Back from Houston

Alberto and I got home yesterday from spending a week and a half in Houston.

He went to do the tile job that Mr/Mrs Frink had asked for, and I went to work in the Houston ePartners office and also to touch base with as many clients and contractors of Backstage Presence as possible.

The trip went really well! The Frinks found us to be good houseguests, we found them to be even better hosts, and everyone had a grand old time.

I also got to touch base with some friends - Alex arranged for a small group of us to meet up at The Flat, which was a very cool kind of ambient loungy kind of place with yummy frozen mojitos! People who came out were Alex, Bartek/Edyta, Brenda (another bro), Nicol (Alex's friend who is going to work for me :D ), and we also saw Kai at West Gray Cafe. It was a ot of fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. Thanks for putting the group together Alex!

I also got to see Tarush there! That was a nice surprise - he drove in from Dallas on Saturday night just to see me and also met up with us at the Flat :) That's a good big bro! He also got to meet Alberto which was an added plus. Thank you for coming to town!!

We also got to spend an evening with Bartek and Edyta and learned more about what has been happening in their lives, and also a little more about Polish geography. Edyta made a very yummy traditional Polish meal for dinner which I repeated 50 times but now cannot remember - but it was really good with egg noodles and mushrooms and onion and herbs and spices and other things that I can't recall. Thank you for the lovely dinner!

Backstage Presence had a great barbecue on Sunday that Gene and the Fashionable Events crew helped us put together. It was a small group, but just the right size and everyone got to hang out and chat with each other in a non-work, non-stress setting. It's nice to do that every once in a while!

I also gave Tracy a thank you gift for everything that she's done with Backstage Presence, and I think she liked it :)

We got to have dinner with Brent and Andrea at Collina's, got tipsy on wine and great pizza and then went back to their place to play some high stakes poker. Ok, so it wasn't very high stakes, but we all had fun and Andrea ended up kicking everyone's ass!

One special treat was being able to see someone I haven't seen in many years, and who happened to find me on the internet a week before we were flying out. That was Gina, one of my old friends from Girl Scouts, and her now 10-year old daughter Kyra. I haven't seen them since Kyra was maybe 2 years old, and quite a lot has changed.

Kyra is absolutely beautiful, and is also very tall. She looks quite a bit like Xavier (but only the good parts! :) ) but she has Gina's razor sharp wit. She is clearly extremely intelligent and is also a very loving sweet girl. I was really happy to see her and be able to witness the young woman she is turning into.

We spent the evening getting caught up on what each other was up to - and then we went to a party that happened to be going on across the street! Everyone there was Mexican so Alberto immediately felt right at home and it was just a matter of minutes before he and Trevor were off to the garage for some tequila shots and beer.

Those guys were really nice, and also stuffed our tummies full of food. It didn't matter one bit that we told them we had just eaten fajitas - they wouldn't take no for an answer as they handed up shrimp cocktail and carnita tacos, along with some fresh and very cold beer. Who am I to cause trouble? ;)

An hour and a half later, we mosied back across the street and wrapped up the evening.

The ePartners office is just across the street from the Galleria, so I got to enjoy walking to Starbucks for coffee every morning, and having lunch in the Fox Sports Grill and La Madeleine. There wasn't much work for me to do, but I did get the opportunity to interact with a few ePartners colleagues on a more one-on-one basis, which I always enjoy. I hope that I can continue to visit the ePartners Houston office and work from there as needed.

On the weekends we had a great time swimming in the Frinks' backyard swimming pool! Alberto liked it so much he started asking if we could put a pool in our yard too! I have to admit, it was really nice....


So, it's back to the real world. Well, kind of....I am actually back on a plane today, headed to Mt. Vernon Illinois for 2 days of CRM discovery with a client. Then it's back to SD on Friday where we'll spend the weekend at home before making a brief one night trip to San Francisco. I will be there for a Microsoft training on the 24th, and I am taking Alberto with me. I hope he enjoys it!

Prove It!

Everybody who gave a shit enough to appear as if they cared got to log their sentimental moment and perfect sound byte this week in New Orleans (well, truth be told several chose to issue statements while keeping a safe distance).

Now prove it - who is going to truly own and passionately act on the need to rebuild our Gulf Coast?

You decide if you think any of these peoples' words are worth a damn red cent:

Dems
Obama
Hillary
Edwards
Richardson
Dodd

Repubs
Guiliani
McCain
Hunter

I was unable to find any mention whatsoever of our Gulf Coast from the following:
Joe Biden, Mike Gravel or Dennis Kucinich
Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul

You form your own opinion on why that might be.


Yes, there are some other candidates out there, but they are so insignificant to me that I can't even remember their names.

There was a mere 3 minute clip on the Today show reminding everyone of the devastation of the Gulf Coast , and then they had to get back to the important news - Craig's sex-in-the-bathroom debacle was apparently more important.

Yes, two years have passed - S-O W-H-A-T!!!

People are still just as homeless and just as destitute and just as desperate for money and a return to normal life as they were before.

There is a massive diaspora of Gulf Coast residents all across the country.

Long time Gulf Coast residents - people who were once proud of their long and varied heritage - have abandoned their cities and neightborhoods who need them back so badly.

And even two years later, there are still *new reports* of neighborhoods just now getting back on their feet with electricity and basic utilities.

They are mixed in with tales of lawlessness and insanity.

There are still mold-infested houses that are completely uninhabitable - only now they have to share space with the FEMA trailers that seem like inescapable tombs to so many people.

The fact that two years have passed and this is still the condition of the Gulf Coast is not only disgraceful, it is *criminal*.

Bush actually went out of his way to appear concerned about the Gulf Coast this morning, but where was his concern for the region during his State of the Union address?

While extolling the virtues of his new initiatives (and that excellent surge plan), where was his compassion for the Gulf Coast and its meager grip on existence?

The time to act in restoring the dignity, safety, and viability of the region is long overdue.

Do any one of these would-be leaders actually have the integrity and passion for humanity to do anything at all??

Please allow me to share with you some photos of the region from when I was there (Last June I was able to travel with Collins to rebuild homes in Gulfport, Mississippi):

The remains of what used to be the bridge between Ocean Springs and Biloxi, Mississippi

A shattered bridge at sunset

One of thousands of houses along the Gulf Coast that have been rendered utterly useless by the floods

The empty shell of what used to be a small market on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico

This used to be the yacht club at Lake Pontchartrain, in New Orleans

The remains of a dozen boats, after Lake Pontchartrain flooded its banks

Some of the boats made it out of the water and into the streets and neighborhood next to the Lake. That is my sister's car parked in front of some of the boats.

People, these photos were taken almost one year after the disaster!

Why are there still boats in the streets of the city almost a year later?

Why are there still people unable to rebuild today??

Can anyone make any sense of this?

Whatever happened to each of us being our brother's keeper?

For God's sake, please do something.

Write to whoever you believe is going to be the next President and implore them to make the Gulf Coast a priority by taking *action* and not just espousing fluffy words. Our President today has failed us in our most dire hours of need; don't let the next leader do the same.

I've written to various people and media outlets, including multiple letters and emails to the one I think will be President.

Join me!

Sky Art

My trusty travel pillow :D


This week, my job took me to Dallas for training.





I got to see my company's 'headquarters' in Irving, got to meet my new boss (who I like very much), and also I got to try out a Garmin GPS device, which I got at the rental car place based on Tan's advice.













The training was a bust due to technical difficulties, but I actually enjoyed the trip very much because I was able to get to know a few of my colleagues a bit.

Plus, I really enjoyed staying at the Wingate.

I highly recommend choosing a Wingate for business travel; they are much more traveler-friendly than I have seen at a Hilton, and the beds are just as cozy.



While I was in the plane to Dallas and back again, I got an opportunity to take some great photos out of the window.

The onset of sundown --->

It's so easy to be engrossed in the distractions you have brought for yourself on a plane ride,

but you really should take a few moments to gaze out at the heavens all around you.


I hope you enjoy the photos I've posted here.

The approach to San Diego at Sunset

Phoenix storm

I am in Phoenix for a couple of days for the start of a new project.

When I walked out of the airport at 8:30 pm last night, it was 104 degrees outside. By 9:30 am this morning, it was 105. Thank goodness for air conditioning, although rooms never do get quite cool enough, and that includes my hotel room!

Not only is it damn hot, but there are wind storms! My colleague tells me that they have these storms every afternoon during the summer. On the way back to the office from the client's office at 4:30 today, all of a sudden everything started blowing around. Palm tree fronds started blowing off the trees and falling down onto the street below. Road construction cones and signs tipped over and clattered on the medians.

Then, as we approached and passed through a major street intersection, a huge cloud of dust blew in from our left and obscured the view all around us. This continued for about 30 minutes, and as we left the parking garage to enter our office building, I was almost blown over by the gusts. Needless to say, my hair was a rat's nest!

I go home tomorrow afternoon, just in time to spend the weekend at home. I am crossing my fingers that the kitchen will be all done when I get home - when I left, all that was left to be done was to finish the backsplash. Maybe pictures will be ready next week!

Have a great weekend!

A day at the game with Tan and James

On Sunday, we got to go to a Padres-Giants game with Tan and an old friend from Houston, James. We tried to get tix to Saturday night's game, but weren't able to get any, so we opted for the Sunday game instead, hoping we were going to see Bonds hit his tying homerun. Alas, he ended up doing it the night before, and on Sunday he didn't even play!

Neither did half of the other big names. No Vizquel, no Brian Giles, no Milton Bradley, no Morgan Ensberg. (well, Ensberg isn't a big name to anyone here yet, but for us Houston natives he's a guy we were looking forward to seeing after his recent trade here).

Tan and his peanuts

Still, we had a good time, and it was good to see James again. I hung out with him a couple of times with Tan when we were all still at UH, which seems further and further away. James is now a lawyer for crying out loud - he's just waiting to get results back from his bar exam. When did we all become such upstanding adults??

We started the day by getting together for lunch and we had Dim Sum down in the Convoy area. I thought that it was very interesting, and enjoyed everything I ate. It was fun to have all the Chinese ladies walk by with their carts, trying to peddle what they were carrying. We got a lot of food, so much that Tan ended putting the rest in a box to take home!

I don't even know what to tell you we had, but it had a lot shrimp and a lot of pork and some kind of interesting tofu-bean curd kind of dish that tastes really good dipped in that hot chili sauce. Mmm Mmm, we were stuffed.

At the game, we had seats in right outfield, and were up at the very top. But for $12.50, the seats were pretty good - better than the ones at the top behind home plate. There were lots of Giants fans in the seats around us (as usual), but at some point the Petco cat came up into the stands, took off one of the Giants fan's hats, and rubbed it on his hiney. I got a kick out of that!

I couldn't help still feeling animosity toward Roberts and Klesko who jumped ship and followed Bochy (aka Super Mario) up to San Francisco. I still think something shady was involved there. To my satisfaction, neither player bothered to make much of a contribution except one double that Roberts pulled off.

We are so happy to be winning!

Cameron was really at his best, making an awesome play in the outfield, and lighting up some fire at the batter's box. Ensberg did finally get put in at the end as a pinch hitter, and contributed with a hit that led to an RBI. Welcome to San Diego Morgan! We are glad you are here.

One thing I noticed is that San Diego fans have taken to calling out "Kooooooooooooooooooooooz" when Kevin Kouzmanoff steps up to bat. I'm not sold on him yet, and (again, being a Houston native) feel like it's too similar to the old "Cruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz" I would cry out as a kid whenever Jose Cruz came up to bat at the Astrodome. It doesn't seem right that Kouz gets to have the same salute that the great Jose Cruz got. Yes, I know I'm being a bit overly picky here, but it just doesn't feel right.

So we ended up winning the game, even though Trevor Hoffman almost blew it *again* - the final score was 5-4.

What a great day!

After the game - James, Tan, Natasha & Alberto

Last gasps of summer

One last round

Just when I thought visitors were all gone, we had one last unexpected set on Sunday. Alberto went to pick up his cousin and aunt who flew into to Tijuana coming home from Culiacan and on their way back to the Bay Area where they live. There is no direct flight to San Jose from anywhere in Mexico, so Alberto volunteered to pick them up at the TJ airport and take them to the SD airport, where they’d get another flight. Well, the border wait was so long they missed their connecting flight in San Diego and presto! We had more house guests for a night.

Not that I am complaining – I’m just tired :) It’s a lot of work to have houseguests for a month!

Kitchen Update

If you thought it was done, you thought wrong. We have been stuck on a cabinets in but no floor or countertop phase for several weeks now. Well, we finally got someone to call us back about the countertop – can you believe they’re not coming out until August 6? What craziness. I originally called and started this whole process on July 2.

For the floor, Alberto is starting to lay the rest of the tile on the floor in the downstairs, after jackhammering all the old tile up on Saturday. He's is about halfway through the kitchen and trying to get it done before the weekend. He's going to have a lot of work to do, because he is just laying the tile, not grouting or sealing yet. I don't know how he can do this work everyday...it's too hard for me to even watch.

Backyard Update

The flowers in the back are doing about 50/50 – half are looking really good, and half are not faring so well. It’s the hottest time of the year here, so maybe that has something to do with it. We are continuing to water every morning and night on the same schedule, and I am trying to give them love and a little miracle gro. Cross your fingers that they’ll make it!

We had a guy literally show up at our house who could cut down trees on Monday. What luck! Our neighbors (the nice ones) decided to cut down their pine tree and so halfway through him cutting it down (he was up in the tree so he was overlooking my yard), I came out and inquired about what he was doing. His name was Panapa. That's all I know about him. He told me he was cutting down my neighbor's tree and asked if I needed any trees cut down too. Woo hoo! Perfect timing. I had just been talking to Dalilah (Alberto's cousin) about it the day before. I got him to do both the slanting tree and the stump coming up and straight to the back for one low price. It’s amazing how much space there is now in the yard. It’s really transformed. Time to get to work on that area too!

Other items

Alberto has decided that the sickness Stephanie and I had was because of the sun. This is because I got sick again for a few days, and I had happened to work in the sun for a while right before. Dulce, one of our nieces that worked with me, got sick too. Not the bad stomach part, just the ‘skin fever’. So he has decided that it is because of the sun and I am too fragile to work outside. I can’t be out there more than an hour or so before he starts getting after me to go indoors. As a result, I still haven’t put mulch down that I bought, and the hill is getting overrun with weeds again. Drat! Never enough time…

My new gainful employment

It's official, I started a new position at another Microsoft Partner - ePartners, Inc. My 'home' office is their Aliso Viejo office, in Orange County.

ePartners is a nationwide partner with offices all over the country. Their headquarters are in Irving, TX. Ironically, Houston is the main hub of activity for my region. Maybe I'll have an opportunity to transfer there when/if Alberto and I ever decide to move.

I am working as a Senior CRM Consultant for the company. This is basically the same as my last position, but it is a promotion to the senior level.