I know, I know….you are thinking where are the Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.. pictures???? Well, they are on my hard drive waiting for my lazy ass to upload them. And when will that be? Well, it surely won’t be in the next 2-3 weeks since I am on my way to Indonesia right now (gotta love the free wifi in the business class lounges!!!). So, I promise, as soon as I get back Stateside and recover from jet lag, I will upload all those pictures plus any I take on this trip to the lovely Soroako.

Peace out!

- peeps

It has been a while since I posted anything, so here is a quick update on what we have been up to lately…

Zambia
In September, I went to Zambia for work for a week. The flights were a killer! DFW=>Toronto=>Frankfurt=>Johannesburg=>Ndola and then a short drive to Kitwe. It was about 24 hours of total flying time and about 36 hours total including the layovers. Everyday, on the 30 minute drive to the plant, I saw probably the worst poverty I have ever seen. People living in mud and grass huts with no running water or electricity. It really makes you grateful for the conveniences we have. The food at the guest houses we stayed at was pretty good and the Congolese beer was tasty as well. For those of you who may end up in Zambia sometime and think you might buy some emeralds for cheap….resist the urge. There is a reason all the stoplights in Kitwe have missing green lenses. They make great fake emeralds.

Mom’s 50th Birthday
At the end of September, my mom celebrated her 50th birthday up here in Denton. Mom, Duane, Brandon, and Sarah came up to celebrate. We had some good cake (despite the small amount of black icing that made everyone’s mouth black). We spent the evening at Medieval Times for a night of eating with our hands and watching jousting and swordfighting. Everyone had a great time.

Mexico City
In October, I got to spend a day and a half in Mexico City for work. It was fast and furious, so I didn’t get to see alot. The cab drivers were crazy, but I managed to stay relaxed in the cab. I stayed at probably the nicest Best Western I will ever stay at. Two of the guys at the factory I was visiting took me to dinner the night I was there. I told them I wanted some good authentic mexican food, so they took me to a place called Papa Bill’s. I was a bit skeptical because of the name, but the food was pretty tasty. I can’t believe the pollution flying in an out of Mexico City. You can barely see the city through the smog.

Lil’ C
Caleb “Lil’ C” Studebaker was born on October 20, 2006. We were traveling through Austin for our 2nd anniversary weekend the night he was born, so we got to be at the hospital with Sara and Caleb’s families when Lil’ C was born. 9 lbs, 2.6 oz and 20.5″ long. We got to see them again on Sunday on our way back through town. After much prodding, they convinced me I wouldn’t break him if I held him. However, his poor little head almost fell off when I handed him off to Caleb’s sister…no more holding other’s kids for me. I don’t think kids fall into the “you break it, you buy it” category.

Congratulations to Sara and Caleb!

Our 2nd Anniversary
We spent our 2nd anniversary at a B&B in Fredericksburg. We drove the Goat down to get maximum enjoyment of the twisties in the hill country. We walked Main St, ate and drank the German fare, visited a couple wineries, dropped in on Luckenbach (only to have to pay $10 each to even get in due to the damn motorcycle gathering that rented the whole damn town), drove the winding roads at slightly higher than posted speeds, and relaxed at the B&B. All in all, a great time, in a great little town.

The Soon to Be Graduate
Tasha has looked at her school schedule a bit closer and convinced her advisors to count a couple transfer classes that previously weren’t being counted and VIOLA! She will now graduate 1 semester sooner…August 07! She is getting pretty excited that the end to her long journey is finally in sight. Only 2 more semesters after this one and she will be edjumakated and gradumated! Congrats to my honey!

Well, if you got this far, thanks for reading our latest adventures. If you missed the links, there are links to our pictures from a couple of these quests up above. Or just click on them below…

• Zambia
• Mom’s 50th B-day
• Lil’ C
• 2nd Anniversary

We made it! Philip and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary this past weekend and it was AWESOME!!! He surprised me with the Broadway touring muscial Wicked. Well, first we went to a Hibachi restaraunt, Kobe Steakhouse then we went to the play! This was only on Friday! Philip then surprised me by taking me camping for the rest of the weekend. We went up into the Texas Panhandle to a place called Caprock Canyon State Park. It was soooooo beautiful! We stayed from Saturday to Monday. Which, by the way, were the best days to go! We pretty much had the entire park to ourselves. We went hiking and just hung out together. It was very relaxing. Take a look at the pictures and see for yourself how beautiful it is. We highly recommend going for anyone that likes hiking, climbing, or horseback riding.

Well, I got the good fortune of being able to travel to NY for 2 weeks for work, and it’s simply the most amazing place I have ever been. Feel free to check out most all the pics I took…none are labeled, and I’m not sure I will ever have the time to do that, but most all of them turned out pretty well.

Duane’s New York City Pics

For my trip, I traveled to Stony Brook, NY, which is out on Long Island. From the time I got here I thought it was pretty cool. Good people, good food, and the weather….well…it beats 105 in Austin. Since I was here 2 weeks, I decided to take a train on the Long Island Rail Road on Saturday, so that I could get a real taste of NY, and I went into the city. From the time I got off the train, i was amazed. The train dropped me off in Penn Station, which is right below Madison Square Garden on 7th Ave. People EVERYWHERE. wow! As I stepped out onto 7th Ave., again, people EVERYWHERE! I had looked at a few maps, and had some ideas of things I wanted to see, so north I headed. My first “stop” was Times Square. Talk about sensory overload. The guy that figured out you could make buildings into billboards is a genius. Being surrounded by thousands of people walking and all those buildings was just an amazing site. The sound of cars honking their horns (yeah just to drive) was great. As I walked up 7th Ave. I took in the view, and checked out a number of street vendors. They all sell the same stuff, but I guess you just can’t have enough with all those people. I continued to walk and ended up at Central Park. I walked for a while through Central Park, just soaking it in, checking out the people and the scenery. Amazing that something so beautiful and expansive is surrounded by buildings in all directions. I think I walked about halfway through the park before I decided I should probably start heading back the way I came. For some perspective, in total I walked about 50 blocks. Gyros are YUMMY! So I headed back to Penn Station and caught the train back out to Ronkonkoma (the closest station with regular stops) and got back about 8pm. Oh, I didn’t get down there till about 2:30, it’s a 1.5 hour train ride approximately, and it’s maybe 45 miles away.

Based on my Saturday experience, and the fact that the energy, and just shear excess of it all was amazing, I made up my mind that I would pay the $19 round trip ticket again on Sunday. I got down there around the same time, maybe a little earlier, as I missed the train right as I got there. This time I decided to head south. I kept walking south, and eventually cut more west and ended up at the Hudson River. I walked along it, with the Jersey shore on the opposite side. Eventually I walked far enough to where the Statue of Liberty came into view, and walked about as far as I could to get some decent pics of it. That was about 2 hours of walking, so I decided to turn around. On my way back I walked to the World Trade Center. That site, while it evokes much tragedy, is amazing. The size of it all, the fact there are still buildings today standing around it that are so damaged. Obviously there is a lot of work being done there to rebuild that area. I then continued walking, and found Broadway. I walked along Broadway for a little bit, and say NY City Hall, as well as their federal (?) court here. It is huge, and looked so similar to the Supreme Court in DC as far as size and such. I then ended up in Chinatown sort of by accident. Not much pictures of this, as there were tons more people than even in Times Square, and it was all moving very quickly. I then walked my way up and ended up in Union Square, where there were a number of shops on Broadway, much the same as Times Square. Eventually I found my way back to Penn Station and caught the train home again around the same time. That was an event, as when thee train arrived, literally hundreds of people began running for it…there’s not really enough seats from what I experienced.

Overall, I can say that NY and NYC in particular is one of the most amazing places I have been, whether it be in the US or Europe. It is pure energy, constant, and everything is in excess, which is probably a big deal when there are 8 million people. Also, NYC was more like Europe to me than anywhere I have been in the US. Just how people are, how shops are, how restraunts all have tables on the sidewalks…so much reminded me of Europe. If you notice also in my story, no mention of the Empire State Building. You are probably asking yourself..Duane, how did you miss it, it’s like the tallest building ever. Well, I saw it, a few times, just never took a pic for whatever reason. Ultimately, I’m not sure you could stay here a week and see it all. I am hoping that sometime soon I will be able to come and stay in the city, and really just live it for a few days. Everyone that I knew that had been here told me that I would love it so much, and I would have to agree. They make all those ” I heart NY” shirts for a reason apparently

- dpeeps