Mexico 2009

OK. Finally getting around to doing something on this here website. Hubby and I got back from Mexico just over a week ago. We went with my parents, my aunt, and two cousins and their families. It was a ton of fun, and all we did was relax. We were in a little town north of Puerto Vallarta called Sayulita:

It's kind of a surfing town, but I wonder if it's also just a place for locals to drive up to go to the beach for the day.

We were staying in houses owned by an American,


and they were up the beach a little bit from the main part of town. And by main part of town I mean a 9 block grid that has some form of pavement, the rest being dirt roads.  

Arrival day Hubby and I were the only ones hungry at dinner time, so we took off down the beach and found a little place open to the street. Hopefully they didn't mind my sand socks.

First real day we took a walk down the beach to town (in the daylight!)

And each day was pretty much the same: wake up, eat last night's tamales (from the tamale lady who roams town selling her awesome tamales) with an egg and salsa, read some, walk down the beach somewhere, read some, get ready for dinner, read some. A lot of laying in the hammock was involved.

So my dad and I took a stroll down the beach in the other direction (north) and sunset one of the days. One of my lenses die :( so I took just about all my pictures with my telephoto.

obligatory footprints in the sand photo

looking north toward San Francisco

looking south towards Sayulita

And then another day we walked further north up the beach over the rocks some of those sunset pictures are taken from and found a hidden beach. This beach was right between the two towns, and was accessible by vehicle, but it wasn't developed. So there were only a couple people there. So these pictures are on the way to the hidden beach:

had to walk through a nice house's porch to get over the rocks

we're heading down there

but first had to get through this

One of the days I joined on of my cousins and family on a boat ride to another beach with snorkeling included. Snorkeling didn't pan out (water was all cloudy) but the beach was nice. This is from the covered area they served us lunch:

And here's a random flower picture cuz there's gotta be one in every post:

And then I was playing with long exposure to because I liked how the house lights were lighting up the palm trees. The turquoise strip is waves getting lit up from the house lights too.

And then we came back and then Hubby and I had stomach problems for over a week (still do, a little. No, it's not Mexican (bovine) flu.)

P.S. I don't know why only some random pictures have links to bigger versions

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HOLY SHIT GUESS WHAT I FOUND AT THE STORE TODAY!!!

BOOBARB!!!

er, Rhubarb, that is.

I actually hate that stuff, but Hubby likes it. So I guess I'm baking a pie tonight.


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Hold this space [updated finally]

Remind me to tell you a little story about going outside of your comfort zone. I did it tonight, and had a nice little meltdown. Awesome. But right now I have to sleep and get rid of my headache.

So. I should probably fill this in.

Updated finally below the fold:

“Outside of my comfort zone” means we accompanied a couple Hubby and I know to go out…swing dancing. I can hardly say it. It’s just something I never thought I would agree to. It started with an hour easy lesson before the actual dance started. The lesson was fine, started at the very beginning. It took me too long to get the hang of it, and I thought Hubby had done this before, so he would be able to help me out. (I later learned he had done 4- and 8-step, but we were learning 6-step, so he was as lost as I was.) Anyway. My problems started when the instructor told us ladies to rotate partner by one. I was sort of expecting this, so I just got over myself and went to the next guy. Problem was, that guy didn’t want anyone touching his wife expect him, so she stayed put. The instructor tried hard to get her to move along, but both guy and girl were adamant about staying put. Well this threw me into a lather and I was fuming about it the rest of the night. Why should that bitch get to stay put in her secure little place while I was out here with total strangers? Huh? I was mightily pissed, and my face just got redder and redder as the night went on. So I was doing it, the rest of the lesson, getting totally lost once we started doing beginners’ turns. Most of my new partners were fine, just normal people like me, some more experienced than others, but seemed like most were brand new. And then I came to Pervy McChildmolester. That guy still gives me the creeps just thinking about him. I’m already worked up because that fucking bitch and her fucking boyfriend couldn’t play with anyone else, and here I am holding the softest creepiest hands I’ve ever felt in my life. Pervy’s hands were so soft I think he has someone else brush his teeth for him. Seriously: you get more calluses on your hands from making breakfast in the morning. So the whole time (few minutes) we’re “dancing” together I’ve got “It puts the lotion on it’s skin or else it gets the hose again” running through my head. I’m really getting worked up by this point. Then more normal partners and more frustration at not getting the moves right, and then another weirdo right at the end. That guy was unremarkable in his weirdness, just seemed lonely. So now the lesson is over and it’s time to start dancing. I went to the refreshments to get some water, and paper napkins to try and hide that I’m crying. Problem with trying to hide that I’m crying is that I’m a very ugly crier. My face was already red from being so pissed at those fucking “nobody touches my wife but me” assholes, but the crying makes my eyes really bloodshot and red in general, and puffy to boot. So our friends see how miserable I am, and they get their few dances out of their system (they are pretty good!) and mercifully say we can go. Thank the sweet baby Jesus, we could go. I think they thought I was having some allergic reaction, because of course I’m not going to say I hated it there and I wanted to go. So then we went to dinner and I was fine.



Moral of the story: stay home. It’s safe there. Click for full post and comments

Reno

Approx 5 min into Reno trip, and already things are going swimmingly. I thought it would be a problem to get seats with Hubby since we got our tickets through different purchases. But not only did they hook us up with seats together, but we got exit row seats, baby! And. And!! Since the group of us are travelling on Military orders (except me, the dependent) we got shuffled through security in like 1 minute, with the regular line trailing back through the corporate offices and bathrooms.

Continued:
We're back now. It was a fun trip for me, since it was no work and all vacation. Hubby got tagged by his boss, who wasn't even supposed to be there (wrong MOS) and had to do "daily accountability". That means he had to have one of NCOICs gather phone calls and emails confirming everyone was still alive from the night before, send them to Hubby, and then he sends the 100% back to the boss. Yeah, youngest person there is a specialist in her low 20's. Young, but still an adult. But other than never getting a break from the micromanagers, I think Hubby had a good time too. Their conference wasn't too much work, and everyone always got the nights off. Me, I just had to occupy myself while they were busy. All I have to say about that is I don't know why I wasted my time with slots; I should have manned up way earlier and gotten on the Blackjack table on day one. I got enough back on Blackjack to not be embarrassed by how much I lost on slots.

This is the main downtown core. The tall buildings are all casinos, but there are some regular town-type buildings in this area as well. We were in the green one, the Silver Legacy. Pretty nice place, cheap rooms, so-so maid service, very nice dealers.


This one is the first morning, before all the snow melted. It snowed later that day, but none of it stuck in the valley the town is in. Up there with the houses is where my Dad's uncle lives, and from where the night picture was taken.


There was a blizzard in Denver the day before we left, and it messed up some people's flights but not ours. So our flight to Phoenix was overbooked from moving all the Denver people around. Flight out of Phoenix was also overbooked. No, we did not volunteer to get bumped. Yes, I'm selfish.

So. The scene to which I returned. One dead lizard and one dead fish. Lizard I knew about, because I got the frantic call midweek. I didn't know about the fish, but the tank is algaey and the guy taking care of the place probably didn't know how many there were to begin with.

The lizard that died is the little Beardie, who I got to replace Lazarus. He had just come out of brumation a few days before we left, so I was loading him on tons of worms. He was VERY (even caps is understated) excited to eat, so I kept giving him lots. So I think the thing that killed him was not crapping out all the poop, so he probably died of some obstruction.

The fish that died, I don't know about. Yeah, that tank's dirty, but not enough to kill fish. It was the orange one who bit it, and he (and his female) are older than the other fish in the tank. Who knows. Maybe now with him gone some of the babies will survive.

Gecko's hanging in. He's been getting a steady supply of crickets for the past couple weeks, so he's is eating mode. I saw him giving the fish the "I'm going to stalk and eat you now; hold still" look this morning, so I gave him a couple crickets. He usually isn't into eating very much, but maybe watching the fish has gotten his appetite up.

Cats are still alive and well.

OK, that's all.


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Potpourri

* The discus tank smells like meatballs. The cichlid tank smells like dirt.

* I can see the beginnings of life in my yard: the trees are just starting to bud.

* You know you're a chemistry geek when the first thing you think upon reading "PP" is polypropylene instead of Planned Parenthood.

* Biscuit is shedding like a banshee with the warm weather coming.

* I think the mom cichlid that had at least one baby in her mouth ate her baby. I can't find it in the tank anywhere.

* Also, the discus still don't know how to get anything to happen with their eggs. I blame the male.

* My microwave is so dirty I think I may have to get out the steam cleaner to get it clean.

* I just filled out a second survey about the BMW. It was suspiciously similar to the first one. Almost like one company writes them all. Oh, and sign me up to win $1000? Fine, but I suspect you're only doing that because it's way cheaper than sending everyone a $1 bill.

* I want to find an ice pick to get the Bee Gees out of my head.

* My new electric toothbrush makes my whole head vibrate and gives me flashbacks to the dentist.


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So that's what happened to him

I cleaned the cichlid tank today, and I was poking around the back of the thing with a flashlight. I found a dried up little guppy down there! I though Pleco had eaten him, but looks like not. That's fine; I don't really want them in there anyway. They came as stowaways with the original cichlids (feeder fish for other fish in the tank they came from). So I guess I'm surprised this last one has lasted as long as he has.

Totally unrelated: I set up my golf net and was hitting some balls (badly). I thought to set up the webcam and have my pappy tell me what I'm doing wrong, but alas, webcam could not find the wifi. The house has aluminum siding, which is good when you're inside for blocking neighbors' signals, but bad if you're on the outside trying to get in!


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Huh

On the topic of webcams: I finally decided to see what would happen if I tried to access the camera with my Mac. The stream automatically goes to Java, so Mac can view something when they hit the camera page. [remember guest/guest]


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Fishies has a sad

We just got home to discover the two fish tanks totally dark and silent. With everything unplugged the breaker still is popping. Last time this happened we had a wet outlet from rain. We do have snow melting, so maybe that's it...


~~TO BE CONTINUED~~

Hubby being an electrician found out that the problem is the Instahot. I just just used it this morning, so I don't know why it would trip something now. You may be wondering how fish tanks and Instahot are related circuit-wise. You are wise to wonder that, since the Instahot is in the kitchen and the fish tanks are not. Well, we discovered on like day 2 of living here that the wiring in this house is completely effed up (For example: the two fish tanks were down, but the Beardie on another outlet in the same room was up). Wires criss-cross all over the house and common breakers don't make any sense at all. So naturally when we saw the fish tanks (downstairs, dining room) we checked to see if things were working in our upstairs bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. Not logical.

Anyway, tanks are up and running again, Instahot currently unplugged. It's OK because I left my travel mug at work anyway.


P.S. in case anyone can see the webcam it's unplugged at the moment.


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I think the birds finally found the birdfeeder.

Just a couple birds, but Mr. Cardinal looked nice with the way the sun was shining on him.

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Snow + wind = just plain crazy

Yesterday was a crazy snowy windy day. Work turned out to not be cancelled, even though the roads were a lot worse than other times work was delayed or cancelled. The problem was even after plowing, the wind would just blow the snow back in, so that half an hour later it looked like nothing had been done. It was still snowing until noon, and after that the only snow in the air was just from blowing. Walking to the car for lunch was an adventure, only because I was shielding my eyes from the wind and didn't see the foot deep snow bank placed randomly in the middle of the parking lot. Actually, that part was pretty cool: the wind was blowing from the direction that swept snow up from a large empty field. As it blew between the cars parked on that leading edge of the parking lot, snow banks we created. Some were pretty impressive, and I wondered if the little 2WD sedans would be able to get out. Facilities guy saved the day with the mini plow. But the Wrangler just busted through that stuff like it was nothing. Now today it's just cold, probably won't get above freezing again. Kinda makes me wish I was in Hawaii, like some other poopfaces I know.


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This'll have to do

So, apparently the webcam is visible to the outside world, even though I thought it wasn't. (that'll teach me to test with an iPhone: is it not connecting because I have so signal? or because it actually isn't going to work?)

Link: fishies!

This site is ActiveX, so go here if you don't have it and you're on a PC. Sorry, see title of post.

login/pwd: guest/guest

I still want to get this into a website, but so far haven't been able to get it to work.

Yeah, the tank is dirty. I think the camera is actually looking through a film of algae.


P.S. to add: Mac users will only be asked for a login, but they will not be able to see any video. It automatically comes up as Java for Macs, apparently. Also, ActiveX only works with Internet Explorer. Forgot to say that part.


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webcam!!

I want to try to get it onto a webpage, but that might be a whole weekend job. Took a little while to get it going on the wireless, but I think that was due to a very basic choice I was forgetting to click in one of the setup screens. Hubby got it working for me after I struggled for half an hour. Anyway, it's pointing at fish right now, but I need to figure out how to get it on the WWW. I didn't bother investigating that until I got the camera, and got it working on wireless.


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Kindle goodness

Here's Hubby enjoying his giggle Kindle, when I'm not dragging him downstairs to watch Lost (he secretly likes it).

He's embarassed by the Army socks, and offered to pose for another picture, but I think it adds just that right amount of class. "So far so good" is what he says about it. Also, "the screen is very readable." Click for full post and comments

Another animal update

Got a bird feeder set up, haven't seen any birds, but it's going to take them a while to figure there is edible food here again. So it's like Day Two of having the feeder up, and I found a dead bird in the basement. I guess that means someone discovered the food, right? But didn't get a chance to tell his buddies because Biscuit is too good of a hunter.

Anyway. The point is I've ordered a webcam, under the very helpful guidance of WB's hubby. He was even kind enough to point me to an awesome sale ... after I already had ordered a cheaper model, just my luck. So we'll see if I can get the thing hooked up; I was going to point it at the bird feeder, and then other things like the fish tank when I get more cameras. After the dead bird discovery I had an image in my brain about what the camera would capture: fade in. Tight shot of feeder, couple birds nibbling. Suddenly a black and white paw is seen carefully reaching up from the bottom of the screen. Doesn't get anything with that swipe. Then another swipe. Then you see the feeder rocking and swinging wildly with two black and white paws attached firmly to the edge, with birds scattering everywhere. *scene* Hey! That's good TV! But I expect nothing anywhere near that exciting. Be lucky to even catch a glimpse of one danged bird at this rate.

Fish: doing good. The new peacocks I got for the cichlid tank are doing very well. The original female is still holding (still no sign of the two babies) as well as one of the new females already! Discus are still trying to spawn. I watched the act the other day, but the male (I am now mostly sure the blue one is a male) wasn't into it, and the female never actually laid any eggs. She rubber her dangly bits on the leaf though, just like she would to deposit eggs.

Lizards: what a couple of weirdos. Fatboy woke of from brumation for a few days, got a worm and lots of water, so that made me feel better. Even with the curtain open (so full view of sunrise/set) he went back under his log for more sleep. Little guy (Big red) just crawled under a log the other day too! He had been trying the brumation thing off and on all winter, but I think he was just too young to get the full hang of it. But he's been down for a few days now, right when he should be starting to wake up.

I would like to get a camera set up on the discus and the peacocks. The lizards are just pretty boring unless they are interacting with something, like trying to eat my finger.


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More Lost

I've got 8 episodes of Lost waiting, so TTFN!


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Sometimes I don't like being able to track my packages

because then I can see when UPS is a bunch of lazy assholes. I've got a bunch of fish and bird stuff coming (time to replace the old stinky moldy bird feeder) and it's scheduled to come the 23rd. It's coming from Columbus, I think, which a person can drive in a day or less. As of the 21st, it arrived in Bal'mer (yes, Baltimorians have and accent) in the morning and shipped out around noon. Didn't say "out for delivery" but criminy, it's 30 minutes away! They'll make sure that package comes when it says it will, darn it! My bet is it went from Bal'mer to Sparks, which apparently is a distribution center or something. The first time we tracked a package after moving here, Hubby and I both said "WTF is it doing in Nevada?? It came from [some state in the middle]." It doesn't make the package any closer, is what I'm complaining about.


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Amazing what a little lube can do

This is a fish post, not porn.

So my two Eheim canister filters on the discus tank have been pissing me off for a while now. Recently the priming handle on one was ready to fall off because it wasn't raising and lowering the impeller head assembly smoothly enough. I knew I needed to get some silicone grease to get things going smooth again, but never got it until just now. Now with the two O-rings and the handles lubed, the whole things prime very easily. But one is still sucking air. I think that's what the problem is, anyway. The fact that it's still having problems just makes me feel better about my plan for jury-rigging the new canister I never returned. It involves epoxy and a hammer, as any good plan does.


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Waiting for the Terminix guy

So here I am at home, when I would normally be at work. I was standing in front of the fireplace and heard a dove cooing. It echoed down the flue and sounded neat and creepy. Anyway, I thought "Oh crap, the dove is stuck in the chimney" of course, because what else do you think when you hear bird noises coming out of your fireplace. I went outside hoping that he was just standing on the top of the chimney and sure 'nuff, there he was. Now I just have to hope he wasn't there calling to his mate who's stuck in the chimney.

P.S. He's come and gone now. I had just squirted some lotion onto my hands when the doorbell rang, so I was rubbing it in while going to the door. I actually could not turn the knob because my hands we so slippery! It took like three tries before I used my shirt. He must think I'm a crackhead, but that's nothing new.


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Apparently this isn't a good thing

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

From WB's comments: "[canna is] better than a snapdragon." "Hey, I'm a snapdragon."

heh. So am I.

This little survey is on a gardening site, so a few of the questions didn't really apply. Like who built your garden. What happens if I don't have one? And what happens if the plants inside my aquarium are making babies, but the plants around the house are all dead/dying?


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Note to self

When procuring a device meant to hold large amounts of liquid, it is imperative to make sure said device is actually capable of holding liquid, before completing the procurement transaction.


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