November 2007
More Friends
27 11 07 08:28
As you know, the plan was to see Circus Luminous at The Lensic with Oliver and Ruthanne Friday evening... it was GREAT! Not so much because it was the best circus show ever, but because it was a really home-brewed Santa Fe performance. All kinds of community members contributed all kinds of talent to the music, tech, and circus acts on stage. I knew a lot of the performers. Brian Mayhall and Paul Groetzinger performed some of their music for the show, as did Dino. What a blast to see everyone!
After the show, the four of us stopped by Hotel Santa Fe for some soup and conversation.
Saturday morning, we met up with Jesse and Cindy for brunch. It was great to catch up with Jesse, and to meet Cindy! I like Cindy a lot. She is really intelligent and generous, and was so friendly socially. We snapped this photo at the rail yard:
That evening we spent time catching up with Steven and Marla. Marla broke her foot rollerblading! Ouch! She is in a wheelchair now. Well, that is to say she scoots around the townhouse in an office chair with teensy wheels. That qualifies as a wheelchair, no? They just moved in to a nice, new, big townhouse with decent rent. Enough room for lots of guests, like everyone they had over for Thanksgiving weekend. They seemed to be basking in the glow of their recent family visit, too.
Marla also has a lot of her Dad's artwork hung in the house. Now that she has earned her PhD, she is trying to sort out her career and future plans. Both Marla and Steven are such gifted people, and it sounds like they have a struggle ahead of themselves to both land someplace where both of their careers can thrive. It will be interesting to see where they land in a decade...
After visiting Marla and Steven, we headed back to the Paxtons and spent a relaxing last night in Santa Fe, leaving early the next morning. We stopped in Albuquerque to have breakfast at iHop with José, then pretty much drove straight home. Wait, no, we stopped in Wilcox for early dinner...
One last picture of the Paxton's kittens:
After the show, the four of us stopped by Hotel Santa Fe for some soup and conversation.
Saturday morning, we met up with Jesse and Cindy for brunch. It was great to catch up with Jesse, and to meet Cindy! I like Cindy a lot. She is really intelligent and generous, and was so friendly socially. We snapped this photo at the rail yard:
That evening we spent time catching up with Steven and Marla. Marla broke her foot rollerblading! Ouch! She is in a wheelchair now. Well, that is to say she scoots around the townhouse in an office chair with teensy wheels. That qualifies as a wheelchair, no? They just moved in to a nice, new, big townhouse with decent rent. Enough room for lots of guests, like everyone they had over for Thanksgiving weekend. They seemed to be basking in the glow of their recent family visit, too.
Marla also has a lot of her Dad's artwork hung in the house. Now that she has earned her PhD, she is trying to sort out her career and future plans. Both Marla and Steven are such gifted people, and it sounds like they have a struggle ahead of themselves to both land someplace where both of their careers can thrive. It will be interesting to see where they land in a decade...
After visiting Marla and Steven, we headed back to the Paxtons and spent a relaxing last night in Santa Fe, leaving early the next morning. We stopped in Albuquerque to have breakfast at iHop with José, then pretty much drove straight home. Wait, no, we stopped in Wilcox for early dinner...
One last picture of the Paxton's kittens:
Day After Thanksgiving
23 11 07 15:06
This morning we had left over chocolate cake and pie for breakfast with the Paxtons, then headed out to meet Jim and Joseph for lunch. At 11am we met up with them at their house, then we walked to the India Palace near the plaza. It was great to catch up with them! We all stuffed ourselves with buffet, then walked back to Jim and Joseph's place to pick up their doggie, passing through the plaza to pause for a photo with Mr. Snowman:
We all took the dog for a walk in an arroyo near their house, then Carl and I parted.
Now we are relaxing with the Paxtons and their kitties, and have plans to meet up with Oliver and Ruthanne to see Circus Luminous at The Lensic this evening.
We all took the dog for a walk in an arroyo near their house, then Carl and I parted.
Now we are relaxing with the Paxtons and their kitties, and have plans to meet up with Oliver and Ruthanne to see Circus Luminous at The Lensic this evening.
Thanksgiving
22 11 07 20:31
We came to Santa Fe for Thanksgiving!
We have an entire weekend of social plans, all of my making... and poor Carl has to tag along! I'm sure he's willing, though. I asked him several times if my making all the plans was OK, and he indicated that it was fine. I think he enjoys my friends and enjoys seeing me with them.
Sooo... Thanksgiving dinner was with the Paxton's. We rolled in about 1:00pm. We spent the night in T or C to break up the drive, and left there at about 9:45 this morning. Since dinner was to happen at Zia Diner at 1:30pm, Carl and I parked in the lot and walked about the neighborhood until we were cold, then went in the diner to wait. Soon enough the maitre d' told us another couple in the Paxton's party had arrived. It was a couple of friends the Paxton's were expecting from Austin: Kim and Robin. Kim and Steve had worked together at Texas Tech. Moments later, Steve and Joy arrived, and minutes later, Oliver and RuthAnne joined us. When seated, Robin (and Kim) were to my right, Carl at the head of the table to my left, and Oliver (and Ruthanne) was directly across from me. Steve was at the other head of the table, with Joy seated between him and RuthAnne.
Oliver, RuthAnne, and I tend to be extremely silly when we are together, so dinner was a LOT of fun!
After dinner we all went up to see the Paxton's new house, as it is almost completed. It is going to be beautiful! I'm sure I will snap some panoramic photos before I leave.
Afterwards, we came home with Steve and Joy, where we will be staying for the weekend. They have two baby kittens, Chandler and Chance, seen here with Joy.
We have an entire weekend of social plans, all of my making... and poor Carl has to tag along! I'm sure he's willing, though. I asked him several times if my making all the plans was OK, and he indicated that it was fine. I think he enjoys my friends and enjoys seeing me with them.
Sooo... Thanksgiving dinner was with the Paxton's. We rolled in about 1:00pm. We spent the night in T or C to break up the drive, and left there at about 9:45 this morning. Since dinner was to happen at Zia Diner at 1:30pm, Carl and I parked in the lot and walked about the neighborhood until we were cold, then went in the diner to wait. Soon enough the maitre d' told us another couple in the Paxton's party had arrived. It was a couple of friends the Paxton's were expecting from Austin: Kim and Robin. Kim and Steve had worked together at Texas Tech. Moments later, Steve and Joy arrived, and minutes later, Oliver and RuthAnne joined us. When seated, Robin (and Kim) were to my right, Carl at the head of the table to my left, and Oliver (and Ruthanne) was directly across from me. Steve was at the other head of the table, with Joy seated between him and RuthAnne.
Oliver, RuthAnne, and I tend to be extremely silly when we are together, so dinner was a LOT of fun!
After dinner we all went up to see the Paxton's new house, as it is almost completed. It is going to be beautiful! I'm sure I will snap some panoramic photos before I leave.
Afterwards, we came home with Steve and Joy, where we will be staying for the weekend. They have two baby kittens, Chandler and Chance, seen here with Joy.
Stan
20 11 07 13:42
This past weekend I did a computer job for a faculty member from the College of Education, Stan, who needed help setting up wireless at his home. It ended up being an interesting technical challenge, because his laptop would crash with BSOD every time I turned on his wireless router when configured with WPA2 security; eventually I fixed it by downgrading the security on his new wireless router to WPA. It made me chuckle to think that people could unknowingly cause endless frustrations for neighbors who have laptops that crash if they try to negotiate with WPA2 encrypted ireless networks. Can you imagine? All of a sudden, for no reason, your laptop starts giving you BSOD at home when you are in reception range of your neighbors wireless network?! Most people would never, ever figure it out. LOL...
After finishing the job, though, Stan and I ended up talking about politics, GLBT youth and public schools, the work I used to do with SWAGLY, his work on GLBT issues through Tucson public school boards, his profoundly deaf children and their political differences and experiences, our experiences with religion and tolerance... In short, we really connected. We must have talked for two hours. What an amazing human being Stan is! I am so glad he is out there working to advance education.
After leaving, he sent me one of the nicest thank-you emails I have ever received.
I think I made a new friend!
After finishing the job, though, Stan and I ended up talking about politics, GLBT youth and public schools, the work I used to do with SWAGLY, his work on GLBT issues through Tucson public school boards, his profoundly deaf children and their political differences and experiences, our experiences with religion and tolerance... In short, we really connected. We must have talked for two hours. What an amazing human being Stan is! I am so glad he is out there working to advance education.
After leaving, he sent me one of the nicest thank-you emails I have ever received.
I think I made a new friend!