November...yikes.

November's promising to be even more of a whirlwind than October, considering it's nearly half over and I still feel like it's Halloween...

I'm not even sure where the first several days went, but Mary arrived on the 6th and left on the 7th and Pat's parents showed up on the 8th and left Sunday morning. I can't believe it's already been a week since we left Mar in San Antonio. In fact, by now she's moved on from San Antonio altogether.

Seeing Mary was really wonderful. I've met a lot of great people here in Austin, but there's nothing quite like a friend that's known you for years. Her visit was really relaxing and I'm feeling a little better about not making it back East for Thanksgiving; Jennie's upcoming visit will help with that, too, I think.

Pat's parents' visit was anything but relaxing, but it was fun, and I managed to get in quite a bit of homework time this weekend, too. That was key.

The only problem with having visitors so soon after moving here is that I'm still not sure what to do with people. We took Mary to the bars and restaurants we like and showed her around campus. Then, we met up with her in San Antonio for a Spurs game, which was a lot of fun. I always forget in the off-season how much I like basketball. Although, I have to admit that the highlight of the game was the pre-game ceremony in which they gave season-ticket holder Josh Beckett a jersey and showed him on the Jumbotron. It reminded me of when Pat and I went to see the Celtics play the Bucks right after the Pats' first Super Bowl victory of the decade and Tebucky Jones was there. I kept looking at him the whole night instead of focusing on the game.

We took Pat's parents on a Tower Tour, down to Sixth Street to the Tears of Joy Hot Sauce shop (his dad loves spicy food), and to BookPeople, among other things. Oh, and we took them to the Alamo Drafthouse, where the movie we wanted to see was sold out, so we ended up seeing Lions for Lambs. Ugh, it was awful. Remember when Tom Cruise used to make good movies?

I should wrap up so I can get to my last 180J class. In 3.5 hours I'll be finished with my first class at the iSchool. Admittedly, it's a one-credit pass/fail class, but finishing it puts me one step closer to the end of the semester.

One last thing: It's 81 degrees and I'm wearing shorts and flip-flops. I love Texas.