Monthly Archive for May, 2008

Back from the Boat

Published on May 28, 2008 in Life. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The trip was wonderful! The boat was so much bigger than I imagined. Like a little floating town. We were on the Main deck and towards the very front of the boat, so we could look out the window and see the boats wake right below us, and hear it while we were sleeping, very nice. There were so many things to do on the boat. On deck there was putt-putt golf, ping-pong, swimming pools, hot tubs, water balloon games, chess, shuffle board, and of course, lounging and sight-seeing. Inside they had shops, several bars, restaurants, theaters, and a library. All the food was free, except for pastries, cokes, specialty coffees, and bar drinks. They had all sorts of food, even a sushi bar. Dinner was served in the formal dining room, or you could always go to the buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ice cream & Pizza was available 24 hrs. a day, as was room service. In the dinning room a few of the interesting things I had were lobster, es cargo (and es cargo soup), strawberry soup, cherries jubilee, backed Alaskan, shrimp cocktails and big plates of fruit with every meal, and other stuff I just can’t remember right now.  The buffet always had a special meat that they carved for you, and an area with a special theme, such as Indian Food.

The excursions were different than I had previously wrote. The first one was at Progreso, Yucatan. We went to the Dzibilchaltun Mayan archaeological site. This is the home of the Temple of the Seven Dolls. This is the temple where the sun aligns with the windows during the solstice & equinox. The guide even mentioned that NASA uses this as a tool for measurement. While resting, we sat on the “bleachers” of the field that they played their morbid ball game (tossing balls, or enemy heads, through hoops, in which the winning captain was killed). To cool off everyone went down to the Cenote de X’Lacah a large sinkhole. I believe the sinkhole, and many others in the area were created by the asteroid that affected the extinction of the dinosaurs. Afterwards, we visited the New Mayan World Museum. Seeing wild iguanas was fun too.

The second excursion was at Cozumel. We rode Rhino ATV’s down to the Punta Sur Ecological Park. My Mom loved driving. The ride back from the Rhino shed was on a Mercedes Benz Uni-Mog, or what the guide called a “Mexican Limo”. At the Punta Sur refuge we saw the Punta Celarain Lighthouse, saltwater crocodiles, more iguanas, and beautiful sandy beaches. I walked down to the rocky beach by the lighthouse and there were so many large shells and pieces of coral and sponges, it was a shame that I couldn’t pick them up for my collection (no not really, i understand it’s a eco-refuge).  Along the way we saw the Temple of the Sixteen Conchs. It was a small square building with the corners facing the cardinal directions. On the top was a small square chimney which had four holes on each side. The Mayans of the island used this temple as a weather station. The holes were made from conch shells, four of which were inserted into each side of the upper square. The Mayans could tell the wind direction and speed by the sounds of the conch shells. They also used smoke as an alert system.

We returned to the beach to go snorkeling. Hunter got some cute little flippers, and the guide took him out with us and he got to snorkel and see fish! I’m so glad he got to do that. The coral was right up next to the shore. Just amazing, in the clear water. I saw several parrot fish, sea urchins, sea shells, all sorts of coral, and several other colorful fish. The waves were too bad for my Mom to go in, but she got to have a cerveza at the beach.

Now, as far as the Mayan civilization disappearing… I have a new outlook on that now. It is not what it seems from the stores you hear on TV etc. Most of our guides were part Mayan and told us of where other Mayans are currently living and things that happened in the past. So it seems to me that the Mayans are still here and going strong. They just evolved through the generations as we did. Although there were declines in their civilization from disease, etc. (as you hear on TV).

On the way home across the gulf I saw a shark! It was a very large one swimming by the boat while we were in the middle of the gulf. It was in the sun and right by the surface of the water. Yes, I am sure it was a shark, the tail was proper, the swimming action was proper, and no it was not jumping along the front of the boat saying arch-arch-arch (not a flippin’ little dolphin).

We also saw flying fish! I had no idea they really flew. I had thought they just jumped and then glided. But no, they actually flap their little fins and fly! I thought it was a dragonfly at first, and then thought no there are no insects out here, and then I thought little bird, but none of those out here either. Then a whole school of them started flying around, it was awesome.

On the drive back home we stopped by NASA JSC (Johnson Space Center). My mom and Hunter had never been there. It had changed alot since I was last there. Much more security, and the Saturn V had a building built around it. The new building has several informational displays. One for each Apollo mission and one for the new mission, and a few others. Hunter and I had to look at every single one. (Apollo 1 made him really sad.) He showed me all the parts of the rocket he wanted a picture of. He has always said he wants to go to the moon. He would point and say “how far away is that”, “can we go to it”. And “could I use a ladder to get there?”. There were also beautiful wildflowers planted all around the rockets, Ladybird would be proud.

I will post some pictures when I get a chance…

big boat

Published on May 11, 2008 in Life. 0 Comments Tags: , .

We are leaving tomorrow to go on the cruise! We are going on the Ecstasy, of the Carnival Fantasy Class ships. We are leaving from Galveston and heading to the Caribean, stopping at Progreso & Cozumel. At Progreso we will drive to the Xcambo Mayan Ruins and down to the beach in a Rhino. Then at Cozumel we will travel through the Punta Sur Ecological Park and go snorkling (Mom & Hunter are both going to snorkle). I’m not allowed to use my phone or the internet cafe on the boat, so I will be completly “jacked out” next week. I will let you know all about it when I get back.

Beer OS

Published on May 2, 2008 in Technology. 0 Comments Tags: .

I found this old one while I was organizing my stuff… still a goody :)

BEERS OF THE (SOFTWARE) WORLD

DOS Beer:
Requires you to use your own can opener, and requires you to read the directions carefully before opening the can. Originally only came in an 8-oz. can, but now comes in a 16-oz. can. However, the can is divided into 8 compartments of 2 oz. each, which have to be accessed separately. Soon to be discontinued, although a lot of people are going to keep drinking it after it’s no longer available.

Mac Beer:
At first, came only a 16-oz. can, but now comes in a 32-oz. can. Considered by many to be a “light” beer. All the cans look identical. When you take one from the fridge, it opens itself. The ingredients list is not on the can. If you call to ask about the ingredients, you are told that “you don’t need to know.” A notice on the side reminds you to drag your empties to the trashcan.

Windows 3.1 Beer:
The world’s most popular. Comes in a 16-oz. can that looks a lot like Mac Beer’s. Requires that you already own a DOS Beer. Claims that it allows you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously, but in reality you can only drink a few of them, very slowly, especially slowly if you are drinking the Windows Beer at the same time. Sometimes, for apparently no reason, a can of Windows Beer will explode when you open it.

OS/2 Beer:
Comes in a 32-oz can. Does allow you to drink several DOS Beers simultaneously. Allows you to drink Windows 3.1 Beer simultaneously too, but somewhat slower. Advertises that its cans won’t explode when you open them, even if you shake them up. You never really see anyone drinking OS/2 Beer, but the manufacturer (International Beer Manufacturing) claims that 9 million six-packs have been sold.

Windows 95 Beer:
You can’t buy it yet, but a lot of people have taste-tested it and claim it’s wonderful. The can looks a lot like Mac Beer’s can, but tastes more like Windows 3.1 Beer. It comes in 32-oz. cans, but when you look inside, the cans only have 16 oz. of beer in them. Most people will probably keep drinking Windows 3.1 Beer until their friends try Windows 95 Beer and say they like it. The ingredients list, when you look at the small print, has some of the same ingredients that come in DOS beer, even though the manufacturer claims that this is an entirely new brew.

Windows NT Beer:
Comes in 32-oz. cans, but you can only buy it by the truckload. This causes most people to have to go out and buy bigger refrigerators. The can looks just like Windows 3.1 Beer’s, but the company promises to change the can to look just like Windows 95 Beer’s – after Windows 95 beer starts shipping. Touted as an “industrial strength” beer, and suggested only for use in bars.

Unix Beer:
Comes in several different brands, in cans ranging from 8 oz. to 64 oz. Drinkers of Unix Beer display fierce brand loyalty, even though they claim that all the different brands taste almost identical. Sometimes the pop-tops break off when you try to open them, so you have to have your own can opener around for those occasions, in which case you either need a complete set of instructions, or a friend who has been drinking Unix Beer for several years.

AmigaDOS Beer:
The company has gone out of business, but their recipe has been picked up by some weird German company, so now this beer will be an import. This beer never really sold very well because the original manufacturer didn’t understand marketing. Like Unix Beer, AmigaDOS Beer fans are an extremely loyal and loud group. It originally came in a 16-oz. can, but now comes in 32-oz. cans too. When this can was originally introduced, it appeared flashy and colorful, but the design hasn’t changed much over the years, so it appears dated now. Critics of this beer claim that it is only meant for watching TV anyway.

VMS Beer:
Requires minimal user interaction, except for popping the top and sipping. However cans have been known on occasion to explode, or contain extremely un-beer-like contents. Best drunk in high pressure development environments. When you call the manufacturer for the list of ingredients, you’re told that is proprietary and referred to an unknown listing in the manuals published by the FDA. Rumors are that this was once listed in the Physicians’ Desk Reference as a tranquilizer, but no one can claim to have actually seen it.

My addition:

Vista Beer:
The can is see-through and when you tilt it, you can see all the ingredients lined up next to each other. There is a warning label on the can that says “Before you take that sip, make sure that is really what you want to do”, and under that it says “It’s possible that someone is forcing you to drink this, or someone may actually be drinking it for you”. Sometimes your can opener works and sometimes it doesn’t. It comes in 32 & 64oz. bottles, but most people feel more comfortable with the 32oz. Why get a 64oz when you can have a few 32oz.  It comes in many flavors, and usually the bar tender just gives you one and tells you that you can change it by pouring the new one into the same glass.

Data Organization

Published on May 1, 2008 in Technology. 0 Comments Tags: , .

I’ve been trying to get all my data organized on my hard drive. What a task! All the ebooks, mp3’s, applications, etc. I’m trying to get more of it available to the community, with .torrents and plain P2P.

new hardware

Published on May 1, 2008 in Technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I purchased a new headset and webcam with some of my birthday money. The headset is a Logitech ClearChat Style, and I really like it. My sound card has Headphone Virtualization, which makes it sound really good. I’ve been playing around with speech recognition in Vista. It has been working pretty cool for dictation, and some command tasks.  And I’ll be able to join in my friend’s podcasts over at dotpaw.org.

The headset came bundled with a Labtec WebCam 1200. Not necessarily a great one, but hey it was bundled :) I’ve had some odd problems with activating the software, and with the picture quality, but trying to work out the software issues first. And it’s made to go on a flat panel monitor, and i have a 21″ CRT, so I have to use the “stand up” option, which is not stable.

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