Yesterday afternoon I was at home enjoying the remains of a great weekend with great weather with my girlfriend. I had talked to my mom a few hours earlier when they arrived back in Houston and were checking in with me. We talked about the weather and how things were going for them post-Ike.

At about 17.15 my phone rang and it was my sister. I had to tell her to calm down as I couldn’t understand her. She said they thought my dad was having a stroke and had collapsed. I made sure they had called 911 and then let her go to call the rest of the family in Houston. About 30 minutes later my phone rang again and it was my sister. They said the paramedics had worked on my dad and couldn’t resuscitate him.

I’m pretty shattered as this came very suddenly. I’ll carry on and help my mom with whatever she needs. I’m off to Houston for the memorial service on Friday @ 11am (not sure where it is yet).

If there is an afterlife I hope my dad is there and happy with my granddad and uncle amongst others.

See ya down the road dad.

Kenneth Dowell Weeks, October 17, 1950 – 21 September 2008

Update: The memorial service is at 11am on Friday the 26th of September at All Saints Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers please make a dontation to The Boy Scouts of America, The Girl Scouts of America, or the charity of your choice in my dad’s name.

Update 2: If you’re having trouble picking a charity it has been suggested that maybe the Red Cross would be a great place. They’re helping the people hit by Gustav and Ike.

Sometimes you hit on a song that will make you want to buy an entire album. “What’s A Girl To Do?” from Bat For Lashes has done that for me. To bad I have to wait a couple of weeks to buy it here in the USA. It’s also a great video, I love the bunny-hopping masked BMXers (notice how responsible everyone is with a light on their bike!).

(via How to Avoid a Bummer Life)

alt="Spun Sugar Rose" />

Well, the wedding was short and sweet and to the point. The minister had it
right in his talking about marriage as love and not an obligation to anyone.
It was a well done sermon and not too heavy on the God stuff.

Amanda looked great and Robert was his goofy self. The cake at the reception
was baked by a Master Pastry Chef and was superb.

Not much else was eventful except the “security” check by the private company
that had uniforms resembling the TSA, but not really being the TSA. I refused
to remove my shoes because I know the Puma’s won’t set off the metal detector.
Because of that they made me wait to the side to get wanded and have my ankles
felt up because when the wand got near the floor it went bizerk. It didn’t
go off any other time, surprise! I have to say that was one of the most facisct
“security” screenings I’ve been through. Friggin’ KC.

alt="Memorial for those that have fallen for our freedom" />

Well, my first full day in Kansas City since I was about three. I don’t
remember much of that trip 27 years ago, but I do remember being in KC.

I went with my parents and my sister to see some of the sights around KC.
First we went to the Union Station. It’s an old style train station that has
been wonderfully restored and added to with shops and something called the
“Science City” that has theaters and stuff. After that we went across the
street to the Liberty Memorial
and Museum ( href="http://www.kclibrary.org/sc/architecture/profiles/libertymemorial.htm">
more). After World War One this was built to honor those that fought in
the war. I got some decent pictures of it that I’ll put up once I get home,
but for now that’s where the picture in this story comes from. There are
stone tiles with the names of people that served memorialized on them. I was
most impressed with the tower and dual sphinxes. The sphinxes are probably
the coolest symbol of remembrance of the Great War. Both have their wings
shielding their faces, one to shield themselves from the horrors of war, the
other to symbolize that the future is unknown. The museum was impressive even
though it was very small. They are working on expanding into the open area
beneath the tower, so that might be a reason to come back to KC in the future.

For lunch we went to a place recommended by several friends, href="http://www.arthurbryantsbbq.com/">Arthur Bryant’s and it was every
bit as good as they said. If you go there get the burnt ends. Yum.

After that we went out to the Harry S.
Truman Presidential Museum & Library. That was interesting to visit.
I can see how come he was such a popular president. Our current administration
could learn a lesson or two from him.

Anyway, that was a good day and now I’m off the rehersal dinner. That should
be fun. As I said, pictures from the trip later.

alt="The Duck!" />

I left today for my cousin’s wedding in Kansas City, Missouri. I had never
taken Frontier Airlines before but
back when I was looking at airfare they had the best price and most direct
route. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at the service. Frontier was
on time, courteous, and had just enough humor to let you know they don’t
just think of you as cattle, you’re their victims too! I liked almost all of
my flight except for the jackass behind me on the leg from Denver to KC. He
wouldn’t shut up and I could hear his droning over the music from my iPod.
[side note: don't ever loose your noise canceling headphones]

Aside from that it went great getting out here. I missed the festivities with
my cousin and such because I got in so late. Oh well. The picture is one side
of the tail of the plane I took from SFO to DEN. Frontier has animals all
over the tails of the planes. Cute stuff.

alt="Patches' last picture" />

My parents called me today to tell me that the family cat of 15 years, Patches,
had passed away. She had been living with feline diabetes for 2.5 years so
this wasn’t a shock, but I’m still saddened to hear of it.

My parents did an admirable job of taking care of her over the last several
years (they even watched my cats while I was first moving to New York years
ago) and for that I thank them. I’m just glad I got to see her one last time
in December. She was even nice to me and not as much her usual hissy self.
She even let me pet her for a while. So long Patches, thanks for being a
good and lovable cat. Ironically, this picture of Patches is the last and best
photo of her I took on my trip.

I took the day off work yesterday to hang out with my parents and sister. They had been in town since Saturday and flew back home today. It was good to see them (I also spent Saturday and Sunday with them).

Yesterday (Wednesday) we drove down to Monterey and visited the aquarium. I actually thought it was going to be a little bit bigger than it was, but it was still really cool.

I got some pictures, I might post some later.