Happy Chinese New Year!

Our large mango will be born in the year of the rabbit. According to the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, "People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. They would make good gamblers for they have the uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. However, they seldom gamble, as they are conservative and wise. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog."

I don't really believe in the Chinese Zodiac business, but having been born in the year of the monkey, I have still yet to stop receiving monkey gifts in my lifetime. I have a feeling this child may be inundated with rabbit gifts from the Chinese side of its family. My brother was a rabbit year kid... and he had lots of rabbits.

There's also the Chinese gender prediction chart which claims that a baby's gender is determined by the month of conception (lunar calendar) and age of mother at conception (Chinese age). According to this, baby mango will be a girl.

[Weather update: 1-3 inches of snow expected across the Houston area tonight and tomorrow. Then back in the sunny mid 60's Saturday...]

Weather you like it or not

I guess I got a little too excited about last weekend's dream weather, because all of a sudden Texas is getting pounded by the cold. When I woke up this morning around 6:30am, it was windy and raining and I turned on the tv and saw that it was 70 degrees here and 30-something at the airport (30 miles north). Within a matter of minutes (according to the weatherman) the temperature dropped from 70 to the 40s and tonight it will be in the 20s with a chance of snow through Friday. Hello, Houston weather. You are strange. Please revert back to warm, sunny weather, because I do not like the cold bleakness one bit. It means that I cannot go outside without wearing a lot of clothes, and I prefer not to be weighed down by mounds of clothing. I'm already weighed down by a belly.

In other news, my belly button can still hold a few drops of water, in case you were wondering.

Brrrr!

When I woke up this morning the Houston forecast on the radio was a high of 32 with a windchill of 12; lows in the 20s. This is supposed to continue through the weekend. I thought I was leaving the cold weather behind in Colorado, but it has followed us here!

Here are some awesome photos of the water wall-- frozen solid-- in the TMC Commons just across from my office: http://www.bcm.edu/news/slideshow/cold010810/