The Gallerita!

The Great Ice Storm of 2003

It was bad. I scared myself several times when I was driving in it. The most memorable event occurred when I, in my most demure voice, requested the J come by my house and pick me up for work on Wednesday. It was the worst day of the storm. Jerry knew he would not make it to his work in his truck. I suggested he take the Toyota, he jumped on it. I toyed with the idea of taking one of my days I still have remaining from last year's vacation. When I called J, and he said he was going to work, I asked if would come by and pick me up. I gave him directions, hung up and rushed around getting ready for him to arrive. It took him about 1 hour to get here. It would, under normal conditions take about 20 minutes. So, he picks me up, and we begin our 4 mile trek to the Matlock Central Office. The van is pointed toward the back road way, J says he does not want to turn around. I said fine and direct him the back way. We get about .5 mile down Collard and J looses traction and has no control. If he keeps doing what he was attempting to do, we were going to do some major damage to a very high dollar brick mailbox. Everything he did caused the van to slide in the direction of the mailbox. So, he gets out of the van and with gloved hands digs up dirt and throws it around the tires. Eventually, a man with a shovel and a ziplock bag of sand shows up and we are able to dirty the otherwise pristeen way to afford enough traction to back up to my street so we can take a more traveled route. We were on Collard, blocking traffic in both directions for about 45 minutes. During that time only one car attempted the same route and turned around. In retrospect, I doubt that this will be remembered as the great ice storm of 2003...but I will remember and next time take one of my carry over vacation days.

Congratulations

I attended a party tonight honoring Debra Jensen. She has been promoted to communication consultant for SBC. It is the highest paid non-management job with SWB. We had a wonderful time. Barbara Brittain hosted the celebration. I am really happy for Debra. There is not a more deserving person than Debra for this job.

Houston

Tomorrow I am going to the chiropractor, then I am driving to Houston. I am going to go see Guy Forsythe on Friday night. I am also meeting Meredith's new gentleman friend, Deon Metelski. Jennifer, Kathleen, John, Margaret,Gerry and I hope Tim and Felicia will be going also. I may get to meet Debra and her sister for breakfast before I leave town. Hopefully, that part of the plans will work out.