Happy Fourth of July

The Fourth of July - the anniversary of American Independence from the UK!


The other day I reminded my good colleague in Scotland that I was taking the day off from work to celebrate my country's independence from England - hoping that would get a chuckle from him. Without missing a beat, and being the good Scotsman that he is, he happily replied: "I wish we could too"!!

Something seems nicer about today than prior Fourth of Julys. Maybe it's the fact we have a three-day holiday (with Friday off from work and then July Fourth itself falling on a Saturday), but today seems a wee bit more special than the usual Fourth of July. At any rate, it was a nice - but terribly HOT - day here in Houston. I am enjoying staying at home a while and not having to travel anywhere. [But fear not, followers, my next trip to the Middle East is not far off! I was supposed to depart in a little over a week from now but had to delay my departure thanks in part to an onslaught of work.]

I wanted to take in something special today, but what to do? Tonight there is what is billed as one of the largest fireworks displays in the USA being held near downtown Houston. Several hundred thousand people are expected to crowd into Eleanor Tinsley park. I'd like to go but I can't stand negotiating my way through heavy traffic and then trying to find a parking space. Instead, I went to downtown Houston near Discovery Park and took in the sights of people enjoying their Fourth of July ....

A yoga class ... probably should join them. With all the stress I have at work, I should fit in real nicely!

The past few weeks have seen unusually dry and HOT weather in Houston with our daily high temperatures exceeding 100 deg F for many days in a row! About the only good thing I can say about this heat is that at least I am getting acclimated to Middle East weather before actually leaving home!

Discovery Green Park - I was here in April of last year on opening day. [click here for last year's posting.]

A quiet pond affords a place for quiet contemplation and relaxation ....

I managed to snap this photo of some children frolicking in the water. Only wish I could have done the same to help me cool off.

The only sour note of the day came after I captured this photo. A private security guard approached me and told me not to take any more pictures since I "was not with a family". I guess this is for privacy concerns (parents not wanting their kids photographed, perhaps?). I am used to being a bit self conscious when taking pictures in the Middle East but here at home ... well, I sort of resent being asked NOT to photograph something. Still, I understand where kids are concerned. Being an amateur photographer myself, I'd be interested if any professional photographers out there might comment on any of their recent experiences in taking pictures and then being told not to.

Replies to Comments:

Searching Soul: Glad to hear you weren't arrested :-) It's getting so that we have to look over our shoulders when we take pictures in certain places ..... and sometimes those places are right here at home!

Dan: Thanks, as well, for your comments (both here and in your excellent blog) and for your opinions on the topic of photographing certain locations and situations.

Pictures from Long Island, New York

Traveling for work has become a necessity for me. Although traveling for pleasure and vacation fun is not technically a "necessity" ... it is nonetheless quite essential and very beneficial for my spirit and mental well being! This latest vacation was both short and sweet. As promised, here are some highlights of my vacation on Long Island, New York last week.

The weather was great (for me, at least) although it was a little bit rainy. Still, I enjoyed the cool temperatures (20 deg C) which were a welcome relief from the unrelenting heat we have been experiencing here in Houston! Hope you find some enjoyment in these pictures and I very much welcome any comments!

[And please check out my previous posting which has a few photos from my venture into Manhattan.]

The beach scene near Sag Harbor, New York.

The above photo and the pictures below are all from Sag Harbor, New York.

Main Street in Sag Harbor.

A typical house in Sag Harbor. Sag Harbor has a very New England feel to it!

The Whaling Museum in Sag Harbor (located inside the Masonic Temple).

A cartoon at the Whaling Museum! This proves the oil companies are actually "green companies" after all!! Once oil became a popular form of energy and fuel for lamp lighting, the killing of whales for whale oil (mainly for lamps) stopped. So in a way, we can say that the oil companies have saved the whales!!! :-) (OK, OK ... please don't laugh too hard!)

The Customs House Museum in Sag Harbor.

A typical bungalow on Eastern Long Island. Fancy homes, exquisite lawns, expensive cars, etc. all typify this part of Long Island! In fact, the Hamptons are home to many famous celebrities who live in this area.

On the way home, my friend and I stopped in at the Duck Walk Vineyards (in Southampton, NY) where I purchased a 375 mL bottle of a 2007 vintage sweet wine called "Aphrodite" which is classified as a late harvest Gewurztraminer (11% by volume) 'dessert wine'. [The bottle with tax cost $20.58.]

The Ronkonkoma train station. I caught the Long Island Railroad here last Saturday (June 13th) and rode the entire way into Penn Station (mid-town Manhattan) for $19.50 (each way on weekends - higher during peak times).

A family-owned Italian restaurant in Hauppauge, New York that was near my hotel. I recommend the food served here!!

A portable air conditioning system at Gate A-2 in Terminal A in LaGuardia Airport. LaGuardia is definitely an old airport for sure and this temporary cooling system proves it is time for a major renovation at one of NYC's major airports!!

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Replies to Comments:

John:

(1) Many thanks for ALL your comments on this as well as on several of the earlier postings in my blog! The recent dearth of comments posted on some of my earlier postings has me wondering about what I can do to elicit the interest of my loyal followers.

(2) Yes, 50 years is a long time and I am so grateful to have known someone for such a long time and to still be able to call them friends!!

(3) And, yes, if you ever get to Houston, we can somehow arrange to meet and share a coffee and swap stories about blogging!!

Vacation in New York City and Long Island

Greetings Loyal Followers! I have just returned from what has been a short but welcome respite from my work-a-day environment. I had the good fortune to visit two friends in the New York area whom I have known now for fifty (50) years!! I first met these two friends of mine in fourth grade and the three of us went to school together through our senior year in high school. Despite a long interval when we lost contact with each other, we've since managed to keep in touch for many of the past several years.

I arrived on Thursday (June 11) into New York's aging LaGuardia airport and drove 45 miles out to Long Island. Friday was primarily devoted to visiting my alma mater where I had spent four years in college. In addition, my friend and I saw the new movie "The Taking of Pelham 123". An excellent movie by the way!

On Saturday, I rode the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station [located in mid-town Manhattan] and the three of us took in the new Broadway play "9 to 5" - a remake of the 1970's movie. Excellent play, well worth seeing.

Sunday was spent touring Eastern Long Island and going through two little towns: Sag Harbor and Southampton.

A vacations is always fun, naturally. It gives me time to relax and forget about work. But the most important part of this particular vacation was seeing my two classmate friends again and celebrating the fifty years we have known each other. I have posted a few photos here for now but I promise will post many more pictures in the coming few days as time permits. (After all, I am back at the "rock pile" here at work and spare time is quite limited.)

Times Square in New York City - "Crossroads of the World"

The celebrated ball that drops on New Year's Eve, officially marking the start of the new year. I was surprised to see it still on display in mid-June!

Broadway and 42nd Street! Times Square - thought by many to be the center of New York City.

A recent innovation of Mayor Bloomberg - part of Broadway is now closed off and has been converted into a pedestrian mall. The city has even provided some lawn chairs for folks to lounge in. I sat in one and marveled at being able to sit in the middle of Broadway - normally a very busy thoroughfare in mid-town Manhattan.

One lucky fellow enjoying a snooze.

West Houston's Newest Bike Trail

Even though I am currently at home and not traveling per se, I still take time out and travel around my home city. A case in point: On Saturday, May 16, I witnessed the official opening of Harris County's (West Houston) newest bike trail. This trail was under construction for about one year and culminated in the completion of the most critical segment which consisted of a bridge connecting both ends of the bike & walkway trail. The bridge is located near Eldridge Parkway, just south of Memorial Drive and is a part of Terry Hershey Park. The ribbon cutting ceremony took place at the bridge at approximately 10:30 am under bright, sunny skies. Now if I only had a bicycle to ride ......

The official opening of Houston's newest bike path!!

Several dozen bikers showed up for the event.

The bridge that connects both halves of the bike path. By the way, pedestrians are most welcome to use the pathway!

One of the speakers at the opening ceremony. (Sorry, I forgot his name!)

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Replies to Comments:

Donna: As of today (May 22), it's been two weeks since I returned from Angola and I have managed to get rid of all the jet lag. One bad note: I suffered the effects of food poisoning which I believe was caused by the food onboard the flight home! This was no doubt caused by the poor sanitation practiced by the food handlers who catered the World Airways flight home from Luanda.

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xoxc: Thanks for the kind remarks about Houston. Some visitors don't appreciate our city (the fourth largest city in the USA). Having lived here for almost 32 years, I too have developed a great degree of appreciation for what Houston has to offer its residents.

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SearchingSoul: Welcome back to the 'blogosphere'! Thanks so much for postng a comment. Always appreciated. I've checked your blog several times over the past few weeks and await your next posting!!

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John: YES! If you ever wander over to Houston, we can somehow arrange to meet and exchange stories about blogging!!

Trip to Angola - Epilog

It's been nine (9) days since I returned from Cabinda, Angola. Using my rule of thumb which states that it takes about one day for every hour of time shifting associated with traveling between time zones, I have essentially recovered from the debilitating effects of 'jet lag' following my return trip home. As Dorothy said in the "Wizard of Oz", there is no place like home! In addition to eating at several of my favorite Houston restaurants (Pappadeaux's, Le Mistral, Hungry's and Bistro Le Cep), I've finally had some time to organize the photos I captured during my two-week visit to Malongo. Herewith I present the remaining highlights of my recent trip to Angola:

I spotted these guys near the Malongo laboratory.

The dormitory where I lived for two weeks. Just constructed and in excellent condition.

My home away from home. Well air conditioned, a fact which helps to keep the mosquitoes under control. I never spotted a single mosquito during the entire time I was in this room. Also important to note, despite my original anxiety, I could drink the water on Malongo. Never had a problem. And the food in the mess hall was quite satisfying.

Choppers galore! My room was next to the helipad where helicopters took off and landed throughout the entire day. Our oil production is offshore and hence these choppers provide the main mode of transport to get our people to and from our company's offshore oil production platforms.

The Houston Express. Departs Houston every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at about 12 noon CDT and arrives in Luanda the following morning at about 8 am Angola time (6 hours ahead of Houston time).

The Houston Express is operated by World Airways. Verdict: It's OK; nothing special. It gets you there! One pleasant aspect to note in the seating; the seats are arranged as 2 - 2 - 2 thereby avoiding any dreaded center seats in the mid-section!!

It's amazing how many places around the world I run across these hibiscus flowers!! This one was growing in Malongo camp.

The LONG Trip Out of Angola (And I Thought Getting Here Was Tiring!!!)

Whoever said "Getting there is half the fun" probably never went to Angola! I thought the trip IN to Malongo camp was an "Ordeal"! Well, turns out the trip home was even more trying on my aging body!! Just for fun and also to share with some of my loyal followers what it can be like traveling to and getting around in "third world" countries, I will summarize the step-by-step process of my trip home to Houston. Getting from point A to point B in most western countries is usually simple. In Angola .... well, nothing is simple. First let me say that I am grateful to my company to provide the infrastructure that exists to get us expats in and out of Angola in a safe and relatively secure manner. Despite all my worries, everything ran on time and took place as it was supposed to. Still, it was a convoluted process and here is what transpired:

Thursday, May 7:

1:25 pm Angola time (Houston + 6 hours): My friend and colleague Aby arrives at my room and collects me and my luggage and we go by truck to the Hotel Malongo where we line up with our luggage and await an inspection by customs personnel. Then we go through our local immigration check and receive a blue card that allows us to bypass the Luanda immigration/passport control fellows (one immigration check is quite enough, thank you!). Then it's on to the travel desk to pick up my plane ticket for the flight from Cabinda to Luanda. Then I formally check out of the room where I have been living for the past two weeks.

2:30 pm: We get on a bus (poorly air-conditioned) and we depart Malongo for what will be a hot, bouncy 50-minute ride to the Cabinda airport (pictured above).

3:20 pm: We arrive at Cabinda Airport (see above photo). Amazingly this is a newly constructed airport. Well air-conditioned and seemingly well run. Why isn't Luanda's main airport just as new and clean??!!

4:20 pm: Our Dash 8 twin-engined propeller aircraft takes off on what should be only a one-hour flight to Luanda. Unfortunately the captain radios us that we are number 6 in line for landing and thus must circle the airport almost six times before we are finally cleared for landing in lovely Luanda. Groan!!

6:00 pm: Our plane pulls up to its parking area .... right next to the World Airways plane we will soon be heading home on. We collect our luggage and cram into a bus that takes us to the arrivals hall. When we pull up to the arrivals area, all of us grown men and women suddenly scramble off the bus and, with luggage in hand (I have a 50 lb suitcase and a carry-on in tow!), we have a mad dash around and around the arrivals terminal, through the parking lot (!) and then into the departure terminal and line up to check in to the WORLD AIRWAYS Houston Express flight. The check in process starts at about 6:30 pm. As we wait, we enjoy standing in line (about 25 people are ahead of me already) in the un-airconditioned terminal area with mosquitoes as an added bonus. (PS: use DEET spray to protect yourself. I certainly did! I also took Malarone once a day, every day during my stay in Africa.) In addition to our flight to Houston, there are two other flights this evening: one to Paris and the other to Lisbon. Naturally there are over a hundred perspiring people all standing in various lines that wind around the check-in area. When my turn comes, I approach a security person who asks me about a dozen questions; then a suitcase check followed by the actual check-in after which I claim my boarding pass. Then I proceed through the immigration area where I flash the blue card issued to me in Malongo and bypass the passport control booths. Hey, I am felling good. Oh wait, now I stand in line for 5 to 10 minutes to go through the X-ray screening process. Next, a member of the "Financial Police" ushers me into a small room where a pleasant man in uniform asks politely if I have any Kwanzas (the local Angolan currency) and I say "NO" (since exporting Kwanzas is strictly forbidden). He says "show me your wallet"; I do - naturally. Seeing I only have $14 USD, he says "bye bye" and I leave and walk upstairs with my 20-lb carry-on bad in hand and head to the business class lounge.

7:40 pm: I arrive at the Business Class Lounge! Mercifully, this place is well air-conditioned! Although, with three flights taking off in quick succession to each other (one to Paris, one to Lisbon and our flight to Houston), this lounge quickly becomes packed full of passengers! At least I have a seat! I sip a few drinks and relax.

8:45 pm: My friend Aby arrives in the lounge. Since Thursday is the heaviest crew change day of the week, all the folks rotating out today cannot be accommodated on a single aircraft. Hence, two planes are required to get everyone to Luanda. Turns out Aby got on the second flight from Cabinda. His flight arrived in Luanda at 7:10 pm.

9:12 pm: Our flight - the Houston Express - is called and I leave the lounge and scurry downstairs to Departure Gate #2.

9:20 pm: I go through a thorough security check (everything in my carry-on is inspected along with my shoes) and wait in the un-airconditioned gate area along with about a hundred other sweating passengers. (Are we there yet??)

10 pm: I get on a bus (what, no air conditioning in the bus??) which takes me to the plane and I race up the stairs with a smile on my face!

10:23 pm: The plane's doors are closed!

10:40 pm Angola time: Wheels up and we're off!!! Yippee!

Friday, May 8:

7:17 am CDT: After 14 hours and 37 minutes of flying, we land at Bush IAH - almost 40 minutes before our scheduled arrival time!!

7:50 am CDT: I leave the airport with my driver (and all my luggage).

8:35 am CDT: I arrive at my West Houston apartment. Finally .... I am HOME-SWEET-HOME!!!! I unpack briefly and GO TO BED at 9:30 am after being up without any sleep for approximately 35 hours!! Nightie night!!

My next posting will present some of the photos that I was able to capture during my stay in Malongo camp in Cabinda. Turns out I was unable to photograph too many places inside Malongo since I was told the local authorities don't look kindly upon people taking pictures within Angola. [Seems the Middle East isn't the only place where photography can be a tricky hobby!!] Anyway, I shall share with you some photos in the next posting - probably in a day or so from today. Until then, have a close-up view of the fruit bats literally 'hanging' around:

Images from Angola - West Africa

Today is a Sunday (May 3rd) and so we only have a half day of work. I was invited to a BBQ where I was treated to some excellent fillet steak along with beans and potatoes. Mmmm - mmmm good!

Thanks to the slow Internet connection over here, I can only take time to upload two (2) photos - both unedited because I have no access to image editing software (no cropping or altering the contrast, etc.). So this will have to suffice for now, dear readers, until I return to home-sweet-home and can then upload a dozen or so more pictures for your delight. In the meantime, I hope you will find these two images of interest:

Bat City!! If you click on the photo and look carefully at the dead tree stumps, you will see dozens of fruit bats clinging to the tree, hanging upside-down!!

Looking out from my office window this is what I gaze upon!! Is this a view or what??!! So far, the weather has been generally warm/hot and fairly humid. Since I arrived over a week ago, there has been no rain ..... but that is fine with me. Rain can be very heavy at times (when it rains it pours). FYI: I am told the "dry season" starts on May 15!

And now it's off to my room for a rest. Until next time .....