Bright and early...

For a Sunday, certainly. I went to bed sometime after midnight and woke up about half an hour ago. So much for sleeping in.

I went with Natalie to a sushi place not far from her apartment, and aside from mediocre service, the food was reasonable (I'm still alive, though I didn't eat much) and Natalie and I had good conversation. She spoke of doing something special on my birthday, and we got to wondering just how many recent birthdays of mine I've spent down here in Houston.

Fortunately, my LJ compulsion can address that issue. It turns out I've been in Houston for two out of the past four years (about to be three out of five). According to the record, '03 was the year of the now-defunct Argentinian grill, and '02 was the year of the Braziliana Fogo de Châo.

The rooms here at the TownePlace suites have mini-kitchens, so I suppose it would make sense to go out and get some victuals and set myself up for a few days.

Checking Skype, I'm noticing a lot of people from China are reaching out with requests to help with learning English (something like half a dozen voicemails in my Skype inbox in the last couple of weeks). I don't know what to make of this trend, and last night, as I drifted off into the arms of Morpheus, I made a mental note to check to see if such requests are part of any kind of scam (perhaps a 419-like scheme that has been transplanted and boosted technologically from the level of email to VoIP, heaven forfend)

(Yeah, I know, it's pathetic that something like that would cross my mind, but it must be borne in mind that I is a 'sperienced Innernet youser, so I've seen my share of phishing expeditions and questionable propositions in my time.)

Time to get up and get out.

Cheers...

Getting ready...

Checking out my assignment instructions, it would appear that tonight I am officially due for an 11-hour shift starting in just over an hour. Good for the checkbook, not so good (maybe) for the bod. I managed to nap for an hour this afternoon, and thus lost all opportunity to sleep shift into this assignment, so we're going to have to do it the, um, hard way.

I met Natalie for dinner tonight, after which we took in Aeon Flux, which was something I recall the kids watching a cartoon version of in the 80s; I'm sure I watched it with them. The movie is smooth and sleek, and filled with the kind of shoot-em-up violence that'd make Sam Peckinpah proud, all on a background of some pretty slick special effects. As movies go, I have no complaints, except the price of admission ($8.50).

I should probably go get ready for work.

Cheers...