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February 27, 2007
Costco Tightens Return Policy
From the Seattle PI.
Posted by dberger at 4:09 PM | Comments (0)
Caribbean Getaway: Coda
It's Tuesday morning as I type this, we've been back for three days and I'm still ruminating on the whole cruise experience.
The last day at sea was uneventful, and we passed it pleasantly enough - playing card games with friends, watching the sea go by, and feeling the air cool as we sailed for more northerly clime's. There was a Valve party and ice-cream social at the back of the boat (pics) that was a great way to end the trip.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Coda"
Posted by dberger at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Thursday Feb 22nd
We got up and made it to the catamaran with time to spare. Not moments after casting off the host says that on our return, we'd be making a quick stop at Playa Mia to drop off folks who had elected for the "snorkeling with beach break" double feature. Of course, since the tour guy specifically said we wouldn't be passing said beach, I had left the tickets for the Valve event in the stateroom.
The snorkeling was excellent (pictures start here) - colorful coral and fish, including a five-and-a-half foot baracudda, a sea turtle, and reports of a rather large eel (which I didn't catch sight of) along with the "normal" assortment of tropical fish. At times the fish were so thick they were creepy.
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Posted by dberger at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Wednesday Feb 21st
We got up ungodly early to be breakfasted and at the meeting spot for our snorkel trip at 7:30.
Moments before we expected to disembark, we learned that the catamaran had mechanical trouble and we could either (a) cancel our trip, (b) exchange it for a different tour, or (c) go on the same trip at 12:30. The delay wouldn't have been a big deal had we not gotten up at the aforementioned ungodly hour to be ready.
We ended up tendering into Belize city (well, "Tourist Village") around 10:30 - we walked around the shopping mall long enough to want to get out of it, and managed to find a free "Pirate Museum" - all we had to do was run the gauntlet of locals wanting to offer us tours, taxi rides, braided hair, coke (the white powdered kind, not the beverage) and weed.
After sampling local rums and cashew wine (and buying some of each) we headed down town, into the CBD (central business district). Pictures start here.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Wednesday Feb 21st"
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Tuesday Feb 20th
We docked in Roatan as Dawnise and I were waking up at 8 this morning. We got some breakfast, spent some time figuring out what to do, given that the snorkel tour we had wanted was full by the time we pre-registered a month before the cruise, and ended up walking into town.
By our best reckoning we probably did about 12 miles today. Three east of the boat and back - through Coxen Hole to where the sidewalk ended (literally) at the base of the switchbacks to the airport back to the boat for a drink and snack, then 3 or so miles in the other direction, where the road ran along the beach.
The executive summary is paradise == abject poverty, but there were lots of incongruities. Photos start here.
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Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Caribbean Getaway: Monday Feb 19th
We're supposed to make port at Costa Maya around noon today - later than planned due to heavy seas and the nautical version of fighting a head-wind the whole way. We had breakfast in the dining room, which was mostly indistinguishable from the buffet, aside from the table-side service.
Took a walk around the boat, then went back to the room to change into pool-side attire. Dawnise just went off to a craft-class, and I stopped in the room to update this log before heading back up to the sun deck to people watch and enjoy the sun.
We've got no plans in Costa Maya - the cruise-organized snorkel trip we wanted was full when we pre-booked a few weeks ago, and being first on the wait list doesn't help when no one cancels. We figure we'll go ashore and check things out, and possibly snorkel with a local outfit, though we've no idea how to determine if they're reputable or not. Gotta remember to bring bottled water ashore - heard that one of the group developed flu-like symptoms and he and his wife were quarantined in their cabin for 24 hours. Given the size of our room, I think I'd be climbing the walls in short order...
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Posted by dberger at 1:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Sunday Feb 18th
I'm sitting on our balcony, typing up the last few days, looking out at the vastness of the sea - and
staring at another cruise ship off our port side.
We're going to head down for breakfast, wish us luck...
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Sunday Feb 18th"
Posted by dberger at 1:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Saturday Feb 17th
Dawnise and I were up by 7:30 the next morning - showered, dressed and off to fid breakfast - at IHOP down the road. I had an egg scramble with chorizo and jalapeño peppers, she had corn cake pancakes. It struck me halfway through the meal that my breakfast was more consistently spicy than just about any food we'd had in Seattle - save Thai. Sheesh.
After breakfast we wandered along the shore a bit - until the temperature and wind conspired to drive us indoors. (It was in the low 50's - less than 10 degrees warmer than Seattle). We packed up, checked out of the room, and waited with the rest of the gathering crowd for the buses to take us to the dock.
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Posted by dberger at 1:45 AM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Friday Feb 16th
We caught a ride with our neighbor Toki to the 8am ferry - he just happened to be driving over that morning and offered us a lift. DJ (Dawnise's driver) picked us up at the ferry dock and got us to the airport spot on 9. We got checked in for the flight - chartered through ATA - and hung out in the gate waiting for our 10:45 boarding call.
The flight to Houston was mostly uneventful - though a bit bumpy. The "open bar" was something of a disappointment - I drank them out of gin - all one mini of it, and they didn't have any Kahlua or Baileys. The food was typical airline food - and I thought about skipping it, but my general rule while traveling is to eat when the opportunity presents itself as you never know when the next opportunity might be
We walked down stairs off the plane onto the tarmac and boarded waiting buses to start the 60 mile trek to Galveston.
Thanks to Houston rush our traffic, it took a good two hours before we were at our hotels. A handful of us struck out to find dinner and ended up a t "The Steak House" - which was a pricey, but pretty good, steak place in one of the hotels along the Galveston seawall. After dinner we retired to our rooms for the night.
Posted by dberger at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007
Play It, Sam
It shouldn't be surprising that the first full-length HD-DVD we've watched was the re-release of Casablanca. What surprised me was how good the HD transfer looked. Wow.
Posted by dberger at 9:29 AM | Comments (0)
February 9, 2007
Enso Launcher
Stumbled on Enso. People are calling it Quicksilver for Windows.
I already hate the fact that I can't re-map their key choice (caps lock) and I really dislike the fact that there's no way to make the sticky interface (caps-lock to start, type, caps-lock again to finish) the default. You can do it with a rather awkward key sequence, but I *always* want that behavior.
And a couple of guys telling me how my UI should work reminds me way too much of Apple, thanks.
But give it a try - you might love it.
Posted by dberger at 2:06 PM | Comments (0)
Coffee Stop Loss
For the last couple weeks, on and off (mostly on) I've been joining the other early-risers at work on their morning pilgrimage for coffee.
See there's no good coffee in the building, and that includes the Tully's on the 1st floor. I've got nothing against Tully's in general, but this one serves inconsistent and often flat coffee - even their espresso drinks are bad, I suspect the water.
Despite what they say about "affordable luxuries, I got tired of morning tithe to Starbucks Corp., so today I brought in an electric kettle and the Trudeau coffee press Dawnise gave me over the holidays.
I got in just in time to join the guys for the trip over, and picked up a bag of Cafe Verona (their only drinkable blend), ground for french press.
Posted by dberger at 8:36 AM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2007
Digitizing Photos?
Like most people "our age", we've got a bunch (at least many hundred, possibly a couple thousand) of photo's (and negatives) sitting in boxes. Lately I've had the urge to get them into the digital domain so they can join the "rest" of our pictures.
Anyone reading this done so? Any suggestions on ways (not) to approach the problem?
Posted by dberger at 6:40 PM | Comments (1)
An All-Around Good Day
Today was just a really good day. Traffic to and from work was light, I got a crap-ton of stuff done and delivered to internal customers, and the days are getting longer and warmer.
Color me happy.
Posted by dberger at 6:31 PM | Comments (0)
Musical Whiplash
We hired a new team member who started a week ago. He's buddied up with me 'till he gets his feet underneath him. The other day, I hit the pause button on the music when he arrived in the morning, as I typically do when I share a space with someone, and he said "leave it on, I don't mind."
He didn't realize how, um, diverse my musical tastes run.
Suddenly, out of the blue, he offers:
Mike: "Did we just go from Stan Getz to Katrina and the Waves?"
Me: "Yup"
Mike: "I think I'm gonna get musical whiplash in here."
I like that image. I think I'll keep it.
Posted by dberger at 9:58 AM | Comments (0)
My Thoughts, Exactly...
Given my current employer, there's some amount of pressure to at least "try" an MMORPG or two. (Well, mostly World of Warcraft)...
Compliments of (an old) Penny Arcade.
Posted by dberger at 9:15 AM | Comments (0)