Oddities

Quick stories and highlights to tell from the past days. Unfortunately, just short tidbits and highlights of the stories as having to travel for an internet connection is a pain, but wanted to share some of these with you all.

Still no working washing machine...3 weeks and counting...

Religion surrounds me in this current assignment. I've always been around religion in some way, shape, or form, but never as in-your-face as it is here. Two examples to share (that have nothing to do with the coffee shop from the previous post). A couple of days ago, over lunch with a couple of coworkers, one brought up the pope's decision to say that newborns can go to heaven without being baptized instead of going to purgatory. Before he'd even finished what he was saying, the other coworker interrupted, "That's blasphemy!"

The other story is regarding the recent ruling on partial birth abortions. Another traveler and I were charting when two others walked into the charting room talking about how relieved they were that partial birth abortions were banned. This led to a discussion about how often this procedure is performed and about abortion in general. The other traveler basically asked these two, if it came down to the mother or baby living or dying, what should be done? "They should both die, " said the religious conservative.

Running with Finn this morning, and he stopped to take care of business. The sun's just coming up, and I started to look at all the litter strewn around me. I realized I was standing amid a dump of used syringes and needles. Disturbing.

The vice president from my first travel assignment called me very unexpectedly after work tonight, trying to recruit me to come back and sign on as a permanent employee. Very unexpected. Very flattering.

Lastly, for tonight, my bike should be here on the 3rd!!!