Madisonville, TX??

So we're leaving Texas today. Well we were going to be leaving Texas today...

I went in for my last day of work this morning around 7.30 and had a good time saying good bye to the people I worked with and finishing up some of the projects I was working on. Carrie was home finishing up the little bit of packing that we had to do still and we finished all of the cleaning last night so we'd be all set to hit the road around noon and drive a good 8 or 9 hours of the trip today. In total it's about a 22 hour drive and we planned on stopping in Amarillo tonight and making the rest of the trip on Friday - arriving late Friday evening.

All went well (except that my promise of making it home right at 11 didn't quite work out.. I was a few minutes late thanks to an extra long interview at work) and we got checked out of our apartment around noon. I popped on the shades and we hit the road. Made it out of Houston fine and pulled over about an hour and a half later for a quick bite of lunch in Madisonville.

It's a nice town. Main Street is a few hundred yards long maybe (yes, it's paved) and there are a few gas stations with "half fast-food restaurants" connected to them. Taco Bell's value menu is absolutely awesome and we ate there. More food than both of us could handle for less than 6 bucks! Can't complain about that. Gassed up the car and hit the highway. The AC had been acting up for a few miles before we stopped for lunch so we were a little worried about it, but figured we could survive without the AC -- Carrie made the comment that at least it was just the AC and nothing worse.

Famous last words I guess...

About 2 miles out of town the temperature gauge hit the red line and so I pulled off the freeway and checked under the hood. I always love doing that. Pretend like I know what's going on. This time something was definitely wrong, though, cause there was coolant all over. The radiator, cap, and thermostat blew up. So, we did some crafty coasting back into town and luckily found a mechanic who is going to get it fixed for us. No parts available anywhere near here though, so hopefully by tomorrow afternoon they can get us a new radiator in from somewhere and get us fixed up. This is the second time that the radiator cap has blown on the car in the last 3 years, so it's time to take it into the dealership in UT and see what's causing the issue here. Hopefully they'll pay for any fixes that need to be made so it doesn't happen a third time. Isn't that what a bumper-to-bumper warranty means? I'm just going to go out on a limb now and say that there's no way in heck they pay for anything. Worthless warranties...

Anyway, we're checked into the only available room in town which happens to be a Best Western. I don't know why they only had one room available cause this town is tiny, but it's a king suite. We'll be sleeping in style tonight. Thank you for being the only available room cause otherwise there's no way I'd ever pay more to stay in this room! Not that king suite means that much in a Best Western... I think the only difference is that there's a small sofa and table in here instead of a second bed. Haha. Gotta love it. Gotta increase the margins somehow, right?

So, keep those fingers crossed. We're hoping for a new radiator tomorrow morning and to hit the road around 11 or 12. Maybe stop in Amarillo for the night or push on through to Albuquerque and stay there. Then it looks like we'll get home Sat. night.

Texas is still awesome in my eyes. Unless we break down again tomorrow that shouldn't change!

Check this out

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_saudi_divorce

I wonder what he used his other 1,000 texts on this month?

First Blog Post

This is it. First blog post. What is a blog? Why do so many people have them? Why do I have one?

And what's with 'Twitter'?

This whole new electronic communications crap is just weird to me... (says the guy writing on his own blog now)

Don't get me wrong, I've totally jumped on board and have my own facebook account, cell phone plan complete with texting (only 400 a month though...), and now a blog.

I was way excited to get a cell phone for the first time right after getting back from Guatemala. I was really excited to be able to call friends, and most importantly the cell phone made it super easy to get girl's phone numbers. Just casually mention the new cell phone, pull it out, and boom. Getting that number was way easier. Certainly not as awkward or uncomfortable as pulling out a pen and paper and writing down the number....

Anyway, I guess I always thought a cell phone was great for calling people. I do use some of the 400 texts on our plan. Carrie probably gets about 350 "love texts" each month (only from me I hope) and that's about the extent of text usage for us. I only use them because they're there and I won't pay for something that just goes unused. That just goes against everything I believe in. How could somebody possibly use 1,000 or 2,000 or more in a month? Does anybody call anyone anymore? Am I the only Joe Shmoe in the world who still thinks it's nice to actually talk to someone? And no, I don't consider a text conversation "talking". I wonder what it is doing to society. I wonder what high school dates are like now. Do boys call girls and ask them out anymore? Do people even know how to talk anymore? I can see it now.... Boy asks girl out to a "text date" and they both set aside an hour to sit in their respective bedrooms and have a text conversation. I guess it's a good way to get to know someone....

Maybe I just need to just accept the shift in society and try having some more 'electronic buddies'. And hey, it's a lot easier to say something over the keyboard than it is to say it in person. I could say or ask anything I want and not even feel guilty! I wouldn't have to worry about my face turning red or anything!

Come on people, let's dust off the old earpiece on our phones and start using them every once in a while!

Enough of that.

Houston is great. We love it. Baby is kicking hard. Life is good.

Shoot us a call, email, facebook message, blog comment, something with Twitter (whatever that is), or even a text!