Drinking on Thursdays

I went out last night with B, a friend of my cousin's, hitting up the Front Porch at about 7:30. It actually got a bit windy on my way there, so I wasn't completely fried as I rode my motorcycle the 4 or 5 miles to midtown. +1 before the night even started. We stay there just long enough to watch the Astros blow it in the bottom of the ninth with a bad call rounding third on a double with two outs. We then went to the Little Woodrows on W. Alabama for a quick drink, but didn't really like the atmosphere, followed by the Gingerman in the Village. Let me just say for the record that the Gingerman has the best hot pretzels this side of Philadelphia. They bake them up just right - a bit crispy on the outside - with the right kind of salt, and they are soooo good. After that snack we headed back to the Front Porch again (I'd left my bike there) but decided it was too early to go home and had another. By the time I left it was about a quarter to 2, and the ride home was actually a bit chilly with my summer jacket on. Joy!

Today it's actually cool for once. As of 11am it's only about 75. It hasn't been this cool this late in the day since early May! I'm loving it. Last night was a lot of fun, but I'm definitely not used to going out on weeknights. I'm wallowing around in that slow, stuffy headed realm where all I want to do is fall asleep, but it was completely worth it. Maybe we'll go see A History of Violence tonight.

Surgery Scheduled

My shoulder surgery is now scheduled for October 12 at 7am, and I have to be there at 6. Why so early, I ask? My pre-op appointment is the day before at 1:40, where I get to ask some final questions, get my meds, and so on. Boy this is gonna be fun!

I've got two weeks before I'm a one-armed gimp for more than a month. So what do I do to make sure I enjoy my bi-manuality? One thing's for sure - I'm gonna ride the hell out of my motorcycle before I mothball it till January. Maybe a couple of pushups, too, if my shoulder can take it, just for the hell of it. (I never could do one-armed pushups. Maybe now's the time to start.)

Bone and Joint Clinic

So the follow up visit to the MRI with Dr. Labbe went about as expected. Surgery is still an option, not a necessity, but I've decided that I don't want to go through life worrying if stupid things like jumping jacks or stretching are going to dislocate my shoulder again. So the doc's going to re-attach my labrum to the socket, but to do that they have to drill at least three small holes in the bone to set polymer-composite anchors so they have something to initially attach the labrum to. Yay. At least it's arthroscopic. On top of that, he'll have to effectively score the bone - rough it up and "make it bleed" (his words - can bones really bleed?) so that the labrum can eventually grow back tightly in the right place.

As much fun as the actual surgery sounds, the recovery will be much more of a test. Assuming surgery is on a Wednesday, I could go back to work Monday at the earliest. That's a hell of a lot more initial recovery time than I'd hoped. After that, it's 4 weeks of immobility, then 6-8 weeks of physical therapy to get range of motion and then strength back. Of course, it will be a 6 - 12 months before it's back to normal, but then I hopefully won't have to worry about random silly dislocations any more. Egads, I hope it's worth it.

To be honest, it seems that Dr. Labbe really knows what he's doing. At the Houston Bone and Joint Clinic of 8 or 9 doctors, he's the shoulder, elbow and knee specialist, and is a really nice guy to boot. I'm not worried that he'll screw anything up, just a bit apprehensive in general. As of now, I'm not sure of a surgery date, but October 11 or 12 seem the most likely candidates.

Tuesday Morning

Summer's not letting go of Houston easily. The last few days have had record highs with mid afternoon temperatures hitting 98 - 100 for a good 2-3 hours. The heat index has also been in the 110 - 115 range, which is what really kills you. I'm completely ready for summer to be over in so many ways. Since I spend most of my day in air conditioning, I can't really complain, but with pending shoulder surgery I'm seeing my last few motorcycle-riding days burned up rather quickly.

On that note, my MRI follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon is today, so hopefully I'll find out the details about the expected shoulder surgery and recovery process. I'm really not looking forward to it - one might say dreading it. After all, who wants to scar this perfect body? Right. I'll update later when I'm back from the appointment. I've yet to spend fewer than three hours in this place, and I doubt this will be any shorter a visit.

Rita and the weekend

As of last Wednedsay evening, everyone was forecasting doom and gloom for Houston, with Rita still a category 5 storm and still projected to make landfall in Galveston bay. Basically this would have been pretty bad for Houston - not New Orleans bad, but certainly not a place you'd want to be. Aaron's flight out on Friday morning was canceled, and he was hell bent on leaving, but I had yet to make up my mind as of Thursday morning. With an invitation out to my ex-girlfriend's parent's weekend place outside San Antonio, I couldn't really not go, since Aaron didn't know how to get there. So we foolishly left at about 10:30 Thursday morning, at the height of the hellish traffic.

13 hours later in a drive that should have only taken about 3.5 hours, we got to the golf resort-ish Tapatio just outside Boerne. We went fishing friday morning and evening, each catching 3 or 4 large mouth bass - cool. But spending time with my ex girlfriend is something I really didn't need, especially since the only thing it cleared up is how much she just doesn't care about our breakup. Whatever. It's still too fresh a wound to really start probing it anyway. Her family is all insanely nice and gracious, and I'll miss stupid little things like fishing with her dad, but it's been nice knowing them.

Saturday morning we decided to leave at about 5:30 to beat the traffic back into Houston, since all reports were that the city missed the brunt of the storm. Indeed, after an uneventful 3h 15m drive back, we found nothing damaged, but were without power till early afternoon. Not a big deal. Rice apparently never lost power, which is amazing since it tends to lose power in even moderate thunderstorms.

In other random news, I got an email from my old roomate Quad Pugh this morning. Apparently he's living in Philadelphia now, but I've yet to get more details about how his town of Lafayette La fared in the two hurricanes.

Houston Cheese Steaks

Just for the record, I had a cheese steak for lunch today at Jake's Steaks, and have to say I was not overly impressed. It was closer to a real philly steak than, say, Texadelphia, but just far enough to make it unimpressive. (Didn't use Amaroso roles, for instance) On that note, I have to say that Texadelphia gets my vote. It's not trying to be a real Philly cheese steak, and is better for focusing on its differences.

News update

Since no one reads this I'm not sure why I'm bothering to update, but what the hell. Lots has happened in the last week that I feel I need to share with complete strangers.

I dislocated my shoulder last tuesday while running around at fitness boot camp. Here I am trying to get my lazy ass kicked back into shape finally, and my shoulder decides it's had enough. Jumping jacks did it this time (#6). See if you notice a trend here in how I've managed to dislocate my shoulder so far.

1: Basketball
2: Football
3: Racketball
4: Wakeboarding
5: Stretching (I shit you not)
6: Jumping jacks

Easier and easier to dislocate, it's time for surgery. I got a contrast MRI on monday, and a followup appointment with the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. I'm 90% sure it will need surgery, and by this point i'm completely willing, even as adamantly as I've refused it in the past.

In other news, Elizabeth and I broke up on Thursday night after a few beers and just over 20 months. It happened so quickly that I'm still questioning myself about it, but It's probably the right thing to do. That sure doesn't make it suck any less at the moment, but any minor consolation is worth holding on to right now. Now I just need to stop questioning myself and be happy with what it was.

Finally, Hurricane Rita has the city in a bit of a tizzy, even though it's forecasted to make landfall almost 150 miles away from Houston. People are leaving (foregoing chances to see the Dalai Lama, for pete's sake) worried not so much about the winds, but more about flooding, lost power, and other inconveniences that will most probably be minor if the forecast is correct. Of course if it decides to turn north at the last minute things could get pretty bad, but that seems less and less likely as time progresses.

Days 8 & 9 (Saturday & Sunday 7/30-31)

So, the pictures for these two days are really quite sparse - not that you'll mind, I'm sure, after the overload of pictures up to this point.

Saturday, the square and surrounding streets in Santa Fe were transformed into a massive pedestrian area to accomodate the influx of people for the yearly Spanish Market. Tons of people, hundreds of booths, and so much high-priced art that I was actually a bit disappointed. Some of the art was really great, but none of it was even remotely close to my price range.



Sunday we got on the road around 7AM for the long drive back. Stopped to see the half-burried cadillacs along the way.


In the middle of Nowhere.


Lots of graffiti overe the years.


But really colorful, and still really cool.

Day 7 (Friday 7/29)

We finally got around to taking some pictures of our Bronco Room at the Adobe Abode B&B on the morning that we left it for good.


Facing the opposite way from the last picture.


We had our own nice little patio space. Unfortunately we never took advantage - too busy having fun.

Friday we started out the day by going up to the weekly flea market. Hundreds of local artisans, small businesses, and artists set up in relatively large tent-booths spread out over a space probably a football field in size or bigger. Though it was mostly dominated by jewelry and related items, there were tons of neat, local (though there was a surprising amount of international flavor) things as well. I ended up buying a few fossils that are now adorning a shelf above the TV, and Elizabeth bought a ton of beads and other assorted items I seem to forget at the moment. Cameras weren't allowed since it was on tribal land, so once again, my description will have to do.

We then went to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture on Museum Hill. It had a wealth of knowledge and interesting artifacts, but I don't think either one of us was in the proper frame of mind to fully appreciate all it had to offer. We probably only spent about an hour in the place, but since it was included in the package of museum admissions we'd already paid for, it didn't seem such a crime.


After the Museum we left Santa Fe proper and drove down the Turquoise Trail to our last B&B to drop off our stuff and then get some food. Actually, we first stopped off at a Borders to kill some time and get me a book since I'd just finished my last one. Further down the Turquoise Trail, a.k.a. 14, is a small ex-mining town Madrid, now known for its eclectic collection of local artists and artisans. We ate at a cool place called the Mine Shaft Tavern, which was dripping with that old rustic mining town atmosphere. We wandered around for a while between local galleries and small shops, eventually getting some icecream at the place in the picture above. Great small-town atmosphere that made me think I had somehow been transported back to the fifties.


Main St. in Madrid. Actually, it was the only street with pavement - State Rd. 14, a.k.a. the Turquoise Trail.


Our last B&B, Crystal Mesa Farm, was run by this married couple that couldn't have been any more different. She was a wonderously peaceful hippy type who I expected to be named Autumn Moon Starbeam Breeze (but was actually named something much more normal that I can't remember at the moment) and he was an ex-marine with more energy and volume than a speed-freak WWE wrestler chasing naughty puppies. It was a really nice place, though: very relaxing and peaceful, with fantastic views. The above is a part of the common are where breakfast was served.


There was a definate buddhist vibe going on in the place. There were at least two temples with statues and brightly colored cloth strung up around the property, and the Buddha in the above picture wasn't the only one in the house.


The tepee in the picture was a part of their property, and a cheaper option for the more outdoorsy types who don't want to stay in an indoor room.


Our East Room is through that door in front of what is quite possibly the world's friendliest dog.


We didn't actually take any pictures ourselves, but this one from their website is a pretty good representation. The cool slate floor and natural adobe walls kept the room amazingly cool during the heat of the day, and it was amazingly spacious for the sparcity of its decor.


One of my favorite parts of the place was the mini menagerie. The lonly donkeys were smelly but friendly.


The baby goats were the cutest, though. Running and jumping and falling and stuff - they were so much fun to watch!


The sunset from the back deck was amazing. I don't think I've felt that serene in a long time.

Day 6 (Thursday 7/28)

Thursday started out at Adobe Abode with another nice breakfast before we drove the 45 minutes or so out to Bandalier National Monument, not far from Los Alamos. Like most of the roads around Taos, Rt. 4 out the the national park / monument seemed custom made for motorcycles. I felt almost a palpable pain the entire time on the road, wishing I had my bike with me.


Bandalier is a national park with the main attraction being the excavated ruins of a pueblo village and its accompanying cliff dwellings. Carved out of layers of volcanic ash by millions of years of erosion (a.k.a. water-action,) the cliffs are incredibly porous and crumbly, making it easier to dig out and enlarge the caves that served as storage rooms to the cliff-backed house structures.


Ready to hike the trail! We only actually went into Frijoles Canyon - a tiny part of the park with the main visitors center.


It's hard to get an idea of scale, but in the center of this image (click to enlarge) there's a reconstructed cliff structure against the cliff face. In the foreground are the original walls of the large circular town in the valley. They were reinforced with modern mortar, but the stones were kept in their found locations.


The walking trail takes you up to that structure, which stands about ten feet tall. You can see Elizabeth leaning into a window on the left.


From there, you get a pretty good view of the circular layout in the valley below.


In some places you got to climb up these ladders and crawl around in the shallow caves that had been carved out of the cliff face.


There will be a lot more climbing before the day is done.


Some of these caves had quite estensive structures. In this one there were four attached rooms, none tall enough to stand in, but probably had about 2-300 square feet of floor space.


Looking out of that cave you can see the same circular ruins just past the natural rock formations.


Further along the path you come to a place called the longhouse. There are still ruins of the buildings that once stood here, making up what was basically one 800-yard-long apartment complex up to 4 stories high in places.


The horizontal rows of holes in the cliff face held the back of the roof joists, just to give an idea of how high they built.


After taking the path back to the valley floor, we followed the valley further inward and climbed 140 feet up to the sacred cave.


The ladders were the most fun, and the view from the top was pretty cool. No guard rails or any real safety precautions to ruin the effect from up there.


One last ladder to go. Elizabeth beat me to the top.


But she eventually decided to wait for me.


We could actually climb down into the ceremonial Kiva - essentially a hole in the ground covered over with a sturdy, earth-topped roof. Apparently there were other adobe structures up here as well.

After downing all our water and trudging back to the car (quite possibly the driest place I've ever been) we headed back to Adobe Abode to relax a while before going out shopping. Santa Fe has lots of cool handcrafted jewelry if you're into that sort of thing, and a bunch of neat little restaurants in the admittedly touristy areas we walked.

For dinner that evening we headed out of Santa Fe proper to have dinner at this tiny roadside burger joint called the Shed. Pretty good food, but the burgers couldn't hold a candle to Bubbas Burger Shack back in Houston.

Day 5 (Wednesday 7/27)

After our first night in the cowboy-themed bronco room of the Adobe Abode B&B, we set out to hit as many of the interesting museums that we could manage.


First wandering around the square to see the vendors and various shops, we then hit the Museum of Fine Arts. That's the corner of the museum in the pic above. Everything in the area had the adobe house thing going on.


The Governors Palace was next - the oldest continuously inhabited public building in the U.S. It had some pretty cool stuff in it, but mostly the history of the building was the most interesting bit. Apparently it was the scene of one of the only successful native american uprisings in history.


The Cathedral Church of St. Francis of Assisi was the next major stop on the list.


The present church was built in 1886, but the previous church on the site was built in 1610.


I was generally more impressed with the exterior than the interior, which is reversed from my usual reaction to cathedrals/churches.


The next stop, aside from a bunch of neat, overpriced jewelry shops, was the Loretto Chapel, with it's super-mysterious miraculous staircase.


This miraculous staircase has no center support, and theoretically shouldn't stand up on its own, much less be able to hold the weight of an entire choir up it's height.

We then went on a walk around to some of the oldest buildings in the city. Most were simply marked with a plaque on the outside, like my favorite the "oldest house."


It is claimed that this is the oldest house in the U.S. I'm not so sure, myself, but it's certainly possible since Santa Fe itself is the oldest capitol city in the U.S.

We ended up at the Georgia O'keefe museum, less than two blocks from our B&B. It had a concurrent small display of Andy Warhol flower paintings - kinda cool.

Day 4 (Tuesday 7/26)

Tuesday Morning we once again scarfed down a fantastic breakfast in about 15 minutes. This time, though, it was for ATVing with Native Sons Adventures, but again about 30 minutes away.


Well, it would have been 30 minutes away if I had gone the right way on 64. Idiot.


Just before we head up the mountain. You can see Elizabeth's fantastic little Mazda in the background.


I'm so cool. Aren't I so cool? I'm cool.


Right. So this is the view about halfway up the mountain, where the last picture was taken. (I'm cool.) If you zoom in on the pic (just click on it) you can see the road where we started at about 8000 ft.


And up to 10,000+ ft, into the clouds where we couldn't see much of anything.


So we took gooberific pictures of each other in our stylin' lids.


Isn't she cute?


After about 20 minutes or so, the clouds started to clear, giving us a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains.


If you expand this picture, you can see the edge of Taos on the plateau in the distance, and might be able to just make out the Rio Grande Gorge. From here, we rode about another hour and a half back down the mountain before leaving Taos on the high road to Santa Fe.


On our way out of Taos we stopped at this old adobe church, built sometime between 1772 and 1816. No one really knows when.


Across the tiny parking lot was a building with a famous, and somewhat freaky painting of Jesus inside. Of course, no pictures allowed, so you'll have to believe me, or read for yourself.


Called the Shadow of the Cross, it's a painting of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee that, when viewed in the dark, shows him in silhouette with a silhouetted cross over his shoulder, and a halo on his head. While I was skeptical at first, the effect is very clearly visible, and after a short while your eyes start to play tricks on you and it gets kinda freaky.

From there we drove the high road to Santa Fe - very scenic and fun to drive - and stopped at a few different historic adobe churches along the way.


In Las Trampas, a tiny town established in 1751, the church of San Jose de Gracia was by far the largest building.


Turn around from exactly where the last picture was taken, and you see the Taste of Trampas. I was really disappointed it was closed.


So somewhere along the high road, the highway department decided it would be a good idea to tear up all the pavement for about a 5 mile stretch. No kidding. Nice, smooth, two-lane road, speed limit from 25-60 mph, and then it just turned into dirt. Awesome.


The next stop was the Santuario de Chimayo - an adobe church finished in 1816.



It was in a great location for its outdoor chapel -


very picturesque -


and was close to another rustic-looking little chapel,


adorned with even smaller chapels itself.


So cool!

From there we ended up missing one of the last turns in a day of poor direction decisions, badly marked, mis-marked, or unmarked roads, unpaved roads, really bad maps and horrible directions. But we eventually made it to Santa Fe in one piece. "Of course 75 branches off into 76! It's so obvious, we don't feel the need to mark it on any of or maps, roads, or note it in the guidebooks. Stupid tourist. You should know these things!"

After dropping of our stuff at the Adobe Abode B&B, we walked to get some food at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame BBQ and Grill. Not a bad place, really, but we were seated in the back, away from the wandering Mardi Gras band that livened up the place.