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What a crazy day this has been... but things are better now. I had a great time last night. I went to dinner at The Last Concert Cafe with Audra and Kim. The enchiladas were awesome. There was a band setting up and I was digging their sound checks, but we had to pick up Gil from the airport, so I couldn't stay. I think we hit every construction zone in Houston trying to get to Sherlock's on Westheimer to see Harry and Eric. Good times were had by all. I think I got in around 3:00 however, I managed to get up for my trek to S.A. today. That is when it all started going downhill. I took a cab to AVIS and the cab driver got lost and we ended up stopped on a dirt road surround by construction chaos. Orange barrels to the right and left, a bulldozer behind us, and some kind of cement breaking machine in front. "I don't know how I got us into this mess." Thanks man. When I finally arrive at AVIS, my corporate AMEX is declined. Motherfuck. What the hell is going on? I try to call American Express from their "customer service" phone, but I can navigate and/or bypass the menus because it's a fucking ROTARY PHONE. Who the hell has rotary phones these days? I'll tell you who... AVIS. I convince the lady at the desk to let me in the "employee only" area to use the phone that makes little beepy tones when you press a button instead of clackity-clackity-clackity-clack. After what seems like eternity on hold, I find out that a single charge from 4 months ago was still outstanding and my company hasn't paid it. I am positive it was expensed and approved... just a mistake in the system. When you work for a company as large as mine, mistake like that happen. It's no big deal. Of course I thought it strange that they still held charges on the card when they still get paid every month in full (even since that one charge that slipped through my employers accounting fingers). There is nothing I can do from AVIS, so I take a cab back to the house. I get a guy that doesn't speak English well and keeps piddling with the radio instead of watching the road. He misses a vital turn in the trek back to my place and slams on the brakes in the middle of Richmond... in traffic. I soon discover that he does say "I don't know what I could have been thinking!" quite well in English. It may be the only phrase he knows. He blocks traffic again while doubling back through a parking lot and then AGAIN when he has to make a 3 point turn in the center of the Richmond/Wesleyan intersection to U-turn. In utter amazement, I made it home safely. I pay the AMEX balance out of my pocket... electronically and immediately. Technology rocks. Of course, my company will probably give me the run around for 6 months before paying me back... if I get the money at all. Ok, third times the charm... I call Yellow Cab again. This time, the guy shows up in a minivan cab with all the openable windows down. As we take off down the road, he decides that A/C is the way to go, so he unbuckles and moves himself into the passenger seat... while keeping an outstretched leg over to the drivers side to foot the accelerator and an arm stretched over to steer. No one is in the driver's seat. We are driving... in traffic... in Houston. I live through that one too, but once he gets back in the traditional driving position, he starts flinging his arms out to the side in a snappy, rapid fashion. Apparently, he was trying to "crack" his elbows. The cab swerves with each attempt. Oy vey! I make it to AVIS again after a slight altercation about not paying him in cash. I explained calmly that the incompetent cocksucking bastards (otherwise known as Yellow Cab) already took all my cash. So, $30 or so bucks in cab fare later, I pick up the car and head out. I had to vent. The story of the flying circus was just too good to not share... sorry Erica. The drive was nice. Howlin' Wolf, Todd Lewis, Bob Marley, JB and KG, Rob Zombie, and Nina Simone kept me company as I baked in the Texas sun. The traffic leaving Houston was complete ass but I found a rabbit around Schulenburg, so I made up time. I have some more work to do this afternoon and in the morning and then it's back to the Houston office mañana. Work. Work. Work.