Oh Grandpa

So. I have one remaining grandparent, my Mom's dad. My Dad's dad died when I was 5 after his 4th heart attack. My Mom's mom died when I was 16 of emphysema. My Dad's mom died this past summer..of craziness. She was a mean lady that had a labotamy when my dad was younger, they thought it would get the anger out of her. Wrong.

At any rate, the grandpa that I have left, PawPaw, is a Korean war vet. He enrolled at A&M, Korea started, so he jumped over there for a bit. He was wounded (shrapnel to the hip, from some explosion) and fixed up in a hospital over there with no anesthetic, and then sent back out to fight again. Somehow, his Army records were destroyed when the US base that was over there was destroyed. My uncle has been fighting to get him his Purple Heart lately, and he finally got it.
Apparently Senator Cornyn's dad is a vet as well, and he has a lot of sympathy and does a lot for vets. He couldn't believe that my grandfather had still not received his Purple Heart after all these years, and decided to have a lil ceremony for him.

Ed and I met up with my parents and my mom's side of the family in Seguin and then caravaned with them to San Antonio, where Senator Cornyn is currently working. They had a ceremony set up outside infront of the Korean War Memorial.

I don't think anyone in the family thought it would be a big to-do, just a presentation, so we were all shocked when camera, photographers, and newspaper people showed up. Most of all my grandfather. He hates attention.

They discovered that in addition to earning a Purple Heart for being wounded, my grandfather had also earned 3 other medals: Korean War Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.

The family is happy now that the old man has his medals. We were outside for all of 2 hours and I somehow managed to get sunburned on my face and right arm..hmm. But it was good to see the family again. I hadn't seen one of my cousins in like 2 years because he's had to work or something just about every holiday. There are a couple of articles online about it if you're interested :)

Cornyn's Website
San Antonio Paper
Seguin Gazette

PS

I forgot to mention in my last post. April's credit card was compromised.
Not sure when..or how..or what other information this butthead has on me, but somehow they got my cc number and were able to charge $20. I saw it posted on my account, and could not for the life of me remember where I had charged exactly $20 (I get excited about that sort of thing). It was pending for like a week, and I got a couple of phone calls from Chase, all of which I thought were courtesy calls. WRONG. A couple of days later I was working open-close and had 8 MISSED CALLS FROM CHASE. I got off work and was finally able to talk to someone..and they asked me about the $20..which I was pretty unsure of..and then mentioned that someone had tried to charge SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS to my account NUMEROUS TIMES THAT DAY. I wigged out, denied making the charges myself, and the dude was like "your card has been compromised. it is no longer valid, effective immediately...."....!!!
I don't carry cash. I despise checks. My sugar daddy always has cash on him tho, so it was OK. I got my new card in the mail today..so hopefully changing the card was enough. They said I didn't need to open a new account, but we'll see.

Just had to tell you my scary story. Watch your cards. And online purchases. And bank statements you throw in the trash.

Spring "Break"

Consisted of me working my BOOOOOTY off. Things have been crazy at the clinic, so I offered to work extra and let the other receptionist take a couple of "mental health" days. What's wrong with me.
For cheap thrills, Ed and I rented a bunch of movies that we both felt the other should watch..he sat through Across the Universe..TWICE and Enchanted. I watched some crazy movie I can't remember the name of, but he loves 'em. I think it was called..Dr Strangelove OR How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb. Don't ask.
We also did some SXSW stuff...CRAZY FUN. He lives in the heart of SoCo, so we were within walking distance of most places. We went down to Auditorium Shores one night, and the next day we went to Waterloo Park. One of the stages had ALL SuperDeluxe.com comedians (which is one of Ed's fav websites--and group of comedians). It was a crazy good time.
We've been looking for apartments in the Austin area, as we had pretty much decided to stay put for the year we take off. We were all set to sign a pre-lease on this place down the street from where Ed is now..and they never called back. They STILL have not called back.
However...Rich (the grad student I worked under who is now doing a fellowship at UCLA) sent me an email..one of the professors he works with is looking for a Master Coder (something I'm not really qualified to be..) and really things I would be great at it. He sent the other prof an AMAZING email about me, and the other prof is really excited about me applying. AH! LA?!?!? Scary thought, but Ed was really supportive and encouraging, so I'm going to apply. EEE!
If I don't get it, it will probably be a sigh of relieve (LA scares the sh** out of me-just bc it's far away) but SO SUPER DUPER exciting. I'd love to move somewhere different. And learn to surf.
Ed and I took our ENGAGEMENT pictures on Friday! (YEA-we've only been engaged for what..8 months?) and we should have a link to our pics later this week. I'll post when we get it :)
ALSO--we met with the woman we want to officiate our wedding. Her name is Spike. She's a bit of a hippie, and a writer, and she wants to travel the world for 3 years when her son graduates from high school. She has some beautifully written ways to make it a very personal ceremony, so we're really excited about it. More to come.

I love you all! Come and visit me :)