How was your weekend... I had a kick ass weekend. I took Dade to Waterworld on Friday... the service there is horrible but more on that on the next post. I took Dade to the race track on Saturday and went to eat at Empire Cafe and to see Minority Report on Saturday w/Angie. Wonderful!
Anyway the real reason I'm posting is I just found a link I wanted to show everyone, and I was afraid I'd forget if I did not post RIGHT NOW! The Future? nttDoCoMo is Japanese mobile phone company that is making great strides in highspeed anytime anywhere connections. They also promote technology such as video phones. I think they are THE driving force in moving mobile data into the future. Go to the link and view their vision of the future, I think for them most part it's a very realistic and achievable goal. I hope they make it real.
No one won the Lotto last night so it's going to be a whopping 68M on Saturday! We got a pool together at work so hopefully we will hit on that. If we do I'll walk away with a 1.2M in the bank... and I think everyone here on that list will probably quit!
Well for all of us BIG people Southwest Airlines is going to start charging us double to fly! read about it ... like I need another incentive to lose the weight! I see this getting out of hand, and another thing is a few years ago they tightend up the seating on the plane making it hard for us tall people to fit... now this! Nice.
I don't like cats that much and the more I see of this site the more I don't like cats!
They say that now they have a cell phone that is a tooth implant! damn and I thought I had a small phone!
Ok it seems as if someone has linked junk food and sexual addiction... I find it a stretch but some of you will get a kick out of reading it! read me then read a real live case of this here. I know her blog is waaaay better than mine but not about to start going out and doing crank then tell all of you about it!
Here is a nice article about Blogger.com and blogging in general.
Did anyone see Futurama Sunday night! That was the best, I still can't belive they are going to can this show! It's so damn funny! Anyway I was purusing Slashdot, as you do, when I ran across this site. Got Futurama? On there they mention how Slashdot uses an XML format to do all of the news and stuff and that the nodes all have names like Bender and Fry and Zapp and stuff! How cool is that! If you did not see it you should get a copy from KaZaA, it was called "Anthology of Intrest II" ... the middle story is worth the price of the download!
In case you didn't realize it we just passed the one year anniversary of Tropical Storm Allison. So for all you homeowners out there you might want to think about that flood insurance! It takes 30 days to kick in once you get it So now is almost to lat but better last than never! and if you live out of the 100 year flood plain/plan it's pretty cheap. Allison Pictures to help you remember...
Damn that is nasty! thanks to L for that one ... ugh I'm gonna go wash my hands!
Gotta go to the doc again today... well I pulled one off on the home alarm system. I went to this website tech-man.com and contacted Jim. He talked me through the process for only $10! I was ready to spend alot more than that and now it's all fixed up!
My friend RR passed me this link today, I have not looked at it but it has some good potential!
Want to play a game? Try Capoeira Fighter ... it's a pretty good flash game.
Today I plead with you... if anyone knows someone who knows how to work on home alram systems please let me know. I had a single sensor go out and now no one will work on it unless I sign a damn contract with them for monitoring. ughhh! I guess I'll be doing it myself.
It's been quiet on cool stuff to see lately... here are a couple.
My friend RR sent me this one Bad Jocks is a site that keeps tabs on all the bad atheletes out there... v.funny!
oops gotta go... I promise I will get some better links in here in the coming days... i.am.sam
My back has been bothering me lately so I went to the doctor today. She said it was nothing so I guess I'll sue for malpractive when I become paralyzed! Everything I touch is breaking! My PDA shattered screen, My Tivo won't connect and I'm pissed off, my cable modem fried got a new one, my House alarm, one sensor is stuck... ughhh!!!!! Other than that I'm peachy!
Six degrees of force feedback... this may be the future of video gaming!
Slashdot is reporting that DivX is coming for the Xbox... this will be a serious issue for the movie industry if/when this comes out.
Linux is tooting it's horn with the latest from ILM. It turns out that ILM used Linux machines and some homebrewed software to do the AOTC movie. Read bout it here and see some the very impressive screen shots.
Back to a regular blog... I know of lot of you are like ... finally! Anyway bust bee am I am! Oh yea I got a new saber the other day and it is fine fine fine! It is an HK OB1 TPM version with an Ice Blue EL Blade and driver set if anyone knows what the hell that means...
Links links links links links...
Did you know I now have broadband? I got RoadRunner, but some of you or most of you cannot get high speed internet... well that may be about to change... Two guys in a garge have hacked together an 802.11b WiFi network that will extend about 20 miles! A far cry from the 150-300 feet a normal WiFi does. This box can be made for about $150 and could blanket a small town easily making Cable and DSL obsolete! WOW!
Any South Park fans out there? Go here and build your own SP character!
OK I bonked... it was the 6th day and I tried to blog but the damn thing would not go through. I tried several times but to no avail. I eventually had to turn in my connection and that was that.
What would I have written on the 6th day... let me do a quick synopsis.
Day 6: Labadee, Haiti
Labadee is a peninsula on Haiti owned by RCI. They have it fenced off from the mainland of the island. There is no dock here and you have to take a tinder boat to the shore. We got up early and ate breakfast and headed for the tinders. Once we got ashore we had scheduled a WaveRunner tour of the coast so we got that sorted and found a front row spot on the beach. Did you know there are no fish in Haiti? ZERO! The Haitians have fished them all out... anyway the tour was so so. Angie got a slow WaveRunner and got left behind alot. In the end I traded with her so should could have a little fun... After the WaveRunner deal we went back to the beach and had lunch(catered by the boat) and layed in the sun for a bit. You could see the rain coming though and with my last two days of a good soaking I decided we should go. Angie and I went back and the others stayed and got rained on. Back on the boat we went to our rooms and got cleaned up and got a nap and waited for the evening shows... overall pretty good stuff. Angie won some more money in the casino and I lost some more money in the casino. I stayed up for the grand gala buffet at 12:30 and did not get to bed until after 2.
Day 7: The last Day at Sea!
Started the day off by sleeping in a little bit. Then went out and found a spot ont he deck for some sun. Eventually everone joined us and we went to Johnny Rockets for lunch. One of the things to do on this trip was climb that rock wall and today was the last day to do it, so we did. I went first... straight up like Spiderman! K and E made it as well... Angie on the other hand... she almost made it. By the time we were finished with that I was hot and sweaty so I went back and got cleaned up. We had to pack so I did that and had everything ready by dinner time. Our last dinner :( was great, the waiters all danced and sang and the food was kick ass, just as it was the whole cruise long. After dinner we found our way back to the casino where K would win and then K2 would lose what K had won... I lost a bit and Angie won a bit...eventually it was time and we went off to get a couple of hours sleep before the disembarkation started...it's all over now. :(
Day 8: We are out of here...
Up at the crack of dawn and out of our rooms early(b4 7a!)... one last free meal and the off to the Champagne Bar to wait our turn to leave the boat. Three and half hours later we were on our way back to Ft. Lauderdale... we stopped and ate since we had a ton of time. Found a place called Islamora Fish Company or something of the sort where I ate entirely too much, including a slice of Raspberry Cheescake Key Lime Pie! WOW! and just what are these numbers on the side of the menu and what do you mean I can't have one of everything? After lunch we dropped off the van headed for the airport and in a few hours we were home... vacation over... I think I need another to recover now!
Day 5: San Jaun, Puerto Rico
I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to see us come in to port. There is a castle right on the tip of a penisula that we were going right past that was to be spectacular. Well they were early and I damn near missed it. Anyway today we nothing planned so we went on a walking tour of the city. We did some shopping and some walking and ended up at the castle. It was hot as hell! After that we going to meet up with our group and go for lunch but thier tour ran long so C and I decided to go back for a t-shirt I wanted. Half way back we see a line of water coming across the bay and have to decied turn and run back or get wet... we got soaked! Damn cold too.
After the nice showers we made it back to the boat looking like drowned rats, got cleaned up and had some lunch at the pizza parlor. After that we tired so a little nap and it was time for dinner. We managed to get a group shot of all of us on the stairs in our formal get ups before dinner so hopefully that will come out.
After dinner we went to a show that was a single guy singing and doing immpressions. It was damn funny he got people from the audience up there with him and all of them cut up, it was great. After that we were off to the casino for some craps.
Well after the casino cleaned me out but maybe we can turn that around tonight... we are off today for a wave runner ride around Labadee. It's a RCI owned island and it looks like a Gilligan's Island type of experience. Two more days!
Woke up this morning and got a quick breakfast in the Windjammer cafe with Ed and Angie, grabbed the scuba gear and headed through the U.S. Customs check. Since it is a U.S. port all passengers must go through customs. After that we headed out to the pickup point and waited for the boat.
For those who I have not told the story... we decided to dive this trip awhile back and decided a private dive would be much better than a cruise sponsored trip. After looking around the internet we chose Blue Island Divers and after a half a dozen emails we decided to use them. A quick tour around the site revealed that they were affiliated with the Atlantis submarine, the same sub that the other three in our group would be doing while we were diving! So a couple of emails later we had a once in a lifetime dive set up... and it was Angie and mines first dive!
The boat picked us up and we headed out to the dive site BID had never done this before and so we were having to wing it a little, but the timing was perfect. We got to the bottom and waited about two minutes when this HUGE! sub came into view. They stopped right in front of us and we waved and they waved and Ed fed some fish. We could see C,K and K inside and video cams were running full tilt. We had paid for a video of our dive trip so we had video from inside and out and it was spectacular! After 5 minutes or so the sub took off and we went exploring. I saw so many fish... lots of tropical varieties and couple of baracuda... great fun and an incredible way to start our diving career. Even the experienced divers with us were going on and on about how cool that was.
Dive two was just a mile away, by the time I was there I was starting to get seasick so I got in first. We went down and dove over two wrecked Navy barges. Saw some more baracuda and huge Queen Angel. It would have been a prize fish in any marine aquarium! After cresting the 2nd barge we came up on two stingrays in the sand. As I tried to circle to get a picture, they took of we me chasing them. I swam side my side for a good 30 feet within reach of this stingray, it was so cool! We got to swim through the barges and we got to hold on to and play with an Arrow crab. I cannot wait to see the video! I sucked my air down in no time and had to come up after only 37 minutes but I had seen enough, I am hooked! I can't wait to get wet again. Judging by the reaction Angie has had she's in too.
Afterwards we hooked back up with C,K and K and heard thier side of the story... the people in the sub thought it was the highlight of the trip! After a quick lunch on the boat we decided to go shopping in St. Thomas. We headed out and as soon as we got out the bottom dropped out... it rained, we got wet and that was that. As I sit here now we have dried out and are about to go to dinner, Caribbean night tonight. I think they are going to make us dance tonight. ughhh... I'll try to get it on video.
