I love my iPod. I love listening to it at work while writing reports or while traveling on the airplane to distant locations. But, I think I love listening to my iPod most while listening to it in my car on long drives.

Anna and I drove down to Corpus Christi tonight to visit my family. After listening to some radio in Houston, we plugged the iPod into the car stereo system. We first started listening to some NPR podcasts.

For some reason, Anna and I have become NPR junkies. I think it all started because we both hate the morning shows on the radio. NPR had interesting information and no commercials. We love listening to Writer’s Almanac, This I Believe, and other shows as we drive in and out of work.

After a few NPR podcasts we started rocking out to random music on the iPod. I just love driving, cranking up the volume, and singing along with the songs that we love and grew up with. With the iPod on shuffle we get all kinds of genres of songs.

We listened and sang to some old Beatles tracks. Jammed out to some Black Eyed Peas and simmered down with some Bond and Shakira. We both sang along with some of the songs like Cake’s “Stick Shift and Safety Belts.” Jamming out in the car is like jamming out no other place. Before we even know it, we are heading into Corpus and my parents drive way. Got to love good music, got to love jamming out, got to love it when life is good.

- Bob

Another lesson from the garden: you never know what is really dead, or what just might pop back up. I was gone to Corpus for two weeks – and my pansies suffered terribly for it. When I came back and saw the damage – I thought they were all goners. But I watered the rest of the plants that were alive – and some water happened upon the dead panies. But the next morning – one of the plants popped by up! It was great. They were back up flowering in no time at all.

I’ve learned that the same goes for people – you never know what few words or a hug will do to help them perk back up. So hand out a little love – and watch the garden grow!

It was ladies night here in Houston, and the party was hopping at Becky’s. We had a smashing good time at Fondue and Friends last night (sorry the party was so hoppin’ that I forgot to take pictures.) Hosted by my friend Becky, there was a feast of fondues, and dippers, and also the ever loved game, Dr. Mario. The fondues were fabulous with the ever loved chocolate, and a zippy cheese fondue. We dipped, ate, talked and dipped again. Life had not tasted that sweet in a long time.

Then the real action started up with Dr. Mario on the four player mode and I was up against some fierce competition. For those of you unfamiliar with the Dr. Mario cult, it is like Tetaris but instead of avoiding piling up, you have to get rid of certain spaces faster than others in order to win. You may think it sounds like it might be an ok game, but once you try it, you are just hooked. It is a life changing experience. I was a little rusty at my game, but I did end up winning a few games, and held my own. Overall we had some serious good times, and we even have a new convert to Dr. Mario – my teacher friend Tamara. She has discovered the therapeutic effect of Dr. Mario after a long day of teaching, and is now vowing to get a Nintendo 64. If Bob’s not careful, I might end up with one too. It’s therapeutic for people that don’t work too…

It’s 9:30 – where are you? If you try to ask Bob that questions, you will probably getting a snoring response (or one of his long and loud moaning sounds) ’cause he’ll be snoozing away. So if you call here after 9:00, be prepared to sing him a lullaby, because he will probably be hittin’ the hay. So much for the Mexican “stay up late” blood!

It was amazing – I had to break out a sweater to drive Bob to work on last Thursday. Never mind that it was still 75 degrees outside. That feels pretty cool after all the days of 100+.

We even have a couple of trees in our courtyard that have leaves that are changing color. If I can get the digital camera to work, I will post some pictures later.

Fall to me also seems to be a great time to spend money and have some adventures. That is just what Bob and I have been up to. We found an nice entertainment armoire off of Craigslist that we bought, and we also got a TV on Saturday too. And yesterday, Bob and I went and picked up a Game Cube for $60 that was hardly used off of Craigslist too. It came with a memory card and travel bag – and it is in great condition.

I actually made some of that money for the Game Cube purchase by selling some old oil painting stretcher bars on Craigslists list last week. (I know – I didn’t think I was capable of actually making money either.) It feels good to sell something that you aren’t going to use to someone that will.

Maybe some of you are wondering what this whole Craigslist stuff is all about. Craigslist.com is a site that houses a free online classified ads, and also job postings. They have a seperate site for most of the major cities across the US, and in other select countries. Bob and I have both had great experiences buying from people off of Craigslist.

That’s the happenings at the Bolsters. Look soon for Bob’s blog about his clean up efforts in the Beaumont area after Hurricane Rita. Even though we were spared, others were not. We pray for them, and offer our assistance in any way that we can.

Cheers!