snagabag

Here’s Liah happily showing off one of her newest skills, stretching.

p.s. - You’re suspicions are correct. I did indeed pick the outfit she is wearing.

So I arrived in Sunnyvale Monday for a week of work. After working Monday, I was tired so I ate a quick dinner and went to the hotel. After checking in and putzing around for a bit, I hit the sack around 11pm. I didn’t bother setting the alarm as my body was on Central Time, so I knew I’d wake up early. At some point after falling asleep I felt my eyes peek open. I looked at the hotel’s old school alarm clock and saw that it was 3:00 am! “Ughhhhh,” I thought to myself and promptly tried to fall back asleep. After not suceeding for a while, I decided to take a chance and glance at the clock hoping it would say hours had passed, but knowing only minutes had, and I was right. It was now only 3:30am. I also noticed at this time that the lights outside the room were brighter than I remembered them being when I went to bed. I tried one last time to get some sleep, but it was useless. I simply was not tired. In fact, I felt well rested. “That’s weird,” I thought to myself as I pretty much never wake up at 3 in the morning (or 5 in the morning assuming I was still on Austin time.) Seeing as it was still 3-something in the morning, I simply laid in bed.  I know you’ve done this… when you’re not asleep, but you know that if you expend any energy you won’t have enough to make it through the day?  I know I’m not the only to have done this!  So finally, at 5am, after lying in bed for over an hour wishing I was better at meditating, I started to put the pieces together from when I opened my eyes at 3:30am. …Not tired, well rested, bright outside. Uh-oh!  I hopped out of bed and picked up my phone. It was almost 9am! The alarm clock in the room was over 3 and 1/2 hours behind, and I didn’t bother to look at it before I had gone to bed. Thankfully, I normally get ready for work in about 48 seconds, and the client is almost next door to the hotel, so I arrived at the office shortly thereafter.

WOW! What a game tonight! I was watching the game by myself and jumping up and down with excitement. I can not believe the Cowboys escaped with a win! Unfortunately, the game was past Liah’s bedtime, so their newest fan will have to settle for watching the highlights on SportsCenter.

Aparna can have Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star all to herself. Here’s the nursery rhyme Liah gets from me:

Dal-las Cow-boys
Dal-las Cow-boys
DallasCowboysNumberOne!

Touchdown Cowboys!

Yes, Liah has memorized the song, but it was a bit frustrating trying to teach her. Every time I’d end with “number one!” she’d show off her counting skills by yelling out, “NUMBER TWO!”

Here are a couple of pics of Liah from the other night. She’s still into purses and still into smiling. (ok, she’s still really into crying too, but that’s not as much fun to photograph!)

One other thing I wanted to mention about when I saw The Kingdom the other night… for only the third time in my life, and the first time since 1991, I went to a movie by myself. I hadn’t gone alone in such a long while because I remembered not enjoying going to the movies by myself, and lo and behold, for once my memory was correct. I didn’t really enjoy watching the movie alone. Actually, that’s not true. The actual act of watching a movie, I don’t mind doing alone; mainly because I enjoy silence during the actual watching of a movie. However, I very much dislike silence before and after a movie. Mostly, it’s fun talking to someone who just saw the movie about it after it is done.

For The Kingdom, I was in California for a solo business trip. Back in 1990 when I went to the movies by myself for the first time, I was actually working at a movie theater as my high school summer job, so movies were free. I went and saw Driving Miss Daisy. It had been out forever by that point, already won all its awards, and I figured I should go check it out. I thought it was OK. In 1991, I was at UT and attempting to take the city bus for the first time. Of course I got way lost and ended up The Aboretum, a shopping plaza that was somewhat out in BFE back then. Not wanting to stand around for the next bus, I decided to catch a flick that would end a little before a return bus, so I saw Father of the Bride. I can’t believe I’m going to admit this, but I loved it! However, I’ve been known to love a “chick flick” or two in my time (if Robbie ever read my blog he’d be rolling his eyes right now and muttering “Shakespeare in Love…geez Mo, it’s not THAT great!”). And for those who know me and might be wondering… no, I will not divulge how many times I’ve watched Four Weddings and a Funeral.

I saw the The Kingdom last night. I’ll cut to the chase: I thought it was good! I had high hopes, or at least hopes, for the movie as I had read decent reviews and I liked the director’s last movie a lot, Friday Night Lights. The movie tries to make a point about the War on Terror, but it pretty much fails. If you don’t go in trying to get a life lesson, but instead just want to see an exciting action movie, I think you’ll like it. Peter Berg, the director, is great at mixing action scenes and calm ones. I also really like the style of music he uses. Finally,the reviews mentioned the last twenty minutes of the film were very intense …they were right.