Just to mix things up here a little, here's a new video by my favorite band, The Elms:

...And just so you know, the video is sort of a documentary of small-town Indiana mixed with a music video, so there's intro music for a couple minutes before the song starts.

Mountains and Trees

Well, everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying the post-turkey buzz. I also wanted to wish you all an awesome holiday season. Merry Christmas! Now for some photos from the last week.

This is sort of my Christmas card for all of you since I clearly am not going to be sending out real Christmas cards to call of you. Merry Christmas from Killu and I!

My Christmas tree. The night I lost my wallet, I put the lights on it and suddenly, I was happy again! Notice that the tree is elevated to avoid inquisitive puppy teeth.

A beautiful sunset as seen from my patio.

Same sunset, different minute.

A view of El Altar (small mountain between the clouds) on Thanksgiving Day.

A view of Tungurahua (which is still spitting ash from time to time, as you can see) on Thanksgiving Day.

As for non-photo updates, I'm now finally starting to get more and more work to do in my site. I'm now working with three separate youth groups (one in Licto, two in indigenous communities), teaching computer classes two days a week (one in Licto, one in an indigenous community), and working with two community banks (one with a womens group in Licto which has yet to really start up, and one in an indigenous community which has already been running for a year). Anyways, if any of you know of sources of fund for technology development in the developing world, let me know, we've garnered a ton of interest and support for IT development in these communities (and considering that almost none of the kids or even adults I work with have ever touched a computer, I think it's a well-placed interest). Well, that's it for now, hope to hear from you all soon.

Sports update, again...I can't help it.

Briefly, this week in sports.

Sevilla is still one point behind Barça and rocking out in the Copa del Rey and UEFA cup...next UEFA Cup game is on Thanksgiving...

Da' Bears are still rocking the NFL, taking home a victory over the Giants, and assuring their spot as the best 'missed field goal touchdown return team' in the history of the NFL. The Colts, you say? A bunch of amateurs... Manning, you say? Just got lucky in the gene pool, he'll be gone before you know it...

Also, Olmedo beat Emelec 3-0...putting them within 4 points of the leader in the league...

That's this week in sports.


Unrelated news, Killu just passed 30 pounds and he's only getting bigger...

Da' Bulls

So I was able to hit a bullfight this weekend that was here in Riobamba for the Foundation of the City holiday. It was a pretty decent fight with 3 Novillero (new/young fighters), 3 Matadors (experienced), and one Rejoneador (fighter on horseback). I enjoyed getting a taste of Spain even while in South America where 'chuchería' means something entirely different than it does in Spain. For those of you who have no idea what that mean, in Spain it means 'sweet junk food' and here it just sounds plain vulgar...Anyhow, that made no sense. Now for the pictures...

Typical picture...notice the lacklust 'aficion' (fanbase) of bullfighting in Ecuador. Still a good picture.

Bullfighters as they come out of the 'locker room'

Neat blurry picture...

I also had my friend, Lisa, from a nearby province in town on Saturday and she came to visit my site and captured the first actual proof that I've actually been in my site. This is me in front of the cathedral in Licto...the is just a bit of it, it's actually really big and fairly pretty.

A picture Lisa took in Licto's graveyard.

As always, I also took some pictures of Killu this weekend.

Curled up in my lap.

Sah-weeping puppy.

If this isn't a dog model in action, I don't know what is!

Random picture I took of my junk on the floor in my friend's house. Mostly I just put this up so you could see my cool Ecua-purse, as I call it. Cool little Incan dude, huh?

Well, that's it for now, keep on rockin', kids.

Back in action

So, I finally got to sit down calmly at the internet for a bit and get some pictures together and you all are going to reap the benefit. These are pictures I took about 2 weeks ago around Licto.

This is another panorama of sorts on the road that goes out of Licto with a abandoned house (one of many around Licto).

Killu and Ruby being lovers again.
(But i think in this picture you can tell he's not into her as much as she's into him...haha, women)

Another one of Killu random sleeping postures...freak.

Ruby, sleeping in Killu's basket, making herself at home, until moments later Killu decided to get in there and squash her guts out (should've heard her squeal...women)

If you look at one of my previous posts you can see the two of them in this bed together. Minutes later, Ruby had pushed Killu half out of the bed...women.

Now he's been pushed almost fully out of the bed...women.Killu's legs look really long in this picture. I guess maybe that's because his legs are really long.

Well that's it for cute dog pictures for now...til next time...

Sports all around

So, in case you didn't know it, the Bears are 7-0. I don't know if you realize what this mean, but I do. It means the Bears-Colts are going to play in the Super Bowl and the Bears are going to win 17-10. And that's a fact.
In other news, Sevilla FC is 6-0-2, which puts them in 2nd place in La Liga, one point behind FC Barcelona.
My Ecuadorian league team (so far), Olmedo, is 3rd in the rankings, only 2 points behind the leaders (Emelec and Barcelona SC). Not bad for a team generally considered pretty weak, many times not even in the first division of Ecuadorian soccer.
So, in case you care, that's the sports column for today. Until next time...

Killu and Ruby

So, as I've been out of town for a bit I haven't been getting any new photos up (and sadly I didn't take any pictures while I was out of town), but here are some good pictures of Ruby and Killu I took while I was dog-sitting Ruby for a couple days.

Ruby cries a lot, but dang she's adorable.

Killu demonstrating how big he's gotten...he barely fits in this basket anymore.

Killu and Ruby like to cuddle, which is especially cute since most of the other dogs in our groups of friend ever want to sleep near each other.

Ruby, looking adorable...probably right before she cried...

Cuddling again, this time in Killu's basket.