Mucky Declarations

Well, Houston has been came to, seen, and conquered. Twas a fun couple of days. We left early Wednesday morning for a bleary eyed drive to the airport, followed by all of the normal airport things, including, not least of all, a flight to the much bigger airport in Houston. This is where the fun began. Well, not really. I had been maneuvering with my boss and his secretary for the past several days to actually get most of my itinerary, which, I found out the night before the flight, had been emailed several times to the wrong email address. Yes, there are two "s"s at the end of my last name. Alice, however, redeemed herself tenfold when we found out that my boss had reserved the rental car that we were supposed to get without mentioning the detail that I was going to be the one picking it up. Alice worked her magic, and we got the car. And with service from the branch manager, no less. So we drove our newly acquired Ford Explorer right through the middle of this in order to drive far past the Drury Inn where we were scheduled to stay, only to turn around and find that we were indeed going the wrong direction. I love big cities. We arrived, a bit harried, as we were due to show Val around my new workplace in short order, followed by a meeting with my uncle Marc, whom I had not seen in roughly ten years. But all went smoothly, albeit roundabout-ly due to the unfamiliarity with the area. There was then an issue with the hotel, as somehow they had gotten the impression that my boss' credit card was only to reserve the room, and not actually pay for it. Since we had prepared for the worst, I went ahead and gave them my card. My boss fixed this misunderstanding the next day. We met up with Uncle Marc at the hotel, and then got a guided tour through the slightly post-rush-hour traffic of I-10 to the Mucky Duck Irish Pub. It was a very pleasant evening, and they had patio seating in the back of the restaraunt, which was quite nice. The resemblance between my dad and Marc was absolutely scary. I felt often times that I was looking at dad, only with a mustache and a full head of brownish red hair and a different voice. It was often even scarier, in that they have some of the same facial tics and expressions, one in particular that Marc uses quite often, but that my dad only uses sparingly when he is being stern about something. That took some getting used to. But the conversation seemed to flow well. We talked a lot about family (ten years is a while to catch up) and what our lives were like nowadays. All of this over a few Dr. Peppers, some interesting food (see the Scotch egg in the menu of the above link), and an odd man wearing a dress at the table next to us proved to provide a very pleasant evening. The next morning we were due to meet and be escorted around by an associate of Marc's that we had been corresponding with via email for several weeks. It was another one of those "put a face with a name" type of meetings. We toured four different apartment complexes near my new place of work, all very nice, but each with their own little quirks. The first place was quite nice, and ended up being our second choice. It was a location closer to a park that we were aiming for, but we didn't get quite the bang for our buck that we ended up getting. The leasing agent that showed us around was the nicest of the four. She was the only one that really seemed genuinely interested, rather than just doing her job. The second was pushy, the third outright rude. The fourth place, however, gave us an offer that we couldn't pass up. There was an additional 5% discount on rent for those working in the Park Ten district, which I was. There was also no security deposit, and the first month was free with a year lease. We ended up putting down only $50 to reserve our apartment rather than the several hundred we were expecting. We also got a 2 bedroom, 1,200 sqare foot apartment for less that what we were hoping to pay for a medium sized one bedroom! All of this took place before lunch. It was a very quick and fun morning. We were both extremely pleased with what we got. After a quick lunch at Quiznos, we relaxed for a few hours before dinner that night with my boss. We ended up going to a place called Taste of Texas, which, if you know anything about Texas and their penchant for doing things BIG, lived up to the name. Seeing my boss outside of a work context for the first time was interesting. He is a great guy, willing to go as far out of his way as possible to make things well for you. His wife was also quite a character. The two had a good bit of fun going back and forth at each other with little jabs, with us being in the middle of it. "I'd recommend the quail skewers as an appetizer." "Oh, Eddie, nobody likes those but you." "Well, that's no big deal, we'd be willing to try whatever." "Now don't be silly. You order whatever you want; don't mind him." That kind of stuff. So appetizers we got (and the quail skewers were quite good, not to mention being almost a meal unto themselves). This was followed by a trip to the salad and bread bar, which was followed by the main dishes, which each would have paid for a McDonalds meal for my entire family. Val and I ogled to ourselves before, during and after the meal. My boss's wife even laughed at us when we offered to help with the tab. We asked for steak, and that's what we got. LOTS of steak. My boss also bought some lobster just for fun, since he was determined to acclimate us to gulf coast seafood. Val didn't like the first bite, but was guilted into finishing her serving off. "You're not gonna throw that away, are you? That lobster cost more than your steak," said his wife. My boss and I also got to talk shop a bit as well. I got an idea what my first few months were going to be like, and what type of things I would be working on. I was (and still am a bit) scared that I will get thrown into something over which I have a serious responsibility (both to the quality of the project, as well as civil safety), and not have the slightest clue what I'm doing. In my mind, I know that they work with you on that stuff, but the fear still remain. The next morning were were still stuffed, but ate a little something from the free breakfast that came with the room. We then met Marc again at a small coffee shop across the road from us, where things promptly started to break once we arrived. We drank coffee and talked for another hour or so before he had to get to a meeting. We had some time to spare, which we spent driving around the perimeter of Houston, trying to get a feel for the area. The atmosphere around us got suddenly materialistic as we continued to pass shopping center after shopping center along the highway. We realized that every few miles was a bit of a community unto itself, and in order for people to not have to drive their little tails off all of the time, there had to be another Starbucks or McDonalds or Olive Garden put in every few miles. It felt like we were looking at the background of one of those cartoons where the cat is running along the length of the house only to pass the same window and table a dozen times before crashing into the wall. We eventually made our way to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and sat around waiting for our flight. The mantra for the evening was: "We now have an apartment in Houston," to which we both still gibber with amazement.