Part 17: Mexicans, at the shout of Goal!

Sunday June 24th, 2007.

I woke up at 8:00 am. I rushed to meet Gisela at 8:10 to go to church at 9:00. I don’t remember if the alarm clock went on and I just turned it off, or if I didn’t even set it in the first place. I didn’t shower nor had breakfast. We took two busses to get to church; even though it would have been a 5 minute drive if we had a car. If only.

When we came back from church, (and after taking a shower and having breakfast) we decided that this time we were going to go to Galleria for real. So we took the number 4 bus again and waited for the 33. This time it actually showed up and in a moment or two (more like 40 minutes) we were in Galleria.

The mall was really nice. I bought I shirt and a little something at the Disney store for my 5 (almost 6) months-old nephew Eduardo (a.k.a. “Eddy”). Before we knew it, it was already past 2pm, and we rushed for a bar to watch the final of the soccer Gold Cup tournament: Mexico – USA. The bar was full of Mexicans watching the game, aside for a couple of gringos watching baseball on a different TV. Service was less than O.K. because no waiter would pay any attention to us. In a moment, one of the two bartenders turned the TV volume down to a point that we couldn’t hear the game! We were all pissed. He argued that “there were other customers that weren’t there to watch the soccer game”. What a moron. Seriously, we were easily 20 to 1 in ratio. Then the bartender broke some glasses like 3 times so that was funny. When we were ordering, he told us that the chicken quesadillas were more that enough for the three of us: “more than what you three could eat” in his own words. “Swear on it” I told him and he said “It’s a pretty big dish”. What a mistake. I mean they were good but nowhere near “more than what we could eat”. I had two beers and the girls both had lemonades. All this is important. Regarding the game, both teams played fairly good. Mexico’s goal was awesome, but the lame-ass referee from Guatemala gave away a penalty shot. Mexico lost 2 to 1. When the game was over, I asked for the bill but no waiter would pay any attention to us! At this time there weren’t that many people in the bar, probably 20 or 30. When the bill finally came we read it to find out that they had forgotten to bill the lemonades. I handed it over to the bar tender with a credit card in it. After a little while, I was still waiting for the bill to come back, so the bartender looked at me and said “What?” to which I replied “Well, I handed you my bill! There was a credit card inside!!” And after looking for it for a while, he finally found it. When he handed over the receipt to be signed he told me “Is the game already over? Huh, I didn’t even notice”. So I remember someone once told me in Colorado that for cases like this, if you want to tell your waiter he’s done a lousy job, you just have to leave a dollar and a penny. So that’s the amount we left for tip, and we left.

We waited for the number 49 bus that would take us back home but never came. While we were waiting, a skinny black guy wearing a long t-shirt (long, long t-shirt) came to us, asking for money. Even though it was true that in the beginning we didn’t understand a word he said, we were pretty damn sure he was asking for money. We pretended we didn’t know any English and after a while he left. “Un dinero” he kept on saying, “un dinero”.

We kinda got lost for a while, there on our way back. Since we didn’t get on the bus we were supposed to (because of the lame bus schedules that end at 6 or earlier), we weren’t exactly sure when to get off the bus we were on. When we saw that the bus was taking a turn in the opposite direction, we did. We then guessed where we were based on our knowledge and orientation in Houston. That, until we saw “You are now reaching Houston city limits”. Where the hell where we?! After walking for about 5 blocks we discovered we weren’t actually far from a known place. We ended up finding Beechnut street and a bus stop that would take us home.

At night I did laundry. There was a huge storm going on; the kind of storm you don’t even dare to cross the street. Lightning was striking really near every second or so. After that I played some good ol’ Texas Hold’em with Carlos and JC. JC won but I was so close; I had more than twice the chips any one else had for almost all night. We’ll play again on Wednesday.

Another day over. Seems to me that these past few weeks have been going away faster that usual. In no-time I’ll be back in Monterrey. What’ll happen with my plans to go to Colorado?

Part 16: What’s a nice place like this doing in a girl like you?

Friday June 22nd and Saturday June 23rd, 2007.

In the morning nothing new really happened; you know, got to the lab at 9 am, turned my computer and laptop on, built some code (or tried to), waited for half an hour for my laptop computer to really finish turning on.

At 11:00 am Dr. Adol and I attended a conference called “The Internet’s underground economy”, by Rob Thomas (not the artist), founder of Team Cymru. It was pretty interesting as well as entertaining. It talked about how unsafe credit card information on the Internet really is, as well as some other things. Also, there was a free lunch, so that was really nifty too.

In the afternoon we went and bought some beer at the Foodarama (now we know better) and spent the rest of the afternoon and night playing “never ever have I ever” in the girls’ apartment. Always a fun game. We were there, all talking and laughing, in a cheerful environment. Suddenly I began to feel cold, so I tried to reach for a blanket to cover, because my bed was freezing. It didn’t take me a while to realize that it was already morning and that I had slept on the rug. When was the party over? There had been no actual transition between me being in the party and me falling asleep. Blacked out. Can’t remember a thing. Hung-over as I could be, I managed my way to the top of the bed, still in the girls’ apartment, to sleep next to GabyAle. She looked at me with that “I told you so” kind of face. She later told me all the things I had said last night and all the things that happened in the party that I was supposedly at. Funny stuff. Too hung-over to really care. Plus, I didn’t do anything to regret, aside from a couple of comments maybe.

I got to my own room, took a shower and had some breakfast. I’m really running low on food, the only thing I really have left are the Mac & Cheese.

In the afternoon Gisela, GabyAle and I wanted to go to Galleria, so we took the bus number 4, to later take number 33. We were at the bus stop waiting for bus 33 when suddenly a huge storm fell on top of us. We had but one umbrella so we were group-hugging under it. We were soaking wet. A nice Latin American family rolled down the car window and asked us where we were headed to. They didn’t give us a lift, because they weren’t headed there, but they did give us an extra umbrella. They were really nice. I wish I could repay them what they did. Anyway, but 33 never showed up so we took bus number 4 back to Husky Village. We decided that we were going to go later to Galleria when the rain dispersed a little. And it did, alright, but too late to go to Galleria, because the service stops at 6:40 pm for the bus we needed.

We ended up going to Downtown to search for a nice restaurant. Everything was closed. What the fuck is wrong with Houston’s downtown where everything closes on weekends? Working schedules for most businesses are from 9 to 5 from Monday through Friday. Don’t they realize that that is the same time when people are at work? We found a Popeye’s and had some crispy oiled something. When we left the place, it was already closed for new customers.

At night we ended up watching “Monster House”, then computer-animated movie that was on theaters last year. It was freaking cool! I love kids’ humor that has adult jokes hidden within. Too hidden for a child to realize what’s going on.

The movie ended at around 1:45 am so I left the girls’ apartment before 2 am. No rules broken this time. I feel I’m making accomplishments as a good citizen of Husky Village. As if I even cared.

Part 15: Smells like someone “arted” here.

Thursday June 21th, 2007.

It’s been two days that Ananth hasn’t come into the office (Tuesday and Wednesday). I have a mixture of feelings: on one hand I feel really relaxed that I can work at my own pace without being watched; on the other hand I feel that the more time he’s not here, the more work he’ll be wanting to see achieved when he returns, and that is a very dangerous situation.

I think I’ve made some progress, I mean, before he left I was not able to compile anything, and I was running a Java-enabled programming environment. Since he left I was able to figure out how to download the C++ plug-in, install it, add the include files, add the binaries and compile a “Hello World” program. I haven’t been able to render anything, but the basics, I got them.

In the afternoon we went to the Contemporary Arts Museum. Personally, at first I didn’t want to go, because I have a problem with contemporary artists: you see, when you hear about classic artists you can have certain confidence because the work you’re looking at has prevailed through time, and the artists that should be forgotten are already forgotten and only the best ones still stand. In contemporary art, you can’t. Anyone can be “contemporary”, and anything can be called “art”.

There was some interesting stuff in the museum, but nothing to be really amused. Taking pictures wasn’t allowed inside, so I didn’t take any. Plus, we had someone on our backs all the time, saying “Do not touch” every time we came near a piece of crap, I mean, art.

The only cool thing in the museum was the gift shop. It was full of curious things and mind games and whatnot; really eccentric stuff. We spent a lot more time in the gift shop than in the whole museum. I think we were there for a couple of hours at most.

Later on, we went back to our apartments and into the swimming pool. At around 9:00 pm I left to take a bath and went to the gym. I watched the Mexico – Guadalupe soccer game. Mexico won 1 to nothing and passed to the finals against USA. It’s going to be interesting. Sadly, Mexico has been playing tremendously awful, so I don’t have my hopes on. The goal against Guadalupe was awesome, though.

I really want to go to Colorado; I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Every day I think about it a little bit more. I’ve searched flight tickets and they’re not that expensive. I should go. I really should.

Part 14: There’s nothing new under the sun

Monday June 18^th through Wednesday June 20th, 2007.

I think it’s a little bit frustrating how I’ve really learned a lot this past couple of weeks but can’t really reflect that knowledge yet. I feel I should have known so much more before I started this summer program. Anyway, I’m learning and I guess that it could be worse.

These past three days I’ve been reading a lot of manuals and tutorials, and clicking here and there to get used with the interface of the terminal window and the new program I downloaded: Eclipse SDK. It’s the first time that I see a good GUI in a Linux program so far. I’m not saying that Linux programs suck, but the terminal window does.

These three days I’ve gone to the gym. Hopefully I will continue to do this and make it a habit. In Monterrey I go every once in a while, even though “the gym” is inside my own house. Usually I just use the treadmill and the bench to work out the abs (with no results if I keep up the drinking).

Now I realize that since I’ve been drinking less beer, that’s probably the reason of my weight loss (I’m losing weight according to Betty); just maybe. I’m not skinny, not even thin, but I better start drinking to look healthier.

Wednesday night at Husky Village was good I guess. We had “Italian dinner” provided by the residence staff. By the time I got there, there were only some lettuce pieces and some tasteless spaghetti. It was free though, so I can’t really complain.

After dinner, Texas Hold’em was on! I had been wanting to play ever since we first arrived but no one really seemed to be interested. Finally yesterday we got together and played. A couple of hours later JC and I were the only ones playing, and since it was taking way too long, we split the money and took half and half. It was good. Headed for the gym and nothing else really happened.

Looking forward for the 29^th when I hopefully will be going to an Astros game.

Part 13: Mexicans, breaking the rules? That’s got to be a first.

Saturday June 16th, 2007.

Everyone left to visit NASA. GabyAle and I weren’t carried away with them because, at least personally, I didn’t want to go. I remember when I was a child I once went to NASA and it wasn’t impressive. That tour would have killed any child’s dream to become an astronaut.

It started with a bus ride, where they told us: “Over there, in the horizon to the right, there is a platform.” Followed by a museum where they had pictures and videos of rockets launching and the people who crewed them. I also remember there was a video of the Challenger exploding. Not a nice thing to see.

Anyway, I had my reasons not to go. So GabyAle and I went to the Health Museum. On our way there we saw this old black guy arguing (more like actually fighting) with... well, nothing. He was just standing there, yelling at the air (or his own reflection on a bus sign panel); really cursing out loud. Everyone at the bus stop, we just stared at each other and laughed nervously. "As long as he threatens a ghost, and not me, it's all good" said a tall black guy, laughing "I can even help him catch it. C'mon, hit it!" mimicking as he caught the ghost and held it for the crazy man to hit it.

The museum was pretty cool. They have all these mind games that are truly not for any kid. Yes, it’s all for kids, but really, I feel more like an old kid than a young adult (maybe wrongly).

At 5:03 pm (I know because a museum employee told us so) suddenly there were no people in the museum left but GabyAle and me. So we were told that the museum had closed at 5:00 pm.

After a while the rest of the people returned from NASA with beers, and so we all got together to drink a play cards. That was until someone tried to open the door.

Let me explain to you a little bit of background on Husky Village. There is quite a list of “don’ts”: including possession and consumption of alcohol. The person in charge is Sara Beth, “not the nicest person in the world”. There is constant surveillance by the R.A.’s and they can break into your room; they do that from time to time specially at hours when no one is in the apartment. And if that wasn’t enough, there is a strict rule forbidding opposite-sex people staying in the same apartment after 2:00 am.

So there we were, really late, all drinking and yelling until we heard someone at the door, and before knocking, he/she tried to open. We all inside saw how the knob turned but since the lock was on, he/she couldn’t enter. So we all “silently” RAN to hide the beer and ourselves, since we weren’t supposed to be in the girls apartment after 2:00 am!

GabyAle opened the door but no one was there. So after a moment of two, we kept on drinking, a little bit more silently. We stayed over though, because no one should see us guys walking out from a girl’s apartment. Stupid rules. I mean, we would have still probably stayed there over the night, but since there is a rule against it, now we’re doing it obligated.

Well, that’s what I get for living in the residence halls.

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Sunday June 17th, 2007.

I woke up without a hangover, which is good when you try to go to church in the morning. After church we guys prepared the breakfast for the girls and in the afternoon we went shopping for groceries and such.

I think it’s just too much that we’ve been here for two weeks and buy food every other day: we’ve already been to two WalMarts, Target, Fiesta, HEB, Foodarama and CostCo, so many times it’s not even funny. I guess I’ve been eating a lot, but I’m loosing weight because it’s almost just tuna and turkey.

We went to Ross, dress for less… I still don’t know how people keep going to those places. You can probably find one good item every tenth time you go there. After laughing when I saw the 5XL shirts that were larger than a regular beach towel, we left.

At night we just got together and watched Pirates of the Caribbean, the first movie on a laptop and that was it.

Part 12: I’m hungry for RICE

Friday June 15th, 2007.

I don’t think I did anything impressive (or even useful) at work, but in the afternoon there was a dinner at Rice University and my friend GabyAle was invited. Since she could bring family with her, I went as her husband.

Rice University, for those who haven’t been there, is like Hogwarts. There you are, in this huge campus (that has only 3,000 undergrad students) with big fields and beautiful buildings.

Up until this point, we had been living at Husky-fucking-Village for two weeks and without a drop of alcohol; so the first thing we did was to go to the bar. Had a couple of beers and headed on to the dinner.

After the dinner, we returned to the bar and I saw what I never thought I would see again: New Belgium Beer!!! They had Fat Tire and Mothership Wit. So I had one of each and we all went on an alcohol hunt.

Our first stop was HEB. So we went inside and grabbed some beer and stuff. At the checkout, this Mexican guy named Guadalupe asked for our ID, so Paulina grabbed her voting license to what ‘Lupe’ said he couldn’t accept because he couldn’t have way of knowing it was an official ID. So I showed my license, but same thing happened: “Those are Mexican IDs”. Morris then showed his Visa, and when Lupe didn’t accept it, I lost it. “The Visa is NOT a Mexican document! It’s issued by the U.S.” I told him, “Here, this is my ID from Colorado” but he wanted a Texas ID, so we all got pissed that a guy named Guadalupe that spoke worse English than any of us had just looked down on us for being from Mexico. What a douchebag. The manager told us the same thing so I told him that we were going to Fiesta to get the beer, and we left.

We arrived at the Fiesta just to find out that the liquor store was closed, so we went to a gas station, bought alcohol there and that was the end of it. We should have done that in the first place.

Fuck you, Guadalupe. For a moment there I almost told him “I’ll show you my ID when you show me your green card.” But I wasn’t looking for a fight.

We all returned back to the apartment and got hammered. It was a good day after all.

Part 11: My mom told me not to talk to strangers

Thursday June 14th, 2007.

That’s the last time I talk to a stranger on the bus. This tall, black guy with almost no teeth started the conversation: “Are you Mexicans?” After that he wouldn’t shut the hell up! To be honest, I think I understood a tenth of what he was saying. He started talking about race and heritage. “I’m also South American, we could be family” he said, to which I responded: “We all descend from Adam and Eve” doing my best not to correct him by telling him how mad it makes me when someone in the States calls us Mexicans “South Americans”. He went on and on about races, languages and nations, to change the conversation to religion. He said he was a Jehovah’s Witness and that the final battle was about to begin… THAT type of conversation. I was tempted to stop the bus and wait for the next one, but I didn’t want to be late for work. Finally we reached the transit center and I ran for it.

Dr. Jose Florez is a programming virtuoso that helped me on compiling the code. Actually I didn’t even compile it, but he helped me on making the computer TRY to compile. So now I have an actual response from the program.

At 11:00 Ananth and I had a video conference meeting with Dennis and Eric, both in Iowa and working on the same project. I think I got served. Eric had already compiled the code and run the simulation. At the end I guess it wasn’t all that bad, now I have a lead on how to do the next step.

Eureka! After lunch I finally was able to run the simulation. It’s a good day. I can’t help thinking on how clumsy Archimedes must have been. I mean, not dumb at all, but seriously, I would feel a little awkward running around naked every time something awesome happened.

In the afternoon, Ananth told me that he was impressed that I had “made this much progress in such a short time”. I beg to differ, but who cares, my boss just told me he likes what I doing.

On my way out I had a quick meeting with Stefan Birmanns to discuss the different software packages that I could use to implement the 3D environment of the simulation. After that I was already late to meet everyone at the museum of Natural Arts. It was really cool.