criplomats

With Smoking Man from the X-Files

The best part of the week was our trip to Burbank, California, for a conference on Darwin’s legacy. There were about 500 people there to hear some incredible speakers: Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett were two that I was familiar with because John has read most all of their books. It was funny to see them – basically your college professors – be treated like absolute rock stars. Bill Maher received the Dawkins award, and he gave a great talk (geez, he’s funny).

I had heard Eugenie Scott from the National Center for Science Education speak before at TAM, but it was good to hear her again, to be reminded of the absolute nonsense that creationists – sorry, I mean the “intelligent design” folks – are trying to have taught in schools.

And I heard some wonderful new-to-me speakers, like Lawrence Krauss who spoke on cosmology (not cosmetology), Sean Faircloth from the Secular Coalition for America, and Carolyn Porco (who showed some incredible photos of Saturn from the Cassini spacecraft) – just to name a few. Other topics included stem cell research and the Inquisition (and how those techniques continue to be used today).

One of the other highlights was getting to hear the “Smoking Man” from the X-Files, William B. Davis (pictured above). He talked some about whether or not the X-Files hurt or helped scientific inquiry or if it had too much woo. He seemed like a real sweetheart, and hung out at the conference all weekend.

It was a super-busy week. I left late last Sunday afternoon to fly from Juarez to Monterrey with our local staff supervisor. We went to a conference sponsored by the U.S. Consulate there on international child abduction and how to comply with the Hague Convention. There were about 120 attendees, mostly judges who adjudicate the cases – very interesting. The best part was seeing several friends from the other Consulates and from the Embassy, including my good friend Cathy. After the conference ended mid-day on Tuesday, Antonio took Ashley and me out sightseeing and shopping. An unexpected shower made us duck into a great little Oaxacan restaurant in Barrio Antigua (old town).

During the week, we started working on logistics for the Ambassador’s upcoming visit to Juarez. I’m in charge of planning a party with the entry-level officers, which is fun. 

John and I also had time to watch several episodes of “Rome,” an HBO series that’s addictive.

So that was our week!

With Daniel Dennett, one of John’s heroes

John dancing at the party  Friday night

We celebrated the end of John’s duty week by going to Corralito’s for dinner Wednesday night. Our friends Justin, Jason and Graham came with us and we had a great time.

John almost made it through the week without a major emergency, but the phone rang late Tuesday night with a report of an American murdered here. I got the case at the office the next day and spent much of the rest of the week talking to the family by phone and working with our local staff to get the body home to them.

Tuesday after work we had an interesting professional development event about Mexican children being repatriated back to Mexico – kind of the opposite view of what we do when we send American kids back to the U.S. We had members from the Mexican Consulate in El Paso and the Mexican equivalent of Child Protective Services.

Friday after work, the Consulate had a party, complete with a traditional Mexican band, costume contest, rope demonstration, dance contest and, of course, lots of food and drink . I didn’t completely understand the dance John is doing in the photo above, but it was sort of like musical chairs – and something to do with a broom!

Saturday afternoon we went down to Teresa and Michael’s for a puppy play date – we don’t have a dog, but they knew we would get a kick out of it. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time, watching six dogs playing together – all shapes and sizes.

From there, we went across the street to Meghan’s to celebrate Neal’s birthday with the usual suspects – fun!

John is off this morning at his first bike race, a 50-mile Chile Pepper Challenge!

This was a fun week, in part because we had a holiday in the middle of the week – we were off work on Wednesday for Mexican Independence Day. We celebrated the night before with our Mexican neighbors, who had tables set up outside in the green area. They had posole (hominy soup) and zapatas – a concoction of beef leg cartilidge cooked up with spices and stuff. You eat it on a tostado with lettuce, tomato, etc. I gamely ate mine, smiling – then several of the other Mexicans were like “oh, no, I would never eat that!” So much for fitting in.

On the holiday, I had a great lazy day. We watched “The Changeling” (very good) and “Get Smart” (you just have to laugh) and started “The Pianist.” On Monday night, we watched “Taken,” which was totally over the top and fun to watch.

Yesterday I worked in the morning, then lazed around. John and I watched yet another movie, “State of Play,” that was very entertainnig. Last night we went to a party at a co-worker’s house to watch the Texas – Texas Tech football game – lots of fun.

I think all this movie watching is my way of being in denial about moving – I’m ready to move, but am not ready to actually start doing the work of going through closets, etc. No fun!

Just so you don’t think I’m totally worthless, I have been reading a bit. Finished “Infidel,” which I highly recommend. It’s our next book club selection, but unfortunately I’ll miss the discussion. It’s an incredible story.

We were off work on Monday for Labor Day, and John took me cycling in New Mexico – it was great! We went almost 18 miles, and saw ostriches, boer goats, longhorns and horses along the way. It was great to be outside! Afterward, we had a great Mexican breakfast, stopped at Barnes and Noble and came back to Juarez. (Tuesday’s massage felt especially good!)

On the social side this week, we went to dinner Thursday night with the regional medical officer who was visiting the Consulate. Friday night we went to a dinner party at our neighbors’ house. Lara made a yummy seafood pasta, using salmon her dad in Alaska caught.

We had two parties yesterday – a going away party for a co-worker in the afternoon. Last night we hung out with our Mexican neighbors who were having a cookout – it was a beautiful night outside.

On the work side, I did a prison visit on Wednesday to see three Americans.

On Friday, I went with a father who had flown in from the States because his son was murdered here. Between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, I spent a lot of time with him (along with one of our fabulous local staff employees). We took him to identify the body, meet with detectives, sign a million things, pick out caskets, make arrangements for the body, etc. Yesterday, our last stop was the funeral home for him to say goodbye to his son – a very, very sad time. It was an intense experience, but good in that we felt we were really helping someone who needed it.

Busy and fun week, with several fun outings.

Last Sunday, John took me to see “Inglourious Basterds,” which I really, really liked – despite the violence, it was just a lot of fun.

Monday after work we had a professional development event with an immigration attorney – yawn. He was fairly entertaining, but really liked to hear himself talk way too much. He talked a lot about immigration reform, which makes me cringe because I don’t like the direction most of that debate is heading.

Tuesday was massage night at home (yeah!), then Wednesday night we watched Bill Maher’s “Religuous,” which was just great.

Thursday we had book club at our house to discuss “Statecraft” by Dennis Ross. Good book and good discussion.

Friday, the immigrant visa section was busy, so I went down to adjudicate in the afternoon – I hadn’t done it in a while, so I was a bit rusty, but it was fun. After work, we had an employee recreation event to watch a sort of intramural basketball game – fun to relax with a beer in good weather. After that, John and I met Teresa and Michael at Corralito’s to welcome a new couple to post. They were really nice and interesting – they were both in the Peace Corps,then worked for NGOs after that. After dinner, we sat outside at Michael and Teresa’s to catch up on our gossip.

Yesterday, John took a day off from cycling and we went to Las Cruces for our typical farmers’ market, bookstore and Mexican food tour. I bought some great bread at a bakery – very yummy. Then we decided to head up the road to Hatch for their annual chile festival – talk about a lot of people! It was fun, snaking through the long lines of traffic through this tiny town, and seeing all of the incredible chile ristras hanging outside. The smell of roasting chiles was everywhere. We walked around a bit, then came on home. John grilled a couple of steaks and we watched a “Law and Order” on television.

A very good week, all in all!