End of an era...

Well, I've spent a year in Texas and I'm now at the end of the road. It's time to pack up my life again and move on to colder weather. One of these days I'll be a lot more stable in my living situation/job situation but until then I'll just be on the road of a rather interesting life...even if all I do after work is yoga/dance, make jewelry, and mess around on my computer.

...when in Texas

a true moment of pride

This is another one of my contributions to the museum. I'm actually very proud of this cross word puzzle. It's not very complicated but looking through all the clues you actually have to look through the entire exhibit to get the answers to all the clues.

While sitting in the back office and answering e-mails, I'm listening to two people working through this puzzle and scuffling through the exhibit to get the answers. Most people may not understand but just listening to these two people working through the puzzle tells me that I did something really right and I was able to use something I did with my master's work in my current occupation.

...when in Texas...

Even more on the weather....

The weather is such a crappy subject for me to really be talking about but it is noteworthy enough I suppose. Yesterday the weather was sunny and 80's...today cloudy and a high of right around 60! I'm not ready for this weather! I know I've got to get used to it if I'm going to survive San Francisco but I will be dealing with the weather kicking and screaming the whole way. You'd think I'd be used to cold weather-I grew up in Indiana where the weather changes in the blink of an eye and if you don't like it, just wait 5 minutes it will change. But three years in Bahrain and a year in the tip of Texas have ruined my cold weather disposition--not that I ever truly enjoyed cold weather anyway.

oh well, three weeks until I'm back on the eternal journey and making my way back to Indiana for the holidays and then off to San Francisco to attempt the American Dream.

...when in Texas...

T3

Trios, Tacos, y Tragos... the big biannual fundraiser for the BHA was yesterday and it went off with one minor glitch--a lightbulb went out in a case and was fixed pretty quickly (that was it!) as far as the new exhibit went. I think the only real glitch with the second part of the event (at another location where we had food, drinks, entertainment, and a silent auction) was that come 10:30'ish, the staff was beat and we still had a handful of people who were just not leaving-they were having too much fun apparently. I left when my bosses said I could leave-I was dead, needed to be fed, and had a splitting headache. But all in all, I had fun and we had nothing but good reviews from everyone who was at the event.

Regardless, the exhibit that opened with this event was a major part of why I am in Texas and now that is over. I've learned a lot here and met some amazing people and have plenty of 'no, I can't make this up' stories from the Rio Grande Valley. I've still got work here in archives but all in all, I'm just getting myself ready for the next adventure.

...when in Texas...

a bit of an update

If it's not facebook or e-mail (or my etsy store for my jewelry), I've been pretty well ignoring the world. Mostly, I'm just trying to keep my head on straight with this week...well, this month of getting ready for the exhibit opening in two weeks. Am I ready, not really. Are we actually on track...yes, for once.

On top of getting ready for the exhibit, I'm also getting myself ready for moving and a road trip with my mom and sister.

...when in Texas...

10/10/10

According to those in computer land there are 10 types of people, those who know binary and those who don't... yes, I get the joke. As much of a computer geek I am not, I know more than I let on. :)

So for those who do know/speak binary happy 10/10/10!

...when in Texas...

A blur of a month

One month ago yesterday I was at Dallas/Fort Worth airport heading to New York to visit my grandparents when I found out my grandfather had passed on. I spent nearly a week in New York to be with my grandma and other family that had come to New York.

About two weeks later, Nick came to Brownsville to visit and help me come to terms with my grandpa's death.

This month feels like it went by in the blink of an eye, but at the same time it feels like it went on forever.

...when in Texas...

More on the weather...

The heat finally broke and hopefully we're fairly done with hurricane season (knock on wood). So the museum is in the greatness of Halloween season. The Stillman house is all decorated for the season and it's wonderful...Victorian mourning rituals are rather interesting, but I don't really feel like I can enjoy it as much this year.

At least I've got my costume figured out for Halloween-it's rather cute I think. I'm doing a mix of my belly dance costuming and going out this year as a tribal style fox. That is something I truly am looking forward to doing-especially with historical happy hour at the museum Halloween weekend.

...when in Texas...

returning to the rain forest..

So my previous post was about my grandfather. I get home from New York yesterday to Rhi, 'welcome back, we may be prepping for another hurricane by the end of the week'...yep, another one. This will be big storm number 3 if Hurricane Karl hits us in any shape or form. I'm not looking forward to this but I asked for it.

What this means for everyone: unless you hear me yelling to run for higher ground, assume I'm doing my job and plastic wrapping the Stillman House again.

...when in Texas...

not a vacation

For those out in internet land, my grandfather died last week.  So here's the obituary and his info. He had a lot of stories and a great sense of humor.

John D. Dresser Loving husband, father, grandfather 

CANANDAIGUA - 

John D. Dresser, age 78, of Holiday Harbour, died on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010. at F.F. Thompson Hospital. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Betsy Dresser; two children, Jill (Robert) Moore and Mark (Debra) Dresser; four grandchildren, Kate, Sarah, Brian and Daniel; two sisters, Marilyn (Stewart) Turner and Janice (Richard) Sills; brother, James (Mary Jane) Dresser; sister-in-law, Marilyn Dresser; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brother, William Dresser. Mr. Dresser was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. He was a volunteer at the VA Medical Center and Sonnenberg Gardens. Mr. Dresser retired in 1998, after 23 years as the owner and operator of Trail Break Motor Inn in Fairport. There will be no calling hours. Services are private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Sands Cancer Center, 360 Parrish St., Canandaigua, NY 14424. Arrangements are by the Johnson-Kennedy Funeral Home Inc., Canandaigua. Condolences may be offered at www.JohnsonKennedy.com

climate control...

South Texas is hot...and humid. For the last week or so I go to work, it rains for about 20-30 min (sometimes I get a little wet) and then it's beautiful for the next several hours before the clouds roll in and maybe we get more rain. I live in a bloody tropical rain forest!

This is more or less comical for me considering I spent three years of maybe getting to see a, uno, single good storm per year when not in North America. Now I've got an abundance of rain, not necessarily storms, but rain.

At least it's warm.

...when in Texas...

the end of the road...

On a field trip to South Padre Island, we decided to see if we could find the end of the road...well, here it is! The end of the road!

...when in Texas...

throwback to July...

o k, this is a very real throwback to July. Right after Hurricane Alex THIS is what Rhi and I were facing at Wal-Mart. I was not joking when I said some shelves were completely empty. I was truly amused but also it was a little post-apocalyptic in a sense.  Very wild.

...when in Texas....

more with south texas...

I'm not dead yet! I promise! Things out here are pretty much the same old song, dance, and routine. Fernando is moving this week and Sarah's last day was last week...so we're all going bowling tomorrow to give them a decent send off!

...when in Texas...

whirlwind of insanity

Certain sights, phrases, etc. are absolutely iconic-everyone knows them regardless of if they think they know them or not-example: Luke Skywalker's famous NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! (just after Darth Vader admits that he's Luke's father)


Well, I had an 'oh the humanity!' (newsreel from the Hindenburg becoming a rather impressive fireball) moment and actually said it out loud...and a couple people heard me--one got the reference and started chuckling and the other looked at me like I had gone mad..I need to remind myself that I'm just that unusual in this town.

I was working an event at the BHA and I'm impressed with the strange logic people have when they think a $5 admission entitles them to a ghost hunting program complete with spectral evidence and a poltergeist hanging out in the painting of Charles Stillman. No. We had a ghost hunting group in with all their cameras and gizmos--very cool people by the way. And they were showing our guests how they hunt for ghosts--the rules, patience (which I actually have very little), keeping as silent as possible, and listening and following all instructions.

One group came out after a short hunt and were complaining that they didn't catch anything and wanted to do it all again just to see if they could catch something. Others in this group were equally bummed -and verbal- that they didn't catch anything or see anything or experience anything 'spooky' (insert 'oh the humanity' here). I had to gently remind everyone that regardless of believing in ghosts--they are not trick ponies and will not perform because we want them to. Needless to say, the inner monologue still has some learning to do because it does become external from time to time...

Other than minor to moderate glitches in the program--planned for 15 people...ended up with 83. Had younger kids when we'd set an age limit. Etc. It was a relatively decent program.

...when in Texas...

Hurricane Alex--the day after again

Something I totally forgot:

Wal-Mart is a great asset for many things--hurricane prep is one of them. However, the day after you realize just HOW CRAZY some people can be--there were entire sections of shelving totally empty: canned food, lunch meats, etc. Now, I do realize that these things are necessary for storm survival and such, but WOW! I was truly entertained. It really is the little things that make me laugh. :)

...when in Texas...

Hurricane Alex--the day after

Ok, so today we were supposed to still be doing the hurricane camp out...that didn't really happen. Alex blew through and well, the BHA staffers were called in for un-plastic sheeting everything. That really didn't take too long for all of us to un-plastic sheet/duct tape everything. :) We are back on schedule of everything tomorrow.

All in all, Hurricane Alex as a great practice hurricane for a very long season. We all know what to do, how to mobilize, where to get things, etc. But really, the worst damage we sustained was limbs down. My flat didn't even get a power outage, loss of water, or any problems. We got a lot of rain in pulses--nothing constant, and wind. Things could have been a whole lot worse. I'm actually a little disappointed. oh well. There's one more natural disaster I've lived through and in hind sight said, 'this is it?!'

...when in Texas...

Hurricane Alex

Well, I think at the present moment Alex is a Tropical Storm still. But anyway, Brownsville is right in the path of said storm. This really sucks for me on so many levels. So, we've done all the plastic sheeting and wrapping and moving stuff at the BHA locations (all of them...). and I have my provisions at my home.

Me, personally, I'm looking forward to a storm, a big one. But I'd like to be safe about all of it. So, I'm camping out and waiting for the storm.


...when in Texas...

just for kicks

I changed the colors of my blog. I think I like this better than pinks. I don't know why I had that up for so long.

...when in Texas...

not really news...

Well, it's the middle of June, I've known for a while that it's not really worth keeping this journal, but I do it anyway. I don't have news. I don't mind it. But really, my life is pretty well slated under routine. I get up, I make my lunch, I go to work, I read, research, write, type stuff up like it's going out of style. Maybe things work out like they are supposed to. Maybe people get back to me when I call with questions.

However, because Fernando is leaving us at the end of the month, I'm slowly taking over his stuff--this includes any involvement with both the Mexican Consulate (here in Brownsville, Texas) and the American Consulate (in Matamoros, Mexico). This does mean I'll be making a trip or few to Mexico courtesy of my job. In the words of the great philosopher Jagger: You can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes you get what you need.

...when in Texas...