This site has a ton of neat stuff:
Curiobot
Channeling Nixon?
14 years ago
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Day 3
Forgot to add a quick post about Sunday. Didn't do much except clean and pack and of course, we all took showers. Don't remember who, but someone mentioned 'this house sure doesn't have much hot water.' Then everyone else started saying - 'hey - I had a cold shower/bath too.' We had all figured that the person before them had just used the last of the hot water.
As we were going over the "Things to do when you leave" list, we read through the "Things to do when you get here" list. Apparently in our excitement we had failed to notice item #3 "Turn on the breaker for the hot water heater".
...
Ate lunch at Baytown Seafood Restaurant in Palacios. It's kind of a Vietnamese/Seafood restaurant. Not fusion cuisine or anything chic like that - it's eggrolls and fried catfish. The eggrolls were really really good - I've never had a homemade one before.
And to give you an idea of where Palacios is:
And some information about how the town got its name: The bay was named after Jose Felix Trespalacios, Mexican governor of the area when Stephen F. Austin established his colony back in the 1800s. Eventually the town became known as Palacios and the pronunciation was Americanized to” Puh-LASH-uhs” rather than the proper Spanish Pa-las-ee-ohs.
As we were going over the "Things to do when you leave" list, we read through the "Things to do when you get here" list. Apparently in our excitement we had failed to notice item #3 "Turn on the breaker for the hot water heater".
...
Ate lunch at Baytown Seafood Restaurant in Palacios. It's kind of a Vietnamese/Seafood restaurant. Not fusion cuisine or anything chic like that - it's eggrolls and fried catfish. The eggrolls were really really good - I've never had a homemade one before.
And to give you an idea of where Palacios is:
And some information about how the town got its name: The bay was named after Jose Felix Trespalacios, Mexican governor of the area when Stephen F. Austin established his colony back in the 1800s. Eventually the town became known as Palacios and the pronunciation was Americanized to” Puh-LASH-uhs” rather than the proper Spanish Pa-las-ee-ohs.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Palacios Trip Pictures
Kate, Kelly, Stephanie, Nadja with weapons (Yes, a fishing rod is a weapon)
Kate doing a wine tasting (delicious homemade wine)
Kelly enjoying an adult beverage of her own
Nadja with the assault rifle
Kate with the assault rifle
A porpoise following the boat in the wake
Two other porpoises that stayed at the front (bow?) right-hand part (starboard?) of the boat.
Stephanie's lemon shark
Stephanie catching yet ANOTHER fish
Stephanie at the wheel of the U.S.S. Mustang
Happy Kate
Sunset over Palacios
Kate doing a wine tasting (delicious homemade wine)
Kelly enjoying an adult beverage of her own
Nadja with the assault rifle
Kate with the assault rifle
A porpoise following the boat in the wake
Two other porpoises that stayed at the front (bow?) right-hand part (starboard?) of the boat.
Stephanie's lemon shark
Stephanie catching yet ANOTHER fish
Stephanie at the wheel of the U.S.S. Mustang
Happy Kate
Sunset over Palacios
Monday, July 28, 2008
Day 2 - The Boat Ride Part II
After all the shooting, Cap'n told us he was taking us to a small cove where we could swim. Foreshadowing: as we were heading to the cove, we saw hundreds and hundreds of white jellyfish in the water. So we get to the cove and the crew prepared the vessel to allow us to swim (Cap'n Tom pulled up the plywood door covering the torpedo ramp and put a cooler on the ramp as a stepstool; he also lashed a stepladder to a torpedo roller for us to use to get in and out). Cap'n was first in the water, followed by me, Nadja, Lisa, Lupe, and Kelly. Stephanie, who we now know is the smartest person on the boat, decided not to join us.
The water felt great... briefly. After about 3 minutes in the water, I started to feel some prickly pain across the tops of my shoulders and on my thumb. It wasn't very painful at the time, so I tried to ignore it. Then I heard Lisa say "Dad - what does a jellyfish sting feel like?" At that point, Nadja said she was going back on the boat and I said I was right behind her. We all ended up getting stung several places. We all got back on the boat (an adventure unto itself), and tried to laugh off the experience while attempting to identify if anyone was going into anaphylactic shock. We treated our stings with a combination of hand sanitizer and aloe vera gel with lidocaine. It actually worked pretty well. I really was happy that it worked well, because if that didn't work, our next options were snuff and/or urine. Small favors.
So since swimming was clearly out, we decided to fish some. We moved out into deeper water and tied up to a small offshore oilfield platform. When we were on our way out, some porpoises were racing the boat and playing in the wake. We were going 20 knots and they were easily keeping up with us. It was so neat.
Once at the platform, Cap'n taught us how to bait our own hooks with shrimp, squid, or mullet. We all got some experience fixing a line on an openface reel that has been backlashed. Stephanie clearly missed her calling as a pro fisher-person. She literally got tired of fishing after catching 6-7 catfish and a lemon shark. I caught 1 puny catfish (pictures to come).
^ Looked just like that one except it was ~2.5 feet long.
Lupe also caught a small hammerhead shark at the front of the boat. It was around the same size as the lemon shark. Nadja and I were strongly "encouraging" Lupe to throw the shark back when we saw Cap'n walk up with a mini aluminum baseball bat. We continued to nicely encourage them to throw it back and I finally reached over and took the bat out of Cap'n's hand. I felt like if I didn't, he would think we weren't totally serious and just brain the thing right in front of my eyes. They did eventually put him back in and he seemed to swim away fine. To be fair, Cap'n made the point that braining it and killing it instantly would be more humane than just letting it die from lack of oxygen. All other fish were thrown back with a minimum of distress.
By this point, it was getting pretty late so we started back in. Cap'n Tom let us all go into the wheel room and showed us all his gadgets like depth finders, two GPS's, his sound system, radar, etc. He also showed us how to navigate using a map along with some red signposts that were in the water.
We got home around 8:30. We took very very short showers (more on that in the Day 3 post) and went to Palacios Mexican Restaurant (PMR to the locals). Met up with the Cap'n, Lisa, and Lupe at Outrigger for a couple of drinks after that.
The water felt great... briefly. After about 3 minutes in the water, I started to feel some prickly pain across the tops of my shoulders and on my thumb. It wasn't very painful at the time, so I tried to ignore it. Then I heard Lisa say "Dad - what does a jellyfish sting feel like?" At that point, Nadja said she was going back on the boat and I said I was right behind her. We all ended up getting stung several places. We all got back on the boat (an adventure unto itself), and tried to laugh off the experience while attempting to identify if anyone was going into anaphylactic shock. We treated our stings with a combination of hand sanitizer and aloe vera gel with lidocaine. It actually worked pretty well. I really was happy that it worked well, because if that didn't work, our next options were snuff and/or urine. Small favors.
So since swimming was clearly out, we decided to fish some. We moved out into deeper water and tied up to a small offshore oilfield platform. When we were on our way out, some porpoises were racing the boat and playing in the wake. We were going 20 knots and they were easily keeping up with us. It was so neat.
Once at the platform, Cap'n taught us how to bait our own hooks with shrimp, squid, or mullet. We all got some experience fixing a line on an openface reel that has been backlashed. Stephanie clearly missed her calling as a pro fisher-person. She literally got tired of fishing after catching 6-7 catfish and a lemon shark. I caught 1 puny catfish (pictures to come).
^ Looked just like that one except it was ~2.5 feet long.
Lupe also caught a small hammerhead shark at the front of the boat. It was around the same size as the lemon shark. Nadja and I were strongly "encouraging" Lupe to throw the shark back when we saw Cap'n walk up with a mini aluminum baseball bat. We continued to nicely encourage them to throw it back and I finally reached over and took the bat out of Cap'n's hand. I felt like if I didn't, he would think we weren't totally serious and just brain the thing right in front of my eyes. They did eventually put him back in and he seemed to swim away fine. To be fair, Cap'n made the point that braining it and killing it instantly would be more humane than just letting it die from lack of oxygen. All other fish were thrown back with a minimum of distress.
By this point, it was getting pretty late so we started back in. Cap'n Tom let us all go into the wheel room and showed us all his gadgets like depth finders, two GPS's, his sound system, radar, etc. He also showed us how to navigate using a map along with some red signposts that were in the water.
We got home around 8:30. We took very very short showers (more on that in the Day 3 post) and went to Palacios Mexican Restaurant (PMR to the locals). Met up with the Cap'n, Lisa, and Lupe at Outrigger for a couple of drinks after that.
Day 2 - The Boat Ride (and I use that phrase loosely) Part I
Day 2: Boarding the Mustang aka the U.S.S. P.O.S. or the U.S.S. Heap
We showed up at the marina in Palacios right on time, and with everything girls need to have fun on the water. Beer, wine coolers, sunscreen, inflatable floaty things, junk food, and yellow watermelon.
When we originally saw the boat (evening of Day 1), our concern-o-meter immediately went into the red. Besides the exhaust/dead seafood smell, it seemed a bit - how shall I phrase this - rustic. After talking to Cap'n Tom, we learned that the boat was built in 1963 and was a modified torpedo recovery boat. The modification (singular) was to put a piece of plywood over the hole that led down to where the torpedos were stored. The torpedo storage ramp also doubles as our swimming entry and exit point.
He had two other people on the boat; Lisa, his 14-year old daughter whom we had met the evening before, and Lupe. Lupe isn't very talkative but seems nice enough. Cap'n Tom says that he's a friend of his daughters and that she's too young for him. He had originally scheduled two deckhands "of the female persuasion" but those plans fell through so our charter consisted of: Cap'n Tom, Lisa, Lupe, Kelly, Stephanie, Nadja, and me. We later learn that Lupe a) just kinda stuck around from the charter Cap'n did that morning and b) is at least 21 years old.
It was hot as Hades but once we were underway, the breeze cooled us off a little so we just laid out on the back of the boat and relaxed. After about 20 minutes, Cap'n came back and asked us if anyone knew how to shoot a rifle. We all pointed at Stephanie. Cap'n then asked her if she wanted to fire his SKS Russian assault rifle. WHUT. She agreed. WHUT. I asked him if it was legal. He just smiled.
He brought out the rifle and our concern-o-meter, which had dropped significantly, went back into the red.
<--- Imagine this gun but covered in rust. Apparently manufactured at the same time as the boat.
He threw an empty water bottle into the water (the boat is still moving at full speed!) and told Stephanie to try and hit it. She fired into the water a couple of times and we saw the water popping up where the bullets were impacting. He then encouraged her to fire several times in a row off the side of the boat. We then all took pictures with it trying to look tough. He also offered to let us shoot his speargun but we didn't get a chance to. The speargun looked like it was made pretty recently. He said it had three settings and on the strongest setting, the spear tip would put a hole throught the boat. It was called the JBL Sawed-Off Magnum Speargun.
We showed up at the marina in Palacios right on time, and with everything girls need to have fun on the water. Beer, wine coolers, sunscreen, inflatable floaty things, junk food, and yellow watermelon.
When we originally saw the boat (evening of Day 1), our concern-o-meter immediately went into the red. Besides the exhaust/dead seafood smell, it seemed a bit - how shall I phrase this - rustic. After talking to Cap'n Tom, we learned that the boat was built in 1963 and was a modified torpedo recovery boat. The modification (singular) was to put a piece of plywood over the hole that led down to where the torpedos were stored. The torpedo storage ramp also doubles as our swimming entry and exit point.
He had two other people on the boat; Lisa, his 14-year old daughter whom we had met the evening before, and Lupe. Lupe isn't very talkative but seems nice enough. Cap'n Tom says that he's a friend of his daughters and that she's too young for him. He had originally scheduled two deckhands "of the female persuasion" but those plans fell through so our charter consisted of: Cap'n Tom, Lisa, Lupe, Kelly, Stephanie, Nadja, and me. We later learn that Lupe a) just kinda stuck around from the charter Cap'n did that morning and b) is at least 21 years old.
It was hot as Hades but once we were underway, the breeze cooled us off a little so we just laid out on the back of the boat and relaxed. After about 20 minutes, Cap'n came back and asked us if anyone knew how to shoot a rifle. We all pointed at Stephanie. Cap'n then asked her if she wanted to fire his SKS Russian assault rifle. WHUT. She agreed. WHUT. I asked him if it was legal. He just smiled.
He brought out the rifle and our concern-o-meter, which had dropped significantly, went back into the red.
<--- Imagine this gun but covered in rust. Apparently manufactured at the same time as the boat. He threw an empty water bottle into the water (the boat is still moving at full speed!) and told Stephanie to try and hit it. She fired into the water a couple of times and we saw the water popping up where the bullets were impacting. He then encouraged her to fire several times in a row off the side of the boat. We then all took pictures with it trying to look tough. He also offered to let us shoot his speargun but we didn't get a chance to. The speargun looked like it was made pretty recently. He said it had three settings and on the strongest setting, the spear tip would put a hole throught the boat. It was called the JBL Sawed-Off Magnum Speargun.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Palacios Weekend - Day 1
Went on a trip to the coast this past weekend with some good friends of mine. The main activity in the trip was a chartered boat ride.
Day 1: Getting there
I used Google maps to find the route from Austin to Palacios. I was delighted to see that you basically take Hwy. 71 until you hit the ocean. We hit the road around noon after packing the car. We had a lot of stuff but were able to make sure the cooler made it in. I made a mix CD for the occasion and we had fun listening to it on the way down. We were on ZZ Top as we drove into Palacios so it worked out perfect. We also stopped about 45 minutes outside of Palacios and bought a yellow watermelon from a stand on the side of the road. Once we got to Palacios, we dropped off our bags at the house and went shopping at the Super S Foods store. We decided to go out to eat that night, so we just picked up stuff for breakfast and lunch on Sunday.
We went to Outrigger for dinner. It was not exactly what we were expecting but it was pretty good. If you like fried things, you will love the Outrigger. We got done with dinner around 7 and went and got a preview of the boat. Our first impressions were "of concern" but I will describe that in the Day 2 post. Suffice it to say, much of the night of Day 1 was spent trying to think up excuses to cancel our trip.
We had already decided to come back to Outrigger for their 9pm - 2am "All the watered down American beer you can drink if you pour it yourself from a keg into this plastic mug" special. As most of you probably know, I am not a big beer drinker. However, I do like a bargain! And once I saw that the mugs were provided by Porter's Ace Hardware and Marine Supplies, I knew it.was.on. We ended up sitting around on their deck basting ourselves in Off and listening to Rudy the DJ. At 11:15, a neighbor called the cops due to the noise so we took the party inside. FYI - it's hard to regulate how much beer you have consumed when you pour watered down American beer yourself from a keg into a plastic mug. At this point, I am ready to go "out". As my friends attempted to explain to me, we were already "out" and were at the most happening place in town. I strenuously disagreed and sent some texts to friends expressing that sentiment. To appease me, Stephanie drove us to Scandalo's, the 2nd of 3 bars in town.
Here is a picture of Scandalo's. Nothing says class like a bar with the name spray-painted on the front of the building. Nadja and I entered the building, waited a polite amount of time (15 seconds) and then got the hell out. Stephanie then proceeded to take me home with me protesting a little less this time. I did however send one text that night that summed up my feelings "They won't let me do the Humpty-Hump :-( "
Day 2 Post to come!
P.S. I know the first paragraph is deathly boring but I just had to start writing something so I would actually produce a post. I'll try and either make it more interesting or edit it down.
Day 1: Getting there
I used Google maps to find the route from Austin to Palacios. I was delighted to see that you basically take Hwy. 71 until you hit the ocean. We hit the road around noon after packing the car. We had a lot of stuff but were able to make sure the cooler made it in. I made a mix CD for the occasion and we had fun listening to it on the way down. We were on ZZ Top as we drove into Palacios so it worked out perfect. We also stopped about 45 minutes outside of Palacios and bought a yellow watermelon from a stand on the side of the road. Once we got to Palacios, we dropped off our bags at the house and went shopping at the Super S Foods store. We decided to go out to eat that night, so we just picked up stuff for breakfast and lunch on Sunday.
We went to Outrigger for dinner. It was not exactly what we were expecting but it was pretty good. If you like fried things, you will love the Outrigger. We got done with dinner around 7 and went and got a preview of the boat. Our first impressions were "of concern" but I will describe that in the Day 2 post. Suffice it to say, much of the night of Day 1 was spent trying to think up excuses to cancel our trip.
We had already decided to come back to Outrigger for their 9pm - 2am "All the watered down American beer you can drink if you pour it yourself from a keg into this plastic mug" special. As most of you probably know, I am not a big beer drinker. However, I do like a bargain! And once I saw that the mugs were provided by Porter's Ace Hardware and Marine Supplies, I knew it.was.on. We ended up sitting around on their deck basting ourselves in Off and listening to Rudy the DJ. At 11:15, a neighbor called the cops due to the noise so we took the party inside. FYI - it's hard to regulate how much beer you have consumed when you pour watered down American beer yourself from a keg into a plastic mug. At this point, I am ready to go "out". As my friends attempted to explain to me, we were already "out" and were at the most happening place in town. I strenuously disagreed and sent some texts to friends expressing that sentiment. To appease me, Stephanie drove us to Scandalo's, the 2nd of 3 bars in town.
Here is a picture of Scandalo's. Nothing says class like a bar with the name spray-painted on the front of the building. Nadja and I entered the building, waited a polite amount of time (15 seconds) and then got the hell out. Stephanie then proceeded to take me home with me protesting a little less this time. I did however send one text that night that summed up my feelings "They won't let me do the Humpty-Hump :-( "
Day 2 Post to come!
P.S. I know the first paragraph is deathly boring but I just had to start writing something so I would actually produce a post. I'll try and either make it more interesting or edit it down.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
New "Would you Rather..." Feature
Instead of making a 'Would you Rather' post, I am going to try and update my poll widget every few days with a new one. I'll try to do some fun choice vs. fun choice soon - otherwise it might turn into a bummer.
Opting out of Yellow Pages
Getting the Yellow Pages (and fake Yellow Pages) at my apartment is a major pet peeve.
A friend of mine sent out this link where you can sign up to opt out of receiving White Pages, Yellow Pages, or both.
Yellow Pages were once invaluable but I believe they are at the end of their useful life.
Save a few trees:
YellowPageGoesGreen.org
And I think I'd rather age only from the neck down (assuming my brain was ok).
A friend of mine sent out this link where you can sign up to opt out of receiving White Pages, Yellow Pages, or both.
Yellow Pages were once invaluable but I believe they are at the end of their useful life.
Save a few trees:
YellowPageGoesGreen.org
And I think I'd rather age only from the neck down (assuming my brain was ok).
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
~Day 5~ First Day on Production and July 4th! and Lunch Details
Just a regular day here in Debrecen. We started work bright and early this morning and the silence has already fallen over the room. I mean, dead.silence. Oh well, at least they're working.
I'll do a pie chart before I leave for Budapest but it's just too soon to see any results really - not even 1% finished yet.
So I just went to lunch. I mentioned that Hungarian cafeteria lunch is always a crapshoot, right? Today's lunch was soup (fine), a peach (stashed in my purse because it was hard as a rock), and 2 cinnamon rolls. Huh? Just on a plate like a regular entree. I ate one bite because I figured even a rabbit would try a nibble. And after that bite, I really didn't want anymore cinnamon roll so that worked out nicely. If any Hungarians are reading this, I sincerely apologize for talking smack about your cafeteria food, but I think most of you will back me up on this one.
I'll do a pie chart before I leave for Budapest but it's just too soon to see any results really - not even 1% finished yet.
So I just went to lunch. I mentioned that Hungarian cafeteria lunch is always a crapshoot, right? Today's lunch was soup (fine), a peach (stashed in my purse because it was hard as a rock), and 2 cinnamon rolls. Huh? Just on a plate like a regular entree. I ate one bite because I figured even a rabbit would try a nibble. And after that bite, I really didn't want anymore cinnamon roll so that worked out nicely. If any Hungarians are reading this, I sincerely apologize for talking smack about your cafeteria food, but I think most of you will back me up on this one.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
~Bonus Post~ Data Steward Pictures
Day 1 Training Class - Left Side
Day 1 Training Class - Right Side
Day 2 Training Class - Left Side
Day 2 Training Class - Right Side
Yeah I don't know a few people still. It's hard to remember all their names! I know their usernames and that's the important part. I'll update them when I figure them out. :)
Day 1 Training Class - Right Side
Day 2 Training Class - Left Side
Day 2 Training Class - Right Side
Yeah I don't know a few people still. It's hard to remember all their names! I know their usernames and that's the important part. I'll update them when I figure them out. :)
~Day 3~ Second Day of Training
Trained another 23 students today - only 6 from last year. It still went well and today I took full advantage of the students I knew and put them to work immediately.
Some interesting things I jotted down to put in my blog - no rhyme or reason to them:
Some interesting things I jotted down to put in my blog - no rhyme or reason to them:
- Men wear cropped pants here. These are definitely not shorts. They are about 6-8 inches above the ankle. They don't look as odd as you'd think.
- My shower head at the hotel is at the very least 7 feet high. I just went into the shower to make sure I wasn't exaggerating. I am 5'6" and I can barely touch the shower head with the tips of my fingers if I don't tiptoe.
- The accents over the o's and other letters in Hungarian like (ő) are called 'double acute accents' and I am physically unable to pronounce them.
- They played a dirty trick on me at lunch. They handed me a beautiful bowl of cherries - and fruit is fairly uncommon - so I was looking forward to trying them. I popped one in my mouth and well - I don't even know how to describe it - but suffice it to say they were sour! I forgot that sour cherries (meggy) are a Hungarian thing. They put them in yogurt, pastries and even soup.
- I think I mentioned this last time, but they say 'hello' for both 'hello' and 'bye'. It still amuses me and today when a group of students were walking out there was a little chorus of "hello!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
