I'm still alive!
I have to admit, I've been pretty quiet if not downright antisocial the last few weeks. So, it's a good time for an update.
Over the holidays, I went on a long vacation, starting with a fantastic Panama Canal cruise with my good friends sabotlours, carol_kitty, albear, and dexter_fox.
This was a two week cruise starting in San Diego, and terminating in Ft. Lauderdale, God's Waiting Room. We had an absolute blast!
Of course, I couldn't go on this kind of trip without my travel mate, Duffy. :D
One thing about the tropics: It's fucking HOT! It was muggy hot and steamy as we started getting south of Cabo.
Fortunately, we found our place to deal with this:
There, we found the most awesome bartender ever: Hugh Roberts. He kept our thirst very well quenched!
The first stop, was in Cabo San Lucas. Not much to see there. Just a basic gringo-ized tourist trap not really too different than Havasu or Elephant Butte here in NM. Here's a picture of us doing the "Los Arcos" boat ride tour.
Next was Puerto Vallarta. No pictures from there. We really didn't do a whole lot other than go on a bit of a walk to Costco (LOL!), and to Wal-Mart. This is where it really started to get hot and muggy.
The first "interesting" port of call was Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. We took a bus ride up into the highlands and then a boat ride across Lake Atitlan to the small village of Panajachel, where we had lunch and a relatively upscale resort. The town itself is what you'd expect from the developing world:
Next was Puntarenas, Costa Rica. There we took a bus and train ride, then a boat ride on a river with lots of birds, and crocodiles:
Finally, on New Year's Eve we made it to the Panama Canal.
Since that was the whole point of this cruise, we took lots of pictures. However, there were some people on the ship who for whatever reason were content to sit on their behinds and miss it all. Why go on a "Panama Canal" if you're then going to just ignore it? It's one thing to read about the Panama Canal in history books, and see pictures of it. Quite another to lay your paws on it.
One of the interesting things to see there is the construction of the new canal. Here is one of the locks being built, along with one if its rather enormous gates.
One of the highlights of this trip was being able to set foot in a new continent: South America! Our last port of call was Cartagena, Colombia. Our tour wasn't all that interesting. I think their main focus was trying to herd people to the fucking tourist trap jewely shops. But we did get to spend some time at the big Spanish fortress, and in the old town. Here are some pics of the fortress. It's huge!
Hahaha! We couldn't resist getting a picture of this popular haunt of U.S. Secret Service members. I hear it's easy to get some action there. :D
Well, that's a relatively brief summary of the cruise. Like I said, it was a LOT of fun.
Being the glutton for punishment, that I am, I decided to also attend Further Confusion, with my FC roadtrip starting 5 days after arriving back in Albuquerque. I drove up to Salt Lake City, and then tugsie, and LilChu joined me on an epic road trip. Not only that, but I brought and set up my full-room blanket fort, like I've done at other cons. Here's the Jpeg for the photosphere I took.
FC was a lot of fun. I have to admit that I didn't really do too many con activities. I usually go to cons for the room parties.
After FC, we all got PCD: We headed to Anaheim for Post-Con Disney! Since we were hosting Lil'Chu from the Dominican Republic, Tugs and I decided to splurge and stay at the Grand Californian. If you can pull it off, this is THE way to go to Disneyland. You're right on property, and can literally walk to the parks in a few minutes. The hotel even has its own entrance to DCA! We had an awesome time at Disneyland, then made the long trip back to Salt Lake, via Las Vegas, staying at the Venetian for the night. (Another VERY nice hotel.)
So, it was an epic month-long vacation. I have to admit that I was starting to get tired of traveling,and was really glad when I walked through the door of my home in Albuquerque and was greeted by my kitties. They were VERY happy to see me.
Unfortunately, it wasn't over for me. I think my body decided to punish me, since I'd been going balls-to-the-wall for well over three months with stress at work prior to my vacation, and then all of the travel. I immediately came down with the nastiest cold and sinus infection that I've had in years. It took me out for the better part of two weeks, and all the while I had to soldier on at work, because so much needed to get done. I'm lucky that it didn't hit me during my vaction, and that I work from home, so I could get away trying to get my work done without having to call in sick.
Largely because I was contagious for two weeks, and miserable, I've been a bit antisocial. I really didn't want to share whatever crap had infected me. Also, I've been playing catch-up at work. Now, I'm pretty well caught up, so I can start coming out of my Nerd Cave a bit more. Spring is also approaching, and it's already unseasonably HOT. I actually had to run my AC a bit to cool the house off last week. I really wish all of you guys back East would just send us all that snow you're complaining about. We seriously need as much moisture as we can get out here in the Parched Southwest. :)
Well, that's it for now. I'm looking forward to getting into a good routine, and maybe losing some weight, and getting some projects done around the house.
Over the holidays, I went on a long vacation, starting with a fantastic Panama Canal cruise with my good friends sabotlours, carol_kitty, albear, and dexter_fox.
This was a two week cruise starting in San Diego, and terminating in Ft. Lauderdale, God's Waiting Room. We had an absolute blast!
Of course, I couldn't go on this kind of trip without my travel mate, Duffy. :D
One thing about the tropics: It's fucking HOT! It was muggy hot and steamy as we started getting south of Cabo.
Fortunately, we found our place to deal with this:
There, we found the most awesome bartender ever: Hugh Roberts. He kept our thirst very well quenched!
The first stop, was in Cabo San Lucas. Not much to see there. Just a basic gringo-ized tourist trap not really too different than Havasu or Elephant Butte here in NM. Here's a picture of us doing the "Los Arcos" boat ride tour.
Next was Puerto Vallarta. No pictures from there. We really didn't do a whole lot other than go on a bit of a walk to Costco (LOL!), and to Wal-Mart. This is where it really started to get hot and muggy.
The first "interesting" port of call was Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. We took a bus ride up into the highlands and then a boat ride across Lake Atitlan to the small village of Panajachel, where we had lunch and a relatively upscale resort. The town itself is what you'd expect from the developing world:
Next was Puntarenas, Costa Rica. There we took a bus and train ride, then a boat ride on a river with lots of birds, and crocodiles:
Finally, on New Year's Eve we made it to the Panama Canal.
Since that was the whole point of this cruise, we took lots of pictures. However, there were some people on the ship who for whatever reason were content to sit on their behinds and miss it all. Why go on a "Panama Canal" if you're then going to just ignore it? It's one thing to read about the Panama Canal in history books, and see pictures of it. Quite another to lay your paws on it.
One of the interesting things to see there is the construction of the new canal. Here is one of the locks being built, along with one if its rather enormous gates.
One of the highlights of this trip was being able to set foot in a new continent: South America! Our last port of call was Cartagena, Colombia. Our tour wasn't all that interesting. I think their main focus was trying to herd people to the fucking tourist trap jewely shops. But we did get to spend some time at the big Spanish fortress, and in the old town. Here are some pics of the fortress. It's huge!
Hahaha! We couldn't resist getting a picture of this popular haunt of U.S. Secret Service members. I hear it's easy to get some action there. :D
Well, that's a relatively brief summary of the cruise. Like I said, it was a LOT of fun.
Being the glutton for punishment, that I am, I decided to also attend Further Confusion, with my FC roadtrip starting 5 days after arriving back in Albuquerque. I drove up to Salt Lake City, and then tugsie, and LilChu joined me on an epic road trip. Not only that, but I brought and set up my full-room blanket fort, like I've done at other cons. Here's the Jpeg for the photosphere I took.
FC was a lot of fun. I have to admit that I didn't really do too many con activities. I usually go to cons for the room parties.
After FC, we all got PCD: We headed to Anaheim for Post-Con Disney! Since we were hosting Lil'Chu from the Dominican Republic, Tugs and I decided to splurge and stay at the Grand Californian. If you can pull it off, this is THE way to go to Disneyland. You're right on property, and can literally walk to the parks in a few minutes. The hotel even has its own entrance to DCA! We had an awesome time at Disneyland, then made the long trip back to Salt Lake, via Las Vegas, staying at the Venetian for the night. (Another VERY nice hotel.)
So, it was an epic month-long vacation. I have to admit that I was starting to get tired of traveling,and was really glad when I walked through the door of my home in Albuquerque and was greeted by my kitties. They were VERY happy to see me.
Unfortunately, it wasn't over for me. I think my body decided to punish me, since I'd been going balls-to-the-wall for well over three months with stress at work prior to my vacation, and then all of the travel. I immediately came down with the nastiest cold and sinus infection that I've had in years. It took me out for the better part of two weeks, and all the while I had to soldier on at work, because so much needed to get done. I'm lucky that it didn't hit me during my vaction, and that I work from home, so I could get away trying to get my work done without having to call in sick.
Largely because I was contagious for two weeks, and miserable, I've been a bit antisocial. I really didn't want to share whatever crap had infected me. Also, I've been playing catch-up at work. Now, I'm pretty well caught up, so I can start coming out of my Nerd Cave a bit more. Spring is also approaching, and it's already unseasonably HOT. I actually had to run my AC a bit to cool the house off last week. I really wish all of you guys back East would just send us all that snow you're complaining about. We seriously need as much moisture as we can get out here in the Parched Southwest. :)
Well, that's it for now. I'm looking forward to getting into a good routine, and maybe losing some weight, and getting some projects done around the house.