Friday Five

The Excuse

None needed!! W00t!

The Week

Because I get to go to all the glamorous places, I found myself in Mission, TX this week. I’ll give you a minute to find it on Google Maps. One of my students did tell me that I was really in Mexico, adding that I was going to need my passport to leave.

Mission, TX (and the entire area) has an extremely large Latino population, the majority by far (about 80% or so). What I did find very interesting was overhearing some of the conversations where people would mid-thought (and sometimes mid-sentence) switch back and forth between Spanish and English. This week also reaffirmed that I need to learn Spanish.

Despite my first impressions upon hearing where I was going to wind up, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the town. It’s not nearly as small as some of the places I’ve visited (Danville, VA for instance).  The one thing that did concern me, though, was the mobile police tower that was in the parking lot of my hotel for the first 3 nights. The receptionist at the hotel said I had nothing to worry about and dismissed it saying, “They move those all over town.” I don’t know if that was really the explanation I was looking for.

As normal I wasn’t too much of a tourist (not that there would have been much for me to do anyway) so I mostly hung out in my hotel room trying to get some studying done.

The Restaurant

I found a place called The Republic of the Rio Grande. I was initially hoping for Tex/Mex, but wound up with what I can only describe as a hode-podge of a restaurant. Their menu seemed to have a little of everything, from kabobs to pizzas too steaks to …. But I must say that I was very impressed. Now, the made from scratch (including squeezing fresh limes – no sour mix) Patron margarita may be what put me into such a good mood, but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the place. I did the filet kabobs, which came with a veggie medley and a *very* tasty side of au gratin potatoes. The “kabob” was really just some small (but still good sized) filets that, while not as rare as I would have liked, were very tasty. If I find myself back here, I will definitely go back.

The Exercise

Blah, blah, blah.

The Travel Note

The McPaper did an article the other day about the fear of flying. Generally I’m not afraid of flying. I figure when it’s my turn to go, it’s my turn to go. Outside of some pretty good turbulence a few times, the closest that I think I’ve ever come to seeing something even remotely out of the ordinary was the plane having to recycle it’s landing gear after takeoff. Although I will admit I’ve pulled my seatbelt a bit tighter a few times when we hit turbulence on approach.

The Five

Misc 5:

1. I dig Facebook if for no other reason than the chance to reconnect with people who have crossed my life who I’ve long since forgotten. But there’s another part of me that is a tad worried about that concept. Not that I think I have any enemies looking to settle a score, but still.
2. The digital setup I have at home is the definition of the “Cobbler’s Kids Shoes”. Granted I’m on the road constantly, but the amount of things I’ve been meaning to finish at home on our computers and TiVo is immeasurable. I definitely picked up my father’s trait of starting projects and never finishing them.
3. I honestly have no idea what I would do with my life if I wasn’t a computer trainer or doing something in technology. I kicked around the idea of becoming a lawyer for a little while, but even that doesn’t interest me all that much. Fortunately I don’t see computers going anywhere any time soon.
4. I’m hopelessly addicted to any of the VH1 countdown shows. Top 100 80’s One Hit Wonders? I’m in. I Love the 90’s? Absolutely. There must be a 12 step program.
5. The two languages I’d most like to learn are Spanish and Japanese. The former for practicality, the latter for sheer pleasure.