Life on the Edge of Texas Culture

It's only a few more days until the National Polka Festival kicks off in nearby Ennis, Texas. I went there with Jill-Bob one year (kicking and screaming, since it required leaving home by 8am or so, to see the 10am parade) but not sure if I can stand that much excitement twice in one lifetime. I haven't nosed around the usual culture websites yet, so may be open to suggestion for this coming 3-day weekend.

Deep Thought #68: When you're unemployed, every weekend is a 3-day weekend.

I didn't do much of anything last Saturday, except forget it was The Day Of Trish-Bob's Boil. Oddly enough, Jill-Bob was there this year (after missing the prior two), so naturally, I got called on the carpet. Oh well.

Feeling culturally bankrupt, the other JB (Judy Bob) and I moseyed over to Fort Worth on Sunday, to watch a documentary about Pablo Neruda ("the world's most translated poet" ?) at the Rose Marine Theatre (not far from the Stockyards, where tourists go to play). The theatre appeared to be preparing for a live play, so we were hustled off to the art gallery next door, where a makeshift screen had risen (think "family movies from the 1960s") and a very bad sound system. You know it's bad when you look forward to the parts of the film where the audio track has to be dubbed, and you get SUBTITLES (in English). There was no popcorn, no sodas, no hotdogs .. but a sliced lemon and a sliced onion (don't ask). Ah, Life on the Edge of Texas Culture.

Last December, I changed insurance (auto/home/umbrella) companies, and when the auto renewal arrived without a premium increase (a few days ago) I couldn't have been giddier. There's good advice for selecting a carrier on the GSA website: 12 Ways to Lower Your Homeowners Insurance Costs. That site mentions the CLUE [Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange] report, which explains how companies knew (within seconds) the amount of my settlement for hail damage (along with 500,000 other Metroplexers) in April 2003.

Word is that more axes are gonna fall at my former employer, soon after their fiscal year ends, but I'm not sure whether this is being spread over days, weeks or months; as usual, there's been no public statement. The only site I know for former employees is sunmicro.tribe.net but there must be others .. right?