This last weekend we went to Heber with my family to go camping. We went up to the girls camp owned by the LDS church east of Heber. It's a nice little facility and fairly cost effective. You are able to get 4 cabins with lots of bunks in each and a covered pavilion with a fridge, running water, bathrooms, showers, etc. We have made it a family tradition to go every year at the end of the summer.
We weren't sure that it would be a good idea to take Ryan at such a young age (he hit 4 weeks while we were there), but he took it like a champ. He didn't complain much and he's starting to get on a good sleep schedule and we had some help from some family members taking care of him.
There was also some doubt as to whether I would be able to go because of a software release we were doing at work, but because of some of the circumstances, we were able to move it to Saturday night/Sunday morning so I was able to make it.
We played some fun games and ate some good food whilst up there. We had a good breakfast and Fettuccine Alfredo and lots of snacks. I was on my diet while we were up there, which was surprisingly hard. There were so many treats and good things to eat, but I did a pretty good job. I had plenty to eat and plenty of treats that are low-carb compliant.
We survived without too much contention, which seems to happen frequently when my family gets together for some reason. I'm a debater, and I, of course, had to bring up some recent political topics and some religious topics as well. Growing up, I never would have imagined that the political and religious range of beliefs would vary so much in our family. It's not like there's even enough variance of a different religion, but degrees within the same religion difference. Same politically, I wouldn't consider myself liberal, but I am much more liberal than some of my family members. But regardless, even with those discussions, there wasn't arguing or anything like that, just a debate.
We played tons of games, which I really enjoy. We played a game called the Movie Game that Trisha and I taught to everyone that we recently learned from our neighbors. We played Nertz, which is a solitare type game, we played a poker type game called "between the sheets" (no, it's not strip poker, you sicko). We played Pick, which is a scrabble variant and a couple other games here or there.
All in all, a great weekend.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
9.14.2009
5.09.2009
Mile Markers
So, another thing that I was just thinking about my trip to Philly that I found super strange is the exit reminder markers. In Utah, the markers will show 3 miles, or 3 1/2 miles, or 3/4 miles or 1/4 mile, etc. When driving around in Philly, I was surprised to see the markers showed things like... 4/10 mile. WTF?
Anyone have any clues why they do that?
Weird.
Anyone have any clues why they do that?
Weird.
4.29.2009
Go Phillies!
As I have proclaimed in the past, the first team that I was able to see at HOME for an MLB game, would be "my team," at least temporarily. Because the first MLB game that I have seen in person was the Phillies, they are now "my team." I really was thinking that I would see a game in Boston or San Francisco before seeing a game in Philly, but I have to tell you, I'm actually pretty stoked about it. Not that I'm a huge baseball fan, or anything, but I like sports, and following another sport, even leisurely, will be fun.
Coincidentally, the Phillies won the World Series last year. This did not affect my decision to make them "My Team." Had I visited the Twins in Minnesota, I would have (grudgingly) at least temporarily made them "my team." (Thank heaven's I visited a COOL team! ;))
The game was awesome. It rained really hard during the first couple innings. I'm surprised it wasn't a rain delay. There was even a little bit of lightning. Not that it mattered because we were in box seats!
Freaking sweet.
In the end, the Phillies made a rally, but weren't able to pull it off. They lost the game. They played the Brewers (who they lost to the next day as well), but have won the following 5 games (with another game tonight). The one thing I have to be impressed with baseball, is the sheer number of games played. They play 5-6 games a week (even if the guys that are pitching are rotating). Impressive.
Well.. Go Phillies!
4.27.2009
The ONLY way to fly...
So, I had my first "First Class" experience while I was on my trip to Philly. Wow. What an incredible experience. It's one of the things that I've always wanted to do, but wasn't sure whether it would ever happen. Here's the highlights:
Real food. On the flight there, they had a really yummy chicken sandwich thing with fresh fruit.
On top of the real food, the snack choices were better, rather than pretzels and/or nuts, they have those, plus cookies, candy bars, fruit, etc. They bring the snack bin around several times throughout the flight as well.
I never thought that drinking out of a glass cup would be that nice, but to have someone refill your drink every 10 minutes and not having to try to stretch 1 can of coke for an entire flight was very nice.
Comfort: full reclining, tons of leg room, tons of side-to-side space. All of these things make first class classy.
The small things. Things like a tray cover during your meal, the infamous "hot towel," free headphones and free movies/games during the flight certainly make a long flight like that more tolerable.
It will be a real eye opener next time I have a flight, cuz I'm sure it will be a long while til I get first class again.
Real food. On the flight there, they had a really yummy chicken sandwich thing with fresh fruit.
On top of the real food, the snack choices were better, rather than pretzels and/or nuts, they have those, plus cookies, candy bars, fruit, etc. They bring the snack bin around several times throughout the flight as well.
I never thought that drinking out of a glass cup would be that nice, but to have someone refill your drink every 10 minutes and not having to try to stretch 1 can of coke for an entire flight was very nice.
Comfort: full reclining, tons of leg room, tons of side-to-side space. All of these things make first class classy.
The small things. Things like a tray cover during your meal, the infamous "hot towel," free headphones and free movies/games during the flight certainly make a long flight like that more tolerable.
It will be a real eye opener next time I have a flight, cuz I'm sure it will be a long while til I get first class again.
4.22.2009
Start Spreadin' the News...
I'm in Philadelphia, baby. I found out yesterday (Tuesday), that a friend at work had come down with vertigo and would be unable to visit a prospective client. I was available, and I quickly jumped at the opportunity to take his place. So, I booked my flight. The flight was pretty expensive because it was last minute, and because of the high price, I decided to check out the price of the first class tickets. For $100 more round trip, I was able to book my seat in first class.
FREAKING SWEET.
I've never flown first class before. It is awesome. It is the only way to fly! I understand it's expensive, but it really is nice. More to come on that.
I found out on Tuesday night that we were also invited to a Phillies MLB baseball game! FREAKING SWEET! I've never been to a MLB baseball game. It was awesome. Box seats are so nice. More to come on that.
After the game, we went to Pat's King of Steaks for a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich from an original cheesesteak sandwich place. It was very good. Note to self, next time you get a cheesesteak, get it with cheese whiz, not provalone. The provalone, wit-onions, pepper, mushroom cheesesteak was yummy. Nextime, gunna get a "wit," whiz, pepper cheesesteak. Mmm....
My hotel room is nice too. Nice view of the city on the top floor. Sweet.
Well.. I better head. I have a long day tomorrow.
4.20.2009
10 things I learned on my Anniversary Weekend
The following is a summary of my Anniversary weekend. We had a blast (for the most part)!
1. The Anniversary Inn is pretty effing cool. Our theme room was pretty awesome, although it wasn't exactly what we were expecting. It was pictured with 2 awesome looking leather reclining theater seats. Instead, there was a roundish type loveseat. It was pretty cool though. The picture also showed a soda fountain in the room, which was replaced by unlimited 20 oz. coke products. All in all, pretty cool.
2. The breakfast at Anniversary Inn is the best hotel breakfast I have ever had. The first day, they provided a cream cheese/raspberry tart type thing. Think of it as a REALLY high end pop tart. It was pretty effing amazing, even though it was a bit rich. The next morning, they gave us a choice for our meal which we opted for the ham and cheese croissant. Even though I didn't eat it until that night, (to be explained later), it was freaking rockstar.
3. It's satisfying when a movie you see surprises you. I see a lot of movies, and I generally don't see a lot of movies that I would want to see more than once. It's only a movie that pleasantly surprises me with a good story line and/or acting that really piques my interest. One of those movies is State of Play. I generally.. No.. I always dislike Ben Affleck. I find him to be a horrible actor and self indulgent. He has ruined more than 1 potentially good movie by attempting to act in them. State of Play was the first movie that I completely believed his performance. I was pleasantly surprised. Not to mention that the story held some good and unexpected twists. Very nice.
4. Advertising that a hotel room has a huge HDTV does NO good unless said TV has some sort of HD content. Yeah, big TVs are awesome, but they are no better than any other TV if the content shown is standard definition. Our room had an HDTV in it and Comcast cable. The Comcast box was even an HD converter box, but they wouldn't pay for the HD package, so the only HD channels available were the local channels, which you can get for free anyway. Pfft.
5. Carbs suck. I occasionally abandon my low carb lifestyle for a weekend eating junk food. I try to limit it to 2 days every month, and REALLY try to make it for a special occasion. I figured that our Anniversary would be one of those occasions. I always end up feeling disappointed at my 2 days off. I think that I'm going to be able to eat all sorts of food that I shouldn't be, and everything will taste wonderful and be worth the binge. I am never right. Of all the things that I ate this weekend, only 2.5 of the things would I consider "worth it." The croissant thingy (that I literally had 2 bites of because I was still nauseous when I ate it at 3 PM on Saturday) and the scones at Ye Lion's Den. The .5 would have to go to the tart thingy that I had for breakfast the day before.
6. Ye Lion's Den. Hrmm... What an interesting idea. KSL (specifically the Movie Show) really lauds Ye Lion's Den as one of the best restaurants in Ogden. While the food was pretty good, it was really expensive too. I don't mind paying a lot for prime rib, especially when it's yummy (and it was), but I really want to enjoy an environment that is reflective of the large sum of money paid for said food. This is where the restaurant fails. The food is yummy (and props to their ranch dressing, the best I've ever had), but the restaurant is kind of a hole. I really like the theme and all, but for how much they charge (40 bucks for a 16 ounce prime rib (which also included salad, drink, scones and dessert), you'd think that they wouldn't be in a strip mall. I just think that they could really step it up a notch if they had their own building, or SOMETHING. C'mon.
7. Logan is boring. Unless you're a co-ed who wouldn't mind going to a dance club where everyone is sober (not to say that drunk people make dance clubs fun... Nothing makes dance clubs fun...) , or you're haning out with friends at their apartment... There is nothing fun to do in Logan. Well. Hiking and fishing and mountain biking and things like that excluded.
8. When you're away from work without internet access, everything that could possibly go wrong at work will go wrong. Ugh.
9. Under no circumstances should you order a meal that contains eggs from a mexicanrestaurant in Logan. I don't know what I was thinking. I ended up with food poisoning. We got back from the mexican place around 7 PM on Friday and started watching movies. By the end of the first movie, I was really not feeling well. I had a pounding headache and the nausea had just begun. Trisha gave me one of her anti-nausea pills, which didn't help the nausea go away, it just helped me not puke, which, as everyone knows, when you're sick, the only way to make it really go away is to let it all out. Finally, at around 2 in the morning, I puked my guts out. The rest of the night was long and arduous. I slept like crap, I was freezing cold and burning hot at the same time. Finally the morning came and I still didn't feel any better. I started getting everything packed up because I just wanted to go home to try and relax. I puked again at around 10:30 and then I started feeling better. I didn't really feel 100% better until about 9 PM that night, but the nausea went away. Ugh.. What was I thinking? Eggs at a mexican restaurant? That's like ordering sushi at McDonalds. Not a good idea.
10. Trisha is the love of my life. Even though Trisha was pretty sick with being pregnant, an in a lot of pain from her Fibromyalgia, she still takes care of me when I'm sick. And I love that about her. She's the love of my life, and life wouldn't be the same without her. She is the jam in my pb&j sandwich and the cheese in my mac and cheese (inside joke). I love her with everything in me.
1.05.2009
SeaWorld
So, I'm a bit behind on my blog of my vacation to Florida, so I'll do my best to get everything added.
On Monday (the 29th), we drove up to Orlando with plans to go to a dinner show and SeaWorld the next morning, but Arabian Knights was sold out and Medival Knights was too expensive, so we ended up going to Macaroni Grill (where Amie gets a good discount).
We bought our tickets at a discount ticketing place. We had done a little research and found a place online that had good prices, and while we were driving, saw some advertisements for another place. We made some phone calls and decided to stop at the first place (which was on the way). We got there, and the guy was a jerk, and they wouldn't honor what they said on the phone. On the phone they said that if we brought in a quote from another discount ticketer, they would beat that price. He (the owner) wouldn't do that, so their prices were higher. He also said that he was partners with the other place (that we had the quote for), so they had the same prices, when bringing up specific prices (like to Medival times), their prices were different, and he was a jerk about it, so we bought a t-shirt and left. The T-shirts were Disney World 2008 T-shirts, so they were discounted (3 for 10). We drove to the other place, and got our tickets to SeaWorld. They had the same dang shirts at the 2nd place we went for 1.99 each! I couldn't believe it! It made me even more mad about the other place.
We spent the night at a Motel 6. The beds were full size, and it was rediculously uncomforatable for Trisha and me, so I ended up sleeping on the floor. We slept in a little bit and went to McDonalds for breakfast.
SeaWorld was rediculously busy. It took 30 minutes to drive the 5 miles from the motel to SeaWorld (on the freeway) because it was so backed up. Then it took another 30 minutes to get from the exit to the parking. We finally got there at a little after 11. Later we found out that there was over 38,000 people that went to the park that day. Crazy.
We basically did everything we wanted to do at SeaWorld. We saw the shark exhibit (and fed the sharks), we saw the dolphin show, the acrobat show, we saw the seal show, we saw a Shamu show, we pet the sting rays, we went to an all-you-can-eat picnic thing, we saw the penguins, and we fed the dolphins. It was awesome.
The low-lights were:
The long lines - self explanitory
The Shamu show - boring, lots of singing, church chiors, and not much of the whales.
The Dolphin show - more about acrobatics than about dolphins. The dolphins were out for a total of MAYBE 3 minutes out of the 23 minute show. They came out towards the beginning, did a couple jumps, and then went back while the people did a bunch of diving and other stuff, then came back out for a couple minutes towards the end. I would rather see the dolphins and their abilities and learn about them rather than see a "show" about a little girl who escaped to a world of imagination.
The mid-lights were:
The Penguins - You stood on an escalator for 30 yards in front of the penguin display. It was cool to see the penguins, but really short.
The Shark exhibit (and feeding the sharks) - Of course, you can't really get close to the sharks when feeding them, but the experience is nothing like the sting rays or dolphins. You throw in the food and the sharks kind of just swim by and eat it. The shark exhibit was ok, the coolest part was the underwater tunnel, but I didn't really see many sharks.
The acrobat show - It was pretty amazing what they could do, and the special effects were pretty cool (lots of bubbles), but I found myself asking what it had to do with Seaworld.
The high-lights were:
The all-you-can-eat picnic - the food wasn't really amazing or anything, but at an amusement park the food is generally really expensive and not good at all and you don't get much. For 15 bucks for an adult, I ate some good food, and got to sit and relax (and drink several $3.50 bottles of soda). We took some soda and water with us when we left too, so we didn't have to buy any.
Pet the Sting Rays - I love that they allow you to interact with the animals. That was my favorite part when I went to SeaWorld in San Diego a couple years ago. It was pretty cool, and the kids got a kick out of it.
The seal show - Not only was this the best show of the ones we saw, it was ESPECIALLY good because the actors kept screwing up. They were so distracted by things that kept happening, they'd forget their lines, but they were good sports about it, and made it really funny. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. On top of it, at the beginning (while you're waiting for the show to start), they had a mime come out and screw around with the audience. He was hilarious.
Feeding the dolphins - This had to be the best thing about our day. We stood in line forever to be able to do it, but barely made it in (the last group of the day). It was kind of expensive, but it was a good experience for the boys, and it was really awesome to see the animals that close up and to be able to interact with them.
We got done with SeaWorld around 11 and made the long journey home. We finally got home at a little after 1. It was a long day, but it was worth it!
On Monday (the 29th), we drove up to Orlando with plans to go to a dinner show and SeaWorld the next morning, but Arabian Knights was sold out and Medival Knights was too expensive, so we ended up going to Macaroni Grill (where Amie gets a good discount).
We bought our tickets at a discount ticketing place. We had done a little research and found a place online that had good prices, and while we were driving, saw some advertisements for another place. We made some phone calls and decided to stop at the first place (which was on the way). We got there, and the guy was a jerk, and they wouldn't honor what they said on the phone. On the phone they said that if we brought in a quote from another discount ticketer, they would beat that price. He (the owner) wouldn't do that, so their prices were higher. He also said that he was partners with the other place (that we had the quote for), so they had the same prices, when bringing up specific prices (like to Medival times), their prices were different, and he was a jerk about it, so we bought a t-shirt and left. The T-shirts were Disney World 2008 T-shirts, so they were discounted (3 for 10). We drove to the other place, and got our tickets to SeaWorld. They had the same dang shirts at the 2nd place we went for 1.99 each! I couldn't believe it! It made me even more mad about the other place.
We spent the night at a Motel 6. The beds were full size, and it was rediculously uncomforatable for Trisha and me, so I ended up sleeping on the floor. We slept in a little bit and went to McDonalds for breakfast.
SeaWorld was rediculously busy. It took 30 minutes to drive the 5 miles from the motel to SeaWorld (on the freeway) because it was so backed up. Then it took another 30 minutes to get from the exit to the parking. We finally got there at a little after 11. Later we found out that there was over 38,000 people that went to the park that day. Crazy.
We basically did everything we wanted to do at SeaWorld. We saw the shark exhibit (and fed the sharks), we saw the dolphin show, the acrobat show, we saw the seal show, we saw a Shamu show, we pet the sting rays, we went to an all-you-can-eat picnic thing, we saw the penguins, and we fed the dolphins. It was awesome.
The low-lights were:
The long lines - self explanitory
The Shamu show - boring, lots of singing, church chiors, and not much of the whales.
The Dolphin show - more about acrobatics than about dolphins. The dolphins were out for a total of MAYBE 3 minutes out of the 23 minute show. They came out towards the beginning, did a couple jumps, and then went back while the people did a bunch of diving and other stuff, then came back out for a couple minutes towards the end. I would rather see the dolphins and their abilities and learn about them rather than see a "show" about a little girl who escaped to a world of imagination.
The mid-lights were:
The Penguins - You stood on an escalator for 30 yards in front of the penguin display. It was cool to see the penguins, but really short.
The Shark exhibit (and feeding the sharks) - Of course, you can't really get close to the sharks when feeding them, but the experience is nothing like the sting rays or dolphins. You throw in the food and the sharks kind of just swim by and eat it. The shark exhibit was ok, the coolest part was the underwater tunnel, but I didn't really see many sharks.
The acrobat show - It was pretty amazing what they could do, and the special effects were pretty cool (lots of bubbles), but I found myself asking what it had to do with Seaworld.
The high-lights were:
The all-you-can-eat picnic - the food wasn't really amazing or anything, but at an amusement park the food is generally really expensive and not good at all and you don't get much. For 15 bucks for an adult, I ate some good food, and got to sit and relax (and drink several $3.50 bottles of soda). We took some soda and water with us when we left too, so we didn't have to buy any.
Pet the Sting Rays - I love that they allow you to interact with the animals. That was my favorite part when I went to SeaWorld in San Diego a couple years ago. It was pretty cool, and the kids got a kick out of it.
The seal show - Not only was this the best show of the ones we saw, it was ESPECIALLY good because the actors kept screwing up. They were so distracted by things that kept happening, they'd forget their lines, but they were good sports about it, and made it really funny. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. On top of it, at the beginning (while you're waiting for the show to start), they had a mime come out and screw around with the audience. He was hilarious.
Feeding the dolphins - This had to be the best thing about our day. We stood in line forever to be able to do it, but barely made it in (the last group of the day). It was kind of expensive, but it was a good experience for the boys, and it was really awesome to see the animals that close up and to be able to interact with them.
We got done with SeaWorld around 11 and made the long journey home. We finally got home at a little after 1. It was a long day, but it was worth it!
12.31.2008
Dinner Cruise
On Sunday night, we decided to go on a dinner cruise. It was priced decently (30 dollars per person, all-you-can-eat (2 meals), and lots of entertainment (well, sort of). We got there just a few minutes before it departed and immediately went to the buffet. The food was pretty good, but nothing to write home about. I had prime rib, which always makes me happy.... I must say that the horseradish sauce they have is the best I've ever had. It was amazing.
So we ate and explored the ship. The weather was awesome, it was warm out on the deck, and a little breezy. We went and gambled a little bit, but the tables were too expensive for my liking. The girls did slots for a bit, but we really didn't spend too much time doing that. We decided to go see if there was any entertainment (like was advertised), but apparently they only do shows on certain nights, and Sunday night wasn't one of them. So we bought a couple packs of cards and played some card games in one of the lounges whilst drinking pina coladas. We went and ate our second meal (a breakfast) before looking at all the houses along the coast as we got closer to docking. Some of those houses were amazing.
All in all, it was a really fun night where we got to bond and have some fun. We would do it again if we came back to Florida.
So we ate and explored the ship. The weather was awesome, it was warm out on the deck, and a little breezy. We went and gambled a little bit, but the tables were too expensive for my liking. The girls did slots for a bit, but we really didn't spend too much time doing that. We decided to go see if there was any entertainment (like was advertised), but apparently they only do shows on certain nights, and Sunday night wasn't one of them. So we bought a couple packs of cards and played some card games in one of the lounges whilst drinking pina coladas. We went and ate our second meal (a breakfast) before looking at all the houses along the coast as we got closer to docking. Some of those houses were amazing.
All in all, it was a really fun night where we got to bond and have some fun. We would do it again if we came back to Florida.
12.30.2008
Fun in Florida
Here we are in Florida at sea world waiting for shamu to splash the crowd. We've had a great time so far including one of the (if not the best) beach trip I've had. We went to the beach on either Thursday or Friday of last week. Trisha and I ended up with a bit of a sunburn but nothing too out of control.
Adam was REALLY tired on the way to the beach and complained a lot about wanting to stay home. He was ornery until about 45 minutes after we got there. Damon and I rode the 4 foot waves for a while before I went and laid out for a bit. It was a comfy 80 degrees. Perfect. The water was 74 (also perfect). We built a pretty good sandcastle and then went swimming again before heading home. We would have stayed later but Amie had to work that night so we had to be back pretty early.
Well. Shamu is going to make his entrance soon so I'd better wrap it up. Stay tuned to hear about our dinner cruise and our day at seaworld!
Adam was REALLY tired on the way to the beach and complained a lot about wanting to stay home. He was ornery until about 45 minutes after we got there. Damon and I rode the 4 foot waves for a while before I went and laid out for a bit. It was a comfy 80 degrees. Perfect. The water was 74 (also perfect). We built a pretty good sandcastle and then went swimming again before heading home. We would have stayed later but Amie had to work that night so we had to be back pretty early.
Well. Shamu is going to make his entrance soon so I'd better wrap it up. Stay tuned to hear about our dinner cruise and our day at seaworld!
12.24.2008
Florida
We made it to Florida! tHE WEATHER HERE IS awesome! The highs are in the high 70s. Beautiful and warm! The flights worked out just perfect. Both Trisha and I went straight from flight to flight and didn't have to try to make different flights or anything, so that worked out perfect. I got in to Fort Lauderdale at about 9:30 AM on Tuesday (the 23rd).
Damon picked me up from the airport, and had to get some more work done before he could take me home (since it was in the middle of his work day). So, I rode around with Damon in his car until about 6 that evening. It was a long day of sitting on my butt. I got about 2 and a half hours of sleep in his car as he was working, and didn't sleep at all on the plane, so I was pretty tired. When I finally crashed (at around 2 AM), I didn't sleep very well because I was so tired. I also woke up a little congested, so I hope I don't end up with a cold.
We're enjoying being here with Amie and Damon and the boys. We've been chilling and haven't done a whole lot, which has been nice.
I went to lunch yesterday at Boston Market. I haven't been there in years (cuz I think they're out of business in Utah). Pretty good food. Especially their mashed potatoes.
We went to eat dinner at Buca De Beppo, and because my birthday was within the past 7 days, we got a free desert and a 10 dollar off gift card for our next visit. They also did a great job embarrassing me by getting the ENTIRE restaurant to sing happy birthday to me. The food wasn't very good, though. It was quite bland. Oh well.
We ate lunch today at Chili's, and then ate leftovers for dinner while playing The Office board game. That was fun (I won!).
Well, It's quite late, so I better head off to bed pretty soon.
Damon picked me up from the airport, and had to get some more work done before he could take me home (since it was in the middle of his work day). So, I rode around with Damon in his car until about 6 that evening. It was a long day of sitting on my butt. I got about 2 and a half hours of sleep in his car as he was working, and didn't sleep at all on the plane, so I was pretty tired. When I finally crashed (at around 2 AM), I didn't sleep very well because I was so tired. I also woke up a little congested, so I hope I don't end up with a cold.
We're enjoying being here with Amie and Damon and the boys. We've been chilling and haven't done a whole lot, which has been nice.
I went to lunch yesterday at Boston Market. I haven't been there in years (cuz I think they're out of business in Utah). Pretty good food. Especially their mashed potatoes.
We went to eat dinner at Buca De Beppo, and because my birthday was within the past 7 days, we got a free desert and a 10 dollar off gift card for our next visit. They also did a great job embarrassing me by getting the ENTIRE restaurant to sing happy birthday to me. The food wasn't very good, though. It was quite bland. Oh well.
We ate lunch today at Chili's, and then ate leftovers for dinner while playing The Office board game. That was fun (I won!).
Well, It's quite late, so I better head off to bed pretty soon.
11.03.2008
The weekend
I had a good weekend this past weekend. It started a little earlier than usual, and I gained an extra hour, so it was especially good.
Halloween was pretty crazy. We had 7 parties/options for the night:
1. Aaron and Jenny's party
2. Nathan and Emily's party
3. Chillaxing with Amandizzle and Duggle
4. Visiting Sandra and Roger's (to see all Trisha's nieces and nephews) (and take the little ones trick-or-treating)
5. Visiting my mom and dad's (to see all my nieces and nephews)
6. An ex-coworker at Mstar invited us to go to a party
7. Heather and Mike were throwing a halloween/Mike's birthday party
Because of the high number of options, and some recent anxiety I've been dealing with, I was extremely indecisive as to what we were going to do. I worked at home on Friday, and at mid-day, still hadn't come up with a plan for the evening.
At around 3:30 I came go a good stopping point with work, so decided to run with it. Trisha and I finally decided that we weren't going to do any parties or anything and that we would go see a movie, and then catch up with Amanda and Duggle after their party was over and play some rockband or something.
We decided to go see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which started at 5:05. We packed up all our rockband stuff and left the house. When we were driving, we got a call from Jenny and Aaron inviting us to go to their party. They had invited us earlier, and we really wanted to go, but with so many other parties, especially family parties, going to a drinking party where we didn't know very many people was less tempting.
Aaron and Jenny had shown some interest in purchasing Rockband 1 from us so we could buy the new rockband set with the wireless guitars. When Trisha originally went to the store to get rockband 2, we didn't have a buyer for rockband 1, so we just bought the game (not the entire set with the wireless instruments).
When I was talking to Aaron on the phone he mentioned that they would indeed purchase rockband 1 so we went back to the store and purchased the rockband 2 set. Trisha went in to Toys R' Us by herself to get it (my mistake), and was tempted to buy the extra wireless guitar (so we would have 2 wireless guitars). She gave into the temptation and now we have the entire set.
After the stop at Toys R' Us, we had to stop off at Duggle's house to pick up a piece of the rockband 1 equipment so we could deliver it to Aaron and Jenny's. By this time, we had missed our movie time (we would have missed it anyway because of the horrible traffic), so we decided to go to a 7:15 showing of the same movie. After we left Duggle's, we realized that we didn't have the microphone with us (another component of Rockband 1), so we had to call Jaren and Kellie to see if we had left it at their house. Luckily we had, but now we had to drive to their house to get the microphone before the stop at Aaron and Jenny's. When we got there, we saw Livie in her cute lady bug outfit and Kellie's cute haircut. (Trisha chopped it off last week).
So, finally, we had everything we needed and we headed to Aaron and Jenny's to give them the stuff. We got to their place at 7 or so, but their party had not yet started.
While we were at their house, I did a tiny dry ice bomb. I only put an average ice cube size amount of dry ice in the 2-liter bottle and water. Because of the small amount, the bottle expanded, but did not pop. It was fairly dark by this time, so it was a bit of a trick to get it to go off. If you unscrew the cap wrong, you could set it off, so the preferred method of detonating it is to hit it with something heavy enough or sharp enough to persuade the exposion. We initially tried hitting it with some long sticks. The sticks broke, and the bottle would not pop. So then we found a heavier board with some nails in it. With the weight of the falling board itself, the nails still didn't pop it; they just bounced off. I finally got it to go off with a heavy swing and a direct hit with the nails. Ahh.. The fun of dry ice bombs.
We left Aaron and Jenny's at around 7:30, so we missed our movie time again. We were both pretty hungry at this point, so we stopped for dinner at Chili's. I absolutely love their mushroom jack fajitas with steak. I order the same thing nearly every time. It was really salty this time, so it wasn't great, but good nonetheless. Trisha had some honey BBQ ribs. They looked really yummy.
After Chili's, we decided to make an appearance at Trisha's Mom and Dads house since it was so close and since Douglas and Amanda weren't done with their party yet. We went over there and got to see Madison, Leslie, and Gracie, in their costumes and see pictures from Sandra and Roger's recent trip to Cancun. Looks like somewhere I'd like to be.
Eventually, Duggle and Amandizzle made it to Sandra and Roger's as well. We hung out there for a little bit, then went to Duggle and Amanda's house to play our new Rockband 2. Taunie and Angela came over a little later. We got Rockband 2 all set up and played it until late into the night. We decided to sleep at Amanda and Duggle's and I eventually went to bed at close to 3.
The next morning (7:15 AM) we went to breakfast with Trisha's Grandpa. He goes to breakfast every Saturday and invites all his kids and grandkids to come eat with him. We try to make it, but don't make it often enough due to the whole "crack of dawn" thing.
After breakfast, we headed back to Duggle's house and some friends came over for some Magic. Drew, Mike, David, Douglas, and I played Magic from 10-2:30. Then we played rockband for a little bit and I took a nap. Gotta love naps.
After the nap, we cooked dinner, played a little more rockband, and then Trisha and I went home.
We stayed up a bit and watched TV and whatnot to try and take advantage of the extra hour we were getting. I slept in until 10 (the new 9) and watched some TV. Trisha woke up a bit later and had a sore throat and a stuffy nose. She's still having the same nausea that she's had for 3 weeks now. Ugh.. Wish there was something I could do.
Sunday night I went to our annual family feud. Since Trisha wasn't feeling well, she stayed home to rest. Each year we get together to talk about our plans for the holiday season. We generally set our yearly tradition "in stone," but I never remember what the schedule is for holidays, and there is generally some change in the schedule every year that was a deviation from the "set in stone" plan. All the noise and commotion of having the kids there, plus the confusion and misunderstandings results in a heavy dose of anxiety for me. No one wants to hurt anyone's feelings on purpose, and generally no one wants to back down either, so there's a hint of contention that I hate confronting. It's likely a normal thing that large families deal with as they grow, but I hate the anxiety it causes. I doubt I'm the only one that feels it.
In the end, this year for the holidays is going to be a bit different. We have the opportunity to visit Amie and Damon in Florida over Christmas break. I'm going to take full advantage of the opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle this year. We're going to try to catch a last-minute cruise and visit with Amie and Damon, who are going to be away from family too.
After the meeting, I went home and cooked an amazing (if I may so) alfredo to have with chicken. Trisha made some noodles for herself and some broccoli for both of us. We then watched some TV for a bit before we headed to bed.
And that concludes the recap of my last weekend.
Halloween was pretty crazy. We had 7 parties/options for the night:
1. Aaron and Jenny's party
2. Nathan and Emily's party
3. Chillaxing with Amandizzle and Duggle
4. Visiting Sandra and Roger's (to see all Trisha's nieces and nephews) (and take the little ones trick-or-treating)
5. Visiting my mom and dad's (to see all my nieces and nephews)
6. An ex-coworker at Mstar invited us to go to a party
7. Heather and Mike were throwing a halloween/Mike's birthday party
Because of the high number of options, and some recent anxiety I've been dealing with, I was extremely indecisive as to what we were going to do. I worked at home on Friday, and at mid-day, still hadn't come up with a plan for the evening.
At around 3:30 I came go a good stopping point with work, so decided to run with it. Trisha and I finally decided that we weren't going to do any parties or anything and that we would go see a movie, and then catch up with Amanda and Duggle after their party was over and play some rockband or something.
We decided to go see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which started at 5:05. We packed up all our rockband stuff and left the house. When we were driving, we got a call from Jenny and Aaron inviting us to go to their party. They had invited us earlier, and we really wanted to go, but with so many other parties, especially family parties, going to a drinking party where we didn't know very many people was less tempting.
Aaron and Jenny had shown some interest in purchasing Rockband 1 from us so we could buy the new rockband set with the wireless guitars. When Trisha originally went to the store to get rockband 2, we didn't have a buyer for rockband 1, so we just bought the game (not the entire set with the wireless instruments).
When I was talking to Aaron on the phone he mentioned that they would indeed purchase rockband 1 so we went back to the store and purchased the rockband 2 set. Trisha went in to Toys R' Us by herself to get it (my mistake), and was tempted to buy the extra wireless guitar (so we would have 2 wireless guitars). She gave into the temptation and now we have the entire set.
After the stop at Toys R' Us, we had to stop off at Duggle's house to pick up a piece of the rockband 1 equipment so we could deliver it to Aaron and Jenny's. By this time, we had missed our movie time (we would have missed it anyway because of the horrible traffic), so we decided to go to a 7:15 showing of the same movie. After we left Duggle's, we realized that we didn't have the microphone with us (another component of Rockband 1), so we had to call Jaren and Kellie to see if we had left it at their house. Luckily we had, but now we had to drive to their house to get the microphone before the stop at Aaron and Jenny's. When we got there, we saw Livie in her cute lady bug outfit and Kellie's cute haircut. (Trisha chopped it off last week).
So, finally, we had everything we needed and we headed to Aaron and Jenny's to give them the stuff. We got to their place at 7 or so, but their party had not yet started.
While we were at their house, I did a tiny dry ice bomb. I only put an average ice cube size amount of dry ice in the 2-liter bottle and water. Because of the small amount, the bottle expanded, but did not pop. It was fairly dark by this time, so it was a bit of a trick to get it to go off. If you unscrew the cap wrong, you could set it off, so the preferred method of detonating it is to hit it with something heavy enough or sharp enough to persuade the exposion. We initially tried hitting it with some long sticks. The sticks broke, and the bottle would not pop. So then we found a heavier board with some nails in it. With the weight of the falling board itself, the nails still didn't pop it; they just bounced off. I finally got it to go off with a heavy swing and a direct hit with the nails. Ahh.. The fun of dry ice bombs.
We left Aaron and Jenny's at around 7:30, so we missed our movie time again. We were both pretty hungry at this point, so we stopped for dinner at Chili's. I absolutely love their mushroom jack fajitas with steak. I order the same thing nearly every time. It was really salty this time, so it wasn't great, but good nonetheless. Trisha had some honey BBQ ribs. They looked really yummy.
After Chili's, we decided to make an appearance at Trisha's Mom and Dads house since it was so close and since Douglas and Amanda weren't done with their party yet. We went over there and got to see Madison, Leslie, and Gracie, in their costumes and see pictures from Sandra and Roger's recent trip to Cancun. Looks like somewhere I'd like to be.
Eventually, Duggle and Amandizzle made it to Sandra and Roger's as well. We hung out there for a little bit, then went to Duggle and Amanda's house to play our new Rockband 2. Taunie and Angela came over a little later. We got Rockband 2 all set up and played it until late into the night. We decided to sleep at Amanda and Duggle's and I eventually went to bed at close to 3.
The next morning (7:15 AM) we went to breakfast with Trisha's Grandpa. He goes to breakfast every Saturday and invites all his kids and grandkids to come eat with him. We try to make it, but don't make it often enough due to the whole "crack of dawn" thing.
After breakfast, we headed back to Duggle's house and some friends came over for some Magic. Drew, Mike, David, Douglas, and I played Magic from 10-2:30. Then we played rockband for a little bit and I took a nap. Gotta love naps.
After the nap, we cooked dinner, played a little more rockband, and then Trisha and I went home.
We stayed up a bit and watched TV and whatnot to try and take advantage of the extra hour we were getting. I slept in until 10 (the new 9) and watched some TV. Trisha woke up a bit later and had a sore throat and a stuffy nose. She's still having the same nausea that she's had for 3 weeks now. Ugh.. Wish there was something I could do.
Sunday night I went to our annual family feud. Since Trisha wasn't feeling well, she stayed home to rest. Each year we get together to talk about our plans for the holiday season. We generally set our yearly tradition "in stone," but I never remember what the schedule is for holidays, and there is generally some change in the schedule every year that was a deviation from the "set in stone" plan. All the noise and commotion of having the kids there, plus the confusion and misunderstandings results in a heavy dose of anxiety for me. No one wants to hurt anyone's feelings on purpose, and generally no one wants to back down either, so there's a hint of contention that I hate confronting. It's likely a normal thing that large families deal with as they grow, but I hate the anxiety it causes. I doubt I'm the only one that feels it.
In the end, this year for the holidays is going to be a bit different. We have the opportunity to visit Amie and Damon in Florida over Christmas break. I'm going to take full advantage of the opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle this year. We're going to try to catch a last-minute cruise and visit with Amie and Damon, who are going to be away from family too.
After the meeting, I went home and cooked an amazing (if I may so) alfredo to have with chicken. Trisha made some noodles for herself and some broccoli for both of us. We then watched some TV for a bit before we headed to bed.
And that concludes the recap of my last weekend.
10.29.2008
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!
10.27.2008
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!
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!
10.23.2008
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.
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.
10.22.2008
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.
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.
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