Easter Sunday Beer

This was a very different Easter. It was my first Easter ever without my Dad. Since my brother and his wife just flew to Germany, that left my sister and I to find a place to eat. We ended up at the Princess Pub & Grille in Little Italy, where we drank beer and ate fish and chips plus a tasty salmon quesadilla. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Then I came home and took a long nap. Guess I'll be up for a while.

Spring Break 2005 - Last Day

Day 6 was our last day of vacation and our travel home day. After checking out of the hotel, we headed back to the Orioles park to see them play the Red Sox. This game was almost sold-out with the bandwagon BoSox fans. Our seats were in the shade, which was a relief, because today was the hottest day at 86 degrees. The game was fun to watch, but we had to leave by 4 PM to return the car and catch our flight. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. The flight to Dallas was on-time. However, in Dallas there was two delays. First, the flight attendants were late. Then, after we started to taxi to the runway, we stopped so they could fix an alarm that was going off in the cabin. This took about 30 minutes. We landed in San Diego at 11:45, about 45 minutes late. I got home around 12:30 in the morning and to bed by 1:30. I made the mistake of calling work in Dallas and found out there was a problem I had to fix. I was thinking of taking Friday off, but after five hours of sleep, I was getting ready for work.

This vacation was really fun. However, next year we will be back in Phoenix, where the plane trip is just one hour. I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep, and am suffering from jet-lag.

I will post more photos on my web page later this week, so check back.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 5

We decided to stay an extra day so we could take a break from baseball and go see the Florida Everglades. We were all moving slow from the night before, especially me. The closest park was Everglades Holiday Park. We would have gotten there quicker, but when we stopped for gas in Weston, FL, we couldn't find a gas station. This was some kind of resort town, where all the roads were lined with perfectly groomed, evenly spaced trees. No buildings of any kind were visible from the roads. Every time we asked someone for directions, they told us to go the opposite direction than we were heading. Finally we found a station and headed to the park. There was about a 30 minutes wait for a boat, and luckily it wasn't very full. The tour was one hour long and narrated by the captain. Our guide had been working there for 20 years and knew where to find the alligators. The first alligator we saw was named Hansom, because for being an old alligator, he had only a few cuts. This gator didn't mind the boat and sat there for our picture taking. The guide explained the history of the Everglades, how the wildlife survive and what all the plants were. We saw about six alligators, including males, females and a two year old. The female was the most threatening one. She looked like she was ready to jump in the boat, but she didn't. The boat ride itself was half the fun. The guide got the boat going full speed and navigated the canals like a pro. The water was perfectly flat, so the ride was very smooth. Back at the dock, Steve and I headed to the second half of the show, where we saw some scary looking, pirate-like man wrestle an alligator. The gator didn't put up much of a fight. In fact, is was kind of sad. This show lasted only 10 minutes and I took no photos.

Our next stop was the hotel for me and poker for the others. I slept and got ready for the evening, which began with dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food was really good, and expensive. I ate the Chilean sea bass which was topped with a delicious sauce. After dinner we went to a place in Hollywood for some entertainment. Let's just say photos were not allowed in this establishment. By 1:30 AM we were tired and so our last full day ended.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 4

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale early enough to pre-checkin to our hotel, which was right on the beach. We drove to the park to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play the Baltimore Orioles. This park was the least noteworthly one on the trip, however, we did have excellent seats behind homeplate. Nobody really cares about these two team, including us, so after a few beers and a sausage, we went to the hotel. For dinner we ate at Hooters, where the service was bad but the food was good. Steve asked the concierge where to go for a wild Spring Break experience and he directed us to the Baja Club downtown. We took a taxi there where we had a very interesting conversation with the Jamaican driver about American politics. The deal at the Baja club was with the $15 admission you get to drink for free all night. When we walked in there were only a handful of people there. However, it was only ten. We got our first free drink, a rum and coke, and found a place to eat. The main events for this night was foam dancing and a wet tee shirt contest. We came looking for decadence and debauchery and weren't leaving until we saw it. As the night went on the club got really crowded. It took awhile before people started to dance in the foam that was falling from above, but finally some brave party-goers jumped in. After watching them dance in the foam for about an hour, I had just enough to drink to jump in myself. I hadn't intended to do this, and was not dressed appropriately, but there I was, dancing in the foam. I made many trips to the dance floor, slowing getting my cloths very wet, including my only pair of shoes. Around 2:30 AM they began the wet tee shirt contest. I won't go into detail, since this is a family-friendly blog, plus my memory of this night is slightly blurry (darn free drinks!), but this was the decadence we were looking for. So after the contest, we caught a cab back to the hotel and next thing I knew it was morning and boy did my head hurt. Day 5 had no baseball, just alligators.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 3

Day 3 started off with Jon and Steve taking Mark to the airport at 5:30 AM as I slept. After eating our free breakfast, which was not very good for an Embassy Suits, we headed to our next destination, Vero Beach, to see the Red Sox play the Dodgers at Holman Stadium. Using our trusty map, we decided to take the Florida Turnpike. Somehow, we missed our turn and ended up having to drive the I95 South. Steve and I saw a small sign that read "Florida Turnpike", but it didn't say anything like, "Next Exit" or "3 Miles". Luckily, the I95 was not too busy. We had to go straight to the ballpark. Arriving after the first pitch, we found our seats, which were lawn seats. The park was packed, so we sat down in a semi-obstructed area. I managed to buy a Dodger Dog, my first one, and it was quite good. After two innings, we moved to the standing-room area behind home plate, where the view was much better. Even though this was the Dodger's stadium, most fans were cheering for the Red Sox. Way to jump on the bad wagon. As usual, we left before the end of the game and went to find our hotel. This hotel had just reopened after being repaired from the hurricane damage. There was evidence of hurricane throughout Florida, mostly damaged billboards and fallen trees. For dinner we ate a sports bar called Duffy's. We went back there for late-night happy hour but went to bed early since there was nothing to do in this town. There was a very spectacular lightening storm that night and lots of rain. The worst of the storm hit while were lost trying to find the restaurant. So much for Vero Beach. Day 4 begins our Ft. Lauderdale experience.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 2

Game 2 was easier to find. The St. Louis Cardinals @ Atlanta Braves played at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, not too far from our hotel. We didn't get lost finding this place, for once. Getting lost and taking wrong turns was the theme of our trip. We ended up exploring parts of Florida that we would not have normally seen had we turned right instead of left. Anyways, as you might expect, this park was the nicest of all the parks, since it was owned by Disney, a multi-billion dollar company. We had great seats right behind home plate in the fourth row. The day was much warmer that the previous day and the sun was shining brightly. We watched the game, ate some food and left after the 8th inning. This ballpark definitely had a Disney family-friendly feel. Between each inning, a very peppy woman brought some fan out, usually a kid, on top of the dug-outs and gave them a chance to win a prize, which they all did. Back at the hotel we took a short break and went to the free happy-hour that Embassy Suits offers. We had no plans for the night, so we decided to go back to Downtown Disney for dinner and more Pleasure Island. We ate at the House of Blues. Jon and I both got the jambalaya, which was very, very, very hot! It was way more food than I could eat, so I ate all the good stuff and left the rice. Jon took his leftovers in a doggy bag. Steve and Mark both had ribs which were also more than they could eat. With our passes from PI the night before, we got tickets for $5. It was raining so the crowds were much smaller. We went to some of the same clubs, but with the rain and small crowds, it just wasn't too fun. The band in the Beach Club was really bad. So we went back to the hotel since Mark had to fly home early in the morning. Day 3 takes us to the next city - Vero Beach.

Spring Break 2005 - Day 1

After sleeping for four hours and getting Mark (who flew the red-eye via Chicago) at the airport, we headed to our first baseball game - the Toronto Blue Jays @ Houston Astros in Kissimmee. Using the map provided by the rental car agency, we attempted to find Kissimee, Fl. What should have taken us 45 minutes took almost two hours thanks to wrong turns and general confusion on all our parts. However, we still made it to the park with time to spare. The park was nice but the game itself was uneventful. We left after the 7th inning so we could go back to the hotel and take a power-nap in anticipation for tonight fun. The big event of the night was Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney. First we ate dinner at the Bongo's Cuban Cafe, a restaurant co-owned by singer Gloria Estefan. I had eaten Cuban food in Key West before and liked it, so I thought this would be good too. I wasn't impressed with the fish dinner I had - I think the fish in Key West is fresher and the food more authentic since the restaurants there are owned by actual Cubans. However, the live music at Bongo's was enjoyable and we didn't have to wait 45 minutes for our seats since the upstairs bartender unexpectedly took us out of the line and seated us rather quickly at his bar.

Next stop, Pleasure Island. PI is a collection of themed clubs. You pay $22 to enter and then have access to all the clubs. The first club we entered, 8TRAX, played music from the 70's and 80's. We had a few drinks there, watched people danced and then moved on to the BET SoundStage Club. Jon couldn't stand the music so he went out for a smoke and Mark, Steve and I had a drink. The night was still young and not many people were dancing. So we left and ended up at Motions, where they played top 40 music. This club was not too interesting, so we went to Rock 'N Roll Beach Club. They had a live band playing classic rock. This band was really good. We were impressed that they played the music that they liked, which was not necessarily the popular rock songs. They played obscure songs by Pink Floyd and The Who, and played them well. The crowd was small but seemed to enjoy the music. After they finished their second set, we journeyed to Mannequins Dance Palace. This ended up being my favorite place. The dance floor was a large rotating disk. I never thought that dancing on a rotating floor could be so fun, but is was. There were interesting people there, including someone dressed up in a Tron outfit. If you don't know what Tron is then you are too young. After getting our fill of this place, we went back to the Beach House to hear the bands third set. The finished around 2:30 AM and it was time to go home. We went to sleep around 3:30 AM. I am calling this "Day 1", but all the days kind of blurred together. Stay tuned for Day 2.

Fun, Foam, and Fans in Florida

For the past ten years I have taken a trip to Phoenix, AZ to watch Spring training baseball with my friends. This year we decided to travel to Florida to see different teams and check out the Spring Break scene. We wanted to hang-out with the college students and pretend that we were 15 years younger. Steve, Jon and I spent six days there and Mark joined us for two days. The three of us flew round trip first class thanks to frequent flyer miles on American Airlines. I had never flown first class before, just business class once. First class on the planes we flew on, 757 and MD-80, was nice, but not as good as I had hoped. The seats are bigger than in coach, but not much more leg room, and there was no foot rests. The food was good on the first leg of the trip, but the on the leg from Dallas to Orlando all we got was a bag of peanuts, not even heated! Drinks, of course, were plentifully. We landed at 12:30 AM, got our rental car, drove to the hotel and checked in at 2 AM. Then we had to wake up at 9 AM to go to the airport to pick up Mark. This takes us to day 1. Read on to find out about the fun, foam and fans in Florida.

Spring Break 2005 - Everglades

I just got home from my Spring training/Spring break vacation in Florida. This trip was six fun filled days long, and I have fantastic pictures to show and riveting stories to tell. For now I'll start you off with this photo of Steve, Jon and I at Everglades Holiday Park. This is the picture that the tour guide takes before you get on the boat and then charges you for after the ride. Since it was a good photo and the tour was worth the price, I bought it. More about this adventure later.

Kermit the Frog Likes Beer Too

Kermit the Frog and I are enjoying a beer together after a productive but exhausting day of house cleaning. Kermit is really drunk as you can tell by the ways his eyes are bugging out. Oh wait, that's me!

Ionic Breeze Air Cleaner

I am looking to buy a better air cleaner, or two, for my house, since I suffer more and more from allergies. I was ready to buy an Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image until I started reading reviews. According to Consumer Reports, the Ionic Breeze is useless. They gave it the poorer rating in its ability to clean dust and smoke, and claim it only cleans an area of 2 sq. ft. (most room filters can clean 200 to 500) The author of an independent review I read on the internet said that the ozone created by the Ionic Breeze gave him sever headaches. According to Consumer Reports, the best air filter was the Friedrich C-90A followed by the Kenmore 83202. Yes, they do have filters that need to be replaced at a cost, but they also clean the air. So don't let that commercial for the Ionic Breeze that shows dust and smoke being pulled out the air fool you like it has too many people - don't buy one. I'll let you know what I end up buying and how I like it.

That's a lot of miles!

I keep getting coupons from Toyota that say:

"At 1,046,250 miles we recommend the following:"

Wow! I knew Toyotas lasted a long time, but over 1 million miles? How optimistic of them. If I drove 15,000 miles/year, it would take 66 years to drive that many miles. By 2066, I hope that we will all be using Star Trek like transporters and cars will be a relic of the past.

I'm Made in Korea?

Here is a well written article about how animation for The Simpsons is done in South Korea. Please don't let this news enrage your opinion about "out-sourcing" of American jobs to foreign countries. The way I see it, would you be willing to pay $10,000 for a new computer? That's what you'd have to pay if the computer and its parts were made in America - at least. Don't get me wrong, I support unions and well paying jobs, but I believe that the US also benefits when our citizens can afford cheap durable goods. It gives us more disposable income to be spent on fine dining and exotic vacations here in our own country. Do I know what I'm talking about? Perhaps. Just because I'm a computer programmer and not a economist doesn't mean I'm ignorant of other professions.