I’m like the fellow in that old joke about a Soviet engineer who says, “I tell my wife I’m with the mistress. I tell the mistress I’m with the wife. And in the meanwhile, I hide in a corner and work, work, work.”
All I’ve done in Houston is hide in dark corners to work on my book. Loving Houston so far.
Indoors, you don’t have to deal with chiggers, or “asps”, a variety of a stinging caterpillar:
Most stinging caterpillars belong to the insect family known as flannel moths. Flannel moths get their name from the flannel-like appearance of the wings of the adult, which are clothed with loose scales mixed with long hairs. The immature stages of flannel moths are caterpillars which are clothed with fine hairs and venomous spines. The spines, when brushed against the skin, produce a painful rash or sting. The best known flannel moth and stinging caterpillar in Texas is the southern flannel moth, or puss moth caterpillar, Megalopyge opercularis. In Texas these caterpillars are commonly known as “asps”. This caterpillar is often abundant and may infest shade trees and shrubbery around homes, schools, and in parks. They are of minor importance as enemies of shade trees, but they can cause a severe sting. When a puss moth caterpillar rubs or is pressed against skin, venomous hairs stick into the skin causing a severe burning sensation and rash.
http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/biting-stinging/others/ent-3010/
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You should be networking! Go work the room! Practice your elevator pitch! Schmooze liked you’ve never schmoozed before!
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I’m all over the place today.
This is Columbia, an Ivy League college. These are the children of rich, north-east liberals.
http://deadspin.com/here-are-the-racist-sexist-text-messages-that-put-colu-1788867450
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I went to grad school in Arizona and fell in love with the Southwest: the desert, the space, and the sun. The cacti, even the snakes and scorpions! I have enjoyed Houston and Austin every time I visited. If Texas weren’t so ridiculously red and gun-happy, I think I’d like to move there. (DH says over his dead body :-)).
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” If Texas weren’t so ridiculously red and gun-happy”
Well Houston (the one time I was there) was about as far as desert as can be imagined. The ride from the airport into town looked almost exactly like the ride from Tampa airport to the interior. The local accents were even very similar which made things very weird for me.
I remember as a kid laughing at the old New Mexico – Land of Enchantment license plates but complete fell in love with New Mexico when I passed through it (another sublime mexican food experience as well in Las Vegas (they have one two, it means something like ‘lowlands’). Southwest Colorado (the final part of that state I got to know) was also wonderful.
I especially liked the Navajo radio station(s) which is what I listened to the entire time going through that reception area.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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