Darn Yankees!

This probably isn't exclusively a Texas phenomena, but I strongly dislike the Yankees. I'm pretty sure they're robots. Since I'm from Dallas I'm a big Texas Rangers fan, even though they struggle most seasons to get to the playoffs. Unfortunately they didn't even make it this year.

But as for this World Series, I'm not a huge Phillies fan, since they won last year, and coming from Pittsburgh, I'd rather see the Pirates and Steelers do well than the Phillies and the Eagles. I've been telling my stepdad Todd, who is a huge baseball fanatic and Yankee-hater, that I'm going to root for the Yankees just so I can have one more reason to hate them next year. However, as I actually watch the game, it is physically impossible for me to root for them. I think that I would explode if I did!

As far as local opinions go, most people here dislike the Yankees because they always block the Rangers from advancing in playoffs (if, of course, they get into them). Plus, who doesn't love rooting for the underdog, and the Yankees have totally bought everyone out. So for the meantime I say "GO PHILLIES!"

fyi- I have thought of a few future entries, so I intend on not abandoning the blog for a whole month again.

That was September

September has come and gone, even though for some reason I keep thinking that it's Halloween. My mind keeps replacing September with October. Not sure why. I can't explain what's going on with that. As for what has been going on, I've been doing some part time work and spending time with my grandma who came in town to visit from Oregon.

Also, now that the football season has started, I've realized that leaving Pittsburgh doesn't mean that I'll stop rooting for the Steelers. I think that I was a little surprised how much fun it is to watch them play. However I do have to say that Polamalu needs to get better!

So September is ending and October is starting, which in Texas means that the high temperatures are starting to decline. Yes, the highs are down to as low as 75! Quite the cool off! The trees are so cold, they're already dropping their leaves. (not that there are any trees in Texas anyway...)

Patrick & Patrick

I met my friend Patrick Poon from CMU in Dallas yesterday. It was a short visit, but I think we had a good time. We went to an IHOP and then took a tour of the places I grew up, totally Ken Lau style. We went past my high school, junior high, and elementary school, past my old house that I grew up in, and past my grandparent's house, and past the old church I went to when I was a kid. We also got out and went into one of the nicer malls. So all of this has me a little self-conscious that I must not be very good at coming up with fun things to do, so I told Patrick that next time he comes through I would have a much better list of activities lined up.

But it was good to see someone from Pittsburgh. I don't feel that I'm likely to see people down this way too often, but I certainly hope I do! It's fun seeing folks from Pittsburgh again. Anyone coming to Dallas/Fort Worth should definitely let me know ahead of time so I can give them an awesome tour too! (a little aside) Ken, I think you'd enjoy this!

Also, I met with a person from a firm in Dallas that I'm very interested in. Hopefully they'll be hiring sometime in the future because they sound exactly like what I am looking for!

Before the Storm

Weather in Pittsburgh is what I like to call "spitulant". The sky just spits a lot. And the sky is cloudy all day, whether it's raining or not. Overall, I love the snow and the fall weather, but the rain leaves much to be desired. This August Longview has been very dry; it hasn't really rained for about 25 days. But this morning when I looked out the window the skies were cloudy. It just seemed like it would rain.

And that's what I think is so amazing. I didn't see a forecast for today, but I could just tell that it would. There's something here that causes the air before a storm to have this dense feeling. The sky turns dark and the temperature drops. A light wind stirs. From far off I can see dark clouds churning. Maybe a drop or two falls, but not much. I can hear a small rumble far away. Maybe it's something about being in the hills in Pittsburgh, you just don't know what's over that hill.

The time before the storm is the most amazing time to be outside. It's cooler. There are almost no mosquitoes. And the air smells so thick and fresh. One drop falls, and then another. Then a noise rises until it breaks and a million drops fall at once. The world is hushed.

Accents

I don't know if it is this way for people from Wisconsin or Boston or Pittsburgh when they hear someone speak with the accent of their home, but when I hear someone here speaking with a Texas twang, it is surprisingly comforting. I definitely don't have an accent. The most Texas thing about my speech is that I say "y'all". But I've noticed people use it all over, so it doesn't seem at all exclusive to Texas. I remember the very first day of studio freshman year we were all going around and getting to know one another, and when I was speaking, I happened to employ what I thought was the possessive form of the contraction for you all, which of course, is "y'all's". Everyone was so amused by this, but come on! The word makes sense, right?!

I read somewhere that having a Texas accent might actually help you get a job in places like Dallas where a lot of people move in from out of state. Not that these Texas interviewers were looking for it, but they subconsciously thought better of people with the accent. From my perspective, I'm just happy to hear the accent because it brings back good memories and reminds me of people. It also just seems so authentic.

I found this archive of recordings of people from different regions in the US. The first half of the recording is the person reading a scripted story, and the second half she talks about where she's from. I put it out for those who aren't from Texas and might want to know what it sounds like sometimes. I also included a link for a person from Wisconsin for comparison since that accent is probably fairly close to the way my parents speak.

East Texas Accent
Wisconsin Accent

There is actually some diversity even from place to place in Texas. Certainly where I grew up in Dallas the Texas accent is fairly rare if it shows up at all. But here in East Texas, a lot of people have it. If you are really interested, there are recordings from other places. Here is a link.

Yes, I did win the Texas Ducky

Yesterday in celebration of a friend of our family getting her Texas license for the first time, my parents decided to have somewhat of a themed evening. Thus we had barbecue brisket, turkey, along with baked beans and pecan pie (not PEE-can, but peh-cahn). She also got a cowboy hat and a big belt buckle.

So one time in second year at CMU, some of us in studio were taking tests about our state trivia, you know, like state bird, state flower, principle cities, etc. Well I got 10 out of 10 questions correct. You see, Texan children are required to take two full years of Texas History, both 4th and 7th grades. So the fact that I know that the Texas state tree is the Pecan Tree is not that crazy.

As part of the festivities, we played Texas Jeopardy. They had considered disqualifying me, but several of the categories seemed like they might be more than just state tree and state bird, so I joined. Some of the questions were pretty hard, but overall, I have to say that I know a significant amount of trivia about my home state. And that is how I won the Texas Ducky!

Woah, too much Ice Cream!

Texas is home to my favorite brand of ice cream, Blue Bell. I grew up on the stuff, even if I didn't fully appreciate it until I was a thousand miles away and realizing that the best ice cream in Pittsburgh was Haagen Dazs (or however you spell it). Sure, some people think that Ben & Jerry's is where it's at, but I just have to say that I don't think it holds a candle. To me, Ben & Jerry's tastes like lots of candy bars thrown into a vat of cold milk, but Blue Bell IS ice cream. My favorite flavor is Pralines and Cream, but I am also a big fan of the old fashioned Homemade Vanilla and the classic Cookies and Cream.

Now that I am back in Texas I have been eating way too much. Last night my church here had an appreciation thing where they served around 11 flavors of Blue Bell, but alas, I had been ice-creamed out! I have had so much ice cream that it sounded disgusting. Hopefully this problem will be remedied in the near future, because ice cream is too good not to eat. I've tried eating out of smaller bowls, which helps, but it's just soo good! I've been contemplating buying a treadmill anyway, but this may be about to push me over the edge!

Also, in case anyone is wondering my car seems to be working fine. The air conditioning doesn't work as well as in other cars, but I can just roll down the windows and I'm fine. I love having a car! I promise that when I get a job in Dallas I will try to use public transportation, but time will tell.

The Smell of Crayons

So I was cleaning through a pile of old things in my room the other day when I made a special discovery. My old crayon box. I don't know if this is something that every kid in the world had at one point or if I'm the only one, but I had a box of crayons that I kept and would always use it to draw things. The second I opened it, I remembered the smell. It just has this unmistakable crayon smell that probably only happens when they're stored in a box like that. Hundreds of colors like cerulean, apricot, or my very favorite, vivid tangerine (it's like neon orange!). My favorite thing as a kid was to draw maps. Not just any kind, usually all sorts. I drew maps of fantasy worlds, some of our house, some of mario-land, or maybe of the US.

Making maps is still one of my favorite things, although I don't use crayons anymore. I use computer software. I like thinking about what a map tells you. I hope that I can continue making maps as I get older, and turn it into a hobby. At CMU I took a class called Mapping Urbanism that was probably my favorite class that I ever took. We made maps to show things like where all the tourists were, or where new development is taking place, or the history the city's growth.

My crayon box triggered all of these thoughts. I probably never thought of that crayon box as being very significant to me before I rediscovered it, but it seems that I have an attachment to it. It's not every day that a smell is what is most memorable.

PS- this post goes out to ppoon for his encouragement for me to keep writing
PPS- anybody else have a favorite crayon color?

Texas Chinese Food?

Today I went to a chinese fast food restaurant. It is called "Magic China". The food was pretty good, and plentiful, but let me give you a taste of the experience. As I enter the small two-room restaurant, the walls are a rough, unfinished wood paneling, the type you would expect to see in a novelty store selling country wares. A mid-aged brunette comes up and asks warmly, "What da y'all want ta drink?" We each place our orders, each deciding on our choice of soup. Mom orders the Hot & Sour soup, Daniel the Egg Drop, and I get Wonton soup. The waitress exclaims, "Well ain't tha' niice! Y'all are all different!" She also calls me "honey". I notice the menu has the slogan Chinese food served the American Way.

Now so far this experience would give you a decent idea of where I am. Certainly not in a big city, and probably in the South. But the next thing that happens made it clear to me that there was no mistaking where I was. Along with our soups, the waitress brings out a bowl and sets it in the middle of the table. It is filled with fried wonton noodles. Now this might not ring any alarm bells for those of you who are not familiar with Texas, so allow me to enlighten you.

Texas is filled with a litany of Tex-Mex restaurants. In East Texas, where my family lives, there are probably more Tex-Mex restaurants than Barbeque places, more than burger joints, more than Ice Creameries or pizza shops, more than Catfish huts or flapjack palaces, probably even more than McDonald's. The one thing that all Tex-Mex places have in common is that chips and salsa are complimentary. Half of the time you get full just by eating tortilla chips.

So when the fried wontons come out and I see the starchy, fried crispy appetizer, I definitely know where I am. Not to mention the table next to us asked the waitress politely, "Do you know where our chips are?"

Clipping Hair and Vines

We went to a Rangers game last Saturday, and the weather was beautiful; mid 80's with a breeze. This did not seem to do the trick for the Rangers, however and they lost without much of a fight. The stadium is really nice, although the scoreboards are a lot easier to read at PNC Park. Thankfully the Rangers have been doing better and actually swept the Red Sox last night! Pretty awesome.

I got a haircut yesterday, so my neck is feeling cooler, whew! I love the heat down here, but it's nice to have shorter hair. I would try to put a picture up, but my computer is getting fixed (one of the hinges is falling apart). The fact that it is getting fixed is somewhat hampering my job search, but I'm working on trying to make the best use of my time so that I'm getting some things done. I keep hearing of more firms that sound interesting! I'm praying that I find the right fit for me.

I'm also helping my mom with some work in the backyard. We still have those big bee-like insects, and they don't seem to have gone away. Today I helped pull some Wisteria vines off of the trees in our backyard. They are everywhere! Mom spent hours pulling them off of our fence, and she only got about 15 feet cleared off.

Attack of the Killer Insects

My mom has a large garden in our backyard and since I've spent some time in it helping, I can't help but notice the gigantic insects! In Pittsburgh I hardly ever remember more bugs than some flies and a few many legged thingys. All the bugs here are twice the size, and there are five times as many flying and crawling around. See my picture of a dragonfly in our yard.

On one side of our house we are being attacked by these large bee-looking insects, except they are about twice the size. And they don't live in hives, they burrow in the ground and make these large piles of dirt where they've burrowed. I don't think they sting people, but they buzz right by you if they can. So if everything is bigger in Texas, let's just say that doesn't always make it better!

On an unrelated note, my car seems to be working fine. I do have to pay insurance, but it definitely seems like a good move and not too expensive. I will say, however, that leather seats are not a good idea in Texas!

What you can get for $5

Today I bought a car for $5! This is not only momentous due to the price, but also because it's the first car I've ever owned. The very, very few of you who have witnessed my driving abilities might be a little scared, but I promise that I will be able to drive just fine, more or less... anyways, it's a strange thing for me. But in Texas you really can't get anywhere without a car. I'm hoping wherever I end up in Dallas/Fort Worth I'll be able to get around some places without a car, but I know that's pretty optimistic.

It's a red '97 Honda Accord. Apparently it's running in decent condition, but is very old, so I'll be using it for only as long as it lasts (note how I'm crossing my fingers). I haven't actually driven it yet, but the people who sold it to me are friends of my parents. Any forthcoming funny/scary stories I will try to write down for your entertainment!

Sorry for the Gap

So as it turns out, it's easy to lose track of time when you're unemployed and enjoying home, and also don't have immediate internet access. I did make it home to lovely Texas, and have enjoyed several days in the beautiful Texas weather (which had a high of 102°F on the 2nd). Today we got a new wireless internet, so I am able to be online on my laptop, woohoo!

I had a lot of fun over the 4th of July. My sister Sarah and her husband Nick came in with my nephew Toby, and we had a good time. Nick loves playing Settlers of Catan (it's a board game for those who are scratching their heads), so we played four games that weekend. I regret to say I only won once (even though I was on some good ports during the other games, and I really thought I had a good chance!).

For the traditional 4th fireworks show, my town has quite a nifty setup. Instead of just letting anyone see the fireworks up close, they charge $200 a car for people to sit in a parking lot. Instead we parked in another parking lot for free. Much more economical, even if they're a little farther away. But what made the experience so great was the atmosphere. I don't know what fireworks shows are like in other states, but let's just say that in some of the more obscure parts of Texas, fireworks are choreographed to music. So should I have been surprised when the twangy country songs melodically intoned with the rockets red blare? I don't think so. Added in with the country songs were several military themes for the different branches, all finally topped off with the most emotional song of all with that line And I'm Proud to be an American, which might have made some people cry. The picture above is me wearing a patriotic red, white and blue hat.

Getting back to the present, I've spent most of this week just getting situated back in my home here in Longview. The last couple of days I've driven my parents' car a little just to get more adjusted to driving since I never really had a lot of experience. Also lots of laundry and helping my parents with things around their house, etc.

So I hope this fills you in a little bit. I'll be posting more often now that I have the connection. In fact I know that tomorrow I will be posting something that should be pretty fun news. So look forward to it. See y'all later!

Midway through Middle America

My parents and I are staying the night in Jackson, Tennessee, which has this cool feeling like the entire town is rising up out of a grassy field. All the streets dead end into a field of yellow grass that comes up to my knees. Literally, the street looks like it was meant to connect to another road, like part of this huge new development, but not much has been built.

We went to a minor league baseball game, which felt part of the grassy culture too. Afterward we stopped by a Sonic to pick up some ice cream desserts and listen to oldies on the Sonic radio. Overall the town felt like a scene from American Graffiti.

Earlier today we ate at a restaurant in La Grange, Kentucky, which sat on the main street. It's an old main street lined by stores with tin ceilings and hand-painted signs. But what makes this main street so unusual is that every 20-30 minutes a train pummels right down the middle of it! And it's not a big street!

So we're over halfway home to Longview, where my parents live and where I'll be living while I look for work. We should get in tomorrow and unload all my stuff.

(ps- for those who might be wondering, we rented a truck instead of a trailer, and everything seems to be working fine; we got out yesterday)

Trying to leave Pittsburgh

Yesterday my parents helped me pack up all my stuff, which was such a relief since I have so many little things I forget about. It's like that any time I move, there's piles and piles of stuff that I find in closets and in shelves that I forget I have.

Today after church my parents and I went to eat at Primanti Bros. at Market Square. Those sandwiches are huge!

But now on to the real story. We had arranged to get a U-Haul trailer to connect to our SUV. We had to drive to some part of the north hills I've never been to. All of this seemed fine, but on the way back to my apartment, we kept feeling the car jerking back. Then the transmission light went on. So there went our trailer plan. Instead we returned the trailer and went to Church Brew Works for dinner.

Now I'm sitting in a hotel watching The Dark Knight. So Plan B for moving starts tomorrow. Someone from my church told me today that they wouldn't let me go without a fight, so I guess this is Pittsburgh's way of making me stay a little longer.

Leaving Pittsburgh

After six years in Pittsburgh, I'm moving back to my home state, Texas, and looking for work in Dallas. My parents are coming in tonight to help me move. We're going to go out to a Thai restaurant on Walnut Street.

It's crazy to think that I'll be leaving Pittsburgh after such a long stay. I've loved being here with friends from CMU and First Trinity. I'm hoping that this can be a way for people from Pittsburgh/CMU to know what's going on with me as I move. It beats lots of annoying emails, anyways! I plan to use this to write about me finding work and adjusting to life back in Texas. I am also interested in starting more blogs later about topics I'm interested in, such as urbanism/suburbs, current events/pop culture, and christian topics, so stay tuned.