Houston and back again

I made a trip to Houston Sunday evening and made it back Wed. night. I was there for a Facility Acceptance Test of our new DCS system going in at Salt Creek Gas Plant. It was a rough trip this time around. It started with a 3 hour delay at Lubbock due to storms in the Houston area. However, when I arrived – and during my stay, I never witnessed a drop of rain. LOL There were some things that came up about a request from Honeywell to extend our turn around by 2-3 weeks. The reply from me was a simple “No!”. This prompted a meeting to be called at 4PM at there office located neat Westheimer. I knew I would get caught in traffic trying to get back to the north side of Houston, so I made preparations to visit the Guitar Center there while traffic dissipated. I used to frequent this Guitar Center since it was the closest one to my hometown, Lufkin.

I played some really nice guitars, and dreamed of taking a few back home with me. Unlike our Guitar Center here in Lubbock, this one has a Vintage section. They had some really nice guitars and amps in there. I asked to play one behind the glass and the guy said “Well, we are only supposed to let serious buyers play them.”. Not sure what the heck he meant, so I told him “Fine! I want to play that one there, the Tele and the Strat. We’ll see which one I like better after I play them through this ’64 Deluxe Reverb.” There was a bit of a pause, as he looked at me strangely. Then I said ” Look man, I am as serious as I can be about buying one of these. It is only after I play them will I be able to honestly know if this is the guitar I am looking for and if it is worth depleting my retirement account, and getting a divorce.”. He laughed and called the manager for the key. The manger never asked a question – simply opened it and walked away. I spent a good 30 minutes in the room by myself with these awesome instruments and amps. Only to notice the sales guy look in a couple of times.

Sadly, I determined that it was not worth the money, nor the divorce. LOL

I also want to share some news stories that I came across during my morning news readings. I’m sorry if my humor is a bit dry, but when you read these headlines…well I just did not see how they could be justified as news. They did give me a laugh early for the day though.

Other than that – I have been recoding the apps and getting them ready for submission within the next few months. I also just ordered a new 27″ Thunderbolt display, keyboard, and mouse to mate up with my Mac Book Pro. This should serve as a good combination for my coding needs. Can’t wait for it to get here – I guess I will start re-arranging the desk in my home office after this post.

Well – better get to it!