A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.
11 April 2005
* El paso was dusty, hot, and windy. So brown compared to seattle. * Stayed at a decent hotel in downtown el paso – the camino real. An oasis of higher income activity in the downtown. * Downtown lively in day – every store rolls their wares out onto the street. But absolutely dead at night. And no one speaks English – I felt like a fish out of water. * You need to head out to the northern or eastern burbs for restaurants, shopping. I ate dinner at the State Line BBQ – it was decent. Good potato salad. * UTEP is on some hills overlooking the downtown. Banner year for men’s sports, both the bball and fball teams did well. The Sun Bowl is played here annually. * You can walk into Juarez for 35 cents. I spent Saturday morning wandering into Juarez. I was wondering “why do people visit Juarez?”. I wasn’t 25 feet across the border before I had my first Viagra offer. The main tourist street was lined with pharmacies. At 100 feet a cab driver offered to take me to a woman. * It took about 8-10 blocks of walking to punch thru this part of Juarez into the market area with more normal shops, bakeries, restaurants, etc. Much more pleasant.
Net/net, can’t say I’d ever want to come to a sun bowl.