shuttle endeavor's final launch

i got to view the final launch of nasa's shuttle endeavor!  it was pretty cool.  my cousin eli and his cousin butch secured a location along the river for a decent view toward the launch pad on cape canaveral, florida.  in fact, butch spent the night in his jeep to reserve the spot.

my hope was to get a good up-side-down photo with endeavor ascending in the background.  i didn't get the photo i wanted.  my camera's timer shut itself off without me knowing, so instead this picture was the accidental result when i hit the shutter.

when i realized the timer didn't go, i had to reset it and retake the shot.  in those few seconds, endeavor had snuck into the clouds.

unfortunately, the rare morning cloud cover combined with the technical difficulties with the timer foiled my plans for a fun up side down shuttle photo.  but hey, it was still fun!

nasa's final shuttle launch is atlantis in july.  not sure if i'll be here for that or not...  but if i am, it'll be one more crazy photo opportunity.

book thoughts

during the course of my journey, a lot of people expressed that they admired what i was doing and a number of people said i should write a book about my experiences.  i agreed that that would be a neat idea, but knowing it would take a lot of effort i purposefully left it as a post-trip possibility and purposefully didn't burden myself with having to take book-specific notes or photos.  whatever i happened to have at the end of the journey is what i'd have to work with.

as i look back over the amazing time i've had on the road, i now have a few book ideas and have been trying to organize them to start making a book become a reality.  i'd like to make at least one of them as a photo collection.  despite the smudges on most of my photos due to stubborn dust on the unreachable inside of the my camera lens, i have a decent number of lovely pictures that i'd like to make available in book form.

my experience with polishing and publishers is little-to-none.  so unless someone can clue me in to a better approach, i plan to submit my book(s) to an online publishing site.  from there anyone could buy a copy to be printed and bound and mailed.  unfortunately, the books won't be cheap even if i don't make any money off of them.  the color photo books could be roughly $30-$45 (for 50-100 pages), about twice the cost of a black and white print.  that leaves me wondering if it's worth it at all.  i still think it is.  i just want people to be able to enjoy the book(s) without having to sell all of their clothing to afford one.

pulling everything together to make a nice publication will take some time.  but the more i get feedback and hear about people's interest in books about my journey, the faster i'll work on it.

in the mean time i'm still lovin' the warmth of florida.

gotta love this bike

i've been doing some side jobs with my cousin eli.  one of the people we are doing work for built this homemade hunting bike and he let us enjoy testing it out!

i would love to ride this bike up to a stop light next to a semi tractor trailer only to have the truck driver have to gaze UP to see me. : )

eli coming up the hill...

plants and gardens

i've been enjoying my time in florida.   i tend to prefer climates where palm trees grow.

my uncle's garden.

my uncle and aunt have been warmly hosting me and helping me find good things to do while i'm here.  being with them and getting to know them better and spending time with my cousins in the area has been a huge blessing.

on the weekends i've been working for my uncle at his nursery.  it's been fun learning about the various kinds of plants and trees that he sells and helping walk-in customers find the kind of plants they are looking for.

on mondays and tuesdays i've been working on a small local farm that is focussed on organic growing methods, community building, and providing fresh foods locally.  it's still a new farm just getting off the ground.  i'm enjoying getting my hands dirty and my brow sweaty as we figure things out.

planting corn

among some other random things i've been up to includes preparation to be part of an upcoming flash-mob dance.  the one i'm participating in is nothing particularly impressive, but i've always wanted to be a part of one.  i've never made a list of things to do by a certain age, but if i had, being in a flash-mob would have been a fun thing to include on it.  i guess instead of writing a list of things to do, i'm just doing things and then maybe listing them later if i get the chance...

meanwhile, i'm still sorting out my short-term and long-term plans.  being in a beautiful climate certainly helps me while i meditate on ideas for what's next.  : )

keep driving east - louisiana to florida

continuing east, i detoured from I-10 in mississippi and alabama so i could see their short gulf coasts.  this is a beach in mississippi.

i snagged more upside down photos for my collection.  gulfport, mississippi.

mobile, alabama.

gulf state park, perdido beach, alabama.

oh, how i love beaches!

florida

once into florida i still had another 9 hours of driving to get to my relative's house east of orlando.  good thing i love to drive!

a few days in louisianna

it felt so good being on the road again.  i love driving.

since i was passing through baton rouge and know a few LSU alumni, i stopped in to see their campus.

i stopped in new orleans to stay with friends for a few days.  i had a fantastic time.

i got to participate with the crescent city cafe - a volunteer run non-profit organization which serves the needy in new orleans by offering free restaurant-style breakfasts.  my friends are the creators and leaders of the ministry.  last year i didn't get to see it, but this year the timing of my visit worked out perfectly.

hung out in the french quarter with laptops and some coffee.

love this hand-truck bike trailor

my own bike doesn't get enough use.  so i'm glad katie suggested we bike down to the st patrick's day parade.  just because mardi gras was over didn't mean the parades were...

not far from new orleans i visited my cousin jaime's family in slidell.  it was great to see them again, see where they've been living, chat and play, and just catch up on life.  after a few days there i continued my journey east along I-10.

bye houston

before leaving houston, i tried to say good bye to as many people as possible, but couldn't get to everyone.  i savored my last week there.  i enjoyed playing one last game of sunday ultimate frisbee,  i joined with my small group for a game night,  i relaxed in the japanese garden of hermann park near downtown, i visited friends out in the cypress area, and i went to the houston rodeo.   here are some rodeo pics:

i will definitely miss my new houston friends.  i cherish every moment i had there.  the very last thing i did in houston was attend ecclesia's ash wednesday service.  then i hit the road:  I-10 east.

bye-bye houston!  it's been lovely.

living in houston texas

i've been living in houston for two months now.  the relatively warmer winter weather has been quite enjoyable! most of my time has been spent looking for employment, making my texas residency official in all realms of life, and working on building relationships.  

i knew only a handful of people when i came here.  as i started getting acquainted with the city, those few friends lovingly helped me by showing me around, introducing me to others, giving me a place to stay, feeding me with amazing foods, helping me look for work, being 'there' for me, and lots more.  super blessed!  my friends here are some of the most generous and caring people i know of.   i'm very thankful for the opportunity i've had to get to know them better.  that is, after all, the main reason i felt the need to come here.

as for work, it's been difficult finding any engineering positions in houston that match my level and background of experience.  i'm pretty confident that i'd be able to find something if i keep pursuing it, but recently i've been thinking that houston is no longer the place where i should be focusing my attention.  most recently i've been considering a multitude of other possibilities for how and where to put my talents to work - and not necessarily within the corporate engineering world.  nothing's in concrete right now, but i'm excited to find out what's ahead.

meanwhile, i've also been meeting a bunch of new friends and have been staying quite active by getting together with people at various social events: sunday services at several churches, small groups, service projects, eating out or having dinners at people's houses, cafes, a super bowl party, weekly ultimate frisbee plus a tournament, frisbee golf at various parks, two dance studios for b-boy lessons, a dance night out, a home warming party, a weekly "in-between jobs" ministry, bike rides, etc...   wow, i must live in a city!  

apparently houston is now the 4th largest city in the united states.   there is definitely a lot going on here, and it's growing fast.   i moved to here with the full intension of staying long term, if necessary.  but from what i can tell now, a long term stay does not appear necessary.  i know i'm supposed to be in houston today.  so here i am.  but where i'm supposed to be tomorrow...  we'll see....

photos for some visuals:

houston sky lines

the flower corner where i worked 65 hours in a week to help them prepare for valentines day rush.

one of the dance studios for hip hop lessons

my "office" while between jobs.

randomly discovered a "china town" area of the city

some friends from my church small group.

played ultimate frisbee on my birthday

i scraped and then later really injured my knee on my birthday.  i love frisbee!

awesome cupcakes made by my friend in celebration of my birthday.

outside cafe agora where i'm composing this blog.  love their chai latte!