Austin Plane Crash

I was a bit supprised to hear about this crash this afternoon. I have actually been in this building before. There is a church next to the building which my mother use to actually teach at. Normally when things like this happen, we all see pictures, but it doesn't personally resonate. I am just glad that more people were not hurt or killed.

I will actually drive by this building tomorrow on the way to an appointment. I am sure that seeing what happened for myself will make this even more real. I know when I went to NYC that the WTC site was a bit more impactful than when I saw things on TV.

Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day

I found out yesterday that Chinese New Year was also taking place on Valentine's Day. I suppose I had not noticed this with all of the advertisements associated with Valentine's Day that seemed to have filled commercial media within the last couple of weeks. I have been to several Chinese New Year parties in the past and always seem to enjoy them, this would have also been a nice diversion from studying for a while.

I made a rare facebook post on my wall yesterday about Chinese New Year and got more responses than I have seen in a long time. Most people did not realize it was occuring on the same day as Valentine's.

It is now the year of the Tiger.

Weather and Gardening

We have seen a much colder winter than normal in Texas. I understand this is the case across most of the country. The weather is particulary nice today. The sun is out and the temperatures are in the 60s.

I went to the Lowes in the suburb where I live to get a couple of A/C filters. I alway like to take a little walk through the garden department, as gardening is one of my favorite hobbies. I was not supprised to see some people in the gardening department. That is usually the case with nice weather. What suprised me where the amount of plants people buying plants that would not hold up in a freeze. It's still February. The local news says it will probably reach down to 32 tomorrow and Tuesday, which usually means it will get a couple degree colder here. The Farmers' Almanac states that the average last spring frost for San Antonio is February 28th. That is south of here, so the last frost for this are is likely a few days later. The date for Dallas is suppose to be March 3rd.

I am a bit supprised people would be planting things so prematurely. I know it seems like great weather to garden today, but a little bit of research can go a long way. Waiting a few weeks can save a lot of money and reduce the frustration of having your newly planted garden be a pile of dead plant mass. If someone really needs to plant, many trees, most berries and grape vines, a lot of root crops, and some bushes can be planted right now. I am no expert, but I always like to do a little reading before I plant anything.

Alice in Wonderland

This movie looks like it is going to be lots of fun.



This should be really neat in 3D. Avatar proved to me that 3D movies have come a long way since I was younger.

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton always seem to team up in movies that I like (Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, etc...). There is also suppose to be a whole new story line, so there should be some element of mystery going into the movie. Hopefully I can get to go see this opening night.

In The Beginning

This is my second attempt at creating a blog.  I lost interest in the last one I created after about a week or so of posting.  I think this was because I really wasn't having any fun with the blog.  I also don't think it was really of interest to anyone.  Things that interest me include music, gaming, movies, gardening, cooking, animals, environmental issues, social issues, etc....  Most of what I am going to talk about are my opinions.  Anyone is free to comment on them.