Brody

The last few days have brought about some interesting events. They are listed below in order of importance.

1) The Rogers family welcomed Brody Ross Rogers into the family on Tuesday, June 26th 2007 at a whopping 9 lbs 8 oz. Ghaaa! That kid is going to be enorm-o! He was born to my brother Bryan and his wife Olivia, and for those of you who don't know, their combined height is actually greater than that of the collective population of the province of Sichuan, China. Congratulations to the new parents who have just taken their largest step thus far toward a secure retirement.

1a) As if there could even be a sub-category to my third nephew being born, the weekend brought my family into town including my parents and my sister, Jennifer. Her husband Ethan was missing in action as he was needed back home to take care of their two kids. At first I suspected his absence might be because he was having trouble on long road trips due to his vertigo flaring up after a "spin" class he has been taking since becoming a member at Lifetime Fitness, but then I realized in this instance "spin" referred to riding a stationary bike and not turning in circles at all. Either way, I also suspect he is probably not doing that class. While we did miss Ethan, the weekend was good. Jen hung out with me at the apartment here in Dallas (more on this to come) while my parents stayed at a Hampton Inn in Arlington which was being refurbished.

After Brody was born, I met them all at the hospital and then we went to lunch, where my mom experienced the glory that is McAllister's Deli for the first time. They regaled us with tales of sticky carpet, black socks, and plaster float falling from the ceiling at their hotel while my sister passed on a Coke refill, even at the urgence of my mother, and I enjoyed my tomato basil in a breadbowl. My mother was decidedly unimpressed with the lack of sourdough usage for the breadbowl and went as far as to proclaim that there is not a breadbowl soup worth making if it not made with sourdough. 400,000 loyal McAllister's customers respectfully disagree.

After lunch I had to go back to work where the bizarre on-again off-again nature of inclimate weather here the the Metroplex, which has been more volatile than my previous relationship, made for another slow and painstaking day and is capitalizing an equitable type of month. At least I had the model apartment to look forward to.

2) The Friday before my sister got to town, the air conditioner unit for my apartment went the way of Rush Limbaugh's ESPN career, and we were sans A/C for the weekend. As to not let us suffocate in the Texas summer heat, the super gave my roommate and I the key to the model apartment to stay in for the weekend. Being that I was going to stay on my couch and give my bed up to my sister, I now gave the model bed up to my sister and I slept on the model apartment couch. I would have been more comfortable sleeping in an 1850's cast iron bath tub. I did receive good news from Alex however, who said that while we did not notice any level of discomfort in the bed the first night we stayed there, partially due to our level of alcoholic intake, the second night the bed proved to be quite uncomfortable, essentially letting me know I did not miss out on much. I'm not quite sure just how we did it, but we survived the harsh conditions and made it back to our apartment Monday night.

3) Wednesday night was my friend Nick's Going-Away soiree at Javier's as he is moving to Phoenix, AZ. He will be missed, but we are all very excited for him and wish him the best. I am actually very excited to have a good friend in Phoenix as it is a place that for no particular reason, I love. Scottsdale doesn't know what is about to hit it...

4) Tomorrow I am headed down to College Station after work to meet some of the pals and then it's on to Austin on Sunday. I am spending a few days with my sis, Ethan, and the nephews. We hope to visit some of the Austin-type spots and we're also going to Six Flags Fiesta Texas on Tuesday which should be interesting. I estimate we will make it until 3 o'clock before we are like "f#*$ this"...I'm excited though...yaaay.

See you next week, Happy 4th of July, yaaay capitalism!