Happy Thanksgiving

Life has changed gears around here lately.  Not sure how or why.  I'm calmer.  I'm getting more accomplished.  I feel better.  Nothing is quite where I want it to be, but I at least don't feel like I'm just sitting around waiting anymore.  No real change in my day to day life other than I'm making small steps in my projects instead of just sitting around feeling overwhelmed.  Next week I hope to be half way finished with my hammock.  I'll post a picture at that point.

Pictures.  Yeah.  Well, I decided to admit that I just don't like the camera I've had for a few years.  I've been looking around.  I bought 2 new ones, a shirt pocket digital point and shoot and a video camera.  I say that like the little one is not much, but its a Cannon Elf 300HS.  Seems to take good pictures from what little I've played with it so far.  No, you don't get the practice pictures here that I've taken of my messy apartment.  The video one is a Sony Handycam.  A co-worker has one and I like his.  I want to play a bit with video, so decided to jump while I'm someplace to take fun videos.  Tomorrow after work I'm headed back down to the capital for the weekend and another visit to the garden/park/Jesus statue with working cameras this time.

And, tonight I caught up with laundry.  Only clothes not washed are what I have on.  I'll see if I can keep up with it this time.

Finite

Finite is the word of the week here.  It is the hope to which I cling.  There is a finite length of yarn to be woven into my hammock I'm making and which I need to finish before I can leave.  There is a finite amount of laundry I am behind such that soon I can just do the clothes I wore the day before each night and keep up (this is falicy, I know...)  There are a finite number of papers I need to scan, shred, send home or otherwise deal with.  There is a finite amount of items here in Honduras that I need to relocate back to the US, a finite number of items in the storage unit in Nashville that likewise need to be relocated to Kansas City so that at some point in the future my stuff will all be in the same zip code again.  Probably not the one I'm in, but progress.  I need to feel that each thing taken care of moves me to the place where the to-do list at least doesn't keep growing faster than I can check things off.

I am getting things done.  Other things are slipping.  I tell myself that I'm making progress.

Last night I went down to the restaurant here at the hotel for dinner.  I usually don't eat at night, but I was hungry and tired of being hungry.  The waiter here speaks some amount of English.  He likes me and trys to have conversation.  It had the usual reasult.  He kept saying he had one question for me.  He said this for over an hour, in many ways.  I'm still not entirely sure if the question was about inviting himself up to my room, or inviting me to church.  I do know he was being very heartfelt and sincere about whatever the question was about.  At some point a Babtist missionary from Tennessee kept being mentioned, so I decided it was about church.  They will be praying for me, the two of them, pretty much without ceasing, this weekend.  I'm still not entirely sure about the one question even now.  I have educated guesses, and I'm not counting out the original idea.  This is how a lot of my conversations with local Hondurans goes.  It is always friendly and sincere, but I'm never really sure the two of us are discussing the same subject at any given time.  Then again, it's not all that different when I'm talking to someone who shares the same language as I.

No Pictures

No one who knows me will be surprised to hear that when I pulled my camera out of my backpack the battery was dead and I had not (of course) packed the charger.  So, no pictures.  The tour of the city was awesome, and I will go back and get pictures.  Now that I've been to the areas I'm more inclined to go there in a smaller group.  Not alone, but Melinda and I both want to go back and take pictures and visit the gift shop we found.

 

I am on a more strict diet.  I went into the trendy store, inspired to get some new clothes by having the young(er) females around, and largest sizes didn't fit me.  Ok, this is Honduras, where the locals are smaller.  However, when I no longer fit into anything labeled 'L' it is time to regroup and take care of the issue.  It's not just weight, I need to firm up.  The new curves are ok in general, but I got a few curves in places that are actually supposed to be flat.  So, along with studying for certifications and working on my hammock, I am going to exercise.  Really. 

 

I also started antibiotics so that tooth tooth left to work on will numb on Saturday at the dentist.  Down here we don't need a presscription to get antibiotics, so I did my due diligence in research, and I'm watching myself for any adverse issues.  I've never been alergic to any medicines, so I'm good.  I'm drinking lots of water, and I'm staying out of the sun as much as I can.  No long sleeves because it's gotten hot here again.  I guess if I start burning I'll find some kind of long sleeves, or wear my windbreaker when I'm outside.  Sensitivity to sun is the only real symptom I'm concerned about.

More weekend

I'm a day late for the official day, but I want to thank all the Veterans who have taken time from their lives to serve in the Military.  I work with active and retired military people every day.  It is amazing to me to see how much of their lives they commit to the service.  Thank you.

This weekend has been very different from others I've had down here.  Two of the people from post that I work, Louis and Melinda, with came to town yesterday.  While we were running around, 2 female Majors who recognized them at the Mall joined up with us.  I had wanted to check a different casino, and asked if the original 3 of us could go to that hotel for dinner.  We invited the two female soldiers to join us.  5 of us went to the Mayan Hotel for dinner.  The food was awesome. The service was not so great.  The restaurant here at the hotel would probably have been better for ambiance and service, but it was nice to get out to a new place.  The casino at that hotel turned out to be the only place I've seen down here that has on-site table games.  The only other ones I'd seen here are video ones.  However, I'm not a table game person so I was not impressed with the rest of the options.  Louis and Melinda and I went to the Clarion Hotel casino for a short while later, but it was so crowded that we didn't stay long. 

While all of us were together we decided to schedule a tour of the city this morning, so I'm in the process of arranging that.  I'm good at coming up with things to do and arranging them, but most of the time I'm alone so I don't actually get out and do much.  This is working well this weekend because the soldiers aren't in country long enough to really know what there is to do, while I'm enjoying having company to actually do things.  I'll take pictures and let you know what we see.

 

Weekend

Note to self:  DO NOT say to your normally calm, cheerful taxi driver 'RAPIDO' when getting in and thinking about the bus you need to catch soon in town.  This makes the start of the weekend particularly exciting...

The trip up on the buss was uneventful.  The taxi driver who picked me up seemed to know me, as he kept saying the name of the casino I usually go to.  I checked in, and the front desk person, Walter, was falling all over himself even more than usual to let me know how happy he was I'm here.  He walked me up to my room, which is considered a perk I guess, to check in while in the room, not standing at the counter.  I knew I was getting an upgrade since I had filled out the survey about my last stay.  To be honest, I waited until the second time they sent it to me, and then decided that I would mention the two small issues I'd had.  I did tell them that it was all handled by the front desk immediately. 

So, we get to the top floor, a floor above where I thought I was going and 2 floors above my usual rooms (these things matter when you are at a classy hotel).  He proudly opens the door to... the Presidential Suite!  I am awestruck!  I have 2(!) bathrooms, a living room with TV, a dining room with a table that seats 8, a walk in closet that I've gotten turned around in more than once this morning (before coffee...), a water jet deep tub with 2 steps up to it, a separate shower...  wow.  I'll get pictures and post them.

The strange thing is, with all this there are some things I'm thinking are, well, not up to par.  So much effort spent on the WOW factor, and details are lost.  I'm feeling badly wondering if I should mention them, if it will look like I'm angling for another upgrade.  The coffee in the room is still just the one packet, and not enough for the full sized pot, even when I only filled it part way.  The included breakfast in the private 9th floor dining room was mostly just fruit and scrambled eggs.  I was actually hungry, so I wanted some plantains or bacon or something.  The guys working there, both last night and this morning, seem to ignore me.  Granted I didn't come dressed for 9th floor, but I have had to ask for everything.  That is not up to even the service I get downstairs.  I watched the waiter here take a cup from one of the (well dressed...) gentlemen as he drank the last of his coffee not even giving him time to set his cup down before refilling it.  I had to ask for more.

I'll post more later.  Time to get going, the maid is here.

Countdown

I am at work, waiting until I can leave for my 3 day weekend.  As usual, I'm going down to the Capital to the casinos and such.  Hopefully some folks from here will join me tomorrow and we can branch out and see a bit more of the city.  No promise of pictures, but maybe.  I also did a project chart of the basics I want to finish up before leaving here.  My timeline shows me ready at the soonest sometime the end of February.  sigh.  I'm trying to figure out when my next trip home will be.  Looks like January.  So, I'm getting comfortable with the idea that I may spend the next year or so here.  Not my original plan, but the longer I'm here the more comfortable I get.  Even Honduras can be a rut it seems.

blogs

Keeping a blog is a useful exercise on many levels.  In particular recently, when I've realized that all I have to write about is my dentist appointments I know that I don't really need to update everyone.  It's almost at an end, the dentist thing.  End of November or first weekend in December for sure.  Also, I have to decide how I feel about my life being so uneventful that I have nothing to write about.  I'm ok with it at the moment.  It's uneventful because I'm tying up loose ends, getting ready for my next move, whatever that ends up being.  Boring stuff, of interest only to me.  Mostly trying on new realities in my head to see what seems doable.

So, now I'm off to do some of the things that would be nice to be able to post that I've managed to accomplish around here.