USS Lexington

Welcome to the business end of an engine...

This engine to be precise!

Even flight decks come with warnings... Some more important than others...

Lots of knots! and some of them I could ID pretty easily!

But because somehow along the line, I had an epic fail, I ended up in the brig with Rhiannon.

Easter weekend recap...

We had a 4-day weekend at the BHA for Good Friday through Easter Monday (which we'd normally have off anyway). So, Good Friday the collective we slept all day, Saturday I did laundry kind of things (and was slightly productive on jewelry type things), Sunday we tried to go to Mass at a really nice cathedral down the road from us--it was a bust...the room was a bit packed and the service was in Spanish...needless to say, I can do the Mass in Latin and English but that's about as good as I get when it comes to a religious ceremony not my own. Then Monday, oh did I love Monday. Fernando (fellow BHA staff member), Rhiannon (room mate/BHA staff member/friend), and I all hopped into Rhi's car and drove all the way to Corpus Christi to the USS Lexington museum and the Texas State Aquarium. Pictures will be posted some time in the relatively near future. I had a great time and it was a much needed 'field trip'.

This week we are all back to the grind stone. 


...When in Texas...

3.14

Happy Pi Day!

Now for those out there in internet land who don't know--I'm not a math geek. I am however a classicist. Pi is one of the letters of the Ancient Greek alphabet and today is 3/14...or in math terms 3.14 (π).

The Ancient Greek philosophers had this thing with math and the divine. Somehow they figured out that a number relatively equal to 3.14 would help us figure out the dimensions of circles and spheres. How they figured this out is beyond me and my 26 year old gray matter processor. However, the Ancient Greek philosophers were also responsible for things like figuring out the space between notes in music, the golden ratio, and the foundations of the Fibonacci sequence as seen in nature. So, Happy Pi Day and thank you Ancient Greek philosophers--if it weren't for you, I'd likely have no random bits of useless knowledge to make me sound interesting.

...when in Texas...

Winter?

I walked out the flat this morning not wearing a jacket! I walked into work happy to have the nice weather. It got nicer as the day went on. :) For reasons beyond me, I find warm weather to be most pleasing. 80 degrees is perfect weather for the likes of me.

Work is as always--quite entertaining and interesting. the BHA facebook page has been periodically updated and most recently, Charlie Barkeep has gotten a facebook page. Charlie Barkeep is one of the two manikins at the Crixell Saloon in the museum. He's something of a fly on the wall and a silent witness to all of the programs and the like.

...when in Texas...

more on Charro Days

Alright, this week has been crazy! Charro Days (and subsequently the Sombrero Festival) are a whole lot of people getting dressed up in all kinds of either Mexican peasant clothes or 'Charro' clothes. This is one of those situations where I have to smile, nod, and accept the fact that I am Casper white and will never have a festival that I am THAT dedicated to (asside from the Renn faires).

Charro Days has three parades -- the Children's Parade, the Iluminated Parade, and the International Parade. Each one has something slightly different to offer. The Children's Parade has elementary kids performing traditional dances, the Iluminated Parade is full of lit up floats, and the International parade is a mix of floats and groups from Matamoros as well as Brownsville.  I went to the Children's Parade and got a bit of a sunburn on my face. I got to see the tail end of both of the other parades. It's not the same watching vs. being a part of it all. Again, I'm too much of foreigner to really appreciate it.

...when in Texas...

Charro Days!

Charro: (noun) "ranching dandy" complete with fancy clothes and a girl on each arm.

Day: (noun) time between sun rise and sun set.

Charro Days: (noun) week long series of events, festival, parades, etc. think Mardi Gras in New Orleans, only  in Brownsville, Texas and not quite as internationally recognized...but it is internationally recognized by some pockets of population... :)

Anyway, Charro Days started today and it goes all week.

...when in Texas...

an update on stuffs

The internet has been down in the flat for the last couple of days. At least I can check my e-mail at my office. I've been going a bit crazy with the museum. We opened but we weren't quite finished--we had a handful of details and a bit of Spanish text we needed to get in. Guess what, the people we hire for printing and the like had a bit of a communications glitch and one guy hasn't been sending work orders to the others who actually do the printing. I've taken steps to fix this and go straight to the guys who actually print out my text. They are cool. They actually do the work in a very timely manner.

So, in the mean time, I'm working on the BHA facebook page. I know, crazy. Its a fan page and anyone who is interested can find it:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brownsville-TX/Brownsville-Historical-Association/255965253619?ref=nf

...when in Texas...