I had some vacation hours saved up at work, so I got to leave early Thursday to head home. This was my first foray into Southwest Airlines from Houston, so I had no idea how it would go. It was also the first time I flew out of Hobby. Both of those firsts were great. Hobby is close and convenient to work/apartment, and Southwest is freakin sweet. They do open-seating on the flights, which means you get to sit whereva you want; it also means not many people on the flights, which is always nice. Heck, they even serve you TWO packages of peanuts...watch out.
I flew in to Jackson around 4:45 pm CST Thursday. It was great to see the rents and dogs again.
Mom and I woke up early Friday morning and headed towards Chattanooga. The drive wasn't bad at all, but I guess I am so used to driving to Chattanooga from Starkville that the extra miles to get there from Jackson were pretty long. I thought the trip would never end...but thankfully it did, and Mal was waiting for us when we arrived. Mom went off to see her best friend(and my Godmother) Ann Henderson, who lives high atop Lookout Mountain.
Mal, Robin, and I headed up to their apartment so I could get my stuff up there. I quickly changed clothes, and we went to meet Mal's friends to go walking around the park area and walking bridge. The weather was great, and it was very relaxing. I PROMISE that there is a funny pic of me running through the fountain there, but I don't have it yet. I'll post it right as soon as I get it, so stay tuned.
After the park, Mal and I cleaned up and got ready for the Chemistry Banquet. Once again, we matched well. It seems we always do, no matter the occasion. Kinda bizarre.
Smile :)
The banquet started off kinda funny. We all sat down for maybe 3 minutes before the fire alarm went off. So we had to chill outside for about 25 minutes. The weather was still nice, so that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We even got a photo opp :
What to do when waiting for the Firemen? Cheez for the camera, of course!
The banquet eventually continued, and Mal was able to get her award. Some people there got like 10 awards, but they were seniors/graduate students. Mal is only in her sophomore/junior year, so she's gonna be rackin' em up in a year or so. Besides, Mal plays like 34 sports, whereas the other students there....not so much.
Mal had to study some Friday night, but she had something to keep me occupied. She surprised me with a gift: APOLLO 13, the Anniversary Edition. Oh my god, it was awesome. The movie was great in dvd quality, and I can't wait to plug it into my sound system. The extras are also pretty sweet. They have interviews with the 3 Apollo 13 astronauts, a feature on the past 45 years of human spaceflight, and a making-of documentary that is incredible. This dvd is definitely one that has tons of replay value.
Saturday was fun. We woke up around 10:00 am, and we headed to meet Marcie, one of Mal's soccer girls. Marcie, Mike(her boyfriend), Mal, and I all headed to this water hole near Soddy Daisy. We had to cross a ferocious river(ok, maybe not that serious, but it was still a water barrier we had to cross) to get to the path that eventually led to the water hole. It was a funny sight, and I am sure we would have gotten pics had we not been knee high in water. It was another 1/2 mile or so to the water hole, and it was well worth the hike.
Okay...one Van Halen song comes to mind. I'm not gonna say it...I'm sure you can figure it out. This water was sooooo cold, believe me.
Saturday night Mal took me to one of her favorite restaurants, The Acropolis. It's a Greek restaurant(as if you couldn't tell), and we split the Mediterranean Chicken. It was devine...quite possibly the 2nd best chicken I have ever had.(Just for the record, Bill Horne, my dad, holds the top spot. Just come by our house on the 4th of July. My dear lord, it's chicken and bbq heaven)
After the great meal we went to see Fever Pitch at the theater. Mal knew the guy at the ticket counter, so we got in for free! SWEET! The movie was great...I think it may be the first romantic comedy I truly enjoyed. I mean, what self-respecting Sox fan wouldn't enjoy that movie?!!? It had loads of great Red Sox humor, and it was grreat to see all the places I have been. All during the movie I kept saying in my head, "Ooh Ooh, I've been there!!"...and there was a new trailer for Episode III....words cannot describe how excited I am about that one.
Sunday I offered to run some errands for Mal while she studied for finals. The first half of it went ok: I went to Wal Mart and got the stuff she needed. The second half, not so good. I went to the car wash, and I couldn't get the driver's side window to go up...not good. I called her, and we tried to figure a way to get it to go up; no luck. So I start driving back to her place, all the while holding down the window button. I get about 3 blocks from her place, and the window goes up. WTF! I pick her up anyways, and we try to find someone to tell us what is wrong. We learn that it was gonna be about 100 bucks to fix it, so we held off from that. We went back to the apartment.
Sunday night Robin, Alicia, Mal, and I went out to eat at TGIF's. We had a great time just talking, laughing, and taking pictures.
TGIF. I had the salmon. Mal had the hot wings. All had a good time.....wow, I should write novels.
Well, we weren't ready to just call it a night after dinner. Mal had the brilliant idea of going to play putt-putt. She even paid for my game :)
Mal not only won 3 Majors last year, but she also is the reigning WPBA pool champion.
So let's recap the things Mal did for me this weekend:
1) bought my banquet ticket/dinner
2) paid my movie ticket(even though we got in for free)
3) bought me Apollo 13, Anniversary Edition
4) paid for my putt-putt game
And those are just some of them. She really went out of her way to make sure I enjoyed my visit this weekend :)
Mom and I drove away Monday morning, and we made it just in time for my flight back to Houston from Jackson.
So yeh, I was tired by the time I got back Monday night. I even managed to park in the SHORT TERM parking lot(even though I could have sworn I followed the signs to long term when I got there Thursday), so my bill for parking was $60. Yeh, that didn't make me too happy.
I'm back in Houston, and it's gettin warm here...very warm. This means that I gots to start working out again. No excuses. Summer is fast approaching, and I'm gonna be hanging out with all the beach/pool people, so my body needs to get in shape, haha. I found the great volleyball courts today, so volleyball is a GO. I'm tryin to get something going for this weekend.
The shuttle launch has been pushed back due to mishandled paperwork :( That means I don't get to experience the launch atmosphere from Mission Control :(, but I'll definitely be able to get the experience next term.
Speaking of that...I've decided where I'm going next semester, in terms of groups at NASA. I'm going to the GNC(guidance, navigation,and control) group for the Space Shuttle, which is totally bitchin', cuz that is exactly what my major is good for: orbital mechanics and astrodynamics, the stuff that I really get into. I'm very excited about it, and I'll give you all more info. as the term nears the end.
Well I gotta go to Wal Mart and restock my rations. I'm out. Have a great Thursday!
P.S. GO SOX!!! 5 in a row this weekend wasn't bad at all :) Schiller is back to old form, Wells is pitching great at this moment against Baltimore, Manny's swing is back, and Edgar Renteria is really pulling his weight. NICE trade, Theo :)
P.P.S I figured out the .Ra accounts at State are for personal use, so I can now FTP like a mo-fo. See my new profile pic on the right-----------------> ? Mal sent that to me. I think it's from Prom, but I'm not sure. Also, I can make my own wishlist with the webspace from State, so check my profile soon for a list of all the goodies I want :)
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