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Displaying entries tagged: Bermuda

There is more, but I just need to sleep

September 3, 2007 - 11:45

- Bermuda - Explorer of the Seas - After Effects - AJAX - Apple

The cruise was great. Overall, it was very relaxing, a quality many vacations often lack. The boat was huge and the amenities were plentiful. The ship, Explorer of the Seas, is new; with it's maiden voyage being in 2000. When I noticed all of the things in my room bearing the ships name, I initially thought that Royal Caribbean was simply acknowledging the fact that I myself was an explorer who happened to be at sea. When I later realized that no such acknowledgment had in fact taken place and that every room likely bared such items, I was not disappointed. I have posted some photos from the trip, the majority are ones I took, with there being some that my Mom took on her camera. Worthy to note, I really like being able to get someone else's entire "digital roll" of film from a trip I was also on. Not only was it nice having some of the very good shots my Mom took, but it is cool seeing the entire trip you were on through another persons eyes.

Here is a picture of our assistant waitress cutting my food for me. It's funny on its face, but even funnier because historically, cutting my food is my least favorite part about eating. Her name is Oana, pronounced as wanna:

Here is a picture of me in my new favorite hat:



The extended weekend I faced after returning to the inside Friday was nothing like the relaxing atmosphere I had just departed. I received phone calls from two different college friends during the cruise, each stating they were looking to visit during the weekend.My one friend and I went out pretty hard Friday night and had a great time. The next two days my other buddy and I really took advantage of the great weather as we hit up Grafton Lake State Park to walk some of the trails and then took a long bike tour around the city and then along the Hudson. We bought enough awesome food to grill that we were actually still able to make it out for a few hours each night. It was a really great weekend.

A picture of the ping pong table we moved outside:




[The rest of this post will likely be considered more boring than what you have just read, proceed with caution, if at all]

After being pretty lazy for the most part of the day, I finished a sequence for the New Orleans video slide show. This project is really just turning into a big sandbox, where I am trying out a ton of different ideas really quickly, that I would later slow down and use in future projects. Due to this, I will not spend an incredibly long amount of time polishing up some scenes that I see minor problems with when I watch it. I bought an After Effects book prior to the trip, it has proven to be a good investment, it has a lot of screen shots so it was actually useful even without the computer in front of me.

I got an urge to jump back into AJAX today, fear not, I resisted. I have some housecleaning I would like to do on this site, as well as some long overdue implementation of basic site functionality (looking up a forgotten password, blog comments in blog page, the list goes on forever...). I am fairly confident an AJAX approach will really get me the results I am looking for. And then there is the new picture page I have had on the back burner for a month or two...I am not too far from finishing it, but really need to figure out the best way to load a decent number of pictures in a reasonable amount of time, while also maintaining a snappy user interface. I might dabble a little bit more with AJAX in the near future, my last efforts bared me a fully functioning AJAX "set up" of pages but it was all proof of concept, as I quickly learned I was pursuing the wrong approach to what I was working on (Photo Album Bar on main page). With the kind of things I am now looking to work on, an AJAX approach is definitely appropriate, as everything will require the interaction of the server side database. With all that said there is a good chance that I will avoid any coding distractions as I continue my push on Discomentary Volume 1.

Well, I am tired.
Final thoughts you ask...?

-2 days until September 5th, I am very interested to see what Apple will release, with almost all speculation pointing at significantly improved iPods.

-I am VERY MAD at NBC. I blame them for the breakdown of talks regarding their content being on iTunes. I already bought a few Office seasons as well as all of Heros season 1, and now I can't continue my collection in the same format as what I already have. UGGGG to them.

[end of "more boring" stuff]

There is more, but I just need to sleep...from me, to you, inside to out, good night.

7,10,11,12,13,21

August 30, 2007 - 9:51

- Bermuda - casino - Soccer

I lay here in bed with the balconey door open, listening to the rather rough ocean, thinking about how I will spend this final day at sea. I have stratgicly limited my time in the casino so I could look to make a big run when the timing was just right, that day is today. I still havent finalized my plan of attack, but I may stray from my usual pattern of wearing down the casino in blackjack so I can deliver the knockout punch in roulette. Worthy to note, my single most amazing casino run happened almost exactley a year ago on a cruise to Mexico. The things that happened that day will likely never be recreated or surpassed. I think I will run a little craps today, maybe even before blackjack, such an uncharecteristic move on my part could potentially put the casino on its heels, allowing me to blitzkrieg the bank with little to no opposition from the Romanians who I have historically found to make up the majority of cruise casino staff.

There has been a ton of soccer on during the cruise, currently I'm watching a UEFA qualifier match between Arsenal and Sparta. I am still amazed about how much higher the level of competition is in pretty much any league and then the MLS. Very worthy to note though is the equalizer goal via bicycle kick from Klien of LA Galexy during their eventual penalty kick loss during yesterdays championship game against a team and a tournament who's names currently escape me. Also worthy to note is Beckhams new knee strain injury, I really hope he isn't out too long, he is obviously a superb soccer player as well as an all around good person.

Well I think i might get out of bed, lunch with the parents in about an hour and then likely the casino. I believe i have already determined the staple numbers to be used during roulette!

Bermuda

August 28, 2007 - 15:31

- Horseshoe Beach - Bermuda

Dear diary,
I am so happy that I am able to write to you via the iPhone. We arrived at Kings Wharf, Bermuda this morning. This is an amazing island country with crystal clear bluish/green water that i have only heard about prior to today. My parents and I took a bus to Horseshoe Beach, a popular hotspot. The beach has pristine white sand that gently rolls to the previously described water. The beach, as well as water, is dotted with huge rocky cliffs. I saw some people climbing these rocks and jumping into the water. I wanted to be one of those people but I wasnt, my better judgement along with my lack of rock climbing experience prevented me from doing it. How about if I slipt and got hurt? My parents would have seen the whole thing, what would that have done for their trip? I'll tell you what, it would have ruined it, and I'm not about to do that.

My stomache hurt me yesterday and I had a case of nausia for a good part of the day. I am reluctant to blame anyone but myself for such anguish, as I believe the crazy mixture of shots a few new friends of mine and I did caused that next day discomfort. I luckily took it pretty easy yesterday and now feel much better.

There are scooters people can rent to explore the island. I might do that tomorrow, but after seeing how crazy people drive here, I am having second thoughts.

I just woke up from a nice nap in my awesome room. I have my own balcony and even a couch! I think I am going to grab a quick bite to eat and then check out more of this island. I will have to keep it short, as our dinner seating starts at 8:30.

Buh bye for now diary!

iPad

August 21, 2007 - 11:4

- American Idol - Magic Stick - John from Cincinnati - Pest Control - Bermuda

It seems like forever since I have written a blog post. This makes me a little upset with myself, but I will not allow it to ruin the night. I just really don't know where to begin. I think I might jump all over the place, while I will try to maintain some chronological order, I will make no promises.

-I have been doing so many things lately, I feel like I should at least question whether or not some of this busyness is due to procrastination on my part. After thinking about it for a little while, I have concluded that procrastination, as well as myself, are not to blame for my lack of spare time. Furthermore, I have concluded that the said lack of spare has been acceptable, and not even slightly burdensome.

-The spring softball season ended this weekend with a night game Friday and an afternoon game Saturday. In a Perfect Storm like combination of events, my good friend/ex softball teammate was up for the weekend and stayed at my house, as well as played in both games. I felt the historically awkward feeling that you get when you see the sun come up two nights in a row. Part of me wants to be happy about all the fun I am pretty sure I just had, and part of me feels kind of upset because you know you probably shouldn't still be awake, and your heart definitely shouldn't be pumping as fast as it is. With that said, it was a very fun weekend, even though we unfortunately only won one of our two games.

-Chatter that I have been monitoring for a few weeks turned surprisingly true as I learned yesterday from Bard that he will in fact be auditioning for American Idol tomorrow in Miami, in front of Paula, Simon, and Randy. There was a screening process Sunday that he successfully navigated through, which now leads him to that infamous audition. This is really an ideal situation. He has unknowingly been preparing for this moment his whole life. He is 100% better than 65% of the people I have seen on the show, talent wise; and 100% more entertaining than 100% of them. I will be following this very closely.

-I have gotten a lot done on the New Orleans video, picture slide show, but I need a good 8-10 more hours to wrap it up. The lessons learned during this project will prove to be invaluable.

-I took the laptop to the Apple Store today because it has been sick. We are pursuing a software approach, but might have to resort to a hardware fix. An employee at the store said I should just buy a new one, opposed to pay the $350 flat fee involved in a repair. I looked at him at thought STUPID, but I smiled. Little does that employee know that I would choose to save that laptop over him, if they were both drowning (knowing it's fried circuits would make it no more than a beautiful paperweight).

-I believe Apple will come out with a 8.5 by 11 inch device, that will, simply put, resemble the iPhone. I will talk to you for hours if you want to know why.

-Terminex told me that on a scale of 1 - 10, my house is at a level 2, in regards to bugs and mice and stuff like that. I told the exterminator man that his news made me happy, and that I would like to continue my enrollment in their protection plan to ensure myself, as well as my tenants, can live pest free.

-I now remember why it has been so long since my last blog post. The mud eating scumbags at HBO have done it again. They have literally ripped the heart out of my chest, again. They canceled "John from Cincinnati". I can almost not bear to even talk about it, or even talk about anything else. That show was SO good. It definitely rivaled LOST in it's attractiveness to my brain. HBO did this same exact thing a few years ago with "Carnival". After a SUPER climatic season 2 finale/cliffhanger, they canceled the show. To this day, I have not gotten over Carnival, and then then take John. UGGG...I get a huge stomach ache even thinking about these shows, or even HBO (unless something good is on). If anyone wants to research, and then tell me, where I can buy the books or manuscripts or whatever, telling me about whatever was written for these two shows, after they got canceled, then I would consider myself to owe you a great, non-financial, debt.

-I have entered into a project with a friend. It involves a website and a client. I am excited about it.

There is just so much more to talk about, yet I needed to goto bed like forever ago. In less than one week I will be in Bermuda, with my parents, in the sun, on a cruise. I don't even allow myself to think about how much fun it is going to be, as there are so many things that I need to do before I go.

That was a quick glimpse of the inside.
I hope your inside is going well.
From mine, to yours, good night.