Is it really December?

Austin, TX gave my mom a hearty, warm welcome when she flew in for a visit. With sunny skies and highs in the mid-seventies, I had all kinds of things to show off here. Weather like that makes everything so utterly charming and pleasant.

We walked the green belt along Town Lake, ate some great soul food and fish tacos, walked South Congress Avenue where my we were given a timely sighting to Leslie wearing a mini skirt and faux sheep skin boots. There were all kinds of adventures to be had.

Yep, there was even some tree climbing. It turned into a bit of an extreme sport.

It's too bad she has to leave tomorrow morning because I really believe there just won't be no sunshine when she's gone...

Christmas time is here...

DO DEE DO DEE DOooo

I have to say that this season has been a good reminder at how marvelous it can be to push obligatory Christmas traditions aside and do whatever it is that seems like a good idea. Really, it was so liberating to not feel like I had to bake a huge number of cookies to send out to all friends and neighbors while listening to every single Christmas album I have collected over time. Nope. There was no necessity to watch my favorite Christmas flicks or make sure I found myself a glazed ham to have a slice of before the 25th. Nope. And thank goodness I got through without even so much as watching one scene from "A Christmas Story". Sorry, I know it's a classic for lots of you but for me it has become as cliche and painful to try and enjoy as it is for many to receive a fruitcake or an ugly reindeer sweater on Christmas morning and feign excitement.

This is not to say I have ba-humbugged the whole season. (I've tried that somewhat before and it really just left me as frustrated as it had buying in to every little Christmas requirement) Quite the opposite happened really because with all those demands pushed aside I was able to make way for some great new events that gave me all kinds of holiday cheer.

Austin's "Trail of Lights" was one. I guess this could be considered a pretty traditional Christmas activity but it felt like a new experience to me. After rounding up some of our favorite peoples from the Shoal Creek Ward:), we headed downtown to pick up a shuttle that took us to Zilker Park's light spectacle. You can just imagine how excited we all got when we saw this amazing little number waiting in line for the shuttle. We knew there would be something really breathtaking when we got there if we were already seeing such fine holiday light workmanship...

It was really pretty dazzling though when we got there. With the meticulous lighting and the thematic scenes every few feet it seemed a bit like the Temple Square lights met up with O.C. Tanner candy windows. I was pretty overwhelmed.

And would you believe that this year it turned out to be the best idea ever to have a Crab Boil for Christmas Eve dinner than a ham or a turkey? Well, maybe that doesn't apply to everbody but it seriously applied to all us Sweeneys here in Ada. My gosh! Kielbasa, King Crab legs, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes and shrimp really was the good and proper way for us all to celebrate this fine season. There were traditional moments. We did use nut crackers to open up the crab claws and we ended with homemade pecan fudge.

YACK!

Today I grocery shopped to a mix of flamboyant Christmas songs. I know. I know. The controversy of when it is time to bust out Christmas yore is an old one. You either find Christmas the delightfully ubiquitous holiday that should last all year long, or you find it is insufferably dominating of any event after the 4th of July. All the same, I have to express my two concerns about shopping to "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" and "Let it Snow" this afternoon.

1. It is November 8th.

2. It was 81 degrees today.

Keeping it weird this Halloween season.

Yep. It's true. Austin just broke the record for the largest Thriller dance in the world. Something like 880 people? Check it out.

Texas Football Season

Football gets a whole lot cooler when you move to Texas. I still can't tell a holding penalty from a first down or what determines whether the clock is running or not - and who came up with the scoring system? No matter really. Because when you move to "Longhorn Country" all you have to know is how to eat several hotdogs in one sitting and when to yell at the refs with your fist in the air. Once you've got that down and put on your burnt orange T-shirt you fit in with all the rest of the veteran crowd. A big thanks to the Livingston's next door for showing us how it is done this afternoon. It was a pretty sweet upset when O.U. got hooked by them horns. Sorry Sweeneys. You chose yourself the wrong state to live in this season.

GRE scheduled for Dec 6

Right before I signed up last Saturday I took a verbal practice test. I did fine, I think, for a first time but I can't help counting on the non-competative nature of library science schools to calm my admissions-thoughts. Given the choice what would you guess about me and tests?

Cate : Computer Adaptive Standardized Tests

A. Peas : Carrots

B. Andy Rooney : Misanthrop

C. Humanities Undergraduate Degree : Lucrative

D. Michael Moore : Weight Watchers

E. Black Cats : Augury

Could it be true that I the most in common with Michael Moore and his eating habits when it comes to test taking abilities? I don't know. Maybe you have a better idea of the relationship between the stem pair...

Happy Autumn to y'all!

It doesn't feel like Fall yet here and not just because we are still getting highs in the mid 90s during the day. Well, that is part of it I guess, but I can't complain being that this last Saturday was perfect Barton Creek swimming weather. I spent nearly an hour stretching out my strokes back and forth in its balmy 67 degree, 1/8 mile long splendor.

I'll admit though that putting on my goggles and staring straight down to what was below my feet gave me a bit of a start. Okay, so I even choked on some spring water. Truly, it was not much different from what a serene snorkeling experience would be like among reefs in azure water I guess. But instead of blue the water it was slightly green and in place of intricate corals there were swaying leaves of plants that seem to reach up to me. When the sudden beds of algae appeared after several strokes of green nothingness and then fish would unexpectantly wiggle below my torso I began to feel a bit threatened. There was so much coming and going, rising and falling below me when I swam. It was just not at all like the blue stripe I normally follow while moving back and forth afloat a chlorinated, cement bottom swimming pool. I'll admit, I got really panicked down there.

I had to take a break after about half an hour and lift my face from the water. While I was drinking from my water bottle on the side of the pool I heard some local swimmers talking about their swim they just finished together. They seemed to know a lot about the pool and so I started asking them some questions about etiquette: what side to swim on to help traffic flow, whether one can swim during the winter there, and well...how are do you feel about the... uh... wildlife below?

In addition to telling me that this is the greatest place in the world to swim and that just like with most things in the city "there are no real rules" about how and what direction you swim in the pool, they also started telling me about encounters they had had with fresh water eels at times in the creek. Apparently, one of the swimmers had swam above one as long as her 5 foot frame. I tried not to respond too much before hearing what she had to say about it. "Yeah, it was one of the neatest things I have ever seen. It wasn't too excited about me one way or the other. It was just poking its head around in the silt and didn't seem too interested in my activities."

It took a minute to calm my initial horror at the thought of swimming in stride with an eel as long as me but then I got to feeling kind of like she did about it. It was pretty cool to be swimming with all these green creatures. I was sure I still needed some adjusting time and so I took another dive into the creek to test out my new approach. With a bit of effort the creepy turned to curious and then to absolute fascination and serenity. I mean swimming among band-aides swaying like algae and flailing babies in water wings all the sudden seems much more threatening.

Cinematic Pest Encounters

Does Utah even have cockroaches? I swear I don't remember any. That is to say that I don't recall any experiences like the one from this last Wednesday morning when I was opening my eyes after rinsing the soap out of my hair and coming nose to antennae with a roach on the shower wall. There is nothing quite like it really. It makes me think that maybe all those crazy terrible sci-fi movies like...I don't know maybe The Cockroach that Ate Cinncinati or RoboRoach seem a bit more relevant and threatening. I will say though that the cinematic drama of this experience was a little anti-climactic when the pest control guy came and he was nothing like the hard core John Goodman exterminator. But he did fill up our apartment with something toxic smelling and the roaches have been gradually emerging from their dark hiding places, laying on their backs, and going stiff on our floors. So he did get the job done as far as I can tell. It's just seems a shame that Mr. Ed Wood wasn't around before we gased them. I am sure he could have used this for some raw footage to make a new film to add to his repetoire.

Yee Haw!

How is this for feeling like a good and proper Texas resident? Matt and I got our Lone Star plates...

Now all I need to do to fit in more on the roads here is to abstain from using my blinker while changing lanes.

Oh and the best news. The super greatest part about Texas life now is that I have a job doing this. You see that lady's name Marilyn? Well, I am the new Marilyn. That is to say I am the new cataloguer and assistant librarian at Cedar Park High School. Yep, and thus I am awesome ....er... something.

As requested...

So I got tagged for the same-ish kind of thing by two different people. The questions are a little different (so I'll combine them a bit) and one said to use "flikr" to get the images while the other said "Picasa". I'm more familiar with Picasa so that's what I'll use, unless of course I don't like the looks of their pictures. That said, this goes out the Lance/Jenn combo and Joy. Anyone interested in answering these questions on their blog and attaching their favorite images to each answer, I would love to have a look see at how it turns out.

What is your first name? Cate-spelled like the beautiful Blanchett.

Favorite thing to do? Be outdoors...especially places where I can smell pine.

Favorite color? Most of the time I would say Yves Klein blue but the only image search I can do pulls up a stupid looking guy with a baby in an art gallery. So, how about when it comes to shoes? In that case I say red.

Dream career? Academic librarian.

Favorite time of year? Autumn

Guilty pleasure? Pop-tarts

Dream vacation? Petra, Jordan.

One word to describe myself? Keen!