Bogota, Columbia

Bogota, Columbia.

That's close to where he'll end up for a while. Bogota, Columbia. It's kind of close to the Panama Canal, I mean, if we're speaking in terms of nearness of land mass. It would be like saying that Tennessee is close to the Gulf of Mexico. Not a lie, but not a marker either.

Bogota, Columbia. It's on the Western side of South America, North of the Equator, but very near the Equator [hot hot hot]. I know very little about the area except for what the television tells me; the television tells me that Bogota is the capital of a country that produces drugs and is essentially ran by what we near Chicago think of as Mafia. Columbia has been in the business of taking political hostages. By political hostage I do not mean hostages who are politicians (though some have been). What I mean is that they take hostages to gain a "political" leverage; but more often than not, they take hostages simply for the ransom. While the US government does not negotiate for hostages, families will.

Bogota, Columbia. It's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, I might be afraid to go alone though. He'll be fine. He says that he fits the part. He looks like his relatives. Apparently though, his scam is up once he speaks. He's got an accent. It's an American accent on his Spanish.

Bogota, Columbia. It's not the only place he's going! He's going all over the Western Hemisphere! I'd say lucky him, but one of his places that he's going is to Washington state to take the SE licensure exam [gack].

Ruben. That's who "he" is...the "he" of this story. I spoke of him briefly before in this blog. He's an amazing individual that I wish everyone had the opportunity to meet. He is no longer working at HOK, he's moving on with his life. He deserves and needs to move on to other things. He's an amazing individual.

Ruben. He came this morning to pack his things. I said good bye, but not "forever good bye". We'll speak again. I keep tabs on the people I think are decent and wonderful and amazing people. The people I wish everyone could meet. But he is off now, to meet other people, to visit his friends and family.

Bogota, Columbia. Where some of his family lives.

I Apologize

I apologize, it's been a few days. I'm not entirely sure anyone has missed me, but for the sake of my enormous ego, we'll pretend so. And by enormous ego, I hope you know I'm being facetious, it's not that large, just enough to fill say, an 8'x10' room.

Anyway, I have loads to say but am again choosing not to say any of it (I saw you smile about that [glaring]). I will exult on the fact that many a person that comes here looks at one of three things: KAUST Pictures; Aya-Welland; or you just look and leave (s'ok, so would I). So for those of you looking, thanks! Leave comments so I can give you the due appreciation you deserve!

I've got to run, but not before sharing a few pics (though sadly not KAUST)!

Me, and my new English Beat tee...

Me, sipping from a sculpture...

Mike, glugging from sculpture...

Me, imitating a sculpture...

Me, on a scooter! (alas a sculpture)...

Mike being thug saying, "you can't quote this baby"...

Me, and some very nice punk boy at the Bleeding Deacon...

Words...
girlfriend voice: the change in pitch or tone of a man's voice when talking to their significant other. The girlfriend voice is characterized by a higher pitch and more effeminate tone with speech patterns scattered with pet names and childish words. this type of speech is usually frowned upon when used in the presence of other men.

onion booty:Booty this looks so good it makes a grown man want to cry.

solid:

1. Interjection of approval, confirmation, or congratulations.

2. A favor done for someone.

e-maul: An e-mail assault so vicious in tone the recipient loses an eye to you. To e-maul someone is to textually assault an individual via the Internet.

My Heart Is With You Ruben

Have you ever met someone that you know deserves everything wonderful the world could provide? The best smells you can think of, the best flavors imaginable, the best feelings you could encompass yourself with ... these things should belong to Ruben Aya-Welland and his beloved wife Kara (http://kayawelland.wordpress.com).

On July 13, 2009 at 10:30pm, Kara passed away.

Her heroic six year battle against a very rare cancer has come to an end. She was 36 years old. And we just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. -Ruben

If you pray, then pray for them, and if you don't, please just think of them. Good people always deserve so much more than they are given to work with, and yet they make the best of life in ways most of us may never understand.

My heart and thoughts are with you Ruben. The pain may never go away, but it gets easier. Know that you always have a friend in St. Louis!

Pictures of Pie and Buildings

I'm back!!

I wanted to quickly share a couple of things with you. The first is a project I worked on called King Abdullah University of Science and Technology located off the Red Sea north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Those of you that personally know me might recall the suffering and slight enjoyments I went through on this job; but in the end it feels great to see it. So, here are some photos! I worked on the big guys! Feel free to look at the KAUST website and look at additional stuff! [For those of you that I e-mailed these photos to, sorry to repeat, but I think this is really amazing, so I felt the need to tell more people!]

All images are copyright of KAUST


Next on my list of things to share with you, is Pi(e) Day. I've only mentioned it a few hundred times within the past week perhaps. I am therefore absolutely sure that you know what I am talking about. I did want to share a picture though, of my small group of people that I work with everyday. We're a fun group, albeit nerdy, but we like us! If you are wondering why our smiles look fake, well, that's because they are!!

[From left to right: Ruben, Andrew, Steph, Crystal, Jim, Yong, Steven, and Abdel]

HOK Blogger Rachel will be posting a blog about Pi Day tomorrow, on the actual Pi(e) Day! Look for it at hoklife.com!

I would also like to mention that young Miles John B. was born today! Rachel, Randy, and baby Miles are doing well! Happy Friday the 13th Birthday Miles!

BFF

So let me start this blog by saying I had a great weekend, that promptly ended on Sunday when I saw the e-mail from co-worker Ruben that informed me of the rough week ahead. Yea, always a good thing to see!

So to say the least, I'll be writing this blog in between splitting columns in the REVIT model. I'm drafting at least, a task I enjoy. Also, having known this week was going to be long, I chose to wear jeans today, so shove that in your pipe and smoke it Corporate America! I also asked to postpone my guest speaker/teacher gig. I was supposed to teach at SIUE on Tuesday about sustainability to the senior design class. With this impending deadline that I still don't think is feasible, I need all the time I can get. Why am I blogging then, oh right, my therapy because if I don't get this all out, I will literally explode and spew guts, blood, and diet pepsi in every direction.

So I'll rewind and tell you all about Mardi Gras. For those of you that are unaware, St. Louis Mardi Gras is the second largest MG celebration in the US, second only of course to New Orleans. That being said, I threw on the long johns, two pair of socks, hefty boots, and my coat; and brave the cold with some friends and my sister. Good old Tim organized the whole ordeal and got a bus! We piled on after tying on a few at the Pub, headed west and got dropped off into the freezing wind and crowded streets of Soulard!

Once there, we promptly found our heated tent at Joanies's Pizza. I danced a lot, shouted a lot, and drank a lot of hurricanes. It was a great time. Holly and I walked around a bit. We even saw her friend's band play, and they rocked! Before the day was over, I had a scary guy give me beads and want to dance with me, and I was ever so thankful my sister stepped in to save me. There was another fella who claimed he was waiting all day to dance with me, that was nice of him. I left though, without even saying good bye because I was being called to grab Shawna, my new BFF and dancing buddy, to go to the bus!

So that was the weekend! Today though has been rough, like a shaken soda can waiting to be opened. I don't think there are enough tears for me today. It's one of those, "I'm going to throw up" sort of days. I'm at the point of just giving up, so I'm not even going to write anymore.

Here are you words:
geotard: A person who is incapable of figuring out how to get from point A to B without instructions like "turn at the pretty blue house", does not know which direction in north, and/or points in the wrong direction when talking about a place. Combination of geography and retard.

nice ups: A way of throwing props to some one, saying thank you, or showing respect. Similar to Big Ups.