Thursday, April 16th

Today started with a long, beautiful walk along the Riverwalk! So relaxing and invigorating.
Great speaker sessions at the conference and have been getting lots of goodies at the exhibit hall.
My afternoon was found driving home to see my dad and mom and Danielle. My dad looks great! Seems stronger and quite spry! Sally seems to be adjusting to retirement life and enjoying it! Danielle looked great. The Texas air seems to be good for her. She's working two job - McDonald's part -time and at the theater. Homecook Carne Guisada was great. Returned to my room after 11pm, so I was quickly to bed! Its been a good day.!

Another day in paradise - called Texas!

This is day two of my Texas trip - however, day one of the AONE conference. Up early at 0530 (I actually got to sleep an hour later than usual - NC it would be 0630). Got a little work done on the computer, a smidgen of homework and nothing on my project other than thoughts. I headed to the workout room here at the Hotel. (By the way - the Marriott Riverwalk is wonderful. Nice facility, great location! Nice view from the 18th Floor!) My goal was to climb on the treadmill and refresh my brain and muscles about excercise. My how things have changed. Remember my earlier blog about not being very technologically advanced - well, the latest and greatest treadmill was out of my league. It had lots of buttons with arrows and dots - but no words. There was a touch screen that once I figured out how to get the thing started I struggled with the turtle pace of 0.5 mph to it quickly jumped to 5 mph (sprint mode). I quickly figured out what that button meant. There was a port for an iPod. one for headphones. and one for something else, probably a Blackberry (who wants to work when they are excercising? That is work enough! And then, the most impressive thing was the TV screen. No longer would you have to stare out into the world and allow your mind to wonder, relax, contemplate the day and find a way to obtain world peace. No! That's not the philosophy these days. I guess the idea would be to find something to occupy the time so you don't feel the muscles ache and the sweat pour. Great concept - I think? So, as I fiddled with the arrows and buttons, mainly for curiousity, I found all kinds of channels for the TV. Then I accidentally pulled a string (not a stop button, but a real piece of string) and went into a dead stop. There was no curly button for undo like on the computer. So, I finally get started again. Once more trying to get out of the snail pace, the very touchy, sensitive touch screen created a "curse" button when it about threw my off, yet again. Nevertheless, my 6 minutes on this fancy new contraption made me realize that fresh Texas air and the beautiful scenery better suited my safety and walking desire. It is now daylight, so off I go! Two miles later, it was back to the room and another gadget to play with.
The iPod. I still have lots to learn, but getting there.
The opening session for this conference was great. Myself and the other 30 nurse managers selected for this years Fellowship were recognized. The speaker gave a great talk - mostly from his book, I suspect - The Spider and The STarfish - guess I'll have to buy it. Not sure when I would read it, but sounds interesting. Another hour long session after his and then back to the room. We then all met again for the President of AONE's welcome reception. We enjoyed being together (Its called Networking if your in the business world, Fellowship if your in church, Hanging out if your a teenager, Partying if your in college, but for old folks like me, when it gets 10pm, its called visiting and goodnight.) We shared a few laughs, danced a few songs and had fun. I was fast asleep by 11pm! Another great day!

Day One - Texas trip

April 14th - My first day of my Texas trip. Up at 0500, busy packing, cleaning and getting the boys ready for their adventure. Saying bye to all three of my boys as the deposited me at the airport was bittersweet. A week away seems forever. Seeing Danielle, my family and breathing the Texas air will just have to be good medicine. Flight went well, without interruption and chaos. "I can see miles and miles of Texas" - yee ha! The weather is sunny and in the 80's. I had a little burger at Whataburger - a favorite hamburger chain of Tim's when we visit. I then stopped at an HEB Plus.
Wow! It is the Texas food store chains version of Wal-mart. Imagine....loud, very loud Hispanic music playing as you enter this huge store with groceries and all kinds of stuff. There were people everywhere. Welcome to the city! Whew! I survived this adventure and joined Jerry and Leesa at her house. A peaceful ranch style home out in the county. Beautiful. I finally got to meet Blake and Bailey! They are so precious. We then enjoyed some Mexican food - Tim would have loved the simple, family owned Restaurant out in the middle of nowhere.
Great food! Even better was the company! Day one- fun and happiness abounds.