Coffee Spilled Pants Wet

A few weeks back, I wrote about a small coffee related mishap that killed the keyboard on Megan’s laptop. I had my own minor coffee incident this morning on the drive to work. While trying to recover a bit of the delicious foam from my espresso-based drink, I managed to precisely place an aliquot of that drink directly in my lap. What a way to start the day! My pants have now dried leaving behind a distinct coffee colored ring next to my zipper.

On a totally unrelated note, it is nice to be working in a place where people are friendly. There are a lot of people that I don’t know in my office but passing someone in the hall always involves a hello, a nod or exchange of some sort. This was not the case at school where I often passed my labmates without acknowledgement. In general, this scenario also plays out in other public places in this area. Perhaps it is due to the friendly nature of Texans in their native habitat. The social atmosphere of L.A. seemed to create an insular barrier around each individual and discourage interactions with strangers.

I took a bike ride last week to get some much needed exercise.  It was quite enjoyable but I haven’t managed to repeat the feat. Our neighborhood is surrounded by a system of gullies to drain rainwater. The gullies are probably 20 feet deep and 100 feet wide. On either side is a flat levee wide enough to drive a car on. This is perfect for a ready made bike trail. It is also extensively used by the neighbors for riding ATV’s and go-carts. 

I took a half-hour sojourn along the gullies and managed to find more than a few mud puddles. This is the thick black mud of Houston that reminds me a bit of crude oil. My tires, brakes, gear sprockets and derailers were caked with mud when I returned home.  I concluded my ride with a 10 minute wash down to clean up. I’m looking forward to the next ride.