Henry's Notes

YEAH!! I am pretty much done with the hardest class this semester... just a few more small things to turn in and a final to take for it. Now I can focus all of my efforts into my Masters project, which isn't going anywhere because I have been focusing on other assignments. This is the problem with work without intermediate deadlines: it doesn't get worked on, not because I am lazy but because there are always more pressing needs elsewhere. Fortunately (or unfortunately) that's no more. All my efforts will be on the Master's project.

-------

I rented and watched the movie "Super size me" today. It's a documentary of this guy who decided to test out what would happen if he goes on a diet of only McDonald's food 3x a day for 30 days. It's amazing what happened to him... he gained a ton of weight and the blood test indicators all shot through the roof as if he started binge drinking. You have to see this; it will change your view of the fast food industry and make you reconsider what you eat.

--------

I will be turning 30 this weekend! Wow, 3 decades. My "house" will be hosting a big party on Friday for me and one of my roommate's friend. So, if you happen to be in Tucson, come on by!

This is a difficult week for me... Lots of things are due: taxes on Friday (yes, I am a procrastinator), a major project draft on Friday, a major paper on Monday next week, and a major case on Tuesday next week. On top of that, my lower back is hurting, which made it more difficult to work. I was planning on going to the collegiate nationals triathlon this weekend, but I have to cancel because I just have too much to do. This is sad because I have been training all year for it AND I already paid for the event. I have no one to blame but myself because I wasted so much time last week and weekend. ..... sigh.... I must be loosing steam for this school thing. At least I have an interview tomorrow.

Sorry for the late update on this... I have been very busy and then lazy to do this in the last few weeks. As mentioned in my last posting, I went to Guadalajara (GDL), Mexico for my spring break. It was partially for my International Management class. We had such a great time. I think I drank more than I had all school year combined.

Here are my quick run-down of events:

Friday, March 11: left Tucson for Phoenix airport with Leslie and John. The flight was overbooked, so we volunteered to stay the extra night for free tickets.

Saturday, March 12: left Phoenix around noon and arrive in GDL at night. Spend the evening looking for food and had a great time chillin at an outdoor bar drinking Michelada. We didn't know it at the time, but that place had the best Michelada we found. When we got back to the hotel, the jacuzzi area was closed. So we climbed an open window down to the jacuzzi area. It was all for nothing though... because the water wasCOLD. So, we filled up the bath tub and sat in it instead. Not very comfy to cram 3 people in a one-person bath tub, but hey, we got some hot water.

Sunday, March 13: found some bakery in the morning and had bakery items for breakfast. Went to Tlaquepaque (a suburb of GDL where people can shop for artistic items) in the afternoon on a bus for $0.04US. Very beautiful town, but was a bit empty. We found and befriended the owner of Mata Tinda, a chic restaurant. Went back to try his new mix drinks and had a great time. Leslie got a beautiful designer necklace.

Monday, March 14: Walked around GDL and toured the local scenes. It reminds me of Taiwan many years ago when shops are everywhere... I don't think it's like that anymore. In the evening, we went to a nice restaurant I found in my guide book in the Zona Rosa area. Very good food for $10-15 price range. However, someone got sick from it. We later invited 3 girls we met on the streets to hang out with us in a "sing-along" bar. Had a blast!!

Tuesday, March 15: Class starts in the afternoon so spent the day reading.

Wednesday, March 16: Plant tour starts. Visited Technicolor (DVD printing), Bimbo (Mexican bread company), Jabil (electronics), and Vitro (glass bottling plant). Yeah, it was a long day. So we drank to pass the time in our room... it turned out that John and I had the largest room out of everyone because Leslie was with us the first 2 days. Our room became the designated party room.

Thursday, March 17: Even longer day that started at 7am and ended at 10pm. We did get to visit the Tequila factory and "sample" some tequila. The guide casually invited us to finish the bottles... well, he shouldn't have because we actually finished one. He was sweating over there. We also visited Rosti (plastic molding), Arizona Trade Office, and El Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) - a private university.

Friday, March 18: Much more relaxed day. We visited Honda and Takata (airbag manufacturing). Had part of the afternoon off so we all went to Tlaquepaque (again for John, Leslie, and I). Took the entire group to Mata Tinda; the owner was very happy. At night we went to Zapopan - another town on the opposite end of the GDL (but detoured because our taxi cab refused to drive us there and dropped us off elsewhere and told us that was it). Had a great time there with our two beautiful tour guides: Alba and Karenina, although we had to say goodbye to them that night. The rest of the group came back to the party room and partied till 5am (some had to leave early though). We managed to polish off most of the 1L tequila we bought at the tequila factory. It was crazy.

Saturday, March 19: What can I say... we slept in. It was almost noon by the time we got ready to go out. Took it easy all day. Say goodbye to the city and the country we have come to love.