Bah. This weekend went by entirely too quickly. A shame, really, considering how little I’ve done.

About the main thing I did of note yesterday was take Dad to dinner at PF Chang’s for Father’s Day. Once again I was smart and had made a reservation beforehand (this time, on Thursday while still at Cardenas). We had enough time to get drinks from the bar before we got buzzed to inform us our table was ready. As we were meeting the hostess to be seated, I got the impression some people waiting were giving us dirty looks. Well, I’m sorry, but that’s what happens when you don’t plan ahead. Anyway, we were seated, and had a wonderful meal. I decided to be different this time and got the chengdu spiced lamb as opposed to my usual Chang’s spicy chicken. I must say, it was quite delicious. Mom’s crispy honey shrimp was quite good as well. What ended up being unexpected was the fact that they served us fried rice on the house. (Their fried rice is generally served as a separate meal considering everything they put in it.) Dad was very appreciative of the meal, and we ended up going straight home afterwards.

Today was more or less uneventful, for the most part. I haven’t really done anything of note save relaxing. I suppose that’s enough, really.

The rest of this week is what will be annoying. I’m going to have to babysit one of my IT coworkers as he installs a new application in our datacenter this week. In addition, I’ll have to catch up on tickets that have been piling up while I was out last week, AND we’re going to be moving into our new offices this week. I swear I’m probably not going to have time for everything. On the bright side, the coworker who is coming in, Brent, will probably be good for some after-work entertainment Tuesday or Wednesday. Also, a former coworker wants to do poker on Thursday, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll also be scheduling some time to get the windows on my Avenger tinted; I got a check from the people financing my old car last week reimbursing an overpayment, so that money will go to the window tinting. :-)

Ah, well. I’ll go ahead and go to bed in a few minutes, in order to rest up for the rest of the week. I get the feeling I’m going to need the rest…

In a factory complex in Cardenas, Mexico, there lives a dog with three legs. He has no known “proper” name, but the locals refer to him as the Three-Legged Dog. Now, this dog is smart. He always knows where to go to get rides from the trucks traversing the facility. More to the point, he has his way with the ladies. On several occasions, while the other male dogs are fighting with each other, presumably for the right to one of the females… he’s already off to one side having his way with them.

If you have some food, and some time… if you feed him, the Three-Legged Dog will impart his wisdom to you.

Yes, I’m back from Villahermosa. It was a long and sometimes frustrating trip, but all in all I got almost everything accomplished that I needed to.

I arrived in Villahermosa at 9 PM on Tuesday. Once through immigration and customs, I was met by the VP overseeing our Mexico facility and the Mexico facility’s general manager, who ended up taking me to a brief dinner at Bennigan’s. (Yes, they have a Bennigan’s in Villahermosa.) After a small meal (I had eaten at the Chili’s in Terminal B of Bush Intercontinental Airport), we went to the hotel I was staying at. It was the Holiday Inn Express in Villahermosa. All in all, it was a very nice hotel, complete with hardwood floors and a walk-in shower. I ended up setting my alarm for 5:15 AM, as we were leaving for the facility at 6:20 AM, and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning, to see it was 6:05 AM. Apparently I hadn’t noticed that the clock was 12 hours off. Crap. After rushing to get ready, I made it downstairs only a couple of minutes late, and we made our way to the facility. While on the way, the VP told us about the Three-Legged Dog. He ended up becoming a recurring theme throughout my stay there, as he was constantly referenced as an authority on how to get things done with the ladies. (This was despite my saying I didn’t need help as I already have a gf, but I digress…) I managed to get quite a bit done, and at 5 PM we made our way back to the hotel (with a stop at Office Depot for some equipment). I got online and did some work and talked to Misty, and at around 8:30 PM met up with the VP and GM to head to the airport where our CFO was arriving. His flight arrived (30 minutes late), and we all went to… well, Bennigan’s for dinner, which was packed with soccer fans watching the match between Mexico and Panama. After we finished eating, we went back to the hotel to rest.

The next day I got up at the appropriate time, and met the VP and CFO for breakfast. We made our way to the facility, where I completed the network hookup and inventory with one small exception (a print server was malfunctioning and I didn’t have a local replacement, so I wired something up temporarily). I ended up going back to the hotel at 6 PM with a couple of the hands that were in from Houma; later on, I met up with them and the others at Rodizio for dinner. Much fun and joking was had there, especially as one person wanted to meet with some hot women. He even asked the manager to get some over. After doing so, he looked at me and said, “You see, the Three-Legged Dog would be proud.”

I looked at him askance, and replied, “No, the Three-Legged Dog would say, ‘Why the hell are you asking the manager for help in getting women?'”

After we got done eating, we all retired back to the hotel. The next morning, I was up at 4:45 AM, in order to make it to the airport for my 7 AM flight. I was back in Houston by 10 AM… and back at the office by 11:30 AM. Bah. (I hadn’t planned on going in, but my fellow tech/assistant was out and I had to get the replacement print server configured and shipped out by the end of the day.)

So, all in all, it was a very productive trip. I didn’t really want to go, as work had been piling up at the office (and continued to do so while I was gone), but I got almost everything done that I needed to. All I can say for now is that it’s a good thing the other IT guys are getting passports. Now one of THEM can be the one to go when they’re ready to implement the time clocks. :-)