Stay in Houston

Stay in Houston

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On February 20, 2002, I went by Labor Ready in Pasadena, TX at 5AM and got an assignment before 6AM. However, the assignment didn't start until 9AM. It was at the Lowe's Hardward at Beltway 8 and Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena (and shown here).
I met Mark from the vendor Griffin Sales and Service. We set up a nice display for their curtain rods and such (or I guess I should say nicer, but the one before had the same hardware displayed, but it was in the grey and blue of Lowe's and looked very warehouse like (the beams of the warehouse shelves were showing, for example).
Here is the result of our labor (six hours for me). Mark works out of Beaumont, TX (about an hour East of Houston) and goes to various Loew's to set up these displays. He is married for seven years and has step kids (12 and older) via his wife. She is a Correctional Officer as he was before he started working for Griffin Sales and Service. Tomorrow he should be picking me up at Labor Ready and we will drive out to another Lowe's further on.
Here is the way the curtain rod displays look before we start working. They are pretty new displays, but the new ones make it easier to see the sample hardware (it is lower) and cover much of the warehouse shelving (as you can see). We did another Lowe's today (Feb 21) and should do another one tomorrow. Today we also updated their special displays of 'How To' books with a new book on landscaping and a new display. Then, on Monday Mark headed to Atlanta, GA to interview to be regional manager. He had already interviewed with his potential new manager in Oklahoma so this was his meeting with the rest of the people at headquarters. He must have done well as he got he job. I think we will make a very good regional manager.
On February 22 we did a third Lowe's. Then in the evening I went to a 'Dollar' theater I had noticed close to Wal-Mart (it is on Southmore further East of Labor Ready). It is actually $1.50, but it is a six plex, so they had several movies that had done pretty well four to six months ago. As I wasn't wathcing many movies then, it seems like I am getting the cream of the crop at a discount price. The next week there was no work for me on Monday and Tuesday, but I was able to help Mark out again the last three days of the week as he finished things up before formally taking over as regional manager.
On weekends I often head over to Rice University. This is the view from the Founder's Court of the main administration building. Through the portal you can see their library. I checked out several of the colleges and universities in Houston and most of the universities restrict internet access to students and faculty. Drats. The community colleges have excellent access, but are mostly closed on weekends.
This is the view of the Rice library from the portal shown above. Rice University library has great hours (open a lot on weekends though nothing is open Sunday morning). They also provide excellent internet access (lots of computers with speedy access) though they restrict access to e-mail to the public (students and faculty have unrestricted access I presume).
They do that by blocking access to the common web based e-mail providers. So, I couldn't access my e-mail on iname.com. They even prevent http redirection by editing iname.com and juno.com out of transmitted text (so I had to edit these pages to get those text strings up to the web server). They also selectively block access to yahoo.com, but only the web based e-mail as far as I can tell.... This is the view to the right side along the interior of the main building (where the picture above was from).
The public access computers at Rice University library don't block access to opensourcerules.info, my son's web design company's URL. Can you imagine why that would be? Anyway, for now I am shifting my e-mail to yahoo.com (as iname.com no longer provides e-mail forwarding without fees) and having it forwarded to opensourcerules.info. We will hope that opensourcerules.info stays below Rice's radar until after I leave. After you walk through the portal above and get halfway to the library, this is the view to your right rear of one of the more decorative building at Rice (all in the style they seem to prefer).
Those arches in the picture open onto a very pretty hallway. Rice University seems to have an eye for interesting arrangements of arches.
This is the rear view of the main building at Rice. It looks more ornate on the rear side than it does to the 'front', but that is probably because the rear went straight across and had less trees blocking its view.
As you are about to enter the library, to your right is yet another interesting hallway with lots of nice arches.
It seems to be a tradition to have bridal pictures taken in those arched hallways at Rice as every weekend when I visit there are usually one or two brides have their pictures taken by professional photographers. They all look most lovely, of course.