generic after-christmas entry

Ahh, we are back from Christmastime in Birmingham and I’ve enough books to keep me in reading material for a good three weeks or so. Steven is up to his ears in computer games so he will be busy as well. Renton and Hermione were loaded up with catnip toys; they were literally bouncing off the walls last night. Hermione whacked her head pretty good, poor girl.

Now we are in that dead week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It used to be more dead when we all had two weeks of Christmas vacation and had nothing to do. This year Steven will be working, if just for three days. I shall settle into my project of scanning all my wedding pictures via my brand-spanking new scanner that I received. Hooray for Amazon Wish Lists, for you will forget what you listed only to be reminded later when you receive goodies.

I really can’t think of too much else to say; it would be silly to make a list of Christmas presents. Besides, I am about to bloody kill this keyboard; something is messing with the connection and I’m having to type very slowly to make sure my words all get out. When something interesting happens, I’ll be sure to write it up. For now: Death to the Little Black Keyboard!

litterbug

It’s amazing how easy my cats can exasperate me. I just got finished replacing the cat litter, which is a bitch of a process because Renton flings the stuff everywhere and Hermione tends to mis-aim, sending pee all over the bathtub.

I clean it all up, wash everything off, and put in nice, brand-spanking new litter. Everything is fresh, clean, and unsoiled.

Then two minutes later, one of them has to use the facilities.

Man, I just cleaned that all up! Can it not stay fresh for maybe two hours or so? It’s all I ask! Grrrr . . .

Oh well, soiled again.

shell of a beach

Last weekend Steven and I got a change to tour the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area and see firsthand the damage that Hurricane Ivan dealt out. My family has gone to the Alabama coast almost every summer since I was in elementary school; we are the classic annual tourists. We know the great places to eat, fun places to go, and we even had our favorite places to stay. We don’t live there but we love the town as if we did. Finally seeing what Ivan did three months prior just broke my heart.

I didn’t really know what to expect, but I didn’t expect what we saw. Soon after we were south of Montgomery we were already seeing the signs of the recent hurricane. There were many trees down, especially on the western side of the interstate, and we saw a few gas stations that were missing some pieces. The closer we got, the more we saw. Heading south on Highway 59 we saw a skeletonized McDonald’s sign, toppled trees, and many more damaged gas stations. Something tells me they’re not very areodynamically designed.

We reached the Gulf Shores intersection at the beach then turned left to park near the amusement park. My sister and I both just loved that park. There was a Ferris wheel, The Scrambler, those red planes that swung you so close to the corner of Alvin’s Island that I shut my eyes, and the ever-fantastic Tilt-a-Whirl. I could ride the Tilt-a-Whirl for hours if I had enough money. Ivan decided it was time for the Tilt-a-Whirl to go.

This is looking across the lot where the amusement park used to be. The blue building is Alvin’s Island. The asphalt track is where the go-carts circled. The yellow building is where the arcade games were. Everything else has been carted away as it was mostly wreckage.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

We then crossed the street to the public beach area. This marker was buried in the sand; I don’t really know how tall it is supposed to be.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

This public beach area had a boardwalk with benches, a large pavilion area with an arbor, and some public restrooms. The pavilion lost it’s wood planking and has a seven foot deep trough dug out of the sand underneath it, which was halfway filled with water. It is still has the arbor, though.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Here is one of the benches that was on the boardwalk. You can see how the waves pushed up at the walk area from underneath and bent the planking. In some places the boardwalk was completely gone.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Below is another view down the boardwalk, looking west toward where the Driftwood condos should be. On a side note: boy, I think it’s a sure bet their parking lot flooded during the storm. We’ve stayed there a few times, I daresay. During one of those stays there came up a rain good enough to flood their parking lot enough that Cathy and I were able to float around it in big-ass doughnut floats. Instant pool.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Here is a look the other way down the beach toward the east. See that low, flat, brown building sticking out on the right? That’s ye olde Sea ‘n Suds. It’s where you wanna go when you’re hankering for a shrimp po’ boy. To the left is one huge pile of sand. Once we stayed at The Boardwalk Condominiums located right next to the Sea ‘n Suds. The trip wasn’t all that spectacular for reasons I won’t mention here, but Cathy and I did have a lot of fun swimming under the Sea ‘n Suds. Yes, I said swimming — that restaurant used to be over the water! Usually hurricanes take away the beach, so I’m going to assume that it was the bulldozers that moved the sand underneath the Suds. Whoa, dudes, I think y’all got a bit carried away!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

This palm tree made it through the storm, but his head is starting to lean toward Aunt Nancy’s house, a.k.a. Charleston — I found that old house, remember?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

After our beachwalk we hopped back in the car and headed east towards Orange Beach and Florida. I was driving since I had more of an idea where we were going and Steven had passenger seat camera duty. My main instructions for him were, “Just keep shooting; don’t stop!” Steven got some excellent shots; this one below is one he’s really proud of since the sign crept into the photo right as the shutter opened. Before Ivan, you really couldn’t see the ocean from the road like this because of the numerous sand dunes. In the distance you can see the torn-up pier.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Our favorite place to stay of late has been the WindDrift Condominiums; the first set of condos you come to after you cross the big bridge over the marina. I’m not sure how many times we’ve stayed there, but it’s been a lot. I bet Cathy could tell us all the room numbers we’ve been in — that’s one of her specialties. I myself can’t remember that nor do I remember the room numbers we’ve occupied at the Driftwood, but I do remember where our rooms were in the Driftwood. One year we were at the very top on the FAR side and the next year we were at the top on the OTHER FAR side; the third year we were next from the top and one in from the end. At least, I think so. The WindDrift seemed to make it through okay, at least from the road view that we had. The road itself was a shambles and there was yet another huge pile of sand in the parking lot, but it hadn’t collapsed. After some internet research, I’ve found that they’re scheduled to be reopened at the end of May in 2005. Excellent.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

One of the more surprising things — besides the wreckage — was the amount of shells on the beach. I’m not talking about a bunch of junk coquina shells and cross-barred venuses, either; we are talking about GOOD SHELLS. Steven and I spent much longer than we meant to just beachcombing the surf and filling our coat pockets. It was like potato chips — we couldn’t stop at just one.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Here we have some, but by no means all, of our excellent catch. All my life I have wanted a sand dollar like that. Uhh, I won’t repeat what I said when I found it. I’m not sure Ivan was the cause of this above-normal amount of shells or if it was just because it was December and the summer armies of kids weren’t there to scurry them all up. There’s something to ponder. Despite the fact that the shells are exoskeletons of dead sea creatures, it does give me hope that the beach and the human inhabitants alike will heal themselves. Though the sand dunes and many buildings were torn through, the beach is not gone. It is just redecorating.

bless you

Poor Renton has come down with a cold. He’s waddled around the apartment all day sniffing and snorting, spraying sneezes everywhere. He won’t share much, but he will share his germs.

This evening Steven and I were settling down in bed to read when we hear Sniffing Renton coming down the hall to be with us. Never can stay in a room by himself, that one. He hops up onto the bed and nests into my pillow, then promptly has a big sneezing fit all over it.

“Ha ha, he sneezed all over your pillow,” Steven laughed.

Renton then turned his head — as if he were taking aim — and sneezed out a chortle of snot onto Steven’s adjacent pillow.

“Ewwwww!” exclaimed Steven.

I laughed for five minutes. Five long, tear-dripping, gasping minutes.

concepts update

The latter half of December is still looking interesting, weather-wise. Take a look at this wonderful map for Christmas Day. I don’t know if the map will change as the computer makes new predictions or not, but for right now, anyway, it is beautiful. Every part of my body that can be crossed is, well, crossed.

Edit: Oh, phooey, the map does change as the computer refreshes itself. Man, sometime in July someone’s gonna come through this post, click on the map and think, “Dude, 90 degrees on Christmas and she thinks it’s beautiful?! The Alabama heat must’ve gotten to her nuttry brain a long time ago!”

Edit Edit: Allrighty, try out this map instead. Maybe it will last a bit longer.

___________________________

Steven and I had a wonderful time last weekend at his grandparents’ house in Fairhope. We also got a chance to tour the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area on Sunday. We took loads of pictures; I shall tell you all about it at a later date. I just don’t feel like getting into it right now. It was sort of sad.

___________________________

Excellent day today. The temperatures are in the 40’s and don’t plan on getting any higher. About bloody time, Winter.

absurdity

Oh my God oh my God oh my God, how can people say stuff like this? Hopefully the video will be up for a while. Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad to be an American, I’m proud of my ancestors that fought for this country, but stuff like this makes me feel so ashamed.

For Ann Coulter to say that we allow Canada to share a border with us and they should be grateful that we would protect them with this missile defence system is beyond absurd. Then she goes on to take a crack at their French-speaking tendencies, which a lot of Americans seem to take offense to nowadays. I’m aghast.

I turn to the north and scream, “Don’t hate me, Canadians! I’m not like all these right-wing blowhards, I’m nice!!!”

concepts

Okay, no more wanking about Auburn football, I promise; I just get so MAD thinking about it! . . . Sorry. I shall try to move on.

_________________________

Alabama weather: it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it gets your hopes up only to have them dashed across the snow-free pavement. And still I come back for more, mainly because I live here and have gullible hopes.

It is now December, but that means nothing here in terms of ‘cold.’ We have had our air conditioner on all week. It will be in the 70s again today with a deluge of rain and a few sprinkles of tornadoes coming this afternoon.

And yet . . .

There is a buzzing murmur coming from the weather world. It isn’t a forecast yet, just ‘concepts,’ as James Spann likes to say. There are concepts of much colder weather settling in by mid-next week and some moisture coming in right after that. Cold air and moisture that might equate to a winter weather event around the 17th through the 20th for Alabama. I’m trying not to get excited, but it’s SNOW! On our anniversary, even! But I must not freak out. ‘Tis but a concept.

The same concept comes up again for Christmas Eve. I drool icicles at the thought.

I must go and shower myself before the tornadoes come. I don’t want to be blown away with the debris of my apartment building and have some rescue worker find me without any skivvies and nasty hair.

biggest screw job of the century

I didn’t write this, but it sums up everything, so here ya go.

_____________________________

OU and USC fans, congratulations on your great season. But I’m seriously pissed off, and I’ve got to vent. (i’m also typing this from a hotel room via a TV and crappy keyboard (all for the low lwo price of 10.95, so forgive any typos…)

To Lee Corso: You’re the biggest dick on TV. In one breath you say the SEC is the best conference in college football, and in the next you say that AU isn’t deservng of a National Championship Bid. If the undefeated champion of the best conference in College Football doesn’t deserve to play in the NC game, then who the hell deserves it?

AU beat a 9 win UT team by 10 points today, and could’ve made it 17 had we run 1 more running play inside the 5 at the end of the game. We spotted UT 14 points and still won by 10. USC faced a unranked opponent, and won by 5 (with some quetsionable fumble calls I might add), and the second best team in the Pac-10 was up by 2 points against Southern Friggin Miss with under 5 mintues to go. May I remind the viewers at home that Alabama beat Southern Miss so bad, their mommas’ felt it.

Oklahoma, while looking impressive, beat an UNRANKED colorado team like a redheaded stepchild. Color me unimpressed.

Somehow, after watching all these games, the talking heads AGAIN denegrated AU’s impressive accomplishments against BETTER COMPETITION.

I saw a USC team have to recover an onsides kick to win the game. I saw them have to get an INT towin the game. I saw them win by 5 points to an unranked UCLA team. I remember 2 weeks ago when AU’s 8 POINT WIN agaisnt an arch rival was denegrated, but tonight, no such courtesy was extended to USC. They won, it was a rivlary game., and they were hailed. WHen we did the same, we were denegrated.

AU has played 4 games against teams with 9 wins, won al 4, 2 away from home. That is more than USC and OU have done COMBINED. We’ve won by an average of 13.3 points against those opponents, more than OU has against their RANKED opponents.

I’ve seen the dicks on ESPN denegrate AU’s Defensive performance tonight, in a game we won by 10 POINTS (could’ve been 17 had we used our timeouts and punched the ball in when we were inside the 5 with 25 seconds to go), when they said nothing of the sort when OU won by less than that in TWO CONSECUTIVE GAMES against average Big-12 opponents.

I’m sick of hearing abuot OOC records, because its’ a red herring. Our In-conference schedule was better than USC’s or OU’s, and we won more impressively more often than either of those two teams.

The SEC has 5 teams in the top 25. The Big-12 has 4 The Pac-10 has 3.

I’m livid that AU can beat the #15 team on national TV, spotting 2 turnovers + bad punt snap (14 points), and not punch in the last TD (17 point win) when we clearly could’ve, and watch them praise USC’s 5 FRIGGIN POINT WIN agaisnt UNRANKED and HORRID UCLA as well as OU’s absolute demolishment of another unranked “Big 12 North champion” Colorado, and at the same time denigrate this teams accomplishments. The Big East, the MAC, the WAC, and the Sun Friggin Belt play better footbal than the Big 12 North. Hell, Hoover High would place no worse than 3rd in the big 12 north.

The computers can suck it too. They’ve got a great track record of being wrong. Sagarin has some horrible teams in the top 40, he has a 10 win 1AA school at 193, behind several 1AA schools with 1-2 wins, and he’s been historically wrong at the END OF THE SEASON. For cryin out loud, in 2002, he picked a 2 LOSS USC team as his NC, above an UNDEFEATED Ohio State. He has a 6-5 Oregon State Team above Co-Big-10 Champs Michigan and Iowa. Michigan would kill OSU any place, any time.

So, fsck the BCS. I hope Texas gets #4 above Cal, cause it serves this entire system right.

And to all you SEC brethren, win your bowl games. Let’s go undefeated in the Bowls. That means you, Tennesee. That means you, Georgia. That means you Alabama (roll fscking tide!).

–NewAZTiger, autigers.com