not this Saturday because Gloria wants to be out in the sun.)

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain...

cybette wrote this at 08:15 AM ... Comments (3)

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

October 21

Received 2 emails today, from 2 guys whom I've always been fond of, but never more than friends. (Before anyone starts wagging fingers, let me say that I'm very happy in my marriage, and won't trade Bruce for anyone else - yes, including Ethan Hawke if I ever miraculously catch his attention.) But somewhere in my memories, there's always this feeling of sweetness and delight each time I'm near/with one of them, similar to the feeling I've had with my ex-boyfriends, although I've never been romantically involved with either of them. With these two, I've wondered for the longest time... "what if"? What if I had shown my interest earlier? What if he liked me in return? What if I dated him instead of so-and-so? I guess I'll never know, but that's ok, because sometimes that's where the beauty lies - the unknown, the "possibilities of things", the unspoken promise....

And now, they're both getting married on October 21!! And both of them emailed me on the same day, within 2 hours of each other to tell me about their weddings.... what are the chances of that?? Well, I'm very happy for them, although disappointed that I can't attend their weddings... One of them is in Singapore, and while the other one is here in Dallas, I have a date with Evanescence that night! Yes, also October 21.

Megan, I didn't forget - your wedding anniversary is on this day as well (21102001). Favorite friend, favorite band, favorite guys that I've never kissed... somehow cosmically linked together on one day. 4D, anyone? :)

cybette wrote this at 07:20 PM ... Comments (6)