Melyssa-with-a-Y

Rebeka, Atesha and I braved the crowds (and the intermittent clouds of pot) to see Erykah Badu, John Fogerty, and Robert Plant w/Alison Krauss. Aubrey joined us for a bit, and we tasted the wares of some of Austin's best restaurants! it's a lot cooler now that the sun is setting. and we get to come back and do it again tomorrow!

(SI is calling it the "house of horrors" - but I think it's a curse, plain and simple.) *Sigh.* The Trojans went back to Corvallis, and got their a$$es handed to them on a silver platter. Again. Freshman Jacquizz Rodgers (the 5-foot-7, 193-pound tailback) became the bane of their existence, running through blocks and streaking down the field like he was covered in Crisco. Couldn't stop him! Wasn't hard to see what he was doing, he was just so "wiry" (my favorite line from Rhys Ifans in " The Replacements ") that they couldn't grab him. And the team's trademark ball-stripping moves wouldn't work, because he was so much smaller than the defense. *sigh* Two touchdowns in the third quarter, one in the fourth (in 1:20, no less!) -- flashes of "the real USC" muted by their inability to stop the Beavers from running all over them. And Rey Maualuga's knee injury didn't help. It was a long night. I'm sure it was a l...

Please give to Planned Parenthood! Here's an email that has been going around this week... it was not started by anyone at PP, but it appears to be working - as of today, they have received 18,000 donations in Sarah Palin's honor!! If you haven't done it yet, please consider following the instructions below. (I wonder how the folks at the McCain campaign feel about all those postcards they've been receiving...) Dear Friends: We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but the joke has really been on us, hasn't it? Are you as sick in your stomach as I am at the thought of Sarah Palin as Vice President of the United States? Since Palin gave her speech accepting the Republican nomination for the Vice Presidency, Barack Obama's campaign has raised over $10 million dollars. Some of you may already be supporting the Obama campaign financially; others of you may still be a little honked off over the primaries. None of you, however, can...

Finally, one of my friends from DC made it down to Austin to visit*! Giselle showed up on Friday afternoon, and walked straight into a whirlwind schedule of eating, drinking, dancing, and football. First, we had to go to happy hour, to say farewell (for now) to Aaron, who is moving with his wife (Erin) to India. She won a Fulbright scholarship to go study art! He'll be "telecommuting" til next June. But we couldn't stay at happy hour for long, because we had dinner reservations. We went back to my house to change and wait for Atesha, and then we were off to Ranch 616 . It was crowded, but the food was SO good. We all ordered steak - three different specials. Mine had crabmeat, Giselle's had a little quail on the side, and Atesha got a mesquite grilled steak as big as her head! And the biscuits - we were so glad Aubrey told us to make sure we got biscuits! :) Once we were completely stuffed, we moved on to Momo's to see Skyrocket . The first set was int...

I spun myself dizzy SO many times trying to be her! And come on, Lynda Carter even has a Y in her name! Recently, the lovely Washington-area resident (betcha didn't know she lives in DC!) did an interview with Philadelphia magazine, where they asked her about people comparing Sarah Palin to Wonder Woman. Here's what she said: Don’t get me started. She’s the anti-Wonder Woman. She’s judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they’ ve got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness ... that’s just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin . She did it all, didn ’t she? ... I like John McCain. But this woman — it's anathema to me what she stands for. I think America should be very afraid. Very afraid. Separation of church and state is the one thing the creators of the Constitution did agree on — that it wasn ’t to be a religious government. People should feel free to speak their minds about rel...

I needed a vacation to recover from my vacation! (have I said that before?) :) Playa del Carmen was beautiful. For the most part, hurricanes Hannah and Ike left us alone -- though we did get a few minutes of heavy rain every afternoon, which reminded me of being in Miami! We stayed in a 3-BR, 2-BA condo, nicely furnished, at an apartment complex with a lovely pool, free wireless, and few people (that we saw). It's one of those places that rents out the apartments when the owners are not there, like the flats we've enjoyed in London. We generally had the pool to ourselves, and the water was perfect. The adventure began on the way to the condo, as apparently the driver of the airport van didn't know where the condo complex was. Granted, it's pretty new -- some of the apartments are still under construction -- but every other taxi driver we had knew about it! And unfortunately, the helpful guy at the airport didn't know where the condo complex was either! The place...

(I will post more about the trip to Mexico shortly. I'm waiting for the underwater cameras to be developed. When was the last time you had to wait for film developing?!?) Anyway, on to the topic of my post. George Coyne, an ordained Catholic priest and renowned astronomer, discussed intelligent design and evolution at a lecture Sept. 4 at the College of New Jersey (not to be confused with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, my alma mater) He said although he believes in G-d, and believes G-d created the universe, he cannot believe in intelligent design as a scientist . He personally encourages evolution to be taught in school, not intelligent design. "You shouldn't talk about God in a science classroom," he said. According to Coyne, it is the parents' duty to teach their child about G-d if they want, not the science teacher's responsibility. He also said as a scientist, he cannot truly believe in the biblical explanation for the creation of the world....

we snorkeled in the lagoon at Yal Ku, then came to the beach and swam among the loggerhead turtles. I think that's the coooolest thing I've ever done! You'll just have to wait til I get the waterproof cameras developed to see how close they were! and now, naptime. all that snorkeling is exhausting!

this morning we are headed to Akumal to go snorkeling with sea turtles, underwater cameras at the ready!

Did you know the Austin airport has a South Terminal? We had to find it this morning! Here we are waiting to board the flight to Cancun... Janie's doing some last-minute work. :(