DB sez, "Same as it ever was"

I am not an evil man. In fact, at times, I can be downright benevolent. I try to always be engaging. And I dress appropriately, except when I miscalculate and overdress. This is the frame of reference in which I view myself. It's probably skewed, considering I am on my second, nearly exasperated, wife. But it seems to work for me.

I used to travel quite extensively overseas sampling, and quite enjoying, the hospitality of each country. My experiences have definately added fuel to the fire of my "people are basically good" world view.I found Middle Easterners to be the most gracious hosts, even while the streets were quite hot and dust blown. I found that Chinese vendors will bargain hard with you over price, but will not try to cheat you if you get your mental currency exchanger off by a factor of 10 and try to bargain a $20 item "down" to $190. And yes,as a matter of fact I DID feel quite foolish about that.

So what do you do if you're not traveling the world? Letting the world come to you seems like a logical step. And therefore, without any forethought or planning on my part, that seems to be what I have done. Sitting here this morning it dawns on me. It is my lot in life to interact with the world. I was put on this earth by the good lord to like people and be liked in return. Luckily for the good ol' US of A, I am an enthusiastic goodwill ambassador.

This week, and for the next 3 weeks, we have 7 Koreans from the Incheon/Seoul area in our class. They are polite and studious, although I know that sounds stereotypical. Stereotypical or not, it does happen to be the truth. I have helped them google up locations for asian makets, beach bars, steak houses, and Red Lobsters. (It's OK...we have nav-ee-ga-tor in car.) I am used to speaking my English slowly and working with a translator anyway, so some of them who are still learning English feel comfortable attempting to talk with me sans their 28 year old, delightful, shapely, attractive and single translator. Her name, the translator, is Joy. And she is. But I digress. And daydream.

Yesterday (Friday)I set it up with them that after class, and after they had returned to their hotel long enough to shit, shower, and shave, we would head out for some adventure.They readily agreed. Skipping past the mundane in this story, we are now out of class, re-invigorated and headed towards my house at a moderate rate of speed in a big happy rental car caravan. We pick up my wife and a neighbor at my house and then take off.

Side bar: They were most impressed by large Christmas light displays on people's houses that we passed along our trip. I heard numerous audible gasps.

Side bar #2: I had called my boss in MA and told him I was going to be entertaining the students that evening and inquiring about the possibility of expensng the dinner portion of it on my corporate card. He said to go for it. Cool!

I took them to an authentic Mexican joint near here. It was cool hearing a Spanish speaker asking an English speaker, "How do I tell them hello?" They were soooo stoked. Apparently they had never eaten any real Mexican food before.

Then I took them out to Channelside where I introduced them to the American entertainment trifecta of overpriced booze, overpriced cigars, and young, slutty dressed women. We ended up in Howl At The Moon and had a pretty good time. I was also going to take them to the Dallas Bull, which I think they would have thoroughly enjoyed. The music is loud, the cowboy hats are big, the line dancing is mesmerizing, and it is full of young, slutty dressed women. But alas, they called it a night at 11 PM. So me, my wife, and Cathy headed for Dallas Bull without them. Hey... there was gonna be line dancing eye candy! (Dallas Bull Link)

Following the Korean class will be a Japanese class and then a Russian class. I think I will enjoy that.

It's Sunday now (I post pretty slow these days) and I have to drive up to Orlando this afternoon with Tommy, my mentor at work. He's going to help me learn the ropes on a new configuration (new to me, that is) that is installed in the Orlando airport. Tuesday evening he will drive back here. But not me. Tuesday night I end up on a late flight to Sacramento, where I have promised the Korean students I would attempt a Swartzeneggger sighting. I'll get back to Tampa late Saturday night.

Well, it's 4 AM Monday and nothing funny or interesting has happened yet. I am dressed (dashingly) and ready for work. Must be the old chief in me, but the first thing I did when I got into the room last night was to iron up a pair of Polo khaki pants (friends don't let friends wear Dockers) and a shirt nice and crisp. Since the functionality level of my brain and the reliability of the front desk wake-up calls can never be accurately predicted in advance, I like to have things ready to bolt out of bed in a panic and jump into my clothes. I always pre-load the coffee machine also. Just in case.

Hours today: 0600-0800 and then 1800-2000. Yep, that does add up to 4 hours with a right fair siesta in the middle. Complaints? None.

My name was Lola. I was a dancer.Out.
Ramblin' Ed