Hair Ch-ch-ch-changes

John and I have both made some changes to our appearance in the last week. We both wanted to look our best for the wedding. John had a clean, even cut. I had grown my hair long so that I could get curls for the big day.

 

Two months after the wedding, my hair was long and unmanageable.  I finally got my hair cut this past Thursday. It's probably been 3 years since I had a shoulder-length cut.  See the previous post from the Horse Track to see my new do.

John has occasionally mentioned since we started dating that he had once shaved his head, and he liked it. He decided that since there's nothing coming up soon, now would be a good time to give it a try again.

Behold... the shiny bald one:

$2 Across the Board on Horse #4

Before the Hitachi Consulting Dallas Summer Party yesterday, all I really knew about horse racing are things you could probably attribute to any racing... there's some set distance, they start at the same time, and the first to the finish line wins.  Oh, and having watched several horse related movies, I knew what a jokey is and a bit about what they do.

Now... I'm still probably not even what you would call "proficient" at horse racing, but I think I could make decent picks. Also, and maybe more importantly, I know how to make a wager. I had no idea going in that I'd be learning so much jargon in one day.

Our first bet.  John placed this one... it didn't win anything.

We made at least one bet on each race.  Hitachi gave each employee $10 in Lone Star Bucks, which was a nice starting point.  We dipped into our own money by about $5 at one point, but we got all of that back by the end.

Horse #2 taking the Win!

Our first winning bet: Race 2, $2, Across the Board, Horse #2 - #2 got the Win, so this was $7.90 payout on our $6 bet.

Our first win brought in $7.90.  Our biggest win brought in $16 - Across the board on a horse the handicapper put in 5th and ended up taking the win.  Our biggest loss was a race where we had 2 Horses Across the board (to Win, to Place, and to Show), but only only one of those horses Showed... meaning we got $4.40 for our $12 bet.

John in his "Studying the Numbers" pose

We had fun. I enjoyed learned how to place some bets... though we only place simple bets, I learned about exactica and other more exotic bets too. Since John is a statistics and numbers person, by the end of the day, I knew how to choose between two somewhat equally ranked horses by the identifying which one would have a higher payout if I won. Though, I never waiting to the very last minute to place my bet; I now understand why the pros would.

The starting gate.  Sometimes they started far away, so I liked when they were close to us.

We ended the day up $4.50... we thought it was going to be more because were going to get Show money for Horse #1 in the last race, but some craziness happened and the officials bumped Horse #1 back to 4th... no money for us.

All in All, a pretty fun day.  It takes a while, and you definately need good company to chat with between races.  But, I wouldn't mind going back some time.

Red, White, and Boom

There hasn't been much exciting to post about recently.  John and I have both been busy with work, but we did take some time to enjoy July 4th weekend.

On Saturday, we went up to the studio space John has been doing a lot of work out of recently so I could see the space.  Then, in the afternoon, I made cookies!  We successfully resisted eating all the cookies on Saturday, so we could bring them with us to the fireworks show on Sunday.

Sunday, we met up with some friends in Fort Worth to go to the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra patriotic concert and fireworks show at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.  We had lawn tickets, so we showed up 1 hour and 45 minutes before the show to stand in line. At 6:30, they let us in, which consisted of everyone rushing to grab space on the lawn.

After we were situated, it was dinner time.  (The show didn't actually start until 8:00)  Our friends had smoked some ribs and made a corn salsa, and another couple brought some pasta.  We brought the cookies for desert.  It was one of the best picnics I've had in a long time!

The evening was carefully planned so that about the time we were grabbing up space on the lawn, the sun was ducking behind the Botanical Garden's trees, and a light breeze made the weather not too bad to be outside for several hours.  The orchestra was nice, and the fireworks were fun. All-in-all a pretty good July 3rd.

For the real July 4th on Monday, we just relaxed at home.  I cooked both lunch and dinner, which I think is a first for me.  We got to watch more fireworks that evening too... This was our first 4 of July in this house, and we learned that we can see 2 fireworks shows from our back porch (though not nearly as close up a show as we had gotten at the Botanical Gardens).

Old and New, Part 2: Desk

This is Part 2 of a 3 part series of big new things. Typically, these sort of things might not be noteworthy, but they all converged in a small period of time, making the changes stand-out. Also, each has a short little story; thus, my mini-series.

Like the Washing Machine, I got my old desk for my first apartment in college. The desk was a "new" purchase for the apartment because the space I had that could hold a desk in the bed room of that apartment was so small that most student desks, with enough surface space for a computer and printer, wouldn't fit. We looked at several stores and finally found one that measured up. I was never completely happy with the desk we found because it had no drawers, leaving everything out in the open. Also, it didn't quite match my style, but it looked decent and most importantly, It Fit!

That desk made 3 moves with me after that first apartment, and it served its purpose well, squeezing into a couple more small places and faithfully holding my computer. In the new house, I've set up my office in what a Realtor would call the Formal Living Room - and it's the first room you see when you walk into our house. Though I'm not sure if it has ever been a formal living room (the most recent previous owners used it as an office too), it is a focal point to guests that come over.

The space is quite a bit bigger than my previous desk spaces, and the clutter of the drawer-less desk really bothered me when we hosted people.

The old desk. Note that the floor was a necessary storage location, and there's no extra desktop space to use.

I tried to buy a new desk in the Black Friday sales last Thanksgiving, but when the desk arrived at the house, it was damaged and the place we bought it from was out-of-stock. We returned that desk, and I had been casually looking at other furniture stores for a new one since then.

Last weekend, while we were over at a friend's house, the topic of IKEA came up.  I've never actually been to IKEA, but John is familiar - that's where he got his bed. We thought it would be fun to visit IKEA just to experience the store, and if I happened to find a desk, that would be an added bonus.

I had looked online at IKEA for desks, but being unfamiliar with the numerous configuration setup of most IKEA furniture, all I could see was a bunch of desk tops with no drawers, which wasn't going to help my cause any. In going to the IKEA store, I was enlightened. I found a desk line I thought I liked, and we left that first visit with a booklet of all my many options for that desk.

My little project.  The final layout of the office (to-scale) is on the right and all the other option pieces are on the left.

Being the nerd that I am, I came home and made a scale drawing of the space and made little puzzle pieces to match the various IKEA desk options. I played around with the options for about 30 minutes and then John joined in my play for another 5 minutes before a final decision was reached.

A few days later, we returned to IKEA and purchased the appropriate parts. Unfortunately, I overestimated the opening of the hatch on my car by about 3.5 inches, and the desk top wouldn't fit. Luckily, our friend and frequent dog-sitter wasn't too far away and came to the rescue. (He actually has great taste in cars, so he drives the same model car as I do, but it's in shop for hail damage leaving him with a larger loaner vehicle that held the desk top nicely. Thanks again, Forest!)

Lo and Behold - Spacious and Uncluttered

After the multi-hour process of assembling IKEA furniture, the new desk is in its home.  It's amazing what a drawer set can do. The desk actually now holds more in it than before - Everything the starting picture above, plus a few things that I had stashed away in the guest bedroom closet, all fit nicely in the new, tidy desk. Hooray!

Stay tuned for "Old and New, Part 3: Oven" which is still a continuing saga that will hopefully end soon.

Old and New, Part 1: Washing Machine

This is the first of a three part series that I'll call "Old and New."  A bit by coincidence and a bit because we had wedding gift money, we've made several new additions to our house to replace some old troublesome items.

First, the washing machine.

When I got my first apartment in college, I scavenged furniture and appliances from many relatives, either recently deceased or moving to a smaller space.  One thing I was not able to scavenge was the dryer, so it was one of the very few items that I got new in that first apartment.  The washing machine on the other hand, was far from new... Our best guess from online research and looking at pictures and model numbers is that the washing machine was made in the late 1970s, but since it's previous owner had no more need of it, it was free if we could haul it away.

Before John met me, his goal in home furnishings was to have as little as possible, so that if he needed to move, all of his belongings could fit in the back of 1 or 2 pickup truck loads.  Needless to say, he didn't bother himself with owning a washer or dryer.  Thus, my 1970s washer became our joint washing machine.  Behold:

Though, in most cases, it did get our cloths clean, the gentle cycle had become a little too gentle, so my delicates often needed soap rinsed out before moving them to the dryer. Also, it was quite loud, off-balance, and since it has a center agitator, frequently tangled and stretched on our clothes.  

Along came Texas tax free Energy Star appliance weekend.  We decided to take advantage of the tax free and Memorial Day weekend sale combo, and we relieved the old, warn-out washer of its duties. And I think it was about time, seeing as the old one had more years on it than either of us do.

As an added bonus, our laundry room is much more presentable now.  Not that I plan on leaving the door open when guests come, but I won't be as embarrassed when we bring people in through the garage.  :-)

What Now?

Since we got back from the honeymoon, we've:

• Unpacked
• Cleaned up the mess that was our front room
• Opened all our gifts and put them away
• Written all the Thank You cards
• Hosted 2 poker nights
• Gotten the pictures from the wedding (http://johnchristopherphoto.com/marleta+john/)
• Spent a portion of the money and gift cards we received on registry items we didn't get and other things that have been on our wish list for a while.

I just finally got the Thank You cards in the mail yesterday. Now, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do next.  For the first time in over a year, I don't have a project or any deadlines in my personal life. (We were only engaged for 9 months, but before that we spent about 4 months choosing and buying our house.)

It's a nice feeling to not have something big looming... We've watched movies at home the last two nights, which we didn't do as much in the past year because there's always been some task to focus on. I like being able to goof off and not feel like I'm shirking some responsibility. I hope it stays that way for at least a little while.

I Hear Miami is Nice this Time of Year

Honeymoon Day 8 - Monday, May 9, 2011 - Return trip to Dallas, with unplanned Miami excursion

Monday morning, we woke early at 4:00 am (3:00 am Dallas time), so we could get ready in time for our taxi to pick us up at 5:15 am. It was a 45 minute ride the airport. Luckily, we were able to leave a little later than airline regulations would suggest because the airport in Tortola doesn't open until 6 am.  (Our flight was scheduled for 7:20 am, so according to airline recommendations we should have been at the airport at 5:20 am)

When we got to the airport at about 5:55 am, there was no counter agent at the American Airlines counter until about 6:20, so we just waited. In Tortola, after clearing the counter agent, you have to go to another desk to pay the BVI exit fee before going through security. After all the various check-points, we were waiting at the gate at about 6:45. Boarding should have started in about 10 minutes. We were headed home... or were we?

Several loud speaker announcements reminded passengers for our flight to San Juan to get to our gate for boarding, but then at 7:05, 15 minutes before our scheduled departure, they finally told us that the plane was having mechanical problems that would cause a 30 minute delay.  At 7:30, the delay was extended; at 8:00, it was extended again. By this point, passengers had started calculating the latest we could depart and still make the 11:20 connecting flight to Dallas (about 20 of us were headed for that Dallas flight). The verdict was that, if we left by 10:15, we'd probably be okay because it's a 30 minute flight, but we also had to clear customs in San Juan.

Because the Beef Island airport is very small, there is just a glass wall through which you can see the tarmac and all the planes, so we could see the mechanics on a ladder working on the propeller. There was a general murmur of excitement when the mechanics stepped away the propellers were fired up for a test. At 8:30, they announced to us that the plane was fixed and we would begin boarding when the crew arrived.

When the crew arrives?! They're not here? We were supposed to leave over an hour ago; why aren't they here? The crew did not arrive until 10:15. The gate attendant could give no explanation for why the crew wasn't there. I should point out that you could get to the airport from the furthest point on the island in an hour. Taking an hour and 45 minutes for the crew to arrive was absolutely ridiculous, particularly given the fact that the plane was already delayed over an hour for mechanical issues.

After all that frustration, the plane finally took off at 10:45 (30 minutes after our deadline to make our Dallas connection). When we got to San Juan, we got through customs relatively quickly, but despite our Dallas flight being 30 minutes delayed, we saw that the flight had already departed when we got through customs. All the Dallas-bound passengers got in line for re-booking. The agents were a little overrun. In fact, one said in a loud  voice to us that only passengers who have missed their flight should be in this line. We all, slightly annoyed, responded that we had, in fact, all missed the same Dallas flight because of the crew not showing up for our flight until 3.5 hours late.

Luckily though, American Airlines was able to rebook us through Miami to make it to Dallas that same day.  It would be at 10:15 pm instead of 3:30 pm, but at least, we weren't having to spend the night in the San Juan airport for the next flight to Dallas.

We ate lunch at an airport grill. We were both starving by that point because we'd just had a couple pieces of bread left over for our breakfast, thinking that we would have a better breakfast in San Juan 3.5 hours earlier. I had Quesadillas and John had a Bacon Burger.

The flight to Miami was un-eventful. The Miami airport was particularly overpriced and annoying. We ate dinner at the Corona Beach restaurant, which refused to make even the slightest substitution (which resulted in me eating the rice off John's plate and John eating the fries off my plate).  I had ribs and John had fish tacos... it was by far the worst meal of the trip.

We were exhausted, but delighted to finally be on the way home when we boarded the flight to Dallas.  John's parents met us at baggage claim in Dallas, and we finally got home a little after 11 pm, we'd been awake for 20 hours, and a particularly frustrating 20 hours at that.

Since we didn't take any pictures on that long day, here's a few pictures from after we got back.

The scene we came home to

Another view of the mess that was our entry room.

A few gifts had come while we were away, and this is probably John's favorite

Day 2 to Day 7 - See the difference?

When we got back several people said to us, "You didn't tan at all".  To those people, you are wrong... we were just pretty pasty when we left.  :)

And thus ends the account of the Hansen Honeymoon.  Despite the frustration of the last day, we really enjoyed ourselves, and we hope to go back and stay on Cane Garden Bay for a long weekend or holiday in the future.  

Yea!  We're Married!