The update of all updates

Smokey's Taco Stand

My Stuffed Animal Collection

The Dump

More Dump

So, this is finally my "Weblog" of sorts. Yes, there is a story behind it. No, there aren't pictures behind it. Cause that just makes it hard to read the text.

But back to the story....I got here in Mexico at the end of October, only to find out that blogs, or any site, any link, anything containing the word "blog" was blocked by our filter on our network. Even things NOT containing the word blog would still be blocked. Like...Hmmm...Youtube? Flickr? Megavideo? In case you were wondering, most videos that you watch online, say, like a good 90%, on ANY site, are originally supplied by YouTube. They're uploaded there first, then links are sent around the globe, and any given site. But they're still YouTube links. And they're still blocked here. Second, Flickr. I don't know about you, but I use a LOT of high-bandwidth sites, like Facebook, Myspace, Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, HowStuffWorks, IMDb, YouTube, and really just anything else I come across. And when the majority of the standalone pictures on those sites are originally uploaded to Flickr before being linked to on those sites, they really become blank and empty when they're blocked by a lovely little filter. I REALLy got to know him very well. We WERE the best of friends. Not anymore! I'm full on filter-free! No, no, not that kind of "filter-free." The good kind of "filter-free." The kind where a web site is displayed with full functionality and beauty as was intended by the webmaster. Why you ask? Well I'll tell you! Please tune in!

Upon arriving here, I was immediately thrown into the maintenance department. Not what I was expecting, since I've done more work on my shoes than I have a shower, more on my soccer balls than a propane tank, taken apart 12 times more computers than I have sinks, and put together 12 times more computers than I have toilets. But nonetheless, maintenance it was, and maintenance I went. I started out first with the garbage run. Every Mon/Wed/Fri we take an old beater pick-up with a trailer and gather the 30-40 55-gallon(I think??) garbage cans that the mission uses on a daily basis. After loading them all up on the trailer, we take all the uber fun, bumpy back roads to the "dump." And by dump, I mean, hole in the side of a mountain/hill. Quite literally. I'll attach pictures. Anywho, so we take our garbage there, and simply dump it off the back of the trailer. Wherever we want. No rules on what to dump, no rules on where to dump. Quite simply, a dump. Every Wed/Fri, the Nut House(more on that later) makes 1 loaf of bread worth of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, put it back in the bread bag, and give it to us when we get to the Nut House to get their trash. Then at the dump, we give the sandwiches to the two guys who live at the dump. Apparently, awhile ago, there used to be many familes that lived at the dump. But more recently, the city of Vicente Guerrero took over the dump, sent the families away, and employed these two men to work/live there Mon-Sat, early till late. Sunrise to sunset. They are payed on the basis of how many bags of plastic bottles they fill and loads of cardboard the gather. Every once in awhile, a big truck comes and takes them away...still have yet to find out where they take them. Recycle? Not likely, but it's a possibility. Still not sure. These two men are payed roughly 20 dollars a day...which is extremely good here. The field workers, mostly strawberries, tomatoes, and raspberries don't get near that much. We're in the San Quintin Valley...like the largest fruit/vegetable growing area in Baja. The size of some of these ranches, fields, and greenhouses would blow your mind. Literally, miles upon miles of them. Anywho, back to the dump. The houses of the two guys living at the dump were right in the middle of it all, roughly the size of half a portapotty/sandycan, whatever they're called. But lately, I haven't seen it there anywhere. My only guess is that they've moved out of the dump. With that income, I'm sure they can afford a better lifestyle outside the dump. After a few weeks of working the garbage run, I was promoted to driver. So, middle of November, I began driving. Juan Carlos is the guy who drove before me, and he taught me the route, what to do, and, most importantly, how to back up with a trailer. Every week, I get comments from the visitors about my backing up skills...and it's all credited to him. He taught me it all. And yes...I have kinda hit to cars in the process of being the driver...one was my bosses van. That wasn't a stressful day at all!! And that's about it for the garbage run. That was my "main" job for the past few months. Three times a week. Takes between 2-3 hours. And it may sound gross, dealing with everyone's garbage, but I definitely found ways to have fun with it. From taking the food garbage from the kitchen and playing games with it at the dump, to creating a teddy bear collection on the fence of the dump. And, I soon noticed that some of the stuffed animals were missing. Some kids would come with their parents to the dump, or just the parents alone, would come come to throw out their trash, and see the stuffed animals on the fence, and take them home for their kids. That made me smile. Taking old trashed teddy bears and regifting them to kid who's not going to care that it was trash to someone else, cause it's gold to them now.

As for the days in between, I was also responsible for keeping the 50 or so propane tanks filled. Each trailer (42 of them) has it's own propane tank for the stove and oven, then there are 7 propane water heaters that hold all the hot water to be distributed to the trailers for hot water, showers and sinks. After I was done with all that, I'd just do random, everyday, fix-em-up jobs. Sinks, toilets, showers, laying concrete pads, holes in people's trailer roofs, fixing doors and their locks, caulking the heck out of houses, digging trenches, repairing windows, cleaning water filters, checking water meters, ANYTHING. That's just what I can think of off the top of my head. But, oh, how the times have changed.

Just this last week, Wednesday the 4th of February, I got called into the administrator's office(not the first time haha). And just a little forewarning, he's a scary, controlling man. I was scared. If you're not on his good side, you're dead. Which explains why one of my friends got sent home a couple weeks ago. But we won't get into that now. I'll start fuming. No, no, I got called in to his office for more serious reasons. He's moving people all over the place, out of this department and into that department. But in my case, I was getting pulled from the maintenance crew and put into the computer department...which previously consisted of one guy...our techy nerd, network geek, the man with the plan. He runs it all. If it has a password, he probably knows it. If it doesn't, he still probably has it. Anyways, it was a dream come true. On my original application, I had put on the interests and skills part, computers and all that nerdy stuff. Fixing them , repairing them. That's what I love doing. And that's what I did last year when I came here as a visitor. And, to pull this story full circle, that is why I am now able to create and posts blogs. Turns out, the techy dude I work with has a separate Internet network that very VERY few people no about...and by very few, I mean three. Him, my friend that got sent home, and now me. It's unfiltered. Uber fast. And blog-capable. So here I am. Using this new network, writing this blog for you. And I hope to update at least once a week, if not more. Once a week though, because during the week, I'm a little busy bee, not getting home till 11, 12, 1am. It all depends on the day. Another thing about living here is, there is no schedule. I don't know what I'm doing for work tomorrow. I'll find out when I get there. I'm not in Maintenance anymore, but I'm helping with the garbage run just on Mondays for some time so I can show the new driver the route and what to do and stuff...and how to back up with a trailer. But after that, the rest of the week is with my new computer nerd supervisor. Tomorrow is my first day in this new job. I spent a couple days last week doing some little stuff, updating the 17 Bible Institute laptops with new programs for their classes. But tomorrow, we start all new stuff. I think we're laying new ethernet cables. A good 200 yards of it or so. But we'll see. Again, not really sure what I'll be doing. It all happens as it comes. We all take it in stride. God provides us with a new day, and we use it to work for him and bless his people.

And that's about it for now. I'll be sure to update as much as possible. Keep your eyes peeled!