The Gallerita!

More pics from the wedding

This is a picture of me. I was tired, my drink glass was empty and my feet were on fire. I am hoping that the entry I was completing is still there. Oh well, you can go to Stepan's site and see a bunch more pictures by double clicking here.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

I had so much fun tonight. It began at around 3pm this afternoon. I answered a page from my boss, Doug, who says he has a personal question for me. With trepidation I said: "ok? what is it" He asks me if I would like to go to the Rangers Baseball game. I thought about it a moment and said yes. He had 4 tickets, 2 were to be used by him and his wife Deb. The other 2 for me and whomever I could get to go to the game with us. The first person I thought of was Danny. I called his cell and got his voice mail and left a message. I told him to page me. I waited 20minutes and decided to call his work. He was out of town working. My next invitee was a friend of mine who is a huge Ranger fan, Micheline. I called her, she said let me think about it and call back. About 15 minutes later she called to decline. I then offered the ticket to Jerry. I knew that he was not interested, but I felt obliged to include him in the list of possiblities. He also said, thanks, but no thanks. At this point in my mind, I was at bat, with 1 ball and 2 strikes. So, I paged Jeff, spoke to him and he too said he would need to make some calls and let me know. I was well on my way to a strike out. But alas, about 30 minutes later Jeff called and said he would make it. We met Doug and Deb at our Matlock office and drove with them to the game. Doug has some health issues that qualified us for handicapped parking. We parked right across the street from our gate! The Rangers won with a score of 9-8 as evidenced by the link included in this entry. The whole night is one that I will remember for some time to come. Thanks Doug for thinking of me.

check out webshots link

Webshots

I am not posting anything new tonight. However, if anyone would like to see the pictures I have taken over the last few visits I have made to Houston, you can double click here. The new albums are the graduation, Jackie's wedding and Catherine's surprise.
I have lots to tell, but I will wait til a later date to do so.

A night with Guy

Where is Waldo

Here we are starting our Danskin swim. Can you find me?

Good Day

Today has been very good to me. I arose from my slumber at about 5:45AM, ate breakfast, drank my coffee, worked the crossword puzzles and showered and dressed for the first of my two doctor appointments today. The first was the chiropractor, Dr. Pedersen. I got three different adjustments and all were very effective. I feel great (except for my grossly chapped lips.)

Time for a dinner break, Felicia has dinner ready.

Danskin Photos

I believe you will be able to view the photos of me at the Danskin by double-clicking here. Jennifer's pictures can be viewed by double-clicking here. I tried searching by last name for all of us and that search is not available. I remembered my and Jen's number.

Ode to Cosmo

Meredith sent me the following letter. If you are reading this, please take the time to cast a vote for her:

Friends and family. I did a little ditty in honor of my kitty and I
might get a chance to do it on the Oxygen network for Meow TV. This was
a fun thing I did spur of the moment that turned out to be a blast. See
the link below and vote for me. Tell all your friends...to vote for me.
If you have one, blog about it.
So all of your friends can vote for me.

And to think this could be my "big break".....And it was all for Cosmo.
I am contestant #182 and I have been told I have been on the news in New
York (Fox, WB) and Washington, DC.

Okay, thanks guys.
Meredith

PS. I just checked the video links and they aren't up yet. So keep
checking for the actual video.
Meredith

The link to vote is here

Project

What was I thinking? I decided a while back that I would reupholster the teak chairs that are a part of my dining room set. In my mind, I felt I could knock this little project out in one Friday day off. Bright and early this morning, I examined one of the chairs to be covered. Hmmm! I wondered how to attack the project. I left it and did some other stuff. An hour later I was back looking at the chair. Maybe, if I remove these screws and then I can tell what path I should take----so I did that. That was easy enough. I then tried to remove some of the staples that secured the original material to the chair...well, it looks as if I will need a staple-removing tool. So, off to Hobby Lobby I went. While I was there, I found no staple-removing tool, but I did buy the material to recover the chairs. I also purchased some coin collector books for the State series of the Washington quarters. I also bought a sequined battery operated clock because I truly believe that one cannot have too many clocks. I returned home and started searching for something that would facilitate the removal of those pesky staples. I located my paper staple remover and it worked okay. I estimate that I was removing a staple per minute. So, here it is at the end of that Friday day off and I have one chair unassembled, with some of the staples out of it. Yep, I do believe this will take longer than I originally planned.

Another thing occurs to me as I read this entry...I think I have A.D.D. What do you think?

Danskin

First and foremost, congratulations to my fellow triathletes. Jennifer, Elizabeth, Meredith and about 3000 other very determined women who began and completed the triathlon.

Jen and I got a bit of a late start to the event. There was not alot of time to do too much worrying and getting nervous before we got into the water to begin the course. I have posted the results for me, Jen and Elizabeth in the extended entry portion of this post. I am not quite sure how it will look because I never use that feature. However, anyone can view the entire race results by double-clicking here. After everyone had finished the race and pictures were being taken for the team Danskiners, I went into the transition area to stash my freebies that I collected after the finish. While I was sitting there atop my lunch mate cooler, a race official told me that it was time to clear the area. Thunder storms and lightning were approaching rapidly and we needed to move to safety. So, I searched out Jen, and we readied ourselvies for the 1 mile trek back to the car with our bikes and tri-gear. The storm petered out, but it added an air of excitement to the end of the event.

After we showered, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Stepan, Meredith O and I went to PF Changs for a victory lunch. The food was delicous. We shared appetizers and entrees among the table. My favorites were the lettuce wraps, hmmmm! and the sweet and sour chicken.

The balance of the aftermoon for me was spent napping and driving back to Arlington. Oh yeah! While I was in transition between the swim and bike, a photographer came and asked my name and home city. I think I may be in the newspaper tomorrow. How cool is that?

Race: 2003 AUSTIN RESULTS
First Name: RITA
Last Name: LUCIO
Sex: F
Class: 50-54
Swim: 00:22:54
Swim Rank: 1333
Trans 1: 00:05:40
Bike: 00:54:50
Bike Rank: 1508
MPH: 13.1
Trans 2: 00:03:16
Run: 00:43:51
Run Rank: 2011
Pace: 00:14:08
Final: 02:10:32
Class Rank: 62 out of 93
Overall Rank: 1750 out of 2374

Race Results
Race: 2003 AUSTIN RESULTS
First Name: JENNIFER
Last Name: RIHA
Sex: F
Class: 30-34
Swim: 00:21:58
Swim Rank: 1117
Trans 1: 00:03:57
Bike: 00:50:25
Bike Rank: 1071
MPH: 14.2
Trans 2: 00:02:42
Run: 00:36:36
Run Rank: 1423
Pace: 00:11:48
Final: 01:55:40
Class Rank: 239 out of 502
Overall Rank: 1139 out of 2374

Race: 2003 AUSTIN RESULTS
First Name: ELIZABETH
Last Name: CHURCHETT
Sex: F
Class: 30-34
Swim: 00:22:50
Swim Rank: 1319
Trans 1: 00:05:15
Bike: 00:58:03
Bike Rank: 1764
MPH: 12.4
Trans 2: 00:01:49
Run: 00:40:23
Run Rank: 1784
Pace: 00:13:01
Final: 02:08:22
Class Rank: 368 out of 502
Overall Rank: 1672 out of 2374

Danskin Update

This morning we got up bright and early to attend the graduation breakfast for Team Danskin. Jennifer is a team leader and she scored a pass for me to attend as well. She thought we would also be fillling baloons with hellium for the team members for the next day. We got up at 5:15AM. We thought we were going to be late. We get to the breakfast site and noone is there. Jennifer doesn't seem to think anything funny about that. She kept saying that we were suppose to park by the fence and that we were late. I asked her where everyone else had parked because there was not another car in sight. I was doubtful that we were in the right place. Finallly, she called another team leader, no answer. So, we called Stepan to see if an email had been sent detailing a change in plan for the breakfast site or time. He was none too happy about this, but complied anyway. As it turns out, we were 1 1/2 hours early.

The breakfast was very enjoyable. Sally Edwards was there and gave a pep talk. If you remember from a previous blog, she is the triathlete that is going to keep me from finishing last. Me and everyone else who completes the course. Afterward, we went to rack our bikes. We found that we would have to obtain our race numbers first. I offered to stay and watch the bikes while Jennifer and Elizabeth went to the Expo building to pick up our packets. While I waited I took advantage of the Accupuncture Therapist services that were being offered. I think that my hip is feeling much better, as is my elbow. I am going back for another session tomorrow after the race.

At the race expo, there were several vendors giving away and selling their wares. Jenny bought me a pair of polorized sunglasses for mother's day.

In the afternoon, Jennifer, Stepan and I went to see "Bruce Almighty". I enjoyed it thoroughly. The theatre were we watched it served food and beer to your seat. I had a couple of Smirnoff Ices (for the carbs, of course). I really enjoyed the movie. It did what a good movie should do---entertained me.

When we returned home, Jen and I got our race bags readied for tomorrow. It is tomorrow that we will be filling those darn balloons. We will be leaving the house at 5:40AM. Jennifer is in the 2nd wave and will begin her race at 7:01AM. I am in the 3rd wave and begin at 7:05AM.

We just returned from an early meal at Macaroni Grill with Elizabeth and Jonathan. Jonathan is such a joy to be around. He certainly adores his cousin Jenny.

Stay tuned for further updates. TTFN

Austin & The Danskin

I am preparing to leave for Austin. The Danskin is this Sunday. I have not done alot of training for it; but I feel I will do okay. By okay, I believe I will finish the course and I know I will not come in last because Sally Edwards is the traditional person to cross the finish line last. You can't get anymore ok than that.

Possum Kingdom Lake

I had another fun time at the lake with Tim, Felicia, and Catherine. I did not make it up on skis, but the knee-boarding was easy and alot of fun. Thankfully, it waited til dark to start thunder-storming. It was nice sleeping during the storm. I always like hearing thunder when I am abed.

Possum Kingdom Lake

I am so exhausted. It is a good exhaustion, the kind one might get by spending 6 hours in a boat on the lake, swimming by the boat on the lake, trying to ski behind the boat on the lake, succeeding at knee-boarding behind the boat on the lake, having a swim meet which included Catherine, my niece, Felicia, my sister-in-law, Molly, the dog and myself to the boat on the lake. BTW, Molly won that race. Molly did not want to get in the water. She was wearing the doggie life jacket that Felicia had bought her and was thrown into the lake. She immediately started clawing at the boat to get back in it. Finally, we obliged her and returned her to the haven of the boat. While we were swimming and really enjoying ourselves we started calling for Molly to jump. She wanted to and came very close to falling in. So, we kept calling til it happened. Molly jumped in on her own accord. We were at Hells Gate and there were quite a few spectators. She may have even received a few cheers. When we tired of swimming, we decided to race back to the boat, Molly was all for it. She gave it her all. She beat me back, but I let her win; really, truthfully, honestly I did! I hope everyone in the family reads this entry and takes Tim and Felicia up on their invitation to join them. They are wonderful hosts and will make sure you have a wonderful time.