No coke on Dell laptops

So one morning, I was working from home and drinking coke. I accidentally spilled it on my laptop and guess what? My laptop died. Like instantly. I immediately unplugged the power cable and Jojo tried to help me dry it, but didn't work. That same day, I found myself using a loaner laptop and having no access to archived email and no back up files from my hard drive. Shannon said that she'd had water spilled on laptops before with no problems, and I told her, if it's any consolation, it's diet coke.

I'm still using a loaner laptop. And it does seem like I'll be using it for quite sometime, until I get my upgrade. I hope it will be soon as I want to customize the settings and what-have-you to suit my taste. I did get my archived email and some back up files though.

It has been a relatively relaxing weekend. We were able to bike around White Rock Lake again and it was pleasant, except for the little body aches. I have to say, I like biking. Wish there are more days. My only complaint now is the grip and hopefully we'll find some type of gel-solution to wrap around the handle without affecting the gear control.

Well obviously, we worked up an appetite after the workout, so I hurriedly cooked dinner for us three. I asked Jojo to put the quail in the oven, and sauteed some shrimp with coke. Gabriel loved the shrimp and ate almost the entire serving. I on the other hand, feasted on the quail as usual.

I got a call from my aunt today who lives in New York while we were out visiting with Jan in the hospital. It was nice getting caught up with family.

To end the day, I baked strawberry cheesecake. Hope it's good. I'll let you know.

White Rock Lake Bike Trail

We spent most part of the weekend by the White Rock Lake. Remember I told you about the mountain bikes? Well, we finally got a good break from winter, so we headed off to the lake. Saturday, Alan joined us. Gabriel still had his training wheels on at that time as we weren't sure he'd be able to do it without, but we were quite mistaken.

Sunday, more friends joined us and without Gabriel's training wheels, we made it all the way around the lake. Yup, all 9.2 miles of it. It was fun! I truly enjoyed it. The bike trail was very family-friendly, and the view of the lake was just awesome. There were geese, swans, and I'm sure there were other aquatic creatures that I did not recognize.

This spring, I'm seeing that we'll be spending a lot of time at the lake. Make good use of the bikes, and really, just spend the day outside enjoying the lake breeze, birds chirping, smell of the grass, and great food (that we'll tote with us in our picnic baskets).

In the meantime, it looks like the coming weekend will be cold. But we have made plans to be indoors already so it should not be a problem.

Biometric scanning and the weekend

Last Friday, I took a personal leave. This I would consider a milestone in our plans to secure a permanent residency status here in the US. We picked up Gabriel in school midday and went straight to the recommended agency right here in Dallas. We didn't have to wait long, after taking digital fingerprints and pictures, we were done. Biometric scanning... check! Now we wait for the next process - the interview.

Anyway, I also want to tell you that Jojo bought 3 Schwinn mountain bikes. They're great, although we probably won't have the chance to use them until Spring. Now as soon as we figure out where to keep them (the patio seems too small), I would be happier. The last thing that we really want is to make a storage room out of Gabriel's bedroom. I'm still harboring this thought that soon, Gabriel will want to sleep in his own bed. (Yes, he still sleeps with us.)

We went to a Mardi Gras party in downtown Dallas yesterday. If you know, from tradition, what a Mardi Gras party is about, then you'd know what to expect in said event. However, since the organizers banned nudity, it was rather conservative. Until, just as we were leaving the party, I saw this pretty girl walking about with both boobs sticking out - breathing open air. Yep, I'm guessing she didn't think too much about the ban. This tells me that next year, we won't be bringing Gabriel, if we ever decide to go again. That girl has set a precedent, and soon more will follow. Mark my words.

The night turned out to be busy for us. Gabriel came down with high fever, and we pretty much had to stay up all night round the clock to make sure it didn't worsen. Luckily, Gabriel liked the sponge baths and the medicine, so he didn't put up a fight. And thank God, by 5am, he's feeling better and the fever has gone.

Okay, I've had a lot to say after missing a couple of days of blogging. And I need to prepare anyway to go to Jan's and Vangie's superbowl party. So off we go.

Come back soon.