Silly Halloween costumes

Okay, I realize it doesn't really look like we're in costume in this picture but we are.

I was Dr. Anita Donor, and Angela was a patient named Phyllis Upleys. Get it? It may take ya a minute. Silly!

I don't think anyone at the Halloween party on Saturday night really knew what we were. Except for the guy dressed in a Wonder Bread racing suit who called himself Ricky Bobby. He was fun to talk to and he voted for us. He was the best! He won an i-pod Nano and we just ate a lot of chips. The best part about our costumes? We were comfy! Ricky Bobby was hot and sweaty, the lunch lady had an itchy hairnet, and Papa Smurf ended up with pores clogged with blue paint. Scrubs and robes are the way to go I tell ya.

I'm going to meet Angela for lunch in a little while cuz she gets off early. We actually get to see each other during the week! Good times. She's going to a friend's house tonight to watch scary movies and pass out candy. I'm kinda happy I'll be working. :-) Happy Halloween!

Ace Young or Dashboard Confessional

Mix 102.9 10 O'Clock NEWs is about to begin!

Ace Young - Scattered

OR

Dashboard Confessional - Stolen

Listen to samples of the tunes and vote at http://mix1029.com/pages/jenaustin2006.html

We'll play the winner Friday night at 10pm.

Shift swap

Lisa Thomas called last night and needed me to do her show today instead of my own. So I got up early and actually got to see Angela before she left the house! Usually the first thing I see is a coal black schnauzer nose. Variety is nice.

So I'll be off work on a Friday night...the possibilities are endless! Party up! I think we're going to watch a movie at home and eat barbecue chicken cheddar Triscuits with jalepenos on top. And most likely by the end of the movie we'll be half asleep and covered in schnauzers. There is plenty of space for the dogs to crash elsewhere, but we always end up with all four of them on the couch with us. Six living, breathing organisms in one spot. Life does NOT get any better! It's a wild and crazy fun party in my head! I know I professed my love for Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch this week, but I have I mentioned the greatness of the bbq/chicken/cheddar combo? I could live on it. It's utterly delicious.

Tomorrow it's lunch at Uncle Julio's with friends, and then it's the big Halloween costume party tomorrow night. I think the party going to be wild so I'll have my camera phone in hand. But will it be wilder than our Triscuit night tonight? That remains to be seen.

Finding Nemo

A listener named Ryan emailed me yesterday and asked if there was anything I could do to help find his sweet dog, Nemo. Wait until you hear this story...

Hi Jen. For the past two months I have been desperatly searching for my missing dog, Nemo. On the 27th of August, my ex girlfriend was in an accident on 121 and Coit at about 12:35 am. The car completely flipped over... She was miraculously unharmed, but our poor little pupster that was in the car was nowhere to be found... His name is Nemo and he is a small male maltese... We are giving a reward and eternal gratitude to the safe returner... Please help me find my lost dog!!! I love him dearly.. I have done just about everything I can think of to try and find him... It would help so much if you could tell this story on the air....Thanks, Ryan

Please help... it would make such a difference, I love that little guy...

It's been nearly two months now. I hope someone picked him up that night and took him to their warm, cozy, and safe house, and that fate will somehow make their path cross with Ryan's. Please keep an eye out! I've got Ryan's phone number, so let me know if you are able to perform a miracle!

Halloween parties remind me how bad I suck at costumes

Have I said lately how much I adore Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch? I think other people have discovered the greatness, because it's sold out in the stores sometimes. Just for that reason, I usually have a couple of extra boxes in the pantry so I'm not in danger of running out. Today though, I opened my last box so I have a bit of Grape Nuts anxiety. Running out would be BAD! I suppose I could survive on Cracklin' Oat Bran for a couple of days, but I wouldn't want to stay on that so long that the Grape Nuts withdrawls set in. When I worked mornings I couldn't eat cereal because it was just far too much hassle at work. The cereal experience is new and exciting for me, and therefore blog-worthy.

Angela bought me a fake stethescope yesterday. We're going to Tony Zazza's Halloween party Saturday night and costumes are mandatory. I really don't like costumes. I suppose it's the observer in me, who would rather sit and watch everyone else rather than participate. But since Tony will throw me out on my ear if I arrive at the party looking like Jen, I'm going to wear a pair of Angela's scrubs, put this fake stethescope around my neck, and say I'm a doctor. I doubt that I'll win the costume contest. But I'll be comfy!! Yay! And I won't have to wear some big huge mask that gets in the way of the food consumption. Angela is going to be a scarecrow. She'll be way cuter than me. It will be interesting to see what the rest of my co-workers wear. It's always exciting to see the people you pass in the hallway every day suddenly become Paris Hiltons. That's what I should have been! Paris! Then I could have carried one of the dogs around at the party. Actually I look more like Perez Hilton that Paris. That might have been a hoot as well. File that under Gay Gay Gay!

Party on.

Romo is no sack of potatoes

Well, I said before the big Cowboys/Giants game last night that Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora of the Giants would probably sack Drew Bledsoe 75 times. I was wrong. Only 4, but that was in the first half and if Drew Bledsoe had played at all in the second half I'm certain there would have been 71 more.

Yay for Tony Romo! Yay for Bill Parcells' gutts! It's about dang time!! Let Romo have some growing pains. Drew Bledsoe's growing pains are just arthritis now and it's incurable and completely maddening. He makes me say bad words. No one masters the game right away, so let's not have a cow when Romo throws an interception. At least he won't hold onto the ball for seven seconds (an eternity) and go down in a heap like a sack of rotting potatoes 8 out of 10 times. Romo! Romo! Romo! Go ahead and make a mistake. You'll grow from it and get better. You have my unconditional love and support.

Now, the Colts. I LOVE the Colts! But I'm worried. They're undefeated, but their next two games are at Denver and at New England. Yikes. I will need Pepto Bismol for those games. And Mike Doss is out for the season with an ACL. But Bob Sanders is coming back from an injury soon. Oh dear Colts, please don't lose two in a row. I want a Manning/Manning Super Bowl! After last night, I'm convinced that the Giants will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl in February. Panthers aren't that good, Seahawks are doomed, and the Bears have been playing a soft schedule and are about to go through a mediocre phase. Giants win the NFC and face the Colts in the Super Bowl. (That last sentence is a prayer more than it is a prediction.)

I know some of you are bored to tears with the football talk, but I had to let it out! I feel so much better now! The mobile dog groomer just drove up, so I must go now to do the first of four schnauzer exchanges with her. They get a bath and a haircut in the van in the driveway, and they come back inside snorting and frisky. Good times.

Shades of Pearl

When I lived in Austin I spent a lot of time playing music and writing songs. The creative juices are still flowing, but now they're channeled into books and blogs I guess.

Shades of Pearl was the name of the duo that I formed with a girl named Nicole Austin. No relation. :-) I put an ad in the Austin Chronicle in June of 1997 looking for a musical partner, and out of all the reponses, Nicole is the one that I felt an instant chemistry with. When I think back over all the time we spent tuning, playing, writing, recording, etc. I get all warm and fuzzy inside. It was tough sledding at times, but also one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. We got the attention of Lloyd Maines once (Natalie Maines' dad), but that didn't pan out. He's got an amazing ear for music, plus he's just a dang nice guy. But here I sit today, blogging about past musical experiences, and he's out touring with Terri Hendrix and doing all sorts of other things. His name still means something to me.

I spent some time yesterday listening to the CD we recorded in 1998, and I decided to add it to the store on my website. Why not; we've got a few leftover copies. The process of editing the songs into mp3 samples allowed me some time to think about the whole experience, and it's one I'll never forget. All the time we spent trying to get the harmonies right, messing with that blankety blank metronome to keep steady time, writing lyrics...again, some of the best times of my life. Nicole is an incredible talent. It used to drive me batty though when she would get a particular sound in her head and ask me to duplicate it on the guitar. That usually meant I had to semi-invent a chord and that my fingers would be going in crazy new directions on the neck of the guitar. And I had to be able to get to that chord quickly, in the middle of a song. Ah, the good ole days. I will always think of them fondly.

ANYWAY, if you'd like, you can listen to mp3 samples of the songs at http://jenaustin.com/shop. There are two mp3 files that wouldn't upload, so I'm going to try to re-edit those today and upload again.

My 6-string and 12-string Takamines are still upstairs in the closet. Maybe I'll get them out again someday...

Anniversary Cheer

Yesterday was our 4th anniversary. It was 4 years ago yesterday that we had our holy union ceremony. We've been together 8 years total.

With our work schedules, it's difficult to see each other during the week, but last night Angela surprised me with a visit at work. She had gone to the 20something meeting at church so she was in the area, and around 8:00 she called and said, "Can you do me a favor? Come let me in?" Hmm! What an awesome surprise.

She brought the above munchies. Mediterranean chips, trail mix, spicy V8, and cranberry juice. We snacked and visited and made plans for the weekend. It was nice to be able to have a conversation without the aid of technology. No phones, no computers...just live and in the flesh! Don't take that for granted ya all.

We didn't exchange anniversary gifts because all of our resources right now are going toward the baby-making process. My cousin asked me yesterday, "Is sperm expensive? Just seems wrong. Most guys seem more than willling to give that stuff out without a second thought." I replied, "It ain't cheap. It costs money to wash it and make it presentable! That other stuff is nasty!"

Our freshly bathed specimens shipped yesterday, on our anniversary. They'll reach the hospital in Plano this morning and they'll wait there until we're ready to use them next month. So happy anniversary to us!

I found another voice that makes my bottom three ribs tingle

I posted this on my page at mix1029.com, so I apologize for the re-post. I don't know who checks what!

Josh Groban used to be the only one who could make my rib cage tingle. But now I'm going to add the voice of Jake from the Scissor Sisters to the list.

I bought the new CD Ta-Dah last week and I've been wearing it out. The rib-tickling is very gratifying. Jake's voice has depth even though it's fun and psychadelic, and I've gotta have it. Kinda like when you get a monster craving for mint chocolate chip ice cream and then someone says "hey, let's go out for pizza" and you just stare at them like that's the dumbest idea you've ever heard. Nothing else will do. Somehow Jake has joined the ranks of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Different singers affect different areas. I've put some thought into this. Axl Rose's voice hits me in the nose. I have no explanation. I think "Paradise City" and I have instant pressure in my sinuses. Think about a singer and then pay attention to what body part you instantly become aware of. But you can't think about it too long or you'll lose the vibe. It's fun! Others:

Cassidy of Antigone Rising - Esophagus
Patty Griffin - Heart
Sarah McLachlan - Top three ribs
Chris Martin - Forehead
Lucinda Williams - Incisors
Jennifer Nettles - Jaw
Natalie Maines - Back of my neck
Chad Kroeger - Lungs
Melissa Etheridge - Somewhere inside between the heart and spine
Imogen Heap - (megaphone CD cuz her voice was most powerful) - Knees
Madonna - Chest...must have been the cone bra
Amy Lee - Roof of my mouth
Bono - Molars
Pink - Pectoral muscles

This could go on for hours. Now do you see what I'm doing while the songs are playing?

A little State Fair reflection

My friend Tiffany is a State Fair warrior! She's too cute. She was our fearless leader as we galavanted all over the fairgrounds yesterday. She made sure we experienced everything that we possibly could in the five hours we were there, and by the end I was a shriveled up, worn out, drowned rat. A drowned rat who had seen pigs race nonetheless! The animal parts of the fair were the best. I wanted to take them all home with me. The pot-bellied guy in overalls chewing on straw...not so much. Just the pigs.

Angela and Tiffany approached the fair like eight year-old kids and it was fun to live vicariously through them. I may have been a kid for the first twenty minutes, but at some point pretty early on I think I transitioned back to the gal who is just as content sitting at home on the couch gnawing on a hunk of white cheddar cheese. It was an NFL Sunday and I missed 12 games! But luckily I had downloaded NFL Mobile on my phone and I was able to get real-time scores and stats as were were meandering through the PT Cruisers and Toyota Camrys at the car show. Thank God for that. And thank God that the Colts happened to be having their bye week.

This was Tiffany's 11th fair; my first. The gap was glaringly obvious! I was such a rookie. I talked myself out of all the deep-fried goodness and the only thing I participated in with passion and vigor was introducing Lisa Loeb because that was part of my job. :-) She rocks! I'm much more of an observer anyway, and have much more fun watching than I do doing. Especially when fried Coke is involved. I did try the free throw game (becuase Denise paid for it and pushed me up to the free throw line), but the ball had so much air in it and the angles were so sloped, my high school basketball skillz gave me no chance. I thought I tossed up the perfect shot once and it was on line to swoosh, but it fell about two feet short. It was the slopes I tell ya, the slopes.

The petting zoo was awesome. That was my favorite part. I was particularly fascinated with the long necks. (Well yes, we had a couple of longnecks, but here I'm really talking about the long necks.) When the ostrich felt like looking down at her toes, her neck just took her head right on down there. One minute she was upright looking at us, and the next thing we knew the top of her head was touching the wood chips on the floor and she was a half inch from her toes. That's talent.

I had a couple of good conversations with the animals. I totally think I could have been a horse whisper in another life. I crouched down with a baby goat that was peaking its head through the fence, and we talked about life for a few minutes. It was mostly me who did the talking. I talked low and calm, and he listened. I won't tell you exactly what we talked about because that's private. But I will tell you that he is indeed a "sweetie pie good boy." We shared a moment and really connected, and now that goat will remember me forever. And his little black eyes will always be imprinted on my brain.

I almost had a similar moment with some bison, but then I decided maybe I should stick to goats. I'll work myself up to bison next year. And perhaps a fried Snickers.

I'm turning Japanese

My friend Douglas is taking Japanese classes and he sent me this a couple of weeks ago. Correct me if I'm wrong Doug, but I think the characters to the right of my name in the second paragraph spell my name in Japanese. I love it! I want all of it tatooed on me somewhere. Japanese is a much more aesthetically pleasing language than English. It looks like a bunch of little tiny pictures, and they all seem to be happy.

If you can read it, I have much love for ya. I just think it looks cool and I could stare at it for hours.

08:51 PM 中部標準時。
月曜日、10月2日2006年。
ジン・アステン (Jen Austin)
月曜日から金曜日まで。１９時から０時まで。

Jen Austinをラジオで聴いてください。
ラジオ＞＞ＫＤＭＸ　１０２．９
インターネット＞＞「ＭＩＸ　１０２．９」のウェブサイト


こんにちは！
僕は日本語のウェブサイトを試みる。僕の日本語は恐ろしい。
ごめんなさい……

I'm hot like Elle Macpherson

Myheritage says so! And it's able to tell me which celebrity I most resemble with scientific precision! At least it got the forehead right. ;-)

I'm happy to know that someone thinks I look like a seventy-year old man. That bodes well for the future.

A mental shift

In the few days that have passed since Angela and I found out we could attempt to start a family sooner than expected, something has changed in me. I guess it's because it's really real now. I've been imagining even more what it will be like to have little cries in the house, what it will be like to get less sleep, how we might have to rearrange our schedules a bit, and so on. At the root of it all is a very deep feeling of peace and contentment, so I know we're on the right track. There is a bit of fear knowing it might be a long process and that there will probably be some disappointments along the way, but at the same time there is trust that it will all work out.

We think we've found the baby daddy, and we've named him Klaus. We've never met Klaus, but we're sure we would like him if we had the opportunity. He's tall, left-handed, and athletic, which increases our odds of getting a successful major league baseball pitcher. I'll start teaching our son the split-fingered fastball around ten months I think. If it's a girl, I'll just change the method to under-handed. Maybe I'll wait until the age of 2, I don't know. All of that can be worked out later. For now, mad props to Klaus...and all of the twins in his family. Perhaps we'll get a pitcher and a catcher at the same time.

I don't know how much to blog about this process. First of all, I don't know how much of it is interesting to the average blog-skimmer. But then, if it's minutia, why stop now! It's better than blogging about peaches I suppose. Much of it is private, so I guess I'll just steer clear of some of the details.

It will be on my mind a lot so it will surely continue to creep into the blogs. For now, my greatest observation is the shift in my focus. It's all about home, and the thoughts are comforting. I'm almost moved to bake an apple pie. If I'm doing this now, what happens when the nesting phase truly hits? I'm prepared...I think.

A bundle of nerves

Which could turn into a bundle of joy eventually.

Angela and I had another consultation with the baby doc yesterday and this time it looks like we're ready to proceed! Exciting certainly, but also something that strikes fear in the pits of our bellies. Will it really happen? How long will it take? How will we handle it once it does happen? And one more time for good measure, WILL it happen?

As it looks now, our first attempt will be in November. Sooner than we originally thought. But Angela has healed well from the surgery in June and the doctor is confident that we can move forward. Our friends who have been through this already have suddenly become an invaluable resource. One friend in Austin emailed me back early this morning, but then had to run to tend to her two little girls. They're 3 and 6 months old now. Hopefully we'll have that stress some day as well.

I feel like God is giving birth to several things in our lives right now: my books, Angela's jewelry designs, the growing community at jenaustin.com, and, most importantly, our family. All of it scares the daylights out of me, but I also know it's all part of one path, one vision, and we're committed to it. Whatever is meant to be will be. But what exactly IS that?

A splendid day

My toe still hurts.

But it was a good day. For me, a good day means I accomplished a TON. Some people might say a good day is a relaxing one on the beach drinking Mai Tai's, but no; my best days are the ones that allow me to throw at least one to-do list away. I suppose these great days could be significantly enhanced if I figured out a way to drink Mai Tai's while I'm accomplishing things. I'll work on that.

There were a ton of things that I wanted to change in the store on my website, so I worked on that most of the day. I had been putting off adding USPS web tools (postage calculator) because I thought it was too complicated and my brain almost exploded once when I was reading about the integration, but I dove back into it today and nailed it! It only required one email of distress to my web girl Julie, who rocks in ways that I will never be able to fully explain. She puts up with SO many "please fix" and "please help" emails that I doubt I will ever be able to truly express my gratitude. She's calm about computer things, and she's easily able to laugh off my html-driven panic attacks. BUT after I emailed her today I figured out the problem myself and didn't even need her after all. Ha! So I called the USPS peeps and told them I had completed my API testing and integration and to please move me over to the production server. Yesterday, I had no idea what that sentence meant, and I have a feeling that knowledge will fly right out of my brain before the sun comes up tomorrow. But for about an hour today, I was a genius. (Go ahead and laugh Douglas; you true computer genius you.)

Angela and I have an appointment tomorrow with the fertility doctor who will tell us if it's okay to proceed. Just thought I'd throw that in there to see if you made it to the end of the blog.

I try not to be a hypochondriac, but...

I think I sprained my right big toe. I used to laugh at professional athletes who miss games because of "turf toe" and other seemingly wimpy injuries that smell of a hypochondriac rat, but now I'm a believer. I totally think I've maimed some toe ligaments.

Angela and I played disc golf over the weekend and the first hole was a breeze, but after the first toss on the second hole, I felt something pull in my foot. I guess I forgot to do my big toe stretches before we teed off. It's totally affecting my leg-shaving ability in the shower. Don't ask. Or try to imagine.

Before you start thinking that I'm a huge wimp, just last month the ear, nose, and throat doctor told me I'm a warrior and that I must have an incredibly high pain tolerance. At that point my throat was hamburger, and he said only the absolute strongest of human beings would endure it! (Okay, most of that is the truth. It's slightly peppered with my own editorial undertone.) And just today, I got a cavity filled without anesthesia! I'm hard core. So what if it was just a slight pit in the side of my tooth that I been filled once already. The filling fell out, it needed to be filled again, and I refused the anesthesia because I had to go be on the radio and couldn't sound like I was drunk. The dentist said I didn't really need it anyway. When she started drilling it just felt a little like ice water, and thirty seconds later it was done. She filled it up with goop and now I'm good to go.

But this toe thing...