Where's Costner when you need him?

It's starting to feel like Waterworld down here.

I am not complaining.  We've been under a drought conditions for the past few years and we welcome the early rains when we can get them.  Heck, we've had a few lakes dry up and statewide water rationing.  Down along the coast where we are at it is not so bad, but up in the hill country and central Texas, they've been looking for a break and we seemed to have caught up in the past month.  It started back in April with storms and it has been raining off and on for weeks/months now.  Memorial Day was the icing on the cake.  Statewide flooding.  You may be reading stories and seeing shots from Houston, but Dallas, Austin and San Antonio have been hit hard.  Now, I'd make light of some of the saga except that as of today, there have been 32 deaths attributed to the flooding throughout the state.  Most are due to people driving off into flooded areas but many are tragic - like the family of eight vacationing in Wimberley when their house was swept away during a flood surge on the Blanco River.  In this region of the state, you need to take care when the weather turns bad.  There are a number of low water crossings in the area that, most of the times are not a problem, but when the water rises, these crossings should be be avoided.  The public message has been:  Turn Around, Don't Drown.  A bit of a reminder never, never underestimate Mother Nature:

By the way, according to the news reports, the guy driving the Jeep was rescued downstream.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the everyone affected by these tragedies.   


I actually had other plans last weekend.  Something that I had intended to do the past few years but never really got around to it.  Something that another blogger has done over the past few years but I never followed through on my plans.  On the books, I've got an Engineering degree along with an MBA.  I'm an Aggie by choice and a geek by nature.  I've been a bit of a Sci-Fi nut ever since I was a teenager.  I first read the Hobbit/LOTR back when I was in high school.  I saw Star Wars opening weekend in Houston, have been a Star Trek fan for years/decades, an absolute nut for Firefly, and I firmly believe that Tom Baker was THE ultimate Doctor.  Down in this neck of the woods, we have a lot of activities and events every weekend.  Enough to keep your average Browncoat busy.  One thing that has been an annual event over the Memorial Day weekend is Comicpalooza.  A huge 4 day event that takes over the entire convention center (even the Marathon hoopla doesn't take over the whole place) and fills it with all sorts of geeks and nerds.  I have been meaning to go down to see it for many years now but just kept finding some excuse to not go.  This year I made the trek and it was incredible.  I was totally unprepared for the sights/sounds/spectacle.  Lots of geekiness that is probably best suited for some 12 year old boy but I found it immensely entertaining.  Lots of costumes and cleavage down there that would keep your average teenager entertained for the entire time.  Two of the main draws for autographs/pictures was Summer Glau and George Takei (Oooh, Myyy!).  I had thought about trying for an autograph/picture but just was too cheap and couldn't figure out the system.  There were a lot of other stars down there signing autographs (Henry Winkler, John Schneider, Stan Lee, Jeremy Renner, Barry Bostwick, Linda Blair, Roddy Piper, Lauri Holden, etc.).  Some weren't as popular as others.  I missed George - was in a meet & greet session and the line for Summer was way too long.  I did spend my time wandering the halls of the convention center trying to see which character was most popular/best represented.  Some people went all out in their costumes/attire.  I definitely felt like a rookie.  

The Mach 5

 

Don't look away

Exterminaaaaate!

Something to cut through traffic

 

 

Want your very own custom light saber?  No problem.  Just be prepared to pony up $220 for a first class version.   

Definitely making plans to attend next year.  Just trying to figure out what to wear...