El Paso: Or as my Dad calls it Hell Paso

 I have Cami to thank for our awesome living situation. She met a lady while working in the temple cafeteria and mentioned to her that I would be in El Paso. She told Cami that she had two brothers that lived there and would check with them to see if they knew anyone with space for us. So, long story short, we are living with the widowed mother-in-law of one of the brothers. She has a three bedroom apartment all to herself, so now we are keeping her company. She is hardly ever here and neither are we so it works out well.

 I am here with another guy from my class named Jake. We each have our own room and share a good sized bathroom. There are three other guys coming down next month but this place it too small to accommodate all of us. I feel sort of guilty but what can you do.

 I didn't have to work yesterday or today and so I went hiking with my classmate in the scenic state park right off of one of the freeways. I guess it is beautiful in its own dry, brown way.

 It seems like the desert is an unfriendly place. The plants are sharp and mean-looking and mostly covered in thorns. You get the definite impression of "Go Away" in a place like this.

I got sunburned on the hike and when I complained about it to my wife she laughed and said that it had been freezing and snowing off and on all day back home. What a difference 800 miles makes.

This is the Texas Tech University Medical Center where I work. There is a cemetery right across from the parking garage which I thought was a little weird. They are doing massive renovations to the hospital itself so it makes finding your way around even more complicated. Work is going pretty well and I am finally feeling better about being here, partly because I get to come home in less than a week for a short visit.