We got a late start heading out for Galveston, but that’s ok. I like to spend a ton of time down there, so we normally stay until the evening. Chelsey is one of those people that goes at 8am and is home at noon. Not me. It’s about an hour & a half to get down there, so I would rather arrive there at 1pm and stay until 8pm. Before we headed out I had thought of different things we could do and see while we were down there. What did we end up doing? Nuthin’, and it was GREAT. I asked Jason which beach he wanted to go to as we crossed over the big causeway bridge. We could go to the West end of the Island, which is a long drive out but it’s normally pretty quiet. Because of the way the tides come in, the shells on the West end are larger I think. The next choice was Stewart Beach. You have to pay to go there, and the only perk is that there is a nice big building with bathrooms, a snack bar, a gift shop and so forth. Oh yeah, a chance to spend more money! The final option was to just pull up along the Seawall and find ourselves a nice sandy spot to enjoy - and that’s exactly what we did!

The weather was perfect. The temperature was cool enough that with the breeze coming off the water it was “just right” but when there was a cloud that hid the sun I was actually a little cold. The water was a little cool, but once you got over the initial shock it was nice. It was also pretty clear, which anyone who has ever been to Galveston can tell you is unusual! No, no, not the beautiful blues of the ocean along the Riviera or in Cancun - it still had the lovely brownish hue of the Texas Gulf Coast. It just surprised me when I realized I could look down into the water and see my feet for a change! It was sunny the whole time we were there, but we came home sunburn-free. (The 45spf sunblock helped Jason, but I didn’t put any on.)

Jason built sand castles and played in the water while I relaxed and read my book and kept a close eye on him. We collected seashells. We tried to fly a kite, but it wasn’t quite windy enough. It would take off and then dive bomb in to the ground. We saw someone flying a kite when we first got to the Seawall, so I don’t know if it was because the wind died down or the style of our kite. We got a new one that looked like a giant ship with masts and everything! We had a back-up kite too - a more traditional one. We probably should have tried that one.

The beach wasn’t crowded at all - we pretty much had a spot all to ourselves. Amazing how the place clears out by 5pm. After that we pretty much had an entire beach to ourselves! When I noticed the sun was starting to get lower in the sky (I didn’t take my watch down to the beach with me) we took the stuff back to the car and then walked out on the jetty. I snapped some pictures throughout the day - I’ll pull them off the camera this weekend and try to get some of them posted.

On the way home I stopped at Target. Why? I had to add to my flip-flop collection, and I *love* the cherry flip-flops that Robyn has, so now I have some too! I tried on the strip ones too, which match my bathing suit but the toe post was too short so they hurt. I also tried on the flower ones - I didn’t even realize she had those in that photo - but decided to stick with just the cherry sandals since that’s what I went there for originally. Now Robyn & I can be footsie twins separated by 5 states!

Jason’s last day of school was yesterday, so I took the day off and we’re heading to the beach! Off to Galveston Island! Time for some sun and sand. Hopefully it won’t be too cloudy, but on the other hand maybe the partly cloudy day will keep it from being too crowded. We haven’t decided what part of the Island we’re heading for - just going to let the car guide us and stop when we feel like it. Might just hang out along the seawall. First we have to stop at the store and pick up a kite and some snacks!

Last night I got a huge laugh out of the news flash that Caminiti admits steroid use. Hello? Did anyone notice how the guy looked? It was obvious to me five years ago, so why is it such a major news flash now. Granted, by doing steroids he was just asking for trouble. I’m sorry that he is having health problems now - but sometimes you get what you ask for. Yes Ken, there is a lot of money in the game. But is your life and your health worth it? Personally, I don’t think so. [via Mikey]

Thanks to “numerous requests coming in for zone file updates/transfers from one particular system in the world, at a rate that far exceeds what we see normally”, the name servers got tied up to the point that they couldn’t answer legitimate requests. The result? You couldn’t see my site. Or anyone else hosted by Blogomania or Hosting Matters. Thankfully the techno people got on it right away though and have been working to get it resolved as quickly as possible. So - if you can see this post then everything is back to normal! If you’re curious to read the whole thread of what happened and so forth, feel free to head on over to the Blogomania Forums.

Just a note: If you’re supervising an exam, and you have a sudden urge to surf porn, make sure your computer isn’t still connected to the monitor for everyone to see. [via Booboolina]

I always joke that if I died over the weekend the only way anyone would notice was because I didn’t blog. Ok, maybe it’s not a funny joke - but whatever. It was still nice to know that Kymberlie had noticed. First thing she said to me when I got to the office this morning was, “I thought for sure you had died since you didn’t post.” See? My theory is correct. But that’s not the case, I am alive and well. Except for the fact that Jason was sick last Thursday & Friday (he stayed home from school on Friday, so I stayed home with him) and I think I caught his bug because I felt icky all day Saturday. Sunday I had a bunch of things to knock off of my to-do list before heading out. Yesterday? Sometimes a computer free day is a good thing. I might try to do that more often. It’s still nice to know that Kymberlie noticed. I just hope that next time she calls to check on me. What if I had fallen and couldn’t get up?

“You have been more thoughtful of late, and have begun to be more true to yourself. This is due to your own recent introspection. Yes, Christine, you really can change your life. All it takes is time and commitment. You have made great progress in your personal development. Continue on this path and you will wind up in a much better place. Keep your eye on the goal, but don’t be so focused that you forget to enjoy the journey.”

Sometimes it’s scary what my horrorscope has to say. Jason & I went to my parent’s house for lunch yesterday; my Mom’s college roommate was in town to visit. She lives in Alaska, which has been pretty high on my list of places to visit for the past 20 years of my life. After lunch, Jason & I headed down to Chelsey’s house to spend the night. Jason & her son, Jordan, had a great time playing together. Chelsey & I worked on her scrapbook of photographs from her trip to Florida last fall. It was hysterical, I said something about me scrapbooking & she said “I don’t know if you would enjoy it.” This is hysterical because I love to arrange photographs, I really do. I never took up scrapbooking because I know myself too well - I’d be so hooked I’d be buying stuff for it all the time! But as I watched her I realized that I really need to do it - I need to do something with all of my photos. In some ways the Pixelog is my online scrapbook. I like knowing what the story is behind a photo. Sure, not every picture has a story - but most do, and I find looking at the pictures even more enjoyable if there is a story to read to go with it.

I got up this morning and worked out before breakfast, just like I wouild if I was at home. I brought lunch with me so I would have a meal that fit within the plan. After lunch we went shopping for pet stuff and scrapbooking supplies! (No, I didn’t buy anything.) We hated to come home at the end of the day, but there was laundry waiting for me to do before work tomorrow. Hard to believe Jason has only 3 more days of school.

Anyone have some spare scrapbooking supplies they want to send to me? Any tips? I want to do it, now I just have to figure out where to start.

Great, just great. Now that I’m finally drinking lots of water, the Health experts question the water rule. Well, I don’t care what the experts say - I feel better since I started drinking more water, so I’ll keep right on drinking it! [via Donna]

By the way, Sunday is the end of week 1 of my diet & exercise program (Body-for-Life). Only 11 weeks left to go, and I only missed working out one day this week and that was thanks to pushing myself too hard the day before. w00t!

Italy cloning guru says babies on their way: “The Italian fertility expert whose avowed aim is to create the first human clone, said on Wednesday three women were pregnant with clones, but complained that the babies would be viewed as freaks by a hostile society.” [via MetaFilter]

I think that nature works as it does for a reason and that messing around with things like human cloning is just asking for trouble. What do you think?

Good article in A List Apart: Win the SPAM Arms Race. Tips & tricks to help try to stop the robots from harvesting your address. Just say no.

Hey, Anne-Marie! Does Brambleberry carry caffeine anhydrous? I want to make my own Caffeinated Soap! [via Robyn]

Run down Jakob Nielsen. Come on, you know you want to. I should note that this Flash game includes great useability. I wonder if that makes Jakob happy? [via Snarky Malarkey]

In reading one of Mena’s latest entries at dollarshort.org, I was reminded of something I think of almost every time I listen to the radio in the car. My drive to work is only 5-6 minutes each way, so I don’t get to listen to much music in the car. A lot of times I’ll turn the car on and there will be a song on that I really like (normally tuned in to 106.9 The Point and thinking of Promo’s love of ’80s music) and the song is almost over. Don’t you hate that? I’ve become so spoiled by my Tivo, now I wish there was a Ravo! The ability to rewind the radio up to 30 minutes - that way I could listen to the whole song! Wouldn’t that be cool?

Last night when I got home I was really bummed to discover that my Tivo had changed the cable box to channel 10 instead of 210 when it was time to record the 4pm episode of Call for Help. Thank goodness it’s on 3 more times! So I had the Tivo record it at 2am, and I just finished watching it. I got to see Chey (Hi Chey!) AND … Chris Pirillo said my name!!! w00t! Chey was listing some of the people she has met because of blogging and Chris said, “Robyn and Christine…” and Chey said, “Yes, Robyn and Christine.” Whoo hoo! I was just giddy with glee!

Speaking of Call for Help, cool trick that I just learned thanks to Roger (everyone else probably knows this already) - if you go to Google and want to search for a term within the site just enter the search like this:
term site: URL
so a search for Chris Pirillo on my blog would be:
Chris Pirillo site: www.blahblahblog.com
Now how cool is that?!? Sure, you could use my search feature, but it’s still really cool!