We pretty much had to trash our exercise room to get it done, but Christian and I got our new projector installed, hooked up to a NUC (mini-computer) and pointed at the screen on the back wall. The screen was the biggest part of the project, but it was truly a marvel of engineering. The combination of the projector and the screen are nothing short of amazing in terms of image quality, especially with respect to how much we had to pay for the thing. This is actually going to be a great place to even do things like take video conferences.
Thanksgiving was phenomenal this year. The addition of Ralph and Olivia injected a ton of energy and we hope they can make it back again next year. They are leaving a little later today. Grandma Conchita went with Rigoberto and family to meet with Jorge in Houston where they will hang out with cousins for a day or two before they she returns to Monterrey with Jorge and his family and Rigo and clan head home to Austin. Only Kelly and Christian will be with us know for a few days more. It will be nice to have some time with them alone.
I got up early this morning to get everything done in a somewhat relaxed manner before I got our 25 lb. turkey into the oven. I really enjoy the whole process a lot. I am even getting pretty good at carving the turkey. I get to do one more this year at Christmas time, but next year, I would like to start roasting some chickens. The problem is that it is almost as cheap to buy them already roasted at the grocery store as to do the roasting at home. Still, it would be fun to do some experimenting.
I got up at about six this morning to read my Bible, drink some coffee and enjoy the morning before all the bustle and noise associated with a Thanksgiving celebration for a dozen people gets started. I get to cook the turkey again this year, but it is a lot bigger one than I have ever cooked before–25 lbs. I think we (and when I say we, I mean I) probably made a mistake by getting one so big. We really did not need one that big and my gut feel is one that big might not be as tender as the 14-15 lb. turkey we usually get. Still, it is going to be fun. In addition to our own kids, Grandma Conchita, and our great Atlanta friends, Lorena’s brother, Rigo and his wife and three kids will be up for the evening, too. We have WAY too much food and there is really no way for most of them to take any of it along with them when they leave because they are either flying home or driving a long way to some place other than home. All that good food definitely is going to be a temptation. I have already put my weight-loss program on hiatus until everyone leaves.
Ralph and I do not have all the problems of the world solved yet, but we have made a good start. It is becoming obvious, though, that we will have to take it up again soon–possible in Mexico.
The first wave of Thanksgiving visitors have arrived. Ralph, Olivia, Kelly, and Christian are here and we are having just a great time. The first event is to head out to a Mexican grocery store to stock up on cooking supplies.
Lynn sent me a couple of images from the lower terrace at the apartment building. I thought they were really nice. Things are not as hazy in the morning. This is a lot lower on the hill the house we are remodeling so the view from there should be even better. I can imagine how nice it will be to sit on the balcony up there in the morning, drink my coffee, and enjoy the view. The top image is of the Huasteca. To its right, out of view, is where the new Tesla plant is being built. The bottom image is of the “M” formation. Below the M is the rich part of San Pedro. The part you cannot see from the apartments that is visible from the house is out of view to the left of the bottom image and includes a bunch of big skyscrapers and more mountains.
It is a great joy to have Grandma Conchita with us for Thanksgiving this year. We can hardly believe that, after quite a few years of smaller gatherings, it appears we will have, God willing, a full dozen for Thanksgiving dinner. Lorena’s brother, Tio Rigo, and this family who are now living in the Austin area will be with us for the second year, but also Ralph and Olivia from Atlanta/Sweden will be with us. Ralph is an amazing cook, so we are hoping to co-opt him to create some of his specialties. Also, they are huge art buffs so we are hoping to take them to see the Kimbell and Sid Richardson Art Museums in Fort Worth. Both of them are spectacular. We also want to go to the Cowgirl Museum and there is much more, but we are not sure how much time there will be to do it all.
Lynn has started sending updates on the house on the top of the hill again. The goal is to get the first floor apartment livable enough for Conchita, Lorena, and I to survive there while Lynn is working on the rest of the house. We plan to take a trip down there in February with an outside chance that it will be earlier or later depending on the progress. Lynn promises me that the house is going to change rapidly now as most of the infrastructure work is complete.
Now that I am about to graduate, my Ph.D. adviser, Troy, and I have identified a volunteer research project on which I can collaborate. Troy’s GRIME Lab is working with collaborators in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America to develop methods for the crowd sourcing of hydrologically interesting water scene images. With this project, the biggest problem is figuring out how to extract meaningful information from the images. There is quite a bit of mostly failed work on extracting information from unconditioned images–that is, images where there is nothing in the scene to help calibrate the images so that measurements can be taken. Our plan is to take a step back, make minor changes to the staff gauges that are commonly in those scenes and see if we can start gathering more meaningful information than what is already there. The problem with that is the size of the calibration target (the octagon in the scene) is very small compared to what we used during my Ph.D. research. It looks, though, like I can find the target fine. The problem then is to figure out how to make the calibration right after the target is found.
It has been well over a year since I have weighed under 200 pounds. This morning, I made it. I expect to fluctuate above and below that for a week or two, but God willing, I will below for good very soon. My next big goal is to move from obesity class 1 to merely overweight which is when I get to a BMI of 29.9. In my case, that is 191.2. The long-haul goal is to get down in the mid-150 range–anything at or below 159.3 pounds puts me into the normal weight range with a BMI of less than 25, but I am not sure yet whether that is even healthy based on my body type. All that adds up to 40-45 pounds left to go. I am down 35 pounds since I started a little over two months ago.
God willing, we will be up at University of Nebraska–Lincoln one month from now getting ready to walk in the graduation ceremony. I keep checking my student account to see if I have missed anything, but nothing new has come up for a long time, so I think I am ready to go. It is a little bit of a hard thing because the kids are planning to come home for Christmas, but that comes right after the graduation, so we think they might just watch online so they don’t have to either fly twice in a week or miss too much work.
There are new street view images for virtually every house we have ever owned except the one we are in now which is a gated community and they cannot get in. The new images were all taken in 2023. I can hardly believe it. The houses are spread all over the place–Cornelius, Sherwood, and Albany, Oregon, Raleigh, North Carolina, and two houses in San Pedro, Garza García, Nuevo Leon, México. Pretty cool that they continue to update all these street views.
Most of the hard copies of my dissertation are still with Troy in Lincoln, but he graciously sent me a few via FedEx. It is very cool to be able to hold one in my own hot little hands. They came out great. One thing I did not expect is that there would be only one-sided printing, but that is a good thing. Another surprising thing is that all the pages in the book are full color I am very pleased with how it all came out and thankful Troy was willing to take the time to send me a few advanced copies.
Another house across the street from our first remodel in San Pedro has started a remodel. That is the second one that has done this. Those two houses and the one we purchased, honestly, were the trashiest on the street. These three remodels will very much upgrade the general feeling of the neighborhood by a lot. Lynn says people are keeping things a lot more orderly, too–sweeping the sidewalks and street in front of their houses. Very, very cool result.
Lorena visited the houses with Lynn, his three boys, Lynn, Jr., Marlon, and Bruno, Tío Lauro, and Grandma Conchita last night. It was cloudy and rainy, but Lorena reported the nighttime view from the balcony was still pretty spectacular although the clouds got in the way of the mountains so all you could see was the city lights. The apartments a little further down the hill are pretty much complete except for some details so Lorena got the final set of pictures we will be able to get until the renters move in. Lorena’s internet connection was pretty spotty, so she was only able to send a few pictures. She and Grandma Conchita are on their way to the airport to come home right now, so I will wait until she gets her and I can download them from her phone before I put anything up.
Tío Lauro took Lorena and Grandma Conchita to an art show in Guadalupe last night. The show featured engravings and Tío Lauro was one of the invited artists. The mayor of the municipality opened the show which served wine and other drinks. There was live music (saxophone, of all things–played well enough so people danced) and a good attendance. A great time was had by all. After the show, Lauro gave Lorena an incredible book on the art and techniques of throwing pottery on a pottery wheel. Now Lorena and I are scheming about how to get here a wheel and a kiln to get started after she takes some classes in Fort Worth.
Lorena had to get some paperwork done at El Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE). My understanding is that her “official” residence is whatever is on her voter credential and has an impact on how property taxes are assessed and also for how much sales tax has to be paid when you sell the house. We are going to make the apartments our official residence until Lynn is able to finish up the remodel on the house up on the hill, at least to the point where it is livable. We are really looking forward to spending some time down there.
Later today, Lorena is going to take some pictures of both places that I will try to put up if any of them are any good. Not much progress has been made on the house on the hill because Lynn has been finishing up the apartments so renters can move in over the next few days.
There is a new restaurant in San Pedro Lorena claims is the best one yet. It is just down the hill from our places and the believe it is better than our previous which is, honestly, very hard to imagine. The name of the place is Tacos Atarantados. That, I am sure, will be my first stop the next time I am in town. The last think I need right now for my current nutrition plan is another place that makes tacos I cannot resist.
