Some adjectives that could best be used to describe the past two weeks include "awkward," "surreal," "bewildering," "overwhelming" and, above all, "difficult." In other words, the last couple of weeks have sucked. Funerals are not fun; aside from the shock and grief of losing a loved one, there are a host of other tasks - planning the ceremonies, informing friends and family, writing the
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Synthia Marie Harding Stevens
Posted on 4:09 PM by jackline
My mother-in-law's obituary ran in the print edition of the Wednesday May 21, 2008 Houston Chronicle. Because I do not know how long Cindy's obit will be accessible online (and because I think there were a couple of aspects of her life which were not mentioned in the printed obit), I am posting a "permanent" version of my mother-in-law's obituary here:SYNTHIA MARIE HARDING STEVENS departed this
Monday, May 19, 2008
Mother-in-Law
Posted on 9:30 AM by jackline
Yesterday morning, Lori's mom collapsed at a relative's house and was rushed to the hopsital.They are still not really sure what caused Cindy to collapse - they believe it was a stroke - but she never regained conciousness, never showed any response to any stimulus tests, and lost the ability to breathe on her own.Today, Lori informed me that they had decided that there was nothing else they
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Replacing urban freeways
Posted on 9:42 AM by jackline
If this looks like something I've written about before, it's because I have. Rather extensively, in fact:Oklahoma City is doing what many cities dream about: saying goodbye to a highway.More than a dozen cities have proposals to remove highways from downtowns. Cleveland wants to remove a freeway that blocks its waterfront. Syracuse, N.Y., wants to rid itself of an interstate that cuts the city in
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Another local TV legend passes away
Posted on 9:04 AM by jackline
Last summer it was Marvin Zindler. Yesterday, Ron Stone:Ron Stone, who anchored the news on KPRC TV for 20 years and was a Houston broadcasting legend, passed away from prostate cancer on Tuesday with his family by his side, KPRC Local 2 reported. Stone, who turned 72 on April 6, spent more than 30 years on the air in Houston. He was a daily fixture for KPRC viewers from 1972 until he retired in
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The noises that Thomas hates
Posted on 9:10 AM by jackline
Okay, so I've accepted the fact that I am going to be staying in the same hotel every time I travel to Dubai this year. It's not the best hotel in the world, and it's not in the greatest location, but it's clean, the beds are comfortable, and since my company has a contract with this particular hotel there's really not much I can do about it in any case.
Every morning, breakfast is served in the
Every morning, breakfast is served in the
Denton election headed to runoff
Posted on 8:52 AM by jackline
Following up on the controversial municipal election in Denton, Texas: it looks like it's not over yet.Denton Mayor Perry McNeill and rival Mark Burroughs are headed for a runoff after neither secured a majority of the vote in Saturday’s mayoral race.Two other candidates, businessman Justin Bell and college student Darac Favre, combined to receive about 12 percent of the 3,330 votes cast —
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The noise that teenagers hate
Posted on 9:48 PM by jackline
By now just about everybody has heard of "The Mosquito," a device developed in Britain a few years ago that is designed to repel loitering teenagers by emitting an annoying, high-frequency sound that only they can hear. The device takes advantage of the natural tendency of people's ears to lose the ability to hear very high-pitched sounds as they age; as such, the noises these devices emit do not
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
IAH-DXB via EK 212
Posted on 8:00 AM by jackline
Dubai again.This time I finally got to take advantage of the non-stop flight from Houston that Emirates began operating last December. It was about as I had suspected, with attentive service, decent food, good in-flight entertainment and (relatively) comfortable seats. My only disappointment was that, unlike the Airbus A340s in Emirates' fleet, their Boeing 777s don't come with footrests in coach
Monday, May 5, 2008
A brief week and some brief thoughts
Posted on 12:43 PM by jackline
Wow, that was a short week. I can't believe that I have to go to the airport, get on a plane and head back to Dubai in just a couple of hours. Like I said, I never thought that coming home would seem like a vacation for me, but that's exactly how it felt.The past week has been busy; I had a lot of things that I needed to get done during my short time here, both at work and at home. The week was
Butterflies are free
Posted on 9:35 AM by jackline
And there are more where that one came from; we have five pupae that should hatch sometime this week.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Gas tax holiday
Posted on 11:29 AM by jackline
Other bloggers (local as well as national) have already written about this, but I feel compelled to add my voice to the chorus: the summer "gas tax holiday" being promoted by presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton is a stupid idea and is little more than cynical, transparent political pandering of the worst variety.The average national gas price is currently hovering right above
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