Downtown Denver

While in Downtown Denver, I also had the chance to walk around the parks near the State Capitol.

There was an incredible garden with the most beautiful and unusual flowers. They were so pretty that they didn't even look real.

On both the East and West end of the plaza/park area that separates the State Capitol and City Hall are these neat amphitheatre-structure type of things.

I swear that it's too hot in Texas to ever grow these beautiful flowers.

There were also some very neat and unusual buildings downtown.

I love that Denver has more parks and green space than just about any other major city. I'd love for us to have something this nice in downtown Houston & the super fantastic weather to go with it.

Although they didn't have any skyscrappers as big as the ones in Houston, they have some very large (and pretty) office buildings.

If I end up missing one day, you should tell my husband to check in Denver. :)

I imagine really, really rich people have these types of gardens in their backyard and spend the afternoons taking leisurely strolls among the beauty and tranquility.

Seriously, if I win the lottery a garden this beautiful will be at the top of my To-Do list.

And one awful panoramic of city hall. I was tired & just snapped a few quick shots without paying much attention to anything. The building itself is beautiful and very impressive.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I think I'm finally getting over this awful cold & allergies that have had me under the weather for a few weeks.

The Colorado State Capitol

I was very lucky two weeks ago, getting to travel to Denver & Joshua Tree. My luck was even better because I had some time to stop by the state capitol in Denver & then have dinner with Sue & Don. I'd tried to get there before, but because of fight delays & the early winter sunsets, I only got pictures of some other things.

It was a gorgeous fall day to be outside exploring the Colorado State Capitol grounds, nice cool breeze & a warm sun.

The building was surrounded by a lovely little park, with just a few bums wandering around.

Have I mentioned how much I love Denver and the weather and all the trees?

I'm very impressed with their really gold dome! With all the gold found in the mountains, they probably had plenty of it.


This capitol sits atop this lovely little hill, that slopes down toward the city hall & nearby park.

Not sure why the flags were at half-staff, but I loved that they had the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon flying high.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: First day of early voting in Texas! I'll go if the lines aren't too long. :)

Teens & Cell Phones

This is my sister's prized possession- her cell phone. She got it a few weeks before her birthday & has been inseparable from it ever since. In the 7th grade & turning 13, she was one of the last of her friends to have the luxury that I didn't get until college.

Everywhere I turned at her party, the kids were texting away like mad.....

And of course, most of the girls had their phones accessorized.

Flip phones and slide phones and blackberries....I didn't see any iphones though :)

It's amazing to me to see how this generation will adapt and use this technology. It will change their lives and I'm sure they would be lost without it.

I must admit, I'm fully into the Internet world and can't imagine life without it, and we're a "no land line" household with only cell phones.

Get a funny picture- show a friend!

Oh the cardinal sin- putting your phone down!

And then of course more teenage cell phone madness at the volleyball game.

I almost feel sorry for teachers who have to compete with these giant distractions.

Even when not in use, they dont' put them down.

And if you must leave it, leave it with a friend so she can hold it for you.

I wonder what the next major techie revolution will be. H & I are very excited for the touch-screen, I-phone like Blackberries to come out this winter. He promises me we can both get one ;)

Last, but not least, my newish Blackberry Pearl, which is a few months old. I was pretty surprised my old blackberry lasted almost a year.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm so happy for our lazy Sunday.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This is one of my favorite new recipes. It's easy, healthy & YUMMY! I started with chopping up about half of an onion.

I boiled two chicken breasts, but you can cook them anyway you like. I think chopped them up into large chunks.

I will also use Mozzarella cheese & some tasty hickory BBQ sauce.

I cheat a little bit and use a pre-made pizza dough. I roll it out on to my pizza stone, then cover it with a mixture of olive oil & fresh garlic. I put it in the over to cook the crust using whatever directions are on the container.

After pre-baking the crust, I cover it with a yummy layer of BBQ sauce.

Toss on the chicken & chopped onions.

Cover with cheese & bake for the rest of the time on the package.

This is so yummy & the leftovers are great to stick in the oven at work!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I am loving the fall weather!

IAH from the Air

If you ever have the joy & pleasure of coming to Houston, you will most likely be arriving at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). It's a massive airport, and a hub for the fabulous Continental Airlines. There are a pair of giant East-West runways on both the North and South side of the main airport terminals.

All the big Continental planes fly out of Terminal C, which is connected to the brand new Terminal E. The little regional jets (prop planes) fly out of terminal B. All of the other international airlines go to Terminal D, but all international arrivals go to E (where the new customs & immigration offices are located).

We almost always land towards the West. There is also more construction currently going on to expand the runways and add more.

This is Lake Houston, and it's always the last thing you see before you land if you are landing to the West.

I was also able to see Lake Conroe as I was heading out to Denver last week. It's not a very nice lake, but it's really all we've got here in Houston :(.

We also flew just over the Woodlands Pavilion, which is an awesome outdoor amphitheatre. As you can see, it sustained damage from Hurricane Ike and all the rest of the shows this season have been cancelled.

This is pretty much what the rest of my ride looked like. A freeway disappearing into the hazy horizon, surrounded by trees.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Going to see W. tonight.

The Financial Crash of 2008

I wanted to take a day to re-cap some of the great crash of 2008. I hope that I can look back on this post one day with a sigh of relief that everything straightened itself out sort of quickly & that this moment doesn't mark the beginning of the next Great Depression. I can't believe the market is down 40% from the highs of 2007. Considering the S&P 500 lost over 20% in a single week, people are on all-out panic mode.

I'd started writing this over the weekend, when things were looking particularly bleak. It's really amazing how every day is so volatile and bring a new headline. Following on the heels of my poverty awareness post, I'm inclined to be slightly less panicky. I've still got a job and a house and plenty of money in savings. Yes, my retirement accounts have taken a hit that makes me a bit nauseous at times, but I remind myself I'm years away from retiring & now is a good time to buy.

I've felt in my mind for a long time that many American consumers are living on credit and over-extending themselves. I've also felt that the government has intervened so much in the last 8 years to avoid even small recession that our economy has been artificially inflated by cheap credit and risky investing patterns. It's never fun to be in a recession or a depression, but I believe it's part of the natural economic cycles and it will make the crises that much worse to attempt to avoid natural market corrections, especially in the housing markets.

I do believe there is enough blame to go around. I blame the bankers, the stock brokers, the investors, the lawmakers, the regulators, the oversight commissions, the CEO's & executive boards, the predatory lenders, the no-down payment home buyers and just about everybody. My understanding, from what I've read, is that the mortgage and housing meltdown is one of the many cornerstones of this crises. All of the soaring home values in hot locales, the relaxed lending standards which required very little down, the use of ARM mortagages to qualify for an even larger home loan and dishonest brokers all contribute to the problem.

I'm doing my best to not check my Roth IRA or stock prices everyday. I know not to panic & that I'm young and in a good position for the long term. I'm thinking the real estate market, though it may be soft for a while in Houston, will not crash here locally. My job is very safe, and hopefully H will continue to do well in sales. I just wanted to take a day to stop, breath, and not panic. I've posted a few relevant articles and factoids below. Hopefully, I will be able to look back on these soon and not be in a state of panic. :)

APPENDIX – AP’s “MELTDOWN-ACTIONS SO FAR” – Here are some of the major steps and associated price tags of actions the government has taken this year to deal with the spreading crisis in credit and housing markets: March 11: The Federal Reserve announces a rescue package to provide up to $200 billion in loans to banks and investment houses and let them put up risky mortgage-backed securities as collateral.

March 16: The Fed provides a $29 billion loan to JPMorgan Chase & Co. as part of its purchase of investment bank Bear Stearns.
May 2: The Fed increases the size of its loans to banks and lets them put up less-secure collateral.
July 11. Federal regulators seize Pasadena, Calif-based IndyMac, costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. billions to compensate deposit-holders.
July 30: President Bush signs a housing bill including $300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners.
Sept. 7: The Treasury takes over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting them into a conservatorship and pledging up to $200 billion to back their assets.
Sept. 16: The Fed injects $85 billion into the failing American International Group, one of the world's largest insurance companies.
Sept. 16: The Fed pumps another $70 billion into the nation's financial system to help ease credit stresses.
Sept. 19: The Treasury temporarily guarantees money market funds against losses up to $50 billion.
Sept. 29: The Fed makes an extra $330 billion available to other central banks, boosting to $620 billion the amount available to the central bank through
currency "swap" arrangements, where dollars are traded for their currencies. It
also triples to $225 billion the amount available for short-term loans to U.S.
financial institutions.
Oct. 3: President Bush signs the $700 billion economic bailout package.
Oct. 6: The Fed increases a short-term loan program, saying it is boosting short-term lending to banks to $150 billion and that by year's end, $900 billion in potential overall credit will be outstanding. It also says it will begin paying interest on reserves that banks keep with the Fed in hopes of coaxing banks into keeping more money on deposit at the central bank.
Oct. 7: The Fed says it will start buying unsecured short-term debt, so-called "commercial paper," from companies.
Oct. 8: The Fed cuts the federal funds rate a half percentage point, to 1.5 percent. It
follows a one-quarter point cut on April 30 and a three-quarter point reduction
on March 18.
Oct. 8: The Fed agrees to lend AIG another $37.8 billion.

=======================================================

$2.4 TRILLION LOST IN A YEAR – AP: “The Dow lost 128 points, giving the blue chips an eight-day loss of just under 2,400, or 22.1 percent. The average had its worst week on record in both point and percentage terms. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, the indicator most watched by market professionals, posted its worst weekly run since 1933. The latest loss also means the Dow is down 40.3 percent since reaching a record high close of 14,164.53 a year ago, on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500, which reached its high of 1,565.15 the same day, is down 42.5 percent. Investors suffered a paper loss for the day of about $100 billion, as measured by the Dow Jones
Wilshire 5000 index. For the week, investors lost $2.4 trillion, and over the past year, the losses have piled up to $8.4 trillion.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Off to Little Rock (in the rain) today!