Day 15 - Coffee, Smoothies, Fruit, and Mexican Food

Going out for lunch is an expensive habit. It is nice to get out of the office and take a walk though. It is hard to sit at my desk and eat a sandwich when there are tons of places to get out and eat something much better. Sometime last fall, we walked to the West End with the plan to eat at Chipotle, but due to the long line, we decided we would be brave and try out an odd little storefront that was selling all sorts of things. On the counter, they had a cutout article from a local newspaper claiming they had the best bowl of chicken soup in Dallas. That day the three of us all had a bowl and from there on out, we were hooked. I haven't had the soup in a long time, but about once every week or two, some group of us will make the walk down to that place, La Fiesta Fruits.

After a trip to the post office today, I decided I would make the walk. Some gorditas sounded mighty tasty. I was by myself, but I walked in to the same setting that we ended up loving as much as the food. The owner Daniel, who now knows us, greeted me and asked where everyone else was. Everyone else had something they were doing, but I ordered my gorditas with some orange/watermelon juice and sat down at the table we almost always sit at. That quirky little fruit stand is my favorite place to eat, and even really one of my favorite places to sit downtown. We used to joke about how we entered a time warp when we were in there. It is sort of silly, but that place is one of the little things that reminds me that there really are good things about my job.

When we started going to La Fiesta, we were on the tail end of a big project that we were really excited to finish. We ended up doing what we all think was a really good job on that project. It was a huge change that would open up a lot of possibilites for what we could do. Since we completed that project, a lot has changed. We have worked nonstop under deadlines that are unrealistic with requirements that are contantly changing. We have taken a lot of flack for things that are completely out of our control. The corporate politics and power struggles of working in business are enough to grizzle even the most idealistic of people. Some days I can take it in stride, and some days I wonder what I am doing there. As much as I have griped about it lately on these posts, I figure I should take the link off my links (i'll do that once I publish this). I wish my company no ill will. They have been good to me and for the most part, continue to be, but working there reenforces my desire to have my own business. I want to have the opportunity to use my skills and ideas from a different perspective. Too bad I can't make the pirate thing work out.

I spent time today in Matthew's short but sweet account of the birth of Christ. It is another one of those passages that I have read through and heard read so many times that I easily think of it more as straight history than anything else. Up through Christmas, I am going to continue through the different accounts of the time before and just after Jesus' birth. I hope and pray that I see the power and love in that is screaming out through it.

Today's Playlist:
Pernice Brothers - Yours, Mine, and Ours
Map - San Francisco in the 90's
Why? - Elephant Eyelash
Jens Lekman - You Are the Light EP
Castanets - First Light's Freeze
Islands - Return to the Sea