Two phone calls and four transfers, spread over 1/2 an hour, were all that I needed to get out of the jury summons. Once I was able to talk to the right person, I just told her I was going to be out of town. She asked if the tickets were already paid for, I told her they were, and she said she’d take me off the list.

That was a HUGE relief to me and Dale!

OK, central Texas doesn’t really have a lot of snow in its future, but Dale and I do. Sunday morning, we’re leaving for our first true vacation (meaning a trip that doesn’t revolve around visiting family members). We’re heading to Breckenridge, Colorado, for four days of falling down and crying like babies skiing!

Alas, powers-that-be seem to be working against us. First, our tax return didn’t get filed last week as we thought, so we’re not going to have that money in the bank until after we return. Then the bad weather of the last few days has prevented us from completing some essential shopping. And today we checked our mail for the first time in a couple of weeks, and I had been sent my first jury summons - for Monday! Now I have to call the courthouse in the morning and explain that I’m not going to be in the state on Monday.

Over the next three days, I have to work full time downtown for two of them, work in the evenings on another paying project, finish shopping, help Aaron get his yard ready for Zoë-sitting, and get out of jury duty. I hope that won’t be a hassle, because we can’t cancel the trip. Our tickets are non-refundable, and we are sorely in need of this trip. At least we can prove we paid for the trip before we received the summons. (The day before, as a matter of fact!)

Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) uses President Bush’s logic as reason for offing his less desirable neighbors.

“Since I’m the only one in the street with a decent range of automatic firearms, I reckon it’s up to me to keep the peace. But until recently that’s been a little difficult. Now, however, George W. Bush has made it clear that all I need to do is run out of patience, and then I can wade in and do whatever I want!”

It makes for a humorous read, but one with a disturbing and saddening point.

A little after 8, Dale and I decided to head out to take care of some pre-vacation shopping. (I’ll post about our upcoming trip later.) The sleeting had stopped, but in addition to the salt-like piles on the ground, a nice bumpy glaze had started to form over surfaces, like our car. Dale suggested sitting in the car as it warmed up, until the ice melted, but I got antsy and went in search of an ice scraper.

As I went through the garage, I glanced at a shelf and spotted one. Luck! I took it back and started on the windshield, then quickly froze my hands. So I went inside to find my thick gloves. Unfortunately, I was only able to find one of my gloves, but I got both of Dale’s. And during my trip through the laundry room, I spotted another ice scraper. (Both scrapers were relics from when we lived in Virginia. At least one of them probably hadn’t even been used since then.) I went back out and Dale was working with the scraper I’d left behind. He gratefully took his gloves, then we cleared as much of the windows as we could.

We’ve got a pretty steep driveway so we had to back down slowly. Once we got out of the neighborhood, we decided to skip the shopping and just go to dinner. It was only going to get icier, so I didn’t want to stay out any longer than necessary. After a nice meal at a nearby Mexican restaurant, we came home. The driveway was pretty slick, so after one cautious (failed) attempt, we decided to park at the curb in front of the house.

I’m doing some contract work this week for a company that’s all the way downtown. One of the managers called me this evening and told me not to risk driving in tomorrow morning if I didn’t feel comfortable. They’re going to let me work from home. I’m looking forward to work tomorrow. I’ll be sitting here in warm and fuzzy pajamas, with a nice big mug of hot cocoa next to my keyboard.

Oh wait, how’s that so different from one of my typical days?

It’s been sleeting for the past few hours. It’s also cold enough that the tiny ice pellets are starting to accumulate on the ground in white clumps. So far, it looks more like someone’s dumped coarse salt all over the place than like frozen beads of water. And it really doesn’t look like snow.

But snow is rare around this part of Texas. (The snow that fell a few weeks ago didn’t last a day.) Sleet is much more common, especially in February. And it looks like there are a few more days of it in store for us.

My friend’s husband, Tim, is in a band called The Dealers. They’re going to be playing another live show at Momo’s this Friday. If you’ve never been to Momo’s, this is a great chance to check out the place, listen to some great live music, and support some of our local artists.

The show starts at 7:15, so grab your coworkers and come out for happy hour!

Copies of the latest CD, Acoustic, are still available, along with the previous CD, California. If you don’t have them, now’s your chance to grab them! You can listen to tracks from their albums at their official web site.

Yep, I’ve redesigned. I was never completely happy with the last design, and there were some problems that I never quite got around to fixing, so I decided to start over, design-wise.

I’ve tried to be thorough in checking links and images, but it’s possible I’ve missed some things. So, if you come across anything that’s broken, please leave me a comment and let me know.

Oh, you can also leave a comment to let me know what you think of the new look. Thanks!

I’ve received a lot of suggestions for soothing my sore throat. Everything from popsicles to hot tea to coconut chicken soup. I really do appreciate all the advice and get well wishes.

Not long after posting, I ended up going to bed to lie next to the humidifier and read a book. I ended up falling asleep and napping on and off until late into the evening. When I awoke, my throat wasn’t nearly as sore, but my sinuses were surprisingly dry and uncomfortable. I came upstairs to check responses to my post, then went down to make hot tea (adding lemon and honey) and a bowl of spicy ramen.

I put too much lemon in the tea but drank it all anyway. It was kinda nasty but I could feel it helping. The spicy noodles did too, until I got to the end. As I was drinking the last of the liquid, some of the spice packet sediment (what hadn’t fully dissolved) hit the still-raw tissue of my throat. The agony was immediate.

Tears leaked from my eys as I fanned air into my open mouth, and I begged Dale to run and get me a cup of COLD water. The burning was so bad that my inner ears hurt. The water helped a little, but I still had to sit and pant with my mouth open and tongue hanging out to let as much cool air reach my throat as possible.

The pain from that has passed (thankfully), and overall my throat feels better. I’ll have more of the spicy ramen tomorrow, but now I know to skip drinking the leftover soup.

How do you get rid of a sore throat? I’ve got a pretty bad one. Gargling saltwater and taking lozenges aren’t doing any good because the effects of them don’t seem to reach far enough down my throat, where the pain is.

So far, only the occasional hacking cough that brings up a wad of phlegm, causes my eyes to tear up, and makes me wonder if I’m going to throw up, brings any sort of temporary relief. Perhaps it’s because the rest of my esophogus is hurting instead.

I’ve checked WebMD, and it doesn’t appear to be strep throat, since I have other cold symptoms (cough, sniffles, fatigue). I think it’s either laryngitis or a plain cold, neither of which is treatable by antibiotics, so I think I’m stuck toughing it out.

This is Day 3 of this sore throat, and it’s only getting worse. *cry*

I told you it was snowing last night.

It’s 2 am, and snowing in Austin, Texas.

Yeehaw!

Seven people died this morning. And I don’t fully know why it upsets me so greatly.

Of course, hearing this news, I can’t help but remember when seven other astronauts died.