i'm back from my two day excursion to houston texas for work. i apologize to those from houston who may possibly be reading this but downtown houston has got to be one of the most pathetic downtowns i've seen in quite a while. it offered absolutely nothing. there was nothing to do, the streets were bare, half of the buildings looked empty and the police station across from my hotel was surrounded by orange cones and tape. the most eye catching thing besides the new minute maid park was its metro shuttles. sad isn't it? i had such high hopes too. houston is supposed to be a big city isn't it?

but all was not lost. i was able to partake in a baseball game at the newly built minute maid park and i guess there's much controversy about some hill in center field but i certainly didn't see anything. i was able to eat rib-eye steak both nights (gotta love the marble yum yum) and ordered gulf shrimp recommended by a co-worker although what's so great about them i really have no idea. tasted like regular shrimp to me. even had some red wine which made me real sleepy like i knew it would and thus i was forced to drink coffee in the midst of my baseball game instead of beer.

i'm not sure if i'm one of those types who's built to travel much for work. and i don't even travel all that much now at all. although it may sound glamorous jetting off here and there i personally find it very tiring. for one i hate flying for long periods of time and it's such a pain living out of a suitcase and the whole packing and unpacking ordeal. this time though i must say my hotel room was quite nice complete with its own kitchen and living room. what would of make my trip even better was if i was successful in my mission to pay a visit to mr dennis lee whom i haven't seen since love boat 1997 but it just didn't work out. but as he put it...we already haven't seen each other for seven years, what's a couple more months. touche.

last night was spent waiting at the airport for close to five hours as we waited for our first officer to fly in from dallas as he was stranded due to weather. i always seem to not have the greatest luck with flying and i type this knowing i'll be boarding a flight again sunday morning for a week of training in orlando and then it's off to puerto rico baby. my annual get myself tan mission. needless to say i'm getting pretty excited. i'm not quite sure if i'll be able to top my souvenirs from my cancun trip last year but you can bet i sure will try.

the war in iraq. since the first day we officially declared war, i've been pretty oblivious to all the events save for the daily reading on cnn.com and have done a pretty good job in going along my merry corporate america life as if nothing has changed. and really nothing has. for me at least. i still complain about the same mundane things that really when one stops to think about it has no real significance. but i've had three defining moments during this time specifically related to the war.

the first was pat tillman. the one who turned down millions from the nfl to join the army rangers and ultimately was killed in combat in late april of this year. i can still remember clearly exactly where i was upon hearing of the news. i was still staying in a hotel in sf and had just gotten out of the shower and was watching the news when his picture came on the screen. all i really remember hearing is pat and killed and my mind went blank. i couldn't believe it. it was as if someone very close to me had died instead of a complete stranger. i first learned about him from bren as they went to the same high school and ever since then i've had this fascination. it's hard to find people like him these days. when he went off to join the army i looked up countless articles and admired the fact he refused to grant interviews and had his younger brother accept the espn arthur ashe award on his behalf to avoid any publicity. i even cried more than i thought i would watching his funeral on espn.

the second was nick berg. his beheading really just left me in shock and i couldn't even quite wrap my mind around it. still can't to this day. the first thing i thought about was i have got to watch the video and indeed i did watch it several times and well let's just leave it at that.

the third occurred this past weekend. while waiting for my flight to lax i noticed a family nearby sobbing as their son was waiting to board the plane. what first caught my eye was that the person crying the hardest was this big buff bald guy with sunglasses on and everyone was gathered around him patting his back and it seemed as if he might pass out. naturally my curiosity got the better of me so when i got on the plane, i purposely sat next to the "son" in hopes of getting up the courage to ask him just where he was going exactly. a very unlikely thing for me to do. i had an inkling of why but i knew if i didn't ask, i would always wonder. and so as i sat there reading da vinci code (very good book by the way, stayed up till 6am to finish the entire thing in one day) my mind was racing of just exactly how to ask but to my luck, he started talking to me first. it turned out he was 19, in the army, from san jose and on his way to lax to catch the military plane to korea where he was stationed before being shipped off to iraq. for one year. my heart tugged a little and i could feel tears welling up. he showed me a cross his mom had given him to wear around his neck and another pendant from his dad to keep him safe on long journeys and my heart tugged a little more.

before i knew it we had landed but not before i had asked for his address to send a care package but mail gets lost easily in korea he said. so i asked for the next best thing. his email address but he actually didn't have one. so he then gave me the next best thing. his mom's email address but he assured me he was going to be opening up his own account so i warned him i really truly was going to email and wanted to check up on him and make sure he was doing ok. i'm not sure if it was the late night or hormonal imbalance but the incident really affected me and made me think about how spoiled and materialistic i've become. i figure this will be my small contribution and as soon as i've finished blogging, i'm off to shoot an email to the mom and hopes it gets passed along and that i don't come off across as a crazy stalker girl.

memorial weekend. i'm back to the daily grind and while i did have some doubts on how we would accomodate thirty plus people at hotel pan it all worked out surprisingly well much to the surprise of me and jon g. it's much easier to complain in pairs than alone. and when i saw the itinerary for the weekend i thought for sure there would be no way we would do half of the events but we did. i won't even go into the weekend because jon is a much more eloquent writer but i thoroughly enjoyed myself and was very glad i decided to roadtrip down. there was some excessive drinking by me and some puking inside and outside the club i was told but ten shots will do that to you. i'm normally accustomed to drinking for two as my other half never drinks but i heard that he was drinking excessively (for him anyways) as well and was buzzed much to my surprise. i have yet to see him drunk ever and once again i was too wasted to see. damn me. i do wish i was able to participate the next day at the beach and partake in the group picture, a tradition started by sagging monk, but my hangover just wasn't cooperating. oh well there's always a next time.

although the roadtrip to san diego was fun and if i do say so myself i was quite the navigator with only one minor mishap on the way home i believe next time i will be flying. jet blue if i can swing it hopefully.

i did come away from the weekend with hopes of folks coming to visit the bay. we were discussing on the car ride home if there might ever be a large group gathering in sf but the consensus was pretty much a no so i've decided people will just need to come visit individually. ahem sujeet. or in pairs even. if we can't get the massess we'll corner the smaller market. it's just good business sense. jon g and i will roll out the welcome mat. once we get one of course.

more pictures if you want to see