Far South of I-10

I'm just closing out the last issues in my current job before I fly down to colombia to start a new assignment. It kind of sucks for things to change, sometimes it would be nice if things could stay the same, the same boss, same employees, over and over...or maybe it's better that change happens, I can escape from one job where everyone says great job but I can see all the things I screwed up glaring at me every day, and start with a clean slate tomorrow. Strangely enough, my current job is the one I wanted for years and years, and now I'm at the point where I'd pay money to be able to stop doing it. hot damn. So which is it? Do I want things to stay the same or is this continuously changing process that is life better? It's really hard to say. I'm like the monkey that won't let go of a handful of termites to be able to pull it's hand out of the tree trunk. If I hold on, I can hold dinner in my hand, but if I let go I can get my hand free. Oh well...

The Saint's are getting ready to play, U2 and Greenday are just starting walking onstage and I really hope the saints win tonight. After all the years of suffering watching the saints, if ever there was a year that New Orleans could use a superbowl championship, this is it. (last year was expecting too much, but this year the story works, rookie heisman trophy winner...new non-smirking quarterback [boy I hated to watch Aaron Brooks throw interceptions, then smile.]) here comes bono, let's go Saints!

It's pretty cool that Bigelow Aerospace will launch a space station before the end of the decade . Someone is actually leading, instead of waiting for moribund nasa to announce another program that in 15 years will put us back to where we were 30 years ago. (above is an image from BA's website of the genesis I) When I was young I wanted to be an pilot and then become an astronaut. I never got closer than sitting in an F-15's cockpit for maintenance purposes and lately it has seemed like the only people likely to go out into space will be the chinese. We didn't make space 1999 a reality, but space 2099 might actually happen with companies like BA leading the way. After working offshore in steel vessels for the past 15 years, I wouldn't want to live in space. I'd like to go for a weekend, just to see the curve of the earth from space and maybe have stars in my pockets like grains of sand. Here's the next pass of genesis I over Katy,TX will be Friday nigh...

Since today is talk like pirate day, I thought I'd run the pope's apology through a pirate translator. The pirate speaks,"Ahoy! Brothers and Sisters, .... At this time, I wish also t' add that I be deeply sorry for t' reactions in some countries t' a few passages o' me address at t' University o' Regensburg, which were considered offensive t' t' sensibility o' Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express me personal thought. "

Well I'm back in Houston again, mostly to close out my current job and put the house on the market. My ever efficient and lovely wife patricia has already done most of the work of getting the house organized and ready to be sold, so really all I did was sign the disclosure agreement and put some superglue on the broken microwave oven handle. (This is our second house with a broken handle, am I too strong or what? ...what) I'm sort of jet-lagged, hungover and tired, since I ran into my old roommate from the last time I lived in colombia in Quito yesterday, and we stayed out drinking until about an hour before I had to leave for the airport. In my new job I won't have to travel so much, but since we'll be living in a foreign country, it'll be more like continuous travel. I may not be jet-lagged as often either, but I'll probably be in a hung-over state more often, since the point where I'm almost drunk is the point where most latinos are just getting warme...

Sharon has a witty pos t as usual today, she begins with a mention of how her Father prounounced hors d' eauvres. [which reminded me of a friend from high school, when we were getting the menu prepared for the key club's senior banquet, he looked at the menu options and said "What's this whores de erves shit?"] And then her post continues with art, creation, agony&ecstacy, &etc. Sharon is fast becoming a professional artist before our eyes, which is one of the coolest things I've seen on the blogosphere. From blogging about her kids running around like hellions, to now blogging about upcoming gallery shows, soon she'll be blogging about shows in Paris and London, with her kids running around the louvre like hellions. (plus ca change, plus ca meme chose) Anyway, if you arrived here from google because I wrote titty-bar in a previous post, go visit sharon's store and buy something there.

Here's a picture of Quito from a webcam in our office. The resolution unfortunately isn't there to show the clouds flowing like room temperature whip cream over the top of the mountain on the right, and through a valley. Another feature that didn't come out is an airplane is landing in the center-left background. The runway is pointed almost straight away from the camera, maybe obliquely to the right. Right at that mountain. So planes taking off have to do a maneuver that takes them up at about a 45 degree angle, or when they land from the south it looks like a carrier trap. Pretty cool and distracting if you're trying to work at a desk with this window. Below is a view from google earth. The red ellipse is where the runway is a red circle marks the webcams location. Since the runway almost lines up with the long axis of the city, almost anywhere in the city has a plane flying over every several minutes. I'm learning the flight schedule, since there is a pac...

Men of Harlech stop your dreaming Can't you see their spear points gleaming See their warrior's pennants streaming To this battle field Men of Harlech stand ye steady It cannot be ever said ye For the battle were not ready Stand and never yield Form the hills rebounding Let this war cry sounding Summon all at Cambria's call The mighty force surrounding Men of Harlech onto glory This shall ever be your story Keep these fighting words before ye Cambria (Welshmen never) will not yield

It turns out that my hotel has a casino, it has around 50 slot machines and 8 craps tables. The minimum bet is one dollar (ecuador uses dollars, not sucres based on dollars, but our physical dollars. What the hell?), so this isn't James Bond casino elegance. I did have a nice time though. Free drinks, free appetizers and I played blackjack for money for the first time. I didn't know there were so many rules, I normally stick to video poker or craps but due to a lack of craps tables it was either blackjack or a one armed bandit. I had some drinks, went up and down in chips and left with the same number of chips I walked in with. The cashier took my $50 in chips and handed me 5 20's. I started to walk out, thinking had I won $50 and not noticed? I started to turn around and walk back, angels and demons tugging my legs so hard that I walked woodenly back into the casino with a strange straight leg step that made the guard stare at me. With the cross winds of guilt/ ho...

I put on my ugly but easy to take off shoes that I normally wear when traveling and jetted off down here to ecuador this evening My plane arrived at 11:10 pm, just as the buzz from my free in first class drinks wore off. It's hard to have first impressions in a darkened city, the surrounding neighborhood is built right up to the airport, but it looks quiet and everyone seems nice. I've never been here before, but it seems similar to Bogota, really high altitude and kind of cool for august (2800 m, 59 deg F). My first trip to Bogota was a white knuckled adventure, the only thing I knew about the country was what i had seen in a Harrison ford movie. A driver picked me up at the airport and dropped me off in a fairly dirty company apartment, I didn't know if I could drink the water, there was no food and I had no pesos. I pictured armed bandits outside the windows, armed with RPG's waiting to attack my convoy. I boiled some water and stuck in the freezer to cool...