Sunday, August 24, 2008
Comments issues addressed
A number of people have expressed to me that they are having difficulty leaving comments. I had a word-verification security measure put in place to prevent spam-bots from leaving comments here that were nothing more than advertisements for garbage no one in their right mind would buy. A lot of people did not notice this, and as a result, could never post their comments. I have turned this feature off, so now, as long as on the comment page, you click the "Anonymous" option, then "Publish your comment," you should be good to go. In the event that spam starts showing up in the comments, I may be forced to turn the word-verification back on, but we'll cross that road if/when it happens.
Luggage
When I woke today, as always, I looked at what today's deal was on woot.com. Today's deal is a "Mediocre 6-piece luggage set." Here's a picture of the set:
For $39.99 (+ $5 shipping), you a get 21”, 24”, and 27” upright suit case with tote, garment bag, and toiletry kit.
Seeing this deal inspired me to go find my old black duffel bag (which I'm pretty sure I've had ever since the Camp Wise days) that I was planning on taking to Belize (mostly because it's the only luggage-type bag I own that can hold more than two or three days worth of clothes in it). When I found the bag and inspected it, I discovered a tiny tear in it. It's very possible that the tear wouldn't get any larger, but knowing my luck, at some point during the trip, the tear would rip down the entire side of the bag, spilling the contents all over the place.
With this being the case, I pulled the trigger and bought the luggage set from woot (they were out of the navy, so I chose the black set). I'm sure it's not the greatest quality, but it has to be good enough to get through one trip at the very least. And if that's all one of the suitcases lasts, I'll have two more to fall back on :) Plus, I've needed to upgrade my garment bag for ages. The one I currently have is kind of an obnoxious bright blue that's very juvenile-looking. The kicker to this is that it has my brother's initials on it. I'm pretty sure he got it for his Bar Mitzvah and never used it. At some point in time, back in high school, I had a need for a garment bag when traveling, and just kind of inherited it.
And with that, I will wrap up this ridiculously boring blog entry. If you actually read the entire thing, I kind of feel like I should buy you a beer for your efforts.
As always, I hope you're all doing well. Two weeks to go until Belize!!!
Ryan
For $39.99 (+ $5 shipping), you a get 21”, 24”, and 27” upright suit case with tote, garment bag, and toiletry kit.
Seeing this deal inspired me to go find my old black duffel bag (which I'm pretty sure I've had ever since the Camp Wise days) that I was planning on taking to Belize (mostly because it's the only luggage-type bag I own that can hold more than two or three days worth of clothes in it). When I found the bag and inspected it, I discovered a tiny tear in it. It's very possible that the tear wouldn't get any larger, but knowing my luck, at some point during the trip, the tear would rip down the entire side of the bag, spilling the contents all over the place.
With this being the case, I pulled the trigger and bought the luggage set from woot (they were out of the navy, so I chose the black set). I'm sure it's not the greatest quality, but it has to be good enough to get through one trip at the very least. And if that's all one of the suitcases lasts, I'll have two more to fall back on :) Plus, I've needed to upgrade my garment bag for ages. The one I currently have is kind of an obnoxious bright blue that's very juvenile-looking. The kicker to this is that it has my brother's initials on it. I'm pretty sure he got it for his Bar Mitzvah and never used it. At some point in time, back in high school, I had a need for a garment bag when traveling, and just kind of inherited it.
And with that, I will wrap up this ridiculously boring blog entry. If you actually read the entire thing, I kind of feel like I should buy you a beer for your efforts.
As always, I hope you're all doing well. Two weeks to go until Belize!!!
Ryan
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Plans are coming together, yet staying free form/open-ended at the same time
A few days ago I came to an odd realization. Throughout this entire process of learning about this vacation, committing to going on it, and planning the things we want to do on the trip, every conversation Adam and I have had has been over instant messenger. I love AIM, and have been an avid user since before I was in college even, but it just seemed odd that we hadn't talked on the phone at all for any of the planning stage so far. So, we got on the phone last night, with my intention being to try and put a little structure into our plans. For instance, I had no idea if we were going to try to go somewhere or see something the day we arrived in Belize. After talking with Adam for a bit, I found out that once our plane arrives (2:46pm local time), we have about an hour ride to where we're staying first, which is called The Trek Stop:
http://www.thetrekstop.com/
The Trek Stop is located in the middle of a 22-acre tropical jungle nature preserve called the Tropical Wings Nature Center. There are hiking trails that appear to be available all times of the day. I have a feeling we'll be hitting up some of those the day we get there. There's a Mayan temple in the Preserve which sounds like it would be cool to visit too. You can also rent mountain bikes there, which I think would be fun, especially since I've really gotten into biking over the last year or so (though that's all been on paved roads, I'm up to try some jungle terrain :) ).
The two things that we are still definitely doing while at Trek Stop are taking a guides tours of the Tikal Ruins, and separately, the Actun Tunichil Muknal caving expedition. That will leave us with one full day left at Trek Stop with no plans. The Trek Stop website mentions they are very close to a set of Mayan Ruins called Xunantunich. I found a website with a number of pictures of the place, and it looks like it would be amazing to check it out.
http://mayaruins.com/xunantunich.html
September 11th is the day we leave Trek Stop, and head for our second destination of the trip, the Belizian Shores Resort:
http://www.belizeanshores.com/
This is where the majority of the open-endedness (which doesn't appear to be a real word according to Firefox spell-check) is going to occur. I definitely want to go cave-tubing, and we both want to do some snorkeling (and scuba if the certification process isn't bad). Other than that, I know we'll be spending time on the beach drinking Belikin (the local beer of the area).
So, in a nutshell, that appears to be a loose idea of the things we are trying to do while in Belize. Will we get to everything we are intending??? Who knows. Will it be ridiculously fun with the things we do get to do??? Abso-frakin-lutely!!!
Until next time,
Ryan
http://www.thetrekstop.com/
The Trek Stop is located in the middle of a 22-acre tropical jungle nature preserve called the Tropical Wings Nature Center. There are hiking trails that appear to be available all times of the day. I have a feeling we'll be hitting up some of those the day we get there. There's a Mayan temple in the Preserve which sounds like it would be cool to visit too. You can also rent mountain bikes there, which I think would be fun, especially since I've really gotten into biking over the last year or so (though that's all been on paved roads, I'm up to try some jungle terrain :) ).
The two things that we are still definitely doing while at Trek Stop are taking a guides tours of the Tikal Ruins, and separately, the Actun Tunichil Muknal caving expedition. That will leave us with one full day left at Trek Stop with no plans. The Trek Stop website mentions they are very close to a set of Mayan Ruins called Xunantunich. I found a website with a number of pictures of the place, and it looks like it would be amazing to check it out.
http://mayaruins.com/xunantunich.html
September 11th is the day we leave Trek Stop, and head for our second destination of the trip, the Belizian Shores Resort:
http://www.belizeanshores.com/
This is where the majority of the open-endedness (which doesn't appear to be a real word according to Firefox spell-check) is going to occur. I definitely want to go cave-tubing, and we both want to do some snorkeling (and scuba if the certification process isn't bad). Other than that, I know we'll be spending time on the beach drinking Belikin (the local beer of the area).
So, in a nutshell, that appears to be a loose idea of the things we are trying to do while in Belize. Will we get to everything we are intending??? Who knows. Will it be ridiculously fun with the things we do get to do??? Abso-frakin-lutely!!!
Until next time,
Ryan
Blogging from my Nintendo DS
For $20, I picked up a cartridge that turns my DS into a wireless interet browser. It's a pain to touch-type on this thing, but it will allow me to update my blog on the go if I feel like it. I'll post a real update later from my home pc, but I can't handle typing on this thing anymore right now.
Later,
Ryan
Later,
Ryan
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Apocalypto
On Adam's suggestion, I watched Apocalypto a couple days ago. I never had any interest in seeing this in the theater, and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it was due to Mel Gibson being attached to the project. He seemed pretty full of himself after Passion of the Christ (another movie I had no desire to see). Couple that with his DUI/"Are you a Jew???" controversy, and I wasn't thinking very highly of him at the time.
My final reservation with watching the movie is that it is sub-titled. I don't actually have anything against sub-titles(one of my favorite movies of recent times is actually Pan's Labyrinth), but I only have a 25 inch television, and thought I would have a hard time reading the text. Fortunately for me, the folks that make dvds take this kind of thing into account, and the sub-titles were in fairly large, clear print.
To get back on topic, the suggestion to watch the movie was because the entire thing takes place in the Mayan jungles, similar to the places we'll be exploring on the "adventure" portion of our trip. The locations they shot the movie on are out of this world, and got me even more excited to get into the jungle. However, the movie also has barbaric/sadistic tribes performing human sacrifices, as well as random encounters with jaguars and venomous snakes. While I'm pretty sure the chances of encountering a traditional Mayan tribe that is oblivious to the last few thousand or so years of history and would want to use me as a human sacrifice are on the low side, the chances of encountering jaguars and venomous snakes in the jungle are probably a lot higher, and freaked me out a bit. Is it going to prevent me from doing any of this fun stuff once I get over there??? H E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS NO!!!
Overall, the movie was really good. I wish I had seen it in the theater on a huge screen with booming sound rather than in my apartment on a 25 inch television, but such is life.
Next on my agenda is to finalize my list of clothes and supplies I'll be taking with me, and purchase anything on my list that I don't already own. I also want to try and solidify all the different activities we want to do when down there, though knowing what specific day we'll be doing these things isn't so important right now. However, since tomorrow's a work day, I'll wrap this up for the time being.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings :)
Ryan
My final reservation with watching the movie is that it is sub-titled. I don't actually have anything against sub-titles(one of my favorite movies of recent times is actually Pan's Labyrinth), but I only have a 25 inch television, and thought I would have a hard time reading the text. Fortunately for me, the folks that make dvds take this kind of thing into account, and the sub-titles were in fairly large, clear print.
To get back on topic, the suggestion to watch the movie was because the entire thing takes place in the Mayan jungles, similar to the places we'll be exploring on the "adventure" portion of our trip. The locations they shot the movie on are out of this world, and got me even more excited to get into the jungle. However, the movie also has barbaric/sadistic tribes performing human sacrifices, as well as random encounters with jaguars and venomous snakes. While I'm pretty sure the chances of encountering a traditional Mayan tribe that is oblivious to the last few thousand or so years of history and would want to use me as a human sacrifice are on the low side, the chances of encountering jaguars and venomous snakes in the jungle are probably a lot higher, and freaked me out a bit. Is it going to prevent me from doing any of this fun stuff once I get over there??? H E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS NO!!!
Overall, the movie was really good. I wish I had seen it in the theater on a huge screen with booming sound rather than in my apartment on a 25 inch television, but such is life.
Next on my agenda is to finalize my list of clothes and supplies I'll be taking with me, and purchase anything on my list that I don't already own. I also want to try and solidify all the different activities we want to do when down there, though knowing what specific day we'll be doing these things isn't so important right now. However, since tomorrow's a work day, I'll wrap this up for the time being.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings :)
Ryan
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Comments are now available to everyone
I did not realize this initially, but the default setting for comments was that only registered users of blogger had the capability to write them. I have changed that, and now everyone is free to leave comments. Sorry for any confusion.
Ryan
Ryan
Friday, August 15, 2008
How the trip came to be
So, last week on either Monday or Tuesday, I was chatting on instant messenger with one of my oldest friends, Adam, who lives out in California these days. We're catching up, talking about the normal garbage we always do, when he sends me the following link and asks me what I think:
http://www.fodors.com/world/mexico-and-central-america/belize/feature_30003.html
I told him that sounds pretty crazy and fun, and then he asks me if I'd be up for doing the trip in September. To make the deal even sweeter, he's already been looking into air fair, and had found round trip flights for only $363 (the same for both Indy and Los Angeles) through Continental. I said that I'd need to think about it, and would get back to him in a day or so.
While the trip sounded awesome, I was a bit hesitant. I haven't exactly done a lot of traveling in my life, and I've never been out of the country before (unless you count Canada). This seemed like a huge first step into the world of traveling, especially with barely a month's notice. While a month is a long time, to someone clueless like me, it didn't seem like much to prepare. I asked my boss if I'd be able to get the time off, especially because the week of the trip is our company's large user group meeting, which is a pretty big deal for us. She told me she really would like me there, but if this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, then she would definitely give me the time off. Later that evening I was talking to my parents about the potential trip, and my mother pointed out to me that I hadn't taken a real vacation in about 6 years, and I would be an idiot to pass up something like this, which pretty much just fell into my lap, and I didn't have to plan at all.
Come Wednesday morning, after mulling things over, I decide that there will likely never be another time in my life where I have the funds as well as the vacation time available to do something like this, and I'm in for sure. I let Adam know I'm in, and we pull up Continental's website to book our flights. Overnight, the price of those $363 round trip ticket had jumped to $798!!! This was a real shock to us, and when we called Continental to question such a hike in price, we both got the same garbage answer (from different people) about a new fuel-tax being implemented. Since air fair is known for going up and down for no reason at all, I suggested waiting another night to see if it possibly goes down again. Thursday morning, it had not gone down again, but hadn't gone up either. Once again, going back to the thought that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, we decided to to take the hit on the ridiculous air fair, and not let it ruin our good time.
Plane tickets booked, I realized I had no passport, and would likely need to get a number of vaccinations as well to go on the trip. During my lunch hour, I went to the post office and applied for an expedited passport. A week later, my passport has arrived (and is electronic somehow, though I'm not sure why), and I have been vaccinated for Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Polio, and have a prescription for malaria pills I will start taking two days before the trip.
As a final note in this entry, I want to point out that the fodor's itinerary linked in the first paragraph is a very rough guide of what we're basing this trip off of. The only things we are 100% doing are the Actun Tunichil Muknal caving expedition, and a guided tour of Tikal. I'm looking into some sort of jungle biking tour, but not finding anything close to where we're staying at this point.
The next time I have something of interest to say pertaining to the trip, you'll find it here.
Ryan
Adam and I: Circa 1989 or 1990
Still homies after all these years: Chillin at the
after-party at Brad and Lauren's wedding 4-13-08
http://www.fodors.com/world/mexico-and-central-america/belize/feature_30003.html
I told him that sounds pretty crazy and fun, and then he asks me if I'd be up for doing the trip in September. To make the deal even sweeter, he's already been looking into air fair, and had found round trip flights for only $363 (the same for both Indy and Los Angeles) through Continental. I said that I'd need to think about it, and would get back to him in a day or so.
While the trip sounded awesome, I was a bit hesitant. I haven't exactly done a lot of traveling in my life, and I've never been out of the country before (unless you count Canada). This seemed like a huge first step into the world of traveling, especially with barely a month's notice. While a month is a long time, to someone clueless like me, it didn't seem like much to prepare. I asked my boss if I'd be able to get the time off, especially because the week of the trip is our company's large user group meeting, which is a pretty big deal for us. She told me she really would like me there, but if this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, then she would definitely give me the time off. Later that evening I was talking to my parents about the potential trip, and my mother pointed out to me that I hadn't taken a real vacation in about 6 years, and I would be an idiot to pass up something like this, which pretty much just fell into my lap, and I didn't have to plan at all.
Come Wednesday morning, after mulling things over, I decide that there will likely never be another time in my life where I have the funds as well as the vacation time available to do something like this, and I'm in for sure. I let Adam know I'm in, and we pull up Continental's website to book our flights. Overnight, the price of those $363 round trip ticket had jumped to $798!!! This was a real shock to us, and when we called Continental to question such a hike in price, we both got the same garbage answer (from different people) about a new fuel-tax being implemented. Since air fair is known for going up and down for no reason at all, I suggested waiting another night to see if it possibly goes down again. Thursday morning, it had not gone down again, but hadn't gone up either. Once again, going back to the thought that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, we decided to to take the hit on the ridiculous air fair, and not let it ruin our good time.
Plane tickets booked, I realized I had no passport, and would likely need to get a number of vaccinations as well to go on the trip. During my lunch hour, I went to the post office and applied for an expedited passport. A week later, my passport has arrived (and is electronic somehow, though I'm not sure why), and I have been vaccinated for Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Polio, and have a prescription for malaria pills I will start taking two days before the trip.
As a final note in this entry, I want to point out that the fodor's itinerary linked in the first paragraph is a very rough guide of what we're basing this trip off of. The only things we are 100% doing are the Actun Tunichil Muknal caving expedition, and a guided tour of Tikal. I'm looking into some sort of jungle biking tour, but not finding anything close to where we're staying at this point.
The next time I have something of interest to say pertaining to the trip, you'll find it here.
Ryan
Adam and I: Circa 1989 or 1990
Still homies after all these years: Chillin at the
after-party at Brad and Lauren's wedding 4-13-08
Holy crap, I'm going to Belize!!!
While I've thought about joining the "blogosphere" in the past, I never had anything particularly interesting to write about. I didn't think people would be interested in reading daily posts about how I went to work, came home, made dinner, and eventually went to bed every day. I had no interest in writing posts like that either :)
However, as of August 7th, I am officially going on an amazing vacation to Belize September 7th - 14th (technically 15th due to a 12 hour layover in Houston on the way home) for a a week split between doing some adventurous exploration of the jungles/ruins/caves of Belize, and more touristy things like snorkeling, cave tubing, and getting drunk on the beach :)
When I have some more time this evening, I'll add another post of how this trip came to be. I also hope to be able to update this blog during down time on the trip itself, but that all depends on my internet access over there.
I need to get some things done now, so I'll wrap this up until next time.
Ryan
However, as of August 7th, I am officially going on an amazing vacation to Belize September 7th - 14th (technically 15th due to a 12 hour layover in Houston on the way home) for a a week split between doing some adventurous exploration of the jungles/ruins/caves of Belize, and more touristy things like snorkeling, cave tubing, and getting drunk on the beach :)
When I have some more time this evening, I'll add another post of how this trip came to be. I also hope to be able to update this blog during down time on the trip itself, but that all depends on my internet access over there.
I need to get some things done now, so I'll wrap this up until next time.
Ryan
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