Compaq Reunion

Tomorrow, November 4th, is the Compaq 30 year reunion. The company started 30 years ago! So hard to believe.  Mike and I are driving down to Houston in the morning to attend the reunion. It's going to be at the Minute Maid Park. Free parking, free food & drinks, free Tshirt. All for $60 each!  It really doesn't matter, we would be going even if it was more per person.

 

I'm going to take my camera- big surprise there!  I'm wondering who from my former groups will be there? I think I saw John McClintock's name on the list at one point, but now I can't find it. I don't recognize any other names from people that have been in my groups when I worked there. Guess it's all in the fun of attending the reunion that will show who shows up!

 

I've got photos that I've tried to upload to the Compaq Reunion site, but the site wouldn't work right in order for me to upload them. I have photos of Karl Walker at an outing at Minute Maid Park for a baseball game. He has since died of  heart problems. God Bless him! He was a wonderful person to work for. I was his admin for several months during a re-org that Compaq was so fond of!

 

 

It's Been A While, Part II

Yes, It's Almost Been "Forever" Since My Last Post!

Yes, it's been a while. Yes, I've been busy. Yes, I'm going to try and start fresh with this blogging thing again!

 

So much has happened since last April. Too much to get into now, so I'll just write about what I was thinking about earlier. A friend of mine said that someone had called her mother "decrepit". Her mother has alzheimer's.  How sad is that?

 

I still have my Mom. My Mom is still in full control of her mental facilities at 80. Good for her! I hope she continues on well into her 100s!  She still drives herself to get her hair done every week; she still drives out to my sister's every Wednesday for coffee; and she still has her sense of humor! Go Mom!

 

My sisters and I spend a weekend a year with our Mom at Falls Mills bed & breakfast. We have some of the best times, doing nothing but talking, doing a project of some type and visiting some of the local areas sightseeing.  This year we did the Elk River Canoe Rental. Mom doesn't go with us on our outings, preferring to take a nap, read a book, or work a crossword puzzle. This year we watched a movie. Mom told us (numerous times) that that was one "damn fine movie"!  It got to be so frequent that we would all have to bite our tongues to keep from laughing out loud!

 

I hope I never hear anyone call my Mom "decrepit".  I think I would hurt them. Seriously.

 

 

Godspeed Hippie Chick

A girl I went to school with passed away a couple of weeks ago. It's one of those friends that you get shocked that they were ill to begin with, much less has just passed without any fanfare. She was a wild child back in school and was still a wild child when she left us. Of all my classmates that have passed up to now, this one is hitting me the hardest. She was so full of life. So full of fun. So full of happiness.

Good bye, Diane.

 My Old Friend
(Tim McGraw)

My old friend, I recall
the times we had hanging on my wall
I wouldn't trade them for gold
cause they laugh and they cry me
somehow sanctify me
They've woven in the stories I have told
and tell again.

My old friend, I apologize
for the years that have passed
since the last time you and I
dusted off those memories
But the running and the races
the people and the places
there's always somewhere else I had to be
time gets slim, my old friend.

Don't know why, don't know why
Don't know why, don't know why

My old friend, this songs for you
cause a few simple verses
was the least that I could do
to tell the world that you were here
cause the love and laughter
will live on long after
all of the sadness and the tears
We'll meet again, my old friend.

Goodbye, Goodbye
Goodbye, Goodbye

My old friend, my old friend
Goodbye, goodbye

It's Been A While!

Good thing my New Year's resolution wasn't to faithfully blog on here! I would have failed that one miserably!

Since the last time I wrote, we have moved from California back to Texas. This time, we're in Round Rock, just south of Georgetown where we lived prior to moving to California! We are about 3 miles from Michael and Melissa so we see them often.  Especially since I'm babysitting Jackson.  Melissa drops him off and Michael was picking him up, but he got moved to third shift, so Melissa picks him up after she gets off work.

Justin is here and going to ACC to take some math classes.  Calculus was kicking his butt, so he's starting over with Trig and working up from there. Slow going, but it puts it all in perspective for him.

Mike is tickled to death to be back in Texas. He's back at Dell and is loving it. This time he is working down at Parmer Lane rather than the main campus because that's where his group moved. He's got his old job back and working with several of the same guys he worked with prior to leaving and going to Western Digital. The first two weeks he was there, he didn't have to buy lunch since everyone he saw wanted to take him out for lunch to catch up with what he's been doing since he left Dell three years ago.

I'm trying to figure out Round Rock and get used to being back in Texas again. As soon as I got here, I got sick. I haven't been sick since we left Texas 3 years ago. I got a great case of bronchitis and a sinus infection on top of it. I took antibiotics for three weeks to get rid of the "crud" and then had to take antibiotics in an ear drop because my right ear was stopped up for almost three weeks. I figured the antibiotics I was on would cure that, too.  My mistake!

We are all (currently) healthy and doing well now.

More later!

Yes, it was a good Christmas!

Sunday Afternoon in the Park

Sunday I was starting to get a bit stir crazy in the apartment since we didn't go out on Saturday, so we decided it was too cold for the beach, but it would be nice to get out and do some walking. So we headed off to the Orange City Park.  It was later in the day, a bit on the cool side, and the Santa Ana winds were keeping things breezy enough that most people stayed away from the park.  I've seen this park packed to the point where the Parks Department didn't allow any more cars inside.  (This park is also one of the ones that you have to pay to enter! Gasp!!)

At the Orange City Park you can go horseback riding, visit the Orange City Zoo (been there several times), picnic, ride the train, walk on nature trails, feed the duck, ride the paddle boats on the pretty big pond, and in general just get out and commune with nature.

There are lots of wild mallards and wood ducks that have migrated to the ponds at this park. I took lots of photos of them and was trying to catch them as they flew into the area and landed on the pond.  Apparently, I needed to have a faster shutter speed because all I got were lots of photos that were pretty blurry! Need to pay attention more to what I was doing!

Mike and I walked most of the time we were there, finding a nature trail we thought would take us to the top of a very high hill that I thought would give us wonderful views... the trail didn't go that high, so I didn't get the shots that I wanted to get.  Beautiful hike though!

Along our walk thru the park, we ran across four wild peacocks strolling down the side of the road.  I got ahead of them and took some photos as they approached. Beautiful birds but pretty stupid. They walked out into the road several times causing the drivers to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting them!  Silly birds!

As we walked around the park the late fall afternoon was fast losing it's light and the park lights began to flicker on. As we neared the pony ride area, the trees all of the sudden lit up with Christmas lights! Although its a bit hard to see in these photos, the lights really were quite pretty!  By the time we made it back to our car, the park was pretty well emptied. We enjoyed the solitude of the duck pond for a few minutes, watching them glide across the still waters as they began to settle down for the night. 

 

 

Last train ride of the night.