Another week comes to an end.
And it couldn't have come at a moment too soon! I didn't have what you would call a strenuous week by any stretch of the imagination, but it felt like a tedious week. I flew to Albuquerque on Monday for a four day conference (pardon me, workshop as we were supposed to call it) for work and that was a lot of long days of sitting and listening to talking. It was good to see certain people and interact with my counterparts in the District office here. And Wednesday night I went to dinner with my boss and the archeologists here in the Albuquerque District at the Indian Pueblo Indian Cultural Center. If you are ever in Albuquerque I highly recommend checking it out. Picture of the Center, as well as the beautiful New Mexico sky:
There are something like 19 pueblos in New Mexico and the Cultural Center has a restaurant where they use authentic ingredients and recipes from the different pueblos to come up with quite an impressive menu of very local food. And I'm not a fan of mexican food in general but I could have happily eaten everything off the menu there. It was an interesting experience to be that up close and personal with the native population, as it is often in New Mexico. The cultural diversity is a way of life here. Still challenging but it really is present in everything. And yesterday afternoon a few of us went to the Palms Shop where there is an amazing selection of Native American made jewelry, pottery, rugs and other items. I bought a tiger's eye ring and matching earrings, an adorable pendant in the shape of a pencil and a pair of earrings made of this really interesting rainbow colored stone that is found in Mexico:
After the unexpected shopping spree my friend Ronnie picked me up after the conference was done as I'm spending until Saturday with her. We met through the Leadership Development Program at work and while Ronnie and I are incredibly different people there's something about her I find both fun and calming. And we don't get to see each other all that often even though we've managed twice this year so far! Both times work sent me to Albuquerque, so I lucked out!
Yesterday afternoon Ronnie and I went to see the new Transformers movie which I found entertaining, if a little exhausting. It just seemed like fight after fight between the different transformers. It's a beautifully filmed movie in terms of location and special effects but the story was sometimes difficult to follow and in particular I thought several of the human characters got pushed to the side in deference to the computer generated transformers. And there were a lot of fairly explicitly crude sexual jokes in the movie that I thought pushed the line of the PG-13 rating. The first movie was better overall. But it was entertaining and in terms of a big summer blockbuster action movie it fit the bill.
Today I slept in, met Ronnie for lunch and have been at her house enjoying the monsoon season here! The thunder and lightning are especially fun and the amazing downpours that just sweep across the desert in a matter of minutes are fascinating to watch. We don't have much like this in California, that's for sure!
Tomorrow I'll fly home and Sunday sugarsicons and I are going to the Tudor Fayre here in town! I went for the first time last year and it was a lot of fun. It's a rather small event but the costumes people wear are really easy to admire and be impressed with. And I remember there being a lot of fun hand crafted items too. I'll have to probably restrain myself from buying much. Soon enough Monday and the next work week will be here, though thankfully it's a short one with the 4th of July holiday later in the week.
I hope it's been a good week for everyone!
There are something like 19 pueblos in New Mexico and the Cultural Center has a restaurant where they use authentic ingredients and recipes from the different pueblos to come up with quite an impressive menu of very local food. And I'm not a fan of mexican food in general but I could have happily eaten everything off the menu there. It was an interesting experience to be that up close and personal with the native population, as it is often in New Mexico. The cultural diversity is a way of life here. Still challenging but it really is present in everything. And yesterday afternoon a few of us went to the Palms Shop where there is an amazing selection of Native American made jewelry, pottery, rugs and other items. I bought a tiger's eye ring and matching earrings, an adorable pendant in the shape of a pencil and a pair of earrings made of this really interesting rainbow colored stone that is found in Mexico:
After the unexpected shopping spree my friend Ronnie picked me up after the conference was done as I'm spending until Saturday with her. We met through the Leadership Development Program at work and while Ronnie and I are incredibly different people there's something about her I find both fun and calming. And we don't get to see each other all that often even though we've managed twice this year so far! Both times work sent me to Albuquerque, so I lucked out!
Yesterday afternoon Ronnie and I went to see the new Transformers movie which I found entertaining, if a little exhausting. It just seemed like fight after fight between the different transformers. It's a beautifully filmed movie in terms of location and special effects but the story was sometimes difficult to follow and in particular I thought several of the human characters got pushed to the side in deference to the computer generated transformers. And there were a lot of fairly explicitly crude sexual jokes in the movie that I thought pushed the line of the PG-13 rating. The first movie was better overall. But it was entertaining and in terms of a big summer blockbuster action movie it fit the bill.
Today I slept in, met Ronnie for lunch and have been at her house enjoying the monsoon season here! The thunder and lightning are especially fun and the amazing downpours that just sweep across the desert in a matter of minutes are fascinating to watch. We don't have much like this in California, that's for sure!
Tomorrow I'll fly home and Sunday sugarsicons and I are going to the Tudor Fayre here in town! I went for the first time last year and it was a lot of fun. It's a rather small event but the costumes people wear are really easy to admire and be impressed with. And I remember there being a lot of fun hand crafted items too. I'll have to probably restrain myself from buying much. Soon enough Monday and the next work week will be here, though thankfully it's a short one with the 4th of July holiday later in the week.
I hope it's been a good week for everyone!