A little background
Now that you've seen the photos (or a small fraction of them, at least) I'd like to tell you about their origin. It's a long story so lean back, put your feet on the desk, grab a drink, and relax. This is going to be fun...
As I've mentioned before in the past, I belong to the Central Houston chapter an organization called Engineers Without Borders (give us money). In addition to my duties in this chapter, I am also the mentor to a student group at Rice University, which is currently working with a community called Piedritas in the state of Coahuila. For those of you who do not know your Mexican geography, Piedritas can be found about 30 miles south of Big Bend National Park. For those of you keeping score at home, that's more or less in the desert. Anyone remember that Far Side cartoon of the couple in a car, with the wife in the passenger seat with a big map entitled "Nowhere" and a sign on the side of the road that read: "Entering: The Middle"? That was me and my posse.
Anyway, the reason why we made the trip down there was to help this impoverished community gain some semblance of clean drinking water. They have a well though the water is less than clean with increased levels of various contimants including E. coli (that's bad). Our goal was to perform some water sampling, biuld a prototype filter, and take a lot of photographs. It just so happens that, as barren as the area is, it's surrounded by beautiful mountains and crystal blue skies. The full moon was only a bonus.
If you're an engineer and you are interested in having some impact on the world around you (and maybe bring a smile to a child's face) go to the Engineers Withour Borders-USA website to find a chapter near you. Otherwise, we can always use more cash. It's not easy by a non-profit organization these days.
And I promise that you'll get more of the Rube posts that I know you've grown to love over the past few months. They've been sparse and dry lately and I'll blame that on a lack of time to give you anything more interesting. But I will try because I have grown to enjoy this method of expression and I miss sharing my wisdom with all my loyal (and possibly misguided) fans and friends.
Until then, I'll continue posting some of my favorite photos (or at least the ones I've been able to transfer to my computer).
Piedritas, Mexico
Seabrook, TX
As I've mentioned before in the past, I belong to the Central Houston chapter an organization called Engineers Without Borders (give us money). In addition to my duties in this chapter, I am also the mentor to a student group at Rice University, which is currently working with a community called Piedritas in the state of Coahuila. For those of you who do not know your Mexican geography, Piedritas can be found about 30 miles south of Big Bend National Park. For those of you keeping score at home, that's more or less in the desert. Anyone remember that Far Side cartoon of the couple in a car, with the wife in the passenger seat with a big map entitled "Nowhere" and a sign on the side of the road that read: "Entering: The Middle"? That was me and my posse.
Anyway, the reason why we made the trip down there was to help this impoverished community gain some semblance of clean drinking water. They have a well though the water is less than clean with increased levels of various contimants including E. coli (that's bad). Our goal was to perform some water sampling, biuld a prototype filter, and take a lot of photographs. It just so happens that, as barren as the area is, it's surrounded by beautiful mountains and crystal blue skies. The full moon was only a bonus.
If you're an engineer and you are interested in having some impact on the world around you (and maybe bring a smile to a child's face) go to the Engineers Withour Borders-USA website to find a chapter near you. Otherwise, we can always use more cash. It's not easy by a non-profit organization these days.
And I promise that you'll get more of the Rube posts that I know you've grown to love over the past few months. They've been sparse and dry lately and I'll blame that on a lack of time to give you anything more interesting. But I will try because I have grown to enjoy this method of expression and I miss sharing my wisdom with all my loyal (and possibly misguided) fans and friends.
Until then, I'll continue posting some of my favorite photos (or at least the ones I've been able to transfer to my computer).
-Rube
Piedritas, MexicoSeabrook, TX
posted by The Rube at Saturday, April 01, 2006
2 Comments:
That's inspiring Rube! I'm a strong believer in karma and this altruistic mission that you completed is sure to bring you a butt load of GOOD KARMA. Almost enough to offset the bad karma from being a Jack Johnson fan.
Great picture by the way. When are they going to make you the official spokesmodel for Engineers Without Borders? (I'm thinking you'd look perfect with a Zoolander makeover)
Jack Johnson is good karma
Post a Comment
<< Home