Adios A Puerto Rico

Buenos Noches A Todos,

This will probably be the last email from this little island for a long while. While I am not excluding the possibility that I could eventually return, I hope it to be a long time from now should that happen.

Regardless, like every place in which I have worked, I have come away a better professional and a better person. I have had new experiences and met many new people. I have come away with more friends and more memories. But enough of the mushy stuff.

This island was crazy. The people, to their credit, are fully aware of their inability to drive or provide quality customer service in any restaurant, but that does not lessen the frustration. There are no vegetables on this island as the diet consists mainly of pork and roots. And not to be outdone by the indigenous people, the island itself loves to rain incessantly so as to make most days intolerable.

I thought it was great here, but my wife is much more irresistible than the lure of this island paradise. Take care and stop by for vacation. Just don't move here.

-Pooh out.

Good News - Job Free Bear

Hola A Todos,

Well, I got some good news to announce. I've been fired along with the rest of the expats here in Puerto Rico and I'm coming home on March 17th. Okay, that doesn't sound like good news, but it's actually something we always knew was coming and I was very ready to hear the news.

In truth it wasn't a straight firing. It was more of a temporary lay off until they find us other projects back in the States, and my arrangement was always to get back to Houston for the long term, so I am not worried at this point. Of course, if I don't hear anything by next week, I will immediately start working on a back up plan. If any of you already have a back up plan for me, please feel free to let me know.

The crazy thing is that my two week notice was not the quickest of the group. A few of the guys found out that they get to go home next week, and I don't know that they were as thrilled to hear the news as I was. I guess the truth is that it's always tough to figure out where the next paycheck will come from, but sometimes getting home is just more important.

Okay, that's the news. I'll see you when I get there.

Adios,

-Pooh

Juegos Del Hielo

Buenos Dias,

Every couple of years, I read some commentary by a journalist or editorialist who has discovered the strange attraction that is Curling. Well, I woke up this morning, turned on the TV and fell victim as well.

If you don't know, and I really hope you never find out, Curling is some strange ice game that seems to be a love child of darts and shuffle board, but utilizes giant chunks of polished granite, and ice brooms. I know that it all makes sense to you now, but if you are still a bit confused, don't be ashamed. I have watched for an hour, and it still eludes me. The sad fact is that my confusion has led to an obsessive attraction to watching it so that I might penetrate this shroud of Olympic mystery.

I'm pretty sure that this game was created by Canadians after consuming a large amount of bad beer and back strap bacon. The Americans are whipping up on the ice queens from Deutchland, so it's like WWII all over again, sort of.

Okay, I'll get back to watching so that I can figure this thing out. I can only hope that no one on the American team is from Texas. That would just be embarrassing.

-Pooh out.

The Hotel Life

Howdy Ya'll

Okay, so another chapter in the hotel life brings us a fright night of drunken baseball fans.

So, last night I got to bed around midnight, which was already pretty late, and I thought I would be tired enough to sleep through anything, but I soon had to redefine "anything." Around 0100 hours I woke up to the sound of someone trying to open the door connecting my room to the one next to me. It's annoying enough having a connecting room even though there are locks on both sides, but it becomes freaky when you are jolted out of bed in your underwear because you think someone is walking into your hotel room to watch tv or something.

Anyway, they obviously couldn't get in, and after that processed through my half asleep brain, I sat awake for about another hour wondering how long people would try opening the door. It became somewhat entertaining. I guess I finally fell asleep again, but it made for an interesting night. The moral of the story is that you should always check your locks and, above all, consider wearing pajamas. Just in case.

-Pooh out.

The "Org" Chart

Howdy All,

Okay, for those of ya'll that don't recognize the topic of this discussion based on the title, well, you aren't in the corporate world so I will explain. The Organizational "Org" Chart is a hierarchy of management and staff used in the corporate environment at all levels to provide upper level management and directors an overview of responsibilities and work delegation of their staff and project teams. For those of us at the very bottom of the Org Chart, it is a constant reminder of how many people can make decisions for you and assign work to you every day.

This leads us to the story for the day. I was cordially invited to attend an engineering kick-off meeting up at the main office for a new project. I was informed that I would be the star speaker in regards to schedule development for the pre-planning phase. Now, while you may, at face value, take this as a wonderful compliment from the project manager, allow me to dispel such nonsense by elaborating further. You see, I was informed of this required attendance at 9pm tonight, for which I will need to prepare paperwork and discussion topics between now and 8am when the meeting will begin. In addition, the reason I will be interacting with a mess of engineers and architects is because the project manager is probably not willing, and more than apparently not capable of coordinating this project schedule himself. Something which he is paid much more than me to know.

Don't misunderstand my sour grapes. I need to complain or he will assume I am naive to his intentions, but I will make the most of this opportunity and make myself the star of the meeting, rather than the quiet underling that he really intends me to be at the meeting. If I handle everything correctly, I will make sure that this designers understand that they will report and interact with me on successive planning issues and skip the project middle man.

Perhaps I am being to harsh toward him. He is, in fact, an engineer and was a bit unwittingly cast into the roll of project manager, and therefore a bit out of his element. By why should I cut him slack. He went to school for probably 6 years. Engineers are much smarter than any construction worker, right? That's what I was led to believe.

Oh, well. I hate Org Charts. Have a good weekend ya'll.

-Pooh

Where you been?!

Hola a Todos,

Well, I was threatened with spam email from my wife until I get around to updating this thing, so here I am. Yeah, it won't be the most exciting update, but it will get the ball rolling. You can look forward to more frequent updates because I have to keep Mrs. Bear happy.

So, I just got back into San Juan this evening, and it was a warm reception from the hotel. I'm not kidding, so sarcasm here. They greeted my by name and I got a hand shake. On top of that, I was set up in a nice suite so it's some high livin' round here, I tell you what.

Oh, so I had a birthday back a few days ago, but we completely forgot about it for almost half the day, so that will tell you how important of a birthday it was. I guess 28 just isn't an interesting age. The good news is that my mom thought I was turning 29 so once she got her math right she realized she was a year younger too. That was my little gift to her.

Wow, there is so much to tell, no wonder I was harassed for not updating. I'll have to get to everything in successive postings, so here are the highlights of what's to come:

• The weefey got down here for a visit and we had two weeks of fun, food, and rainforests.
• I got home for a quick honey do project and we put up some new baseboards
• I am never going to get to leave Puerto Rico

Okay, so that will cover a few posts for the rest of the week, so you just keep on checkin' back in and I'll keep you boys and girls entertained as best as I can.

Adios y Buenos noches,

-Pooh

Happy Three Kings Day

Hola,

Well, January 6 is Three Kings Day, which is the traditional Christmas Day in the Orthodox church, and is continued as Three Kings Day in most latin american countries. This has led to the story of the 12 days of Christmas, and makes for a very long holiday season here in Puerto Rico.

All that being said, I'm from Texas so the only thing this weekend gave me was some real down time to just relax. I spent the weekend sleeping late, working out sparsely, and watching Rednexploitation Weekend on Comedy Central. Life is good.

Not to give you a completely glowing impression of the weekend, the realization that tax time is getting gear for full swing and I started trying to figure out my tax situation. Yeah, it was highly confusing and I gave up quickly. I'll bug my CPA when I'm home.

Oh, for any of you who may not have been introduced yet, please meet Sudoku. Yes, sudoku is a numbers game. For hours of free fun and frustration go to www.websudoku.com You will thank me later.

Okay, my wife went to the deer lease this weekend, and I know she should be home soon. I better get going and prepare for a phone call. Yeah, I like to hear from her before bed. I'm whipped, I know.

Adios,

Pooh

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Buenas Noches a Todos,

Happy New Year!

The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord lift His countenance upon you,
And give you peace, and give you peace;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
And be gracious, and be gracious;
The Lord be gracious, gracious unto you.

Take care. I'll see you all in 2006.

-Pooh Bear

Feliz Navidad

Buenas Dias a Todos,


How ya’ll been doing these days? Well, Christmas has come and gone down here in sunny Puerto Rico, and it was a strange day, to say the least. Now, I know you might not believe me when say that it felt more like Christmas while in Iraq than it did here, but it is true; at least in my perspective.

Some Christmas firsts for me:

No Christmas Tree whatsoever, even in the hotel lobby
Sunbathers out on the beach Christmas Day
No Santa, real or impersonated in sight for miles
Waking up in a hotel
Eating at the hotel (most places were closed or dismissed due to rain)
I wore shorts all day long
People were swimming!
No Christmas carols, at all
Live Salsa music
Exercising (yes, I was that bored)

Okay, that was a short list of highlights but you get the idea. Really it wasn’t a bad day, just interesting. If I really wanted to be optimistic about it I would find comfort in the fact that I was able to make a list of firsts. It means new things, which in the spirit of the upcoming New Year, would be appropriate.

Overall, very uneventful, and mostly I just sat around missing my wife and berating myself for not getting here down here for the holidays. You’d think after last Christmas I would have figured these things out. Oh well, what is a bear to do?

Alrighty everyone, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and all that. Take care and God bless.

Adios,
-Pooh

Yes, We Have No Bananas

Hola Amigos,

Well, now we have reached the time in our show where we address erroneous mistakes and discrepencies in these blog postings. Today's topic is the plantain.

See, in contrast to the previous statement describing the plantain as a type of banana, it is actually a thick stalk sinued plant which only resembles a banana when sliced. The platanutres are actually made by slicing the green stalk of the plantain and frying those slices in vegatable oil.

There is no banana. You have been living a lie. Take the red pill.

Adios,

Pooh

Platanutres - Tasty Goodness!

Hola y Howdy Amigos,

Okay, so let me introduce you to a tasty Puerto Rican treat which has taken over my life in the realm of salty snacky goodness. These delectable treats are known as Platanutres, and they a crazy assault to your plain old potato chip. See these things are potato chips at all, but deep fried, thin and crispy plantain banana slices. Yep, you heard me, and these things are awesome. Not sweet at all, as one might expect, but rather like a tasty, crunchy chip. Best consumed with a sandwich and diet Coke, they are now a requisite side dish to any good football game meal.

Don't worry, I haven't given up my unhealthy addiction to chocolate and all things sweet and sugary, but it's nice to shake things up a bit. Besides, if I talk about them enough, then maybe Frito Lay will get the hint and start marketing them. If not, then I have an import business to begin when I get back home.

Anyway, other news is that my home boys from WGI in Iraq sent me this awesome Liberty Country Club Iraq hat, which I wear with pride. No, not the rainbow kind of pride, just plain old God fearing, church going pride. Maybe if I wear it around enough, another Russian-American immigrant can pick another verbal battle (the only kind of battle he'll have the cajones to have) with me. He can spend his time ranting about how horrible Bush is and how we should have never entered Iraq. I can explain to him that it was vitally important that I went to Iraq, because there would have been no other way for me to get such a cool hat, and I'll recommend that he not vote for Bush in the next election. Hopefully even the democrats in Florida won't mess that up since Bush won't be on the next ballot. You never know. I hate stupid people.

Okay, it's late and I'm just letting myself get irritated by watching CNN. Everyone has to have a hobby. Eventually I'll come up with something more productive like learning Spanish, or practicing Salsa.

On an up note, I went home for Thanksgiving, and it was very nice. It was the first time my whole nuclear family has been in the same place for the holiday in a long time, and we didn't even kill each other. Life is good. The Ags lost, but it was a darn good game. Mack Brown had to have chewed out those worthless t-sips for giving up so many points. Remember, Aggies never lose, they just ran out of time.

Gig'em y adios,

Pooh.

Broken Computers & Bacardi

Hola Amigos,

Well, the weekend is upon us, and I am glad the week is over. First off, the project is finally beginning to move into mobilization, albiet about two weeks late, and we moved into new offices onsite, so the speed is picking up. For good measure, Windows XP decided to have a serious mental breakdown on me on Friday just before a meeting with the client. I spent most of the day with our IT guy in the main office trying to figure it out. It was a true conundrum for both of us. I was able to salvage the schedules from the system and I left it for him to re-image. Oh well, at least I have a computer to borrow this weekend until I get mine on Monday, but no P3 software, so the schedules are out of luck until then.

Anyway, today was a recovery day for me, so I headed out with a coworker for a little tourist action. We visited the Bacardi Rum plant outside of San Juan and took the tour. It was fun, but it only passed some of the day, so now I'm just chillin' in my room talking to you fine folks.

I'm looking foward to this week, because I'm heading out of here on Tuesday. I'm ready for a nice long, long weekend home with some stuffing, and an Aggie win over the t-sips. Most of all, I'm ready to get home to the wife. Just is patient enough with me to let me venture off on another assignment abroad, but it doesn't mean that I like being away.

Well, ya'll, I'm gonna get back to relaxing, but I hope everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving. Remember, the holiday is for family, so kiss your mom and thank her for cooking enough food to feed a small African country just to get you to visit.

Adios,

Pooh

Puerto Rican Livin'

Hola Amigos,

Okay, so here's the scoop. After dumping WGI for good and promising never to return to such a frustrating company, we kissed, made up and got back together.

Yep, I'm here in Puerto Rico working on a much less physically threatening (and much shorter) project that previously in the Middle East. True to form, this is also a much different standard of living. Follow along -

I am living in the Marriott Courtyard on Isla Verde, which is here in San Juan. I have cable TV, a king sized bed, and a full size bathroom. We have a free breakfast buffet daily, and my office is not walking distance from the hotel. I don't wear my ID on my sleeve, wear work boots, or carry a flashlight. I shop at the mall, and there is no PX/BX to be found. No one wears BDUs or carries automatic weapons. It is a strange world indeed. To round out the experience, I take a trip home about every three weeks, so it's not that bad.

Okay, for those of you still living in Iraq, just disregard all of the above as the rantings of a deranged lunatic because you know that there can't be a better life than that provided to you in the desert. I'm talking to the civilians that don't know any better.

Anyway, I figure with a new job that is was time for a new webpage, so here you go. I'll start posting pictures soon enough so be patient. Alas, staying at home was just not yet meant to be for me. There is just too big of a world to be built.

Adios,

Pooh

Bienvenidos

Howdy Ya'll,

Well, this will be quick, because I'm just trying to get this thing up and running. Here's the long and short of it. I'm in Puerto Rico. (Hence the bilingual title) I have a whole new world of stories and experiences to share, and I don't even have to wear body armor!

I'll fill you in more later. Take care and gig'em.

Adios,

Pooh