Troubles McSteans

This is most likely the last you'll hear from me before next week, seeing as Ryan and I are off to the Bay Area tomorrow. We'll be taking some long overdue vacation (we haven't had a trip that didn't involve being frozen in horror in our hotel room by 9/11 coverage since our honeymoon in 2000) and visiting with Doug and Kristen. The weather looks to be perfect this week - 57°-80° every day and sunny so hopefully it will be a good trip. I'm blogging at 6:30 in the morning because I got up early to shuttle my Brazil bound parents to the airport. My brain could not process the situation when my alarm went off at 5:30 and the room was pitch black. I love how the first conclusion I always make is that I must have made a mistake and set my alarm for midnight or something. I am now attempting to gnaw my way through what tastes like a three day old sausage biscuit from McDonald's. Maybe not the best decision to consume fast food when we'll be eating out all we...

Today was the first time we've been able to visit Barton Springs in about 3 weeks and it happened to be a free day. We'd already planned to head out early to try and beat the crowds, but then discovered by watching News 8 that there was no fee at the pool today, which meant to expect an absolute zoo. After swinging by the Hop-a-Long Lounge to collect Jason, we arrived poolside around 11:30. I finally got the chance to use my new $.99* float, which was nice. Floats are perfect at Barton Springs. It's too cold to remain submerged for any length of time and it gets too hot sitting up on the hill. If you're camped up on a float you can splash yourself every so often to cool off. Anyhoo, after we'd been in the water for about 10 minutes, Ryan spotted a man in distress being treated poolside. We couldn't figure out if he was having heart issues or couldn't breathe, or what, but EMS showed up and eventually carted him off. He appeared to be conscious and tal...

If you enjoyed Mystery Science Theater back in the day, you'll be happy to know that those same guys are still in business. They now have a website called Rifftrax (warning: site has autoplay) where you can download their commentary on a wide variety of popular films. They've recently started allowing fans to create and sell their own spoofs. The Dug and his pals jumped at the opportunity and have mocked 2 short films. They operate under the name Team Swizzlebeef and their latest offering is in my totally unbiased opinion, hilarious. Seriously, though, it's really damn funny. You can find it here . Also, here's why you will never catch me anywhere near a theater that's showing the new Transformers. Warning: massive spoilers, but does anyone care? Thanks to Doug for the link.

Today Troubles McSteans celebrates our one year anniversary. Hurrah! Thanks to all three of my readers! My mom just left. We've been cleaning since 9 this morning for our 4th of July shindig on Saturday. The house is now 85% devoid of pet hair (that's really the best one can hope for) and smells of floor cleaner. If you're going to be in the area on Saturday, feel free to drop by the house for some burgers and dogs to celebrate the U.S. of A. Now I'm camped out on the couch, pondering a nap and listening to Lucy snoring. The dogs had a big morning, what with fleeing the vacuum, various wrestling matches, and spending about an hour in the yard while we dealt with the floor. Jason is back from his big trip to London and it sounds like he had a great time. He's on his way over to collect Miss Cassidy. Cassidy has had a good visit - she's been a great houseguest and fun playmate for Lucy. It's getting to be time for us to get another dog. Lucy really ...

After finally getting to bed at a decent hour for the first night in about a week, I woke up this morning around 5 with a migraine. Luckily I had the senses to bypass the pills and go straight for my Imitrex shot, which gets the drug in your system about 10 times faster and saves me from the 2 hours of flopping around in bed waiting for the medicine to kick in. The headache quickly subsided and I was back asleep within 10 minutes. The downside of the shot is, it's a bit powerful if I haven't taken one in a while, so I was a bit groggy when I woke up again at 7:30. It's honestly a miracle I made it out of bed at all what with the drowsiness and the soft rolling thunder outside and the comfiness of the bed. I'd been shirking my Lucy walking duties for about a week for one reason or another, so we both were in desperate need of getting out to stretch our legs. Keeping a watchful eye on the encroaching clouds we headed out. The walk was bizarre. It was incredibly warm...

This is a So You Think You Can Dance post. If you don't give a darn, you are dismissed. We'll catch you next time. So...last night's show. I was thoroughly unimpressed. Toni Basil is one of their worst judges in my opinion and I'm really getting tired of Mary's screaming so I was fast forwarding through the judging portions for the most part. Here is my take on the dancing: Karla and Jonathan: Hip Hop (Dave Scott) I'm sad to say after last week's gorgeous routine that these two offered up the weakest dance of the night. I think Jonathan is cute as a button and impressed me last week, but with the hip hop...ai yai yai. That was....not good. Karla was okay, but I wasn't even invested enough in the choreography to sit still through the whole thing. I went to let Cassidy inside towards the end and didn't feel like I missed anything. I fear Jonathan may be leaving us this week. Asuka and Vitolio: Jazz (Mandy Moore) I just cannot get excited abou...