Coveting Another's...

In the last few months I have discovered what covet truly means. As a good and faithful Sunday School attendee all my childhood and youth I knew it was one of the top ten. I found it a bit silly; no one could want what someone else has so badly the want will send them to Hell.

I grew up.

I have worked in a profession that is also my passion for 23 years.

Then my friend Dave quit his job and retreated to a cabin in the Rocky Mountains to edit the novel he had written on a previous sabbatical.

I covet his experience.

The introvert me covets the isolation.

The exhausted me covets the time.

The stressed-out me covets the escape.

Every time I encounter an unexpected situation; every time the stress begins to build, my mind asks, “where’s my cabin?” Coyotes, bears, and hailstorms be damned - they’re easier to deal with than people. I ponder the question, “what would happen if I loaded the car and left?”

The answer is immediate: the student loan people will still track me down.

The fantasy ends that quickly, but the coveting does not. I have been working in my house lately to build my own cabin. The garage (too small for a car, I don’t know what the builders were thinking) is becoming a workshop for handiwork crafts. My office finally has enough shelving that I do not have piles of books covering most of the floor, and as soon as I refinish the old wooden desk I have, I will have my personal reading and writing space. I do what I can with what I have.

None of this is far removed from society - I still hear the planes arriving and departing. There are no wild creatures - there are roommates. It is not the high altitudes of Colorado, but when my mind asks for a cabin, I’ll have an answer and maybe the coveting will move to wanting. I’ll plan a vacation accordingly.

Signs of...

While in New Mexico I had the chance to enjoy a few of the state signs that were posted. As usual, it was the signs that had something unusual about them that captured my interest and forced me to stop and take a picture. For one we actually had to turn around in order to get the picture.

My first thought at seeing this sign convinced me that New Mexico has clumsy cows in the least and at worst suicidal/homicidal cows.

I actually think some graffiti artist had some fun with the signage, but the state transportation department does not find it disruptive enough to replace.

New Mexico also provides a home to special fish.

Particularly trout.

I wonder where the regular fish water can be found. Apparently the fishing in the stream is pretty good judging by the line of fishermen gathered in every accessible spot.

 

A Little Hiking

On my final day in New Mexico, I finally found a park with hiking trails that allowed dogs. This park experienced a major fire last year but has been spared this year from fires raging in New Mexico and Colorado. I went early in the day in hopes of making several of the trails before the day heated up too much. I arrive to find only two trails open. All the others were long walks through the scorched earth (only to be scorched earth themselves with “hike at your own risk” signs posted at the entrances and exits). Little of the wildlife viewing that they promised was available due to the fires the year before.

I was able to do the most historical, though least pleasing as far as nature hikes go, trail up to the caved in entrances to old coal mines. The trail wandered through the streets of the old mining town with little more than foundations remaining of the buildings that housed the miners and businesses that supported the mines. They were well identified with signs and photos from the heyday of the town and mining operations. The trail had clear markings and while there was quite a rise from the trailhead at the visitors center to the mouths of the mines.

I do have to wonder why they paved most of the trail with crushed black stone. Did they want the visitor to consider the black pits of the miners? I cannot say for certain what their motivation was, but it made for a blistering hot walk even in the relative cool of the morning. It made the walk especially uncomfortable for my dog and he regularly changed sides of the trail to walk in whatever shade the scrub-oak provided.

 

While the trail made only minimal promise of wildlife spotting, I did manage to look quickly enough toward a commotion in the brush and glimpse a black bear fleeing to the other side of a ridge through the low brush.

No - the bear is not in the picture, but the photo is where it would have been had it stayed still

A short distance up the path we found more proof of the bear and the answer to the question: Does a bear s*!# in the woods?

No. It does it in the middle of the trail.

Despite the discomfort of the trail, it did give me a chance to enjoy a bit of wild New Mexico up close. The next time I come to New Mexico (big if on that one) I will come on my own and find a place with more outdoorsy things to do and some trails that are actually functioning. 

 

A Little Bit of History

In order to force myself away from the busyness of work lately, I went to San Antonio for a couple days at the start of spring break to see some friends, eat out, and take in a bit of Texas history. It has been years since I toured the San Antonio missions, so with the perfect weather, I spent an afternoon leisurely strolling through and photographing the (non- Alamo) missions.

 With the beautiful weather and perfect skies, the crosses on the top of the churches on the mission grounds stood out so perfectly, it was impossible not to know one was in a sacred spot.

Over one of the old water wells was an elaborate piece of iron-work. I loved the workman marks in the metal.

 The walls still stand at Mision San Jose with the gun and cannon turrets. Down near the bottom you can see the hole through which a cannon would be fired to defend the mission. Above the cannon area hangs a shelf for gunners to shoot out with the muskets. The rifle holes are too small to be seen from the distance.

 The view out of the turret through the cannon hole. I would be the clumsy gunner who did not have the cannon pointed just right.

 The absolutely stunning Rose Window. It has to be seen to be appreciated. Photos cannot show the elaborate sculpture framing it.

The chapel at Mission Espada remains in use today with a private residence connected to it as does Mission San Juan. 

 

Taking a Breath

For the first time in my professional career, I have the entire week of Thanksgiving as a break from work. The way our calendar for the year was approved, we get an entire week’s rest and it really cannot come too soon. Work has been exhausting and while I have extra days off, I actually plan to use them to get some things done that I have been distracted from due to the daily interruptions that come in the normal course of work.

Even though I will not likely be fully taking the time off, it is a nice breather to work without interruption and when I return from the break, I’ll be in the place I need to be to get more done.

That and I’ll be much fatter.

Big A** Hole

For many in education, the winter break is a time to really relax and get recharged before the long spring semester and sprint to the end of the year. I’ve spent the break working on a long-overdue project: installing the hot tub!

My back yard is now a big hole or mound of dirt. The hole is 69” X 69” X 21”. Now I’m working on the plumbing, electrical work, and construction of the deck around the tub. But getting it the way I wanted took some real digging, and I have to give credit to my buddy C. for doing at least ¾ of the work on the hole.

Yes, it’s a big a** hole!

New York - Day 5

Another day of conference, that while good, did not entirely meet the needs I had professionally. It was good, intense, and valuable information, but it never quite addressed what I was seeking.

I did, however, have my first experience at presenting at a national conference as part of our team. That moment of glory and recognition died a pitiful death that evening while I was waiting in line for a cabaret show my friend J. had suggested and was attending with some of his partners. One of them mentioned a presentation she attended that morning and commented on how valuable she found the information. I casually interjected that I was the presenter and she adamantly replied that no, it was not my presentation, "Don't take offense, but they guy who presented was taller and was wearing a dark suit."

The easiest way out of an awkward situation is through humor, so I replied that I had changed clothes in the intervening fourteen hours and removed my leg extensions. At that point she ceded that I was indeed the presenter. Maybe it was the dry wit that convinced her because I'm not sure she bought the leg-extension argument.

Earlier, to begin the evening, I met Eric, his bf, and Lunar Gemini for drinks at Barrage during happy hour. As always an evening with them was filled with humor and political vitriol - just a good time. They alone are reason enough to visit New York.

Upon leaving them, I went to see the off-Broadway production of the new musical, Frankenstein. I give the performers tons of credit for the quality turns they presented with material that was decidedly lacking, from a source that clearly exceeded the skill of the team who put it together.

And that led to the instance of my ego being cut off at the knees, so to speak, at Don't Tell Mama. I'm quick to forgive and even more quick to get over my ego (no comment from the peanut gallery), so I took most of the group a few doors down to The Ritz (no website found), a bar and dance club. So me of New York's prettiest boys were there and we danced until 2:30 a.m.

Actually, that was technically day six, so maybe it should be on the next post....

New York - Day 4

Today the conference was in full swing - starting with a regional group breakfast at 7:30 a.m. (which is 6:30 a.m. back home), so I was at it bright and early. The news promised lessening rain, but as I set out on my trek to the conference hotel with a planned stop at the coffee supplier, it was raining harder than at any point since I'd been in the city.

My small umbrella was not doing the trick at all, so I took the route I could find with the most overhead scaffolding and managed to reach the conference only a bit damp and ahead of the chickens who took a cab.

The sessions I attended were good, but didn't really address needs I had. I tried to pick carefully, but found in many of these sessions, my organization is far ahead of these doing the presenting. I should be doing more than one presentation at this conference. Actually, so far, I could have presented the entire conference.

After the conference I went to meet up with Southern Boy, his bf, and a good friend of his for dinner at S'mac. He's written about going there several times and as much as I don't like mac and cheese, I just had to try a restaurant where that is the only thing served. I had the Brie with roasted figs and shitake mushrooms. It brought an entirely new horizon to my idea of mac and cheese and completely removed the image of the blue box from association forever. The friend and the bf were both generous and gave me bites of theirs to eat. Each was unique and good in its own way.

After the experience with the PB & J French Toast of a couple weeks ago, I'm definitely going to have to experiment with the mac and cheese theme next.

Grilled cheese wont' be far behind.

After dinner we wandered around East Village for a while and went to Porto Rico Importing Company and bought coffee in bulk - which means I'm going to have to leave something in New York since my suitcases were already over-stuffed coming here. I bought two half-pounds of beans. Can't wait to get home and pull out the grinder.

We then headed over to Veniero's Pastry Shop for coffee and dessert. The incredibly creamy cheesecake weighed down any chance of the coffee keeping me up tonight.

I would definitely go back to the East Village for food again. And now I'm back at the hotel at 10:00 to review the powerpoint for tomorrow.

New York - Day 3

The third day in New York began the start of work. The conference registration and first sessions began, and as expected with this conference, everything went smoothly and the first two sessions were not bad even though the big guns of the conference were yet to come.

My friend Jim and I did go to see Spring Awakening and there is really not much I can say about it beyond what has already been written. It is the second Tony Award winning show I've seen this week and it was as challenging emotionally as Avenue Q was entertaining. After working 17 years with teenagers, the show moved me and left me thinking throughout the night. I have no doubts but that I will continue thinking about it over the months to come as I listen to the cast recording.

New York - Day 2

Day two in New York turned out to be much more subdued than day one, which is fine - this is vacation after all.

I slept late - well, late for me and then relaxed around the hotel room until about 11:00. Since I'm just off Columbus Circle, I decided to walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Central Park. I was amazed at how used the park could be in the middle of a workday. Families, children from schools, joggers, and tourists were everywhere. The park was a bastion of relative quiet in the city, even with all the people there.

If I thought the park was busy, that idea was shattered by the busyness of the Met. The steps were filled with people and the galleries were teaming. The Age of Rembrandt exhibition is definitely worth seeing if you are in New York before the first week of January. The Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works and the Depth of Field exhibits were also outstanding.

The Met was my main goal of this trip, so I'm glad I spent several hours there. The time truly melted away as I gazed upon the masterworks. Still, it was surprisingly tiring. I'm going to have to make another trip to see galleries that I didn't even begin to approach. I could probably do that for the rest of my life and still not see everything there.

For dinner I met up with some friends and we went to Whym on 9th Ave. It was worth trying if you are in the neighborhood, but I wouldn't make a trip there for it.

After dinner I went to Therapy for drinks and the lip sync show put on by Sweetie. Sweetie was anything but to drunk and obnoxious women patrons or guys who thought they could lip sync, but couldn't. Other than the show, it was a rather typical bar; however, the do make their drinks fairly strong which is a good thing.

New York - Day 1

I am so excited about being in New York for vacation for a few days. I booked a really early flight out of Austin just so I could have some time today to get oriented to the city and all worked out well. I was even able to get tickets to one of the shows I've wanted to see for years.

The flight this morning went amazingly well considering we were having rain and thunderstorms in Austin as I was leaving.

I arrive in New York to a heatwave. Thank goodness for Febreze or the fact that I packed three changes of clothing each day would not have been enough.

Hey! It's New York and I 'm from Texas. I have to look and smell good to prove we are not all from the sticks.

One of the first stops I made after checking into the hotel was the TKTS booth to see what shows I could get. Quite happily, I was able to get a 4th row seat to Avenue Q. I have adored the music to it since it first debuted and have tried to imagine just what it would be like to have live people interacting with puppets. Amazingly, the puppets were just as much characters as the people and I actually found myself watching the puppets rather than the actors manipulating them.

I can see why Ave. Q won the Tony for best musical, but I still like Wicked better.

On the walk back to the hotel I decided to make it a nice stroll. I sauntered along at a nicely relaxed pace.

I kept PASSING all the New Yorkers. I thought everyone here was at such a fast pace. Those are the stories I've heard and what I've experienced from all my past visits. It was obvious enough that I noticed it. I must admit, I walk fast for a Texan, but was not expecting to be in the same league as Manhattanites. Maybe I should consider the Olympic speed-walking competition if my stroll in New York surpasses daily New York.

Losing My Mind

The model of Rodin’s “The Thinker” was given to me as a groomsman’s gift by one of my very best friends. Since that time I have proudly displayed it in my classrooms, offices, and in my library at home.

This weekend while cleaning, I knocked it off its table and it crashed to the floor breaking its arm and crushing its skull. I thought for a bit I could repair it, but the head was in so many shards that it would end up being more glue than plaster and the head would more resemble the elephant man than the thinker.

I realized, too, that the thinker without his head in many ways represented me these days. My work and social lives have become so hectic and overlap so much that I have to keep a portable to-do list with me most of the time. Mostly it’s good, but it does eat into my alone time.

I’ve said it before and it remains true, despite the outgoing nature people see in public, I’m really very much an introvert and need time alone to recharge my personal batteries. Lately it feels like I’ve been “on” so much that my mind takes breaks on its own in the middle of the day or the middle of a conversation.

I’m on the countdown to a couple days of vacation. Fortunately, I’ll be able to do that and regain my mind, but I’m afraid the statue is permanently changed.

Gay Dilemma 101

The closer the trip to meeting some fellow bloggers gets, the more anal I get about it. Today I double checked the list to make sure I was up-to-date on reading all the blogs so I could engage each person there in intelligent conversation.

Ok, so I’m a bit stalkish obsessive.

But at a blogger gathering, the last thing I want to say is, “What? You’re a blogger?”

I really want to say things like, “That was a very insightful review of Gypsy you had.” Or “I’m so glad the new job is going well,” or “Wow. Carrie poster. Scary.”

And I’m from Texas going to hang with the New Yorkers.

Austin may be the best city in the nation, but we are not exactly known for our style. If you can get it at a second-hand shop, it’s perfect.

I’m afraid that won’t work in New York.

My greatest dilemma is choosing footware. My choices are: cowboy boots or flip-flops. I may have a closet full of clothes (ultimately that is what forced me “out” I couldn’t live in there with so many clothes). I’m really a flip-flop kind of guy – I even wear them to church, but when I was last in New York in 1991, cowboy boots came in very handy for the walking I did – contrary to popular belief – well-fitting cowboy boots are the most comfortable footware I’ve ever had.

To resolve the dilemma, I emailed the bar where we are all meeting. They were no help whatsoever: Anything you're comfy in! Tshirt jeans, dress, flip flops, ball gown--whatever! That's how we do it! Just be SURE to have your ID with you. Cheers!

I’m 40 – ID should not be too much of an issue.

So I’m still left to decide – do I wear boots or flip-flops? Get the inch boost from the boots or go as my pocket-queer me in flip-flops. New York – be on the lookout for visitor with mismatched footware.

Losing My Mind!

I must be losing my mind.

I read Southern boy non-ranting (after a Southern boy ranting) and pull out the credit card and book a trip to New York. I’ll be in the big city a whole 18 hours from arrival to departure.

And why would I whip out the credit card?

To attend a weenie roast!

I really must be losing my mind.

I don’t even eat weenies*.

Ever.

Under any circumstance.

I could crash on a desert island with a fridge stocked with weenies and I would just have to starve.

Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi must be very sad for me. Almost as sad as he is about the arthritis in his jaw that is slowing his hot dog eating. Last year he at a whopping 53 ¾ hot dogs in 12 minutes only to have that record shattered earlier this year by someone who ate 59 ½ in the same time.

But the weenie roast will be more than just a chance to gag over processed meat, it will be a chance to meet some people in person after reading about them for months through their regular blog posts. I’m excited to put face, voice, and tone to the words I’ve been reading for months.

Now on to the next dilemma: what does one wear to a weenie roast in New York?

*weenie – processed meat product I would not wish to be no matter what the jingle says, not the slang for male genitalia, which I do eat.

Smart Travelers Don't...

1) argue with the TSA screener when the obvious lack of scaring makes it highly unlikely there really is a metal plate in your head that keeps setting of the metal detector. Just go quietly behind the curtain, take a deep breath, relax and it won’t hurt too much.

2) wear flip-flops, no matter how much you like them, on the hills of San Francisco; they WILL cause blisters and in a very pedestrian city like San Francisco, you don’t want huge oozing blisters on the side of your foot.

3) fly with a hangover. Or better yet, fly with the remnants of your last night blowout in San Francisco still hanging on. It’s amazing just how much that big plane moves while sitting at the gate.

4) gasp at the $10 cost of a Burger King Value Meal at Los Angeles International Airport. I guess someone has to cover the cost of jewels for the creepy king.

4a) get the BK Spicy Big Fish Value Meal while flying with a hangover.

5) forget to change their iPod fully before beginning a days journey when one is at risk of being seated next to a talkative stranger.