Crawford & Waco

Today, a couple of us decided to take a break from our studies and head down to the Dr Pepper museum in Waco. On the way, we detoured into President Bush's hometown of Crawford for lunch. There was only one restaurant, so we ate there. I had a burger and "President Bush's Favorite Onion Rings", Ellen had a BLT and "The First Lady's Favorite Fried Jalapenos".

After lunch, we went to the tourist shop, and as we were about to leave, a lady pops out of her car and asks if we are tourists. I say, "Yeah", hoping that it wasn't too obvious, and she asks if she can interview me for a special program that she is doing for her Mexican news agency. So, she asked me some questions about why we decided to come down and if I had bought any souvenirs. It was hard-hitting investigative journalism.

After we left downtown, we drove by the President's ranch. You can tell you are getting close because of the bright orange signs that tell you not to stop your car.

After we left the ranch, we went to Waco to visit the Dr Pepper museum, which was cool. I learned that Dr Pepper has never had prune juice in it, and that the period was removed after the "Dr" in "Dr Pepper" because it made the stylized "r" look like a semicolon. Hmm.



More Mexicans get their news from Dan than from any other source.


Ellen is standing slightly in front of the sign, which I guess wasn't illegal.

Why Brooks Landing?

The name Brooks Landing was first used by my family in 1868, when my great-grandfather homesteaded the area that is now known as Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. He named his home Brooks Landing, which was the common name used to describe the area for many years.

Recently, the name has been picked up by several family members who have referred to their own homes as Brooks Landing. As I was trying to decide on what to name our website, this was the name that stuck, because it represents OUR home on the Internet! (Cheesy, I know...)


"It was our idea in the first place..."

Texas State Fair

This past Wednesday we took an "cultural exploration" field trip to the State Fair of Texas with our class!! It is a big deal around here, and we learned it is also a lot of fun. We rode the Texas Star, which is their ferris wheel, reaching 212 ft. in the air. They (being Texans!) claim it is the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

Some of our class, along with their kids that made the fair even more fun!


Lisa and I show off our Pace tatoos!

Multi-Cultural Management Classes

Kumusta! We just finshed up two weeks of Language & Culture Acquisition classes, and I thought it would be good to let everybody know some of the other classes we have taken/will be taking. The classes are broken up into "modules", which can be as short as one day or as long as a couple of weeks. Here are the modules in chronological order:

Completed Modules:

• Self-management
• Career Counseling
  
• Organizational Culture
• Interpersonal Skills & Team Building
  
• Language and Culture Acquisition

Future Modules:

• Coaching
• Public Affairs/Government Relations
• Transitions/Dealing with Change
• Personnel Management
• Crisis Management & Contingency Preparation
• Conflict Resolution
• Cross-Cultural Management
• Managing Language Projects
• Family Issues
• Organizational Communications Issues
• Finance for Managers
• Project Funding