Stephen's Den

It was with a little twinge of regret that we left San Antonio and took the short trip up to Austin. On the way we stopped off at one of those American Icons: the International House of Pancakes (IHOP). I had traditional pancakes with bacon and Sarah had the chocolate chip pancakes.

We spent one night in Austin, which was really a bit of a letdown. I guess Austin’s nightlife is more suited to me than it is to Sarah 😉

We did resurrect the trip by having a very nice meal at Saltgrass on the way back up to Dallas. Once again, America’s proclivity for large helpings was painfully apparent (see the ribs pictured on the right).

Continue reading Pancakes, Assassination, Stockyards & Music

We checked out of the hotel and immediately started our journey West to the beautiful city of San Antonio.

We weren’t quite done with Houston yet, we had one more place on our itinerary: the museum of natural science.

One of the most breathtaking aspects to the museum is their enormous collection of precious stones. The gem depicted here on the right is one of the few that I managed to photograph without blurring.

Other parts to the museum included the dinosaur exhibit and some hands-on science exhibits around (what else but) oil mining and production.

Continue reading Houston to San Antonio

As you already know, Sarah came to join me in Texas on Saturday the 9th of December till her departure on the 1st of January. Her arrival was scheduled for 6:25pm that evening, so it was 5pm when I took to the interstate in my little hybrid car, with 2 diet cokes on board. I have made the trip out to the airport a number of times so made the 1 hour journey through Dallas from memory only.

I picked up a visibly bedraggled Sarah at around 6:15 that evening. She was too tired to do anything exciting, so I took her on a tour of that all-American icon: Wal-Mart and we had Mexican food (On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina). This was Sarah’s first taste of America’s pathologically large portion sizes: predictably, neither of us managed to finish our meals.

Continue reading Dallas to Houston

I went to Bass Pro over thanksgiving weekend. Now, Bass Pro is an enormous (two storey) hunting supply store. The reason I went there is I have a friend with a weakness for army gear (you know who you are).

I wondered if I would get some army gear there, you know: combat boots, camouflage pants, that sort of thing. Turns out they don’t have much in the way of army gear, but they do have a whole lot of everything else.

Continue reading This is a lovely room of death

It snowed yesterday. All week, the weather man had been threatening “ice rain” would hit us Thursday. When I returned to my car after work that night, I was surprised to see my car was covered in a film of ice. I unlocked the door and tried the handle. Locked. Unlocked it again then tried to open it: locked again! So I tried a third tie, this time I pulled harder and the door opened with a crack. The ice was keeping the door closed!

Needless to say, driving home was an experience. It was very difficult to see out of the rear view window at first but this eventually cleared up. At temperatures of -3C any precipitation that fell at that time ended up as snow. When I eventually arrived home I was treated to the sight of snow on my steps.

Now, I quite like snow but have never seen it actually snowing. This was the first time in my life I had ever seen a little precipitation. Granted it wasn’t anything close to a snowstorm, but it was still a wonderful (and cold) experience. It’s hard to believe that not too long ago we were sweltering at 110 F and now I have to leave the heater on all day and night so that the water pipes don’t freeze.

Auckland may be well known for four seasons in one day, but Texas certainly does appear to have very stark seasons. The next morning my neighbour (who borrows my washing machine every now and again) kindly dissolved the ice on my windscreen with isopropyl alchohol.

As they say here in the US: “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”.

I woke up a little late this morning, promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. There are few things more decadent than sleeping in on a Thursday morning. The autumn sun was streaming in through my balcony’s glass door when I eventually made my languid way out of bed. One of the nice things about Texas is you really do notice the seasons changing. Summer was very hot, autumn cooled considerably and the changing of the leaves promise an even colder winter to come.

I retired to the lounge, munching on a “South Beach” friendly breakfast bar. There I sat and made a list of things I wanted to get done in the holidays. It’s a long and ambitious list.

One of my goals was to do something nice for Thanksgiving dinner. I decided I would cook it myself since eating out doesn’t quite seem special enough for thanksgiving, nor does warming up some pre-cooked turkey burger sound particularly in the holiday spirit. A few Internet searches later and I had the list of ingredients I needed for a fantastic thanksgiving meal.

Continue reading Celebrating Thanksgiving by Consuming

Today is Thursday the 23rd of November. For most of the world it’s just like any other day, or perhaps it’s celebrated as a harvest festival. For Americans it’s a special holiday: thanksgiving. It’s a time in which the Americans remember their history and the hardships faced by the early settlers (along with some of the less edifying aspects of their history).

One of the most interesting developments of this holiday, however, is it has become a time for reflection and for family. A time to sit back, take stock and appreciate one’s family and friends. The Americans have a saying: “no one should spend thanksgiving alone”.

Well, I was planning on doing a weekend trip to somewhere over thanksgiving but I decided not to, instead I am going to slow down, take a break and take stock of where I am. I have bought some stationary and plan on writing hand-written letters to family, because I know it’s always nice to receive a handwritten letter.

Thinking about family, it’s so easy to get disillusioned: alone in a foreign country, no close friends, no family: not much in the way of a social network to fall back on. Still, even faced with yet another long weekend to spend by myself I have to admit that I have a lot to be thankful for. Career, car, savings, travel, life really hasn’t been much better than this and it’s only looking to improving.

To top it all off, I have discovered a good quality Vodka I can actually drink here. It’s called “Grey Goose” and it’s from France. The quality of the Vodka makes an incredible difference to the drinking experience. I highly recommend spending the extra money and getting something decent.

So for these reasons, my glass is more than a little half full this year. Happy thanksgiving, everyone!

I apologise for yet another “gay” post. This will be the last for a while, I promise, but given the referendum in the US and the recent law change in South Africa, I thought it was timely.

In a recent referendum, 8 American states recently voted on constitutional changes to “protect” marriage. Only one state did not pass that referendum. The vote in most states was pretty emphatic and overwhelmingly: “yes, protect marriage by making it only between a man and a woman”.

Why? Most gays wonder why other people feel so strongly about our private lives that they feel they should make new laws specifically preventing us from legally legitemising our existing monogamous, long-term relationships.

Continue reading Gay Marriage

I love my car. I know I have said this before but let me say it again: I love my car.

I wish I could say that I always wanted a hybrid car since I was a child, but that would be lying. As a child, what I really wanted was a car that could fly. I designed one with Lego. It was basically a helicopter car and mobile home all in one. I would have preferred jet propulsion but my logo set didn’t allow for jets.

In my dream world, I had my flying car parked outside my own little corner store that had a secret elevator leading to my subterranean home which doubled as a self-sufficient bomb shelter. I planned on living off yoghurt, protected from the world by complicated layers of water and lead shielding. I never imagined wanting a wife but I always assumed I would need one for the purposes of having kids or something.

Continue reading Geek Mobile

Ok, so Ted Haggard’s been all over the news and, in my arrogance, I feel like I have something to say on the matter.

What? You don’t know about him? Well, I guess maybe it’s only big news here in the US, or maybe only big news in Christian circles.

Essentially, it’s a story of a man, just a man. A man who (it turns out) has been living with a big secret his entire adult life. You see, from the current evidence, it looks like he’s gay. “Huh” you say “that’s not a problem, some of my best friends are gay.” Yeah, true. I agree, I don’t have a problem with him being gay. I know many gay people, and I consider myself gay. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Continue reading Ted Haggard