Funny

I thought this was cute. It did take me a minute to figure it out though . . .

Good Work!

I'm glad to see people posting, let's keep up the good work! I'd like to see posts from some of you lurkers (that is what they call people who read blogs but don't comment). Personally I like the term & am quite happy with being a lurker but I still want to hear from you! Trust me, your lives must be more interesting than mine.

As an example, this is what I did yesterday. Got up about 10 am. Took a shower. Emptied the litter box. Checked email & blogs. Was very excited to see new blog posting. Worked for awhile. Realized I had to mail my rent check. Spent an hour looking for the folder that has my landlady's address in it. Didn't find the folder. Ate some crackers. Worked awhile longer. Remembered I had put the folder in a "safe" place where I wouldn't forget it. Fed the cats. Looked for an envelope to mail rent. Finally got it ready & put out for the mail lady. Rode my bike. Read a book. Cuddled with Pippin. Pretended to work. Ate dinner. Did blog stuff. Fed the cats. Emptied the litter box. Read awhile. Sent out work newsletter. Went to bed.

I'm quite sure someone out there can beat this!

Robin

Better than never late...

So what am I supposed to say? This feels like the cyber equivalent of being at a wedding and staring down the nose of the video camera with nothing to say. "Good luck on your new life together" is unoriginal and boring. So instead I just talk and talk and say nothing of any interest, and end up on the videographers cutting room floor (so much for my acting career). As I sit now and try to be clever enough to make the cyber cut, I am watched over by the latest addition to our household, Jasper. Jasper is a small grey kitten of about five months. He joins our three-year-old Alice (also a cat for those who were all of a sudden wondering why they didn't hear about a new baby), who is, at times, less than thrilled by her new friend. Jasper has a tendency to follow Alice around and jump up and down around her every minute of the day. That's a big change from Alice's previous feline companion Fred, her brother who passed away a couple of months ago quite unexpectedly.

Well, now that you are all familiar with the four-legged members of the family, I should also mention that there is a woman who lives here as well -- Kiko. Formerly my girlfriend and currently my wife, Kiko is the least frequent visitor to the house, with a job that keeps her busy all day long and often takes her to such exotic locales as San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange County and (when she's really lucky) Phoenix. Kiko (not her real name) works for the March of Dimes and runs all their program activities for the State of California (hence the exotic travel schedule). She may shortly be leaving said job for greener pastures -- longer commutes, less traveling and less money. Woohoo! No, seriously, it's good news.

As for me, I'm about to enter the fifth year of running -- along with my curmudgeonly business partner -- California's preeminent marketing and communications consulting firm serving the healthcare industry. For those of you who just have to know more, get some professional help, but first visit our website at  www.wideanglecommunications.com . And, if you happen to be the CEO of a medium to large size hospital, give me a call. The business is doing much better lately thanks to the addition of some outstanding associates (a blatant plug for the blogmaster--is that's what you're called?), and lots of clients paying us lots of money.

On another note, I'm working hard to develop my photographic skills. Now that I have a ridiculous amount of professional photographic equipment (and a brace of vicious attack dogs for those would-be burglars), I am working hard to schedule portrait sessions with friends and acquaintances. I just finished a wedding shoot for a friend of mine in Southern Utah (Zion National Park), and some portraits of another friend's kids. For those of you who want some portraits done, strike now while the iron is hot and I am still cheap (read free).

I'm going to save my philosophical ramblings for another day, but thanks for reading this brief intro. I'll see you all in the funny papers. 

Hi!

Okay okay I'll post something already. You can look at some cut pics of Christian.

Me too

Ok, now I'll join in on the introducing - I'm Jill, Robin's daughter. I grow plants (or do they grow me? - I don't think there's a difference) I live with the aforementioned mother and John, whom I plan on marrying next September, on the Full Moon nearest the Autumnal Equinox. I am interested in Northern European Paganism, Plants native to California (and most other plants), the concepts of "garden" and "wilderness", and the Felidae. John is interested in infectious disease, viral strategies, Modernist literature, windsurfing, kiteboarding, and generally risking life and limb in the ocean (whilst playing with the seals and otters) I'm probably forgetting something, but that'll do for now!

Me Again

Thanks to the people who have posted! Let's hear from others (like the person who promised me he would post something).

Just FYI & maybe you all knew this or would figure it out :-) (this emoticon means smiling. I now know how to do these thanks to Elizabeth who sent me a link to a site that shows what they all are). Anyway, back to what I was saying. You can make comments on posts. If you note at the bottom of the post in the right-hand corner it says 0 comments, some say 1 (thanks to me). If you click on that you can comment on what someone wrote.

Robin

Intro

Well Robin is insisting that I introduce myself. I believe that if you can't figure it out by my initials then I'm not important enough to you to care. OK maybe that didn't make a lot of sense, but old age and children are affecting my brain.
I am Robin's youngest sister (most of the time anyway). I am married to Andres and we have 4 children ages 17 to 4. Oldest Elizabeth is 17, she is graduating in January and is working full-time at Barnes & Noble cafe. Alex is 11 and the only boy, he loves Pokemon, electronic games and fighting with his sisters (that sounds familiar). Jennifer is 9 and loves art, dance, and animals. Last (but definitely not least) is Talia, she is 4 and loves school and helping mommy. I think both of those will only last another 6 months or so. She is also the one sent to ask for everything (you remember that trick right Robin).
We homeschool and have our own business Andy The Handyman, both while very time consuming are going very well.
That should be more than sufficient intro, so speak up who else is out there??????

Overseas Adventures

How awesome is this! It is nice to see the fam moving up in the technological world. I hear a few of you are traveling soon- awesome. You guys are going to London and Paris- anywhere else? The weird thing is, I fly BACK to the states the day before you guys fly OUT. Crazyness. FYI, this is Mindy(Debbie's daughter from Oregon, currently living in Germany- mindylovesasha.blogspot.com). Anyway, I am sure you all have heard I got a crazy idea in my head one day and packed up most of my belongings and moved to Germany as an au pair. Ah-may-zing idea, actually. I have been able to travel quite a bit- Spain, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and around Germany. My time here is coming to end, two weeks left. I am posting a few pics of me and the sights that I saw. And I think more people, ahem Oregonians, should post what is going on with them in their lives. Ciao.

****ok, to explain the pics... #1: in front of a german bakery. #2: in prague, on a tower. #3: in turkey, on a boat tour. #4: in holland, holding cheese. #5: in spain, in front of la sagrada familia. #6: in a castle overlooking heidelberg.

OK well I'm writing something. I think some members of my household are ignoring your bloq. Not mentioning any names though. I have nothing to say at this point.
We're leaving for Pokemon now, I will be meeting some people from England. Isn't that just about the same as going there....................?????????????????????? :(
Oh well maybe I'll make it to Disneyland this coming year.
Hope this makes you happy rmt.
Bye

Wow a new blog!

Hi everyone. I'm Pippin Texeira. I'm the best looking cat in the whole world & I live with Robin & a couple of other weird people. I LOVE blogs. I have my own blog (they call it a diary) on Catster. Catster is a pretty cool site where cats get their own web page & can put up pictures & stuff. It is lots of fun. I have a sister named Mellifera who posted yesterday. She is a really prissy pain in the neck. I don't know why we have to keep her but Mom insists. I'm a very smart cat. I know this because I've been able to completely train one person to my will and semi-train 2 people. My Mom is totally trained & does everything I want. If I meow she jumps up & runs to see what I want. It is pretty fun to wait until she is all comfortable reading or something & then start meowing! I love to wake her up about 4 am. I walk all over her, meow in her face and make sweet little noises. She gets up and feeds me then (if she doesn't get up fast enough, I'm willing to bite her nose). I spend most of my time sleeping but still manage a pretty active social life. There are a couple of neighborhood cats that come by to visit. Mom won't let me outside but we talk through the window. So that is my life. Waited on, indulged and loved. What more could you ask for? By the way, unlike my sister I don't type my posts. I dictate them to my Mom. I have better things to do.

Pippin

Who Am I?

There are a lot of people who have been invited to post on this blog & it may get a bit confusing to figure out who is writing. So here is what I'm thinking (everyone hold your breath).

When you do your first post introduce yourself & tell everyone something about what you are doing. I know we all know each other one way or another but we don't see people & know what is going on in their lives. Which is the point of sharing on this exciting blog! Also if you can sign your blog w/your name & not just rely on the initials at the bottom I think that would help. To get everyone started, I'll introduce myself & tell you some REALLY boring things about me.

I'm Robin Texeira. I'm a really old person now. I won't tell you how old but the two numbers are 0 and 5. Feel free to put them together anyway you want. I just moved to a house in Castro valley where I'm living with Jill & her boyfriend John and my 2 cats. Jill is an extremely strange person but I think you all know that. I love my new house but it sure seems weird to be in a house after living for so long in an apartment! Here is a picture of my house.

I work from home for a very strange company that shall remain nameless. I mostly spend my time pretending to work and reading mysteries. Now there is one interesting thing - I'm going to London on December 12th! I'm pretty excited about this. We (my co-travelers are supposed to be posting & will shortly identify themselves), sort of finalized our itinerary Saturday night, so hopefully we won't be standing in the middle of a London street looking lost. We plan to spend one day in Paris - I'm a bit nervous about this. What if someone speaks to me in French? I don't know French, I barely speak English. Guess I'll worry about it later.

See how easy that was? Now you can all post & tell us something about yourself. The other thing I wanted to mention was that everyone should feel free to invite other family members to participate in this blog. I don't have email addresses for everyone I'm related to so have only sent information to a limited number of people. Please send to anyone you think might be interested & if they want to sign-in as themselves using a gmail account, let me know & I'll send them an invitation. Note: You don't have to put your last name in your post if you don't want to. Thanks!

Robin

hello all

We do not know what a blob is? We still have a crank telephone, 4-track, and 286 computer. So we do not even know if what we are doing now is gioing to go to China, Finland, or India. So we will see what happens. Let know what to do??? I am going to crank my phone now and see what happens--- so whoever gets this message please respond.

Garden views

I forgot to mention that Salvia macrophylla and S. regla also in bloom - here's S. macrophylla , and other plants!

A Cats Viewpoint

My Mom is making me post on her dumb blog. I have my own blog on Catster so I don't know why I have to do this. I find the whole blogging thing kind of strange. Pippin loves it because he is such a show-off. Anyway . . .

I'm still not adjusted to this new house. Every morning when I wake up I think I'll be back in my apartment where it was cozy & safe. I feel so spread out in this house, there are just to many places where a cat could get lost. I don't have my patio anymore so I'm trapped in the house. Pippin hogs all the good windows to look out & hisses at me whenever I come out of my room. I walk around & meow & Mom keeps asking what is wrong with me. She isn't real bright sometimes, you'd think she would figure it out.

So that's my post. It may seem a little short but it took quite a while because I had to pick out each key with my claw.

Mellifera

Hi Everyone

It was really nice to see that a couple of you have posted! I was very excited. Hopefully we'll be hearing from others soon.

Hi Michael - we were wondering where you were. LA??? you know there are a lot of strange people down there. Come by & see us if you come back to the Bay Area.

To the person who posted under duress - I know where you live.

Debbie was going to post but her computer wasn't working right. Hopefully she'll get it working soon & we'll hear from her. She sent me a link to Mindy's blog. Here it is if you want to take a look --> http://mindylovesasha.blogspot.com/

Duress

Blogging under duress. Thanks Robin.
If you haven't already guessed, I'm a firm blog hater.
If you have guessed, I don't need to identify myself.
Hello Michael, good to hear from you. Live well and prosper.
Hello all you crazy bloggers (3), and goodbye.

From Michael

Hello family! My life is crazy. I left the ashram, and went to LA. Now I'm totally broke, trying to figure out the next step. That being said, I'm much closer now to seeing all beings as reflections of God, and understanding the implications of that. The Tarot operates as friend to me now, and I've had reasonable success at creating waves in the ocean. I hope everyone is well. Maybe if I can figure out what to do next I'll come and see some of you.

Life is strange, yeah?

Michael
(aka Hanuman)

Full Moon in My Garden!

The Full Moon has come up again - time to dance like a Maenad under the silvery glow! And to soon join me will be Tuberose and Brickellia blossoms. They are just getting ready to open and release their fragrance into the chill night air - the vegetal excitement of it all!
By day there are Salvia splendens "Van Houttei" blossoms to beckon the approach of curious, nectar-hungry hummingbirds - splendid indeed, these tubes of crimson salvia-hood! Joining these flowers are Mexican bush sage (velvety purple flowers) and a myriad of Salvia serpyllifolia, S. chiapensis, S. "Hot Lips", S. involucrata, and S. melissodora blooms. The last of these bears pale lavender blooms with a fresh, sweet scent compared by many to grape soda - plus the leaves carry an unusual incense/herbal scent.
And let me not forget the Natives - Nemophila discoides and N. maculata are already blooming! Of course Trichostema lanatum has also put out a festive Autumnal spike of wooly purple/blue flowers as well.
I'll have to be posting pictures soon, since without them this is going to sound pretty meaningless to most of you!

Posted by jet (not that there was any doubt)

Posting Info

I just realized that all the postings will probably say posted by rmt. I'm going to have to figure out if that can be changed but for now just put your name at the beginning or end of your post. Unless you think that what you are saying is so YOU that we won't have to guess.

Blog Intro

This is going to be the Texeira family blog. I'm quite taken with this blog thing. Not sure why but it really appeals to me. So I decided to start a Texeira family blog that everyone can post to. This way you can share your (hopefully) exciting life with everyone else. Feel free to send this to anyone else who may want to contribute. Your last name doesn't have to be Texeira but it would be good if you had some connection, however small.

You are probably thinking, "but what do I write about?" Anything you want. Just tell us what is going on in your life, post a picture & let us guess or say this is a stupid idea. Please bear in mind that I take rejection very hard though.

It is really easy to use the blog - just sign-in (info in email) and click on "new post" in the top right corner. Choose a title for your post & then start typing! You'll see little icons up at the top where you can add a picture, video etc.

I'm currently reading 75+ blogs in Google Reader. I'm anticipating that this one will be at least as interesting as the others I read. With Google Reader you can see all your blogs & new posts show up. I'll be looking for a new post to this blog tomorrow morning!

You'll notice that on the right hand side it says "Interesting Links" - here is where you can add any links you think others might enjoy looking at. I put in Amazon just as an example. To add to this click on customize in the right top corner & edit Interesting links. Changing settings etc is pretty easy so feel free to do so (just don't mess it up!).