I Don't Post?

People tell me that I don't post on here. Well it has been a while and I imagine since I've been gone so long, I have no audience anymore...

Back to Work

Well, I went in to work today. That means I made it back to Conroe. I got back about 2AM after several flights and long drive back from Dallas. Yesterday was about 36 hours long and spanned several timezones. That is a stinkin' long day.

During our long layover in Seoul, we went on a short tour of the area and consumed some octopus. It was an interesting experience. I've never tried consuming something that fought back. With suction cups stuck to my tongue and cheeks, the squirming tentacles were tough to consume. But I fought them and swallowed them. Flavored by the eggs and ink naturally inside, the heads did not taste as good.

Part of My Lunch:


We shared our meal with a dude from Miami that shoots documentaries. Hanging with an American was a change from the time we'd been spending with Asians and Europeans.

As far as the flights, they were loooong. I'm so over flying for a little while at least.

I've got tons of pictures. It'll take a while to go through them all, but I'll post some as soon as I get a chance.

Koh Samet

Nick and I are sitting in Koh Samet (an island we're staying at near Bangkok), paying 2 baht per minute to use internet. It's a great place. We're enjoying the island life for a few days before we head back to the States.

Our other excursion, a trip to Kanchanerburi (spelling's wrong) was a blast as well. We met many Europians and chatted with them the first night we were there. Interesting people, a lot of fun to hang out with. Apparently Bangkok is a big vacation destination for Europians. They're everywhere. We've met a couple of Americans at the airport and a couple of Canadians. That's all!

We've taken plenty of pictures. Reviewing them will get me through the flight back until my battery dies. But I will have pictures to share with all of you. We're going to eat some dinner in a bit and then see what happens from there. We'll probably end up on the beach for the festivities (it's hard not too, since this is a small island, most of the land is the beach).

I took a couple of pictures with the webcam attached to this PC as I sat here :

I bought a new hat this morning for the island trip.

This is what I see out my window. Can't quite see the beach from here. But I can see other foreigners!

This is Nick, you know, the guy I'm traveling with... He sat down at the adjacent computer to send out some emails as well.

Chelsea should be about done showering, so it's gotta be dinner time.

Later on mainlanders!

A dose of Thailand

So far, so good in Bangkok. My sleep is back on schedule and we've done a lot. Knocked out a lot of the tourist sites, temples and such yesterday. Today we hit up some malls. We're back at Chelsea's getting showered up and ready to have our fitting for the suits we ordered.

We have to shower because it's stinkin' hot and muggy here. You sweat just by stepping outside. The Winter Sales advertised here with pictures of snowflakes and blue lettering makes us laugh. I can assure you that there are no snowflakes anywhere near us.

We began our 2nd day this morning by going to a large park on the Southside of town (Lumphini Park). Nick and I split up and went running. As I was running, I got some whistles and a "Woo Woo Baby!" from a lady sitting on a park bench. The women love whitey over here.

I've taken tons of pictures already and would like to share a couple.


This one shows a restaurant that we didn't try our luck at. The menu didn't seem too appetizing, especially the last item.














The other picture shows our cook at a small restaurant (3 tables) that we ate at. He came out of the back and brought our food. We noticed that he was in his boxers. Pretty casual place...














Alright, kiddoes. Time to head back to Riverside for our fitting! Have a good day.

Nothing's Free in Seoul

Nick and I have made it to Seoul. We're sending out emails on our 3300 won/hour internet. Luckily, that translates to about $3.50. Well I'm sleepy because it's 4AM CST and I couldn't sleep on the plane. Hopefully I'll get some shut eye by the time we reach Bangkok.

We rocked Seattle for the few hours we were there this morning. Hit up the Space Needle, Pike Street Market and learned the Metro system. The Wehner Express did not properly prepare me for the Metro experience. But we got it down now. Need a tour of Seattle? I'll be happy to take you.

And good news on the Eastern front. My biggest nightmare is not a reality. They clearly mark the bathrooms in English so I know which one to go in. Whew...crisis avoided.

It's Raining in Seattle

Big surprise... We're arrived in Seattle a little later than we should have due to rain. We learned that the Asiana airlines counter was closed for the night and so we couldn't check in early and drop of our bags. This forced us to go to our hotel with suitcases in tow. We called a Shuttle from our hotel to come pick us up on "Island 3," the front desk assured me that the shuttle should arrive in the next 15 minutes.

We met a couple (a rich couple) that was waiting for that same Fairfield bus at the same island. After talking to them about their exotic adventures (of chasing the first snow of each year, sailing, owning multiple houses, island hopping, etc), we realized that it had been 30 minutes and alas, no bus. The lady who complained of breathing in too many fumes, stormed off. She returned minutes later with a limo and a driver. We were driven to the hotel in style. We parted ways and now I am up late typing this entry.

We will rise early in the morning to venture to downtown Seattle before our noon flight. Sometime tomorrow we will be in Seoul catching yet another flight to Bangkok, our final destination. This is going to be a long couple of days.

Medical News of the Day

Ok, so let me interrupt the series on Ghostriding for something somewhat educational/interesting. It's almost inter-cational.

I sent the following email to all the slackers that I email from work to see what they'd heard about this condition I stumbled upon. Email makes for easier feedback, but I know there are some that read this that I dont send the daily emails to. So here you go, straight from my outbox:

Yesterday I stumbled upon a medical condition that I’d never hear of. Intrigued, I looked into it more. So allow me to share with you your medical lesson for the day. Here are some details about the condition known as “Synesthesia.” I’m curious to see if any of you have heard of this.

Basically, it is a neurologically-based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

There are a few different types.

Grapheme -> Color Synesthesia is the most common. It’s where people think letters have an innate color. They see letters or numbers shaded with a certain color.

"I often associate letters and numbers with colors. Every digit and every letter has a color associated with it in my head. Sometimes, when letters are written boldly on a piece of paper, they will briefly appear to be that color if I'm not focusing on it. Some examples: 'S' is red, 'H' is orange, 'C' is yellow, 'J' is yellow-green, 'G' is green, 'E' is blue, 'X' is purple, 'I' is pale yellow, '2' is tan, '1' is white. If I write SHCJGEX it registers as a rainbow when I read over it, as does ABCPDEF."

Sound -> Color Synesthesia is where certain sounds, notes or tones elicit specific colors. People see the same color every time a certain note is played. Things like dogs barking also have visual effect on these people.

Number form synesthesia is hard to understand, but basically these people think of numbers differently. They arrange them in certain position on an axis in their head, rather than in a straight line.

Personification is where people associate numbers or letters naturally with personalities or traits.

"T’s are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust… 9 is dark, a gentleman, tall and graceful, but politic under his suavity"

And My Favorite!

Lexical -> Gustatory Synesthesia – This is a more rare case, but the strangest I think. This is where people can taste words. Hearing, reading or speaking words leaves a sensation in a person’s mouth.

“Whenever I hear, read, or articulate (inner speech) words or word sounds, I experience an immediate and involuntary taste sensation on my tongue. These very specific taste associations never change and have remained the same for as long as I can remember.”

Sources that I’ve seen range from saying 1 in every 20 people have these symptoms to 1 in every 2000 people have these symptoms. All reports have the types listed in the same order as I do from most common (Grapheme-Color) to least common (Lexical-Gustatory). Still I think it’s odd that I’ve never heard of something this prevalent. A lot of people don’t realize they have these symptoms until it’s pointed out that it’s not normal.

This doesn’t affect brain development or hinder any part of people’s lives, but I thought it was an interesting condition that some people have. The main source I used was Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) if y’all are interested. There are pictures and such. The other sources I read through had a lot of broken links, so I found wiki to be the best. Just wanted to share this and see if y’all have heard of this

The Old Man and the Pea

I met Penny at the Black Eyed Pea for lunch today. The Black Eyed Pea is a good place to find old people. I walked quickly back to my car to change shoes (I had flip flops on, but it was freezing in there so I needed some socks and shoes).

Previously I noticed a certain old man eating lunch with his grandson at a table in the center of the room. The old man and grandson walked out of the restaurant as I was walking back across the parking lot. They bid each other farewell and began to get into their cars. I stopped the old man before he opened the door to his Yellow Scion that sported both an “Aggie Grandparent” bumper sticker and a “Longhorn Grandparent” sticker.

“Excuse Me,” I said, prompting both individuals to turn and look at me.

I addressed the grandpa, “Do you ever ghostride that thing?”

The man stopped. Put his head back and laughed. “Once or twice” he said. “You must have been watching the Youtube video.”

“Yes,” I said, “It’s very popular.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in Conroe said something to me.”

I met him and his grandson and he told me about the Longhorn grandkid that filmed the popular video and the Aggie who was hiding in the back seat controlling the speed.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, shame on you. Watch the video here:
http://chriswilson06.blogspot.com/2007/08/get-out-way-let-casper-drive.html

Vacation Review

The 3 1/2 days we spent in Key West was the right amount of time. Any more time would have been too much, any less and I would have left without doing some things that were on my list.

I liked the laid back island lifestyle. Flip Flops and shorts is my typical attire in the nice restaurants of The Woodlands. In Key West, this dress doesn't get you disapproving looks. We ate well, that's always a highlight.

Biking was the best way to get around the island. I was able to explore the entire island in an afternoon and didn't have to pay the ridiculous price for parking in the downtown area.

I enjoyed the "Ultimate Adventure" excursion. The parasailing was terrific and the ocean kayaking was fun. The snorkeling was disappointing, not a lot to see in the "3rd Largest Reef in the World." And it turns out jet skiing in the ocean isn't as fun as freshwater. Vrooom Splash, Vrooom Splash. All the waves just about give you whiplash.

Ernest Hemmingway's house was cool. I don't know a lot about the guy and wasn't really expecting much. However it was interesting, I especially liked meeting his 6 toed cats.

The Mallory Square Sunset Festival every night is the Don't Miss thing to do in Key West and it was definately good stuff. Once the sun went down, there was a lot of night life. Most of the shops stay open past midnight to gain business from those attending all the clubs that evening.

As always, the thing I enjoyed most was the webcams featured on the island. Many times I was seen on the cams around the island. Here for example as I cruised down Duval Street on my bike:















Overall it was a good trip. I put it about even with the vacation to DC last year. That is all of my short trip review. I will be back to my normal blogging at the next entry.

Key West, FL

My company and I are in Key West for the weekend. I explored the island by bike yesterday and today I'm ready for my water sports fun. I haven't been overly impressed thus far. I'm looking forward to parasailing today, maybe it will change my mind.

Who Picked This Coach 2 Years Ago?

That's me, That's me!

I picked the coach 2 years ago.

I'm glad Mike Sherman is back in Aggieland. I called for this when he exited Green Bay 2 years ago. I'm pumped that it's finally happening.

Who's excited about Football Season once again?

That's me, That's me!

What's In A Name?

Who knew so many read this blog? I've been so busy that I hadn't really thought about this blog much. All of the complaining finally worked. I'm back.

I want to use this blog to impart knowledge to you all. Since I haven't been doing that, you're desperately needing something. Allow me to make that up to you by sharing a brief lesson.

A lot of thought goes into naming a product. The first step in developing a successful marketing campaign is to not only come up with a catchy name, but to use it to communicate a message to the consumer. The product name is often formulated by a team of consultants to establish a position in the market and to convey the product's strengths. Think of successful drugs such as Lunesta or Viagra. Just by looking at the poetic name of Lunesta. Lun- or Luna- invokes the thought of the moon or night and it's crafted together into a soothing name that promises a restful night's sleep. As for Viagra, the Vi- suggests Vigor or Vitality and it's no coincidence that the drug rhymes with "Niagra."

Having known this and studied brand names and product placement at A&M, I bought a Duraflame to burn for a few hours in my apartment. After all, I've had this fireplace for over a year and hadn't yet used it and it's cold outside. So at 10:00 PM, I cleaned out my fireplace and lit the Duralog. My cat was mesmerized for 2 solid hours. As midnight rolled around, Penny and I were done eating and it was time for her to go home. Therefore it was time for me to extinguish my Duraflame and go to bed.

The company that manufactures Duraflame selected that name for a purpose. The -flame of course tells you that this is firewood, meant for burning. The Dura- comes from Durable (lasting) or Durance (the word we get endurance from) and lets (or should let) the consumer know that this piece of woods burns for a while. Needless to say, the wood's Duration exceeds 2 hours. But I was ready for bed!

I decided that dumping water on the log would fill my house with smoke and that was not something I was ready to do. Plan B was blowing it out. I've had several birthdays and can't remember one recently where I had trouble extinguishing my birthday candles. My family obviously never purchased dura-candles as the log withstood all of my huffing and puffing. The next idea I could think of was to go straight for the muscle and pull out the fire extinguisher. As I searched my apartment, I realized that it did not have an extinguisher in stock.

So onto my next idea. I turned to Google and found a grade school science experiment results that documented the best ways to extinguish a fire. Number 1 was by using vinager and since I had none I moved onto the substance that worked 2nd best for this 5th grader, Soapy Water. I filled a cup that I got from an Aggie soccer game with water and wrung in the soapy sponge I use to clean dishes. I took the cup to the fireplace, opened the wire-mesh screen and dumped the water onto the fiery log. This created a large amount of smoke to rise in the fireplace (luckily with most of it going straight up the chimney and out of my house) but fueled the fire more. I returned from the sink with another helping of water and applied it to the fire. More smoke, more flame. I applied the full third cup to half of the log and that took the flame down some. I returned with 2 more cups and had the fire under control. A last cup ensured that the fire was completely extinguished and all burning embers had been put out.

If only my fireplace had been crafted as carefully as the name of the Duraflame. All of the water that I'd dumped on the log had trickled out the front of the fireplace, bringing with it the soot from inside. After I'd cleaned the floor up (for the most part) I wondered if the log could be reused. Although I doubt it can be lit again, I decided that I would only light it if I could remain in my house until it burned out naturally which could very well be 5-7 hours. Since I'm never at home for this length of time, I think I have a permanent soggy wood conversation piece in my fireplace.

I needed to share this with all of y'all just in case you aren't familiar with the workings of a fireplace or the naming of products. If you only want to burn something for a short time, save yourself some trouble and light something that has a wick. Otherwise, look for a product with a less attractive name like Tempor-log or Briefire. That's just being being Logical...

Get Out The Way, Let Casper Drive.

For those of you that haven't seen this groundbreaking video (that coincidentally stole my Fantasy Football League name) , I have attached the video below:



Not only did this video make me laugh, but it provided an assignment to follow the Highly Successful Webcam Invasion.

There is a car that parks at my office building daily that looks quite a bit like the one in the video above. I photographed the vehicle to verify that the car in question matches Grandma's car. We determined based on model, color, sticker location, and the presence of an EZ Tag, that there's about a 95% certainty that this is the same car.

It appears grandma is a late sleeper though as she arrives well after I get to work at 8:00...well ok, 8:07... She does not arrive during the 8 o clock hour.

I've estimated that her lunchtime begins somewhere between 12:45 and 1:00 which does not mesh with mine.

She also seems to be a hard worker as she's doesn't leave before 6:00.

With all of her scheduling working against me, I still managed to catch her yellow car rolling out of my parking lot one afternoon when Penny was taking me to pick my car up from getting maintanance. I requested she scrap the trip to Honda and tail the car. Our 95% certainty was boosted 4 points when I got a visual of the driver. It turns out the driver isn't Grandma, rather Grandpa was driving the vehicle. I wanted to follow Grandpa to lunch and confront him there. So we continued to follow him down the road. 10 miles later, we realized that we were heading out of town and I determined showing up at the man's house was the stalker line that I didn't want to cross.

So as for now, I have still been unable to contact the Ghostriding Geezers. However, I'm working on it. I will talk to Grandpa and I'll gain his trust. And then we'll ghostride.

Normal Times

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I had to iron out some details with the U2 contract.

I guess everything is finally normal here in Conroe. Penny finally lives down the parking lot from me and therefore I have spent some leisure time in the city I live in. As much as I've enjoyed that, I can't wait to get back to CS for Football/Soccer Season. Now if only the 12th Man Foundation would send my season tickets to my address rather than Montgomery...

I bet you're North of here.

I spent my week in Brownsville, try to get more South in Texas than that. I dare you.

I arrived in town Monday and learned one thing very quickly. The folks in Brownsville do not do any work. Training them was like pulling teeth in the beginning. No one knew their job responsibilities, even the supervisors. Wednesday, the jail infirmary was practically shut down until 10:30. Cowboys tickets went on sale at 10:00, so until then phones weren’t to be used and computers weren’t to be touched. Luckily the tickets to the Cowboys – Vikings game were secured…

The day progressed better than expected, which leads me to my current setting. I figured I was done with the task I’d been assigned, so I got a flight out a day early. A 6:40PM flight was doable, so I booked the flight and arrived to Valley International Airport in Harlingen at 5:50. The flight was delayed however. And again. And again. And now we’re set to depart at 9:00PM.

So I’m sitting in the airport restaurant along with everyone else waiting for a flight. Lucky for me there are 25 credits on the jukebox I’m next to. 22 remain now as I select Dead & Bloated to follow up my selections of 3AM and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. No one’s objected yet, so I imagine I’ll keep playing DJ for the already irritated patrons. Maybe I should throw on some Selena to please the crowd.

It turns out that Brownsville isn’t so bad, immensely better than Laredo. We went to Progresso on Monday, which I’d been to before, but it was a good trip. Got some goods. I have my laptop case and a clay pot with me as carryons. That’s South Texas business man right there.

A fellow patron just noticed that our flight had been pushed back to the current time of 9:00PM. Needless to say, he’s not thrilled. The lady on tv is showing me that Dallas is currently getting pounded and the Departure Screen just announced that the 5:40 flight to Dallas has been pushed further back to 9:25… It’s days like this that I count myself lucky to not work at the airport dealing with the angry people, it doesn’t help the fact that I’m still stuck in this airport for another couple of hours though.

My ringtone is now playing on the Jukebox; Blaze of Glory by Bon Jovi.

Busy weekends to come! This weekend I will be going to Corpus to get my long lost cat. The next weekend, I will be helping Penny move (one of the many moving that weekend). And soon after it’s Soccer and Football season. Can’t wait to get back to Aggieland for that. It should be a good season.

I’ve been out of the office all week which means I have things to catch up with other than my blog. Things such as TexAgs and Pearls Before Swine comics from this week. And Desperado will play as I close this entry. This music is much better than the crying children. I hope they're not waiting for my flight.

Out of Place

Let me ask you a question (and that "you" is singular, not plural because I'm sure that no more than 1 person reads my blog (side note: is it just me or does "singular" look wrong everytime I type it because of that little orange man's company...? (triple parenthesis, cool!))). My question is, "Have you ever been the only minority in an entire city?" Well I have.

My adventures took me to Laredo this week (better known to my family as "The border town where everyone gets killed or kidnapped"-ville). I did some training and galavanted around the town. They had an impressive mall (impressive in its size and number of businesses) and an impressive HEB (impressive in it's ghetto-ness and the fact that everyone shopping there was pregnant). But most notable was the fact that I was the only caucasian there. Imagine how out of place I felt. Especially since I was wearing a Texas A&M shirt (everyone in the valley wears burnt orange). The only thing that would have made me stick out more would be if I had brought along my Washington Redskins cap (Cowboys' rival) and my "Catholics stink!" banner (everyone knows that all of South Texas is Catholic).

Ok, so I don't own a Washington Redskins cap or any anti-Catholic propoganda, but nonetheless...

This lack of diversity wasn't the only thing apparent. Also quite noticeable was how wretchedly boring the town is. I mean other than the mall, watching hobos fight over a matress on the access road (true), and the dog fights downtown (probably true), there's absolutely nothing to do in the town. I realized how boring this city was last time I visited, but being on my own, the realization punched me in the face as I looked out my scenic overview of the junkyard from my 3rd floor hotel window.

So as I ate at Taco Palenque, I decided that Laredo needs the help of a marketing major to attach a tagline to their city.

Laredo - As fun as bubblewrap...but somebody's already popped all the bubbles. And stole your wallet.

Laredo - Come for the cheap pottery! Stay until someone pays your ransom.

Laredo - 180 degrees from ordinary. And 180 degrees hotter.


Hmmm...I'm still working on them. At least I'm putting my degree to use.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

There are certain signs you would think wouldn't need to be posted in public places. Especially in County Courthouses. Check the following lineup of signs from Eastland County Courthouse.

Fatty Row

I thought the Fatty Special was perfected when I was in Lubbock. Taco Bueno and Krispy Kreme both near my hotel. It made for a nice dinner. But here I am in Longview. Kudos Mr. City Planner, you are a genius. Just across the street from my hotel, there is a Taco Bueno, Shake's Frozen Custard and a Whataburger side by side. So of course for dinner I had the Fatty Special #2, some Chiladas from Taco Bueno and a Mint Oreo Concrete from Shake's. Perfection.

Coming Soon

So if you don't know already. Something major is happening in my life. It's in progress right now. Right down the road. A small oddly shaped building is being constructed 5 minutes from here. The sign in front of this structure is warning Lenny's "Taco Bueno coming soon." Sorry Lenny's, I have a new dining destination.

Special K Vanilla Almond rules the cereal world. Princess Cereal, you know I still love you.

Everyone's all graduated and grown up. Congrats to the grads. Way to go on graduating, but thanks a lot for moving away... Karen will still be holding down CS. And her graduation party rocked the Farm.

Not a lot else is going on. BUSY BUSY at work. Annabelle is running around the house and Clinton is calling.

I got the news playing while I blog and a top story from Downtown Houston: A man has been given a restraining order after he stuffed his girlfriend in the dryer. Way to go dude, creativity counts.

My Town

So I live in this town of Conroe in between my weekend trips to College Station. I still have trouble considering myself a resident. Maybe one day I will hang out here enough to call it home. But for now I just hang out here with my cat. On second thought, my coworkers don't even live in this city. Maybe it's time I move out...