YUM!

Next Friday we're going to Braza Lena for dinner and I can't wait! Thank goodness our boss is picking up the tab because it is VERY expen$ive, but I plan to eat every dollar's worth - this picture shows just a portion of what my stomach is gonna contain. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Muzak

On the right side of this page is a box/playlist titled 'Songs to Learn and Sing', a list of some of my favorite tunes past and present (from Project Playlist's available archives). Due to the formatting of this template it doesn't fit correctly, and I'm too lazy/ignorant to make it conform, so if you'd like to browse the list just click on the "Pop out" button (or here) and turn up the volume. Or just listen to your same old bleh music - it's your 6 hours to kill...

Just another day in the Keys

Sunrise over Sugarloaf Key, from my back deck:

Same location, different day, different conditions:

Smile

If this picture doesn't make you smile, nothing will

River of grass

Where do you go for a vacation when you live in Key West? The mainland! I took the canoe and headed to the Everglades for a week of chasing gators and reds and snook, but thanks to some heavy winds I only managed to get in a couple of days of paddling. I still got in some fishing every day, whether from the canoe or the beach or the banks.

I love fishing on the surface. It increases the fun because you get to see the fish hit, and because the surface plug targets more aggressive fish you can count on some exciting (and very violent) strikes. It turns out that gators are also very interested in the wounded fish that the surface lure represents. This is not news to me, in fact I once cast a lure that a gator jumped and ate before the lure even hit the water. At the other end of that extreme is this guy - I cast to him expecting that same type of result, but instead the lure just landed right on his nose. And sat there. It was like a milk bone on a dog's nose.

After taking the photos, I kept twitching it until the gator had finally had enough and snapped his jaws shut on the lure. As bored as he initially was with this battle, he was now on a mission to pull me into the water. He won - no he didn't pull me in, but he snapped my rod in two. You'd think that $100 lesson would deter me, but rest assured that's not the last gator I'll do battle with. Fun is fun.

Obama inauguration gigapan

The photo below is just a still image - for a version that allows you to zoom in on every individual face, click here and enjoy an interactive gigapan from inauguration day.
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The Fog / Bahia Honda

Friday the 13th. We come out after seeing the new Jason movie, and find that a thick fog has dropped down onto the Lower Keys. Perfect timing! I went back to the CG base and took several pix, most of which were bleh but a few seemed to capture the mood. The water was calm, there was barely a breeze - all you could hear was the gentle splashing sound of tarpon rolling just off the pier, using the CG's spotlights to find their dinner. I traded my camera for my fishing pole, but of course the tarpon ignored my efforts.

Perhaps it was because I was distracted by everything going on, and constantly looking over my shoulder for Jason.






The next morning I grabbed my canoe and headed for Bahia Honda. If you click on the pic of the beach, at first it looks normal; if you zoom/look closer, as you follow the beach you'll see the fog becoming thicker over the island. Oh and you'll also notice people swimming. Gotta like February in the Keys!



The old bridge never looked so ghostly.

Laughter is Important

There's a great new show on Comedy Central (Wednesday nights at 10:30) called "Important Things with Demetri Martin". If you haven't seen it yet, set your DVR and get ready to laugh. It's a sketch/stand-up mix - here's a preview of how funny he is (no video but plenty of laughs):

More fun with Family Guy

Brian the dog rejects Meg (and considers some extreme alternatives):

Peter and Lois making strawberry shortcake:

Fun with Grimace (and Smuckers):

Funny Analogies

Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit
their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found
in high school essays in order to have them published and
sent out for the amusement of other teachers across the
country. Recent winners:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its
two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled around inside his head, making and
breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling
Free.

3. He spoke with the kind of wisdom that can only come from
experience, like a guy who goes blind because he looked at
a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in
it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools
about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one
of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he
was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like the sound a
dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disin-
tegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude
shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM
machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly
the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene
had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation
in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead
of 7:30.

11. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after
a sneeze.

12. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers
raced across the grassy field toward each other like two
freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m.
traveling west at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19
p.m. traveling east at a speed of 35 mph.

13. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with
picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

14. John and Mary had never met. They were like two humming-
birds who had also never met.

15. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and
she was the East River.

16. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel
trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted
shut.

17. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But
unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

18. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get
from not eating for a while.

19. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck,
either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from
stepping on a land mine or something.

20. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he
heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Peter Griffin vs the chicken

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Before they were enemies:

New Years Eve 2009

This year's new year's eve celebration at Duval and Greene street was only slightly less wacky than last year, which I'm still trying to remember. Yeah these pix are all blurry, but they still provide an accurate representation of the night as seen thru my foggy eyes. Happy New Year!

Knowledge is...

Dangerous? Oh yeah, in the wrong hands (Cliff Claven?) knowledge is a disaster waiting to happen. Power? Absolutely. Useless? That depends - knowledge is useless only when you don't benefit from it. So get out there and start benefitting from some of these random nuggets:

Alaska
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply. The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon River is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil
Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

Chicago
Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria
Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles
L.A.'s full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.

New York City
The term "The Big Apple" was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930's who used the slang expression "apple" for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple. There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Ohio
There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is man made.

Rome
The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Sahara Desert
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Siberia
Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

S.M.O.M.
The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

Spain
Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.'

St. Paul, Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant who set up the first business there.

Roads
Chances that a road is unpaved in the U.S.A.: 1%, in Canada: 75%

Texas
The deepest hole ever made in the world is in Texas. It is as deep as 20 empire state buildings but only 3 inches wide.

United States
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

Waterfalls
The water of Angel Falls (the World's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

Pass or fail?

From a great blog that finds failure all around us...

One way to move a refrigerator:

Brutal honesty:

Obscene ham:

A failure, corrected:

Is it me or...

Recently I've started a facebook page, which I think is much better than myspace. I did a search on there to see if my profile was easy to find using my name, and yeah it turns out that it is - along with several other people with my same name. Unfortunately this douchebag is one of em, using this as his profile picture:

Up in the sky...

The Moon and Venus and Jupiter are all out together these days. I tried to take some pix but I couldn't get any that weren't blurry, so I decided to experiment with movement and light.















The smaller patterns were made by the planets, the bigger/brighter ones were made by the moon. Yep, that's the moon.

Family Guy

One of my favorite shows is Family Guy. As funny as Peter Griffin is, there are other characters that are under the radar but worth a giant laugh:

Mort:

Bruce:

Stewie:

Perfect game

Last night the Phillies won the World Series. It was a perfect game. Not because there were no baserunners, but because it was only 4 innings. Every pitch mattered, every out was that much more impoprtant. For once you could watch a game without falling asleep, and not have to wait until well past midnight to see the finish.

Perfect.

Better luck next year, Rays. You were the better team but the Phils had the better stars, and they showed up. Next season you won't sneak up on anyone, but you can take comfort in knowing that the Yankees are a permanent fixture in your rear view mirror. I know that makes me happy. Looking forward to another battle in 2009.

Sincerely,
Red Sox Nation

Red and wet

It's that time of year again. FantasyFest week is here, and that apparently means two things: Duval Street will be full of crazy drunken revelers in all forms of dress (and undress), and that the skies will dump oceans of rain on the party. So far this year's party is right on schedule.

Last year I was a judge at the homemade bikini contest at Hog's Breath. It's a very popular event of the week, even better when you get to sit right at the stage while the contestants try their best to influence you for your vote. The contest (including the pre- and post-contest VIP parties) took about 5 hours, and when I walked out onto Duval street afterwards the street was flooded with nearly a foot of water. Apparently it had been raining the entire time.

This past Wednesday night, exactly one year to the day, we went out to enjoy the festivities. I didn't manage to get a seat at the judge's table this time, so we decided to pass on that event.

Instead, a group of us went to the 'Red' party at Fogarty's, another signature event of the week. It's exactly what it sounds like - everyone wears red, whether the color is in the form of clothing or body paint. Making things interesting was the rain. It poured, setting a record for the date (7 inches!) and was the 11th rainiest day in Key West history. Considering that we live in the tropics and battle hurricanes every year, that's saying something.

There are several wet t-shirt contests and body paint contests and naughty costume contests etc, but the rain did a fine job of making sure that everyone was wearing wet clothes so no need to pay that cover charge and crowd into a bar for any contests - just look around you!

Sorry to disappoint but I have no pictures to post. I left my camera at home, knowing we'd be walking in the rain for a good portion of the evening. Click here for some random pics (not mine) from last year's party.

World Seriezzzzzzzz

As a Red Sox fan I have to admit that I was expecting the BoSox to breeze to victory once they'd managed to force a Game 7 - Game 5 was another classic Sox comeback, and their Game 6 win seemed like a prelude to another series victory. Then something happened in Game 7: The Rays showed up, and against the best pitcher the Sox had to offer. They finished off Jon Lester, and then used a 23 year old rookie pitcher to get the last 4 outs, getting the first save of his career in the process.

The result is a snoozer of a series with the Rays against the Phillies. Outside of Tampa/St Pete and Philadelphia, who cares?? Yeah I'm bitter that it's not the Sox, but prove me wrong. Show me TV ratings that prove people care. Ain't gonna happen.

At least I can get some sleep now. Good luck Rays.

eric cartman

I promise that I'm not 15, but still - who's funnier than Cartman?

Torturing:


Singing:


Brawling:

London

Usually I only post pics that I took myself, but these shots (from boston.com) of London at night are too cool not to share. For more go here.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley, at the AZ/Utah border.

Kanab to Page / Glen Canyon

Horseshoe Bend, Colorado River

Glen Canyon Dam below Lake Powell, Page AZ

North Rim, Grand Canyon

Yeah that's the North Rim, 60+ miles straight ahead across the Kaibab Plateau.

In these last two you can see the Colorado River in the upper right corner. There were a few rafts floating down, I was surprised they were visible to the naked eye. I was also surprised at the water clarity - usually the Colorado is a muddy mess.

Sunrise at Bryce Canyon

Thors Hammer, grabbing a piece of the day's first rays.

Beaver to Bryce

A GREAT day on the road.

Brian Head

Hubris: An irrational sense of overconfidence. Perhaps unqualified and bordering on arrogance (just ask Alex), it can lead to one's ultimate demise. That's my own loose definition of hubris - and on this day the definition may as well have included a picture of me.

For reasons still unclear to me, I decided that my skills at snow skiing combined with my skills on a bike qualified me to hop on a mountain bike at 10,000 feet and fly down the rocky slopes of Brian Head Ski Resort. This despite the fact that I'm an intermediate skier at best, not to mention skiing skills will mean nothing here today. This also despite the fact that I live and ride at maybe 5 feet above sea level max - rarely up, rarely down, just riding. Sign me up!

As I pulled up to the resort I was excited and ready, still blinded by hubris but also perhaps eased by the pictures I'd seen online. This was going to be a scenic ride with some adrenalin mixed in, and my itch would be scratched. As I rode the lift up, feeling the air getting thinner and cooler and seeing myself rising above the neighboring mountains, I started to get a sense of being in over my head. Really - you think??

I was told to follow the 'Color Country' trail for my first run. It's the park's easiest, and at 6 miles long it's a good way to get used to the mountain. On the trail map it looked like a nice ride but in reality it was a violent awakening. I stopped about halfway down the trail to remove my sunglasses, which were vibrating so much due to the rough/rocky trails that I could barely focus enough to dodge the bigger boulders. Shades off, I resumed the bumpy ride down. It only took a few moments to realize that it wasn't the shades that were vibrating - it was my eyeballs, bouncing around in their sockets. Somehow I got used to that freakishness and made it down. With a new sense of respect for the mountain combined with a more tempered level of confidence, I rode the lift back up for my second run.

Less than a mile down, my front brakes broke. Didn't stop working or malfunction, the pads completely broke off. Unfortunately this happened as I tried to slow the bike from going about 650 mph. No longer able to control my speed or direction, the result was inevitable. When I find myself in this sort of pre-accident position when skiing - and I do - I simply wreck, so at least I control when I begin suffering. However, at this speed and in these rocky conditions, wrecking wasn't at all desirable. Right about the time that I finished having this long and thoughtful conversation with myself, I wrecked. Somewhere in the course of tumbling down the rocky trail I must have tried to stop my fall with my foot, and in the course of the attempt managed to shred both my foot and ankle. At least it kept me from feeling the damage I'd done to my elbows...

The best part of this was that it happened when it did, early in the day before I was able to gain enough confidence do do something even more stupid than what I was already doing (VERY possible), and risking a more serious injury. The resort refunded me my money since it was an equipment failure, but I'm sure my lack of experience played a large role as well.

In the end this day changed a lot about the rest of the vacation for me. Hobbled, I was no longer planning on hiking or biking several miles each day. Instead of hustling each day from place to place so I could hit the trails, I would seek out the dirtiest lines on the map to get me there.

Zion and Kolob Canyons

To get from Vegas to Cedar City you simply drive north on I-15 for about 2 hours. Or, you can drive through Valley of Fire and then take the scenic drive through Zion Nat'l Park, and then detour on the dirt road that moves through Kolob Canyons, eventually dropping out of the sky and 'down' (elevation: 5800 ft) into Cedar City about 8 hours later.

After about 4 hours of 20 mph zigzagging, and right about the time that I was wondering if I'd made a major error and would have to turn around, a big truck towing a dirt smoother (think baseball diamond) approached. Surprised to see a convertible slumming it on his dirt track, he slowed to chat. I asked him if this road would get me to Cedar City. "Heyull yeah!" he shouted proudly. Put at ease, and happily inhaling the swirling dirt from his passing, I eagerly continued on and eventually found civilization again.

So very early in my vacation, and already I had satisfied my desire to Get Lost. Yes this road was on some map, but it was gray and dotted. And I was on it. Heyull yeah.

Utah: Life Elevated

How good does it feel to crest a hill and see this view, knowing that it goes on and on like that for miles, and that you have the road all to yourself? REAL good.

For me the journey is equally as memorable as the destination, sometimes even more so. That's what this trip was all about, one reason why there are a lot of pics that include the road. My favorite memories are usually found somewhere on the gravel road between Point A and Point Z.






For a ton more pics click here. Eventually I'll post more here along with some scattered details and ramblings. Right now it's time to get the heck outta here so Hurricane Ike can have his way...

Tropical Storm Fay

At 2:00 Monday 8/18, right in the thick of hard rains and 50 mph gusts brought by TS Fay, I decided to take a drive around Key West and see how the island is taking the storm so far. This 1st pic shows a muddy surge coming over the seawall at Higgs Beach.

A tree uprooted just 100 yards from my house

Exactly one hour later I return home, the rain has slowed down quite a bit. Nice to see that they're already taking care of the tree.

Weather pics

Approaching storms always provide a good photo op, lots of colors and contrast.

Addition by subtraction

In the spirit of my previous post regarding independence, I'm happy to say that Manny Ramirez is no longer with the Red Sox. Despite the fact that he's a certain hall-of-famer, he wasn't worth keeping in the clubhouse. He quit on his teammates. This man makes over $120,000 every game - and there are 162 games in a season! - yet he didn't feel that he needed to show up and perform every night to earn that money.

So the team did the only thing they could: they gave him away to L.A. Not only are the Sox paying the remainder of his salary for the last 2 months of this season ($7 million!), they also threw in a couple of players from their major league roster to make sure the deal got done. The Dodgers get a free Manny, the Pirates get 4 promising young players, and the Sox cure cancer - and get a good player in Jason Bay. Win win win.

Manny was quick to draw a parallel to his situation and the one Nomar Garciaparra was in 4 years ago, painting the picture that the team ran these stars out of Boston. Here's another parallel: In the summer of '04, the Sox traded away Nomar - like Manny a fan favorite, but like Manny a player that was an underperforming grouch - and promptly won their first world series in a bazillion years. Now Manny joins Nomar with the Dodgers, and the Sox turn the page.

See you in October.

Independence Day

A personal Independence Day is approaching: On August 13 2007, some papers were signed and filed, and liberty for two people was granted. From each other.

Happiness is what you gain from every moment in every day. Life doesn't have to be miserable, in fact it should be the opposite. Waking up depressed is a terrible way to start any day, much less all of them. Misery can make you drown; freedom is a reason to celebrate. Life can begin again - and if it does make sure you embrace it.

So, if on August 13th you hear some firecrackers going off in NoVa or Key West, you'll know why.

Book: Into Thin Air (Krakauer)

Wow. Jon Krakauer can write. I was blown away by his book Into The Wild, and became obsessed with the story of Christopher McCandless (still am), based mostly upon my perceived similarities to the main character. At the same time, I also became obsessed with Krakauer's ability to tell a story. As a result, I grabbed his book Into Thin Air and dove in eagerly.


If you don't already know the details (I didn't), the book tells the story of the tragic events that occurred in 1996 as several groups simultaneously attempted to climb Mt Everest.

Krakauer, as a columnist and editor-at-large for Outside magazine (and experienced climber), was asked by the magazine to join a guided expedition on Everest - not to climb the peak, but to remain at base camp and document the increasing commercialization of the mountain. He declined, mostly because he felt it would be too frustrating to be so close to the challenge of the mountain without ascending higher than base camp (altitude of 'only' 17,600 feet). Later he asked Outside if they would consider booking him with one of the more reputable guide services (and cover the $65k fee) to give him a chance to reach the summit (29,028 feet). They surprised him and agreed, and off he went.

Just as with Into The Wild, after reading the first chapter of Into Thin Air you know how the story ends. This became much more than a documentary account of the increasing traffic on the mountain: it was a struggle for survival, and not nearly everyone survives.

Included in the book are several photos taken at or near the summit of Everest. It is clear in the photos how extreme the conditions were, and also how difficult it was to tell who is who due to the amount of gear/clothing each climber was wearing. This is relevant, as the story reveals - "is that a guide, or a fellow client, or a Sherpa?" etc. With wind-chill temps reaching minus-100 degrees, and at an oxygen-depleted altitude over 29000 feet, your life depends on every decision that you make. Throughout, it is revealed that poor decisions were made by guides and clients and Sherpas alike. At the same time all were challenged to be heroic and many responded in ways that cannot be imagined by someone sitting at sea level.

The story is so incredibly told that it's easy to forget that it's true, and that Krakauer was there, living (barely) through the drama. One of my favorite reviews of the book included the following, from Mirabella:

"Though it comes from the genre named for what it isn't (nonfiction), this has the feel of literature: Krakauer is Ishmael, the narrator who lives to tell the story but is forever trapped within it...Krakauer's reporting is steady but ferocious. The clink of ice in a glass, a poem of winter snow, will never sound the same."

Indeed.

More Keys history

Lots of old Keys pics and information to be found here. Select 'virtual road trip' and sample some pics along the way from Key largo to Key West. Or, select 'photo search' and browse the archives - you can click on individual pics for larger versions. Click on 'description' for the date the photo was taken and other interesting details.

























Link: http://www.mile-markers.org/

Genius at work

Book: Haunted (Palahniuk)

I'm a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk. He's so ridiculously creative and unique, I can't even think of anyone to compare him to. While his most famous work so far is Fight Club - a great book which was made into a great movie starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton - he has written several books that in my opinion are even better.

Choke was the first book by Palahniuk that I ever read, and remains my favorite. It's being made into a movie, set for release sometime this September. It's been a few years since I read it and I'm gonna resist the urge to read it again, just so I can go into the movie with an open mind and not try to measure it against that book. Just as with Fight Club (and all of his books), Choke is a complicated story that can't possibly translate easily to the big screen - but, just as with Fight Club, if it works it will work very well. I can't wait!

I just finished reading Haunted. This is a collection of short stories told by a group of would-be authors, as part of what is supposed to be a 'writer's retreat' (one of the stories in particular is alleged to have caused many people to faint when read aloud by Palahniuk while on a publicity tour). This was a wild ride, and as usual for his books there is simply no predicting where the story is going, or what the characters are capable of. As much as I can't wait for Choke to be a movie, if this book ever gets there it'll be a blockbuster. The whole time I'm reading, my mind is showing the movie - I'm exhausted! Any potential director has his work cut out on this one...

Haunted is not for the Palahniuk virgin. If this is the first book you read by him it will probably be your last - and you'll probably burn it before anyone else suffers through it. If you've already experienced his genius, if you're already prepared for his insanity, then you'll love this one too. There is always a frenetic pace in his books that leads to some sort of climax, and this book is no exception.

If you've never read Palahniuk but want to, try starting with Survivor. This is also an excellent book but not quite so...I don't even know what word to use here, but if I did it would describe Haunted.

Movie: The Happening

I went to see The Happening this weekend, M. Night Shyamalan's latest effort. Hyped as his first R-rated film, I was hoping that it would make up for recent duds (in my opinion) like The Village and Signs. I made sure not to read any reviews before I went, just in case there was a trademark plot twist or some other reason that I'd benefit by remaining ignorant. Thankfully my friend didn't reveal to me the bad reviews she'd heard...

Anyway, I have one word to describe the movie: don'twasteyourmoney.

Maybe I was caught up in the hype, maybe I expected too much - or maybe it just sucked. The first half was pretty cool, mysterious and suspenseful as you try to figure out what's going on. The second half of the movie just dragged, and finally the end just sort of happens. No twist, and not even much of an explanation about what happened. It just ends. You ask "that's it??", and you get up and walk out wishing you had those 2 hours (and your $20) back.

Four thumbs down from us.

Desert wandering

In August I'm going on vacation. It starts and ends in Las Vegas, but the 9 days in between will be spent wandering the gravel roads of Indian country and hiking/biking the canyons of SW Utah. It's hard to find a greater side-by-side contrast in this country - the lavish crowded excess of Vegas vs the nearby deserts and canyons and their hundred mile views. It's an area of the country that everyone should see, and experience. I can't wait!

Two definite destinations are Canyonlands and Bryce Canyon. I don't want to have an itinerary so I'm not planning out anything more than the first and last nights (Vegas), but I know for sure that I will spend some time at these two parks. Zion and Glen Canyon and Capitol Reef are all also near enough that I'll probably find myself there as well, time permitting. I'll rent a mountain bike and throw it in the back of the car, and when the road ends the real fun begins.

Who knows when there will be time to read, but if so I just got a couple books with this trip in mind:

Life of Pi is a book that was recommended to me by my friend Shea/Sandy, after hearing how much I liked Siddhartha. While I'm far from religious, I do enjoy a journey whether it's physical or spiritual. In this case it appears to be both. Perfect!








Desert Solitaire seems to be a perfect book for this trip, about the author's experience while working as a park ranger in Utah's deserts. It is by no means a travel guide or reference book - it's more of an introspective look at time spent alone, away from society's trappings and inside one's own mind. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to relate...