Alien technology

I just got back from having dinner at a local restaurant/pub. Kinda like Dave & Busters without so many games. I tried out a beer called Alien Amber. It was disgusting. The aliens may have us beat on spacecraft technology and whatnot, but they have a long way to go in their beer brewing skills.

Jessi's CD available on iTunes

Hey all, a friend and great singer/songwriter, Jessi Canning, has her latest CD up on iTunes. Click on the link below if you have iTunes on your computer. I did the cover art for this CD (toot-toot).

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=49518688

Spending the day in Roswell

Roswell is a nice little town. I spent some time this morning walking around taking pictures and checking out the International UFO Museum. For those that don't know, in July of 1947, the govenment reported that they found a flying saucer just outside of Roswell. The very next day, the story was changed to say that it was a weather balloon and not a flying saucer. There's all kinds of interesting facts and theories surrounding the event. I took some pictures to share below. Other than that, I've been spending the rest of the day working in my motel room. I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for CA.

Arrived in Roswell

I've arrived safely in Roswell and am currently in my motel room. I left my friend Chris's house early this morning at 5:30. The drive through Texas and Roswell was pretty uneventful. The landscape is so open and the sky is so big in West Texas. I was not prepared though when I hit the West Plains of Texas and it was SOO windy. My poor little Xterra. It took so much effort just to maintain the speed limit with the strong wind and U-Haul. And the tumbleweeds! My truck was mauled by tumbleweeds for about 3 hours. Today I'm going to catch up on some work and get some rest. Tomorrow I am going to do some more work and also go out and tour around Roswell. I am here for two nights.

Texas Fun

I'm currently in Aubrey, Texas visiting my best friend from high school and his family. Yesterday, on Easter Sunday, I got to watch my nephew, Jacob, hunt for the easter eggs that his mother hid for him the night before. I didn't think she did a good enough job on some of them, so I "re-hid" a few eggs to make it a bit more challenging. :) He was hilarious, continuously asking for hints. But, he eventually found them all. After the exciting hunt, we all went to visit my brother, Jesse, who is currently in rehab at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas from an auto accident. Jesse is doing very well. He looks healthier than I have seen him in quite a while. He was good in spirits and it was such a blessing for me to get to hang out. We took him out of the hospital and went out to eat lunch at On the Border with his girlfriend and her sister and brother-in-law. Lunch was nice, although my sister had a slight altercation with the waitress. >:)

I left Jesse around 3:00 PM and headed north of Dallas to visit Chris, my best friend from high school. While driving through Denton on my way to Panera Bread before seeing Chris (so I could get on the internet and get some work done (they have free wireless access)), I was involved in an "incident". Ugh.

Here's the story. I was at a stop light in the right hand lane. The light turned green and the two lanes went up a hill and my lane had a very quick merge into the left lane. I looked to make sure I had enough room, and proceeded to merge. It was my turn for merging, and I saw my chance, so I took it. It's such a pain driving with this stinkin U-Haul trailer.Well, I think he was a little upset that he had to slow down slightly to let me in because he then tried to aggressively pass me over the double lane. He tried to pass, but with the oncoming traffic, he had to quickly return to his position. The Panera Bread was very close by, so I proceeded to that, and sure enough, he started following me the entire way. I was preparing myself for a very upset Texan and tried to remember all of my hand-to-hand combat training from the Marines, just in case I had to defend myself. I gathered my computer bag and headed inside and noticed that the tall, bald, angry Texan was in the process of writing my license plate number. I said, "Can I help you," preparing myself for the all-out Texas brawl that was about to occur, and he replied, "Yeah, you hit my truck." Oops. I looked at his truck, and sure enough, there was a white line across the side of his truck from the U-Haul trailer. Oops. I was frustrated at this guy because I know he saw me, but he just wanted to be stubborn and force me off the road before letting me in. He was so stubborn that he risked damaging his new new Dodge Ram pick-up for it. I told him as such that I couldn't understand why he didn't just let me in instead of being such an aggressive driver and he just kept saying it wasn't his fault. So, I reluctantly gave him my insurance information and headed into Panera Bread. Needless, to say, I was quite stressed and upset. I stood inside Panera watching him to make sure he didn't do anything to my truck. He started to leave, paused a bit, and then continued down the road. When I returned to my truck, I noticed that he decided to give me a nice thank you present. He spit his chewing tobacco all over the side of my truck. How nice. I don't think I'm ever moving back to Texas.

I arrived at Chris's church in time for the evening service. Chris is the pastor of a very nice quaint country Baptist church. Rockhill Baptist. After the service, Chris and I went to his house and stayed up late catching up. When I woke up this morning at Chris's house, I couldn't find my wallet. I looked all over his house and it wasn't anywhere. First I lose my keys, and now I have lost my wallet. And without my wallet, my move to California basically ends in Aubrey, Texas. They have a Sonic drive-in, so that's good, but that's about it. I searched frantically for about an hour and then thought somehow it might be at the church because I knew I had it then. We drove out to the church, and sure enough, there was my wallet sitting in the church parking lot with all of my debit cards and cash for my trip. Whew. Praise God. I'm halfway through my trip and I've already lost my keys, been in an accident, and lost my wallet. What's next? Don't answer that question. ;)

It was so warm here today. I'm in big trouble. We sat outside for a while enjoying the nice day and my face got sunburned. I think I'll need to load up on sunblock at Costco when I get out to Cali. I also got to drive around the town I grew up in today (Pilot Point) and went and visited my old home. It's up for sale. We just got back from dinner at Clark's BBQ in Tioga. Great place. Now we are going to watch Napoleon Dynamite. Chris has never seen it. He may hate it.

Tomorrow morning I wake up very early and head out for Roswell, NM. It should be about a 12 hour drive.

Bear Rock Cafe

I arrived at my sister's apartment last night and we played around a bit on her computer then went to bed. This morning she took me to a great restaurant in the Dallas area called, "Cafe Brazil". I had a Brazilian breakfast that consisted of eggs, hashbrowns, and a chicken empanada. Good stuff. I am so excited to hang out with my little nephew too. His name is Jacob and he is 5 years old. He's such a good kid. Miriam (my sister) has done a wonderful job in raising him. He out of nowhere quoted from Napoleon Dynamite this morning. Made my day. :) They have dropped me off at a place called Bear Rock Cafe that has free wireless internet access. I am catching up on some work here. It is a nice place, if you're in the Dallas area, check it out.

That is all. :)

Miriam and Jacob

On my way to California

I'm on my way to living in California and my cross-country road trip is going well so far. The first several hours of my trip was a bit stressful driving in the pouring rain and towing a U-Haul for the first time. Driving with the U-Haul is going a little bit easier for me now. I stayed in Nashville the first night of my road trip and left at 5:00 am the next day.

I meant to post an update much earlier than this, but I haven't had as much internet time as I thought I would. Right now I am in Little Rock, Arkansas visiting my mother and grandmother. We had lunch today at a quaint restaurant called, "The Faded Rose." It is so nice outside here today. It's very sunny and almost 80 degrees. I am leaving today to go visit my sister for the weekend in Dallas.