Christmas Is Here!

Or should I say: Christmas Is Here?!

Where did this month, this year go?!

I really was not in the pre-Christmas spirit this month. It started with the car thing, which happened on the first Sunday of Advent. The next two weeks were packed with stress and drama. Looking for the car, making decisions, pressure of finite time with rental-car, having to think about it every day, knowing that Zoran will be leaving soon and I would have to make the final decision myself,.... Then the stress of Ciro being worse and worse, taking him to the vet, feedings, nightly seizures, lack of sleep,....

It dawned on me that Christmas was almost here on the fourth weekend of Advent, when my mom arrived and had me box the presents she brought, and I didn't even get her anything! I realized this year we have the longest Advent, with Christmas day falling on a Sunday, and was greatfull for that extra week to try to get into the spirit.

On Saturday, I made myself finish decorating the tree and putting up the lights outside.
On Sunday, we went to the Christmas concert at the Capitol.
On Monday, I went to reconciliation and to the Celtic concert at the Cathedral.
On Tuesday, mom went with me to that same concert.
On Wednesday, I did some Christmas shopping.
On Thursday, I went to see some weird Christmas lights displays on the 37th street with my friend Joe.
On Friday, mom and I drove through some neighborhoods in Round Rock, like we did last year, that had great lights and even synchronized with music.
On Saturday, we did some baking and I went to Midnight Mass at the Cathedral.

Packed week! I had to force myself to do some of these things. I was going to have as good of a time as I make it.

Christmas day was rainy and cold, perfect for staying inside and relaxing. We had a late start (since I didn't get to bed till 2am) and took our time with coffee and breakfast. Opened presents. Cooked a nice meal. Sipped some wine. Cleaned the fridge to fit all the food. Watched some movies.

It's still hard to believe that in just 3 (!!!!!!) days it will be 2012!

Where. Did. The. Year. Go?!!!

First Week of Mom's Visit

It has been a week since mom arrived. And it's been a busy one. We are adjusting nicely.

She is still a bit jet-legged, but is almost on Austin time. Every year when she arrives, the first thing she wants to do in the house is wash the windows. :) I never do it, but back in Bosnia that is at least a once-a-month chore, and since she notices dirty windows, she was cleaning one a day for the past week. A little exercise she calls it.

Our first outing was her second evening here, and we started with Costco and HEB, of all places. We are trying to figure out our meal and desert plans for the holidays, but didn't do well on the planning, so we had to go back shopping again few days later.

Saturday we had an early start. I finally finished decorating the Christmas tree, which I did in stages Then we went down south to the tint shop that did windows on my new car. There were few little bubbles they needed to fix, but once I was there I noticed even more bubbles on the read window. They said they would want to redo the entire window, instead of just touch up, so I'll have to come back in January. Good thing I have lifetime warranty on those.

Since we were already on Lamar, I wanted to stop at some food trailers for something sweet. I was looking for the one with those big, fat doughnuts, but couldn't remember its name or location. We went up and down Lamar, Congress, and 1st, asked few people, until we finally found Gourdough's back on Lamar just a few blocks from where we started. But we got a free doughnut for our effort! It was a nice day to sit outside and enjoy our desert.

We somewhat rushed home for an English class that was supposed to be at the library at 4 PM, but it got canceled. I then went to Mass and even though I was supposed to go to a birthday party that evening, I felt so tired that I just stayed in.

On Sunday we went to a concert at the Capitol. Austin Philharmonic Orchestra did a great job, and made it entertaining and engaging. After a short tour of the Capitol afterwards, we continued onto a shopping spree for another 3-4 hours, interrupted just by dinner in between.

Monday evening I went with friends to Celtic Christmas concert at the Cathedral, which was just a spectacular performance of pipes and drums, traditional Celtic instruments, music, and dance. I loved it so much that I had to go again the next evening with mom. She managed to stay awake till 10.45, which is when we got out of the church. It was a long night!

And so all of this fun would be more enjoyable if my little bird Ciro was not feeling so sick. He is getting worse and worse, barely is able to stand without falling. He has seizures almost every night, which keeps me awake. I feed him with baby food and baby bird food in the morning, to give him a jump start, although he eats throughout the day. It's just a sad, sad situation at home, and our hearts ache to see him that way. :(

$93 For One Hour Parking!

That's what they tried to charge me last night at the Austin airport. Yup, $93! And with a straight face!

I went to pick up my mom late at night. 11:50 PM is what the entrance parking ticket said. The Bergstrom airport no longer has 30min free parking, and their hourly rate is $3.

They were delayed getting off the plane. By the the time we were at the parking exit ramp, it was about 12:47 PM, just under an hour. As I handed the booth clerk the ticket and my credit card I asked smiling "did we make it in time" - thinking did we make it under 1 hour. To which she replied (after getting out and checking the temporary licence plates on the back of the car): "That will be $93". Um, what?! We were there for under an hour! She changed the digital display on the ramp to read 93.00.

She then said that the car has been parked in the garage for several days, they have patrols that monitor cars, and they have in their system my car VIN number. "Well, it's not correct," I replied, "we were here just tonight."
Her response, "it is correct! We have it here in the system."
I told her I do believe her that she has something in the system, but that it is not correct. I just came tonight. She asked if the car was at the airport at any point that week, and I said no.

She then said that she needs to call her supervisor, to which I replied "You better call him" She didn't like that response, and said "I better?! The only think I better do is charge you $93." Where does she get that attitude?!

When she got off the phone, she checked the plates again, didn't say anything, just changed the display to 6.00, and handed me back my credit card. I asked how much was it, and she said $6. I asked why not $3, but she said it rolled over and hour (while she was trying to sort their wrong information in the system!). It rolled over by 3 minutes. But I was there in under an hour, to which she replied: "Yeah, well that's your defeat!" What's her problem? What did we do to offend her and provoke that kind of attitude? No, "I am sorry for that issue, we messed up,..." No, no, none of that. She just added "Well, there is a number on there if you want to complain." I sure will, I said, and left the place.

I was so tired at that point, and had enough stress in my life to add another drama to it. $3 is not worth it. (a certain Frasier episode came to mind when he didn't want to pay for parking he didn't owe...)

What a disrespectful person!

The moral of the story: Do not give the parking booth clerk your credit card until you know how much they want you to pay.

Introducing: Pearl

Finally, I have a car! My car! My brand new car!

This beauty is 2012 Iridescent Silver Blue Pearl Hyundai Sonata, or simply: Pearl.

The two week long drama of looking for a car is over. And I am very happy with the choice.

I was looking for a sedan. A bit of an upgrade from my old Corolla. The cars that I considered were
Toyota Camri - Didn't like cheep knobs, handle in the middle of the arm rest on the door.
Honda Acsord - had a tremendous central console and overall 80s interior look
Nissan Altima - Liked overall look but didn't higher price with lesser warranty
Mazda6 - central console not too appealing, lower visibility in blind spots, and not perfect reviews
Ford Fusion - this was the only one I didn't test drive. I guess it wasn't a real contender after all.
Hyundai Sonata - excellent reviews and warranty, but lower blind spots visibility.

I started the process thinking I want a slightly used car, up to 10,000 miles. You know, because of that saying that new car looses 20% of its value when you drive it off the lot. But my experience with these low millage cars was not such. The price difference was just about $3K. Then I also realized that many car warranties are not transferable to the next owner. So then I considered both used and new.

I had my eye on a 2011 Sonata for several months. Pretty much this last year since I started thinking about a new car. And from the beginning I was just concerned with the high side and rear windows and how that affects the visibility. Well, that and just the fact that it's a Hyundai, a brand not that familiar for its quality and with some really annoying, cheep commercials (at least here locally). But my mechanic was advising for that one over Toyota, Honda, and Nissan saying how Hyundai quality went up and for these others it went down. Plus, the warranty was fantastic.

I first looked at the base Sonata model, GLS. It happened to be a used one, and even though it was base, the interior looked great. But at another dealership they showed be used high end model, Limited, and that one was awesome with all the upgrades: leather seats with warmers, lumbar power support on driver seat, navigation system, sunroof, .... all the bells. Those limited's didn't have my ideal color options, they were dark colors, or had high millage on them, so I kept looking. I was getting more than a little stressed out about it because dealerships didn't have used car I wanted and the time on paid rental car was running out. I would have extend for a week or so, but still it was a waiting game for the perfect used car to arrive.

About that time was when I started considering new cars and I realized I could have color and feature options if I get a new car. And, really, the price difference was only few thousands. And the warranty on a new car is 60K miles bumper-to-bumper, but on used one just 36K, minus the miles already on the car.

My friend Maggie suggested I look for new cars through dealership internet sales, instead of visiting them personally. For her it took a lot of pressure on price negotiations, and it worked great for me too. Since the price of new Limited was above my budget, but the base model didn't have some features important to me, like good seats, I started asking about the middle model, SE. Within a couple of days we agreed on the price and they were able to find that model in Houston. I paid the deposit and was supposed to pick up the car on Thursday.

Then I got an urgent message to call them about the car. Apparently the guy I talked to last about it (with internet sales they work as a team, not just one sales person) ordered a car with some upgrades that I didn't ask for, namely trunk spoiler and homelink feature. Now, I didn't know what a spoiler is. I googled some images and was shocked when those big, racing car trunk additions appeared. I had them send me a picture of the car they delivered, and it only had a subdued trunk lip spoiler. They kept telling how I am getting an awesome deal, because even without those upgrades it was an aggressive price. So, I went there on Thursday evening to purchase the car.

The hole day was tiring. I was already stressed out with time constraints up to that point, Ciro was feeling very sick and I had to drop her to the vet, Zoran left for India that Monday...So I just wanted to get it over with. As I was driving through rush hour traffic, I first realized that rental place is going to close before I get there and hopped that I could still leave the car there. Then I realized that the check book I was carrying with me those two weeks to the down payment was from an account that I closed when I thought my purse got stolen back in January. So, I basically didn't have money with me for a down payment that evening. The stress was only building up.

Then when I saw the car, that's when I realized, this SE model is a sports edition (maybe that's what SE stands for). It had two shiny mufflers, steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters, sports-tuned suspension, 18-inch hyper silver aluminum alloy wheels,...a sports car! It dawned on me that in all that test driving, I never saw the SE model.

I signed a few papers, and then they wanted me to call the insurance to add comprehensive coverage to my policy. They were surprised I was even able to rent a car with only liability coverage. The 1800 Farmers customer service was not able to change the policy, and I would have to call my agent in the morning to do that. And without that coverage the dealership was not letting me drive off with car.

That's where I just wanted to leave. Nothing was going right that evening. I didn't want to complete the financial part either. I just wanted to leave.

I didn't sleep well that night, and in the early morning started to think how I really don't like that car. All these factors just have me a bad feeling about it. So I emailed them back and said I don't want it because of that spoiler. It wasn't just that, but that's what started it.

We went back and forth on that Friday. I asked for the base model with several upgrades that were important to me, like window tint. It has comfortable power seats with lumbar support, really cool interior, and even has voice recognition! And for that same price as that sports model, I will be adding leather seats to the base model! They had that car on the lot, and before the day ended, I was able to drive it off! The leather was ordered and I will drop it off next week for a day to get it installed. The auto-dim rear-view mirror is still not available for aftermarket sale from Hyundai for 2012 models, so they'll replace that some time in the spring.

I thank everyone who helped me with their time, advices, and suggestions during this process. It took a village to help me find the new car. I couldn't have done it without you all!

Parting After 11 Years

With my car.

Green Toyota Corolla CE. year 2000.

Here is a funny thing: as I signed the papers today to transfer the car title over to the insurance company, I realized that it was EXACTLY to the the day today 11 years ago that I bought the car. To. The. Day!

I'll fill you in on its last few days and how it all ended, but let me remember where we've been.

I bought the car few days before I graduated from college. I had just received the driver's licence couple of weeks earlier. I never owned a car before, and knew nothing about cars. Our lab technician Mike took me to few dealerships around Beaumont to help me find a car. All I knew was that I wanted "a small car that I can easily park, that has radio and power locks and windows". How innocent! :) I had just received a $2000 SWE scholarship, and I was able to dedicate just a quarter of that for down payment. And what fit in those parameters was this, almost new car back then, with about 11K miles on it.

We've had our moments. I drove to Austin just 3 days after I bought it, to hunt for an apartment. My first trip longer than 3 hours. I was a bit weary about the drive, so I took a friend with me. On our way back, just 15 minutes before we arrived, I hit a pothole and blew a tire. Neither of us knew anything about changing tires, didn't even know I had a spare tire and tools in the trunk :), so we stopped someone on I10 to change it for us. I took it to the dealership later and they agreed to put on a new tire. About a month later I went with the family to San Antonio. On our way back, in the middle of nowhere, at night, that same tire pealed off at 70 mph, slamming into and breaking the components under the hood and twisting the side metal. It was really scary! I managed to pull over safely. We pulled over a trucker who took me to a gas station to call the police. We waited for the patrol car to came and drove with them back to the highway where my car was. They helped me patch it together with some bungee cords and roll gauze (!), change the tire, gather parts left behind, and then we drove at 30 mph back to Austin. After some convincing, the dealership agreed to pay for the repair. Some $2400! And of course, can't forget the lasting impact the hail storm of March 25th 2005 (a date reserved for hail) left. It was another $4500 damage, a nice check that went toward the closing cost of the house.

The car was slowly accumulating issues after that. I only fixed safety issues, like the engine mount (although the brakes have been in a pretty bad shape lately) and those that prevented it from passing the state inspection. But there was a long list of other issues that was just getting longer:
- windshield got a crack years ago, from a fast driving police car skidding on some rocks. The crack only got longer with years, reaching over to the driver's side.
- driver door handle broke couple of years ago. I just replace it with the one on the back door. That one was now almost at a breaking point.
- windshield wipers' pump broke. I could no longer spray water when using wipers, which caused terrible smudges unless using them in pouring rain.
- The left blinker would sometimes 'stick' and not come on when switched.
- The engine would sometimes stutter when starting, and sometimes shut off. Luckily this was only when starting.
- Wheel alignment was long overdue.
- The brakes...there were days when I didn't think the car will stop at the sign!
- I lost two wheel covers when I drove close to a curb.
- The steering wheel was chafing. Very annoying while driving.
- Floor carpet had holes.
- few months ago my brother locked keys inside, and the guys fishing them out damaged the rubber on the doors, so the car whistled at high speeds.
- Not to even mention the dings from hail and other unknown cars.
- overdue for maintenance by few thousand miles.
- overdue for oil change by few hundred miles.

But, last Sunday it has met its last damage. I was driving to church, mid day, downtown. As I was approaching the light on 10th and San Jacinto, in a left-turn-only lane a vehicle was sitting at the green light. There were no lights on it. I thought for a second if I should go around it or approach behind. I did the later. I guess I thought they are probably a bit slow to react to the light. At about 3-4 ft behind it, still no lights indicating what it's going to do next, the car went full force backwards! I had a split second to decide if I should a)honk, b)switch to reverse, or c) brace for impact. I didn't have time to process that, so I did c). I think I actually did switch in reverse, but I was still holding my foot on the brake. My body did that motion that the dummy dolls in car safety testing commercials do, with head flying forward and body twisting. The air begs didn't deploy, and my body didn't hit any part of the car. As I raised my head up, I saw the hood half way up, and then the car, the black truck in front of me, taking off. I remember seeing their lights for the first time then. I think I saw the last four digits on the licence plates: 9333. It was the new style plates, with 7 alpha-numerics. But I didn't get what kind of truck it was. So...I just took after it! That was my first instinct. I mean, what else was I supposed to do!

I couldn't quite see well in front of me with that hood up. The truck drove really fast. Taking turns into one-way streets. The wrong way! I went after it! The other cars were moving away. I guess they saw how banged up the front of my car was. I chased it for few blocks. But when we got onto Brazos St., with all that construction going on and traffic reduced to one lane, the truck was able to sneak between other cars and take a turn before I could see where it left afterwards. I lost them!

I drove back to the parking garage where I would normally park. Just then I realized that the car was smoking. As I put it into parking gear, it made a really loud revving noise, so I quickly turned it off. I couldn't open the door on my side, so I went out on the passenger side. There was some fluid leaking. Later I found out it was radiator coolant. That's why it was smoking.

The next few hours were somewhat a blur. I went to Mass - I figured that'll give me time to compose and there will be people there who could give me some help. It was first week of Advent, the first Mass with the new translation of English missal, and I don't remember anything from it. When we all walked outside, I asked to borrow someone's phone to dial 911. That was a conversation starter! It took the police about 45 minutes to arrive. I the meantime, I called the insurance, but we got disconnected. Only two friends, Joe and Raul, stayed around until I finished with the cops. It was a super cold and windy day. The cop pretty much just took a look at the damage, took my statement, and said they see those hit-and-runs every day and "that is why he would never drive his personal vehicle in the city". And that's supposed to help us feel safe?!

I took all the things from the car out, went to lunch with the guys, and Raul later gave me a ride home. My head starting spinning from thinking what all needs to happen in the coming days. My brother had an interview tomorrow morning, so that was the first thing to figure out. A good friend, Amela, let me borrow her car for the day on Monday. Zoran made it to the interview, although a bit late because of the traffic. I made it back to the parking garage just before they called the towing company and begged them to let it stay for the day. They were reluctant because of the leaking, possibly hazardous fluids from the car. Applied for a car loan at my bank. Got in touch with the insurance adjuster and begged for an appraiser to come the same day. Went to three dealerships and started test driving some cars. Met with the appraiser, he declared the car totalled, found a tower that could remove the car first thing in the morning. Got the adjuster to arrange the rent-a-car. Picked it up, returned the borrowed car, got home and crashed.

This whole week was pretty stressful. Working and looking for a car on a tight timeline is no fun. But, it too shall pass. It could have been much worse. I did, after all, need a new car very soon.

Goble, Goble, Goble!

Oh, long weekends. How I love thee!

My company gives us 4 days off for Thanksgiving. Plus, since many people took the whole week off, the work was pretty slow. But I started my holiday plans on weekend before.

My girl friends J., M., and T. and I planned to have a little Thanksgiving meal that previous Sunday. We wanted to make the meal together, and since I happen to have the most space in the kitchen, I offered to have it at my place. Some girls were doubtful that we can pull it off and suggested we at least get a pre-cooked turkey, but I challenged them. Since all four of us are single, I thought it would be a good opportunity to cook this meal just for us, and practice for when one day we need to cook it for a larger family.

I got us an organic 13lb turkey from Costco, large enough so that we all would have some leftovers. I figured it would harder to mess up a turkey that is better meat from the start. It was nice to shop the whole week before Thanksgiving, as it was not so crowded. Last year I made a big meal with my brother and sister-in-law, but she was the one who pretty much made the turkey by herself and Zoran brined it for a day before. So I decided to follow a similar recipe.

I found some brining recipes on-line, and Zoran found one in his cooking book. The brine helps keep the meat moist and flavorful. It took some 5 hours to thaw the turkey, and even then I had a hard time removing the neck that was still frozen to the body. The brine used 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of sugar, and 4-5 different spices. I used Zoran's large cheese-making pot and left the bird in the fridge for about 20 hours. then I washed it, filled with some onions, garlic, celery and carrots, brushed with butter, and placed it barest-side down in a roasting pan (that I got on great sale at World Market for $3.99!) with just a little bit of water on the bottom. After about 2 hours I flipped it upside down and continued brushing with pan drippings for another couple of hours. The result: A full pan of awesomeness!

We also made green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, salad, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Now, what more can one ask for!

The actual Thanksgiving day was super slow at our house. We dragged our behinds until noon, which is when my brother decided he'll make crapes for breakfast. We finally ate around 2 pm, and of course weren't thinking about another meal until later in the evening. I also wanted us to go for a walk while it was still day light outside, but since we were slow to react that day, we didn't start making plans till 7pm.

I had this idea to try a black Friday shopping for a new digital camera. Walmart started their sale at midnight Thursday evening, so I figured I'll just got there around 11.30, pick up that one item and be at the counter at midnight when the sale prices begin. How naive of me.

Zoran and first tried Domain for a place to walk, but it was ghostly empty. No cars, no people, all stores closed...I've never seen it like that. Then we drove downtown, and it was the same deal. Barely any cars on south Congress. We saw only one open restaurant. It was quite erie actually, like an epidemic plagued the city. We then went up to Hide Park area, sat at one open desert place until 11.20, and then headed back up north to a walmart closest to the house.

As soon as we got off the highway, near where several retail stores were, the traffic picked up. The Walmart parking lot was completely packed, and people walked toward it from nearby parking lots. Inside, a mayhem. Just like the empty Domain, I've never seen a store this full. C-ra-zy! Lines everywhere, crowds, and tension. My brother immediately said he didn't want to stay there and wanted home. I wasn't happy with it, having to leave now that we were already there, but I realized it would be best for the both of us. Once dropping him off, I left the house around 12.05 and went to a different Walmart. I think the demographics of people at that store was different, as they seemed to behaved more orderly. Plus, the store seemed a bit less crowded, and the midnight sale time already started so the lines were moving.

My entire trip was about 1 hour. Which really wasn't that bad considering how some people sat in front of Best Buys for hours before they could get in. I waited about 10 minutes for a guy to find keys to camera cabinets, another 5 for him to help undecided teenagers, another 10 min for a resolution of some transaction problems for a lady at the head of our otherwise really short line, and some more resolving my own issue where the cashier took some convincing that my camera is the one on sale.

The result: I got this 16.1-megapixel digital camera with 10X optical zoom for $129. A pretty sweet deal! It's a great replacement to my old Kodak that broke on the Adriatic coast. If I had to do it again, I think I'd only do it this way; come on the evening to a store that's open 24/7 so I wouldn't have to stand in line outside.

Late night out meant sleeping in on Friday and another slow day when I could play with my new blue shiny toy!

New Garage Doors

I got a new garage doors installed this weekend. I really like how they turned out.

I have been shopping for a new door for some time. The doors that came with the house, were in bad shape from the start. They had a crack on one of the sections, which only got worse as the nuts on the side loosened over time. I had an enforcement rod placed in, some new hinges installed, and the spring repaired few times. All temporary measures, because I knew I will eventually get a new door.

Then last year the opener started to be flaky. The curved arm had trouble sliding down the rail when opening the door, and it needed a little push to go over a troubled spot. When one day earlier this year my mom pressed the remote button sooner than I could nudge the door up as it was opening, I think something broke in that arm as it would not longer open. Even with that little push. Since then, we had to manually open and close the door. After a few months it became old, and I just parked the car outside. We opened the garage only when we absolutely had to get something in and out.

Shopping for the new door was a long process for me. I started some time this summer. I looked at different styles, materials, and companies. There are abundance of choices for each of those. Sometimes too many choices can be so overwhelming!

For materials, I looked at pretty much all options at first: wood, fiberglass, and steel. Wood look great. I drove through some neighborhoods off of 2222, the upscale ones, that have several houses with wood doors. They looked great. But in that area. In my neighborhood there were none like that. They would stood out. And I didn't like that idea. But the 2 determining factors were: 1) price. Those doors cost $10K! 2)They would have to be treated at least once every 3 years. Maybe even every year. No way I was doing that! The fiberglass doors I quickly abandoned. They can crack with an impact, which for being in the garage, where there is "stuff", I didn't feel is safe. They have wood grain on them, but still have some shine to them, so to me that looked fake. On a large door like that. Maybe entry door would be better. That was the same reason why I didn't like steel doors with wood grain look. So, the solution was steel door in regular colors, but nicer design.

Since my house has some arch windows, I new I would like that on the garage door. And I didn't want any windows. I don't spend hours working in the garage, so I didn't need extra daylight in there. And I wanted insulated ones. In the summer the garage was getting way to hot, and some of that heat was making it into the house. The style that I liked the most was Amarr's Carriage House style, CLASSICA, Tuscany collection. I just needed to find the best deal on them.

I got some dozen or so quotes from different companies. Some didn't even work with Amarr, so the selection was getting smaller. I went with Hutchinson, which are actually the same company as Cedarpark Overhead Doors. They've been around for some time, had decent reviews, and best price. They just wouldn't paint the doors for me, and I knew I wanted two tones to make the arch stand out. So I had them order and deliver the insulated door, I painted, ordered the decorative hardware (because they were charging 5x more than Lowes) and then they came back to install it. I also got a new opener as part of the deal. The total cost, for door/opener/labor/paint/handles was around $1670. A bit pricey, but it had to be done, and I love the result!

Pipes, Art, and Lederhosen

It was an eventful weekend around here. I like those.

It started on Friday when I had plumbers come in to install, replace, and fix some things. I've been wanting to replace the kitchen faucet for some time. It was a pain one that was installed when the house was built, and had separate knobs for cold and hot, which always annoyed me. Then some time ago the cold water started to come out with really low pressure and it was time to look for a new faucet.

About that time the garbage disposal just stopped working. It was an old Insinkerator Badger 1, all rusted inside. So now I had two things to look for. But every time I would see one of those in a store that I liked, I would hesitate to buy it because I didn't have the other picked, and I knew I wanted to replace them at the same time. And the cycle continued for about a year.

Well, couple of weeks ago Costco had this German design Hansgrohe faucet on sale for $200, which I knew was a really good price, and this was pretty close to the design I was going for. I had that moment of: "lets do it already!" and got it.

Next on the list was to look for a garbage disposal. I have done some research before and found that after Insinkerators the next recommended brand was WasteKing. Again I checked with Costco, and found this 1 HP Universal Mount on sale for $119. It was an acceptable price for me.

There were few other items I needed to get for this, like sink strainer for the other side of the kitchen sink, the hole cover, and parts for new outlet that I needed to install under the sink myself. (very proud of myself for that!) There were few other smaller tasks for the plumbers, like replacing stoppers on two bathroom sinks and backflow preventer on an outside faucet. They came on Friday morning, and it took two guys to do all that in just over 2 hours. I am so glad I didn't even attempt to deal with the disposer my self, because parts were so rusted then had to use a metal saw! Love the final result!

On Saturday morning I was expecting the garage door guys to come and install it, but he was running late so I decided to reschedule for next weekend. I had other plans for the afternoon. Zoran and I went to the East Austin Art Tour. He went last year with Emilia, and was telling me how interesting it was. They went on bikes then, but we decided to just drive, then walk an area, then drive again. I liked it better that way, since some parts are pretty far away. He was right, it was really an interesting experience. Totally not suburbs like. :) There were all sorts of mediums of art, and all sorts of styles. Some tangible works for everyday use, some visual representations of real world pleasant to look at, and some totally "out there" expression of an artist mind! Some where in warehouses and studios, and some in people's homes, where they opened all their rooms and even served some drinks and food! Totally different. We spent about 4 hours walking on-and-off, and the day was perfect for it. I kept wondering what is the demographics of all these people, what area of town to they live in, what percentage of them were artists themselves...because it all looked so different and I couldn't see anyone remotely familiar. That's east Austin!

Sunday morning I went with two dear friends of mine, Julie and Maggie to the Wurstfest in New Braunfels. It's a festival of all things German: food, beer, music, dances, and Lederhosen! I guess it's close to the Octoberfest in Germany. It was the last day of the festival and we arrived there just 30 minutes after they opened so it wasn't crowded at first. I had some yummy sausage with sauerkraut, paulaner oktoberfest beer, and cherry strudel. Yum! There was music and dancing in few different areas, some rides and games, so we walked around and then enjoyed our time next to the Comal river. Again, it was a gorgeous November day, low 80s, and it drew a large crowd out in few hours we were there. I am so glad we were able to make it to the festival before it ended. The last time I was there was 7 years ago! It was time to go again. :)

11-11-11

"Remember that while today is 11/11/11 in the United States, other parts of the world display the date differently. So to them it's 11/11/11." :)

This year I've had fun with all these dates: New Years Day, Jan 11th, and All Saints Day.

And today also happens to be a holiday: Veterans Day!

I Built a House Today!

Well, I helped build it with some 40 other volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.

I've been considering volunteering with them for some time, and decided to sign up few weeks ago. They are on different sites 3 times a week, 2 full days plus one to finish any loose jobs. Because of work, I can only join them on Saturdays, and today was the first time I did. They ask for people to commit to 8am-4pm shift.

They build houses for low income people, who have to meet certain criteria to qualify. Among other things, in order to qualify, their income needs to be low enough, but also high enough that they can pay the mortgage. Because of all the volunteers, the cost of these houses is pretty low, starts from $60K, and owners sign up for a regular, i.e. 30-year mortgage. So, people are not getting these houses for free. Also, they have to put in 400 hours of volunteering with Habitat. 200 hours before they can even sign up for a lot, and the rest working on their or other people's houses.

This house was in east Austin, toward the airport. There are some 50 houses that the Habitat will build there over the course of two years. It usually takes 9 weeks (2 full days a week, so 18 days total) to build one of these houses. Today just happened to be a site that is just starting, so we came to a blank slab. All the tools, equipment, and material were ready for us. The goal for the day was to put up the walls.

A side track: Over the last few years, since I became a homeowner, I realized I like working on different house projects. There are several that I completed myself on my house, and there are many more that I never had a need to do, or that I don't have the tools for or would need additional help before I would attempt them. But I enjoy working on that kind of stuff. I like hands on work. And I like hands on volunteering. I like learning how things are made. And I've never seen up close how houses are built here in the US. Back in Bosnia we build houses completely different; the walls are made of bricks, not wood, to name just one.

Back to the day...There are people at every site who know what the goal of the day is. They have all the blue prints, measurements, the know hows (like to bring in the shower box before the walls. So, I just asked where I can help. Before any wall frame could be put up, an insulation tape had to be stapled to the bottom, green edge. So, several of us started on those, so that others can start putting them up. With that many people, we were very efficient, and by 11 am all the walls were already up! Next they started putting the roof trellises up and were almost done with all of those by the end of the day. Others of us worked on tarp moisture barrier and beams for heavy hanging loads.

In summary, I used: a staple gun for insulation bellow the walls, drilled some boards that were connected to the concrete, measured and leveled for planks that will be used for shelves and cabinets, cut them with table saw(!) and hammered them in, painted some trims, layered and stapled tarp on the outside of the walls, refilled the staple gun numerous times, cut with utility knife and edged the tarp around the door and window openings, and helped carry, push or hold things whenever help was needed.

Yup, I acquired some skills today!

The day started on the chilly side, and I was in two shirts, jacket and gloves. But by lunch time it warmed up enough that I had to apply sun screen. This time of year is a perfect time to volunteer on this kind of outside project. I hope to go again on some Saturdays. It would be rally neat to work on it in different stages and then finally see it all done, and homeowners get the keys!

I just hope we did a good enough job. :)

11-1-11

Happy All Saints Day!

This year has abundance of these special dates! :)

I didn't go to any dress-up Halloween parties this weekend. But last night we had many a children in costumes at our door. There were princess, super heroes, tigers, bees, fairies, ghosts, forces of good and evil, and myriad of undetermined characters. No saints costumes that I could decipher, but hopefully many saints in the making!

The kiddos started coming just a minute after I walked in after work, around 6.40pm. The little ones came first, and then, as the night fell, the older ones followed. By 8pm I ran out of candy and lolly pops. I didn't answer to the next two trick-or-treat-ers and started looking for more give outs. When the next group of 4 teenagers rang the door, I offered the jello! They were super excited, and asked for spoons right away! After those last 'customers' I turned out the porch light and called it a night.

Tonight we celebrated with all the saints at a High Mass at St. William's church.

Birdy

It seems Ciro is gaining popularity in the wild world outside, because this is the second feathery visitor we've had in the last month.



This little birdy flew into my house through an open door. Trying to get out, she slammed into windows couple of times and then tumbled behind blinds. She was so shocked that she let me handle her in my hands. But after I took her out and patted her for a few moments, she realized she was free again and flew away.

No idea what kind of bird this is, but it kinda looks like miniature mockingbird.

Camping at Garner State Park

Last weekend I had an amazingly great time camping.

Here are some photos.

Four of us were from Austin. The Zadrozna sisters got all the food, and I met them after work to help make the sandwiches for that evening. After (over)loading the suv, we were on the road around 4.30 pm. Not a good time to leave on a Friday. The traffic was pretty bad coming out of Austin, and we hit the slowdowns in San Antonio, too. But, it was fine. It was nice company, and it gave us time to unwind from the work week. Well, at least for us who were not driving. :) We even prayed the rosary, in 4 different language. We were that kind of group.

We arrived to the camp site close to 8 pm. Another group of 5 from San Antonio, and one lady from Corpus Christi met us there. The guys quickly set up four tents, while the girls gathered some wood and setup up the "food table".

This trip was originally supposed to be to Mustang Island camp grounds, but just a few days earlier we had to change the plans because of the red tide problems on the beach. I was disappointed because the beach camp allowed the camp fires while most of Texas was under fire ban. But, to our great surprise, the Garner park lifted the ban just recently. So, we were able to have the camp fire, the center of every camp trip evening! So, after we all settled in, we lit the fire (with some challenges) and set around it. I only knew the Austin folks, so it was nice to start getting to know the rest of the group. There were 4 guys and 6 gals, within 10-year age range. After dinner, the before-mentioned sandwiches, we started playing games, catch-phrase. It was so much fun! We got so much into it, that until someone yelled (we assume at us) we didn't notice that we were the only ones making. quite a bit of, noise after midnight! It was time to call it a night.

The night was quite chilly. Low 50s, if even. The guys forgot to put the rain tarp, so all the moisture, and cold air, were freely flowing into the tent. I kept adding the layers on me during the night, and was still constantly cold. And barely got any sleep on the hard ground. So, it wasn't hard to get up when I wasn't really asleep. This campsite was really nice. We had electricity and water, and there were bathrooms, even showers, with hot water! Nice.

For breakfast - egg and bacon tacos. With grilled tortillas on an electric grill! This was certainly not a primitive camping. Once we were all awake and fed, the guys led us in daily prayers. And not just lets recite some prayers. No, this was lets take our Bibles, liturgy of the hours, and Magnificats out type of prayers. We went around the circle to read daily reading, and then had a discussion on them! How awesome is that! A mini bible study right there. Loved it!

By 11am we were ready for some hiking. The park is beautiful. Our side was just bellow a hill, so we went up. And up we went! Some of those trails were really steep. I just kept thinking I was glad we were going down on those most steep ones. Several people in that group were avid runners/body builders, so I had some trouble keeping up with them. Someone then suggested we pray the rosary while we walk. Um, really, while we walk people? Again, I was glad we were almost at the top, which meant it will get easier soon. This time we prayed in 5 languages, one for each decade: Spanish, Polish, Bosnian, Filipino, and English. Perfect combination of people for that number.

When we got back to the camp after two ours, I could hardly wait to lay down. But, we first made hamburgers for lunch, which took a while with charcoal. But we all needed that boost of energy. Then we all got our bags out on the grass and had a nap. The weather was just perfect that weekend! Actually, everything about that weekend was perfect.

After that good rest, few of us headed to the other side of the park, where the river was. Yes, even though we didn't go to the beach, we got to swim on the trip! In Frio River. It was supposed to be called (frio) but it was just fine. No colder than the Adriatic Sea. And oh so clean! It had all rocky bottom, so you could see all the way down. Fantastic. It was such a fun time.

After HOT showers, we gathered for dinner. On the menu, pasta with spinach-parmesan dip as sauce, and grilled chicken legs. Grilled on our camp fire. Another treat from the camp fire - s'mores! Gotta have the s'mores. That was yet another highlight of the trip. Oh, and here is another one: karaoke and dancing! These guys thought of everything! They brought the karaoke machine on a camp trip. Yup, nothing primitive about this site. The guys started amusing us with their singing, but since others were not taking their turns, they just started dancing with us. Salsa, swing, waltz, two step,...all that right on our camp grounds. Loved it!

That was such a great group of people. We didn't want to rush leaving the last day, so we pretended it's not gonna happen for the entire Sunday morning. The guys went on another hike early in the morning, and the girls prepared omelets for breakfast. And then, like we really have the entire day, we walked again over to the river side of the camp, where some of use played some volleyball. Then those who didn't get to get in the water the day before decided we all should get in, even if we didn't have the swim suits on. There was some tag-o-war, some girls lost and got wet, some won and stayed in the shade (me!). All fun.

We finally started tearing down the camp site around 2 and were on the road just after 3pm. This time it took us much faster to get back home, about 3 hours with little speeding. :)

Such fun memories of this trip. So glad I went. We should do it again. Soon!



fter two hours

Blueberry Ice Cream

I'm not a huge ice cream fan. I would not order it for a desert or buy for myself in a store. But now that I have the ice cream maker I like to try make, and eat, different ice creams that I know exactly what they are made of. My mom loves ice creams, and we always have to have some in the freezer when she is here. So this gives me a good practice for when she comes back this winter.

I am still learning the ins and outs of ice cream making, but I was pleased with this recipe. I combined several recipes I found on-line, and the one I came up bellow is the simplest for me. I got two containers of fresh blueberries, so I'll be making some extra to freeze 'till winter, perhaps. I like tart flavors, and this one goes really well with chocolate. It uses coriander, which supposedly mixes well with blueberries. Enjoy!

Makes 1 quart.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

•1/2 - 1 cup sugar (I found 1/2 cup to be too sour)
•2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
•1 Tbsp. lemon juice
•1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
•1/4 tsp. ground coriander
•Pinch of salt
•1 cup of heavy (whipping) cream
•1 cup of Half and Half cream

Preparation:

1. Dissolve sugar in 1/4 cup water in a medium sauce pan over low heat.

2. When sugar is dissolved, add berries, lemon juice, vanilla extract, coriander, and salt.

3. Bring to boil then cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to burst (about 5 minutes).

4. Remove from heat and in blender puree until smooth. You may also want to strain the mash before cooling (it will harden after cooling)

5. Cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator.

6. Thoroughly combine berries and cream. Pour into ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer directions.

Cultural Events

I haven't been to the movies in months, maybe even a year. I haven't been to the movies in Sarajevo in decades, I think, from before the war!

On Thursday, I went with my friend Tomi and her friend to see Midnight in Paris ("Ponoć u Parizu") at multiplex Cinema City. The cinemas that I knew from before are no longer there. They have been converted to banks, shopping centers, and the such. From what I understand, there are just two other cinemas, one specializing more in "artistic" movies, or as we would call them "alternative", and the other in domestic movies. Cinema City is in the center of the town, near BBI center, and was opened two years ago. It has 5 show rooms, with a total capacity of 700 seats. It's very modern, and has pretty much all the amenities that the US theaters do: wall-to-wall screens, Dolby Digital sound system, comfortable anatomic chairs, cups holders, concession stands...and the whole look and feel is just very modern. The bonus: the movie was great! :) The ticket is 6KM, or about $4.5.

On Saturday evening mom and I went for another cultural event, this time to a performance theatre, Chamber Theatre 55 ("Kamerni Teatar"). This one was a few minutes walk from Cinema City closer to the center, on the main center street. It started at this location over 55 years ago. It's a small, 3-side amphitheatre, with I think no more than 150-200 seats, if even that many. Their show season just started back again few days ago and we went to see their 3 persons comedy play, Die Hard ("Umri Muški"). It has nothing to do with the movie with that same name. We had some loughs and enjoyed being there together. The ticket is 10KM, or about $7.5.

The Countryside

Today was a day for getting out of the city. We went to Bijambare.

I have never heard for this place, but my mom went there with one of her groups. This trip was organized by their seniors' center, and about 65 people went. I was very hesitant to go. Partly because I wanted to spend as much time in Sarajevo as I could, partly because these were all seniors except handful of people who work there, and partly because mom didn't go with me to another trip the day before. That one was a last minute deal - rafting on Neretva! I know mom would not have enjoyed it, but it sounded so adventurous to me. Instead of trying to convince her right away, I dragged the decision until the evening, and then it was too late to get it on that. No point in having regrets later.

Bijambare is just 45 minutes from Sarajevo, but you feel totally far away in the country. It's a nature park surrounded by hills and great views. The organizers distributed a sandwich and juice to everyone at the parking lot, and then we walked to a picnic area. Since this center really promotes healthy living, they first had some exercises there, before the hike to the lodge. Some took a little tourist train, but we went through the woods. It was a nice little hike, but we took one wrong turn and after realizing we were on the wrong path some 15 minutes later, had to turn back. Some old ladies were so not OK with that, and complained all the way back. It's hard to work with some old folks.

The resting area around the lodge had many benches, so we had our lunches and coffee there. It was a nice area to relax, walk around, or just lay on the ground. Then they took us to a 45 min tour of a cave, which was a nice place to cool down. Afterwards the atmosphere got musical when one gentleman got out his guitar and we all sang some old traditional folk songs. Just like we used to do. We started our hike back around 3, got into the buses, and were at home by 4.30.

As if all that walking wasn't enough for us, mom and I again went for a stroll that evening down the avenue next to the river, Wilsonovo Setaliste. Since it's closed to traffic in the evenings, there are always many other walkers/bikers/joggers there.

I wish I brought my pedometer here with me to measure all the walking I have done. My feet and legs and hips are letting me know we've done quite a bit of walking! :)

Active Vacation

There is so much happening here every day! Sometimes I have a hard time grasping that something happened just a day before.

Today was one of those days.

Mom went for an exercise at her seniors' center, and I picked her up just after 10. We then walked some toward the farmers market. It's a nice 30 min stroll through a neighbourhood where I grew up. Before I broke my camera, I took few photos of my kindergarten and school. Today, I decided to go in. What memories! I haven't been inside that building since....1983! I was much smaller then, so the school and yard looked much bigger. I walked the halls and climbed up to 2nd level where my classroom used to be. The kiddos in the hallways were so tiny! And I was shocked that the two boys who greeted us at the entrance downstairs were 7th and 8th grade. They looked like 4th grade tops! I have no sense of how old the kids are. :)

We talked to few farmers who had their products out on the street on our way to the market, and tried to bargain with them. We had some loughs, but couldn't get the price we wanted from them. We finally arrived at the market, and while mom shopped outside and checked out some items inside the store. When we were done shopping, we set at the outside cafe and had some coffee. As is often the case here, we saw our neighbour from our weekend house at the table next to us, and had a little chat.

After the brake, we walked home the same way. Short rest is all we had and then in the mid afternoon went around the corner to eat some kebabs. Then we met with a man who came to collect the payment for our hotel in Makarska. And then again walked some 20min to meet at a desert place with my professor who helped me come to the US.

Kinda busy day. Just like almost every day here. Love the dynamic! It makes the time here seem so much longer. :)

The Sea & The Beach

The Adriatic coast was great!

We had really nice weather. The daytime temperatures were around 30C and water around 24C (but I think it was less). Except for one morning of few minutes of rain and wind, we were able to be at the beach all the time. We were under the pine trees most of the time, because I was not interested in burning under the sun. I would come out only to go into the water, which for me takes more than 20 minutes to get wet, and to dry out when we come out of the water. Neutrogena sunblock spray is the best one! It's so easy to apply, there is no grease mess, and I did not get any sunburn. I was praising it so much I could have been their advertiser! :)

When we first got there I was thinking I will be bored after the whole week. We actually had 8 days of sun and beach. And even though we didn't do anything, just relaxed and planned one hour at a time, this week was just right. I have slowed down, and it felt good not to start counting days left because we had enough time.

So, how did we spend our days? Well, pretty much every day was the same. We'd wake up around 8, have coffee on the balcony, then come down for breakfast around 9. We were 5 minutes walk from the beach, just behind hotel Biokovka, and we would come down around 10.30 and stake out our spot in the shade. We'd go for a swim, which for me involves long warm-up time, talk to people around us, play cards. I did sudoku, listen to ipod, take naps. To get away from the mid-day heat, as if we were not in the shade already, we would sit in one the many, many outside cafes/restaurant by the beach. Mom would stick with her macchiato, but I tried all different coffee options. At one place the sugar bags they served said ProCoffee, which I thought was funny - that's me! :) Next we had some light lunch, shared a pizza or something similar. We definitely ate too much! Then we got back to our towels, rested some more (we laughed that we rested after a rest :)), swam some more, throw pebbles, people watched,...relaxing! We would leave around 6-6.30, got ready for dinner, ate, and then walked for couple of hours down the Riva, all the way to the other side of the town, get some ice cream or desert, and get back to our room around 10.30PM. Full day of pretty much nothing. Gotta love it! :)

The last day, we were able to still enjoy the beach until 2.30PM. Two ladies from our hotel that we met let us use their room to shower and change for the trip. Our mini-bus picked us up around 3.30 and we were back in the apartment by 9.

The one casualty of this trip was one my camera. Next to the last day on the beach, at sunset, I was trying to take a photo of myself on the beach. I set it down on the beach umbrella post, about 20 inches off the ground, and set the timer. When the shutter clicked, and shook the camera and it fell face-down to the pebbles, lenses still open. The inner lens got crooked and couldn't retract back into the outer lens. I tried to pull it out myself, but couldn't. It still turns on, but I can't take pictures because of the lens error. When I get back to Austin I hope to have it fixed at WOLF. But, it means no more photos for the rest of this vacation. :(

Small World

Ah, vacation. And the beach. Love. It.

We arrived in Makarska on Saturday. Unpacked, and headed to beach for a nap since we didn't sleep much the night before. In our little hotel, of some 30 rooms, that evening they had some special group of miners from Kakanj for dinner. I think they doubled the capacity, and took all the tables on the terrace. We set inside.

As faith would have it, I recognized my math professor Galic from the first year of college in Sarajevo. It has been 20 years since I had his class, but I saw him few times during the war. I said hi to him, but he at first pretended it wasn't him (just his personality). Next to our table mom recognized a acquaintance from her former work place. And those two have rooms on either side of hours. Small world!

Last night I went to Mass in a church in downtown square. It was so full that people were standing outside. Maybe they were smart, because inside was hot we were melting. No AC, of course.

It's nice that we are here for a whole week, because today the weather is not the best. It has been raining early in the morning, and right now there is thunder in the distance. I don't mind relaxing here at the hotel, either. But just for today. :)

What Would You Like To Drink?

Landed safely. And the trip was soooo smooth.

I had much anxiety over this trip. In general. There were just many things leading up to this trip that made me anxious about it. Or I just let it all get to me: the preparations and shopping were going too slow. My brother and sister-in-law were moving all their stuff into my house just few days ago. She is leaving for a year-long trip to India and it's sad she won't be here for that long. My brother would not be here for the first few days of my trip to take care of Ciro, so I had to make other plans for her (Thanks Gils!) Trying to get Ciro all well and eating good before I leave. I could get my packing down to allowable weight limit and had to selectively leave stuff out. Since I was driving myself at the airport, I couldn't just take things out of the suitcase during check-in and leave with someone. A hurricane was in the path of my flight and there was a chance the flights might get canceled. Last minute issues at work popped up.

So, I had lots on my mind these weeks.

But then the day came, and it all went smoothly. I dropped Ciro off at Norma's, and he seemed to like his new environment right away. I drove to the airport, found a parking, shuttle, and was at the terminal with plenty of time to spare. My big bag was only 2 lbs over weight, and no one complained. They didn't weight my carry-on that was 12 lbs over the weight limit. My flight to DC was on time and I even had an empty seat next to me to lay down. The girl closest to me was a praying Catholic, which just warmed my heart and reminded me to do the same throughout these long and uncertain flights. They showed us an animated movie Rio that seemed to be just for me, about a people-friendly FLIGHT-CHALLENGED PARROT who got separated from his RED-HAIRED female owner. Notice the similarities!

There was just a little turbulence before we landed in DC, but we were ahead of the schedule. The next flight was also on time, also had empty seats, and they again didn't check my bag which was now double their allowed weight limit. I again had to seats just for myself, and their dinner service was something different: before dinner they served vodka, gin, and scotch. During the meal they walked around with bottles of wine. Afterwards they offered cognac and baileys. All for free! I spilled some wine over me while settling in to sleep, but there were no other alcohol related incidents. Most Europeans drink moderately I guess.:) Maybe it was to calm the people for flying over a hurricane or just to use up the liquor intended for first/business class since the plane had many empty seats. Maybe people switched their flights because of the hurricane. But we didn't feel anything. The pilot took us a bit more north and around the storm, and we really could only see the clouds as usual.

And the third flight went without a glitch and my bag arrived with me to Sarajevo around noon. By 4 PM I was all unpacked, we had coffee, lunch, and were enjoying our time on the balcony. (right now it's a different story - it's 4.30 am and I've been up for two ours because of the jet leg)

The weather here was in the mid 80s but in the evening it cooled down nicely and invited us out for a walk.

Let the vacation begin!

Into The Storm I Go

Well, not really, but it's close.

I am leaving tomorrow to go to Bosnia, and I am flying over Washington DC. And, this weekend a historic storm is also approaching the east coast, Hurricane Irene. Right now it's category 2, by the time it gets to north-east coast it should be cat. 1. So now, I am racing with the storm.

My flight is still scheduled to leave Dulles airport at 6.45 PM, at which point the eye of the storm should be some 250 miles south from there. Flights from NY city airports are already being canceled starting from tomorrow afternoon. They are even shutting down the amtrak, subways, and evacuating part of Manhattan. Crazy!

Many US airlines have waived the fees to reschedule the flight ahead of the time. Not Lufthansa. So, I am hoping we'll take of, safely, before the high winds reach the path of my flight to Munich, and I won't be stranded in DC. I will feel like my vacation really started when I am on that plane going toward Europe.

I hope and pray everyone is safe in the path of Irene.

200th Post!

I made it to the bi-centennial mark! Big milestone!

I made the 1st post on this blog when I started it back 7/10/08.

I totally neglected to mark when I reached the 100th post on 3/07/2010.

It seems I am averaging 100 posts every 18 months, or one post every 5-6 days. That's all the adventures I can take in that time frame!

A Week of Uncertainties: Day 4-8

On day four Ciro continued to make small progress. :) She even vocalized a bit in the morning and responded with motion when I called her. She only ate a bit of grape the night before, and few hand-fed seeds when we went for another feeding in morning at the vet. They took a more accurate weight measurement (since she was moving a lot yesterday) and she actually has 58 grams. Very slim!

I left her at home and setup a monitoring system of sorts; I couldn't find a monitoring software without time limitations, so I had skype connection open with my brother and he was on it during the day. I had all her bowls down on the floor level in the cage, but she was not used to eating there so she climbed up a few times looking for food at her usual place. She didn't eat anything during the day.

That evening we had another freak-out: She seemed willing to eat. She ate seeds, grape, and a treat. I then offered her some food from plate as I ate at the coffee table. She took a bite of a carrot, chewed for a second, and in time it took me to take a bite she wobbled to the edge of the table and fell down! I freaked out! This was certainly not the first time she fell off of that coffee table, but usually she just lands on her feet and moves on. She also landed on her feet this time, but when I picked her up I think she just freaked out too. Few seconds later she started to stiffen, raise her wings, tilt her head back, as if she was going to start seizing again. I held her, started getting that Valium and syringes out, looking at the watch to see how long it will last. But, thankfully, it last maybe just 15 sec. I think she was just in shock. She was fine after that, didn't feel weak like after a seizure, and was soon grooming her self in the cage. Whew! I felt just terrible....

On Thursday she continued to make progress. I figured out how to have a new skype account at home automatically pick up a video call when I call from work, so I was monitoring her every day since then. She spent 70% of daytime hours sleeping and the rest moving around in her cage. In the evening she climbed into her tent to sleep, which is where she usually sleeps, so it was a signal to me that she doesn't need the ICU of towels at the bottom any more.

Friday I got her some pallet mix at Petco, Kaytee Exact Rainbow Parakeet/Lovebird, but it may take weeks before she starts accepting it as the only food. I saw they also have Fruity and Veggie versions of this brand so I might look for those as well.

On Saturday we went in for another weigh in, and I was really hoping she has gained 1-2 grams, but she hasn't. The tech used two different methods to weigh her, and both times she was around 57.7gr. Last time I think they rounded it to 58gr. I offered her formula with applesauce few more times, but she started eating her own food more on her own. I guess it will just take some time to gain that little weight back. Who would have thought 2 grams is such a big deal.

Sunday afternoon we had another scare: she was in her tent taking a nap and chirping as she often does while napping. And out of the blue, still in the tent, she start seizing. I quickly grab her, struggling to pull her out of the tent, and held her little twitching body. Luckily, this again lasted just 15sec. She was fine few minutes later.

So that was our roller-coaster week. She is still not fully stable, easily flips if she moves too much, gets scared and then feels weak. I hope that as she continues to eat she will gain her energy back enough to be her normal self again.

A Week of Uncertainties: Day 2&3

Monday morning I was awaken by a neighbor's dog at 6.18AM. Way early. With a bit of fear I reached down inside the cage next to me, still in the dark. And Ciro bit me! I don't think I was ever before happy when she bit me. :)

She got some energy back! She was still sitting in the little hide-out place I made for her, and I don't think she left that place the entire night. But she had enough energy to stand on it and not be laying down.

My brother came in around 8am to stay here while I went to work. Before I left I managed to hand-feed her 10-15 seeds and couple of bites of grapes. I think I also managed to give her two bites of mashed carrots, but she didn't like that texture. She usually likes to bite on cooked carrots, but she was not happy with that mush. And she seemed to get tired from me handling her and forcing her to eat. It was now harder to use the dropper because she wiggled and turned her head away.

I called the vet again, Dr. J. and left another urgent, sweet message. I finally got to talk to her around noon, but her schedule was full for most of the week. She told me maybe Tuesday afternoon she might have one opening, but it was very iffy and she wasn't going to know for sure until the morning. She recommended I get some baby-bird feeding formula and start feeding her that. My brother tried feeding her at home and she slid down his legs on the floor. So, he concluded he can't do the feedings. I then got the formula, went home and did my best to feed her a little bit of that mix. I think she ate maybe just 2ml, though. I felt like she was loosing more energy fighting me off than she was gaining from the little formula I got into her.

She was relaxing the rest of the day on the towels in her cage. I put a heating pad underneath so she wouldn't loose extra energy trying to stay warm. Lovebirds' body temp is 104F and they burn quite a bit of energy just to keep that temp going. In the evening, when she was all cuddled under my chin as we were both relaxing on the couch, I offered her some food again. She took, and I counted, 60 seeds over 10 minutes. I was so happy to see her eat by herself and not get tired after every bite! Couple of hours later she again took grape from my fingers and ate for another 10 minutes!

That was amazingly hopeful end of the day. We both slept better that night; she with a full belly, and me knowing she ate something willingly.

Tuesday morning she seemed alert again, even groomed herself a bit. But she was not interested in eating at all. I stayed and worked from home that day.

Mid morning was a complete 180 from how she seemed first thing in the morning. She all of a sudden seemed really weak. So much so that I thought it was the end. She was flipping to the side, couldn't hold her head, and I even thought she twitched couple of times. My first thought was to try to make her eat again, so with one hand I managed to mix that formula and give a bit to her. Maybe half of that little dropper. Even that weak she was wiggling away.

I got in touch with Dr. J. again, and she unfortunately was not going to be able to see us that day. She recommended another vet at a clinic where we were before, and in the meantime to try giving her something sweet for immediate energy. I gave her some mashed apple and honey, and she came back a bit.

Luckily, that vet agreed to postpone his surgery and see us in the afternoon. Ciro did pretty well, was more alert but it was probably a mask. She was 60gr, vs 64gr last time at the vet. He stated that to really know what's going on with seizures, he'd have to do testing, starting with blood work and on. I liked that he didn't push any testing at the moment. He concluded that we should give her nutrients to make her stronger. So the decision was made to give her few feedings, with a tube down her throat. We had couple of those in the afternoon, 4 hours apart. He also gave me a little bottle of Valium, syringes, and lube, for if she has another long seizure. I would give her the smallest doze, 0.02ml, and more if that doesn't have effect.

In the evening she was again more alert and grooming herself. So she got a burst of energy she needed. We boarded for another night in the ICU - towels and heating pad in the cage sitting next to my bed.

A Week of Uncertainties: Day 1

I have been delaying to write about this until we are completely out of the woods. I don't think we are there yet. So, I am writing this with cautious optimism.

At 4.50 AM last Sunday morning I heard Ciro banging in his cage. It wasn't too loud as when she has her regular seizures, but it was still more loud than her moving around. I hesitated for a moment before leaving room, and then I heard it again. I got to the cage to find her trashing at the bottom of the cage. I picked her up as she was twitching and contorting.

Her regular seizures last 1-2 minutes, and then she feels week for 10-15 more minutes after which she is fine. So, I didn't even turn the lights on thinking this will be short. But it kept on. She was stiff, her wings twitching, and head tilting. After 10 minutes she got few minutes of break, but then the seizure started again. This went on and off for about 30 minutes.

But then the breaks stopped and she just kept seizing. It was actually not exactly the same as the regular seizures. She was twitching inward, instead of tilting her head backward. It still had a strong hold of her. I kept holding her, folding her wings and straightening her head. It was painful to watch. I turned the lights on and started praying.

I called one emergency animal clinic in Round Rock at 6.30AM, but since they don't accept birds they referred me to another emergency clinic on 183. When I called that place I had to repeat 4-5 times that I have a lovebird. The girl couldn't understand the name, even asked "what, a lab bird?" That of course didn't give me any confidence that they are bird experts, even though the girl said they see birds. She said they would try to stabilize her until I can get her to an avian expert on Monday.

At around 8AM she finally calmed down. We laid down on the couch to get some more sleep. That lasted around and hour, and then I felt every now and then she breaks a little twitch. She was still in my left hand. Around 10AM the twitches became more intense and frequent.

At this point she has been in my hand for 5 hours. She was in the same position, leaning with her right side onto my fingers. I could see her left side twitching, her little head bobbing to the left side, her left wing/shoulder raising up and the left leg twitching up toward the head. I wrapped her in a towel and left on the couch while I went to wash my hands and face.

Then I went on the Internet. Ciro was still twitching every two seconds with her left side. She was wrapped up to her head because her left leg was uncontrollably hitting her head. With one hand I was stroking her head and with another looking for answers on the web. I even called one place in Arizona that was open on Sunday and they told me to keep her warm and try to feed her something.

When we had baby lovebirds in Sarajevo, we used to mix sweet cookies, hard boiled egg yolks with some water and give that paste to the parents to feed the chicks. So I combined that with orange juice and some mashed apple and force fed her with my fingers around noon. My brother and his wife came around 4PM and brought syringes, so it helped with the feeding and water.

I left a message to the only good avian vet I heard about in Austin, Dr. Jakubowsky who has a traveling clinic. I also posted on several web sites looking for some answers. On justanswer.com I got in touch with a great avian pet S. August Abbott (who is also an ordained minister!) at around 5.30PM. We had several communications that day, and were in touch over the next days.

Ciro's twitching slowed down around 6PM, but she was making little noises with almost every breath. She was very weak and was leaning/falling on the right side. I kept trying to feed her that egg mixture, few bites of grapes and some mashed carrot. By 9-10PM the twitching finally stopped. That's around 15 hours.

I made a little fort with kitchen towels for her in the bottom of the cage, put all her food bowls around it, and another towel on the top. I placed the cage next to me overnight. She was calm but completely exhausted and was just laying down.

I was exhausted too.

Day Trip To Brenham

This Saturday I went with few friends to Brenham. Now, there is not much going on in Brenham. It's a small town on HW 290, halfway to Houston, with population of just 13,507 (2000 Census).

But we managed to have a good time.

First, I loved it that we didn't have to leave early. We met at noon, so I was able to have an easy Saturday morning.

The main purpose of the trip was a winery tour and tasting that couple of people in the group won at an auction. It was for Pleasant Hill winery, which is a fairly small operation. The owner, Bob Cottle, gave us the tour of the vineyard, explained the soil, differences in grapes, and the history as we sipped chilled vino blanco under the blazing hot sun. There was just a little breeze in the air, and I managed to get sunburn in just those 15ish minutes.

The tour continued in the cellar, a 64F COOL cellar! Oh, yeah! No one rushed to get out of there! We tasted their Cabernet Sauvignon directly from the barrel and heard ins-and-outs of wine making. The entire tour took almost 1.5 hours and we hang around there until about 4 PM.

Next we went to see miniature horses! There were Franciscan Poor Clare Nuns who had a monastery until just a month ago. Now I think there is another order there and the horses are being sold. They were so cute! We fed them and pet them, and took lots of pictures.

The gps was not helping us find one place for dinner someone has recommended to us. I guess Brenham is changing faster than gps can catch up. So, we ended up at K-Bob's Steakhouse, which was just as good!

Good times!

Mockingbirds

This little family has built a home in the crape myrtle tree next to my house. I see the mom mockingbird always somewhere near around. She gets a bit nervous if I spend too much time around the tree. I saw her even chaise a squirrel that got a bit too close!

I am always amazed how well they build the nests. They have some clear plastic bag/wrapping paper there, and I have no idea what that black mash-like pieces are.

Last time I looked, couple of weeks ago, three bluish, speckled eggs were there. I checked on the nest today, and these little ones were asleep. It was so funny when with just one little movement of the branches I made, they transform into these orange pits. :) Their little bellies, visible through the transparent skin, don't seem to be very full. Momma, better get back to the feeding!

I love their songs. It's as if they are always trying to invent beautiful new melodies. Now, there will be three more in that choir!

Ice Cream Maker

I am not a big ice cream fan.
My mom is, big time, but I just don't like the very cold foods and drinks in my mouth.

But, Costco had this Cuisinart 1-1/2-Quart Ice Cream Maker on sale for $25, and I just couldn't pass on it. Plus, I love the color!

I didn't know this about ice cream makers, but you have to freeze the bowl before it could be used. It was a torture to have to wait 24 hours when I wanted to start making ice cream NOW! It came with few recipes, and since I already had ingredients for the basic chocolate ice cream, that was the first batch I made.

It's pretty simple to use. This basic mix took about 10 minutes to prepare, then I left overnight to chill. In the morning I just placed the frozen bowl onto the base, turned it on, poured the mix into it, and in 20 min the ice cream was ready! I transferred it into a plastic container and stored again in the freezer.

Zoran and Emilia were over for dinner last night, and we had that ice cream for desert. YUMMY! Creamy, smooth, and delicious. Ciro would have some too, but since he can't have chocolate, he got the store-bought strawberry ice cream :)

If you have some great ice cream recipes - please send them my way!

What Would I Do?

As I watched the video from the last post several times, and seeing different reactions from people, every time I was left with a question: What would I do in that situation?

The words of the song "I can only imagine" come to my mind right now. Would I stand there puzzled what was going on? Would I wait for someone else, or even several people, to kneel down before I did? Would I feel uncomfortable kneeling in the streets before my Lord, even if I was the only one? Would I recognize Jesus in that monstrance?

I mean, it's nice to think that (just as I would if this was inside a church) I would fall down to my knees, recognizing His presence. But would I have that faith on the streets? I had doubts.

Well, yesterday, I got my answer.

As we were congregating on the steps of the cathedral after the noon Mass, a Spanish Eucharistic procession was just arriving. They were walking all the way from San Jose church, almost 10 miles away! We stopped our conversations and turned toward the new crowd. There was music, singing, children in costumes, and then the priest who was carrying the monstrance under a canopy. It took me about a minute to realize they were coming up toward the steps. And as that bright host in the monstrance in priest's hands appeared in front of us, my heart smiled! And without thinking it, I came down to my knees in awe of His presence. The tears came down my face. There were cars and people passing by, and Jesus was there for all who had eyes of faith to see Him.

He blessed us. He touched our souls. And my faith was renewed.

Come and Kneel...

Tomorrow is the feast day of Corpus Cristi and this is a fitting video. I. Love. It!



Tim Drake from NCR has the full transcript here.

A Blessing of Rain

We finally got some relief from this scorching heat in the form of rain last night. We got over 2 inches of rain. It was So. Much. Needed!

It was the first rain we've had in 31 days! And this was after 13 consecutive days of 100-plus temperatures! And yesterday was just the first day of summer! Sheesh!

This rain is not expected to put much of a dent in the drought we’ve been experiencing, but at least it gives us a break from the heat today. It's a good 10 degrees cooler than it’s been for weeks.

A blessing, even if it's just for the day.

Working Hard

We had a 'hard' day at work on Wednesday when our group celebrated product release.

Gone Wild

The bunnies have started their lives in the wild.









When I took them out of the burrow on Sunday morning, at 15 days old according to my calculations, the middle one decided to hop out. He made two jumps and then I caught him. He felt really strong with his legs pushing against my hand to get away. I laid them all back in the hole and covered it. The last couple of times I checked on them there was a hole in the cover through which bunnies were visible. I guess they were peeking out.

The night before I tried feed them some lettuce leaves, but they were not interested.

On Sunday evening my friend David came over to see the bunnies. As we walked out in the back yard, one bunny was sitting next to the burrow! It was that middle one. I took him, and handed the other two to David and his girlfriend. When I placed this middle one back in the hole, he jumped out again and continued hopping toward the fence. I went after him but he continued along the fence and into the bushed. Finally I was able to catch him under the bushes and tucked him back in the hole under the other two bunnies.

That was the last I saw them.

At 8 am Monday morning the hole was empty and there were no bunnies to be seen around. That middle one probably led them all into exploration.

Late Monday night I went back out to check again and as I turned on the porch lights and stepped out I saw the mom rabbit hop away from the burrow toward the bushes. I guess she was looking for them.

I hope they figure out this big world on their own.

After this experience, I actually wouldn't mind if the mama rabbit decides to use my yard for her next litter of bunnies. :)

And just when I thought all wildlife has left, I notice that there is a new birds' nest in the crape myrtle. It's small, maybe cardinals', and not used yet it seems. More babies to come! :)