April 29, 2004
Honeymoon Day 2-5: Yosemite
We left Sonoma to head over to Yosemite National Park, a 4 hour trip southeast from Sonoma. I did a whole lot of driving around California the last time we were there, and I like driving around new places so I pretty much enjoyed a majority of the drive. Nearer to Yosemite there were a lot of "white knuckle" sections, lots of curves with cliffs just off them with little or no railing. Also there is absolutely nothing about 100 miles outside of Yosemite so stopping for lunch was a little tough.
We go to the hotel in the mid afternoon, we ended staying in the Yosemite View Lodge, a rocks throw from the main entrance to the park (which is really not true, the main entrance they are referring to is just a gate with "Yosemite National Park" sign attached to it, it's miles before you're really into the park). The room was pretty standard fair, although it was funny to me that there were signs in the room begging people to conserve power, and there was a hot tub in the room big enough to hold a family of four. Doesn't it take electricity it heat water? Anyway the other cool thing was the balcony which opened out right to the Merced river, ah the sound of running water all night, very calming. Another thing I found humorous was the amount of liquor sold in the lobby store of the hotel, definitely an indicator of a lack of things to do around the hotel (and in that general area) after dark.
We decided to head into the park while we had some daylight left, and it really is amazing. I mean you must see to believe amazing. We're from Florida, in Florida there are no mountains, at best you get some hills and most of those hills have ants crawling out of them, so seeing mountains like this was a treat. I'm not a huge "outdoor-sy" person, I haven't been really on since the boy scout troop I was a member of broke up. So you can imagine my surprise when we stopped at the first waterfall and I bounded up the rocks like Carroll's white rabbit. It's truly a magical place, peaceful, quiet, with "nature" smells I wish I could bottle up.
On our second night we had dinner reservations at The Ahwahnee Dining Room which is in the The Ahwahnee, a hotel that's in the center of Yosemite Village, and has stood there since 1927. It kind of gave me a sort of The Shining vibe to it, but it was still very quaint and the food was excellent. The only other thing I could really mention about it, was during dinner we were probably some of the youngest people there. It was filled with blue-hairs! I guess that's a big place for retirees to hang out if they have oodles of the "cash money".
The only other thing truly interesting about that night was the drive back. Now The Ahwahnee is 15 miles from the entrance to the park, so we obviously had to drive 15 miles back to the hotel. It was dark. Dark... literally like you've never seen before, because you couldn't see three feet in front of you. Oh and there were a whole lot of curves and that whole danger of falling off the cliff thing I mentioned before. Oh it was such a treat.
Anyway we finished off the last day running around while my new wife took a ton of pictures. I got to see a coyote, walk pretty close to El Capitan, and got to walk on a horse-shit covered trail.
All-in-all a great part of the honeymoon.
Day 2-5 of Honeymoon: Completed
Contribute to John Kerry's Campaign
It's Thursday again! (yes I missed a Thursday, but we are now back on schedule)
Send John Kerry some money.
April 28, 2004
April 27, 2004
Triumphant return and some reviews
First off I swear I will continue to regale everyone with stories of the honeymoon, but here are some reviews I was going to do prior the whole madness of getting married. Oh and obviously me and my beautiful bride have returned from California. You know what sucks about returning from California to Florida? First thing, is the humidity here in Florida, where the hell did all this moisture come from? The other thing is the fact that it's midnight and it feels like nine o'clock, it's going to be a late night. Anyway here are some reviews. Oh and to warn you folks the second review will be "adult" in nature.
Fight Club #1 Howard Chaykin & David Tischman - Writers, David Hahn Artist
It's "The Godfather" meets vampires, absolutely wonderful, my only complaint is that I'm not a big fan of "cartoon-ey" art. The story is about a mob-vampire boss who mysteriously dies and all the expected turmoil afterwards. The entire family must return and although it's not shown in the first issue, you can feel there will be a big showdown to tear apart the old man's empire. Highly recommended.
New X-Men #155 Chuck Austen - Writer, Salvador Larroca - Artist
Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. I got tired of pasting the word "crap". Marvel, can't you have just taken 24 pictures of Chuck Austen taking a shit on a stack of the entire run of Morrison's New X-Men? Wouldn't that have been easier than paying an artist, letterer, etc? Nice work on ruining it for me guys. Take a bow. Wouldn't recommend to anyone.
April 25, 2004
April 24, 2004
Honeymoon Day 1: Sonoma
Ok, officially I'm not writing this after day one of my honeymoon. That's due to the overwhelming lack of internet access in Yosemite (or Honeymoon Days 2-5). Anyway, we got into Sonoma in the late morning on Tuesday. The day was pretty miserable; grey, wet and hazy, but we were in Sonoma, so who really cares? Anyway, we checked into our hotel, the lovely Lodge at Sonoma, a Marriott owned resort that's a collection of little cottages surrounded by roses, smack in the middle of Sonoma proper. The room was large, with a spa tub, couch, fireplace, incredibly comfortable bed and the room even had it's own little private patio for sitting out and sipping wine. Pretty sweet.
We decided to try Sonoma as one of our stops for our honeymoon due to the fact that we visited Napa during the summer and loved it. Now first off, we noticed that Sonoma is a bit different that Napa, Napa is filled with huge mega-wineries with thousands of acres surrounding usually a large picturesque tasting house. Over at Sonoma we only saw one "uber" winery (The Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves), the rest (that we visited) were mostly small producers. It feels a bit more "rural" in Sonoma, with hundreds of small farms dotted about with grapes, cows, goats, you name it. All things I didn't notice while visiting Napa.
Both places are wonderful, anyone interested in wine at all should visit. It was during our visit to Sonoma that I came up with a theory on one of the reasons why I love visiting the wine country.
For the very few that know me, I have a French baronship attached to my name. Now most people know that the French don't follow the aristocracy anymore, so it's pretty much worthless in France. But it's the history of it all that really intrigues me. Supposedly, as the history has been told to me, this baron relative of mine had a winery while living in France. During the French Revolution, the family was kicked out of France and ended up in Cuba. My relatives tried to grow grapes in Cuba, but sadly due to a variety of conditions they couldn't re-create from the French countryside that they used to live, they sadly never succeded.
Now based on that history (which could be all crap for all I know), I think I've developed the taste for growing grapes. I currently have a few measly vines growing in my apartment (sadly in Florida there's probably little chance for them to grow any grapes), and would love to someday purchase some land in the wine country and try my had at wine growing in a bigger scale (and with better conditions).
Well enough of this rambling about crazy theories, back to the trip. We visited several small wineries, including a favorite of ours Ravenswood Winery, most of them were absolutely wonderful. One of our favorites (and the first we visited) was Buena Vista Winery, they had some lovely wines and we picnic-ed in their woodsy picnic area. Bartholomew Park Winery didn't have the greatest of wines, but had some really cool trails in the back that we wandered around. Sadly we had only a day to visit Sonoma, so most of the day was spent fighting the clock for daylight, but all-in-all it was quite enjoyable.
Day 1 of Honeymoon: Completed
April 19, 2004
Last Nights Flight
Due to Frontier canceling our original flight, we had to fly out of Orlando pretty late in the afternoon for our honeymoon. The first flight to our Denver layover was a joy, good legroom, decent snack, and Direct TV satellite for each of us. The flight to San Francisco though...wow did that suck wind. It was hot, cramped, the plane was ridiculously old (I'm not the greatest of flyers, and the last thing I want to see is a plane that's older than my youngest brother), I was counting the seconds for us to land.
April 17, 2004
April 16, 2004
Paul Frank - Business
Business article on Paul Frank and his slow track to success.
Check it out here.
April 15, 2004
Comics and Mail Order
Correct me if I'm wrong, but does somebody out there publish a monthly (or quarterly) mail order catalog for comics? I'm not talking about Previews. I'm talking something more along the lines of the Pottery Barn catalog. You know something snazzy like that.
I can hear you all screaming, yes I realize that new comics are out every month and the catalog would become a tome as big as Previews. I'm talking something with a decent snapshot of the market as a whole, with the ability to buy the prior issues of whatever their displaying as well. Does anyone do anything remotely like this?
Cause the comic world is really just mail order. Anything you know your local comics retailer isn't selling you point at in Previews and they should be getting for you (if your retailer is any good that is). Yes, I know there are plenty of retailers on the web who offer a decent selection of comics searchable online. But have they tried the whole mail order catalog bit? I used to get a mail order catalog in the early 90's (the ancient days pre-internet) and we would get a majority of our comics that way.
See, what I'm thinking of is a catalog offered by retailers that are located around the country. That way when orders come in each retailer fulfills the order based on geographic location. This would obviously need to involve plenty of infrastructure for ordering as well as the possibly of adding additional staff to the shops that would need to fulfill the orders. It's along the lines of the Amazon model (or at least the early days of Amazon), with fulfillment centers peppered around the country, so you wouldn't have to pay $4.00 in shipping charges for ordering $5.00 in comic books. Hell, you might even be able to just pick up the book at a local store that you may have never entered before for some reason or the other.
Is this crazy?
April 14, 2004
Pictures of a London cemetery
Some nice looking pictures of Highgate Cemetery in Northern London.
Check it out here.
(Link courtesy of BoingBoing)
Ecto
The last entry (Funny Joke) was entered using a piece of software called Ecto, it's pretty sweet. And it seems to support a majority of blog software.
Check it out and support them if you like it.
Funny Joke
I got emailed this from a coworker, I enjoyed it immensely.
Subject: Boston Boy Saves Friends Life By Killing Vicious Dog.
Two boys in Boston were playing basketball when one of them was attacked by
a ferocious Rottweiler. Thinking quickly, the other boy ripped a board off
a nearby fence, wedged it into the dog's collar and twisted it, breaking
the dog's neck.
A newspaper reporter from the Boston Herald witnessed the incident and
rushed over to interview the boy.
The reporter began entering data into his laptop, beginning with the
headline: "Brave Young Celtics Fan Saves Friend >From Jaws Of Vicious
Animal."
"But I'm not a Celtics fan," the little hero interjected.
"Sorry," replied the reporter. "But since we're in Boston, Mass, I just
assumed you were."
Hitting the delete key, the reporter begins again, "John Kerry Fan rescues
Friend From Horrific Dog Attack."
"But I'm not a Kerry fan either," the boy responds.
The reporter says, "I assumed everybody in this state was either for the
Celtics or Kerry or Kennedy. What team or person do you support?"
"I'm a Houston Rockets fan and I really like George W. Bush" the boy says.
Hitting the delete key, the reporter begins again:
"Arrogant Little Conservative Bastard Kills Beloved Family Pet."
April 13, 2004
Comics on 4/14/04
Tomorrow (Wednsday April 14th, 2004) is new comics day.
Check out some of the good ones here.
Find a comic shop near you here.
April 12, 2004
Guy bets it all on roulette
Now, I like to gamble like the next guy (whoo Vegas!), but this is just a little much.
April 09, 2004
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow Continues!
Yes, surprisingly I continue to play this instead of Halo (I must have some other games for this system, but for some reason before I got Splinter Cell I was always playing Halo. Well not for some reason, I was playing Halo because in my honest opinion it has to be one of the best video games to come out in years).
Anyway, I'm still trudging along in Splinter Cell, and either I am getting old, or it is one tough little game. But I will figure it out (thank goodness for walkthroughs), now I just need to check out the online version which I heard is badass.
April 08, 2004
Contribute to John Kerry's Campaign!
I've been so busy I nearly forgot! Every Thursday I contribute to Kerry's campaign.
You should do it too!
Ford cat ad
Ford has gotten a bunch of flack about this ad. I can understand why, but I still enjoyed it because I don't like cats all that much. So cat lovers, beware you might not like it.
(Link courtesy of The Cult of Mac Blog)
The Excorcist...by bunnies
Great flash animation, not as creepy as the movie. Made me smile though, and everybody needs that every once in a while.
(Link courtesy of BoingBoing
April 06, 2004
April 05, 2004
Everybody loves new toys! Part 2
My fiances new toy, Sony DSC-V1 a bridal shower gift from her parents.
It takes purty pictures.
Censorship of "The Authority"
I know this link has been around for a while, but I just finished the last trade paperback for volume one and was hunting around for this link.
(Link courtesy of BoingBoing)
April 04, 2004
The birth of the ICAA
Comic retailer extraordinaire James Sime writes in the latest The Comic Pimp about the newly formed International Comic Arts Association.
It's exactly what the comic industry needs. Comics to me don't get the respect they deserve, they should be treated more like literature and the public can be made to understand that comics are more than just capes and superpowers. I don't think comics need saving. But, without sounding like a broken record it's a larger audience that will help the industry become the best it can be. And an organization like this can possibly help the comics industry do just that.
April 02, 2004
Watch the funny boy yawn!
I'm sure most of you have heard of the clip that was shown on Letterman with the kid yawning and being generally fidgety while GW rambled on. I find this whole thing humorous on many levels, first off, it's a 13 year old kid. What 13 year old kid wouldn't be bored silly at a political type event like this? Especially with the unelectable jackass like that talking? But what I find the most humorous is that this happened here in the great city of Orlando, and the kid was one of our elected official's kids! Great work guys, nice job on getting national attention to the area.
Anyway if you haven't seen it here's the clip, enjoy.
The Moth
Got around to reading Rude's The Moth tonight. The art's nice, but is the series supposed to be funny? Not really laugh out loud funny, but more like...don't take it seriously funny? I got a whole The Goon vibe from the whole thing. Was that their intent? If so, then they did a good job, if not, well ummm, good luck with that whole thing there. Ya.
I have to say there were cringe worthy bits of dialog in the book, and a majority of the rest of the dialog seemed a bit stiff to me. And everytime the biker gang spoke I wish I was just watching a DVD so I could quickly fast forward whatever crap they were spewing.
But, like I said before, the art's pretty decent.
Contribute!
Over at Atrio's blog he's asked for folks to contribute to John Kerry's campaign every Thursday. I've been doing it for a bunch of weeks now.
April 01, 2004
Homestar Runner April Fools!
Just visit the link and hang out for a bit. Trust me, its good stuff.
(Link courtesy of Fark)
It's Wednesday
Went to the comic shop today (2 days in a row!) cause today is Wednesday and for those of you who aren't in the know, the fourth day of the week means new comics. Not a whole heck of a lot in my pull list this week. Haven't had the chance to read much of the pile yet, did of course tear into the new Planetary. All I can say is, if you aren't reading the book, stop reading this blog, get up and go get it. It's a great series, wonderful art, with wonderful words to go along with it. Those who enjoy sci-fi should enjoy the series.
Also read the last issue of The Ultimates, now first off I never really had any intent of picking up this series. It wasn't my cup of tea, Thor, some sort of Ant Guy, Captain America, mmm not my idea of a great time. But then I heard all the buzz about it and picked it up (a later issue I guess #7). I won't lie, I enjoyed it, sadly it followed the "when we damn well feel like it" release schedule, but when I saw a new one was on the shelf I picked it up.
Now that being said, I guess you could call me a comic "entreprenuer" (buy Touch of Death in stores now!), so I enjoy following the sales figures of all the wonderful funny books every month. And guess what, there was Ultimates usually high up on the list everytime one came out. So my mouth dropped open when I heard that it wasn't coming back. Not from the fan in me going "No! I need to find out what happens between Ant Man and Wasp Woman (or whoever the hell that is)", my shock was more along the lines of "they were making some decent scratch on that series, WHAT THE HAPPY HELL WENT HORRIBLY WRONG?". And I suppose we will never know, or maybe they have told us and I haven't paid any attention.
Anyway I got the last one of the bunch, and yes as expected all loose ends are pretty much tied up. Much ass-kicking commences, good guys win, much drinking and dancing by all. As it should be. Will I pick up the Volume 2 when and if that ever comes out? If the creative team is roughly the same, probably. Do I recommend this issue to the comic buying public? Well if you haven't read one issue of the book, you probably won't know what the hell is going on. The average reader though would probably figure it out pretty quickly and there is some enjoyable art throughout the book that makes up for any confusion from first timers. If you've followed the series through, well you already have this book or have all the intent in the world in buying it anyway.
Homing Pigeons faster than ADSL
A group of Israeli scientists decided to test whether or not the PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is faster than ADSL. They attached 4GB of data to 3 pigeons and had them fly 100km. The result? The pigeons transfered the data at 2.27Mbs versus the average 1.5 Mbs that ADSL offers.
(Link courtesy of Slashdot)