Texas

People ask me all the time, “Why would you want to leave Texas and move to Chicago?” One word. August. August is fucking miserable in Texas. Ground hard and cracked, hotter’n shit, dry (or armpit humid if you’re in Houston). Stevie Ray Vaugh sang about it best “Couldn’t stand the weather”. How the hell I drove around in a ’77 Chevy Malibu Classic with vinyl seats and no AC during the summer in Houston I have no idea. But bitchin’ about the weather in Texas is not why I’m writing this post.

I came home to visit Mom and Sam for 10 days before I head off to Peru. The highlight of the trip was going to the inaugural football game at the new Cowboy Stadium (don’t tell Cowboy fans that the real inaugural football game was a soccer match played a few weeks before) I remember going to the Astrodome in Houston in the 80’s and being in awe as we went in. The enormity, the monochromatic scoreboard with the snorting bull, the PA system (now batting for the Astros…. Jose Cruuuuuz). The Astrodome in its day was one of the “7 wonders of the modern world”. This new Cowboy Stadium makes the Astrodome look like a studio apartment. You could probably fit a couple two, tree Astrodomes into this new stadium.

The stadium seats about 100,000, has a retractable roof (so God can watch when it’s not too hot, cold, or raining), two giant retractable walls in the end zones, three tiers of club suites, and field level suites. Most amazing was the $239 nose bleeds, $8 beer and $7 corny dogs. I take that back… watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in High Definition on a 60 yard scoreboard was pretty bad ass. Since then, Jessica Simpson has put a curse on Tony Romo, Jerry Jones is still an egotistical shit head, and the dopey stadium announcer from KLUV doesn’t know the difference between Julius Jones and Felix Jones. I’m dubbing the new stadium “The House that Drama Built”. Go Texans!

Lowlight of the trip was probably playing extremely bad golf in 102° on a narrow, tree-lined course with my dad’s old clubs that he won when he hit a hole in one nearly 20 years ago (I know… boo fucking hoo)

I’ve attached a few pics. I’m testing out how to email a blog so I’m not sure how it will turn out.

Next stop, Chicago.

Hub Going Away Party

The folks at work threw me a going away party on a Thursday, my next to last day. As it turns out Thursday was my last functional day because I was essentially useless on Friday (my boss might argue that I was useless most all of my 3 years at Hub). We met at a cheezy beach bar in The Loop called Cactus which has good specials and is on the way to the train station.

I estimated about 30 or so folks came by. It may have been many more or less than that but I wouldn't know because I either had a beer, tequila or jaeger bomb in my hand at all times. The docs from the AVMA/PLIT came by first at around 4pm. Six of us closed up the festivities at around 10:30??

My First Blog

I always thought blogs were a dopey waste of time. After all, who really gives a shit about what I, or anyone else for that matter, thinks. But my life is going to take an interesting twist for the next couple of years and I need a way to keep in contact with my friends and family. So, here goes.

I've accepted an invitation to serve our country in the Peace Corps. I'll be leaving for Peru on September 11 for 27 months. My job title will be Water and Sanitation Volunteer and I really couldn't have asked for a better assignment. I went into the application process ready to accept just about any position anywhere. Turns out I'll be able to use my Spanish and past work experience in a part of the world that I'm somewhat familiar with.

Thanks to my recruiter, Mark Kitrell, and the placement folks for the sweet gig. Also, thanks to Rob Rottersman for telling kick-ass stories about his service in Turkmenistan. Most importantly, thanks to Susan and all my friends and family for being so understanding and supportive.

So there you go. Come along for the ride. It should be fun.

W