Traffic in the Frontview

Traffic in the Frontview
Originally uploaded by maryaustincox

Sat, September 27

I apologize! I haven't had much time this week to blog. It's been a very LONG week. Life is getting back to normal this week. Well, the new normal at the moment anyway. I got back to work downtown this week after a bit of a break working at home since Ike. The kids went back to school Weds. after nearly 2 weeks at home. John went back to his school on Friday. Then, you add in all the activities:
Monday & Tues - marching band all morning since school was out, Tuesday - Scouts; Weds - marching band at 6:00 am, flute lessons at 8 pm, baseball practice at 6:30 pm; Thurs - band at 6:00 am, baseball practice at 6:30 pm; Friday - band at 6:00 am, football game at 6:30 pm; Saturday - marching band 8 am to noon. We're pooped!!

And just for the record.... John is the saving grace here. He takes Rachel most every morning to practice. He did it even when he didn't have to get up and go to school!! He's such a doll! A couple of other items I failed to mention in my earlier blogs (the he so graciously mentioned after reading the blog)...... 1) He (not so much "we") fixed the fences and 2) John originated the idea for me to go have lunch with Susan last weekend!

Ok - so the reason for the picture. TRAFFIC WAS HORRENDOUS this week. I'm used to normally bad traffic where my commute is typically 45 - 1 hour except for an accident. It's Houston -the 4th largest city in the country. You WILL have traffic. Those are the realities! BUT NO. My "normal" commute is currently 1.5 - 2 hours EACH WAY! It's absolutely crazy at the moment. Reasons: My own personal opinion here - 1) NO HOV lanes on my freeway. Something happened to it during Ike and they haven't reopened. So, all the traffic that normally goes on the HOV is on the mainlanes. 2) Relief Effort traffic in and out of Galveston and surrounding areas as there were just convoys of trucks (18 wheelers, electric, tree trimmers) heading up and down the freeways and 3) Lights out at major intersections still backing up onto the freeway.
Then, when Galveston reopened on Weds to it's residents, the freeway is now backed up BOTH ways at the high times of the day.

I had an appointment on Weds just north of Downtown and it literally took me 2 hours in traffic to get there. I really hope we get back to the "normal" commute soon.

The good this week - we got another cool shot of air come through Thursday!! Took the humidity down and it is goshdarn cool out there the past few mornings in the 60's! Feels great!

The COWBOYS won last Sunday night against Green Bay. The first time ever for Dallas to beat Green Bay at Lambeau Field.

John and I have this routine (not sure you can call it a tradition yet). We pick teams to win each Sunday during NFL season and this year, we're tracking it all on a big ole spreadsheet creation by MA. :-) Perhaps you all would like to know the record at the moment: By Week winner: MA 2 John 1; By Overall Winning Pick Avg: MA 59%; John 51%. :-)

More later ... John and I are going to Lake Charles today to the L'auberge du Lac casino for a day just to play and get away from here for a bit. I'm sure we'll have a few pics from us having fun over there.

Later!
MA