OK, just saw this on the Idea Grove blog (via Fark.com) and thought it was an interesting sum-up of the the 10 greatest countries in the history of the world.
I fully expected the US to be at the top of the list given its current status but we *are* pretty young compared to most of the others in there so I can’t say I disagree with the rankings.
Mark was here for a few days, we headed out to Hilton Head for one weekend. The next weekend we headed to downtown Atlanta to check out the Coke Museum, “Bodies, the Exhibition” and we finished off at Piedmont park listening to some Jazz music. OK, OK, Mich and Mark listened to Jazz music, *I* listened to CBC’s Quirks and Quarks on my iPod…
In a nod to Mich’s obsession with all things Canadian, here is a link to “The Top 12 Canadian Hotties“. I was quite surprised, I had no idea that Kristen Kreuk (from one of my frequently-emjoyed programs, Smallville), and Tricia Helfer from my current favorite tv show, Battlestar Galactica were Canadians. I guess you just gravitate to your roots!
See if you recognize any of the other folks on this list.
There have certainly been plenty of cases in the news over the past year or so about quality of life and expressing how you want to spend your last hours within your mortal coil.
Tattooing Do Not Resuscitate on your chest seems like a pretty clear statement.
Even my own Grandmother and Mother-in-law had to deal with this issue. I wonder if this approach would have made things easier? How legally binding do you suppose this is? How sorry are we that folks have to resort to this in order to make themselves understood?
Like Woody Allen said, “I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens”.
If you’re looking for a quickie, up-to-date view of interesting news, check out Fark.com. There you’ll find an ever-updating list of items tagged with suitable labels and a sardonic comment that more often than not accurately summarizes the linked-to story into one or two sentences.
For “Really Weird” items, just look for anything with the “Florida” tag…
When we moved into this house, there was already installed on the backyard patio a Broilmaster “Warm Morning” Bar-B-Que. It was pretty big and was fairly old as far as Bar-B-Ques go. When it came time to replace the burners in it (big old cast iron jobs) I found that I was not going to be able to easily find a replacement burner for the right hand side of the Bar-B-Que.
Also, the valves had become sluggish and I think the regulator was gummed up. I would turn on a burner and then have to wait up to a couple of minutes for the gas to actually flow. Not exactly a safety feature. I’d listen for the gas to flow and then light the burner once that happened using an extended lighter.
Not being an expert in such things, and finding that there apparently aren’t very many such experts out there at any of the places I phoned or visited, I elected to replace the bar-b-que with a brand new Broilmaster P3BL-1 unit. We even sprung for the optional front and right side shelves.
It’s a real pleasure firing up the grill, I now have an electric starter, it starts right away and I have nice solid places to put my utensils, plates and drinks while cooking.
I bought my bar-b-que through Metro House of Fire and worked with Kathy Heeth. She was great in dealing with my many questions and scenarios.
It’s almost here. The computer and its accessories are coming in two different shipments, one from Shanghai China, the other from Hong Kong.
It’s funny that, when I first saw the package progress, my mind kept translating the “CN” that is “China” to “Cincinnati”. The times were even all wrong – in the future by over half a day. That really should have been a hint.
I think I cerebrally have always understood that a lot of my consumer goods come from China, but that fact is usually masked by a vast net of retail distribution outlets. Somehow, tracking my packages directly from the Orient in this way makes them seem exotic.
I suppose “exotic” means “comes from far away” in my mind 🙂
I almost picked up the movie “Big Trouble in Little China” in honor of the Shanghai source of half of the shipment…
I’m not quite sure when the packages will arrive, the only delivery date I see is a “Resched Delivery” one that yesterday gave yesterday’s date and today, well.. says today’s date. Given the track record of things coming from Kentucky (where both packages resided as of about 3 am today) I’m betting that I’ll actually receive them on Monday. I’m not sure that UPS actually makes deliveries here in “the bible belt” on Sundays.
I know this is late and I wish I could remember who forwarded this to me, but this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
If anybody can tell me how to capture this so I can save it to my own hard drive I’d be eternally grateful!
Make sure you take a few moments to actually watch what the characters are doing. There is a *lot* going on in there.
Finally got the pictures posted, click below:
**Update 1/18/2006 – Finally got the pictures developed and posted. Check out the gallery **
Mich and I recently came back from a cruise through the Western Caribbean (Gulf of Mexico) on board Celebrity Cruise Line’s Zenith ship.
This is only our second cruise, the first being back in 2002 when we did a Carnival cruise on the Fascination to the Bahamas.
I’ll post pictures as soon as we get them developed. My little DiMage X50 camera is still in the repair shop recovering from damage sustained after a couple of drops to the floor during the Halloween party. Hopefully we’ll have it back this coming Thursday. In the meantime we’ve dusted off our old film camera (and we picked up an underwater disposable for the cruise shore excursion).
Overall we enjoyed this cruise. It was billed as 4 nights and left Miami on December 22nd (2005) at about 5 pm. So really there are about 3 1/3 days of cruise enjoyment. Since you dock at 8:00 am the last day there really isn’t much you can do but wait to get off the ship.
The first stop was in Key West, Florida. We had heard that there was nothing terribly spectacular to see unless you enjoy marine museums so we loitered on the ship in the morning and had a satisfying breakfast before heading out to explore. Never having been to Key West before any and everything there was going to be interesting. We decided to walk the streets with the purpose of ending up at that “You are at the Southernmost point of the Continental U.S.” marker and getting our picture taken there.
The weather was pleasant for us, probably mid-60’s but feeling warmer in the sun, so we were able to wander around in short sleeves comfortably. We didn’t have very long in Key West so after our photo op and exploring a few local shops, we stopped off at a coffee shop and Mich enjoyed her Java fix while I indulged in an oversized cinnamon bun.
The next stop was in Cozumel, Mexico where we indulged in the “Clear Kayak and Beach Snorkle Combo” hosted by the Uvas Beach Club and Marine Park. This was interesting for anybody who is new to kayaking or snorkling but, given Cozumel’s reputation for gorgeous reefs, was very dissapointing on the scenery front. The sea bottom was mostly sand punctuated with largely unspectacular rock outcroppings. We did get to see some little stingrays and, to Mich’s satisfaction, a reasonably large starfish. But for anybody already comfortable and familiar with snorkling and kayaking I’d have to recommend passing on this venue. The guide and the folks working at the venue were all great but there was really very little to see in the water.
Since our ship docked off the port outside of the city, we paid our cab driver an additional $6 to have him drive us into town rather than back to the port after the kayaking so we could explore there.
Cozumel city was VERY quiet that day, this was the 24th of December after all. All the shops were open but there were much fewer people wandering around than I expected. After the girls finished exploring the local shops (OK OK because the local shops were closing and they couldn’t look any more) we headed to Carlos N Charlies, a local hot spot for some drinks before heading back to the ship.
We met Jan and Miera (I’m sure I haven’t spelled that right…) at our dinner table on the cruise ship and had coincidentally all chosen the same shore excursion so we hooked up for checking out the city. They are the other folks you will see at our table in the pictures.
One thing I would change if I could would be to have stayed in Cozumel much later. We were there for most of the day, but the departure time of 8:30 (it changed several times so I’m not sure what it ultimately ended up being) was a little soon for my tastes as I was enjoying the “scenery” at Carlos N Charlies.
Speaking of which, I’d like to thank the girls from our cruise ship who were also in the bar and provided the entertainment for the evening. Carlos N Charlies was pretty quiet when we arrived until they showed up. I think we’ve got some pictures so I’ll post some representative ones when they are developed.
The Zenith itself was a pleasant ship, a little smaller than the Fascination, which is all I know to compare it to, but plenty large enough for us. The Zenith is an older ship that is apparently due for renovation so it wasn’t all sparkling and new. The stateroom was clean and service was pleasant. All the of the ship’s staff that we encountered were helpful and polite.
Our favorite haunt on the ship was the Cova Café. For Mich the Coffee was great, for myself it was the Hot Chocolate Melange that comes as my highest recommendation.
We would definitely sail with Celebrity again.
