Out with the old... 2009

Happy Holidays, everyone!

It's been a banner year for us. No real crisis, everyone we know is happy and healthy and the last twelve months have been totally awesome.

Teresa and I took our friend Mark to Japan to visit the Tokyo Disney Resort and see Osaka. The trip was awesome- Tokyo Disney Seas is the prettiest theme park in the world. Osaka was equally amazing and I have never seen so many temples in one day. The architecture there is truly magical. In another two years we will be bringing our son along.

Caden's still getting bigger. At two and a half, he's got a lot to say, but since he hasn't got the vocabulary down yet it's a lot of fun deciphering it. He had his second birthday in May, which was quite entertaining. The bounce house has become something of a tradition and the jumping thing has only escalated. He loves jumping off stairs, our porch, anything that has more than a foot between him and the ground. He got a lot of presents for his second victory lap around the sun, but I think he's only played with half of them. We're trying to change out his toys so when he gets bored with what he has, we swap those out with new ones and pass the old ones around to other parents. It's keeping him interested and reducing the clutter. He loves blocks and trains.

It was another year of new adventures for him- He's been to yet another country (Mexico, the first weekend in December) and a new state (Oregon in July). He's been to several National Parks (including Mount Saint Helens!). He went on a couple of hikes with Mom and Dad, he's seen several movies and really likes going to the latest animated film with Dad. He's been to Traveltown over in Burbank which has opened up the world of trains for him and he loves the Griffith Observatory and it's planetarium show.

We've taken him to Disneyland at least once a month, and he still really enjoys himself there. His favorite attraction is the Enchanted Tiki Room. He asks me to play the show when we're driving in the car, he sings along with the birds and even though he can't understand what the ghula say, he tries his hardest to keep up. I love the Disney parks, and I really hope that experiencing them together will be part of our relationship in the years to come. We let him decide what rides to go on, and he likes making those decisions. He loves the Astro Orbiter and still thinks it's a small world is the bomb. At 38 inches tall, he's still two inches shy of the big boy rides, but I can't wait to share those with him.

Teresa and I haven't been able to travel that much in recent years. We used to take epic vacations for a month at a time, but with Teresa's independent business going strong despite the recession, she hasn't been able to take all that time off. I went to Disney World by myself in March, though and we've taken some smaller trips together.

Over Fourth of July, for example, we took the little boy to Washington, Oregon and Vancouver. He had a blast, and so did his parents! It was a lightning four day trip- This time we were staying with friends and the first day we headed up to Richmond for Dim Sum, Granville Island for some shopping, the Capiano Suspension Bridge for some adventure and back to Richmond for the night market. The next day we drove down to Portland and spent the day looking at flowers and art, and we returned to Seattle the next day after a stop off at Mt. St. Helens. That is a sobering place.

My job is still going strong. I've spent most of the year working on commercials, which I really like. I finished out Fast and Furious at the beginning of the year, worked on some commercials and a really cute bit of work for a Japanese company, and started up on the A-Team for the closing of the year. I also had my third sabbatical over the summer, which means that I've actually been here for fifteen years. I get two months of time off for that, and I was able to take Caden to visit my brother in Denver, and see some friends in Connecticut solo.

Teresa was able to escape for three weeks to Japan, Cambodia and Vietnam in November. She enjoyed herself, but it wasn't as relaxing as she had hoped- She still had to check out her email and run her business from overseas. Despite that, she is doing well. She is still tired often- Purplestar Logistics is doing surprisingly well even with the recession, but it's a 6 to 9 job and managing her drivers and dealing with the Port of Long Beach is hard work. Over the last few months the amount of containers she's had to deliver around the southland has increased, making this year busier than last. She might close it down in 2010, though as the rules about older trucks has changed. We'll see. She still enjoys playing Mahjong most Friday nights even though her friend Irene wins more often than not!

I will be shooting an independent silent film this year and I am really, really excited about that.

And that's the year in review. All nine of my readers, I hope 2010 is as awesome as it can be for you...

Thanks for reading my blog- I really appreciate your readership and your commentary!

The Jib Jab year in review!

My Birthday!

The day started pretty miserably. I've had this stupid ear infection for about a week now- It feels like I've been punched on the left side of my jaw, and every so often I can feel a slow leak in there. yuck.

I called in sick.

Despite feeling like the floor of a movie theater, Teresa told me I had to go to Disneyland to get my $72 gift card. After grumbling a bit, I finally headed down there. Disneyland has this special "free on your birthday" program going on this year. They give annual passholders the option of a ticket for next years birthday, a group fastpass or the gift card.

Teresa is never one to pass on free money. And it says something that I didn't really feel like going there...

I headed home after getting the card- didn't even bother doing anything at the park. Lines were long and I felt even worse... There was no traffic on the way back, thankfully, and when I got to the house, I passed out almost immediately.

Teresa woke me up around five and said we had to get ready for dinner.

Then all three of us headed down to Patina, the restaurant inside the Disney Concert Hall. It was lovely. We were a little underdressed, but Caden was on his best behavior and charmed the staff. The food is sort of French fusion, and the portions were small, but had some of the best flavor in food I have had in a long time. We started with lentil soup (which I loved despite not usually liking lentil soup!), moved on to an amazing lobster salad and what they called a vegetable mosaic (imagine cubed vegetables in a surprisingly yummy marinade) and then shared three entrees; Teresa had the butter poached lobster, I had the beef and Caden had the duck. And surprise, surprise, he loved everything. We shared all around, and the little boy loved trying all the different tastes- lobster with a hint of citrus, duck in a sort of sweet gravy and short ribs/tenderloin in a delicious brown cuisson.

We rounded out the meal with a raspberry chocolate confection and a pineapple and exotic fruit cake.

We came back to the house full and happy, and we all watched Rescuers Down Under. Teresa and Caden went to bed after the movie was over and I stayed up a little longer to watch The Quick and the Dead. About an hour into it, I heard feet padding around in the kitchen, and then I saw Caden. He smiled a little, and said, "I watch too?" So the two of us watched the movie for a little bit until he couldn't keep his eyes open any more.

Depite feeling crappy, I felt really happy that I have such a wonderful family.

Happy Holidays!

Just one more heathen doing his part in the war on Christmas!

Seriously, I hope you're having one hell of a holiday, and that we can live vicariously through you. The season started way back at the end of September and hasn't let up- and all the malls only seem to play the same twelve songs. Enough with the Burl Ives, already!

And, to add insult to injury, Christmas isn't even done yet and Target is already putting up Valentines decorations. I swear, in ten years there's just going to be a mash up of every holiday for the entire year and we'll just call it the selling season.

Nurse, get me 10 cc's of Disney magic stat!

Another awesome Kick-Ass trailer!

My friend Mark let me borrow the comic and I was totally hooked. Then, he tells me that they're making a movie, and the first trailer was identical in feel to its source. This looks insanely cool.

random quotes

"The experience is not so much "watching a movie" as it is images on screen having sex with your eyeballs. If you are moved to tears, you can tell people you are just having a multiple eyegasm."
-Chris Bowers talking about how awesome Avatar is

random quotes

“Well Michael, do you remember Old Yeller? We SHOT the DOG!”
- Roy E. Disney, responding to Michael Eisner's dislike of unhappy endings

A Uraguay film maker gets a Hollywood deal...

After uploading this short film called Panic Attack. Excellent.

This song made me cry today.

I've never heard of Glee and it sounds like it might be my cup of tea, but this clip from the show touched my heart. It's beautiful.

(via)

Roy Disney died today.

Wow.

At 79, the nephew of Walt Disney passed away after a long fight against stomach cancer.

For 56 years he was associated with the Disney Company and was very influential in the animation department until he stepped down six years ago in a successful gambit to convince Michael Eisner to resign.

Even though he returned as a non voting Director Emeritus he spent the last few years consulting with the company and pursuing his lifetime love of sailing.

You will be missed, Roy.

You're my quasi-ichthyan angel...

A great ode to Cthulu by Norm Sherman of the Drabblecast.

If a cat starred in an early eighties tv show...

This would be the opening titles.

random quotes

"Religion should be like your genitals. It's fine to enjoy them, it's fine to be proud of them, just keep them to yourself unless invited to share."
- Personal Failure @ Atheist Revolution

A great response to that stupid Christian side hug rap

This is some funny stuff right here, yo.

A really neat Christmas song...

This is actually pretty hilarious- These guys look like they are having a lot of fun.

Our Cancun vacation day 4

Ahhhh. Ten o' clock.

Teresa had already taken the lad down for breakfast, something I rarely eat. Seriously, I hate having a full stomach in the morning.

When they finally got back, Caden acted like the best alarm clock in the world- "Daddy, wake up! Daaadeeeee. DAAAaaadeeeEEE"

So I did. We got packed up, more or less, and opted for the "stay all day plan" for an extra thirty bucks and headed down for some swimming. The pool seemed cool at first, but after being in it for a few minutes it felt like the perfect temperature. While we were hanging out at our end, I learned something- I had thought that Americans were the predominant tourist demographic in Cancun. However, one of the things that was weird on both of those tours we went on was that most of the people on the bus spoke Spanish. Most of the tourists in Cancun over the holidays come from Central America. Guatemala figures in to that mix in a major way.

The pool DJ was just rattling off a few facts like these in English and Spanish and it explained a lot.

I snuck into the sushi restaurant for a quick plate of raw fish, and an hour later we had lunch. We went back to our room, finished packing and went down to the lobby, turned in our luggage and Teresa checked her email, just to make sure her business was going well. We taxied over to the airport around three, checked in and had an early dinner at Bubba Gumps. Of course, you might be wondering why there? Of a lot of bad choices, it was one we could count on. Airport food being what it is and all...

Caden and Teresa slept most of the flight home, and I read, or watched music videos or talked to Teresa for those five hours. It was a nice flight.

It was really cold getting off the plane.

I love travelling. But what I love the most is coming home.

Our Cancun vacation day 3

So tired.

You'd think that vacations are for relaxing, wouldn't you?

You'd be wrong.

We were eating breakfast at 6:30. Caden wasn't that hungry but he did eat, so we thought all was well.

Hahahaahahahaha.

No.

Teresa went to get an all day internet pass from the hotel and I got Caden settled on the tour bus to Chichen Itza. Same company as yesterday, same game plan. This time, however, we didn't have to get on another bus- everyone else would get on ours. While we were waiting for the other buses from other hotels to arrive in the Wet and Wild parking lot, I got a nasty surprise with no warnings at all.

Caden barfed.

Lot's of pineapple and egg whites.

Now, for those of you who know me, if it weren't for the fact that I had to deal with this myself, I would have tossed my own cookies. Yeah, I don't deal with vomit well. And I didn't bring a change of clothes for myself. Caden? Totally covered. I took my own shirt off, and his clothes, changed his diaper. Got him relatively cleaned up. I cleaned up our seats, and myself as good as I could. Fortunately, it didn't smell bad.

Some of the people were sympathetic, and laughed as I cleaned us up. "I know it's not funny," one of them said, snickering. "Yeah, it is," I said. "Or at least it will be in a couple of days. Right now, it's just gross."

Nevertheless, I had to sit next to a complete stranger with no shirt on for nearly an hour. He was uncomfortable, I was uncomfortable and Caden was as happy as a pig in mud. Half the bus was under his cute spell before we made it to our first stop- the rest stop halfway between Cancun and the cenote Il Kil. Once there, I was able to rinse out my shirt, clean it up, AND get Cadens own bathing suit clean.

I wore a wet shirt the rest of the way to the cenote.

Now, here's something about tours I hate. When we were leaving, two couples missed their pick up time. We were about a half an hour late getting started. Sooooo.... When we finally got to the cenote, something I was really excited about, we only had an hour to get in the water and get back to the bus. It took about fifteen minutes just to walk to the changing room, another ten to change and climb down the stairs and get in the water. Caden and me, we had about ten minutes to actually swim. Then, we got out, went back up the stairs, got back into our dry clothes and went back to the bus.

What the hell?

The restaurant they took us to was terrible and the dancers were interesting although I got the impression that they were either terribly cynical "Oh, great. Another tour watching us dance with bottles on our heads," or bored. "Do I have to do this bottle routine again?" Caden ate everything (I mean, the kid must have been starving after the incident...) but I was pretty unimpressed and remained hungry until we got back to the hotel.

What was the rush? Let's stay at the damn cenote for an extra half hour and give us sandwiches for lunch- either way I would have been more satisfied being at a place that was actually fun. As it turned out, I could have skipped Chichen Itza entirely and just played in the water the rest of the day- how often do you get to splash about in a beautiful, spiritually holy place for an entirely unique religion that's sixty feet underground and is over a hundred and fifty feet deep?

Chichen Itza really did suck.

Don't get me wrong. It's beautiful and all. But I was really looking forward to climbing the main pyramid and taking pictures of my son at the top. It turns out, they had stopped allowing tourists to do that because tourists, on the whole, can be real douchebags. For years, they had scratched their intials into El Castillo or spray painted their names on the Temple of Warriors. finally, the National Institute of Anthropology and History decided that it was more important to save the site from vandals then let tourists explore so they closed off the monuments from public access. You can walk around them, but not up or in them.

While I commend the spirit of these new rules, in practical application, why bother going then? Once you leave the parking lot, you are accosted from all directions by men and women selling the same stupid trinkets. There are masks, and imitation ceremonial daggers, and reproductions of the monuments.

"A dollar, senor. This is just a dollar."

As we walked around the site listening to some amazing history described by our guide, Jorge (which of course bored the heck out of Caden...), we were constantly beset by the same people selling the same crap.

"A dollar, senor. This is just a dollar."

We went over to the Great Ball Court, and I listened in horror to Jorge describing what happened if your team won, and you were the captain. Yeah. A real prize. You had your head cut off. That way, the priests assured the populace, they had a voice to speak to the gods. I asked Jorge if they went willingly, and Jorge brought up Jonestown and other cults.

Yeah. Pretty goofed up. I wouldn't want to be on the winning side myself- Nothing happened to the losers... They went on to train the next group of kids how to play the game.

"A dollar, senor. This is just a dollar."

Everywhere there were tables set up with the same crap on them.

I am not kidding. Imagine if at the Grand Canyon, in every available shady area, tables were set up with plastic and wooden tchotsky's with two to five people at every table trying the hard sell to get you to buy something. It was miserable.

"A dollar, senor. This is just a dollar."

It was the same damn dude following us around. Finally, I pulled a dollar out of my pocket.

"Ok, senor. I'll take that faux stone jaguar head for a dollar. Here it is."

"You no have 100 pesos, senor?"

"Nope. I have a one and a five. That's all I've got." (Really. I had only brought twenty five bucks on the tour, and I'd used most of it to rent a pair of life jackets and a locker for our stuff at the cenote and a couple of drinks earlier. I wasn't planning on buying anything.)

"Oh," he said. "Just give me twenty."

"This is all I've got."

He walked away.

Really, senor? You follow me around while I'm on vacation with my son, pestering me for an hour and a half with a cheap souvenir, and when I finally agree to your terms, you change the goalposts?

Fuck you.

Eventually the tour ended, and we had an hour to kill before the bus would open again. We ran into a lot of the people from the tour, and they all wanted to take a picture of my cute little son.

Meanwhile, he was taking pictures of everything. Daddy's hands. The monuments. People from the tour. Daddy's shoes. The latest excavations. Daddy's eyes. Caden and I walked around (or rather, I walked around with Caden on my shoulders) for a bit, but it was really hot so we hiked back to the bus sipping some sodas I'd bought with the last of our money. We killed that hour watching tourists from all over the world walking about, and examining a hummingbirds nest that we discovered in one of the trees.

The return trip (two and a half hours!) was uneventful, and Caden passed out on my chest.

When we got back to our hotel, Caden was hungry. Mommy was hungry. Daddy was starving. We ate at the Brazilian steak house in our hotel, and I have to say, the pineapple ham was the best I have ever had. I kept asking the poor waiter to go back and get me more.

It was great.

I showed pictures of our day to Teresa, and she said that they had really cleaned it up since she had been there seven or eight years ago, and was really surprised that you couldn't climb it.

Oh well. Next time we'll know where not to go. And tomorrow? Our last day? I get to sleep in.

Our Cancun vacation day 2

Wow. That wake up call came early.

We were showered and dressed and out the door by seven, but we didn't have time to grab breakfast. The bus picked us up on time, then proceeded to stop at five more hotels before stopping at a central hub (the parking lot of the local Wet and Wild, actually) before we all separated onto different buses to head off to Xel-Ha.

Caden was tired and cranky, and most importantly, hungry. Yeah. We were bad parents this morning. But, once we got to our destination, everything got better.

Let me tell you about this magical place called Xel-Ha.

It's what they call an open-sea aquarium. A huge inlet that's less than eleven feet deep is fed by the ocean on one side and a large underground river that springs from the ground a mile away on the other. The name Xel-Ha actually means Sweet-Salty because, like the name implies, the warm sea water is salty and stays on the bottom while the cold fresh water from the river stays on top. There's actually an inversion layer about five feet from the bottom that looks oily and diffuse- It's at that point where you can literally feel the temperature change. 70 species of fish live in this bay and they are not afraid of people.

It's pretty huge.

In addition to the river and the bay, there are hiking trails, natural caves to explore, an extremely rocky floating bridge (which made Caden look like he'd had way too much to drink!), cliffs to jump off, rope swings to ride, and all sorts of other, natural wonders. Like many attractions in the Cancun area, they have a dolphin experience too.

It's amazing.

When we were here three years ago, we were part of a tour that came to Xel-Ha and after a few hours went to Tulum. While Tulum was nice the whole time we were hiking those Mayan ruins, I was wishing that we had been able to stay in Xel-Ha. We felt rushed and that we were missing out- we hadn't had time to see more than half of what was there. So this time, we found a tour that let us stay at the park the entire operating day- and we were really glad we did. We were able to relax, walk around, take lots of pictures, explore the river, and enjoy ourselves. And we still didn't get to see a lot of the cooler things like the caves or the rope swing!

The highlight of my time at Xel-Ha came at the end of the day. I signed up for the Sea Trek. The last time we visited, Cancun had just been hit by a major hurricane and this attraction was closed. (So were many other things... the coast was a wreck.) I wasn't expecting to do anything other than float around because of Caden, when Teresa asked me if I wanted to do it by myself.

I had to think about it for less than a second.

It just so happened, I was the last trip. Literally. The park was not crowded, and most of the other people on tours had left to go to Tulum already so we had the place to ourselves. So I had personalized attention. The diving bell you put on your head is loud- the air in the helmet is constantly refreshed, and there's no fogging of the faceplate because of that. Still, the constant rushing of sound is slightly diminished once you get down to the sea bed, where they've put in some railing. Essentially, once your shoulders are in the water, they put your helmet on (sixty pounds!) and then you ladder your way to the bottom, turn around and grab on to the rail. A diver is waiting for you down there, and he gives you the signal to start walking.

Did you ever see Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea? Yeah. That's what this was like.

You have to remain vertical, or the diving bell fills up with water. But that's the only limitation. It's easy to walk, although there is quite a surge from the tide so I found myself holding on to the railing almost constantly. There were a couple of times when I started walking without touching the railing and I would literally start rising as a backdraft of water pushed me in the same direction I wanted to go. It was exhilarating.

Then there's the fish. There were so many. And it was like walking into an aquarium- visibility was excellent (although a couple of times that oily inversion layer played havok with my eyes!) and seriously, the tuna that was swimming around me were as long as my leg. They were huge.

About halfway through the experience, we reached Ray City. I felt something brush my legs, looked down and saw a ray about five feet in diameter just ambling about. It turns out all these fish know that when there's some ridiculous looking people with giant bubbles on their heads, it's time for food.

Since I was the only one on the tour, I got real personalized attention. I got to pet the rays (about five of them came up to us) and the dive master actually had one of them hang out on my head. I could look up and see its mouth and its gills working as it consumed the fish he was feeding it. I have to say, if I'd been diving on my own and seen one of those things coming close to me, I'm not sure wonder would be my first reaction!

All I can say is, it was absolutely the most amazing thing I have done in a really long time.

As we headed back to the ladder, hanging out right behind it was one of the nastiest, biggest fish I have ever seen- A Snapper. That thing was bigger than my son, and it was really, really aggressive. When the diver pointed it out I stepped back really quickly. I was a little hesitant to grab the ladder and many, that thing looked mean. Regardless, I climbed the stairs, they pulled off my helmet, and I heard Caden say "Dadeeee!"

How's that for a welcome back?

We moseyed about for another fifteen minutes and then we wrapped things up, got back on the bus and headed to our hotel. Dinner that night was at the Asian restaurant there- and it was pretty yummy. I had some sushi, we split soup, three entrees (shrimp in sort of a Chinese sauce, Thai chicken and really good fish in a garlicky sauce) and Caden macked on the fried rice.

I wanted to wake up at six the next morning so we could feed Caden before heading off to Chichen Itza, so we went back to the room. However, Teresa needed to figure out what her schedule for Monday was so she had to spend some time on the phone, which kept Caden up, which kept me up, and we weren't able to go to sleep until midnight.

Six hours. Not nearly enough time to catch those zeees.

Random video from Xel-Ha

Here's a shot of Teresa and Caden floating down the mangle- the branchy, rooty thing the river started in.


Next up is the two of them floating away...

Our Cancun vacation day 1

Today was really long. (Funny, don't most of my travel reports start out this way?)

Seriously- we were up and out of the house by five in the morning. Dawn was cresting as we headed down to LAX and there was still traffic on the 405. Not enough to slow us down, but the number of cars on the freeway that early never ceases to amaze me.

We actually parked in Lot C since it was only gonna be four days... But it was cold walking from our car to the depot. Holy carp it was cold. Caden had a blanket wrapped around him and looked like a little blue Shaolin monk.

The flight went without a hitch- a little less than four hours non-stop. We had not made seat reservations and hadn't checked in early, so when we arrived, even two hours ahead of time, we still needed to shuffle our seating arrangement around. Teresa sat with Caden, and I sat snugged in between a large older man and a typical Hollywood glamor girl. She was on her phone talking with a girlfriend about how her man had intimacy issues and how much she really really appreciated being able to vent about her sexual secrets up until the attendant finally told her she needed to turn her phone off. She nodded, and kept talking. Loudly. The attendant just stood there until the woman got the idea and finally said good bye- Then didn't turn her phone off. Yuck.

When we arrived in Cancun, about two thirty, the weather was amazing. There was a stiff wind blowing and it smelled... tropical. We went through customs without a hitch and Caden got to use his passport for the first time. (Unfortunately, they didn't stamp it. The stamp thing is by request only now, and by the time we realized the stamp wasn't there, it was too late.)

Ok- Rant on. The airport in Cancun is actually pretty nice. Until you clear customs and head off to grab a taxi. From that point on, you are constantly being accosted by guys wearing ties and ladies wearing business suits. They are members of the Hotel Association or something like that and have the badges to prove it. They tell you that they can help you get a taxi or a shuttle to your hotel, bring you over to a little kiosk and start pestering you for details about your trip- how long you are staying, where you are staying, what attractions you want to visit and then tell you that they can get you major discounts for all of that if only you'd come to a new hotel/timeshare for a quick, 45 minute breakfast or lunch.

I made the mistake of making eye contact. This fellow kept telling us that the lady who would arrange our shuttle "was coming," and that he could get us amazing discounts. And why would we *not* want to save money? The pressure ramped up. When we told him where we were staying, he circled our hotel on a map as if to indicate the shuttle's distance and how much he would save us in fare- He kept writing stuff on a little pad.

I kept telling them I was not interested in their promotions. At one point, I almost yelled at a second guy who came up and wanted to know how much we had paid for our day in Xel-Ha... I finally told him he was wasting my time and we grabbed our bags, and less than ten feet away was the gray line taxi service.

Those douchebags lied about everything. There was no taxi lady coming. They had no idea where our hotel was. All they wanted was butts in the seat and got offended when you called them on it.

Fuckers.

Rant off.

We finally got to our hotel about seven. There was a marathon going on today and the two southbound lanes of the major road that passed through the hotel zone was closed off for it, which funneled all traffic (north and south) on a Saturday afternoon into a very congested mess. Imagine closing five lanes on the strip in Vegas and making all of the cars use the remaining three lanes to go up or down. Yeah. It took us three hours to go fourteen miles.

When we arrived, we were actually a little worried we'd been dropped at the wrong hotel. There are about a million Oasis resorts down there and ours wasn't even on the map. It's an all inclusive place, and the Grand Caribbean had recently been merged into the Palm Beach. Our receipt said Grand Caribbean, but all the signs around the resort said Palm Beach. We started to nervously make alternate plans in case the gray line shuttle had let us down.

They hadn't. We checked in, got our wristband to show we belonged, took a shower in our room and went out to the "international buffet" at the Ibizza restaurant. We were hungry, tired and I was still pissed that I'd even been yoinked in by those guys at the airport.

Before we got food, though, I wanted to stop by the concierge desk and make sure we could get to Xel-Ha on Sunday. We made those arrangements and since Teresa had to work on Monday, I made plans to take Caden to Chichen Itza, giving my busy wife an opportunity to get some stuff done minus the kid. I was really looking forward to climbing up that sacrificial Mayan ziggurat with my son and take some pictures. The only downside to these trips was the starting time- we had to be in the lobby at seven twenty. Yarg.

Then, we ate.

The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Even though it was touted as international, it was mostly Mexican or Spanish. They had some spaghetti at one of the islands, so I guess by including Italian into their offerings, it was sort of international, but we both agreed it was pushing it.

By nine we were done. Six thirty was not that far off.

Dear Subway... the ontological history of my deli love

But one of the reasons I don't like going to Subway for my sandwiches. Another is the notion that all of the meat is already sliced.

I saw this cartoon and nearly snogged- Luckily I wasn't drinking anything.

When I was in college, I used to haunt Blimpies quite regularly. But then, all the stores started drying up and moving away and my noshing of the long sub stopped... Imagine my surprise when I was visiting Rhode Island and there was one in West Greenwich. But that too went out of business.

So now, my sub of choice is Jersey Mikes. I like this place even better than Blimpies and the staff of my local franchise is awesome. I highly recommend the #13 Mike's way. It's delicious.

In case you missed it, here's a handy guide to the same sex marriage arguments...

Yup, here they are, all in one place.

(via)

More twilight... I don't understand this phenomena...

There's only one character missing from this spoofy commercial...

Wow, this has all the nostalgia of my seventies Christmases AND it's selling something. On top of that, the animation is really, really nice.

Hilarious Tiger Woods Chinese accident reenactment

That doesn't really look like Tiger. Poser sure does make appearances in the strangest of places, doesn't it?

What if visual effects were like smack?

James Cameron goes down that path towards oblivion when the studio execs won't give him what he needs to finish Avatar.

This is a brilliant short film.

It will only take two and a half minutes of your life.
Watch it.

No explanation needed.

Quite possibly one of the best games I have ever played...

I just finished playing through Left 4 Dead 2 last night and I have never had more fun. See, I have zombie dreams from time to time. Playing this game is like fighting back against my nightmares, with many, many more weapons than I have in my dream. (Think of that duct taped hammer in Team America and you get a sense of what I have to fight off the hordes of zombies, and eventually my infected friends and family...)

One of the big differences between this game and the original is that in this one, the stories are sequential. The first game was a series of five random situations with no connection between them. The second game was a complete, if unsatisfactory tale of being in the wrong place at the wrong time told in five chapters.

You escape the mall in Savannah in a car, run out of gas near an amusement park near Atlanta and escape via helicopter. Forced to shoot the infected pilot, you find yourself wrecked near a plantation, cross a bayou and find rescue from a boat captain named Virgil only to run out of gas halfway to New Orleans. When you finally arrive at the jewel of Louisiana, the military has started bombing the place to cleanse the infection. You must race through town and cross the only remaining bridge and get to a waiting chopper before they blow it up.

The different levels are amazing (and amazingly beautiful) and there are some levels that are genuinely creepy. The second half of Hard Rain is scary in it's storms intensity and the lightning flash unleashing the horde was a stroke of video game genius. The fact that you can't see more than five or ten feet when they come adds to the intensity.

I love this game. It has a lot of repeat playability and the melee fighting abilty is tops.