Regular Old Handshake? BORING

Folklife Festival

My brother and I were in one of the dance groups at the Texas Folklife Festival last weekend. I don't have any pictures of us, but here are some of the other shows we saw. There was so much to see and do there! We spent the whole weekend taking in as much as we could. It was great for the most part, but I found that it's a little hard to live on festival food for very long.

Here's a Filipino group dancing around moving bamboo poles.


I thought this washboard player had a great costume, and a beard that went with it!


Turkish dancers

Panamanian

So, How Was Your Memorial Day?

I know this is ancient history for a blog, but you might be interested to know that I spent Memorial Day weekend housesitting for a lady who thought her cats would be lonely while she was on vacation.

I detest cats.

The Joys of Working From Home and Getting Paid By the Hour

Need extra money this month? Work extra hours on your big, ongoing project.
Get tired? Take a break in the middle of the day. Go to a movie.
Lazy? Work in bed in PJs.
Sick? No working, no money.
Work slowly...feel guilty.
Work fast...boss happy, paycheck same
Get interrupted? Clock out, clock back in, how much of an hour is 10 minutes again?
Two different people need stuff from you ASAP? Work until 10:00 at night.
Commute too long? Move your laptop closer to the kitchen.
Work putting you to sleep? Take a nap. Be sure to mark the time first.

How's Your Job Going?

No more complaining.

Table For One, Please

My recent trip to San Antonio started me thinking a lot about what a loner I am. I thoroughly enjoyed going on a vacation by myself. I didn’t have to coordinate with anyone, I could move at my own pace (fast), and I didn’t care that I didn’t have anyone to share the experiences with. I can enjoy an activity as much by myself as with other people, oftentimes more. I also enjoyed the feeling of independence and the challenge of seeing how much I could do without needing help from anyone.

The problem is that I’m not at all sure this is healthy. It’s way too easy for me to get wrapped up in my own little world and be no good to anyone else. I heard myself say one time that friends are over-rated. Frankly, if I hadn’t grown up in a large family, I’m not sure I’d have any close friendships at all. I’m realizing though, that there is a balance needed. It’s not good to be dependent on others for happiness, but it’s also not good to never invest in relationships.

Relationships: That’s what it really comes down to.
What gets us back on track when we start to drift? relationships
What is behind our most treasured memories? relationships
What lets us know when our ideas are crazy? relationships
What encourages us when we’re down? relationships
What is our primary means of sharing the gospel with the lost? relationships

I guess I shouldn’t give up on friends after all.

Mini-Vacation

I extended a business trip to San Antonio last weekend and did some sight-seeing. At The Buckhorn museum, I saw this portrait made by bullets and a VERY good marksman.

This is the world's longest gum-wrapper chain, on display at Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. They also have the Eiffel Tower made of match sticks, a recording of the worst laugh in the world, a painting on a feather, and all kinds of other weird stuff.

The Alamo, of course.

This is the top portion of an old water-powered mill that still works. It's at Mission San Jose'.

Here's the outside of Mission San Jose'. It's bigger and more impressive than the Alamo, but of course, much less famous.