Big shout-out to Paul for the pancit and lumpia tonight. I got some leftovers from a party his family had last weekend, and man... I freakin' love some Filipino food. Nice work, Marie!!

Oh, and a belated shout-out to Rebecca for bailing me out of a boring night after Tiago's farewell. I've never been to a hole-in-the-wall place with a bluegrass band and an almost-cat-fight. Rawrrwrrr. ;-)~

I guess Tiago's still out in the mother country. Hope you're having a good time out there!!

I never did share that the farewell dinner was really great. Most of the old crew was there from my last gig, and it was really nice catching up with everyone. Steve got us caught up with the trials and tribulations of running a vineyard, and Rob told us of his new little girl, Pat's still doing well and is (in a neat turn of events) working on a project he started about 12 years ago, three or four jobs later.

Mike brought up an interesting point today, referring to a previous entry. He essentially said "Why are you putting this up to a vote? You clearly already know what you're going to do."

He's right. I'm going to Texas. This weekend, I'm getting my ducks in a row, and very very soon, I am freaking going to Texas. I don't need to put it up to a vote. What I was hoping for were some suggestions as to what to do/see out there, but it occurred to me that the only other person I know who could tell me what I wanted to hear was the only other person I know who put work/school aside to take the opportunity to travel and see this great country. (and that'd be a shout-out to you, Eric.)

You know, I was just flipping through some shows this morning and bumped into John Ratzenberger's Made in America. The premise is that he drives to factories and learns how Americans put together products that we have come to love. (It's a non-food version of "unwrapped" essentially). Anyhow, check out this quote from the opening statement:

"In the history of civilization, most people lived, worked and died within a few miles of where they were born. Only an intrepid few braved the elements and overcame their fear of the unknown in order to travel to far off lands. That's how knowledge and information managed to spread. An idea from here, mixed with a custom from there, those people mingled with these, their art influenced ours, and so on. Well, you know what? That same kind of exchange goes on each time we go some place new. We take home a little bit of where we've been and leave behind a little bit of who we are."

That was pretty neat, I thought. I feel like that a lot. I think my life has been enhanced by the things I've seen and people I've met.

The point of that last entry wasn't really a vote. It was to make public my thoughts about what's been building up inside of me for a long time... that I am not happy with my situation and have a clear alternative solution to the problem. I appreciated the comments (as always), and like my other entries, will keep the dialogue open for comments. Share your thoughts! Feel free.