Thursday, September 28, 2006

In Bloom!


After all the rain last weekend at our house, all of our plants have started to bloom, and the grass has started to turn green again, which is a wonderful change from that ugly shade of brown it had started to turn due to our horrendous lack of rain!

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Fun at the Circus!

So even though my mom claims that I have been to a circus before, I don't have any memories of it. So when my friend Jen recommended that a group of us go to the Alzafar Shrine Circus this weekend, I decided to go for it! Phil was volunteering at the Valero Texas Open, so he could not come along, and I brought my good friend Lena instead.

We all met up at Chris Madrid's for a yummy (albeit greasy) dinner before the show. Then we headed over to Freeman Colliseum, bought our tickets and our shrine circus hats, and headed inside for the show.

Before the show, people had indicated that this circus was inferior to the Barnum & Bailey circus, and that we may not have a good time. Some even called the circus "poor". However, we had also heard that there would be an opportunity to ride an elephant at this circus, so we didn't care what else happened as long as we could get a fantastic photo of us on the elephant!

Now, the first half of the show was great. It started off with a man on a motorcycle way up in the air going round and round, and he was attached to this pole, which on the other side swung a woman from a bar that she hung from. They both took turns turning round and round going up and down, all hanging high up in the air. Pretty impressive. There was also a tiger show (which leaved something to be desired to be honest), but there were some great drummers, really cool acrobatic tricks, the hula-hoop lady, etc. By intermission, we had decided this circus was great!

So during intermission we rush down to center stage to get in line for the elephant ride. Literally, picture 7 of us fully grown men and women running across the floor to get in line. I guess I should back up and tell you that we had also picked our seats at the beginning of the show accordingly so that we would have the easiest and quickest access to the floor as possible to get in line easily during intermission! So we get in line and are told that tickets are required. We send a few of the group to get tickets but in the meantime find out that it is not $7 per ride, but $7 per person!!!! We decided that we would not pay $50 for our group to ride on the elephant for 3 minutes. But we also realized that this circus was making LOTS of money, and maybe we were in the wrong business! Maybe I'll talk to my boss on Monday about investing in an elephant...

So needless to say, we did not get our cherished elephant ride in, but we got some photos pretty close to the huge animals, so we were still happy.

After intermission was our absolute favorite act! The elephants came out in two rings, 7 total. There were 6 adult elephants and one baby! They did great tricks, like spinning in circles, "holding hands" which was done by using their trunk to hold the next elephant's tail, laying down on their sides, getting up on their hind legs and putting their paws on the next elephant in line to form a train, sit on a chair, etc. It was soooo cute!

Monday, September 11, 2006

Go Diddy Go!

Too bad for Felicity-- if she wants to pursue pop stardom with the name "Diddy", the US and UK are already out for her (see important news article below)... But I think the Indian market is still open-- Go Diddy Go!

Diddy can't be Diddy in Britain
09/11/2006 11:07 AM, AP

Sean Combs is Diddy no more — at least in Britain. The musician and entertainment mogul has agreed to drop the Diddy name as part of an out-of court legal settlement with London-based music producer Richard "Diddy" Dearlove, the law firm representing Dearlove said Monday.
Solicitors Jens Hills & Co. said Combs had agreed to "rebrand his commercial activities" in Britain and would "no longer be able to trade in the U.K. as 'Diddy.'" Combs' lawyer, Nigel Calvert, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Combs — formerly known as Puffy and Puff Daddy — has used the moniker P. Diddy since 2001, but last year decided to be known solely as Diddy.

Dearlove launched a lawsuit for unfair competition, claiming the name change had caused confusion. The case had been due to go to the High Court next month.

"I started getting e-mails from Puerto Rican girls asking if they could be in my video and people were asking me to look at their clothing line," Dearlove was quoted as saying by The Guardian newspaper.

Combs, 36, whose fortune was last year estimated by Forbes magazine at $250 million, agreed to pay Dearlove's costs, as well as "significant" damages, Dearlove's lawyer said.
Dearlove, 40, best known for his 1990s dance remix of Blondie's "Atomic," told The Guardian he was "happy and relieved."

"It doesn't matter how big people become," he said. "This is my name. I've been successful too. I'm not a global megastar, but what I do is valid."
__
On the Net:
Richard "Diddy" Dearlove: http://www.diddyland.com
Sean Combs: http://www.diddyonline.com

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Gone Fishin'


To celebrate Labor Day, Captain Larry Langford took us out on a fishing trip in the lower Laguna Madre bay. As you can see above, Phil caught the catch of the day!!
Just kidding!! We all know who the true angler is!! Now, Phil wants to debate what the true meaning of a great angler is. The dictionary definition is "a person who fishes with a hook and line" so I guess rather we are debating the true meaning of "great" when in relation to angler. While I believe in quality (i.e.- size) of fish caught, Phil believes sheer number is what creates a great angler. Honestly, doesn't he know who I am?! Fishing runs in my blood! I know it's a bit cliche, but fish really do fear me. Check out the delicious bass below. (Note, it really is a redfish and if you haven't seen Napoloen Dynamite, you really should!)


Phil did catch his fair share...

...but are fishermen supposed to kiss their catch?

We had a really great time, despite the fact that we had to leave the docks at the outrageously early hour of 6:30am. We headed towards the bridge where the bait was really schooling. We could see little mullet (or other bait) jumping in and out of the water all around us, which indicated to the cap'n that the fish were near. The sun had not even come up yet when we began to catch. Phil fished with artificial lures the whole time and when that wasn't working for me, I took "the easy route" and switched to frozen mullet. That made me happy because I caught the huge redfih seen above on my first cast with mullet.

We did not keep any fish all morning (catch & release) but had we kept them, we probably would have had our limit by the time we headed in by 9:00. Dad did a wonderful job guiding us to the fish, and even though Mom could not fish due to her still-healing wrist, she was a wonderful cheerleader.