Slingbox

If you aren't familiar with the Slingbox, let me describe the greatness of this technology. It allows us to watch TV in the US. My good friend, Jim Yarrish, has graciously agreed to hook it up to a TV at his home. With this box, we can control the TV over the internet like we were there. We also have access to his DVR (which doesn't exist in the Philippines) and record whatever we want since the time difference only lets us watch middle of the night live TV.

Of course, all I have used it for to this point is to watch Dallas Cowboy and Baylor football games. While I expect Baylor to continue to struggle, watching the Cowboys this year is sickening. I get up early Monday morning so I can watch the game before work. I avoid all internet and news so I don't know the score. And what I get to see in these games is not the team I was expecting. I hope Coach Cupcake gets them in gear.

Our First Vacation!!

We are leaving for Singapore this Friday. We plan on exploring Asia as much as we can on our assignment here. First stop will be Singapore. I am very anxious to see something new.

The reason we are going now is the boys are off Friday, Monday and Tuesday. The local holiday is All Saints Day. Which is a big holiday everywhere in the world except in the US. Lots of people will travel this weekend to visit the cemeteries of family members. We are going on vacation.

Check back next week to get a full report and see some pictures.

Taal Volcano

Click on picture and then select slideshow in upper right corner

Photobucket Album

Well, we finally went out of the city to do something. This is a small, but active, volcano just south of us by an hour or so. It is certainly not an attraction you would see in the states. So many things about the process is totally different. But we did enjoy the adventure. Scenery was beautiful, the horse ride was extremely uncomfortable (saddles not made for 200 lb people), attacked by people selling pepsi/gatorade and sombrero type hats for the sun, and nothing really to tell you what you are seeing or where you are. But there is smoke coming out of the ground and a sulfur lake in the middle. Two weeks ago there were 10 minor earthquakes. I was hoping for some rumbling (Terri wasn't), but no such luck.

Something else new is you have to negotiate with everyone - the boat guide, the horse guide and the vendors. I am sure I was taken advantage of, but instead on paying $1, I paid a $1.50. I think we can handle that.

It was a fun day and I plan on never doing it again. But it is marked off our list.

Hallelujah!!!

You don't realize how much you miss things when you can't easily go to them. When I heard there was a Taco Bell in the city, I knew we had to go. It took us over an hour to drive there, but it was well worth it. I had some very happy boys when they heard about it. It was exactly the same food and flavor. While there are only 15 or so menu choices, it was exactly what we needed.

There are basically no drive thru fast food places here. It is so crowded that they don't have room for it. Most don't have a parking lot at all. You have to find a garage somewhere and walk, take public transportation or, for us, you have a driver who drops you off.

This Taco Bell is in a mall. You would not believe the size of the food courts here. Most have 20-30 restaurants in them. Here is one that had an interesting name.

College Football

There are some things that I really miss. Watching sports while plopped on the couch all day is at the top of the list. I have three sports channels: ESPN Global, Star Sports and Balls. About 95% of the time I can watch soccer, Formula One racing, Asian Golf tour, random tennis tournaments or billiards. Honestly, that is about it. Over and over and over again. Plus, no scroll bar at the bottom with scores.

On Balls, they will show a random college football game 5 or so times each week. One week I got North Carolina vs. Rutgers. I have also seen Colorado vs. Colorado State and Oklahoma vs. TCU. So desperate I am for football, I will watch them more than once.

However, I got to see Oklahoma vs. Baylor today. Amazing!! For those that don't know, I went to Baylor. Of course Oklahoma is #1 in the polls right now, so we got slaughtered. But you know what, doesn't matter. I actually got to see my team play. Probably will watch us get killed 3 or 4 more times.