Thread: October Tracking

137.5 today - I'm pleased and I hope I can stay there for more than 5 minutes! It's still warm here - upper 80s and very, very dry. But, a cooling trend is supposed to start to day, so it should be back in the high 60s soon.

BC - oh! a murder mystery set in Half Moon Bay! Let's write it!

The quiet of the peaceful and picturesque village is shattered when a body is discovered lying face down in the salt marsh. Is a lunatic on the loose?

Pick one:

Who is the victim?

A. Rosa Thornbury: A middle-age woman - a member of the Red Hat Club who came to Half Moon Bay for a luncheon at the Pasta Moon restaurant with her Red Hat cohorts. She is annoyed about the choice of restaurant, as she lost 37 pounds on the Atkins diet and doesn't want to get off track by eating pasta. "Thank God for Caesar salad", she whispers to herself. Rosa lives in the sedately upscale town of Los Altos in the nearby Peninsula (south of San Francisco). Her favorite shop in Half Moon Bay is called Damsel in a Dress - purveyor of lace shawls, romantic flowing dresses, and frilly hats to die for!

B. Helena Newcomer: a young woman honeymooning with her new husband, Rob, at the Mill Rose Inn. A big and beautiful girl, she crash dieted for her wedding and lost 15 lbs - but she knows she can't keep that up for ever. Helena met her husband, an amusement park employee, six months ago at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. He was the Ferris wheel operator. It was love at first sight. Her feelings soared ever higher with each turn of the Ferris wheel. Yet, she still has problems remembering his name - she calls him Rob or Roy or Ralph, whatever. It was only yesterday that she looked deep into the eyes of her new husband and whispered, "'Til death do us part".

C. Craig Piscatori: a grizzled, old fisherman - 92 years of age, he's a relic from the bygone days when Half Moon Bay was just a sleepy, faded fishing village. He was born in Half Moon Bay, son of a Portuguese immigrant. When he was a boy, a dog fight in the street was about all of the entertainment to be had in the village progress had left behind. A life long bachelor, he eats bacon and eggs every day for breakfast at the Two Fools Cafe and Market. His other meals mainly consist of fish, shellfish, and more fish - supplemented by home grown tomatoes and zucchini brought over by the widder Thomas, his neighbor. She brings him a bowl of homemade clam chowder every Friday, but he secretly feeds it to the dog. The fisheries have mostly moved away, so to make ends meet, he has a second job working as a custodian for the Coastal Repertory Theater (current season billings: Our Lady of the Tortilla, The Old Man and the Sea, and Death of a Salesman).

D. Malcom Hazit: 30-year old software engineer. He made millions as a high tech wunderkind, but lost much of his money in the dot.com crash. He dumped his wife (the girl who put him through college), and now has a trophy wife - a clothes horse who secretly purges to maintain her model-thin figure. Now he's putting what's left of his assets into real estate. Malcom is developing a cluster of townhome/condominums at the town's edge. To save money on land, the development only provides 1 parking space per unit. Locals are not happy about the high-density housing, and ensuing parking problems - but the city could sure use the tax revenue. He's also building his own dream home - 6,000 sq. ft. mock Spanish villa on a bluff over looking the ocean. The locals, already resentful of the intrusion of monster homes in their middle-class community, view Hazit as one more pretentious jerk. His dot.com buddies told him he would lose his shirt in real estate, but he knows this is his last chance. "Do or die", he thinks.

Looks like I'm going to have to research this Half Moon Bay place. I have never heard of it. Teel --- your group of characters is great!

Just to keep the location theme going, I'll post some info about my home town (where I came from--- not where I live now). If you think it's a joke........... just go there.

Living in Lubbock, TX

1. Lubbock has many houses of worship. The two biggest
are Jones Stadium(football) and the United Spirit Arena (basketball).

2. Lubbock has an annual event called "A Taste of
Lubbock". This is not to be confused with the event
during dust storm season, which is called "A Taste of
Lubbock Landscape".

3. Lubbock is tolerant of people of all sexes,
temperaments, age,creed,color and sexual orientation,
just as long as you are a good coach.

4. Lubbock's idea of prohibition is to put all of the
package liquor stores just outside of city limits;
'cause, Lord knows, a fat guy wouldn't cross the room
for a donut and a Tech student won't drive a mile for
a beer!

5. The two biggest sports in the fall are Tech
Football games and drunken brawls after Tech Football
games.

6. Lubbock has some type of ten-year cycle of
weirdness. In the 70's tornadoes hit. In the 80's the
Virgin Mary was expected to appear. In the 90's an
earthquake shook Lubbock. In 2002 a Tech Professor
lied about destroying viruses that could wipe out a
big hunk of the population. Psychics predict that
cycle will continue into 2011 when a Lubbock driver
will actually use a turn signal or stop at a red light!

7. The two hardest things to find in Lubbock are bad
barbecue and a parking space anywhere near Tech.

8. The Lubbock newspaper publishes a daily prayer on
the front page. It's very appropriate because there
isn't a prayer of finding anything interesting on the
other pages.

9. Lubbock finally got the funds for an east-west
freeway and promptly named it after a basketball
coach. Evidently that shuttle mission commanded by a Texas
Tech Alumnus wasn't quite as dangerous as facing the
UT Longhorn's in an away game.

10. It's true all traffic directions start with "get
on the Loop" and end with "get off the loop". They
don't mention the middle part of "if you survive the
Loop".

11. It took a full 30 years or more before Lubbock
forgave Buddy Holly for being such a heathen rock and
roller and honored him with a museum. It will be twice
that long before we even claim Natalie Maines.

12. Lubbock has a somewhat successful minor league
hockey franchise and their popularity has nothing to
do with the fact that it's the only sporting event in
Lubbock where you can drink beer (really, we swear!).

13. After a Tech victory against A&M, the Aggies
responded by beating EACH OTHER up.

14. No matter when you read this, today, ten years
from now, or even if it was found in an archeological
dig, one fact about Lubbock will not have changed. The
Loop will still be under construction.

15. Lubbock has the best, friendliest people in the
world because, as you can tell from the above list,
all we really have is each other.

Peg, just pick any kind of weather you can imagine and we've got it someplace in Texas. I just got off the phone with DD. She was on her way out past Carrollton and said that she was still amazed at how flat it is there. She's two hours from home and the landscape and the climate are noticably different. Heck, she even bought a light coat today. For the last four years, she has been closer to Houston, and believe me, that's a different heat and humidity level! Your weather forcast for next weekend is:

.THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS NEAR 80. LOWS IN THE MID 60S.
.FRIDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS IN THE UPPER 50S.
.SATURDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE MID 70S.

Where I live, when it says 20% chance of showers, you can figure that it will rain. In Dallas, 20% means that you probably don't have to worry about it. I hope you haven't put up all of your light weight clothes.

136.5 Sunday, which was something of a surprise. I haven't weighed today, but it's probably higher. I didn't get to eat much during the day yesterday and then snacked a lot last night. Evening nibbles are ever my weak spot.

Indian summer, with temps in the high 80s and low nineties, went "Poof!" and disappeared overnight. It suddenly turned cool and rainy here. Quite lovely, in fact - the trees and shrubs look green and perky. I am actually wearing heavy sweats, which was unthinkable just a couple of days ago.

Judy, I live in an area of highly variable weather, too. A half hour drive in any direction will take you to a spot with markedly different weather. Drive an hour in any direction and you're in a whole different climate and ecosystem. Sunset Western Garden book lists 24 micro-climates - most of which exist within a 50-mile radius of my home.

Peg, does your husband fix things while he's puttering? I think that's super, and I'm envious. My dad was a putterrer and could fix just about anything - especially, anything mechanical. DH, bless him anyway, has few handyman skills and even less interest. I'm not much better - I started scrapping and sanding the interior window frames in the dining room 2 weeks ago and haven't "got back to it". So, we have plastic sheeting hanging all over that end of the house - not quite the Martha Stewart look to home decor, eh?

BC - any progress on the floor? I'm interested to hear how that turns out. I suspect you are busy with jewelry and teaching classes for your friend. I hope she's doing okay so far.

Anyone have Halloween plans? DH and I got invited to a costume party by one of his co-workers. I still have lots of costumes, but I'm not sure about what would be good in this situation. Besides having his co-workers there, we won't know most of the other guests people socially. So it's hard to judge what would be an appropriate costume. I hate it when you show up in full-blown costume and make-up, and everyone else is in civvies or just has pair of Groucho Marx glasses in a a shirt pocket.

You guys are something else!!! What kind of something, I just don't know

Teel, really, you should be writing!! I just love your characterization. I vote for Rosa Thornbury being either the victim or protagonist.

Helena Newcomer seeing something she shouldn't have and not knowing it; Malcolm Hazit being the falsely accused of murder, but the investigation uncovers other crimes too numerous to mention; and crusty Craig Piscatore (LOL) holding the key to solving the crime.


Judy, I love your description of Lubbock.

I forgot to tell you all that I was going off to a workshop for a couple of days over the last weekend. Sorry!!!! I'd signed up months ago, and seemed to come up surprisingly fast. But it was wonderful. T'was a workshop for silversmiths taught by a fantastic gal from British Columbia, and I am still exhausted! But I learned so much, and perhaps regained some of my confidence in that area, too, since it's been a few years.

The floor is progressing again, now that DH has let his back rest a week. We've done all the living room, foyer, and hall, and a bit of the dining room. The next task will be moving the furniture we've piled into the dining room back into the living room to free up space to work there. We do as much furniture moving as flooring, I think :( But the floor is just so lovely I can't believe it. And so far DH has maintained his sense of humor--another accomplishment!

DH has maintained his sense of humor--another accomplishment!

Boy, do I understand that! My DH just rebuilt part of the fence and the gate last weekend. It's best to avoid him at work for the most part, then go out and oooh and awww every once in a while.

**closing in on two years and solidly stuck at 139.5 -- maybe 135 isn't to be.

**closing in on two years and solidly stuck at 139.5 -- maybe 135 isn't to be.

Well, it is just a number....are you happy with your clothing size, your body fat %, your "inches," your health and energy? It's easy to get stuck on one particular measure of success; how well I know, but I suspect you've built some muscle lately, and probably more than a few pounds. (Besides, word is on the street that you are a hot-lookin' teacher, Miss Judy!)

The creativity on this thread is just overflowing. I'm impressed.

I have been stopping in and checking on everyone, but haven't really had the time to post. I went home last weekend, so that I could work a reunion at the restaurant. Tips were good that night. I ended up working Friday night, all day Sat, Sun, and Tuesday. My mom decided to close on Monday for Columbus day - okay she just wanted a day off. She needs it. I was wanting a reason to leave - since I haven't mentioned about the 'guys' to my parents. Luckily, I was able to check my email and there was a farewell party for one of my colleagues that I seriously wanted to attend. It was early on Wednesday morning, so I left at 8 am. My mom was hoping that I would stay longer, but I had already mentioned that I didn't want to stay all week, so that I could make sure I had things done for school and that I wouldn't be exhausted on Monday as well.

So, I went to the party and hung out at work for a few hours. Then I pretty much went home and unpacked, watched a little tv and slept. That means that I slept right through a phone call from guy#3. That's okay though. I was over at his office area on Thursday, talking with their assistant that is a former student of mine about math and he joined our conversation. I was there for a couple of hours and before he left to go meet some people for lunch, he asked me out in front of others that were there.

Yes, we went to lunch on Friday. And we had a good time talking. He called me last night, but I had just gotten in from cl**** so he said he wouldn't keep me and that he would call today at work. Of course, I missed his call, but I was good and called him back and we were on the phone 45 minutes or so. I was in my office with the door closed and one of my friends laughed at me later when I came out. She didn't realize I was in there. So, we have sort of made plans for Thursday, possibly Saturday, depending on our schedules play out.

Now you have your update Judy. I have seen the conversation on the school thread about how things went for me.

In other news, I saw 138 this morning. I know it will not appear tomorrow. Trust me it won't. I didn't eat hardly anything yesterday, so that explains the lower number. Must do better with that tomorrow, but those longs days get to me.

Elyssa Nice to hear from you. Hmmmm. Sounds like guy #3 is really interested Keep us posted!

Peg, have a great trip!!

Ooooo... dietary control meltdown this week. I will spare you the ugly details. 139.5 last time I dared look.

For the moment, I'm back in control.

A few hurdles in the immediate future include DH's birthday; and we will be away at a dance workshop for the next 3 days. This is the one where you heard me p**s and moan this summer and fall about doing the all the paperwork (I'm one of the volunteers organizing the workshop for about 275 dancers and muscians). I requested low carb meals, and the conference center said they will do that. But, if last year is anything to to by, they will blow it off when push comes to shove. I don't know if it even matters, as I had little to no time to eat last year. As emergency rations, I've got peanuts and cheese sticks, Atkins shakes, Morning Start bars, and Carb Solutions bars - wish I'd bought some fresh celery now.

I may need you guys to help me rein it in next week, LOL! I'll let you know how it's going after I get back.

Hmmmm. I've had weeks like that, too, Teel. Well, it sounds like you'll have a busy time and I hope a great one this weekend. Hope to get a full report!