Rugby, Joe and "Bob"

After a tough week at work - my third since rejoining the work force - Vicki and I attended two exciting functions - 1) breakfast at Bob's Taco Station, and 2) the rugby match between Texas Tech and Rice University. Both were memorable.

Let's start with our visit to Bob's Taco Station. As we do about once each month, we arose on Saturday morning and headed for Bob's. We arrived around 9:30 to find the usual crowd. Most of the tables were taken but we didn't have to wait. After being seated and ordering we were sitting there chatting. Suddenly a very large almost round man appeared at our table. He introduced himself as Joe Alaniz and then proceeded to take a seat. I recognized Joe as the owner of Bob's. You'd think the owner of Bob's would be named Bob (I'll get to that later). After seating himself, Joe waited about three seconds to launch into a summary of his life story. He told us that he and his wife had been married for 52 years, that she was as mean as a snake (we think he was joking), that they was originally from the Valley, that he had served in the U.S. Army in Germany in the late 50's, and that they had come to Rosenberg by way of San Antonio back in 1990. Joe had recently been forced to give up his job with the Texas Department of Corrections due to a disabling back injury. Faced with the prospect of not having any money, the Alaniz family decided to open up a snowball stand (now called "shaved ice") in an abandoned gas station on Highway 90 in old town Rosenberg. Their business was fairly successful during the steaming hot summer months, but as late fall approached they realized that the market for snowballs would most likely diminish significantly with the onset of cooler weather. It was at this point that Mrs. Alaniz decided that they should open up a stand to sell burgers and tacos to the local "wetbacks" (her words). The did just that, expanding into the remaining space of the old gas station. Bob's Taco Station was born. As Joe continued his story he told us that the Station was named not for him, but for his youngest son, Roberto, or as they called him, "Bob". Today, Roberto - who graduated from both Texas A&M and from culinary school - has taken over the day-to-day operation of the business. Joe, who is now 74 years old, busies himself with handling some of the more mundane administrative tasks of the business and with conducting public relations work with customers such as ourselves. He told us he has a "BS" degree.

After we left Bob's we headed down to Rice University to attend the rugby game between Texas Tech and the Rice Owls. This game was a "club team" affair, which is really a throw-back to the old days of college athletics when the participants played not to hold their scholarships and to make lots of money for the athletic department, but simply because they loved to play their game. The Tech boys made their may to Houston on their own dime and stayed not in an upscale hotel but in the homes of local families with whom they are acquainted. Vicki and I showed up at the game to watch play the semi-famous Reid Curry, the son of our good friends, Rachel and Randy.

Let me describe rugby to you, based on the understanding I gained by watching this one game. There are (I think) 15 players on a side. They are dressed in skin tight jerseys and shorts that look like the ones worn in the NBA back in 1985. The majority of the players on the Tech team, and a few more for Rice, had Mohawk haircuts. I observed that a common trait of rugby players is to have over sized thighs, which when accentuated by their little short shorts tend to make them look almost freakishly bulky. Top this off with the Mohawks and they all looked just a little bit scary. Scoring in rugby is via a "try" which is similar to a touchdown and worth five points. After scoring a try there is the attempt for what I would call the extra point, which is actually worth two points. Points can also be scored via a drop kick field goal, which is worth three points. I didn't actually catch the final score because in club games scoreboards are apparently optional (Rice's field didn't have one). However, the last score I heard was 32 - 7 in Tech's favor, and Tech scored a lot more points before it was over. Reid did not disappoint us, going about 75 yards for a try before collapsing breathless into the try zone. Go Raiders!

For those of you who have never seen a rugby ball up close, here is a rugby ball up close. If you look very closely at the words on the the line under "Gilbert" you'll note that this ball was "Pre-Kicked", whatever that means.

Here I am with Reid, the hero of the day. I was informed that wearing two different colored socks has absolutely no significant of any kind, except maybe to Reid.

Slow Death and Valentine's Day

I've been thinking about my blog and I'm starting to get concerned. After nine or so months of posting on a fairly regular basis I fear that I have run out of stimulating topics upon which to discourse. When my life was a carefree succession of endless days unencumbered by employment I had time to think of stuff and blog about it. Even if what I wrote entertained nobody but myself I still looked forward to launching my thoughts and opinions into cyberspace on a consistent basis. But what do I have to blog about now? Work? My commute? IRS regulations regarding the administration of COBRA and HIPAA? All fascinating topics to be sure, but will this be be enough? Will my blog die a slow death? Only time will tell.

With that said . . . I'm starting to get back into the swing of things as a working man. My circadian rhythms have now been synced up with my new sleep patterns and I no longer have to rely on my alarm clock to awaken me in the morning. I still set it for 5:00 am (just in case), but there is really no need, as I now wake up precisely at 4:41 every morning. I think I have just about convinced myself that an 80 minute, 75 mile commute isn't really so bad. I actually felt pretty good about it today for a couple reasons. First of all, I didn't make the trek to Wadsworth today because I had two meetings in Houston. As I was heading inbound of the Southwest Freeway in the rain I noticed something that I hadn't seen for the last two weeks - cars - lots of cars, most going only about 15 mph in the driving rain. There are no cars going 15 mph on my commute to work. Second, I ran into a friend who works downtown and he commented that it takes him about an hour and fifteen minutes to get home from work most days. And that's a grinding bumper-to-bumper, dodge-car kind of a drive. I have yet to encounter any bumper-to-bumper traffic as I travel through the downtown thoroughfares of Needville, Pleak, Boling, Magnet (yes, there's actually a crossroads called Magnet) or Wadsworth. And, I have discovered "books on tape" - which are actually, of course, books on CD. I've listened to two of them so far and they are like magic for making my drive time fly by. I found out today that it's possible to go online with the Fort Bend Public Library and reserve some pretty good titles. I predict that I will become a very well read - or should I say "well listened" - person over the next few years. Think how impressive and interesting I'll be at dinner parties!

Today was my first pay day and it turned out much better than expected. It seems that due to some type of payroll glitch I received not one but two pay checks! Vicki texted me in my meeting when she saw the direct deposits hit our checking account, but alas the error was discovered immediately, before she had time to withdraw the extra funds. Within a few minutes I had a voice mail and an email asking that I call payroll to arrange for a repayment of their mistake. I will dutifully - if regretfully - comply with their request.

Finally, I have a movie review for you. Last Friday - I'm off every Friday you know - Vicki and I saw the movie Dear John. I didn't really know either of the lead actors, but I know that the female lead was the same girl who was the daughter in Mama Mia. Yes, I'll admit I say Mama Mia, but I thought it was stupid. I won't say much other than Dear John far exceeded my expectations and for the most part wasn't bad. I wouldn't drop everything to run out and see it, but if you're having a slow day it might be something worth considering.

Tomorrow, being Friday, is my day off. I have some big plans. First, I plan to fix the leak in the kitchen sink. After that my schedule is mostly open.

For those of you (guys) who have been too busy to notice, don't forget that this Sunday is Valentine's Day. Although some cynics may try to convince you that this special day is nothing more than an overblown conspiracy by Hallmark and other retail terrorists to separate you from some of your hard-earned cash, please observe it for what it truly is - a day to show your special someone how much you care. Don't feel that you need to go overboard. Any small token of your affection will do. Really . . .

One Week Down - 311 More 'til Retirement

I know the suspense is killing you, so I thought I'd give everyone an update on my first week back at work after my nine-month hiatus. All-in-all things went pretty well. My biggest problem was feeling something akin to jet-lag for the first few days. I've never been a big fan of sleeping really late, but during my exile from the work force my average time of rising in the morning was around 7:15 AM. This wasn't exactly sleeping the day away, but it's late when compared to 5:00 AM. My commute has been about what I expected. After trying every conceivable route I've determined that the fastest and easiest way is Highway 59 to Highway 36 to FM 442 to Highway 60 to FM 521. During my scenic 75-mile drive I pass through the metropolises of Rosenberg, Needville, Pleak Village, Boling, Bay City and Wadsworth. These are just the big towns. There are also several smaller ones whose names escape me at this time.

The people at work are all pretty nice and for the most part pretty laid-back types. The differences between Transocean and the South Texas Project Nuclear Power Station - affectionately known to the locals as "STP" - are striking. Transocean had 25,000 employees located literally all over the world. STP has about 1,500. Transocean was populated by a large percentage of international employees. STP is about 95% locals who were born and raised in south Texas. Transocean had an atmosphere of tension, chaos and suspicion, born from years of continual mergers and acquisitions. STP has an atmosphere that seems closer to one big family. A large number of people who work there have been there for 20+ years. Three of the people who work in my department have known each other since they were kids, having grown up together in Bay City, gone to school together, and actually graduated together in the Class of 1976. To them, I'm practically a foreigner.

There's a company store on-site - called Nuclear Notions - that sells STP shirts, jackets, caps, key chains, and just about any other trinket upon which an STP logo can be placed. There is also a small fitness center - called Nuclear Motions (I not kidding). I found out yesterday that on Thursdays the Credit Union offers free popcorn. They have one of those big popcorn poppers that you see at the movie theater in their lobby and everyone just goes in, grabs a bag and fills it up.

One thing that STP doesn't have is covered parking. I first became aware of this when I arrived for work on Monday morning and it was raining. This realization was reinforced every day for the rest of the week. For the last 30 years I've always worked in places with parking garages. I'll need to get a decent umbrella.

In spite of the long commute, the goofy names for the company store and fitness center, and no parking garage, I'm looking forward to my new nuclear career. Please keep those jokes about glowing in the dark coming.

This is a picture of STP. The two big domes are where the nuclear reactor units are housed. The building in the foreground is where my office (see below) is located. Disclaimer: I did NOT take this picture, which if I had would have subjected me to disciplinary proceedings "up to and including termination of employment." This is a picture of a picture from a recruiting brochure. Of course, this begs the question - If it's okay to put this picture in a brochure that is distributed to the world, why is it not okay for employees to take the same picture?

This is my office. I'm still working on ideas for my decorating motif. Note that I have a great view of the dumpster.