bipolar weather

welcome to houston. on wednesday there was snow in the air. now on sunday it is in the 70's and feels like a spring day. wednesday was the best day i have had in texas.....

i am dumb when it comes to computers

i'm so sorry for the lengthy pause. i don't think i'm a great blogger. there is a complicating factor in this delay. my computer breathed its last breath last weekend....or so i thought. it gave me a screen that would not move and i took it to a computer hospital. they estimated it would cost anywhere from $150-200. i have already replaced the harddrive twice in its 5.5 year life. at this point, i figured it wasn't worth the extra cost to fix it yet again. so i have been e-mail-less for the last week.

if you know me much at all, you know that i don't like spending money just to spend it. i have spent the past week mulling....mulling over the cost of a new computer and the merits of a dell vs. a mac. i'll admit that i was pulled toward the mac. it is a nice looking computer and the technology is top notch. i also like the fact that there are the opportunities for less viruses. the dell is the practical choice. it is definitely cheaper and would provide me with everything that i needed. after many, many opinions i decided to get a dell yesterday. i thought i was a better steward of my money with that choice. i couldn't justify the additional money for the mac. i just can't believe it is going to last at least 2-3 years more. the day i get inspired by graphic design i will go to a mac though!

so i went to church with the Alfords and Olvin today. olvin is from honduras and goes to school at university of houston. he is great. i decided to offer him my old computer---i figured if someone could fix it, he could pass it on to someone at home that might need the computer at The Micah Project. (it is a great organization by the way!!) i brought it to him and with a couple buttons and maybe 5 minutes he had it up and running again. for about a minute i was frustrated that i had just purchased a new computer yesterday---but i just thought it was so funny. i'm so happy to be giving a computer that works decently well to someone that needs it!

back in the USA

hi all, i'm back in the united states. it was a great long week with christy. i'll put up some pictures this weekend when i get a chance to put them on my computer. the first leg of my flight i was sitting next to a racially biased elderly woman whose first question to me was "what do you think about evolution?". needless to say, i was thankful that this was the shorter of the two flights. i got there late and christy met me with pink roses. boy, she knows me so well! (pink and flowers are not my favorite things---not the worst either) it is traditional to bring them to the airport in ecuador and they are gorgeous and dirt cheap.

did you know that ecuador uses american dollars? they speak spanish though. i am not good at spanish and i need to work on that. someday, maybe....you would think i would learn though since i have a good number of spanish speaking patients. they also have all of the sakajaweh (?) dollar coins.

i indulged in too many galapagitos....they are simple little ecuadorian cookies that are kind of good. i'm blaming my slow return to exercise on them. i don't think it is really their fault, but i just wasn't as active as i wanted to be on the trip. it has made me a little stiff this week.

okay, i know this post is random---that is my brain today. have a great night.