Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Beautiful Maps

I'm a mapper. Technically I'm a GIS Analylst. I create maps, maintain the GIS system we have in place. All of our pipelines accross the nation are geographically stored in a database. I help make sure they are in the correct location, and have the correct data associated to them. Everyone else in the company uses different software to query off of our data and run reports and other boring stuff. My job is the fun stuff.


This is an aerial photo of an oasis in the Australian Desert.



This is an area just outside of Paris. The farming patterns look crazy!



This is an area in Southwest Kansas. It's intricate pattern is beautiful.




This is Hawaii. It's amazing how you can see the land under the water.

I have a few art projects in mind that involve these images, and others like them. I can't wait until I actually have time to work on them!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Ten Year Reunion

My 10 year high school reunion was last weekend. Chris and I drove the 4 hours north to Kilgore, Texas and headed straight to the shin dig planned at the local burger joint, The Back Porch. Lots of people showed up, and I had not seen any of them in practically ten years (with the exception of my cousin, Renee, who happened to marry one of my classmates, Wayne.)
I sang a little karaoke, said hi to everyone, googled at everyone, and couldn't stop grinning the whole time. It was a blast from the past.
We stayed out until after 2am, going with the pack to a pool hall where Chris impressed and intimidated everyone near the pool table.
The next day we went to the reunion picnic where most of the classmates with kids brought them to play. There were a gazillion kids. From preteens to 10 weeks old. They were all adorable. Chris and I played horse shoes until they pulled out hundreds of water balloons for the kids to play with… then Chris introduced himself to the kids and they let him throw balloons at them. Somehow we both made it out dry.
We went to dinner with my cousin and her husband, and her two nieces and one nephew. Scotlyn, Brai (I actually have no idea how to spell her name… it’s pronounced ‘br-Ay’, like Pray, but with a B), and AJ. The kids were a lot of fun to hang around. So much personality in the 4 and 2 year old girls. AJ just hangs out and watches to see what the girls are going to do next mostly.
Then we went and took a nap. Because we’re getting old and could not hang. We woke up just in time to get ready and go to the big reunion party down by the lake. It was beautiful, and even more people showed up for this event than the previous two events.


(Cindy, Wendy, Jena, Amy, Cindy, Reann, and Melissa)

I got lots of pictures, which I will post on flickr, with notes, as soon as I have a free hour at the house.
Who I saw that I have really really missed since moving to Houston, and got to catch up with at the party: Terra, Jena, Cindy, Wendy, Wakie, David Hastie, Lee, Lauren, Kelly, Cindy, Amy, Reann, and April Hearn.
People who I feel like I have even more in common with now and will try to stay in contact with: Katrina and her boyfriend, Canan and his wife, Olivia and her boyfriend, Jena (I know I already mentioned her, but she falls into both categories very nicely!), and Meagan.
Who didn’t make it that I would have loved to see: Scott Miles, Emily Harrison, Johnathon Hastie, Clay Copeland, Nicole Francis, Millie Minor, Melissa Cassidy, Adam King, BenJamin Monk, Scotty McFarland, Clay, MiJoi, Caryn Crutcher, Bethany Chisler, Clay, Gina and even more that I can’t think of off the top of my head right now. Thank goodness for myspace and email. I know I can contact at least half of these people and harass them for not making it to the reunion. The other half I will have to hunt down, but I think I can find them. And probably some of these people listed didn’t come because they weren’t in my graduating class… but I still wanted to see them!! And yes, there were 3 Clays in this list. I miss them each.
My birthday is tomorrow, and I’ll probably celebrate it this weekend. The next weekend is my nephew’s birthday plus WFTDA Roller Derby Nationals in Austin. Then the busy month of September will be over, and I’ll be able to focus all my energy on training for the last and final bout. 2007 Championships. The game is on.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Flight of the Conchords

Flight of the Conchords

How have I missed this group?! They are my new favorite thing. I wonder how long it will take me to get one of their songs on my phone.