sun...where are you?

i have been a bad blogger this week...i apologize blogger reading friends out in internet world. i can actually say that ive been crazy busy at work and as much of a shock as that might come to you..im not even lying! i even stayed at work yesterday till 7pm!!! *insert wide-eyed stare, gaping mouth and dramatic gasp here* yeah but its been a good kind of busy bc none of it has had to do with sales - yesssssss! yeah, ive been put in charge of setting up our whole online store for the company which has been crazy tedious and a bit draining. however, very satisfying at the end of the day bc its like you get to put your creation on the fridge and say, look ma what i did! except switch out fridge for website and ma for coworkers and boss. kinda the same thing.

unfortunately though, all work and no play makes kate a dull girl. and this dreary weather hasnt made it much better. but here's my best effort to recap the past week and update you on the happenins of the weekend:
this week...hmm...dangit...i really dont have anything worth mentioning. im a big dull dud.

this weekend...well, tomorrow i think im going to get a haircut. nothing drastic...although every once in a while i do have that urge to cut it all off bc its getting so long and mop-like. however, i have to remind myself that i HATE my hair short bc i get what i call the mushroom effect. yeah, my hair is super thick and when its short its very bobby and mushroomy...maybe the worst combination ever. plus everyone tells me i look 'so much younger' when its short and people already mistake me for a highschooler so do i really need to look younger? that would put me in junior high. so..hopefully that will be a success

then, also tomorrow, ck is coming in town! woohoo!! we're gonna run the capitol 10K on sunday. did i say run? ok maybe walk...crawl...ya know, whatever gets us over the finish line. we've been trying to think of fun costumes bc yes, people dress up for this race. its austin and we'll use anything as an excuse to not look 'normal.' all to say, we havent come up with anything and will probably just look like everyone else. let ya know..

thats about it i think. hopefully something SUPER exciting will happen that i can share with you...hold your breath.

american idol recap

well hmm...not the best week which was disappointing since they all sang songs from the last 6 years. maybe that in fact is what made it disappointing because you know how its supposed to sound and when it doesnt then it just doesnt do a lot for you. my favorite performances: definitely mandisa - she sang "shackles" which was practically the youth impact theme song so that brought back great memories. chris daughtry has won me over ace...ace is suckin it up and i dont think i can handle the dramatic eyebrow raised, hand quivering dramatic looks anymore. here is how i would rank them starting with best down to last:

mandisa - that girl can sing
old man river taylor hicks - love that he sang some ray lamontagne
chris daughtry - already sounds like a rockstar to me
country pickler - not a real fan of her as a person but as far as singing, i think she did better than most of the others
paris - never heard of the song...but was pretty entertained when she started shakin it onstage..
kt mcfee - kinda boring but the judges sure seemed to like it
ace....oh ace...you used to be so good
elliott yamin - not really feeling the gavin remix but ill give him small props for makin it his own
buckaroo - please go home
lisa tucker - why even try to do a kelly clarkson song? no way you can be as good..

my vote to go home? lisa tucker. see ya.

another great show

saturday nite jo and i had the pleasure of hearing stephen kellogg and the sixers and the pat mcgee band. oh and some 12 yr old boy opened but he didnt really do it for me. and no, he wasnt really 12...but he didnt look too much older. and i think his name is curtis something if youre dying to know. anyways...i was already a fan of stephen kellogg and was looking forward to hearing him live. and it was great. very, very entertaining show. the band had a lot of energy and they played a good variety of stuff. the best part was definitely near the end when stephen started a little ditty about his bass player with the punchline having to do with him 'dancin in his underpants.' next thing you know...bass player has stripped down to his boxers and is dancing. and he didnt mess around...he busted out ALL the moves. good times. finally they ended their set with a sweet little acapella rendition of their song, 'see you later, see you soon.'

then it was time for pat mcgee. jo has heard him many many times live but this was my first and hopefully not my last time. it was great. the show was very informal and he pretty much played whatever the crowd wanted which was fun. at one point the pianist, forgive me for not knowing his name, played 'walking in memphis.' oh man...it was fantastic. they played all my favorites - passion, rebecca, havent seen for a while...etc..etc. it was one of those shows that reminds you why live music is so dang good. so with that said...check out stephen kellogg and pat mcgee if you dont know who they are...and then go see them live. its just that easy.

the best weather you could ask for

and a great weekend to go along with it. if you know me, you know that if the weather is ever the slightest bit nice, then im going to be out in it. if i dont, i feel guilty. maybe its living in texas and knowing that once the summer months hit, ill never want to leave an air conditioned room. but honestly, if you didnt spend quality time outside this weekend then you're just crazy to me.

so, on saturday i did my own little tour of outside austin in order to spend as much time in the great weather without getting bored. theres tons of places to hike in austin and ive been itching to find some. so i did...and it was great! i was able to experiment with the new camera a bit which was lots of fun. lots to still learn though! i went and checked out mt. bonnell. yeah, never been there and heard it gives a great view of lake austin and on the other end you can see the downtown skyline. it was really pretty and i think i spent most of the time lusting over the huge lakefront mansions. and then after that i went to town lake bc well, i just like it and when im not running the loop, i love people watching and dog watching....and there are always tons of both especially - on the weekends!

then today, sunday, i hung out at the quarries for a while. its a great park with a little lake...or moreso an oversized pond....well whatever...i just love being near water so it works. its a big bummer that i have to go back to work tomorrow but thats the reality of the real world i guess.

my baby is here!!!!!

here she is....long awaited for. cost an arm and a leg. but hopefully worth every penny. now i just gotta figure out how she works...i love her already.

goodbye chicken little

kevin covais, aka chicken little, was sent home last nite on american idol. i was suprised...not bc he's any good but bc i thought he had a large following. i guess the 12 yr old girls' bedtime was before voting time? i dunno but im happy. its good to know that people might actually be voting based on talent instead of weird 12 year old 'cuteness' appeal.

the other two in the bottom three were lisa tucker and bucky. my friend christian said "i hope bucky dies soon" wow. of course she didnt mean it literally but thats evidently her vote to go next. mine as well, but im not wishing death upon anyone...not yet at least.

american idol

here are my thoughts and ratings on a scale from 1-10. i like the 50s theme but not too excited about barry manilow...overall a pretty good week in my opinion

mandisa - pretty strong performance..great vocal range - 9
bucky - not a huge fan to start with..thought the song was kinda weak - 6.5
paris - good singing...dont think i like her talking voice though - 8
chris - still managed to integrate his rocker style but wasnt his best performance...still a fan though...found out he has a wife and son though so the celebrity crush appeal has faded a bit - 7.5
kate mcfee - pretty good sassy song...did a pretty good job too - 8
taylor - aka old man river...but i love him. he has such a good time, you cant not love the old guy. and the dancing...oh the dancing...its so entertaining - 9
lisa - shes so cute and smiley - 8
chicken little - can he please go home?? i really cant take it much longer. who sings with their hand in their pocket...i was bored - 7
elliott - um....not really feeling it..was he just picking random notes to sing? - 7
country pickler - nice job ...i dont know if she purposely tries to look like a big ditz but she pulls it off pretty successfully- 8
ace young - yum. pretty good performance...still love him - 8.5

my prediction to go home? if it were up to me it would be bucky or chicken little. but its up to america and unfortunately chicken little has the vote of every 11-15 yr old girl in america so i fear he might be staying for a while. so i imagine it will come as a surprise...we'll just have to wait and see!

so close yet sooo far away

well, the ags didnt make it to the sweet sixteen. however, i think many would agree that they deserved to be there. we sadly lost in the last seconds when LSU scored a 3pter to put them one point ahead and win it. yeah...A point. it's almost worse when it's thats close bc youre so close to the win, yet so far away. so that was kinda rough but all to say...

congratulations aggies. you might not have won it but you made it a lot farther than anyone expected you to. you ended the regular season 4th in the big 12, you made it further in the tourney than two other big 12 teams that were seeded higher than you including big 12 champs kansas, you beat 5th seeded syracuse in the first round and held their star player to a mere 2 points, and you played hard against 4th seeded lsu and had claimed the win up until the last 4 seconds. but the season is now over..a little sooner than some of your fans had hoped...but there's always next year right?

so theres my "proud of the aggies" blurb. now about the tourney in general. its just crazy, but it wouldnt be called march madness if it wasnt right? ill admit ive never really followed college basketball until last year or so - maybe bc college basketball and a&m didnt go hand in hand while i attended. of course they get good after i leave! but...it is exciting to watch and its strangely addicting...i dont even want to think about how many hours i spent this weekend in front of the tv. it makes me feel a little better that most of the general population was right there with me though. anyways...the 'madness' doesnt pick up again until thursday so now i can move from the couch and actually do something slightly productive.

Wiki How To...

How to Create a Gangster Bankroll...

Don't act like you've never wanted to know. This was almost too entertaining to me to be true. Maybe you won't find it as amusing as me...that's probably a good thing.

In case you're wondering how I stumbled upond this little treasure... In my gmail, "wiki how to" is one of my feeds that shows up when its updated. Usually it's something kind of boring...sometimes useful...and sometimes just a great wealth of knowledge like this one.

sorry bout ya, mcnamara

AGGIES 66 SYRACUSE 58

Round two, baby!

the dance

for the first time since 1987, the ags are in the NCAA basketball tourney. and being an aggie, i am proud. they even almost beat tx in the semifinals of the big 12 tournament. overall the ags have played really well this year and deserve to be in the ncaa tourney. their first game is tonite against syracuse. the ags are the 12th seed, the orangemen are the 5th. however, the ags still have a good chance and im pulling for them.

and in normal ncaa tradition i have filled out my bracket and am in a lil tournament pick'em group with some fellow friends....winner gets...bragging rights. if its anything like last year there will be tons of big upsets and bracket filler outers all over the world will hang their heads in disbelief.

my pick to win it all? not duke...not villanova...i choose gonzaga. theyre a good team and honestly i just think its fun to say ;)

let the games begin!

such a sucker

i caved. im weak. i participated in phone voting for american idol.

heres my justification. i had recorded it bc i had bible study and then watched it when i got home. thus...the phone lines were already open for voting when i was watching so its not like i had to wait till the end and then sit around and call in. i would listen to a performance and if they were good then i could vote right then. so i did...its really the way to go too. that way you can also fast forward when the song is painful to listen to....as some of them were.

so...for all you other idol fans out there...and i know there are lots...here are my opinions thus far. well, im still in love with ace young. not as much bc hes kinda cheesy and i havent been extremely impressed with his songs lately...i think i might love chris daughtry more. that rocker appeal is kinda hot ;) and i admit...old man river taylor hicks is growing on me. i dont think he should dance but hes pretty entertaining and his performance last nite was actually one of my favorites. chicken little kevin covais really needs to go home. bucky and his flowy blonde hair can go too. elliott...hmm...i could go either way. the girls...mandisa is amazing. paris was great last nite but i could have done without her breaking out in song every time they asked her a question. country pickle was pretty terrible...as was the girl who forgot her lyrics. if you forget your lyrics...go home. kate mcfee was pretty good..i think she'll stick around. oh and that lisa girl i think? shes good too and real cute.

i dont know how it works now that theyre down to 12...im guessing only one person goes home tonite? my vote and guess is either chicken little or girl who forgot the lyrics. i guess we'll see if im right. and yes, since im now officially hooked you will be receiving weekly idol updates.

today

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETIE!!!!!!!!!

i got my race packet for the capitol 10K. ive never run 6 miles i dont think...we'll see if i can do it. ck is coming in town to run it with me. we might dress up...might.

my cellphone is about as worthless as my ipod these days. except that i kinda fixed my ipod....so i guess my cellphone is more worthless. its told me 'enter sim card,' 'sim card rejected,' 'emergency calls only,' etc etc...why is everything breaking? why?

things ive learned

massachusettes has a state muffin...the corn muffin. who knew such things existed? state muffins that is, not corn muffins. some states even have state cookies and state desserts... strange...but awesome.

craig was in town. craig from craigslist that is. he was a speaker at some interactive SXSW thing and talked about founding craigslist in 1995 etc. (i saw this on the news last nite..was not able to go hear him in person). but anyways...most of CL is free to the everyday user like myself. i found out though that there is a charge for some companies to post jobs on the site. and with CL in about 200 cities, thats probably a decent amount of change. well, they(the news) said that craig wouldnt say how much CL makes but they estimated that it was somewhere around 20 MILLION dollars a year. now i dont know how much of that good ole craig gets but wow...thats a lot of money. and if you still dont know what craigslist is, *insert long sigh and disappointed look here* then for the love of all things check out the site and get out of the cave you must be living in.

thirdly, as you all know i have been fighting with my ipod lately. well...yesterday we really had it out. at first it didnt want to acknowledge that it was plugged into my laptop...then it decided to make everything on my computer freeze..a couple of times. then those annoying error messages kept showing up on the ipod screen. at this point i was past the point of frustration and was more in the direction of sheer anger towards my little device. so what did i do? i beat the crap out of it. yes, thats right...i gave the ipod a few swift hits. the result? IT NOW WORKS. amazing huh? and i thought that trick only worked on tvs... so, we'll see how long it lasts now...it probably is just temporarily working on a whim and really the hitting will cause inevitable long term damage. we will see.

what else happened this weekend...

well david gray was obviously the highlight of the weekend. obviously. however another pretty big thing happened over the course of the weekend...i got my new camera! or rather, its hopefully in the mail by now and will arrive by the end of the week.

this is a pretty big deal. mainly bc its a pretty big amount of money that went towards it. im proud to say though that i won it in an auction on ebay and saved about 200 bucks. then i bought my first good lens off amazon after i secured the camera. oh and i also got some james blunt tickets for his may show. that has nothing to do with the camera but it was just another something i bought within an hour time span. so yeah, by 1030AM on sat. i had spent about $1600. probably the most productive (spending wise) ive ever been in my life at that time of the day. not necessarily something i want to make a trend out of though. so, expect some pics of my new baby when it arrives...as would be expected of a proud new mom.

and in other sad news....so this one time i got an ipod and then 5 months later it broke...and so this other time i got a new ipod and now 5 months later it has broken as well. luckily the first time i got the replacement for free bc it was kinda under warranty still (ok, not really but the guy at apple was REALLY nice and gave it to me anyways and in return i told him i loved him). but ipod 2 only got a warranty of 3 months so now im outta luck. i realize that ipods are like mini mini computers so understandably they're going to occasionally crash and go kapoot. however, youd think they would try and make them a bit more reliable for the price you pay. i know a lot of people with ipods and a lot of cases where they have broken too soon. so...im not sure what i will do....its not completely broken yet...it works about 12% of the time...but i can feel it fading fast...guess its time to start saving...

david gray!!!!!!!

ok i realize these pictures are VERY blurry and i do apologize but i promise that they are of david gray except for that last one which is his crazy drummer that was a very entertaining part of the evening as well.

so yeah, david gray came to the backyard and put on a great (and for me, highly anticipated) show. jojo accompanied me for the nite. aqualung opened for gray and they did about 6 songs including my favorite, 'easier to lie.' i heard them at acl this past year and thought they did just as good as a job this time. they ended their set with a cover of wilco's, 'im the man who loves you.' did a pretty decent job.

and then david gray. i have been waiting for this show since last november!!! ive never paid as much for a ticket as i did for this show but it was worth it. hes kinda dramatic and does a lot of bobble head movements but he sounds FANTASTIC live and really puts on a great show that is worth every penny...in my opinion at least.

here are the songs that i can remember him performing. forgive me if some are wrong or missing. and they are in no particular order:

alibi
hospital food
aint no love(my second fav from life in slow motion!)
this years love
nos da cariad
lately
the one i love
now and always(my fav from life in slow motion!)
my oh my
baltimore
please forgive me
sail away
long distance call
freedom
encore:
shine
babylon
silver lining
long black veil
cover of the cure's, friday im in love

so overall my thoughts:
a nice long set...plus a 5 song encore - you cant beat that! you always hope that an artist or group's live performance will meet your expectations and hopes - his did for sure. the drummer was kinda crazy but very very fun to watch. there were some girls near us that were what i would call fanatics. they did some crazy interpretive "dancing" and very spastic hand movements that were VERY entertaining to all around before a staff person finally came and asked them to quit, or at least calm it down a bit. we had second row seats on the side - made for a great and close view. oh, and the weather was PERFECT. it was nice and cool and breezy all nite long despite temps in the 90s during the day. so yeah, altogether quite a success. if you ever have a chance to catch david gray live, do it - you wont regret it!

the week and weekend

what went down and whats gonna happen...

24 was two hours...and worth every amazing minute...kim came back...edgar died...and all of CTU is stuck in a glass room together

i made the transistion from sick to kinda sick to kinda better to healthy

had two breakdowns at work on two different days which resulted in crying for no significant reason...yeah i dunno...

college basketball is in full swing and the ags are actually playing like they wanna take part too. their fate lies in tomorrows game against colorado. winner gets to go to the tournament..probably. go aggies

going to see david gray saturday...been waiting since last november when the show was originally scheduled. im sure it will be worth the wait. aqualung opens.

james blunt fans...tickets go on sale sat. for his may 7th show at the backyard

might possibly drop a LARGE amount of money on a new camera this weekend. after which i will be living off ramen noodles and water...

still keeping up with american idol. only watch the guys performances though. down to the top 12 now and my boy ace is still in it. dont know if im feeling all this falsetto stuff but i guess ill take it. also, i might like chris daughtry as much as ace. old man river (taylor hicks) has some strange appeal despite looking like he's 50 and having crazy dance moves. bucky will be gone soon. as will kevin who looks like he's 4, sounds like he's 12, and has a lisp. elliot is decent. yes, ive gotten sucked in....but i havent reached the level of commitment of actually voting yet.

my ipod is once again proving its unreliability. its fighting with my computer...frequently freezes...and if im lucky it shows me little error messages. gotta love $300 investments that let you down...

and tomorrow is friday...*big sigh of relief*

a bit under the weather

my apologies for not being a good blogger lately...i blame it on the germs...that is, the germs that invaded my body the second i got off that plane from vail. im definitely grateful that i got sick after my vacation, but being sick in general is never fun.

however im happy to say that i finally think im on the end of it and about to kick this cold or whatever it was to the curb. im tired of sniffling, sneezing, and sounding like a man. one good thing is that its extended my vacation from work a bit. lucky for me, the company doesn't go down when im not there so if i wanna stay home or not go in until after lunch, i can. and so thats just what i did...went in wed...stayed home thurs...went in friday...went in late on monday. but...all good things must come to an end right? dangit...can someone get me sick again?

well, i guess i dont have much to offer. in the world of me ive basically just been sick and good for nothing...watching the occasional tv show or movie...eating lots of junk food...and not working out. ill try and think of something halfway interesting to post soon...

vail vacation

my vacation in vail was great. a break from work was strongly needed and thus appreciated. i was able to spend 4 full days in beautiful weather and with no responsibilities.

i got to vail friday morning which means that i got up in austin much earlier - 4 am to be exact. needless to say it was a long day but i wanted to get the most time in CO as possible. kel and i went to vail village which basically consists of shops, restuarants, bars etc. we got the hugest plate of nachos ive ever seen in my life for lunch and didnt have any problem finishing them off. we walked around all the shops and the weather was soo great. i was afraid that i would be freezing seeing as how it was 70 when i left austin. it was definitely colder in vail, but every day was sunny and clear making it seem a lot warmer than it was.

later i got my first taste of snowshoeing. i had heard good things about it and was looking forward to wear awkwardly large shoes on my feet. we weren't necessarily in snowshoe terrain but i still got a feel for it. we also borrowed one of kels friends dogs, lily, for the trip - i think she had more fun than we did!

the next day i met kel at work and did some skiing! yeah, she was working yet was able to ski with me for about 4 hours -pretty tough job! later she had to do some non skiing work so she dropped me off at the surefoot store where a bunch of her friends worked and i got babysat by 5 guys for an hour. she did this another day too when she had to work but i didnt mind - who wouldnt like 5 cute guys babysitting them? ;)

so skiing was pretty successful. honestly i was a little fearful going into it bc my last skiing experience was pretty traumatic. but it was actually pretty amazing how well i did (for me). and im not bragging or anything - i didnt venture from any greens and didnt do any 'sweet jumps' but i didnt fall once and came home with no broken limbs! more importantly it gave me a renewed attitude towards skiing and i can actually say that i enjoy it and want to do it again!!! plus, kel totally got me the hookup with skis and boots and so skiing was super super cheap!!

what else...we went out one nite and i experienced vail nite life...which isnt too different from any other cities nite life except that there are soo many more guys. i think kel said the guy/girl ratio is like 8:1 or something ridiculous like that. so yeah, lots of cute ski bum boys everywhere. so that was fun...a little bar hoppin...a little dancin...

one nite me and kel ate at a place called bobs with her friend dylan and i got to eat wings for the first time. i know...im 24 and ive never had wings before - practically unheard of right? well, in case you were wondering, i liked them a lot and admit that im a little sad i missed out on them all these years.

my last nite there we went to eat with some more of her friends from work and then went hot tubbing for a little while. oh, did i mention how crazy sore i was from skiing?? definitely used some muscles that i probably havent used since i went skiing the last time..which was like 6 years ago. so the hot tub felt great and it pretty much knocked us out for the rest of the nite - which was good since we had to get up at 530 to go to the airport!

it was sad to go...especially knowing that i was going to have to get back to my 9-5 work routine. kel - thanks so much for having me! my trip was great and it was so fun to finally see all these places you go and have worked at and put faces to all the names ive heard over the past year. i cant wait to come back during the summer!

so that was the trip in short summary. the worst part of the trip was the plane rides by far...especially the one coming back to austin. there was so much turbulence that i really thought the plane was going to go down and we were all going to die. ok maybe not really but it was really bad. and did i mention that airports and airplanes make me nauseous? and heres the neatest part...i finally get back to austin and am at the baggage claim and my luggage is nowhere to be found. later i find out that for some odd reason my bag didnt make it onto the plane...seems a little weird since i was on the plane, but whatever. so...my bag took the next flight and was delivered to my house 8 hrs. later. not a huge deal since i did actually receive it in the end but its just one of those things that you never think will happen to you.

so...all to say...vacation was good. being back in tx isnt as much. and ever since i arrived back in the lone star state i have become sick so that puts a damper on life as well. on the upside, it keeps me out of work a little longer...and for that im grateful.

bachelor recap

i promise i will post about my vail trip next. i dont have time to do it right now and i want to do it justice.

i came home yesterday and watched some shows i had recorded while i was on vacation, ie. 24 and the bachelor. i only saw the last hour of bachelor b/c 24 overlaps and no way am i going to sacrifice jack bauer for travis stork. so i guess i missed out on the girls going and meeting travis' family...i wouldnt have minded seeing his family though - did he have any cute, single brothers by chance?

i already knew that he was going to pick the teacher so the level of suspense wasnt too high. i guess shes a better fit than moana but i still dont really like her any more. i liked that someone else did her makeup and hair for the last rose ceremony which prevented her from her normal part starting at her ear look. i felt sorry for moana bc its gotta suck to be in the bottom two and not be picked. her outta control hyperventilating type cry was a little much but i dont doubt i would have been the same way.

so...travis and sarah...good luck i guess. the odds are against ya bc lets be honest, trista and ryan are the only couple that actually made this work.

so the bachelor is now over...i guess ill just have to find something else to fill my monday 9-10 gap now..