A Trip to Fan

KEV, LIVE FROM SUGAR LAND: Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving day; mine was nice and quiet around here. Last night, I got to break in the new Murphy bed at Mom and Dad's, and it was so comfortable, I ended up sleeping till noon. And thankfully, the bed didn't fold back up into the wall with me in it or anything (yes, I know, I've watched way too many cartoons).

Speaking of watching cartoons, I saw The Incredibles with Mom and Dad tonight. It was great, which didn't surprise me; has Pixar ever made a lousy movie? Funny, funny stuff, and the animation is just amazing. Oh, and we stayed till the end of the credits to see if there was anything at the end, and I happened to notice that one of the "extra musical scoring" credits went to none other than Gordon Goodwin. I'll bet he got a "big phat" paycheck for that (heh).

Dinner was just the three of us, but what Mom was calling "sparse" was quite satisfying...just enough, with plenty left over for later. Then it was off to the TV room, where we watched the Cowboys actually win a game and look halfway-decent doing so. None of us stayed awake the whole time, as the tryptophan kicked in every once in a while. (I remember as a kid when tryptophan--the amino acid in turkey that makes you sleepy--was explained to me for the first time. We made a little joke about the name and said that, when we fell asleep, we were taking a "trip to Fan." That joke actually got a couple years' worth of mileage, believe it or not.)

At any rate, I'm looking forward to another night of good sleep before coming back home sometime tomorrow. I have a lot to be thankful for this year: friends and family, a job I love, good health, and a whole lot more. I'm also thankful that we live in freedom (a quick look at the paper or the Internet reminds us how many people don't) and for those who risk their lives to keep us that way. One of the classiest things I've seen on TV in a long time happened tonight on The Tonight Show, when Jay Leno's audience consisted entirely of active-duty military personnel--some on their way home, some on their way out. And of course., I am eternally thankful for the blessings of the One who makes it all possible. I hope your day was equally blessed.

A milestone: Last night, on my trip down here, I did something I've never done before: gone over 400 miles on a tank of gas. It was 403, to be more precise, on just a little over 11 gallons of gas. Yes, Kevmobile 1.2 is humming along just fine.

Oh, and while I was at my gas stop, I actually saw some idiot drive off with the gas pump hose still attached to his truck, severing it, totally oblivious to the shouting of the two gas station employees who happened to be out there. Thankfully, they have automatic shut-off devices on the pumps now (for a second there, the thought of "are we gonna blow up now?" did go through my head), but it was still an inconvenience for an insanely busy station, and no doubt a huge blow to the wallet for the guy who did it. I saw him taking out a credit card; ouch, talk about an expensive lesson...