I was thinking about moving into the coffee business for my next career. I looked at my Yelp reviews over the last 4 years and boy, do I drink a lot of coffee. I was a barista for a while, for a part time job, because I was bored with my job during the day and I got to run the whole store on my own. I learned about roasting – I learned how to make all number of drinks. It’s a creative job, not a slop-fest. I stopped into a coffee shop this morning, having missed the chance to board an earlier flight home. Turns out they are a commercial roaster. They are spinning records and selling to the public. The lady at the front desk told me no one comes in just to drink coffee and they have the finest equipment, but they don’t charge. She’d make me a latte, but she would not let me pay. “Just have a seat and relax for a while, listen to some records with us.”
Picked up a bag of this Thai blend of Arabic beans. She ground it for me, too. In the massive commercial grinder. Who wants to grind beans at 4:50am? Not me.
On Tuesday night, we went to the Houston Rodeo & Livestock show. It was my first rodeo. I had been to a few PBRs in the past, but what I did not know is in Texas they like to have epic sized events. For example, for a $15 entry (which the boss picked up), you could get into the fair, the 4H livestock show, the rodeo and afterwards, the Camila Cabello concert. (I let her get into two Havananananans before I Irish-goodbye’d my coworkers and took a Lyft back to the hotel)
The fair was large, a Ford truck was sat atop of a tower. I was in Ford Country, or God’s Country, or both. I almost got a jalapeño corn dog on a stick, but I bit into it and it was cold in the center and I did not want to die later, so I ditched it. I walked up 6 ramps to the top of the stadium where our seats were located because the line for the escalator was 1,000 people deep. It was a slog, but it was a chipper night, and a good time for a quiet walk (as I was mostly alone on the way up). At the entrance gate everyone was ditching their drinks in the trash. These 2 Japanese girls chugged down their Coke’s – it was quite a sight. They wouldn’t let anyone in front of them, so I was a foot away watching them down 16oz sodas. What I would have given for a Mentos at that moment. Boom baby.
By the time I got to the top of the stadium, the rodeo was on the national anthem part, so I stood for a moment and then we got underway. I got hung up down at the 4H livestock show – Texan children are taught at a young age to work hard. Especially the rancher kids. There was a youngster hanging around with the cows while her parents were off loading up the rest of the stock. Another was washing a cow. Another was drying it off with a hose. Mind you, this is at 7pm on a weeknight, on a 3 week show. They’re balancing school with all of this....impressive!
The rodeo was phase after phase of events, no breaks in between, either. Calf roping was my favorite. You ride a speeding horse after a calf, who is running for it’s life (yes, PETA, what if I were the calf, I get it), then the rider lunges off the speeding horse and tackles the calf, skidding across the ground after it, ties it up, and then the timer turns off. They had a few best-of moments when the rider dismounted and did not quite time it right and ended up skidding on their butt across the ground. That looked very painful.
Bronc riding, bareback riding – how these people have a neck after being tossed around like a ragdoll atop an animal of that magnitude boggles my mind.
The wagon racing was something I had never laid eyes on. Imagine commanding a team of 6 horses with one hand on the reins and holding down a hand brake to drift around an oval. That is wagon racing – old timey, frontier wagons (minus the little white bonnet) doing 2 figure-8’s around barrels then two fast laps around the stadium. Football stadium. This place was massive.
One good thing about traveling all the time is identifying places and activities you want to do again. If I can, I’m bringing my family to the World’s Fair of rodeos for sure.
Picked up a bag of this Thai blend of Arabic beans. She ground it for me, too. In the massive commercial grinder. Who wants to grind beans at 4:50am? Not me.
On Tuesday night, we went to the Houston Rodeo & Livestock show. It was my first rodeo. I had been to a few PBRs in the past, but what I did not know is in Texas they like to have epic sized events. For example, for a $15 entry (which the boss picked up), you could get into the fair, the 4H livestock show, the rodeo and afterwards, the Camila Cabello concert. (I let her get into two Havananananans before I Irish-goodbye’d my coworkers and took a Lyft back to the hotel)
The fair was large, a Ford truck was sat atop of a tower. I was in Ford Country, or God’s Country, or both. I almost got a jalapeño corn dog on a stick, but I bit into it and it was cold in the center and I did not want to die later, so I ditched it. I walked up 6 ramps to the top of the stadium where our seats were located because the line for the escalator was 1,000 people deep. It was a slog, but it was a chipper night, and a good time for a quiet walk (as I was mostly alone on the way up). At the entrance gate everyone was ditching their drinks in the trash. These 2 Japanese girls chugged down their Coke’s – it was quite a sight. They wouldn’t let anyone in front of them, so I was a foot away watching them down 16oz sodas. What I would have given for a Mentos at that moment. Boom baby.
By the time I got to the top of the stadium, the rodeo was on the national anthem part, so I stood for a moment and then we got underway. I got hung up down at the 4H livestock show – Texan children are taught at a young age to work hard. Especially the rancher kids. There was a youngster hanging around with the cows while her parents were off loading up the rest of the stock. Another was washing a cow. Another was drying it off with a hose. Mind you, this is at 7pm on a weeknight, on a 3 week show. They’re balancing school with all of this....impressive!
The rodeo was phase after phase of events, no breaks in between, either. Calf roping was my favorite. You ride a speeding horse after a calf, who is running for it’s life (yes, PETA, what if I were the calf, I get it), then the rider lunges off the speeding horse and tackles the calf, skidding across the ground after it, ties it up, and then the timer turns off. They had a few best-of moments when the rider dismounted and did not quite time it right and ended up skidding on their butt across the ground. That looked very painful.
Bronc riding, bareback riding – how these people have a neck after being tossed around like a ragdoll atop an animal of that magnitude boggles my mind.
The wagon racing was something I had never laid eyes on. Imagine commanding a team of 6 horses with one hand on the reins and holding down a hand brake to drift around an oval. That is wagon racing – old timey, frontier wagons (minus the little white bonnet) doing 2 figure-8’s around barrels then two fast laps around the stadium. Football stadium. This place was massive.
One good thing about traveling all the time is identifying places and activities you want to do again. If I can, I’m bringing my family to the World’s Fair of rodeos for sure.
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