NEWS FROM CORPUS CHRISTI

As some of you know, Dennis Jr. is in Corpus Christi doing a bank job.  Not the kind you rob, but just as tantalizing and exciting.  Okay, that may be a tad exaggerated.  I asked him to write a little about it and send some pictures and here they are.

As you may know, before there was Liken, Ken and I were working in bank consulting. When Liken funds slowed, we worked to reestablish some of those bank consulting ties so we could feed our families while pressing forward as best we could on the Liken front. 

We've been blessed with enough work to keep things going. Ken's expertise has been in growing demand, but every now and then a need arises that spills over into stuff that I can help with.

So for a good portion of the last few weeks, I've been spending time in Corpus Christi, a coastal town in South Texas near the border of Mexico.

The first week, I was here with Ken. The second week, I was here alone. The third week, I've been here with Josh, who has worked with us in Liken for years, but was a quick study on this portion of the project. We probably have another week or two of work here.

Mostly, the work involves reviewing hundreds of loan files to help a bank defend itself against allegations from the government that it is discriminating. The days start at 8 am and run until about 6 pm, when our brains have officially turned to mush. We go back to our hotel, chill for an hour by checking in at home and catching up on emails, then we hit a local restaurant (they know how to barbecue here in Texas), come back to the hotel and hit the sack until we do it again the next day.

It gets hot here, but fortunately it isn't too bad at the moment. Mostly 80s, but with a lot of humidity. My glasses tend to fog up when I go from an air-conditioned building to outside. This is hurricane country. Today in church, they announced that there would be a plywood cutting activity this week for those who needed it (you pre-cut pieces to fit your windows and keep it around, because when you need to put it up, there isn't a lot of time). The freeways out of town have hurricane evacuation route instructions on them. Nothing forecast yet, but best to be prepared.

We're here this weekend and worked a half day Saturday before heading out to see some of Corpus Christi's sites. Today we went to church at Corpus Christi 3rd Ward. Tonight, we'll cook up a pizza, watch some new special effects clips from the next Liken (Jonah/Chloe and the Great Fish, still working on the title), call it a day and get ready for a few more days before heading home Thursday for Sashy's graduation!

We fly into San Antonio, pick up a rental car and drive for about 2.5 hours to get to Corpus Christi.

The USS Lexington, a World War II vintage aircraft carrier, lives in retirement as a museum here.

It is small in comparison to the aircraft carriers you see in San Diego.

Office: This is me and the office where I'm living.

Me and Josh on a concrete pier with the skyline of Corpus Christi in the background.

Josh poses on the Corpus Christi bayfront.

I try to copy Josh's pose, but less successfully. 

Apparently I raised the wrong leg and had nothing to rest it on.
(That is so Dennis' humor . . .Mom)

I had dinner with Josh and Farrah Fawcett, who was from Corpus Christi.

This was inscribed on the men's room wall of the diner where we ate Saturday night.

I guess not everyone is as enamored with Corpus Christi as we are.