Heaven on Earth?

My mother just sent me an email possibly confirming the presence of heaven on earth. It's a restaurant (not even sure where it's located, and too lazy to google it) by the name of Heart Attack Grill.

Another gadget...

I'm a gadget guy. I love new gadgets, even if they're not especially new to the market. I need a better camera to take pictures of family and events as well as my travels. The 2.0 Megapixel camera in the iPhone is nice and all, but I need something with a much better quality.. Perhaps I can invest in one with my tax return. My brother-in-law, Douglas (aka Duggle), has a Canon Rebel XTI. I played around with that last night, and I like it a lot. If I can get a good deal on one, I may spring for it.

If you have a similar camera for sale, let me know!

Follow my blog!

I have added a "followers" link on the right of my blog. Feel free to become a follower and get updated whenever I update my blog!

New Links

You can now access my myspace profile here: http://myspace.nixlife.info
You can now access my facebook profile here: http://facebook.nixlife.info
You can now access google here: http://google.nixlife.info (it's better than the real google! ;) )

New URL

I decided to buy a URL for my blog, and just got it all set up to work. There's a slight problem I'm working through that will allow it to work with and without the www portion of the URL. But for now, the URL of my blog is:
http://www.nixlife.info
Enjoy!

Trisha's New Hampster

I added a poll on the right to help Trisha and I decide the name of her new pet hampster. Vote early. Vote often.

Gas selling below $2 in some areas

Incredible!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27405700/

It's about effing time! Now when is this going to start affecting me? And it had better not skyrocket to over 4 bucks a gallon ever again!

Costa Rica Pix

Some of the "lower class" homes in Costa Rica

The front of the Catholic Iglesias in Palmares

The sign out front of the church. Built in 1902. Wow.

One of the stained glass windows in the church. Beautiful!

Steve, a mormon Bishop in a Catholic Church. (?!) ;)

Another beautiful Stained glass window in the church.

This is the Costa Rican Temple.

First, Fernando made some "original artwork" on the bathroom mirror to distract me from the old "tissue in the air conditioner" trick.

This was my view out the back window during training.

A large butterfly.

Costa Rica - Day 3/4

Sorry for the delay in getting my day 3 post up. I was so tired at the end of the day and knowing that I had to wake up in 4 hours to go home, I figured I'd update it when I got back (or at the airport).

So Friday started out like the others.. Wake up and have some breakfast at the hotel. Huevos, queso, arroz con frijoles, agua. Then we embarked on the drive to Palmares to finish up our business. We decided to take a shortcut that we had taken on the way home the day before that had saved us 15 minutes or so. The problems is that there wasn't a way for the shortcut to go the opposite direction. Because of some barricades and one way streets we got pushed way out into BFE (or is that BFUSA) just to get turned back the right direction. We spent 20 minutes just to get turned back the right way.
I neglected to mention before that the family we were visiting to do business with had a chicken in their backyard. I had asked one of the guys if they used it to eat eggs or if it was a pet. He wasn't sure and thought that it was his grandpa's chicken, probably for eggs. I asked if it had a name, and he just laughed. We'll come back to the chicken in a moment.
When we got to their house/business, we immediately started back with the training. We quickly dived in and made some good progress before lunch. We had some other meetings we wanted to go to in the afternoon, so we were trying to leave before lunch. I'm glad that we didn't. The day before, the wife of the business owner had overheard Steve talk about how (on his mission) he loved arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) a flagship dish in Costa Rica. Because she overheard them talking about it, she decided to make some for us! Oh man. Amazing. We had the Chicken and Rice dish with a nice green salad, refried black beans (my new favorite), fresh squeezed passion fruit juice, and homemade (virgin) pina coladas! Best pina colada I have EVER had. It was made with fresh coconuts and real coconut milk. Simply amazing.
After lunch we were talking about where she had gotten some of the ingredients and as it turns out, their "pet" chicken that we saw out back was the main course! At least, that's what I think. When the chicken out back was mentioned, everyone laughed because I had asked about it the day before, and I swear that I couldn't see the chicken out in the cage anymore. Because I don't spean spanish, I'm not 100% sure that it really was the chicken or not, but either way, it was pretty funny
One thing that I noticed about Costa Rica is that there are dogs EVERYWHERE. Every restaurant that we went to there was at least 1 dog there that just waits around for scraps. The dogs are surprisingly well behaved, however. They weren't aggressive, and they didn't approach you at all. I wonder if rabies is a problem down there.
After lunch, we finished up training within an hour or so, and the business discussions were at a breaking point, (plus Latin Americans like to leave early on Fridays) so we decided to go and explore a bit. When we were leaving Palmares, we decided to stop at the local Catholic iglesias and take some pictures. I will post all of my pictures in a seperate entry later today. The stained glass windows were breathtaking.
When we were driving back to the hotel, we passed a huge "flock" of what we initially thought were turkeys. They were huge! There were about 15-20 all black "turkeys" that were all gathered at this one point. As we passed them, I noticed that they were all gathered around a dead horse. They were not turkeys. They were vultures. Then the smell of rotting flesh entered the vehicle. Wow. Gag.
Fernando then told us a story of a friend and he driving through another part of Costa Rica years ago on a long road trip. They were driving and saw a vulture on the road eating roadkill of some kind. The friend (who was driving) thought it would be funny to try and run over the bird. He sped up and aimed the car at the bird. The bird, being large, attempted to fly away, but couldn't get enough lift and smashed into the windshield, it's head breaking through. They slammed on the breaks in fear (and because they couldn't see). The bird then opened it's eyes and vomited rotting meat onto the driver, pulled its head out of the windshield and flew away. The guy was covered in it, and was puking continually for the remainder of the 3 hour journey.
When we got back, we chilled at the hotel for a bit. Fernando checked out that morning because he was going to spend the night at his sister's house, so he chilled with me in my room until Steve and I left. Fernando, being the trixter he is, left me a couple surprises that I discovered upon my return later that night. He ripped up a bunch of tissues and stuffed them in the air conditioner, so when I turned it on, bits of tissue flied everywhere in the room. He also made and original smiley face drawing in the bathroom. I'll post pictures later today.
Steve and I left to go to the flea market in central San Jose. On the way to the flea market, we stopped to see one of his Missionary companions. We visited him at his business, which looked like a home, but was strictly for business. He is an accountant.
As we were driving around San Jose, I saw my first brothel ever. It was a "gentlemen's hotel." There were several that we saw throughout the city as we were trying to find the flea market. I also saw several prostitutes. I had never been to a place that I could say, without a doubt, that the girls were prostitues. We eventually found the flea market and found a parking place. We walked a few blocks to the flea market and went inside. The place STUNK. There were parrots and parakeets everywhere and a couple butchers. So, the combination of smells was not pleasant. I got a couple presents for Trisha (flip-flops, 2 t-shirts, and a little puzzle/jewelry holder). I also got my brother a shot glass (I get one for him everywhere I go) and a little hand carved warrior guy to match the ones I got in Mexico.
We got to the flea market at about 5:15, and they close at 6 PM. During our parusing, we got seperated. We didn't explicitly set a meeting point. They started closing everything down at 5:45. I was basically done at that point, so I walked towards the street corner where we had entered the market. The door was already closed and padlocked, I walked around for a few minutes until I found a door that the security was closing. They let me go out the door there, but at that point I was a bit turned around. I knew that the market was an entire street block, and figured that if I stayed on that block, there would be no problems. I stood at the corner for a few minutes and realized that I wasn't on the right street corner. I walked around the block (there were THOUSANDS of people walking everywhere). When I got the far side, I saw that there was 1 door that they were ushering people out of. I figured that I'd see him come out this door at some point, but it was kitty corner from where we had entered. I waited there for 5 or so minutes and the sidewalks started to clear a bit as the busses were leaving the area. I decided to walk around the block one more time to make sure that he wasn't on the far side where we had entered. He wasn't there. I waited there for about 10 minutes and eventually a guy that had helped me at one of the shops came and told me (in spanish) that my amigo was looking for me back at the "exit" corner. I walked back that direction and we found each other. While I wasn't scared that anything would happen to me, or anything like that, it was still a bit unnerving being there amidst thousands of people not understanding a word they were saying and not knowing if I had made a wrong turn somewhere and being in the wrong place. In the end, he did go to the corner where we had entered, but because I was a bit turned around, I was 1 corner away from the right corner. Then he went back in and searched inside until they made him leave.
As we were walking back to the car, we passed an icecream shop called Pops. We went in to get a treat that Steve talked about on his mission. Coconut icecream. Holy crap. I have a new favorite ice cream flavor. Of course, even if I could find it in the US, it wouldn't be as good as there because of the amazing fresh flavor. It was amazing. I would seriously take it over Haagen Daaz now. So good.
We got back to the car, and tipped a kid who was trying to sell stuff on the street for "watching" our car.
After the flea market, we went to have dinner with another one of Steve's missionary companions and his family. We met them at a grocery store in San Jose and then followed them to their house. Their house was beautiful as well. Apparently, when the Costa Rican temple was built, he spent his life savings remodeling their house to have it ready so visitors could stay with them during the dedication. In the end, no one stayed with them, but they've had the opportunity to host some members since then. We got to their house and I met their family. The father's name is Esteban. The wifes name is Veiria [sp?], pronounced Bee-ree-uh. They adopted 2 kids 8 months earlier. They are great kids, Andres and Diana. They really were a great family. She cooked us a homemade meal of arroz con pollo (rice with chicken (like we had for lunch)), platanos (fried plantaines), picadillos (a soft shell taco), and a cole slaw with cilantro type salad. We had fresh squeezed lemonade from lemons in their back yard. The platanos with the arroz con pollo was my favorite. It was SO good! She made us a traditional spice bread for dessert.
We met with them and they caught up on their lives. I couldn't understand much of what they were saying, but I picked up pieces along the way. Andres loved my iphone. I played games with him on it for a while to keep him occupied. Diana wanted me to read to her from a book about flowers. I did my best to read the words in spanish, even though I didn't know what they meant. At the end of the meeting, Esteban told me (with Steve translating) that I would always be welcome in his home and was grateful that I could eat dinner with them. I really had a good time there and would love to visit them again.
After we left their house, Steve drove me around to see the local chapels there and where the mission home was located. It was dark, so even though I could see them, I would NEVER be able to find my way to where they were. Then we went back to Pops and had some more coconut icecream. Mmmm..
We went back to the hotel and I packed my things and called Trisha on the phone. I was SO tired and had to wake back up in a few hours, so I went right to bed.
I woke up at 4:45 and finished packing and got ready for the trip home. I went down and had breakfast (same thing as before). We left the hotel, dropped off the rental car and went to the airport. There was more of a line than we expected, but we made it to our flight without any real problem. I had a crappy middle seat on the way home, but the lady next to me was nice enough to let me put the arm rest up so I wasn't as squished. I watched the rest of Incredible Hulk and some arrested development.
I wasn't looking forward to the 5 hour layover that we had in Dallas. There was an earlier flight leaving, but it was very close to leaving when we landed. We ran to make it through customs and security and barely made the flight home. I got an exit row with an open seat next to me. I watched more arrested development on that flight. I absolutely love that show.
So, that was my trip to Costa Rica. I found out this morning that I will probably be returning there sometime in the next month or 2. That should be fun!

Get off my lawn...

This movie looks awesome!

Costa Rica - Day 2

Ahh.. There's nothing like something going on to make me want to blog...

Today started as a typical business trip day would begin. I woke up and didn't want to. I got ready for the day and met the other guys down in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I had eggs, cheese, and some cold-cuts. Nothing terribly exiting going on with that.
We drove to Palmares, a small (emphasis on small) town about an hour west of San Jose. This was really my first opportunity to see Costa Rica, and I was amazed. Everything is green and bursting with vegitation. It was gorgeous passing through the steep valleys and cliffs on the drive to the town. On the drive there, we passed the Costa Rica Temple. It is a very beautiful structure. One of my favorites. The white of the exterior was exceedingly white. The contrast of white and green was very pretty.
One of the first things I noticed about Costa Rica is that ALL of the houses have fences around them. They have very small yards with 6-8 foot vertical metal post fences. Every single house. With out fail. It was bizarre to see. Later in the day, I asked one of the guys from the company I was visiting why they had fences. He said that they were for security, but they ususally didn't deter thieves from striking. He spent 6 years in New Jersey and mentioned to me that when he first got to the US, his first thought was why DIDN'T the houses in the US have fences?
After we arrived in Palmares, we looked up the "address" of the business. Instead of addresses, Costa Ricans generally rely on vague directions. The directions we were given was something like, "drive to the corner of x road and the Catholic Church. A few blocks after the church, turn east. We're on the left side of the road." It took us a few minutes to get lost and we made a phone call and were walked through how to get there. The funny thing is that when we were "lost," we turned around on the road exactly in front of the house where the business is located. We just weren't aware that we were looking for a house.
When we got to the gated house, they let us in and we went inside to start talking. That house is AMAZING! It's not amazingly huge or anything, but it was very nice. Custom tile floors throughout the entire house, including the stairs and a 150 square foot covered patio outside. I would love to live in that house. Simply beautiful. The back yard was quite large and had a garden. You can see the mountains just over the thick jungle that marks the end of their backyard. Banana and other fruit trees could be found everywhere.
We sat down and talked for a little bit in an office they had set up. After a few minutes, 3 of us migrated to another room to begin the training. We sat at the kitchen table and got everything set up. It was quite distracting to be looking out the window at the rain forest.
After getting everything set up I sat down at the table and ripped a 6 inch hole into the crotch of my pants. I tried to play it cool like nothing happened, and the other guys never said anything, but I honestly don't know how they couldn't have heard it. For the rest of the day I was either sitting at a table, walking with my theighs held together, or sitting with my necktie between my legs. How embarrasing.
Training went well. We got heavy into the training, and the guys (even with English as their second language) are doing very well. At about 12:30 we decided to break for lunch.
We went to a nearby open-air restaurant. We sat under a covered patio. It was awesome. The menu was in Spanish with "literal" english translations, so not everything made sense. Everyone suggested that I try the Cerviches for lunch. Everyone ordered it, so I thought I'd give it a try. Cerviches is raw fish and shrimp that is marinated in lime juice for a day which "cooks" the fish. I guess it's the acidity, but it didn't seem raw to me at all. You top it with lime Mayo and tobasco. It was very good!
Again, everyone ordered in Spanish (sans me) and the menu was vague in English. When the waiter asked if I wanted a half or whole side of the Cerviches, I ordered a whole side. 10 minutes later, the waiter brought out the food. Everyone had ordered it, but I was the only one that ordered a large side (embarrasing!). The dish wasn't very big, so I didn't feel that bad. Nearing the end of us eating our Cerviches, I was starting to feel full, so even though it was a relatively small dish, I thought I would be satisfied. I was confused as to how everyone else at the table would be filled up on such a small portion, and thought that perhaps that's why central americans are more healthy and less obese. Then the waiter came back out and people started ordering what I thought were another round of drinks. A couple guys were drinking cervesa, while I had a Coke light. Then I heard someone say "pollo" which is chicken. I was pretty sure that there weren't any chicken drinks or desserts, so I looked over to Steve, one of the English speakers that I work with and asked them what was going on. He said that everyone was ordering lunch. With a puzzled look on my face, I said "you mean that wasn't it?" referring to the Cerviches. Everyone at the table had a good laugh at my expense. The cerviches is an appitizer, and I had no idea. I was wondering why everyone ordered the half side of cerviches.
Anyway, I ordered a beef and cheese meal with refried beans. It was REALLY good. There was about 75% cheese and 25% meat. And the cheese was fried in a pan, so it carmelized and was chewy. Yum!
While we were waiting for our food to be delivered, it started raining. Winter in Costa Rica is when the rainy season is. Like clockwork, 1 PM to 6 PM it rains. We had an AWESOME thunderstorm that passed right over us. Lightning struck a tree about 50 meters away from us. it was LOUD! I love the rain though, so it was relaxing to be sitting there enjoying food and listening to the rain.
After lunch, we sat at the table for another hour and talked. About 1% of ther conversation was in English. I'm proud of myself'; of the entire conversation, I understood about 1.5%!
We went back to the house and continued training until about 5 PM. There were several short power outages in the afternoon due to the thunderstorm(s) that was(were) passing over. The power went out at one point for about 30 minutes. We were able to do some, but the darkness and lack of the ability to show them our system made things difficult.
We finally hit the road at about 5:30 and made it back to the Hotel around 6:30. Fernando was leaving to meet up with some friends and family, which left me and Steve to go to Dinner. Let me start by saying that Steve is awesome. He understands that I don't know spanish, and things like that make it uncomfortable and difficult, so he's done a great job making me feel welcome and everything. We went to dinner at a place that exclusively serves chicken dishes. I was peer pressured (I SWEAR that he had to physically twist my arm until it nearly broke under the pressure and I was crying out in pain ;) ) into breaking my diet to try a couple things local to Costa Rica. The first is a flavored, whipped milk drink. It's similar to a shake. I had a pineapple one. I also had to try the fried plantanes and fresh guacamole. That was very yummy. The entire menu was in Spanish with no English translation. Steve had to tell me what everything was. Because there wasn't much on the menu that didn't have rice, beans, tortillas, etc. on it, I decided to get some chicken crepes. They were decent. The crepe portion was the best part. Steve again peer pressured me into splitting a tres leches for dessert. Oh my goodness. AMAZING!
When we left the restaurant, there was a guy wearing a reflective vest that was walking around the parking lot. Steve told me that he just stands in parking lots to "keep an eye" on your car while you're eating (even though the restaurant was another open-air kind and we could see our car from our table.). The guy doesn't even work at the restaurant. He just stands out there on his own accord and gets tips for watching the cars. We tipped him for watching our car so closely. I just found that it was strange that people do that. Very different from the US. I love experiencing local culture!
After dinner I came back to the hotel. I'm going to try and get my PC DVD player working so I can watch The Incredible Hulk before bed.
Buenos Noches beeyawtches.

Travelling FUN!

Oh, what joy today has been! Seriously!
Life can become so boring and stagnant sometimes. Even though nothing terribly exciting happened, I had LIFE EXPERIENCES today! That doesn't happen very often anymore due to the duldrums of everyday life. So, here's how my day went.

-I woke up this morning and had a nice refreshing shower and shave, got dressed and finished packing.
-I got ride from Trisha to the airport. Since Trisha has been sick for the past 4 days or so, it was really hard to go. Last time I went on a business trip she was sick too. It was hard to say goodbye. I feel bad leaving her in that condition. :(
-I checked my bags, got my boarding pass and passed through security without a hitch and proceeded to wait for the plane.
-I boarded with first class. Even though this is nothing actually special, especially since I didn't even sit in first class, I did feel special being able to board early. It's nice not having to wait for the idiot(s) in front of you trying to figure out how to find their seat and fit their ginormous carry on bag into the tiny space above their seat.
-I was seated on an exit row (REALLY nice extra space in front.). I have never sat on the exit row before, but I can vouch for how nice the extra space is. It makes stretching your legs MUCH easier. Also, there was and empty space between me and the other person on my row/side.
-I had a great flight watching several episodes of Arrested Development.
-When we landed in Dallas, I went to the Admirals Club! Yes. Another AWESOME life experience. I've always wanted to see what it's like in there. Oh man. Amazingly comfortable chairs, free soft drinks (and a voucher for a free alcoholic drink (that I gave to Fernando)), decent food, free internet, places to plug in laptops... It was great. Even though we were only in there for an hour or so. It beats the PANTS off of trying to find a seat at the gate. The chair I sat in was leather, it reclined, and had an ottoman. Nice.
-Then we left the admirals club and immediately boarded the airplane (again with first class).
-I had another good seat with no one sitting next to me so I could stretch out a bit.
-I watched The Dark Knight on the flight. It was awesome.
-Another one of those lame life experiences that really is insignificant, but I find cool: I had a meal served to me on a flight. When I was 5 year old (or so) I went to Hawaii with my family. My grandpa paid to have us all go. I had breakfast on that flight then, but I don't think that counts. They gave me the option of pancakes or and omelette. I didn't know what an omelette was at that age, so i tried it. It was gross. The food on this flight wasn't anything to sing about either, but, especially since the food flights are becoming more rare, it was cool. I got the beef dish which was kind of a roast beef in some sauce with mashed potatoes and veggies. I didn't eat the mashed potatoes or veggies. It also had a salad, a roll and a dessert. I didn't eat the roll or dessert, just the salad and beef.
-When I got off the flight the humidity hit me like a ton of bricks. And I hadn't even hit the real stuff yet. It was the humidity after air conditioning that I was feeling.
-I went through customs and waited for my baggage with Fernando. Fernando got his bag early and decided to go outside without me to call his sister (who lives nearby and was thinking of going to dinner with him tonight).
-I finally got my bag and went outside to find Fernando. I was surrounded by 100+ cabbies (not exaggerating) that wanted to take me to my hotel. This reminded me of an experience I had on my last cruise. I went to a flea market in Jamaica. We were acosted by many people asking if we would go to their store and buy stuff. Crazy. Annoying. Scary? Yeah a bit. Anyway.. Same thing here.
-I found Fernando a few minutes later, and he decided to go with his family to dinner. No invitation. Whatever. That's ok.. At that point I was anxious to get to the hotel and get to my room so I could call Trisha.
-I go back into the airport to use their "official" taxi service. 22 bucks to get me to my hotel. They take me to a "certified/licensed" taxi driver. He starts driving. As we left, he asked me if I was going to the Holiday Inn. I told him no, and it took a minute or so to break the language barrier so he knew where I was headed.
-At this point, I was mildly anxious. I'm in a country in Central America (not the "safest" of places on Earth for inexperienced travelers). I don't speak Spanish. It's already dark out (around 9:30 or 10 PM). I'm by myself. But it doesn't really bother me. Until...
-The cabbie continues to drive away from the airport. We weren't on what I would consider a "main thoroughfare." In fact, the path seems to be getting darker, and less "modern." The lines painted on the road disappear (at least it was paved). The street lights stop. I glance down at my phone. Whew. There were 3 bars of service. At that exact moment, the service bars drop down to 2. 15 seconds later, 1 bar. Then no service. I glance up at where we're going. It's almost like a neighborhood. I see homes on either side of the road. We pass a car that's going slower than us and nearly run into some pedestrians. The cabbie barely swerves out of the way of an oncoming car. At this point I had a funny thought. "Even though the next few hours might suck, it would be a really cool life experience to say to someone that you got mugged by a cab driver in a foreign country." I'd be left without any money, identification, cell phone, luggage. I'd try to find my way to a house or business and break through the language barrier to make some phone calls and get everything straightened out. Then it struck me that the cabbie could just mug me and then kill me. That wouldn't be a very fun life experience. Shortly after these thoughts passed through my mind we turned a corner and I saw a Pizza Hut. We immediately entered a more pubic/city type setting. My mind was put at ease.
-I wanted to make sure the cabbie took me to the right place, so I (knowing that it would be expensive) used my phone to look up the address of the hotel I was staying in just to make sure we were going to the right place.
-We got stuck behing a really slow Toyota Tercel. I was getting annoyed with how slow it was, but couldn't voice my opinion in such a way as to make the driver understand. I remembered that I downloaded a translation app on my iphone a few days earlier. I looked up the word "slow" in spanish (lento). I said to the driver, "Aye yi yi! Tercel es Lento." The driver laughed and passed the Tercel at the next available opportunity. A few minutes later we pulled up to the Quality Inn (the right place).
-I tipped the guy and went in the hotel to check in. I had to fill out a form because I'm not a local, and then they ran my Visa credit card. Declined. "Hrmm.. That's weird.. There's plenty of money in there," I thought. So I gave them my AMEX. Declined. The knot that was present in my stomach when we were driving through the dark suburbs returned. Apparently, my bank requires some advance notification of international travel (especailly with the amount to be charged to my card.) So, I had to make some phone calls to get that straightened out. Called my bank and transfered extra money from savings into checking. Then i called AMEX to make a payment over the phone. They don't accept toll-free calls from places outside of the US, so it took me a few minutes and a few calls to get the international toll free number for Costa Rica. I track that down and call them and make a payment large enough to have the hotel charge it to that. The card went though. Whew.
- I went up to my room and unpacked and attempted to call Trisha. My softphone on my computer (that allows me to call her for free) wasn't working. After 20 minutes of fiddling with it, I realized that I had the wrong version of the software installed. I tracked down someone at my work that was on IM who gave me the link to the right version. When I started downloading my connection speed was at 3.5 KB/s. That is essentially the same as dial up. It took 40 minutes to download, but finally I got it installed. While it was downloading I looked up the cost of international calls. It took me around 12 minutes to get the whole money situation figured out so I could get into my room. It's $2.29 per minute for roaming plus $.80 per minute for the international call. Oh man, I'm grateful that I can get reimbursed for that.
-While waiting for the software to download I ordered some room service. The restaurant in the lobby closed sometime in between the time that I arrived at the hotel and the time I got checked into my room. There are a couple of restaurants within walking distance that I could go to, but because of the hassle, I decided room service was in. I ordered some broccoli soup and some Salmon (with veggies and sauted mushrooms). I have to say... Even though this is a chain hotel where I didn't even expect room service to be available. The food was pretty effing good. Especially the salmon and mushrooms. I also had 2 Diet Cokes which they refer to as Coca-Cola Light. They come in old-school glass bottles! Effing awesome.
-I finally was able to make a call to Trisha, but since the internet connection here sucks, it was a bit choppy. We were able to talk for 30 minutes or so though. It was good to hear from her. I miss her already!

Well. That was my day. I'm now going to try to get to bed so I can get up in 6 hours and the "real" fun begins.

Going to Costa Rica

That's right foozles. I'm going to Costa Rica. I leave tomorrow morning and return Saturday. I won't have any time to have fun though.. Boo! But at least I'm going! (And you're not).
Neener X 3.

I miss Princess Xantar, Seepy, and Gizmo

Princess Xantar, who is now living on a farm.



Seepy Leepy. (Sepia Tone)



Mine bunnies. (Gizmo)

moar funny pictures

What I've done

The things I've done have a - YES at the end.
48/100. Not bad for a 25 year old.

1. Started your own blog - Yes.
2. Slept under the stars - Yes.
3. Played in a band - Yes.
4. Visited Hawaii - Yes.
5. Watched a meteor shower - Yes.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity - Yes.
7. Been to Disneyland - Yes.
8. Climbed a mountain - Yes.
9. Held a praying mantis - Yes.
10. Sang a solo - Yes.
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch - Yes.
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - Yes.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables - Yes.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight - Yes.
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Yes.
24. Built a snow fort - Yes.
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping - Yes.
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse - Yes.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - Yes.
31. Hit a home run - Yes.
32. Been on a cruise - Yes.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community - Yes.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - Yes.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke - Yes.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt - Yes.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling - Yes.
52. Kissed in the rain - Yes.
53. Played in the mud - Yes.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater - Yes.
55. Been in a movie - Yes.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Purchased Girl Scout Cookies - Yes.
62. Gone whale watching
63. Sent flowers for no reason - Yes.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - Yes.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check - Yes.
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - Yes.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - Yes.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - Yes.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - Yes.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - Yes.
88. Had chickenpox - Yes.
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury - Yes.
91. Met someone famous - Yes.
92. Joined a book club - Yes.
93. Lost a loved one - Yes.
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake - Yes.
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone - Yes.
99. Been stung by a bee - Yes.
100. Read an entire book in one day - Yes.

Weigh in day (Week 8)

I just hit the 50 pound mark. It's basically hopeless for me to hit my lofty goal of 100 pounds by December 2nd, but, That doesn't mean I can't lose 25 more in the 7 remaining weeks. My weight loss has slowed down over the past 2 weeks. I'm going to need to start my walking regimen to kick start it. I'm just having a hard time motivating myself to do it!

2s

2 names you go by: Nick, Nicholas

2 things you're wearing right now: Black shirt, black shoes

2 things you want very badly at the moment: lots of money, prime rib

2 favorite pets you've had: Princess Xantar. (My white kitty). Mosley (My shi-tzu)

2 things you did last night: Watched Dexter, Watched Heroes.

2 longest trips you've taken in the last 5 years: Lake Powell 2 years ago. San Diego 2 years ago.

2 favorite holidays: Christmas, Independance Day.

2 favorite beverages: Mt. Dew. Diet Coke. May they both rest in peace. It's been 4 weeks since I've had anything but water and sxinney water.

6 things...

1. What word do you wish would disappear forever? I hate the word fart. So "uncivilized." It reminds me of stupid people doing stupid things and laughing about it.

2. If you could be king or queen of a European country, which one and why? I would love to be any of them. The food and money and power available to all of those countries would be amazing. I would least like to be the king of England, however, just because of the high risk of papparazzi annoying me.

3. Would you rather be deaf or blind? I would rather be deaf. This was a hard choice because of my love for music, but I could enjoy more things being deaf rather than blind. Movies, TV, work. All of those things that are important to me would be lost if I was blind. I'm sure it would be easier for me to learn sign language than braile.

4. What's something you collect? Magic the Gathering cards. I am a nerd.

5. What is your favorite TV show or movie you would never admit to anyone? Grey's Anatomy. It took me a season or 2 to realize that, (being a heterosexual male) I shouldn't be watching it. But by then, I was hooked!

6. What is your favorite comfort food? Probably mashed potatoes. Mmm.

Fail Blog

Just stumbled across a HILARIOUS site called Failblog.org. It's great. Here are some of my favorite fails.











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