September 14, 2002: Judy's gone to Thornton to get ready for her mother's big 90th birthday party. I have to go to a banquet tonight, so I'm staying here until tomorrow, when I'll drive up in time for lunch and the party. At the banquet tonight, I'll receive the Catherine Foster Munson award for literature. It's given by Brazoria County to a writer who's made some contribution to Texas literature. I don't know what contribution I've made, but I'm glad to be recognized for my writing. That's always nice. The kink in the rope is that I have a cold. Not a very bad one, but enough of one to be irritated by it. A little coughing, a little sneezing. Too bad.

Today is the bond election for Alvin Community College. Seems to me there are quite a few people against it, but they're mostly poorly informed and ignorant of the facts. There are also some who appear to me to be against the bond for personal reasons, and they're the ones working quietly behind the scenes to undermine anything the college tries to do. There's a good plot for a novel here, and I intend to write it Real Soon Now.

September 12, 2002: We went to Texas A&M on the tenth and deilivered the boxes of material to the Cushing Library. We were treated royally and taken to lunch at the A&M Faculty Club in the Rudder Tower. Joe Lansdale was there to deliver some of his material as well, so it was fun to see him. The Cushing Library is a great place, and it was nice to see how well the books and other items are cared for. My stuff is in good hands.

On the 11th, jerk that I am, I didn't watch any of the TV coverage of the 9/11 terror attacks. There's plenty to be remembered about that day, but TV runs things into the ground with mawkish sentimentality. You gotta wonder if your parents and grandparents spent December 7, 1942, wallowing in rememberances.

September 9, 2002: I went to the college today and collected nine boxes of my "papers" that were still in the office. Tomorrow Judy and I will haul them to Texas A&M, where they'll be housed in the Cushing Memorial Library. I hope those Aggies know what they're getting into, since the twelve boxes are probably only the beginning of the stuff I have for them. I think it's great material, and I'd like to see it preserved properly. I hope that's what they're planning to do.

I have my website up and running at www.billcrider.com, too. It's not finished, but it's good enough. I need to see if I can get it listed on the search engines now.