Monday, October 30, 2006

Good weekend!
Saturday started with Emily working an early half-day shift; I slept in with the dog. We had an evening commitment for dinner at her bosses, so we didn't do too much. The dinner was good, with a large attendance. Emily's pecan pie went over well, as usual.

Sunday was much busier. We initially planned to go to Saltillo or to the Cola de Caballo (Horsetail Falls). We eventually decided upon the Falls. We looked up some basic directions; it looked simple enough. We drove down the Carreterra Nacional until we saw a sign for Santiago, which also mentioned Cola de Caballo and turned there. We drove around the scenic village of Santiago and didn't see any further signs. We ended up going to the nearby lake and walking around there for a bit, then tried again. Failed again.

Stopped for gas, asked for directions. Apparently we didn't properly comprehend directions, failed again.

We decided just to drive on down the Carreterra a little further before heading home. Guess what we found? A bigger sign pointing to Cola de Caballo. Turning here, we had a straight shot all the way to the falls. There were some blind curves and one scary moment when a young idiot on a dirt bike passed a car coming the other way.

The falls reminded me a great deal of a state or regional park in the US: nice enough, fairly safe, attractive enough, lots of places for picnics or cookouts. This is not an adventure park or a hiker's dream, and the falls are NOT Niagara! I think it's a good place to take young kids or the mobile elderly.

Above the falls is a sign warning you to proceed at your own risk. With an invitation like that, how could we refuse? All the other cool kids were doing it! So, we squeezed through a hole in the fence and began a scramble over slick dirt, rocks, and tree roots. After a bit you get to some cliffs, with evidence of earlier erosion leaving small pits and caves. Some good views can be had up there. I didn't go all the way to the top. Emily was having a bit of trouble with the terrain, so we'll try for the top on a drier day (we've had a lot of rain in the last month).

The falls weren't as nice as they should have been, given the rain. Apparently a local landowner has dammed part of the stream that feeds the falls. I don't know if it's made it to court, but I suspect a State-run park will trump a guy trying to water his goats.

I will try and get pictures up Monday.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Descent into the Hole
This morning I caught a ride to the Consulate and took another exam. I also dropped off a package to my brother (containing his license of f-secure 2006 - I forgot to install it on his PC before I came down and his license had expired) and several pre-stamped and addressed envelopes for future Spanish exams. Emily persuaded me to go to lunch with her and another couple at the Hole.

Why is it called the Hole? Well, no one knows its real name, it's just a hole in the wall. There is no sign, other than a sandwich sign listing the types of food prepared. This is about as Mexican as you can get. It appears to have orginally been a carport or garage. There is a narrow balcony overhead for additional seating, some small plastic tables and chairs, a counter, a stove, a cooler for drinks, and precious little else. Two middle-aged ladies cook the food and collect the money in a tiny, tiny space. You eat off real plates with real forks. You eat whatever they've prepared that day. Today they had prepared enchiladas con queso and some sort of pork dish. Emily did the ordering while I held down the table and we both got enchiladas, refritos (refried beans), and rice. The enchiladas were mild, but good. The beans were a bit runny, but okay. The rice was the best I've had here yet. It wasn't the texture but the taste: a bit peppery, zesty, very tasty. I washed it all down with a Coke. I believe the total was $4 (that is, forty pesos) each.

If I can find out an actual name or determine the street address (it's on Ocampo, not far from the Consulate), I'll post it.

Post exam follow-up: I arrived home via taxi to find that the professor had already graded my exam. I had a couple grammatical mistakes (no surprise - I rushed - but ones I normally would've caught). I received an 89. If that was strictly for grammar, I'll be more careful in future. If it was for content, as I suspect, I'm a bit irritated. I think the teacher graded not based on the "exam prep" page, but on additional criteria not specified. Grr. Live and learn, I suppose. I emailed my thoughts on the matter to the professor. Perhaps she'll revise her documentation so future students won't make the same mistake.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Updates
Hmm... it's been a week. What's happened? We've had loads of clouds, cool weather (brr - in the 60s and 70s if you can believe it!), moths ('tis the season?), and school work. I took my first Spanish exam, but since it has to be snail-mailed back to the professor, I won't know the results for a bit (I'm sure I did fine).

I tried to take another exam, but the school forgot to give the proctor all the materials, so now I'll be taking that one tomorrow morning. I also hope to take an at-home exam later today, or tomorrow at the latest, for my fourth class. Progress is slower than I'd like, but it's beginning to pick up.

The weather today is a vast improvement: no rain, lots of sun, highs in the mid- to upper-80s. This weekend is going to be gorgeous: sunny, low 80s. Really, I'd rather have the 40s that my family is dealing with in Virginia. Honest. ;-)

Yesterday was a mix of sun and rain. A butterfly decided to take a rest on our front porch area. Getting a picture with its wings closed was easy, but open took a while. I'd see the wings beginning to open, try to get a shot, but by the time the digital camera actually TOOK the shot, the wings were closed again. This happened a lot.



I've also seen Monarch butterflies here for the first time, so I guess they're migrating through en route to their wintering grounds south and west of here.

Yesterday we got cable TV (somewhere, while interviewing a tourist visa candidate, Emily finds herself cheering for no apparent reason). Not to go into gory details, but we tried to get satellite TV for a while and finally abandoned it. Since the cable TV lineup didn't appear to carry ABC or SciFi (sob!), we bought a season pass for Lost and, thus far, the first three Battlestar Galactica episodes. So last night Emily is merrily flipping through the channels and finds... wait for it... Lost. As in the current episode that should come in via iTunes today!

I think it's going to take a while to figure out why some channels are in Spanish, some not, and what's on and when. We have channels such as WB (Warner studios, not the new CW) and Sony (also studios) that have an odd mix of current and recent (last 2-10 years) shows, many of which are also available on DVD. There's a channel called AXN that reminds me a lot of the old USA network, before it was "familyfied" and still aired La Femme Nikita, Xena, and other such shows. AXN airs Highlander, Andromeda, Lost, and other scifi and drama shows.

Now if I can just figure out how to get Cartoon Network and Animax in English, I'll be fine. Okay, it would also be nice to get the various Discovery and History channels in English, too, but I have to set priorities!

And the best part of having cable TV is: NO RABBIT EARS!

Emily spent a week on-call recently, which meant she didn't get out much, which meant another rompecabezas (jigsaw puzzle). Here's the latest (the third since we arrived):


And, from a week or so ago, here's a random sunset. The mountains you see are ones we rarely do; it's generally cloudy/hazy in that direction.


All for now - back to the oh so scintillating textbooks!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Studunce

I took my first exam yesterday, for an English class (Applied Grammar). It was easy and I scored a 97. Now if only the rest of the exams are that simple....

Although I'm still trying to get into the whole "back to class full-time" thing, little by little it's beginning to click. Motivation has always been my chief problem as a student, not ability. I'm far too easily distracted - oh, look! The laundry is piling up! Emily might need those pants tomorrow, so I'd better get right on it! And just look at those dishes! They won't wash themselves!

Right. Reality is, Emily told me not to worry about the housework. Problem is, I can't NOT worry about it. I'm by no means a neat-freak, but if I see that things are getting out of hand, I have to deal with it.

Then there's the siren call of reading for pleasure... well, I've nearly given that up. I think I've only read one book (Peter F. Hamilton's Misspent Youth) since I started classes in earnest.

In the past I've envied Emily's ability to put the rest of the world on hold, or at least auto-pilot, while she concentrates on something. I've also found it incredibly frustrating as the spouse on the receiving end. I watched her do this with occasional college classes, several certifications, work-related tasks - all while I tried my best to keep things from falling apart.

I'd give nearly anything to be able to emulate her now, but I'm just not wired that way.

Oh, and if you didn't read yesterday's Dilbert, you missed a good thing. :-)

Monday, October 16, 2006

VOTE VOTE VOTE

Last night Emily and I filled out our absentee ballots. Today she'll drop them in the mail and our civic duty is fulfilled. We're sending ours a few weeks early simply because I didn't want to wait until the last minute and risk the ballots arriving late. I have voted in most local and state and all but one Federal elections since I turned 18. My first voting experience was in May of 1987 in the Republican Primary, in which I supported Bob Dole over George Bush. This reminds me of a Bob Dylan song, "My Back Pages": Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

This is a friendly reminder to anyone out there who may still debate on whether it's worth voting: it's not just a privilege, it's a responsibility. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain about the government - at all. Either participate, or keep your trap shut.

A few years ago, I heard a story on NPR about the American Institute of Graphic Arts get out the vote poster competition. The members came up with some very cool illustrations. Here's my favorite:





Sunday, October 15, 2006

End of the episodes... sigh.

Well, today we watched the season finale (cliffhanger, of course) of Stargate Atlantis. Last night we watched the same for Stargate SG1. Sigh. I guess we'll have to watch the webisodes of Battlestar Galactica and be ready for the new season. One of these days we'll get cable or satellite and we won't have to borrow taped episodes from friends... or wait for the season to come out on DVD. The problem is finding a decent selection of US channels down here.

We also watched "Syriana" tonight. This is a movie we bought months ago, but hadn't gotten around to watching. I have to say, I hope the book was better to read than the movie was to watch. I like the actors involved, but I found the whole thing just a bit dysfunctional.

In the "library" of movies on hand we still have to watch:
Ultraviolet
Equilibrium
From Hell (had this one for a couple years, but haven't watched it yet for some reason)

Emily hasn't seen, but we have:
The Thing
Body Heat

I haven't seen, but Emily has:
Moulin Rouge

In the last few weeks, I've managed to re-watch the entire Lord of the Rings Extended Edition trilogy, Serenity, Dark City, and Swordfish. All but LOTR I watched with Spanish sub-titles, picking up the odd word or phrase here and there. I had forgotten how good Dark City was. I'm still not fond of Dr. Schreber's affectations and voice, but the movie is solid. Besides, how could any movie featuring Riff Raff be bad?

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Top 223 Star Wars Lines Improved By Replacing A Word With "Pants"

Techrepublic pointed me to this one by listing the top 10. If you're a Star Wars fan, you can't help but chuckle. (And, yes, I do know how old the list is. It's a classic!)

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Grutas de Garcia

On Sunday we visited the Grutas de Garcia (Grottoes/caves of Garcia). This involved a drive of 30 or so minutes out of town. It was very easy to find, especially once you left the city traffic behind. In route, we passed many "Tecate 6" stores, which I promise I'll get a good photo of yet. A hint: think of a brew-through shaped like a 6-pack of canned beer. We also passed this interesting advertisement for the local brew. Note the fence posts for perspective.


Did I mention the mountains are gorgeous here? It was a bit hazy, but still impressive.


Once we arrived, I had to get a picture of the entrance to the small valley in which the caves are located. I particularly love the narrow entrance with what are nearly walls on either side.


Within the valley is just about the best little "sugarloaf" mountain I've ever seen. While I'm down here, I'm definitely going to hunt for a topographical map of this area. It's just too tempting to adapt it for a fantasy setting....


The entrance to the caves is more than halfway up a mountain. In the past you had two choices: walk or take the rail car. Apparently the rail car system broke down some years ago and they replaced it with a modern cable life. I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet and smooth the ride was, as good as anything similar I've ridden elsewhere in the world, including the US. Here's looking up at the cave entrance and a shot of one of the cars from above.



Unfortunately we didn't get too many good shots in the caverns, but here are some of the better ones. First the entrance:


Several shots of various spots:



La mano de muerto - the Hand of Death:


Is that daylight?



The platform at the top of the cable run gives an excellent perspective of the valley, and a healthy respect for the slope! It's also the only way to see the entire complex.



Here are several shots looking up-slope from the platform.



Here's a shot of what I assume is the old platform, visible in some other shots, but this is a close-up.


We elected to walk down. I can honestly say it would've been easier with steps! Instead it's a paved path, some brick, some stone, with multiple switchbacks zig-zagging down the slope. It's actually easier to jog or run down portions than it is to walk. Along the way we saw some items of interest. A nice nopal cactus:


A millipede:


A small flower I just had to shoot:



Emily finally gave up and turned around - so she could walk backwards down slope! Savor this, it's rare proof that Emily does indeed show up on film!


And to prove I was there, too, here's a cheesy shot of me.


After we got home from the caves, we had a little time to clean ourselves up, feed the dog, then head out to a BBQ at one of Emily's co-workers house. The husband is a former restaurant owner and an excellent cook. Among other things, he made two types of curry, one yellow and one red. Both filled a need: there's no good Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese food here! We'll continue to look, but so far no one we've talked to has found any. I guess that's something I'll have to look for in Laredo, McAllen, and Brownsville! (Is that ironic? An American driving out of Mexico to get foreign, and spicy, food?)

Thankfully my wife wisely chose not to stay too late, even though Monday was Columbus Day, a Federal holiday. If we had stayed much later, I probably would've ended up with a hangover, given that the tequila shots were flowing and the poker chips had just come out....
Street Art, Part 2
(Told ya it'd be soon, oh ye of little faith!)

Across the street from the Festival, in the edge of the park that runs through the area, was a display of chalk artwork done by children, also from Mexico and Texas.

Below are two varieties of fowl:



Here are a couple cartoonish drawings. One reminds me of a Nicktoon, perhaps "Fairly Oddparents" or something of the sort?


A kids-eye view of Monterrey, La Silla on the left and the bridge to Cumbrace on the right. (I'm not certain what that is in the middle, unless it's supposed to be Chipinque.)


This is La Silla and the Tower of Commerce monument.


A nice still-life, much better than I could manage.


We continued walking through the park and Emily got several really nice shots, all of which feature the Tower of Commerce monument.



After this we strolled back to the car, somewhat nervously as our two hours of meter time was a few minutes over. No ticket, so all was well. In the process of walking about, we found several restaurants and bars we'll have to visit and yet another movie theatre. Considering the Bier Haus is next to the theatre, Booze & Flicks may be back on the agenda in the near future.
How the time does fly....

Hi, my name is Neal, and I have a problem: I haven't been posting either frequently or in quantity.

So... to take up where we left off, last Saturday we visited downtown Monterrey, Barrio Angtiguo, to see the Street Painting Festival. For this event, a short street was closed and a number of artists from both Mexico and Texas reproduced classic works on the pavement with chalk. Here's a perspective shot, as you come up to the start of the Festival.


And here's another perspective partway through.


Here are two shots of one particular work-in-progress.



Here are a group of artists taking a break. We found that technique varied: some started with the hardest part of the image, finishing it completely before moving on; others did a rough-in of everthing, then refined it piece-by-piece.


Here are several that we both enjoyed, including a Dali.


There were also entertainers dressed in Renaissance garb wandering about, including this jester who posed for us. A group of about 20 young men strolled through playing guitars and singing.


Next post (coming soon, honest!) - the children's art.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Last night we had several of Emily's co-workers and their spouses over for pizza and games. We planned for Trivial Pursuit and Party Scrabble, but ended up playing only the former, plus a game one of the couples brought: Catch Phrase. It was a lot of fun, but I'm obviously out of practice on how to give tips. I guess it's been too long since I've played Charades or anything of that genre.

Today we started out slow, munching on leftovers from last night for breakfast/brunch/lunch, watching another catch-up episode of Stargate Atlantis in the process. In the afternoon we drove into Monterrey, found a parking spot, and hit the sidewalks in search of a "street painting" festival we'd heard of via the Consulate. Near the end of our expedition, which yielded the location of Das Bier Haus and a couple of intriguing bar/club blocks, we stumbled across the festival right next door to a restaurant we visited a while back: Neuquen (Argentinian indian word, as I recall).

The festival consisted of artists "painting" in chalk on a street that was closed to traffic. It was very nice, though obviously the artists will need another day to complete their work. Across the street were chalk masterpieces done by schoolchildren, some of those surprisingly good. Emily took some pictures and I'll try and get them posted tomorrow.

For dinner we walked to a seafood restaurant and sports bar a few blocks away, Ocean Drive Cantina de Mariscos. Unfortunately we picked a night when there was a big soccer game, so it was even noisier and smokier than we expected. We got a bad table near the kitchen. Having already been warned that there were no good margaritas in Monterrey, I bravely made the attempt. I can confirm: there isn't a good one there. The drink was tart, salty, weak on the tequila, and no hint of sweet. Emily ordered a Manhattan (she was thinking Cosmopolitan, oops). I think it was just bourbon and a cherry, maybe a little water or quickly-melted ice. Lesson learned: stick to the cerveza!

I ordered fillete de "fish" (honest, that's how the menu had it), al chile y limon (with chile and lime). Hot, tart, a bit too fishy for my taste, but it was okay. Emily had camarones ala diabla (devil shrimp): spicy, tasty, an overall winner.

Conclusion: we might go back on a weeknight, or just for beer and chips, but we'll avoid game nights for sure.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Blog dating

No, not socially - I'm talking time-date stamp here!

I had a draft posting I hadn't touched in a few weeks, but since I hadn't posted lately, I thought I'd finish it up and throw it out there, start the flow again.

Lo! and Behold! It preserved the original time-date stamp of when I started the post, ignoring when I actually posted it.

SO... there is a newsed post (new to you!) dated 9/18/06, concerning my recent readings.