New Year, New Life

Things have been very busy for me over the past few months and really over the past year. I had a lot going on at work and not much time or energy to blog in the evenings. Things are all about the change though. Roxi has accepted a research fellowship in the Netherlands starting in January. We are moving to Enschede on January 12 for at least seven months depending on how the fellowship goes for Roxi. At this point, I'm not sure what I'll be doing over there to pass the time, so blogging might become a very big part of my life again. If I do find a way to get a job, that will cut into my time to write about our experiences, but either way, I will increase my blogging if for no other reason than to keep our families apprised of what we are doing in the Old Country.

I left my job on December 9 to devote myself to getting our affairs in the States in order before we leave. Before we started that though, we took a week-long vacation to Puerto Vallarta for our friend Cari's wedding. We had a wonderful time and saw some amazing things. Stay tuned for pitcures and videos from our trip to Mexico.

Home Again, Home Again

We are back in Lafayette after a week in New York City as well as two additional weeks abroad for Roxi and we are both very glad to be home. Roxi can speak more about her time in Scotland and Italy, but as for New York I can honestly say we both had a wonderful time. We arrived back late last night after an afternoon of travel that saw us narrowly avoid being stranded in Houston for a night due to weather. Thankfully, our flights were all on time and were only a little bumpier than I would have liked. We spent most of the day recuperating and relaxing as we prepare for everyone to venture to Lafayette for Christmas in a few days.

During the day, I have been able to reflect further on our time in New York and although we had a really great time visiting our friends and family there, I don't think that either of us are in a hurry to move there. I am so glad that our friends and loved ones in the metropolis are having success and enjoying life in the city, but I'll stick to visiting for now. I feel sort of the same way that I did when I lived in Atlanta. Most residents of Atlanta were of the opinion that it was such a great place to live but I didn't understand or share their feeling for several reasons. I suppose when it comes down to it, for some people, there is a willingness to put up with many inconveniences (i.e. traffic, long commutes, crowded spaces, etc.) to enjoy the benefits of big city life (i.e. more options in restaurants, shopping, entertainment, etc.). When I lived in Atlanta, I realized that although I too enjoy those types of benefits, I wasn't willing to put up with all of the inconveniences. I realized that I needed a more moderately sized city with a better balance. I felt that my time in Austin and Nashville were closer to such an ideal. I suppose that my opinion will continue to evolve and change, but for now, New York is an excellent vacation destination, but not the place I could see myself making a go of it. So to our friends and family there, we will be back, but for now, it will most likely only be to visit.

Thanks to Joel, Katie, Garrett, Nicole, Melody and Gabe for showing us a great time and letting us save a little money by staying at their places for a few days. We love you all and look forward to seeing you again soon, be it in New York or somewhere else.

New York: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I have had some great experiences since Roxi and I have been here in New York, but on Saturday and Sunday, I definitely had what could be considered a couple of "sub-optimal" experiences. Saturday night, we went to the East Village to have a few drinks at a couple of bars. At the last bar of the night, the six of us in our group had about eighty dollars worth of drinks and as we were about to pay to leave, we were informed that the bill could only be paid in cash. Thankfully we had the cash between all of us, but it was fairly annoying that at no point in the restaurant, bar or menu was there any mention that the establishment was cash only.

As aggravating as that experience seemed, it was topped on Sunday morning at brunch. Garrett, Nicole, Roxi and I joined Melody, Gabe and four of their friends for a brunch. Our party of ten had a good and enjoyable meal, but when the three-hundred sixty dollar bill arrived, the waitress said that she could not split the bill between five credit cards...because it was too hard. Meanwhile, Gabe had already divided the total by five on his cell phone calculator. The waitress made a big deal about how she was going to get into trouble if she spit the bill five ways and told us to go to an ATM machine to get cash. We were all dumbfounded by this poor service and the idea that they would assume that one person would pay such a bill on one credit card. Those of us who have worked in the food industry were insistent that bills can be split several ways because we had all done it many times ourselves so eventually the waitress relented.

When she brought our cards, she said she couldn't do this again next time we came, to which I replied, "See you never." A little rude? Maybe, but I was fed up with the attitude of superiority and condescension she was throwing our way. As we left she asked me what I had meant by my comment, as if there was any question. I of course started to explain that in the real world people spilt tickets and don't act like they are doing us a favor by being snooty. She then complained that she had to do all the cards manually. I inquired as to what she meant by "manually" to which she replied, with absolutely no hint of irony, "I had to swipe each card separately." That was when I lost it and was about to really blow up when Roxi stepped in and simply told the waitress, "You poor baby. You have a hard job," and corralled me to the door.

I was still really aggravated and was very soured on the New York experience for the next hour or so, but I have been working to let it go since then. But it's the principle of the matter that gets me. I got this overwhelming sense of smugness from the servers at several of the restaurants we have visited despite service and food quality that are comparable to what we can find everywhere else I have lived. The only difference in these restaurants and any back home is the overinflated prices. Of course the attitude and the prices are a function of what people are willing to put up with for the "privilege" of living in New York. If that's your cup of tea, great, but I think I'll stick with the rest of the "hicks" in flyover country. At least they can handle the paperwork involved in dealing with credit card payments.

Tatooine Lives On

Despite the mediocre new trilogy, I am still a Star Wars fan and so found this article very interesting. The sets that were built in Tunisia to serve as the homes in the barren deserts of Tatooine have lived on as real life home to Saharan Desert dwellers. It's nice to see that Tatooine is still going strong after nearly thirty years and I sure wouldn't mind to visit some day.