Sunday, June 29, 2014

In the backyard



A longer while back I took in a couple sites in the more immediate area here in Houston. 

Up north a bit, at the site of the last (and very brief) battle of the Texas Revolution, is the San Jacinto Monument.  This edifice is a bit taller than the Washington Monument in D.C., and has a commanding view of the Houston area.  One can get a feel for how utterly planar this coastal area is, which makes Kansas seem positively undulating. 

From the observation deck near the top, the Battleship Texas on the Houston Ship Channel is easily espied.  The heavily industrialized areas in Pasadena and other surrounding satellites of Houston proper make for a sobering scene.  I imagine if one could take in the view at night they’d be even more reminded of the future Los Angeles in “Blade Runner”.

Just a few miles down the road from my pad is the not-so-urban jungle at Armand Bayou Nature Center.  There is an old farm site and a fair number of critters to take a look at on display or flying/trundling/slithering around the place.  A highlight was finally seeing living armadillos bustling about the undergrowth, not just crushed and broken on the side of the road.  Thankfully, the mosquitoes were few and far between during my visit, since it had been dry for a few weeks at that point.  That would most definitely NOT be the case now.

Most of my time is still spent at work.  Training is coming along well, and I just keep trying to cram as much new knowledge and skill between my ears as possible.  It will still be a while before I am put in the hot seat for simulations, and even longer for real operations, but it feels rewarding to finally be putting things together and be able to contribute to the team.
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”
~Henry David Thoreau

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