Hot Cup o' Joe

Ick

2011-10-13T18:10:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I've not posted here in ages, partly because I'm so slow at getting the Italy trip written up (well, I'm not really working on it), and I have the idea that I should do that first, so nothing gets written.

Anyway, we've been seeing this super-creepy spiders lately. Similar proportions to tarantulas, about the size of a nickel. Not that big, but still, they creep me out. Last week, I twice saw one on our threshold, between the door and the storm door. Fortunately, neither got in the house. I killed one of them. Then two more on the porch when I got home today, and 2nd showed me one that she killed in the house, but didn't have the courage to clean up.

Oh, and three fraudulent charges on my credit card caused my card to be declined when I tried to buy groceries today. It's a really good thing that I've had this $100 bill -- which was given to us as a gift for our baby -- for months. I never knew where to break it. Thankfully, the self-checkout machine took it without any problems at all. Two problems solved!

Our Italy Trip: Florence

2011-03-13T19:07:00.017-04:00

Florence, Day 1

Well, first we had to get there. We hopped on a train out of Venice, and along the way, I firmed up our plans for what we would be seeing and when in Florence. We enjoyed our train travel in Italy -- probably because we sprung for first class for the duration of our trip. After arriving and checking in, we headed to the famous Duomo.

It's officially the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, but we never heard nor seen anyone call it that; it's just the Duomo. Its construction began in 1296, ambitiously designed to be capped by the largest brick dome -- and it still is. Progress was slow to begin with, though. It wasn't until 1418 that they were ready to work in earnest the dome, with the rest completed. Well, it turned out their ambition was greater than their knowledge, because by that time they still had no idea how to actually build the dome. Filippo Brunelleschi had to invent hoists and cranes that were marvels at the time, as well as new designs to add the strength the dome would need. It was finally finished in 1436.

We started by observing the baptistery doors, crafted by Lorenzo Ghiberti. On the north side, the panels depict the life of Christ, and on the east, they show scenes from the New Testament. Next, we undertook the tiring journey to the top of the campanile (bell tower). It's possible to climb the Duomo, too, but we decided on the bell tower. Its 414 steps are a little better than the Duomo's 463, and the bell tower also affords a view of the Duomo against the city. (We considered doing the Duomo another day, but after doing the bell tower...I don't think we wanted to!)

Next we headed south, across Ponte Vecchio (more on Ponte Vecchio later), and up to Piazzale Michelangelo. Here, we had a good view of the city, as well as a bronze replica of the David.

That wrapped up Monday, so after dinner we headed back to our hotel, Residenza Johanna.

Florence, Day 2

On Tuesday morning, we started with the Galleria dell'Accademia, home to Michelangelo's famous David. David was sculpted by a 26-year-old Michelangelo from a leftover block of marble ruined by another artist. The proportions seem odd when viewed in the gallery, and for good reason. David was intended to be placed atop the Duomo, which perspective would render the proportions correct. As it stands in the gallery, it's plain to see the over-sized head, hands, and arms. David is flanked by Michelangelo's unfinished Slaves, never quite freed from their marble blocks. The gallery is also home to the mock-up of Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women (or, more accurately, "abduction"). The work was intended as a demonstration of the artist's ability to create a complex sculptural group, and the connection to the legendary event in Rome's early history was only invented later. The completed sculpture is found in the Piazza della Signoria, outside the Uffizi.

After lunch, we visited Santa Croce. There we saw the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Ghiberti, and Rossini. Off the main cloister, in the Cappella dei Pazzi, we observed the dome shown above. The painting has been partially restored, but the interesting part is that the arrangement of the constellations (depicted here as their mythical figures) is rendered exactly as they would have appeared over Florence on July 4, 1442. Nobody knows why this date was chosen (the chapel was not completed until years later), though some speculate that the date was important to the Pazzi family.

After another delicious dinner and a sampling of several more flavors of gelato, we called it a day.

Florence, Day 3

We began Wednesday with a trip to the Bargello. This museum houses a large collection of sculptures by Michelangelo, Donatello, Cellini, and others. We were also able to compare Ghiberti's design for the Duomo's baptistery doors to that of his competitor, Brunelleschi. Personally, I think the right choice was made.

We then returned to the Duomo, since we hadn't had much time to spend there on Monday. It's hard to describe just how grand this cathedral felt. It wasn't just enormous, it was also very elaborate. We opted against climbing to the top, after seeing how exhausting the climb up the campanile was. The interior of the dome was covered in depictions of heaven and hell, and even had a false cupola illusion around the actual one.

Next, we visited the Galleria degli Uffizi. The Uffizi is most famous for Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. However, the gallery also contains many great works by Botticelli, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and others. Its collection of Renaissance masterpieces is unrivaled.

After the Uffizi, we wandered the area a bit and did a little shopping. We picked up a few keepsakes in Mercato Nuovo. We also found a stationery store. During our entire trip to Italy, we kept our eyes open for a set of stationery that would remind us of our trip. While we never quite found what we were looking for, this little shop had cards of several famous sites in Italy with fronts that could be formed into a sort of diorama. So, naturally, we snapped up cards of the places we'd already visited and those we planned to visit.

We then visited Ponte Vecchio. In 1593 the Medici grand duke Ferdinand I, who had to cross the bridge (via a second floor passage) to get between the Medici palace and his offices, threw out all the shops on the bridge -- except for the goldsmiths and jewelers. Since that time, Ponte Vecchio has been home to only those two trades.

We finished up our last night in Florence with a cooking class across the Arno, near Palazzo Pitti. Our Australian-Italian instructor was great, as was the food! Things moved quickly, but fortunately we have copies of the recipes we made. It was a great way to end our stay in Florence.

Our Italy Trip: Venice

2010-04-24T19:07:00.024-04:00

Here's the first part of the summary of our trip to Italy. (Some places wouldn't let us take pictures. I've included a couple photos taken from the web instead, so you can get an idea of what we saw.)

Venice, Day 1
We took an overnight flight out of BWI and arrived in Venice Friday morning. The boat ride from the airport (on the mainland) out to Venice took an hour, longer than we expected. Our hotel was a bit of a walk from where we were dropped off (at Ponte Rialto -- more detail about this bridge later), at least considering we had our luggage with us. Plus, all the the bridges over the canals have stairs, not ramps. After checking in, we took a much-needed nap.

We headed out for lunch (our first taste of real panini), then to Santa Maria dei Miracoli. The marble church was built to house I Miracoli, a portrait of the Virgin Mary said to perform miracles. The barrel-vaulted ceiling also contained 50 portraits of prophets. I was struck by how this holy building stood mere feet from the residences around it.

Next, we visited Santi Giovanni e Paolo, a large Dominican church. The stained glass windows are beautiful, and dozens of doges (leaders of Venice) are buried here, but the most interesting part of our visit was the church's relic: Saint Catherine's foot.

We rounded out the evening with out first taste of Italian pizza (Yum!) and Fanta (Double yum! Why is American Fanta so different?), followed by a cannoli.

Venice, Day 2

We got up early to see the city at sunrise. The streets were mostly empty, save for the great-smelling fresh bread being carted around. (They have interesting carts for navigating the stairs on the bridges.)

While in Venice, we didn't ever take a personal gondola ride -- they're expensive. But as there are few bridges across the Grand Canal, there are a few traghetto ferry points. You pay a small amount, and they use a gondola to ferry as many people as will fit (standing up!) across the canal. Well, we used the traghetto and visited the fish market. (Not my cup of tea, but it was interesting, at least.) Then we visited Ponte Rialto, the famous stone bridge across the Grand Canal. Ponte Rialto has two rows of shops (with store fronts on both sides of each row) all the way across.

Next we visited Piazza San Marco, the only true piazza in Venice. First, we took a guided tour of Palazzo Ducale (the Doge's Palace). The palace served the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of Venice's government. Scala d'Oro (the Golden Staircase) leads up to where citizens and criminals would face the Senate and judges. Many murals and ceilings here, including works by Veronese and Tintoretto, depict scenes embodying justice and other virtues of the government. The palace also contained prisons. We we able to see the two rooms that had housed the famous Giacomo Casanova, who was also the only prisoner ever to escape.

Next door, we visited Basilica di San Marco. The basilica -- built to house the remains of Saint Mark recovered from Alexandria -- is covered from floor to ceiling with golden-tiled mosaics. The sunlight that made its way inside really made the church glow.

We walked the piazza and enjoyed looking at the shops. We made a great find at a glassware shop -- a hand-painted Christmas ornament depicting Ponte Rialto. We're excited to get to use it this winter!

Venice, Day 3

We started by visiting the train station to reserve our tickets for the next day. Then we took the vaporetto (water bus) to the south side of Venice, along Fondamenta della Zattere. Although our entire stay at Venice was a chilly one, we opted to split some apricot gelato from a shop along that street. We then made our way to Gallerie dell'Accademia. (Because it was Sunday, I suppose, they let 2nd in free. I still had a buy a ticket, though.) In the gallery, we saw several noteworthy works, but the room that stuck with me most was the one containing the nine works of Vittore Carpaccio depicting the Legend of Saint Ursula. I was not familiar with the legend before. The legend has Ursula, a princess preparing to be married to a pagan, embarking on a pilgrimage with 11,000 handmaids, only to be massacred by the Huns. 2nd and I aren't big art aficionados, but the multi-piece story stuck with me. (We'd revisit the legend of Saint Ursula at the end of our trip, in Naples, too.)

After lunch, we visited Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The most distinctive part of the church is the pyramid-shaped monument to the sculptor Antonio Canova.

This day was our first anniversary, so we went somewhere a little nicer than usual for dinner. We loved our food, including our first taste of panna cotta. It was a great day, but also a little sad knowing we'd have to leave Venice in the morning!

More coverage of our trip soon!

Updates

2009-12-19T15:51:00.018-05:00

I apologize to anyone who follows my blog. I have kept meaning to update it, but never really wanted to when I got home from work. I tended to write most of the text during down times at work before, but since the summer I've been busier.

Anyway, I'll try to be more regular in the future. For now, thought, here are a few highlights that I missed.

Early in the summer, 2nd and I participated in our church's Savior of the World musical production. We sang in the choir -- which is all I was interested in, but they also persuaded me to have a couple speaking roles. I played both Malachi and the "angel to the shepherds." (He's unnamed, so I referred to him as Linus, because of Linus' monologue in A Charlie Brown Christmas.) It was a lot of rehearsals with not too much for 2nd and I to rehearse, but in the end I think I enjoyed it. Though I was a little glad to have some evenings back.

In July, I took a business trip to Las Vegas for Black Hat. It was the first time 2nd and I were apart since March, so it was a little sad. I made sure to hurry back home to her. The conference was in Caesar's Palace, which is rather extravagant. I particularly enjoyed the mall attached to the casino. Unfortunately, the training sessions ran until 6 each day, and left me rather drained, but I did try to get out and see the strip anyway.

During the summer, my poor car was involved in two minor accidents at the exact same intersection near work. Both were the other drivers' faults (no, really!), but thankfully neither was serious enough to require professional repair to my car. In the first, the other car stripped my front license plate off. In the second, I was rear-ended hard enough to worry me at the moment, but I just can't see any damage.

In October, our functional group at work had a team-building exercise, consisting of a little every-man-for-himself competition (some team-building exercise, huh?) at go-karts. Mind you, this wasn't kiddy go-karts. We raced in heats, awarding points via finishing position. I took second, but I "let" my boss beat me, of course -- I wouldn't want to get him upset! No, he was actually a very good racer, and in the last heat the two of us pulled away from the pack for most of the race. He started ahead of me, and, try as I might, I couldn't manage to pass. The track was actually fairly narrow, and mostly turns, making passing quite difficult unless the leading driver made a mistake. We both set lap records for our group in that little showdown, so I'm still quite pleased with myself, even though I couldn't take the lead.

We've had several other things on our plate here, like planning and executing ward activities, but I'll leave well enough alone right now. We are having fun getting ready for our first Christmas, and we hope everyone else is having as much fun as we are.

Counting our blessings

2009-06-23T10:41:00.009-04:00

I have thought a bit about how to talk about what happened yesterday. It was a pretty crazy afternoon for both 2nd and me, but I also don't want to sound thoughtless of those less fortunate.

I suppose I should start by saying that, yes, 2nd takes the red line of the Metro home every workday. But she's alright, she was still several stations back at the time of the accident. Also, if I understand correctly, the accident involved two trains heading into the city, while she was leaving the city. Still, she got caught in the city with no easy way out. The red line closed, and though they were running shuttles to get Metro riders out of the city, Metro's efforts seem to have been less than efficient.

For my part, I take I-95 south to 495 (the capital beltway) to get home. Sometimes 95 gets slow, but I find it's much easier to get to 95 than 29 -- the parallel route home -- from where I work. Unfortunately, yesterday there was a semi-truck on fire right at the junction between 95 and 495, blocking all lanes of southbound traffic, regardless of the direction you intended to go at the junction. (I couldn't find a picture of that accident.) And since I was stuck about 1/4 mile from the junction, it must have happened just minutes ahead of me. If I have left work right at 5:00, instead of 5:10....

Anyway, I was stuck at a standstill in traffic for over an hour. It was right about the time that I came to a stop in this mess that I heard about the Metro crash. At first, details were sketchy or conflicting, so I did worry quite a bit about 2nd's safety. I was relieved when I could finally reach her on her cell phone. (Metro stations supposedly have Verizon coverage, but my experience is that there are many large dead zones.) After some time, we worked out a plan: I would get home and figure out how to get to the Rhodes Island Ave station, where she was dropped off, and I would come get her. She thought that would be easier and quicker than fighting for a spot on the infrequent and packed shuttles.

At long last, I got through the traffic, but only after the fire was out cold, and only then via single-file on the shoulder. (Oh, I also watched a driver right next to me get sick and repeatedly vomit out his car door. Nice.) In total, yesterday's commute took triple my usual time. Then I mapped out a path to the Rhodes Island Ave station -- taking New Hampshire into the city, left on North Capitol, and finally left on Rhodes Island. Thinking I was fully prepared, I set out.

It was going smoothly until I saw a lot of emergency vehicles blocking New Hampshire. Ugh. Great. I hadn't checked my route, but apparently it took me right past the Metro collision site. Idiot.

So I diverted to -- as near as I could determine, being unfamiliar with the city -- a parallel route. I was really very worried that I would become lost in this sprawling city and have to stop and get directions. I don't know if my worry was more for my safety or my masculine pride, but I really didn't want to do it. Here I am, still trying to fumble my way to the right spot to pick up my wife, and I see a shuttle packed like sardines! That must be it! If I just head in the direction it was coming from....

And there's a sign directing me to the station! My safety and pride are reassured! This day, this macho man was able to chart a path quickly and spontaneously through an unfamiliar urban maze to provide for his woman. And I was even able to chart a way back home. Yeah, I'm good.

Things worked out for us in the end. Unfortunately, others didn't have our luck. This is where this post gets hard. Some people were chosen seemingly randomly yesterday to suffer this terrible accident. It's the worst in the history of Metro. Doubtless there are and will be good people to help and comfort those who are in need. I don't know how to do so, and I don't personally know anyone affected, so all I can do is pray that they are comforted according to their needs.

Honeymoon, Day 5 (Friday)

2009-06-01T21:07:00.005-04:00

We started Friday by heading up along the west coast, and then heading inland to Concord Falls. Once we left the main road, it got narrow and winding very quickly. Again, we found ourselves at a place where taxis take tourist groups. However, again, they just stick around at the first waterfall for a few minutes before leaving, while we intended to hike to more falls. My guidebook told me that there are three falls, but the locals told us that the the third waterfall was not accessible at the time. So we looked at the first one, then headed out to the second waterfall.

It wasn't a particularly long hike. Maybe about 40 minutes. And it was a little hot and humid. But along the way we passed some incredible scenery. The path was a little muddy, but not as bad as the paths at Grand Etang the day earlier. When we arrived at the waterfall, again, like nearly our whole trip, we were alone. :) We took our time at the waterfall before heading back to the beginning of the path. Once there, we decided to take a dip in the first waterfall. Boy was the water cold! But it was definitely invigorating!

Next, we headed further north along the coast to Gouyave. I admit, I felt wholly out of place in that town. It seemed like it was only locals there, and zero tourists, aside from us. I know that's not true, because when we took our lunch at a dingy local eatery, there was another table with a few British tourists. (It seems most tourists we ran into were from Britain.) After lunch, we toured the Gouyave Nutmeg Processing Plant. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures along the way! But we did take a few shots afterwards from the lobby area. They explained during the tour all about the drying, separating, shelling, and sorting of the nutmegs. I can't remember which way around it was, but they could tell the good nutmegs from the bad depending on whether they floated or sank. A machine cracked the shells off of them, but separating the nuts from the shells was still done by hand. They also explained the three grades that they give the mace, the red webbing surrounding the nutmug nut. Mace supposedly (we haven't tried the mace we brought home yet) tastes similar to nutmeg, but more delicate. The three grades were all used for different purposes, from food to cosmetics.

On the way back south, we stopped along the road at Palmiste Bay at the recommendation of our hotel staff. I had heard that there we're some black sand beaches on the island, and they told us to check out Palmiste. It was definitely, dark, though I wouldn't call it pure black. Still, the volcanic sediment is clearly visible. On our way further home, 2nd spotted the local LDS church building, so we naturally had to stop in. The only people there were the cleaners, and we didn't know how to ask politely if they were members, so we didn't. But man, I'm sure I'd have trouble paying attention during church with that view!

We headed out for ice cream before dinner, because we were craving it, and we had already encountered a couple instances of shops being closed after we had dinner. We had more local flavors: mango and coconut. So good! Finally, we had our last dinner on the island. I had hoped to find somewhere that served oildown, which is a traditional dish in the Caribbean that my guidebook told me about. However, since our hotel staff couldn't find any place serving it (perhaps it's more of a home cooking thing?), we had some nice barbecue chicken.

It's so sad that our last day was over! I'll add a little bit about Saturday here, since it certainly doesn't call for a full post. Very early on Saturday morning, we headed to the airport, and the jeep rental "company" (or rather, the guy who ran it out on his own) was supposed to meet us there. Well, he was late, but we weren't worried, because we had arrived with time to spare. However, we were worried when we realized we had to pay an exit fee in cash! We had changed almost all of our Eastern Caribbean dollars back to US dollars at the hotel that morning, and no one had ever mentioned an exit fee. To make matters worse, the airport ATM wasn't working, and we had no car! Fortunately, another woman was in the same mess, but had a car. She and 2nd rushed off to the nearest place they knew an ATM was and hurried back. We made it with a little time to spare. But we really thought we were cutting it too close, though! Aside from that, it was another long, full day of traveling with a lengthy stopover in San Juan -- but not lengthy enough to leave the airport and see anything.

Overall, we had a very, very wonderful honeymoon. It ended far too soon for our liking, but we always have anniversaries...maybe we'll go back someday?

Honeymoon, Day 4 (Thursday)

2009-05-18T20:42:00.014-04:00

Thursday was pretty awesome. We started by heading back up into the mountains in the center of Grenada to visit Grand Etang Lake. Grand Etang is a lake formed in the crater of a volcano, some 1,700 feet about sea level. The drive up there was harrowing, more by the narrowness of the roads and speed of the local than by being on a mountain. But when we arrived, we found that we were the only ones there! Well, there was briefly one other tourist couple and their taxi driver, but they weren't around for long. Before they left, we spoke to them some. I mentioned to the driver that I had read that the lake was rumored to be bottomless (even though it was really only 18 feet at the deepest part). He confirmed that such was the tale, saying that if you drown in Grand Etang your body ends up at St. Vincent, another island miles away. "But that's all myth," he told us.

We tried to take the path that looped around the lake, but found it to be pretty muddy; we weren't properly prepared for that. There was another hiking trail that was much more strenuous, taking you to the top of the mountain, but we weren't up for that, either. So we just took some nice pictures of the lake and enjoyed the view.

There were a visitor center and museum almost right around the corner. It really was quite surprising to see that area swamped with tourists when no one was actually going to visit the lake. There were lots of taxis and tour buses which, we assume, had picked up guests from the cruise ships. But none of them went the few hundred extra yards to see the actual lake! (We made it a point to avoid the tourists in our pictures. You'll have to trust me when I say it was packed.)

Next, we traveled to Belmont Estate, a functioning plantation. We had a delicious lunch, including sorrel juice for 2nd, and ginger beer for me. For dessert, we had soursop ice cream. One of the main things they grow at Belmont Estate is cocoa. We got a tour of the estate from a guide named Ward, particularly seeing how they process the cocoa. We got to suck cocoa beans straight from the pod (the white goo is sweet, but don't bite the bean -- it's very bitter), see how they ferment the beans for several days, and see how they dry the beans evenly in the sun. Then we got to taste a dried cocoa bean -- the dark chocolate taste was very strong! We bought a few bars of dark chocolate (the estate only processes the beans, but the Grenada Chocolate Company still makes the dark chocolate on the island). I'm not sure of the reasons why, but Ward told us that the pure dark chocolate won't melt. In fact, we left the bars in our jeep all the rest of the day and they are all still fine!

Next we headed to a couple beaches to the north, on the east shore -- Bathway Beach and Levera Bay. Some of the roads were pretty rough, making us grateful again for having a jeep. Bathway Beach had a decent crowd (i.e., a few dozen people), but Levera Bay was nearly deserted. Finally, we headed to Sauteurs to see Carib's Leap, the cliff from which the natives lept to their deaths after being defeated by the French. We got there before 5, if I recall, but Carib's Leap was already closed. But we still had a great view of the bay and the town.

After all of that traveling, we headed back to our hotel. It had been another long day, so we settled in and relaxed for the evening.

Honeymoon, Day 3 (Wednesday)

2009-05-12T20:11:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, we took a ferry to Carriacou. (The map doesn't show the distance between Grenada and Carriacou.) The county of Grenada is made up of the islands of Grenada, Carriacou, and Petit Martinique. Carriacou is smaller and about a tenth as populated as Grenada.

2nd didn't take the motion of the waves too well. When we made it to Carriacou, we bought her some motion sickness medication at the drugstore. Apparently they see this pretty often, because they sold us just a couple pills from the package for only a few cents each! Next, we hired a local taxi/tour driver to give us a tour of the island. (I haven't mentioned yet that taxis/personal tour vans are very common on Grenada. Many hang around the docks where they can pick up tourists debarking for just one day from a cruise ship.) Thomas, our guide, took us all over the island and showed us all the sites.

Thomas told us about the ownership of the island changing from the French to the British. The French used L'Esterre Bay as a harbor, but the British wanted to be different, so they set up their harbor in Hillsborough Bay, where it remains. He showed us the hospital sitting in the hills looking over the town, built away from the town to isolate the diseased. The hospital had a Flamboyant Tree, which we realized at that point was the inspiration for the name of our hotel. Unfortunately, it wasn't in bloom.

Thomas dropped us off at Paradise Beach, in L'Esterre Bay, for lunch and some relaxation. While there, we met a few British tourists. The older couple had vacationed there before, and told us that the ocean was usually much calmer. It seems we caught a bad week for that. Still, we waded in the ocean and had a great time. Time went too quickly, and before we knew it, the time had come to head back to Grenada.

We got back, and it had been a tiring day of traveling, so we stayed in for the night and enjoyed our evening.

Honeymoon, Day 2 (Tuesday)

2009-05-07T20:14:00.013-04:00

We started off Tuesday earlier. We got on the road and headed to the south-east shore of the island. The map above is the most detailed map we were able to obtain, and the roads weren't marked. So I'm not too embarrassed to say that we got temporarily lost. But with some help from friendly locals, we got ourselves oriented in the right direction before long!

We went to the nature center/restaurant at La Saggesse Bay. The beach there was incredible! Calm water, soft sand, and few people. After hanging around the beach for a bit, we went for a short nature walk. We quickly came to a tidal marsh and saw blue herons and egrets. A little further and we passed a local farm -- growing, among other things, bananas. As we neared a larger road, we happened upon a nicely kept cricket field. (I failed to mention that we saw the national cricket stadium in St. George's on Monday.) Apparently cricket is a big sport in the Carribean.

After our walk, we headed back to the center for lunch. We had delicious passion fruit juice as we looked out over the bay. Although I'm not a big fish-eater, I really enjoyed the salmon salad. And 2nd liked her fish wrap with plantain chips. And we had a small anole lizard join us! He seemed to enjoy the view, too.

After lunch, we headed up the eastern (Atlantic) coast. The water was rougher on that side, but the views were still great. We headed towards the area of Grenville in search of a hot spring I had heard about through word of mouth. It took some searching and quite a few stops to ask for directions, but again, the locals were very helpful. When we were getting close, one guy even rode with us to help us make the last few difficult-to-find turns. We really wouldn't have found it without him! We had to drive on a very rough and uneven dirt road for some distance. (The one picture we have really doesn't do it justice. There were some difficult stretches of road.) Thank goodness we had a jeep instead of a car!

We headed back to our hotel to clean up. We took the shorter path, which happened to take us through the mountains and rain forest in the center of the island. We would go back on Thursday, so we didn't stop this day. In fact, it was getting close to our dinner reservation time. We went to a nice, fancy place closer to the airport -- the Beach House. I can't remember whether our reservation was for 6 or 6:30, but when we got there we were the only guests yet to arrive. We had this fancy restaurant all to ourselves! We watched the sunset over the beach from our table. I can't overstate how great it was! Eventually, sometime after 7, two other parties arrived. Maybe they just eat later down there, or it was just slow because it was a weekday and not in the main city. But I really expected it to be a busier place, given how great it was. Oh well, I'm not complaining!

Honeymoon, Day 1 (Monday)

2009-05-02T17:36:00.004-04:00

2nd already posted some pictures of our honeymoon, but I wanted to put a more detailed summary of our adventures, since not everyone has heard all of our stories yet.

For our honeymoon, we went to Grenada (the island in the Caribbean, not the city in Spain). We got a lot of odd reactions on telling people about our plans. Most people older than us asked if that was where the US had invaded in the early '80s. Yup. In October of 1983, a communist coup killed the head of the government. The US invaded six days into the coup, allegedly at the request of the Governor-General, and the government of Dominica. However, all of the travel guides indicated that Grenada is safe and friendly to Americans these days. And although it was hit hard by hurricane Ivan in 2004, Grenada is widely reported to be recovering rapidly.

Grenada is referred to as the Spice Island. They are the largest producer of nutmeg in the world -- they even have a nutmeg on their national flag -- but they also grow many other spices. We decided it would be a good place to soak up culture and food in addition to the beaches.

It took a little bit of traveling to get there. First, we flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. From there, we changed carriers and took a prop plane to St. Vincent, which had a tiny, tiny airport. Then, we connected to Grenada. We arrived late Sunday night, and, after the local who rented us our jeep for the week crazily drove us to our hotel (little did we know, everybody on the island would be driving crazily!), we checked in for the night.

We decided to sleep in a bit on Monday. We eventually got up and checked out our view from our balcony!

If you look closely, you can see a pair of cruise ships across the beach -- that's St. George's, the capital of Grenada. From our hotel, we could see straight in to St. George's harbor. Incidentally, that would be our first stop.

We headed into town and walked along the harbor. The road and sidewalk were only a few feet above sea level, and waves occasionally splashed up on them. While in town, we booked our ferry tickets to Carriacou, a smaller island to the north, still part of the nation of Grenada. More about that trip on Day 3. We checked out the local shops, and we gathered ideas for where we wanted to eat and what we wanted to do with our week.

We spent a good part of the day exploring around the streets and shops, and we stumbled upon a good place for lunch -- it looked more like a home than a restaurant! We had some nice fried chicken. (More chickens were just wandering around the street.) We also had a great lime-squash drink!

Then we visited Fort George. This is where the coup and assassination took place. Strangely enough, that was the first time a shot was ever fired at the fort.

Late in the afternoon, we headed back to our hotel and Grand Anse Beach, the most popular beach on Grenada. And would you believe we had it all to ourselves! It was just downhill of our hotel room.

In the evening, we headed out for dinner. I can't remember the name of the restaurant we ate at, but we had a nice banana split for dessert, with a local twist. Nutmeg ice cream!

Ears first -- that's the rule

2009-04-16T15:48:00.001-04:00

2nd and I spent Easter Sunday with 2nd's family. There was no Easter egg hunt, nor Easter baskets...but there was an Easter bag hunt! However, since other guests had not yet arrived, 2nd's youngest sister, 5thof5, had to let us know which bag was intended for us. Naturally, we found that one only after we had found every other bag.

Fortunately, our bag did contain the traditional chocolate bunny. I thought no one was looking, but I guess 2nd managed to get a candid shot of me digging in:

It was Sunday night before 2nd and I realized we had failed to obtain another staple of the holiday, Cadbury Cream Eggs. This would not do. So on Monday, 2nd grabbed some at the store, and Easter was saved. She even hid them for me. Joy!

Phone pas

2009-03-26T19:39:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share a little something I found funny.

I'm sure anyone out there who sends text messages with any frequency is aware that the phone can give you the wrong word, particularly when the word is short. For example, every time I try to type "home" (4-6-6-3), it instead places the word "good" into the message. So if I try to tell 2nd that she might "beat me home," I have to make sure I don't accidentally send her a message saying that she will "beat me good."

But I've been witness to a more disconcerting substitution in the past few weeks. When I want to refer to 2nd as "wife" (9-4-3-3), it will instead place in a word no husband should ever call his wife. Or any woman for that matter. The consequences would be grim indeed. You see, 9-4-3-3 spells "wide."

Maybe I should just turn around?

2009-03-05T12:07:00.007-05:00

I got my registration fixed in January, and now I've been reimbursed for the more expensive plates they had originally sold me. Now I just have to get the title fixed.

In the meantime, I've had my apartment complex lose my rent check and file a court case against me for it; the corporation holding my car loan is still sending the statements to my old address (despite three requests to update their records), so they arrive at my new apartment late; and my internet provider is adding extra services I never approved, resulting in bills double the normal amount.

One step forward, three steps backward. Sometimes I wonder if everyone in Maryland is inept, or if I'm just some sort of magnet for those who are.

In other news, it is now less than 48 hours until I marry the love of my life! (And she's totally ept.)

Scientia gratis scientiae

2009-02-17T13:24:00.004-05:00

You know those sinks in public restrooms that sense the presence of your hands? We have that at my workplace. Pretty nifty idea. The problem is that you have no control over the temperature. Not that it matters anyway, because I'm sure our sinks are just hooked up straight to the cold water line. Brr. I think I'd rather have to turn some wet faucet handles. Technology is only good when it improves your life.

Sedan-truck update

2009-02-17T13:11:00.005-05:00

Amazingly, the MVA was helpful! Maybe it helped that I called ahead to explain the issue. The mistake was made at one branch, but I now live closer to another, and wanted to fix it there. I got the two branch managers to work it out and verify that I would be getting it fixed at no cost.

I went in, and had to find the manager's office. I turned my head all directions, and a gentleman who was waiting in line kindly pointed me towards the end of the line. Thanks, but no thanks, waiting in line at the MVA is for chumps! (I know I'll regret typing those words, but it felt nice to bypass that part.) I quickly got a new registration -- ugh, it still expires at the same date as the old one, so it's not really new -- and plates.

Then the employee helping me reminded me to check the title. So when I got home, I looked at it and...drat! It's titled as a truck, too! I've left two messages and waited a week, and they still haven't responded. They were so helpful with the registration, but now they're stonewalling me on the title. Jerks.

Actually no, its a cardigan, but thanks for noticing

2009-01-02T16:48:00.001-05:00

Apparently my license plates are registered to a Nissan truck, whereas I actually drive a sedan. And cops think the plates are stolen. Stupid Motor Vehicle Administration.

Big news

2008-10-23T11:21:00.005-04:00

I kept hoping I'd somehow think of a cool way to introduce this news. But I never did. And now it's been, what, ...12 days since it happened, so it's not really news anymore. But I still feel like I should say something about it, even if everyone who reads this knows already.

In fact, I really want to shout it from the rooftops when I stop to think about it, only I don't want to be one of those guys who won't shut up about it. Maybe I should just shut up and say it before I take all of the magic out of it.

I'm engaged! At the risk of being mushy, I think she's the greatest woman ever! Beautiful, smart, patient (boy, do I need it!), kind, and loads of fun. But you already know her as 2nd of 5. (When she and I, a 4th of 5, become one, what happens? Addition? Averaging? :)

And yes, our Facebook statuses are changed already. Though, I'm thinking another status change won't be the highest priority once the knot has been tied. :)

Of parties and partisanship

2008-10-03T13:06:00.005-04:00

I'll just recuse myself from this topic, and instead defer to one much wise than I — George Washington:

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. [Parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.
...
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

(Emphasis is my own.)

I guess I should have expected last night to turn into the pleasant-faced mudslinging I surprisingly observed. I attempted to persevere; "this is an important decision for our nation," I told myself. But there came a time when enough was enough. I've grown sick of the misrepresentation of opponents, of partisanship, of these candidates, of both parties, and of the omnipresent election coverage.

I suppose I'm lucky that I live in a state that is securely in one party's hands. I won't have to feel any remorse for having failed to elect the "best" (actually, the "better," as there's no use in pretending there are more than two options) candidate. I'm fairly certain I'm going to "waste" my vote on an independent. Someone who's read the Constitution and still believes that it was a good idea.

Economic distortion -- more popular than Social Distortion

2008-10-02T11:42:00.003-04:00

I encourage you to read this post about a couple misleading things you may have heard about our recent economic down-turn. It's undeniably a bad for time for Americans, but the scientist in me always sheds a tear when he hears arguments from selectively-picked data. From the post:

It’s true that it’s bad and even historic.... For now, however, Apple is still on track to sell 10 million iPhone 3Gs this year, which says something.
...
Yesterday’s loss of 777 points was stunning as the largest single-day point loss in Dow history. But as a percentage loss that’s not even in the top 10 Bad Dow Days.

I could also rant and rave about all of the average people who suddenly think they're experts because they watched CNN this morning. Those sort of people that appear to know what they are talking about, but really just regurgitate the (potentially suspect) data they imbibe from their favorite flavor of news outlet -- and then use it to tell whomever they meet what must be done about it. And heaven forbid you disagree. But maybe it's best that I keep that to myself.

I could even pontificate on what, exactly, the strong sales of the new 3G iPhone, even in the face of a possible recession, says. (Hint: ...well, I don't actually think any hints are necessary.)

Anyway, be on guard, both for the market, and for the evening news. Trust no one, ~~Mr. Mulder~~ dear reader.

Cat-like reflexes

2008-09-16T20:14:00.001-04:00

I challenge you to watch this video without laughing out loud.

A commercial about nothing

2008-09-15T20:10:00.004-04:00

I wonder how many of my friends have seen the recent Bill Gates-Jerry Seinfeld Windows Vista commercials? I first saw them last week, but my mind is still reeling. They say any press is good press, but these are just bizarre. The product never makes an appearance, and the closest they get to talking about Windows is theorizing on whether future computers will be made of cake.

Then again, it's Jerry Seinfeld. What did I expect?

Maybe I should call upon the expertise of marketing extraordinaire, 2ndof5. So, 2nd, tell me, what do you think of those spots?

Unnatural selection

2008-09-15T11:30:00.003-04:00

This man is either a genius or just plain crazy. Either way, I think he's my latest hero.

It's not likely that his work will change the world. But I can only hope that, when I retire, I can find something so fascinating to occupy my time.

Truthiness

2008-08-12T14:11:00.003-04:00

I was watching (more accurately, listening as I did other tasks) to the morning news yesterday, and they mentioned that the report of tax burdens by state was just made available for this year. That didn't catch my ear. What did was their mentioning that Maryland has the fourth highest tax burden! Well, I don't know why I was surprised; I always knew somewhere in my gut that this is a tax-happy state. Maybe it had something to do with my dad telling me about county taxes from the time he lived in Maryland. ("The form asks you to enter your state tax on one line, then on the next multiply by 50% to get your county tax!") Anyway, it was something I was prepared to hear. But number four is pretty high on the list!

I found the data online here. (You have to scroll the embedded document to the bottom for 2008 numbers.) New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut top the list, with Maryland hot on their heels. Virginia is #18 -- too bad I'm not living there anymore! (DC would fall into the #8 position, but it's not a state. Sorry!) Alaska (tax incentives for living there), Nevada (gambling revenue), and Wyoming (...?) are the three least taxed states.

Nevada sounds like it could be a nice place to live.

Red hot

2008-07-01T14:08:00.004-04:00

When you're hot, you're hot. But when you're hot on you're birthday, you're on fire.

My auto insurance expired with the turn of the month, and I had until July 11th to begin paying for the next six months. However, my insurance policy was still associated with Virginia. True, I have been in Maryland for a while, but I figured the policy would update itself when it renewed. I had given the company my new address and I had even gone through the "change vehicle location" steps on their website. However, upon checking my statement online, I discovered that my assumption, however reasonable, was not realized.

So I placed a call to the company and got through to a representative immediately. As if that wasn't surprising enough, I was told that, with the same coverage options, my Maryland policy would be $2 less per six months than my previous Virginia policy. I know that's a small amount, but when you're ready for a $50 increase -- because, let's face it, everything costs more in Maryland -- any decrease is pretty incredible.

Then there was lunch. I try to take it a little later than most people. I find that a delayed lunch helps make the afternoon move faster in addition to helping me avoid the crowd in the lunchroom. Well, imagine my joyful surprise when I made for the lunchroom at 1pm and entered just as a large meeting was getting out -- a large meeting with two leftover pizzas and homemade chocolate chip cookies! Our office has a "free table," where any extra or unwanted foods are placed. Given that anyone and everyone loves free food (it doesn't even have to be particularly good to get taken!), two pizzas have about a 5-minute life expectancy on that table. So, yeah, I lucked out pretty good, huh?

I know the day is far from over, and I really shouldn't tempt fate, but with the way the day has been going, plus a party (just for me!) after institute tonight, I'm prepared to call this a pretty awesome birthday!

[sic]

2008-06-17T08:49:00.002-04:00

I was feeling pretty ill a couple weeks ago, but I'm better now. I wasn't going to mention it, but it kind of fit with the title here.

Anyway, there have been a few instances in the past couple of weeks when I realized that some quirky behavior I exhibit is really not that uncommon. So I wanted to toss this one out, too, and see if it's the same.

While reading this article (regarding animals blocking an airport runway) I came across a quote:

"The monitor lizards -- they look frightening but they are harmless animals," he said. "But they can grow about three to four feet long. And at the velocity a plane lands, the [lizards] can still cause damage."

Now, am I the only person who reads things like this and wonders what the man really said instead of "lizards?" I like to imagine all sorts of colorful epithets inserted in that sentence that CNN just couldn't print. Please tell me I'm not.