Geology and Geography

So SBH (Sweet Baby Hughes for the uninitiated) is on his way, I just finished my first Geology class - GEOL 1401... nailed it, and now it is time to wander a bit.. you know, change my geography.  By this time tomorrow I will be on my way to the middle east once again.  After a quick stop off in Germany, I will once again have my Danner boots deep in Emirate sand. 

Time to hang with dad, cook good food, and drive the dunes.  Sure, I'll miss Celia but mom, Sam and she will be decorating SBH's room.  I will make a Herculean effort to bring back good pics this time.  I know I said I would last year when I went, but when I tried to load them onto my computer, apparently my SD card got corrupted and they were all gone.  Of course, as I pack my bags, there is atleast one soul in this house that wishes me to stay.

Cross your fingers for pictures and wish me fair winds and a following sea..

Laters,
jth
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Change

It happens.  Quick like the tongue of a snake and slower than the molasses in January. (1000 pts for the person that can name the film)  Travels are coming; along with learning, sweet baby hughes and the general unknown.  I had no intentions of leaving the ones I care about out of the loop but I have been somewhat off the grid for a bit.  I always said that if I ever won the lottery the first thing I would do would be to disappear and although the lottery is safely beyond my grasp, I will be under the radar for the next few years.  But that doesn't mean that I won't make an effort to keep you in the loop.  The world is so big and I want to see it; with my wife, my son that is coming and the rest of my family.  I have learned in all of my travels that folks are all about the same no matter where you go.  They have the same basic needs: food, water, shelter.  I want my son to learn them the same way I did, the same way my father and my mother taught me...  Go out and look at things you haven't seen, smell things other worldly, and close your eyes and feel something new and alien.  That is how we grow and it opens up ones heart to new experiences.  It seems as if your lungs can take in more air and eyes get tearful.  I want my son to have these things, and with my wife, friends, and family beside, around and behind me.  I want him to travel through Europe tasting the foods.  I want him to drive through the deserts of the middle east getting stuck with his dad and grandpa.  I want hm to get his ass kicked by grandma on the golf course.  I want my his aunt Sam to teach him to prepare fine French dishes.  I want him to spend the day surfing and then watch the sunset behind the statue of Christ in San Juan del Sur Nicaragua.  I want Andre to teach him to hit a hanging curveball.  I want Ferrari to teach him to ride a Cafe racer tight through the turns.  I want this for him because it was given to me.  But I will need your help...

{San Juan del Sur statue of Christ Nicaragua}

See you soon little buddy.

Laters
your dad
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Saying things that I believe in

I talk, alot.  Probably too much.  I spin yarns of great experience and knowledge of this and that because I paid attention in college.  I retained knowledge that was bestowed upon me by those that I would like to believe that have "been there and done that".  But what I have learned, a decade or so ago has been forgotten over business deadlines and local stress that absolutely kills one's ability to look outside of the day to day; slipped away like friend that is close enough to ignore daily small talk but so important and so vital that you never feel the burn because when you finally see them, pleasantries are dispensed with.  It doesn't hit you like an enemy at the gate, it doesn't cause you to lock down the castle and mount a defense force.  It isn't siege warfare.  It is a slow breaking down of ideals, the person you wished to be.  You don't even realize it until it's gone. 

The day before I left, over Skype, my dad said, "What do you want out of this trip?"  I said, "I want my life to change.  I want to see things I have never seen."

The driver came to my house in a black Lincoln Towncar.  He called me sir and loaded my beat-up backpack that I have been carrying for the past 11 years into the trunk.  The backpack covered in patches from the countries I have visited and holds my first aid kit, my silk cocoon for sleeping in hostels to keep the bedbugs at bay and my copy of Othello that has gone everywhere with me for the past decade, western Europe, the Caribbean and Central America.  It was going somewhere new. 

17 hours later I was in a place so foreign to me I recaptured some of what I lost.  I was there for 11 days.  I want to tell you that the water moved gently from right to left as I sipped my cocktail poolside at an opulent hotel.  But all at once I found myself in the middle of the desert, carried there by 4x4's, standing on a large dune with familiarity, my ignorance and my home thousands of miles away.  There wasn't a breath of air, the sand stood unmolested as my desert boots sank in up past my ankles.  I looked around, 360 degrees and saw something so different than anything I have seen.  My life changed, and I smiled.  I was in the UAE and it was spectacular...

I took this picture as the sun was setting and my dad's french buddy Francois was smoking a cigarette.  I will tell the story.

Laters,
jth
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A Hunting Trip in Video

This year's hunting trip was another one for the record books both in number of animals harvested and shenanigans shared. This time, however, instead of writing a lengthy recap, I decided to use video to tell the tale. The story starts about 2 hours outside of Dallas as I am getting into to the hills just this side of the west Texas nothingness. Enjoy...























See you boys next year.

Laters,
jth
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My Sister the Hero

She likes German cars and purebred dogs; some people just see that side of her. But those that do miss the heroic person that she is. I think that is the marrow, the greatness. I take my family for granted. I always have. Those of us who grew up with surrounded by amazing families don’t realize what they have usually until it is too late. Wreckless, tragic. I have never met anyone, except maybe my mom that takes such great care in taking great care of those around them. It’s uncanny. No matter where I have wandered in this world , she has always led the cheering section for me. It’s easy to get used to those that give more than you do and to just expect that it will always be there. Luckily for me, it always will be. But it must be recognized and appreciated.
I remember once in 7th grade I was dating, for a short time, a girl named Jami. I was meeting her at the county fair for a date. Well she dumped me that night for a guy named Justin; who could blame her. He was a year older than me and at the time, the starting runningback for his football team. Jami, Justin and all of their friends were standing around snickering at me saying that Justin would kick my butt if I had a problem with it. I felt about as small as a kid could. My sister grabbed me by the hand as we were leaving and walked me straight through the taunting teends and told justin to shut up. I think he was more afraid of her than I was of him. Even when I was in high school and she was in college, she would drive home on the weekends to see me play ball, foregoing her college weekends.
It’s always been that way; her worrying about me and me worrying about myself.
She is funny, beautiful, smart and has always been there for me. And these days I find myself worrying about her and looking forward to going antiquing and eating at French restaurants so we can spend time doing what she likes. Honestly, I don’t care what we do as long as we can hang. These days we’re great friends; I guess I am finally becoming as cool as she has been for years.
If this blog entry is too sentimental for you, shoot me an email. We can meet up and I will return the favor she did me when I was in 7th grade… Laters,
Jth
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Guess who came to the office with me today

Moseley, aka "Moses", aka "The Mose" decided to come to work with me today. I guess the office could use a mascot from time to time and today ours is alternating between laying on the floor next to my desk, running around visiting with everyone else in here, and then coming back to put his head on my leg until I pay attention to him.

I was thinking of having him do some data entry but he has no opposable thumbs. I guess he can just keep hanging out then...

Laters,
jth

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Analisa turns 8!

Can you even believe it? My favorite little girl in the world is not so little anymore. My good friend Analisa turned 8 this past weekend. Celia and I shot down to Mansfield for the celebration at the Gonzalez house where there were good friends, good family and and great times. (There is a belief that the Gonzalez' and Hughes' are related somehow..." I grabbed a couple of party pics and one really poorly shot video of Analisa blowing out the candles. All in all it was fantastic.

Andre enjoying life:
Here is Andre preparing to take yet another pic that he can use later on for one of his 90-minute videos.

Me and my favorite little girl.

Here is an Iphone video of Analisa blowing out her candles:

Happy birthday!

Laters,

jth

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NERDS!!!

Yes, yes I am a big nerd. Even Yoda seems to be looking at me with wise, aged, disgust. But I just don't care. Star Wars is awesome and when my sister told me that the Star Wars Exhibit was visiting a museum in Houston, I was stoked. As I was already visiting for her birthday, it was easy to slide on over to the exhibit. Man they had everything from a life size recreation of the Millenium Falcon's cockpit, to hundreds models of crafts, to costumes used in the movies.

My mom, sister and I thoroughly enjoyed the sights. Hope you enjoy them too.

Laters,

jth

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Evening Glass

Yep, that's Celia doing work monday evening on her Ronix Dahlia. Calm wind conditions mixed with a lake void of other boats made for a perfect session. Richard snapped a quick pic of her as she passed in front of the sunset. Good one.

Of course less than a week from now Celia will NOT be hoping for calm conditions as she takes off for Nicaragua. It's the country in yellow sandwiched in between Honduras to the north and Costa Rica on the south. While Nicaragua has both Pacific and Caribbean shores, she will be on the Pacific side with the big surf.Celia will be attending surf school with Holly Beck - pro surfer. She is super excited and I for her. She has always wanted to surf and now she will be able to in one of the best and most beautiful surf beaches in the world. Of course I will miss her but it is good for her to wander on her own... it's good for the soul to explore by yourself sometimes. If she takes good pics, I will put them on here.

Pete's coming into town for the 4th so that will be cool. With the wife out of the country you know what that means,,,, GUYS WEEKEND!!
Laters,

jth

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Why I wish I was in the funiture business

I was on BoingBoing.net today and discovered these 2 gems, both furniture ads. It makes me wish that I was in the furniture business because then I could just make the worst commercials in the world and people would think that it is funny. Because it is...
Enjoy.





Have a good one, I am going to ride my bike over to Umair's to go swimming because it is another triple digit day here in the Big D.

Laters,
jth
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Anderson Boomhauer

So I was eating lunch the other day watching TV when I had a revelation: Anderson Cooper looks just like Boomhauer from King of the Hill. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself....

That is my nugget of awesomeness for today. I am grabbing Subway and going wakeboarding now. Have a good weekend, GO MAVS!

Laters,

jth

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Sunday Funday

So I was over at Ferrari's on friday evening just hangin with him and Reid. Celia was off doing something aquatic as usual so she came later. Since we had a couple of beers, I decided to roll with Celia home leaving my truck there. No big deal. Well I didn't need it on Saturday but by mid-day Sunday, it was time to get it back. I decided to ride my bike from my place to Richard's to retrieve the truck because I had never done it and plus Celia would think that I am awesome. So I had to plan my trip to avoid major roads and maximize park routes using Google maps. When all was said and done, the journey was to be just a touch under 14 miles. Pretty much halfway across Dallas. Sweet.

I decided to take my camera and document some of the trip for this blog. One thing is for sure, Dallas drivers do not pay attention to cyclists so within the first 2 miles, an old man in a Range Rover pulled out in front of me and I had to lock my brakes to keep from smashing myself on his passenger door. He was totally freaked out but I just wanted to keep going. So as he sat there with his face in his hands, I pedalled on. I made a map so that you can see where everything went down.I stopped in the park for a rest on a bench about half way. Dallas has great bike trails. Once I crossed 75 on Royal, it was mostly park trails until the last mile or so.My trusty backpack. I have had this thing for 10 years now and it has been everywhere with me. Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, and of course all over the states. Love it.I powered on toward White Rock Lake which was sure to be all abustle on a Sunday with light breezes and temps hanging in the low 80's.

The sailors were out if force.As were the people flying kites. I'll have to do that sometime. I haven't had a kite since I was a kid.Further down the trail folks were kayaking and paddle surfing. Well maybe not paddle surfing per se, perhaps just paddling.

Then there I was, the final couple of miles. They were sweet and I was almost sad that it was over. I arrived at Richards and knocked, no one home. So I took one last pic of my LeMond Reno in his front yard as proof of my 1 hour and 15 minute journey that covered 13.87 miles. As I was about to load up the bike in my truck, he and Sarah rolled up. Good times and a small wander for me.

Laters,

jth