YOU'RE NOT FROM TEXAS? TEXAS WANTS YOU ANYWAY

Greetings from the Lone Star State. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and that Santa brought you everything you wanted. My days have been filled with a little bit of shopping (Did I mention I hate the mall?), lots of eating out with friends and family (including meeting my cousins' three-year old neice Jordan) and movies. Lots of movies.

I think in the last two weeks, I've seen more movies at the theatre than I have all year. My mom won't go to films that my dad likes to watch, so I've gone to see a couple of films with him in the last few days. Quick movie review time.

Die Another Day: It's a Bond film. Nuff said. Typical plot of every Bond movie you see. Bad guy has plan to rule world. Pesky British super spy with cool toy ruins plan with aid of hot female companion, who may or may not be super spy as well. Though Halle Berry is the aforementioned hot female companion, this one is not worth the six bucks you'd have to spend to see this when it is dark. Wait for cable.

Star Trek: Nemisis: It's a Star Trek film. Nuff said. Typical plot of every Trek movie you see. Not really, but I was falling into a trend there. This is actually an enjoyable movie. I like the Next Generation cast, so it was pretty enjoyable to see their latest exploits. I'd have to say it's probably the best movie the Next Generation cast has done. If you like Trek, you've probably already seen this one. But it's worth seeing, provided the people behind arguing about parsecs and phaser blasts can keep their conversation to a minimum. Word of advice.. if you need to talk to your buddy, set voice to whisper or stay in the parents' basement and wait for the bootleg copy on the internet so you can burn it to DVD.

Well that's all for now.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Contrary to popular belief, I have not turned to the dark side and I will be updating this site again soon.

A lot of stuff has happened: People are leaving left and right. I think we've lost five people at work in the last three months. That's an awful lot of attrition and will probably lead to more. That's the bad news. The good news is those of us who are left got their base pay raised to try to convince us to stay.

Like every geek out there, I saw the Two Towers and it kicked ass. I didn't even mind that for the second-straight movie Legolas the Elf didn't miss with his bow. Or that Gimili the dwarf was used as comic relief. Good movie, can't wait for Return of the King next year.

I have a pretty hectic schedule before Wedensday, so let me take 10 seconds to wish Merry Christmas to everybody. If you've sent me a Christmas card, thanks. I'm bad about sending anything out, so that's why you got nothing from me. I'll been home for Christmas (actually leaving on Christmas Day) I will be there for a week. I'm pretty excited to get home because I haven't been to Texas since early June.

The whole family will be there, but since I don't get in until about 2:30 p.m., they may all be on their way back to the various corners of Texas where they live.

If you're headed to see your family, take the time to enjoy them. If you aren't as lucky, take the time to call the people you love to let them know you are thinking about them.

Have a happy holidays,

Arni

HOLIDAY SEASON
Wow you get involved doing other things and the next thing you know, It's been almost two weeks since my last entry. My mom has come and gone. And though I haven't started Christmas shopping, it's about time for me the start. I don't really know what I want for Christmas, let alone what to get anyone.

Let's see, since last time I wrote, a few things have happened.

* Texas Tech is playing Clemson in the Tangerine Bowl. It's made for an interesting week at the paper because a lot of people know where I went and where my loyalties lie.

* I applied for a internet job with RACER magazine in California. Don't know if I'll get it or not. I basically did it to see what my marketablity is in the racing world. But you never know what it is unless you apply. I haven't had much success lately, and if I ever think about leaving here for real, I'll need to know what looking for a job is like again.

* If you like sports video games at all, you should check out Pro Race Driver for the PS2 or NCAA College Basketball 2k3 for XBOX. I just got both this week and they are pretty entertaining games.

* I also will be heading home for Christmas. To get the cheap fare, I have to travel on the holidays, but I really don't mind. I get to go home, and that's the biggest thing.

Well that's all for now. Until I write again,

A

BAD WEATHER WEDNESDAY

I know I am a bad blogger. I don't get to update this thing as much as a like and sometimes I don't have too much going on. And the same old, I woke up and went to work and then came home and played on the internet with the XBOX is quite boring. But that's my life right now.

My mom is still here, and I'm glad she came to visit. She leaves Sunday, then I get my place back to myself. Today we have early deadlines. There's winter storm coming to town. There expecting ice or snow up to 3 inches here. Hopefully there won't be any power outages like the last time.

Hope all is well with everyone,

A