So with the crushing pressures of school, work, bishopric, and baby, blogging or any form of journal entry has eluded me for the past 6 months. But I think there is still time to log back on here and add some of my personal ramblings. *Maybe* you can look for more frequent updates of the other blogs as well.
Lest you think nothing has happened, here is the executive summary of January-June in the Camacho household:
-January: bitter cold persists. We start weekly sports night at church, Manny reads A Death in the Family and takes one more class than he was supposed to in order to fit in a course on Energy Markets. Lorie leaves for Grandma's funeral and misses submitting a completed assignment by one day. The loving professor gives her a zero, docking off 10% of her final grade.
-February: Emmy gets her MRI and becomes the superstar of the doctor's office. We explore downtown and go to IKEA for a low-key anniversary. Manny starts the nightmare of tax preparation. His dad comes to visit and while loving Clear Lake and slightly poo-pooing the Woodlands, is utterly disgusted with Galveston. We were blocked off from doing anything due to Mardi Gras.
-March: Spring is beautiful in Houston. Manny begins his first quarter quell of the year (this is the term I give to the 4 months out of the year where I am in charge of assigning speakers, talking in primary, etc. etc.), both of us get behind on school due to March Madness and Jimmer-mania, and Manny goes on a lightning-fast loading for work in SLC. It was neat to be able to see a temple shining from within refinery gates. We also finally discover what Three Wolf Moon was.
-April: since the Final Four (and MVP crowning) takes place in Houston, we are able to meet The Jimmer. We also take advantage of the beautfiul weather to bike the seawall in Galveston. Lorie's parents leave on a mission, and we help them clean out a storage unit, pack, and send them on their merry way. We are entrusted with taking care of their mail and home. Emmy starts crawling.
-May: Starting to heat up. Houston is caught in a major drought . School is finally over and the Energy Markets class, while still being possibly the greatest course Manny has taken, was still a huge burden on the family. Lorie finishes all classes except two, and moves to a full-time (part from home) schedule at work, with a significant bump in pay. Emmy starts eating and getting into everything imaginable. We fly out to Portland to visit J&K and attend Mike's wedding.
-June: here we are. Drought finally ended this week, and things are looking up. We are both in intense coursework over the summer. Lorie's will end soon. We will still try and walk together for graduation though. We had a cake/service auction in the ward to raise money for girls' camp. It was a sweet time.
Brings us to today. I'm studying for a major marketing exam tonight, but have found myself burned out and instead looking up #palindrome s on twitter. Some of my favorites:
Never odd or even
SAIPPUAKIVIKAUPPIAS (Finnish word)
Mr owl ate my metal worm
Devil never even lived
Go hang a salami. I'm a lasagna hog.
Ow, trollop! Pull a Gallup poll or two!
6th month repentance
Illegal Immigrants
--
--
Twitter Fail Message
Well, this is a little too honest. When did twitter servers get an attitude?
read this today and thought you might enjoy...
Happy July. Here's a hundred degrees...
Well it has been quite an exciting time for us here in Houston. The mosquitoes are launching a full scale attack and the heat is quite unbearable at times, but we continue onward day by day. After we returned exhausted from our trip, I realized that I had a midterm in one week (covering half of my class and 50% of the final grade).and I hadn't yet opened the book to look at the class material. To make things worse, the three hour exam was on my birthday. So those days were kind of a blur. Friday I stayed late at work and on Saturday (my birthday) I had to go in early to work instead of being able to study. Somehow, though, I got through it and by the afternoon I was ready to relax.
For dinner, we went to Dharma Cafe, a classy little restaurant downtown that had some of the most excellent food I've had - they make all of their noodles and blueberry scones in house, and you have to love a place like that, right?
On the way back, we talked about playing some game when we got home. So when we went upstairs to try the wii....I had a surprise party waiting for me! I really had no idea - I had plenty of signs but was just so distracted the week before. The party included karaoke and some passion fruit sorbet. Thanks guys for an amazing time.
Sid also remembered my birthday because one day many months ago at a dinner Lorie took his blackberry and added my birthday into his calendar.
Since then, things have been much more peaceful. Work is going better (no trips planned for a little while) and we have a good ward here. Lorie is getting big and ready to pop. We all had dinner at the country club tonight - prime rib with some horseradish sauce. Delicious, but not quite as good as the Tesco brand horseradish in the UK.
--
Manny Camacho
Redonkulous - used since 1980?
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/a-freakonomics-quiz-on-redonkulous-new-words/
turkey in the straw
One of the great things about living in Texas is that you run into people everyday - at the checkout line in the store, at church, at the swap meet - who have the most awesome Southern accents and demeanor. Our ultrasound technician is one of these. We are so happy to see her every time we meet and we end up chatting with her at length very time. Well, this time we came determined to find out the sex of our baby. Every time the technician tried to catch an image, baby would roll around and fold its legs. Like it knew we were watching. Very modest. The technician kept saying "You have a little turkey here!" "You're just a turkey!" Hilarity ensued. Eventually we caught her, and that's right, we are having a girl! So I guess she is a hen.
Banking meets Broadway
Bet Against The American Dream from Planet Money on Vimeo.
At least it's better than Love Never Dies.
It's not good when an economist says "yikes."
For church history nerds
Here is an interesting article (albeit long) about the history of Mormon hymns and their selection. It would be a blast to be on that committee....
http://www.lifeongoldplates.com/2010/03/hicks-how-to-make-and-unmake-mormon.html
My favorite part: when the committe justified their deletions in the 1975 edition. They called Who's on the Lords Side, Who: “amateurish, jingoist, and self-congratulatory, with music that sounds like a cheap London dance hall tune.”
Our Christmas Present
I usually don't brag about my presents, but this year Lorie got me a piece of plastic with some pee on it.
And I couldn't be happier!
I know it's belated....
But this one is worth it. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a prosperous new year to everyone!
um...ok...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19067777
Q: What's the difference between a lawyer and a catfish?
A: One is a slimy, bottom dwelling, scum sucker. The other is a fish.
'sno joke
Houston broke a record today. Today is the earliest day in the year (for all of recorded history) that houston has had buckets of snow. Last year we made a snowman and gave him a cowboy hat and a sniper rifle. This year...well, the novelty is starting to wear off. But hey, I guess it beats hurricanes. And we'll be back up to the 60's by Monday. Now to figure out where that ice scraper's been hiding...
Posts
