I’ve been obsessed with watching weather videos on Youtube lately. Metafilter is partly to blame, as is The Awl, but the real culprit is El Nino*, which is responsible for the worst winter Houston had in the past 30 years and also the fact that we’re probably gonna have one helluva hurrican’ season.

I also had this thing, when I was a kid, where I felt a kind of strong kinship to any object or event that I could remotely relate to my own personal history. For example, I loved to read stories about The Pilgrims’ Mayflower because my birthday was in May, and in some way felt that made me connected to it. It’s weird, I know. I have also always been fascinated by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens — it happened two days after I was born. I even have a Mt. St. Helens “emerald”, as the true emerald is the birthstone for May.

Best comment in the hailstorm thread: Our planet is fucking awesome.

*Which in Spanish means “the Nino”.

This one makes me miss Oklahoma.

The old hometown paper, of all sources, broke the story about Jack White’s planned collaboration with Miss Wanda Jackson. The Oklahoman also posted a short documentary about the OK native who proves yet again the old maxim the Okie girls are the shit.

Via JD.

Props to wherever I saw this first (I forgot who posted it) but I flipped when I realized it was from Oklahoma. Please, fellow Okies, report back to me if you have eaten here!

Just for kicks, here’s Texas’ Hat.

I get to break out my old fist bump badge again today. Later this morning I’ll be live-blogging the Inauguration, hopefully from the Harris County Democratic Party’s soiree, for Houstonist.

Update: Here’s the post.

Our trip to Oklahoma was as depressing as ever. Especially in winter. CLH had just come home two days before we left again, and on this particular trip I discovered that the only thing I really enjoy about Oklahoma are the sunsets and the banks. Every single sunset, even on a freezing overcast day, is the most beautiful sunset you’ll ever see. I’m convinced it has to do with all the wind and the red dust in the air. And all the cool mid-century modern buildings in Oklahoma? Well, almost all the ones still standing are churches, something I’d never noticed before.

Thankfully, the last three days of our trip, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and January 2, were the best. We rented a cozy cabin near Robber’s Cave with my dad and Angela and my sister and Adan and opened all our Christmas presents just after midnight. The next morning we got up and made breakfast and then went hiking and came back to the cabin and CLH grilled and we looked at the stars and played card games and then went to bed. On January 2 CLH and I headed home via the scenic route.

Since then I have been thinking about resolutions. I guess I’m not really a resolutions kinda gal, at least not the kind to vocalize them. They’ve been written down, in a safe place where I can look at them again in November and realize I’d forgotten all about them for 10 months. But for me resolutions are kind of like wishes — if I tell someone what they are they won’t come true.

I’ve done an Uberlist the past two years and it’s been pretty cool but now my Uberlist will reside somewhere else, because truth be told, the items on it are nobody’s business. Plus they’re kinda boring.

It will be more like a year-long to-do list. The things on this list fall into a few general categories — be healthier, don’t procrastinate, learn more, use less, create more, give more, explore more. Same old, same old.

Finally, I have been thinking a lot about volunteering more. What I really want to do I don’t know yet but I’m trying options on like a person would try on shoes — looking for the fit that is most comfortable and helps me go the farthest. I have been inspired by one thing though, and it’s this. Warning: If you click that link and watch the video, you will cry, but afterwards you will feel so good inside.

The snow is getting us into the holiday spirit, but we’ve yet to hear the B.C. Clark’s jingle, which signals the true start of Christmas. Posting will be light for the following weeks, assuming we’re able to drag ourselves out of the hotel’s down sheets and find a rouge wireless connection in Houston’s Montrose.