Like Skokie, Blossom now has her own Catster page.  She even has little online kitty buddies.  It’s so cute, it’s scary.

 

Check it out.

 

 

[photopress:flag_1.gif,thumb,alignleft]March 1st commemorates the beginning of the Korean Independence Movement. On March 1, 1919, independence fighters announced Korea’s declaration of independence from Japanese colonialism.  Korean people throughout the country joined together in peaceful demonstrations while shouting “independence.” In response, Japanese police and military forces killed and injured thousands of unarmed protestors. 

Summary of the March 1st movemement from Wikipedia…..

Read the full text of the declaration of independence in English and Korean….

So, I’m currently sitting on two free roundtrip airline tickets:

Delta/Continental Airlines: 50,000 miles
Southwest Airlines: $314.80 voucher

My last out-of-state vacation was to NYC during Christmas 2004, so I’m in need of some R&R.  Now that I think of it, I don’t think I travelled out of state once during 2005.  How depressing.

I’ve been thinking of some potential vacation ideas that involve either one or both of the free airline tickets. I’d really like to go somewhere during May or June, but we’re entering the busy season at work and I would probably only be able to get away for a long weekend. I could manage something longer in September, but that feels so far away.  *sigh*  Why do Americans get such short vacation times compared to Europeans?  It’s not like we’re any more productive - or nicer - than other countries with longer vacation policies. bleh.

Anyways, here are some vacation ideas.  Additional suggestions are welcomed.

Idea #1: Use the 50K ticket to go to Europe.
Idea #2:  Use the Southwest Airlines ticket to go to Hawai’i. 

Ok, I spoke too soon on the Hawai’i idea.  After checking Southwest Airlines fares between Houston Hobby and Honolulu, it turns out the price is $353 EACH WAY, not round trip. I was thinking about going for a long weekend in June and doing the Beat the Heat 10K in Kula. But since my SWA voucher packs less of a punch now then I thought it did, I’ll have to set my sights somewhere in the Continental US.  *sigh*

I’ve switched from DayQuil to Theraflu.  The DayQuil was making me a little TOO buzzy, like I was on way too much caffeine.  Or speed. So, I’ve moved to Apple Cinnamon flavored TheraFlu which, fortunately, doesn’t taste like ass.   Actually, it tastes pretty OK.

Ironically, I was at a meeting this morning at the Health Department where one of the topics was drug use in Houston.  While injection drug use isn’t very big here, Houston is known for it’s abuse of cough syrups.  More specifically, people are extracting stuff from cough syrups, but you get the picture.  Gotta keep those meth labs going, I guess.

  

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The cold’s back (with a vengeance), which means NyQuil’s back on duty.  Whee.

(Like the little wings, etc I added to the bottle? It’s kinda Keith Haring-esque, though nowhere as cool or meaningful.)

I spent part of the afternoon with some fellow Houston Wordpress bloggers at Cafe Artiste, but started feeling sick by the time I got home.  My head hurts, and my ears feel like they’re stuffed with cotton. Bleh. 

[photopress:dayquil.jpg,thumb,alignleft]  Of Recovery: So, I was sick all week.  After three days of being homebound, I’m back in the office and feeling depressed about all the catching up I have to do…..so I decided to update my blog.  Like how that works?   Anyways, I’m about 90% recovered, but I may be checking myself into a substance abuse treatment center following my 5-day DayQuil/NyQuil binge.  The NyQuil knocked me on my ass at night and the DayQuil made me blissfully loopy, so I basically spent the past 5 days pretty buzzed.    They didn’t do jack for my stuffy head, sore throat, coughing, aching or fever, though.

[photopress:rodeorun.jpg,thumb,alignleft] Of rodeoruns: I contemplated all week about the Rodeo Run 10K tomorrow, and I’ve decided to go ahead and still run it….though, “run” may be a generous description given my current state.  I just want to finish without passing out somewhere along Crawford.  Maybe I’ll fill one of my Amphipod flasks with some DayQuil and finish the race with a nice runner’s high. 

[photopress:rodeo.jpg,thumb,alignleft]...and pimpin cowboys:  About an hour ago, the Rodeo Trail Ride passed by our building - saw horses and buggies (carriages? whatever they’re called) passing by.  Most of the guys on horses were wearing normal, typical “western wear,” but there was one guy all pimped out in a knee-length white coat, white boots and, I swear to god, white cowboy hat.  Awesome.   Welcome to Houston.  Anyways, I had completely forgotten that today was Go Texan Day, so I’m the only one in the office that isn’t wearing something involving denim, snakeskin leather or lasso fringes.  I’m pretty pleased about that, though.

[photopress:swa.jpg,thumb,alignleft] Spent the day in Dallas at a meeting.  When I arrived at Love Field for my flight back to Houston, the terminal was completely packed - turns out, they oversold the flight.  Southwest Airlines announced they were looking for volunteers to give up their seats on the flight in exchange for compensation - and since I love getting free travel vouchers, I was the first to sign up.  Southwest gave me a $200 credit plus the actual cost of the one-way ticket for a grand total of $314.80…..and I only had to wait 30 minutes to catch the next flight home.  Rawk!