5 day weekend blues.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening. On the last day of Thanksgiving vacation.

Anyway, these past 5 days have gone by quickly. I've enjoyed every minute of it. We actually got some sunshine too, which was a total bonus.

So let's see, where did I leave you last...

I ended up finishing my schoolwork Saturday morning. I stayed up fairly late on Friday night, but just ended up throwing everything aside cause I was afraid that when I read my paper again the next morning, it would be total crap.

It turned out ok, but I was glad I finished it up on Saturday. I added some more shite to it and it was good to go.

I've had to think about school about an hour a day after that, but besides that, I've stayed true to not worrying about school for the weekend.

Saturday was a bummy day. Just hung around the house. I did go out to lunch with my mum, but that was about it. I ended up watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie. I had to watch parts of it over again to make sure I got it. I'm still confused a little here and there, but I think I get it.

I think my constant watching of cheesy toilet humor movies has dulled my movie comprehension skills.

So I'll probably end up watching the movie again. Just don't know when the next time I'll have 3 hours to spare is :)

Sometimes I wonder how the author comes up with some of this stuff. Hmmm...

So today my mom and I did some Christmas shopping. I know you probably think we're crazy. But you know what? It wasn't that bad. My sample size of stores is pretty small, but I'm sure you can guess the two stores that we visited.

Costco and Target.

Costco's parking lot was full (like normal on a weekend day), but the checkout lines were really short. Same thing with Target - but they had every single line open which was nice.

Today at Target I had a cart collision in the toy aisle. I'm minding my busines, travelling on one of the major thoroughfares in the store. And this lady comes out of one of the aisles, looking for something, and turns right into me.

Bam!

We made quite the ruckus. And she looked at me like my ass was at fault. Hell naw.

(Returning to happy holiday place.)

Besides that, pretty painless. I think I'm almost done with my shopping for this year. I even bought holiday cards :) It'll be a personal record if I'm almost done with my shopping.

So yesterday for the first time in what has seemed like months, I picked up the acoustic guitar, tuned it, and played my 3 chords.

I'm such a badass.

I was actually surprised I still remember them ;) I do want to take some cheesy lessons someday though. Nothing super private, but just to see if I actually can get into it or not. I have the dreaded string buzz because I don't have the right skillz yet.

Now I just have to get back to using my treadmill again...

-Kirk

The post office gives out the shaft.

Hi all,

Hope you had a good turkey day.

Just a few quick notes before going to bed...

Spent all day doing homework. All that's left is to do a one page paper, and I'll be set for the weekend :)

The post office sent me the, "sorry, we couldn't recover the shit that we lost in our 'capable' hands" letter.

Wanks.

It made me wonder if someone actually looked for my stuff, or they just blew me off cause my package contents didn't have the insurance.

Well, to whoever ended up getting my import Sarah CD, I hope you enjoy it. It's an excellent recording.

Even though it was supposed to be for me.

(I ended up ordering a copy and I got that one ok.)

-Kirk

P.S. A major nod to the fine people at Target for their Wake Up Call campaign. Any commercial with Ice-T in it kicks ass.

I made it through the wilderness...
(somehow I made it through)

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well on this week of Thanksgiving. I had to work Monday and Tuesday, and now I'm off until next Monday.

I'm diggin it.

So yesterday I was at work, and for some reason, I had that Madonna song in my head. Just popped up out of nowhere. Just the first few lines. I think it's because I was watching that VH1 Retrosexual show on TV the night before.

(Didn't know how lost I was until I found you...)

Anyway...

A few nights ago, Drew threw out the idea to attend GT Live in California on Dec 18 and 19. Having just come back from vacation 3 weeks ago from FL, I was a little hesitant.

But yesterday was decision day and we decided to go for it. The plane tickets are purchased so there's no turning back now...

I'm going to Cali in less than a month! Woo hoo!

So much for vacationing every 6 months. (shrug) Every month is much better ;)

-Kirk

Unfocused day.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well on this final day of the weekend. It feels like today should be Saturday. Unfortunately I'm not that lucky.

I tried to work on my part of the group project all day today. And pretty much came up with little more than what I had on Saturday when we met. I'm going to have to do a truckload of writing tomorrow. The plan was to had some stuff done for the instructor to go over on Tuesday.

Maybe I do need that feeling of pressure to get stuff done.

I don't know what it is - It's just getting started. Once I get over that hurdle, I'll be good. I will have to buckle down tomorrow big time.

Only 3 weeks left of school. And I'll have a 3 week break. 6 more months and I'll be done with this freakin' degree.

This week's going to be a light one at work. Two days of work and then I'll be off until next Monday.

-Kirk

Giving back.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well. Just a few quick notes before going to bed.

I got to work at 6:20 a.m. this morning. I couldn't believe that I had gotten there that early. It's the earliest I've ever been. That's first spot in the row early.

I had to go in through the side "security" entrance.

No, I wasn't there to do work, but we were going to meet at 7:00 to drive downtown and work at a soup kitchen.

From the minute we got there, it was nonstop. We opened packages of cookies, bread, and started serving food. We helped with cleanup, but that was about it. Before we knew it, our shift was over and it was time to go back to the office.

It was definitely an eye opening experience. This place serves 3 meals a day, and they must all go nonstop.

What else... Today I was in the satellite office and there happened to be people taking blood pressures. I decided to get it done and found out that my blood pressure was really good (that's what the people there tell me). Plus, I got a free pen and block of paper. Kinda cool.

So I must have known that I was going have good blood pressure because I ended up having a Baja Fresh cheese quesadilla and a small Cold Stone Creamery bowl of Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream for lunch. And for the late night snack, I had a slice of pizza at the school. All really good, but really bad for me.

I've eaten out every day this week. Crazy.

Is it just me, or do you always have conditioner left over when you finish up the shampoo too?

I'm going to sleep. This weekend is going to be hell - I have to work on group project stuff all weekend.

-Kirk

Think pink.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Today we had a coworker's retirement party. It was this potluck thing that was out of control. There was so much food. I was full for the rest of the day.

But retirement. So far away for me. But it's coming up for him.

So jealous.

So what's on the mind today? Clothes.

As everyone knows, I'm a huge fan of the crisp white button up shirt. Bonus points if it's fitted for the ladies ;)

Well, the button up shirt in various colors is the normal uniform for me at the office. I usually don't wear sweaters until it gets really cold (i.e., it starts snowing). Pants are usually various shades of khaki, earth tones, or black.

Begin the funnel effect.

So I have a limited set of shirt colors, and certain limited combinations depending on the pants. And of course, once in a while, I usually wear the same color combination as some other dude in the office (it used to be Brian - it would happen a couple of times a week).

Today I felt like wearing my pink shirt. With black pants.

Can you see where this is going?

One of my coworkers was wearing the exact same thing, almost down to the exact shade of pink. But instead of being a dude, it was a lady this time :)

Too funny.

I guess it's a popular color combo :)

What else...

I was listening to Britney's greatest hits cd this evening. She has had some good dancey, clubby jams over the years. But I think I would strongly recommend that she stay to her own original tunes, and away from slow ballads.

Just my opinion.

-Kirk

New car seduction.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Today I got to check out the made famous by Oprah Pontiac G6. Not too shabby. One of my coworkers got one and we went to lunch in it.

The car was pretty nice inside. I was truly seduced by the new car smell.

The driver wasn't so bad either. She was lovely :)

-Kirk

Burrito satisfaction.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well. Just a few quick notes before going to bed.

Major props to Costco's 3rd party online rebate submission tool. No stamps, no cutting out UPCs,, no making copies - Nothing to send in. Just go to the website, type in a few pieces of into, give up your contact info and you're all set.

Hopefully fulfillment is quick too.

For lunch today I had a Rio Wraps signature burrito.

Loved it.

I get the same thing every time, and it never disappoints. It's like how you know you're in for a good story when someone starts it with, "so one time we were drinking..."

-Kirk

Chocolate mystery solved.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well on this last day of the weekend.

I was enjoying a 3 Musketeers bar today and was feeling inquisitive - What is this fluffy chocolate stuff inside? I decided to eat all the chocolate off the outside just to get a better look.

It looked weird.

And no, it wasn't gross.

But luckily, my quest for knowledge was satisfied by my good friend, the Internet. Behold! A FAQ about 3 Musketeers :)

the next time you eat one of these candy bars, separate the chocolate from the fluffly stuff inside and eat them separately. It's rather interesting.

-Kirk

Frozen toes.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

It's been quite the day. This morning I headed out around 9:00 to Ann Arbor - I was surprised to see how much traffic there was on the roads that early.

Apparently it's not early at all.

I met up with Drew and we went to the stadium. I knew it was going to be cold so I had a long sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie sweatshirt, and my down winter jacket. I was ok up top. But my jeans and sneakers were no match for the cold. I was really really cold. After a while, my feet and toes were numb. And I didn't realize my legs were cold until I had to get up and move around. My legs would not bend and they felt like sticks. I was having a hard time walking up the stairs.

I longed for my fleece lined Sporty Spice pants.

I had eaten breakfast, but the smells of the food vendors was pure torture. The hot dog stand, the Polish sausage guy, the pizza dude, and then the people in the stands that had popcorn and what smelled like french fries and ketchup.

Painful.

We were already planning lunch before the game started. We ended up leaving around halftime cause we had some other stuff to do. Like lunch. After lunch we worked on Drew's car - we put his new rims on. :)

I must say, they look pretty damn good. I was thoroughly impressed. I'll be posting pics sometime :)

I also finally got a chance to view a slideshow of the 330 Mb worth of vacation, football game, and Drew's car pics I've been taking over the past week.

I've decided I need to spend time and take more quality photos.

I am not going to be able to quit my day job anytime soon. Nor will I be available for birthday parties. I'm hoping I can pick at least a few from each subject to show :)

Ahh well. Maybe next time.

-Kirk

4 day weekend.

Hi all,

It's me again - Hope you're doing well. I'm about to start the 3rd day of my 4 day weekend. So far it's been very school packed. Hopefully that will change.

Thursday was spent cramming for my midterm and then taking it. We had an essay question with 4 hours to write. I used about 3.75 hours cause I didn't want to push the clock. I even finished in time to watch Joey!

After the exam, I was spent.

I ended up watching some tv, showering and going to bed after that. I think I'm still recovering from my vacation...

Today I spent doing schoolwork - I'm almost done, but I had to go to class as well this evening. I'm on the 7th week! Only a month to go. Woopee!

Tomorrow Drew's got tickets to see the Michigan football game. So that should be fun. I've not been to a football game since probably 4 years ago. Hopefully it won't be too cold outside :)

I was hoping to get my schoolwork done so I could take it easy this weekend. I just have to get a 3 page paper done, and then answer one discussion question and I'll be set.

-Kirk

P.S. go blue!

80 to 40 in less than 3 hours.

The last installment of the FL recap.

Sorry it's taken so damn long. I'll get to that in a later post...

So let's see. Yeah, by the time we got to bed on Sunday night, it was already Morning, say 3 a.m. or so. I think I carried somewhat of a conversation with Gene as I was drifting asleep, but honestly I don't remember what the hell we were talking about.

Monday morning was as beautiful as Sunday. It was sad to think that we were going to leave the picture postcard weather that was Ft. Lauderdale. But alas, it was true.

We didn't get up until 9:30 or so - Cause we were pretty wiped out. But we had to make the most of our remaining 2 hours. We had to leave for the airport by 11:30 to catch our flight. We got dressed and headed downstairs for some fine hotel food. This time, we were smart and ate outside. It was surprising how open the hotel premises was - There was no fence separating the hotel property from the street. Just some stray trees here and there. It was kind of nice. I wasn't sure if it was a false sense of security, but it seemed like other parts of the hotel were the same way. Even though the beach was private, there really weren't any signs. It seemed like the public stayed on the public side, and the hotel guests stayed on the hotel side.

Then again, there's really no way for me to tell who was where.

After breakfast Geneman and I went down to the beach for our last visit. Who knows when we'd be back. The sun was much stronger this time, and I could feel it on my face. We snapped some pictures here and there, but just tried to soak in the last few minues of our vacation. It would be back to the grindstone the next day. And I knew that once we stepped off the plane, I'd be in 40 degree weather again.

So finally the time came and we had to head to the airport. Check-in was fairly smooth, as was the flight. No real complaints there. At least this time, the temperature was better controlled on the plane. I was able to enjoy the whole flight with just a t-shirt and jeans on.

And the minute we stepped off the plane, the cold hit me like a ton of bricks. It's good to be back :)

----------

All in all, I'd say the trip was a success. The only thing that I'd recommend was an extra day. Even though I didn't want to do touristy stuff, I felt guilty for being in such a great place, and not making an effort to see the local sights. So I'm glad we did take some time out. On our 3 hour tour :)

My arse hurt from sitting on the bench for so long.

One extra day just for lounging at the beach would have been perfect. Any longer may have caused boredom. Not sure. After all, there's always the Beach Place, right? ;)

The locale was great. However, not optimal for single dudes like us. There were tons of couples. It's very honeymooney and coupley, and there's a huge cruise ship port, so lots of people were just stopping on the way to their cruise. I think the single people fill their purpose on the planes to fill up the odd seat in the group of three :)

Would I go back again? Yes. In a heartbeat. Maybe spring for the car next time to see more sights. Oh wait, that's touristy again, isn't it? ;)

-Kirk

Chick balls (part two).

So where did I leave you last? Ahh yes, the wonders of relaxing on the beach.

I wasn't too crazy about walking along the beach barefoot. The sand was rough - it looked like it had a lot of shells, salt crystals and junk in it. Not junk as in trash, but junk as in unidentifed "stuff." I prefer fine grain sand :)

I think we chose a good time to go - The beaches were not crowded at all. Lots of room, not too noisy, pretty low traces of human existence (i.e., trash). I've been to the shore around Michigan where there's a beer bottle or a plastic bag every few feet.

So anyway, back to the recap. There's not much to say about the beach experience. All I know was that I loved it. And when we left on Monday, it made me wish for an extra day to just chill on the beach.

The beach was private - And you could rent 2 lounge chairs (I believe the correct word is "chaise longues" for $15.00 a day with an umbrella or some other sun shielding device that I can't remember the name of. Or you could fry yourself with just a chair for $5.00 a day. We didn't do either because we had our stolen towels.

If I had that extra day though, I would have gotten the $15.00 special. Maybe next time.

So after lounging around on the beach, the stomach was rumbling - It was time to eat. So we decided to pop back to the room, get washed up, and go forage for food. Plus we had to look for cheesy souvenirs. Gene had to buy some stuff for coworkers, and I was just looking to get something to remember my trip.

Not one to waste a day pass (heh), we rode the Water Taxi again to the Beach Place. We strolled around and checked out some more menus and ended up at this burger joint called Cheeburger Cheeburger. Apparently it's a chain, but I'd never heard of it before. And while we were walking around, I was telling Geneman that I was in the mood for fried food that was bad for me. Like clam strips or something.

Well, what we ended up getting was fried, and really bad for me. But no clam strips. We got burgers (I got the "Classic" and then split this mega sized bowl of fries and onion rings (which they called the "Frings" basket. Why I'm telling you this detail, I don't really know.

Oh wait, I remember. My hamburger was 5.5 ounces pre-cooked weight. Just for shits and giggles, I challenged Geneman to eat the "Famous Pounder" which has 20 oz. of pre cooked meatiness. He didn't take the challenge, but he thinks he can do it. I think he got the 10 oz. hamburger (pre cooked weight) instead.

Overall the food was pretty tasty. The onion rings and fries were awesome. I would go again. Glad the chain isn't around here.

After dinner we decided to look for cheesy souvenirs. I think we checked out pretty much every gift shop on the block. Looking at overpriced clothes, lots of cheesy schwag, and random items. I bought some refrigerator magnets (our hotel was pictured in it!) and 2 t-shirts. That was about it for me. Not a big spender.

After getting our goods, we walked around the strip some more. There was a bar that featured a dude playing live guitar - he had mad skills. And he had a flowy dancer with Shakira style booty shake. So we hung around across the street (by the beach) to have a listen. The evening was a little on the cooler side, but I could have just sat there for hours just listening to music and people watching.

But we ended up walking around again. Where did we go? You guessed it. Beach Place. Saturday night we had seen this piano bar - Howl at the Moon - It looked pretty packed, but we just weren't in the mood for partying because of all the travel. So we thought we'd give it a try that evening. There were open windows into the bar so you could get a preview of what was going on inside. It's a dueling piano singalong type of gig. So there's 2 pianos on stage, and they just sing songs and entertain the crowd. The people on stage looked like so much fun, so we thought we'd go in and check things out.

We were there for almost 5 hours.

We closed the bar at 1:30 a.m. We sang and heard everything from Billy Joel to Bette Midler. And one of the performers was really really cute. A real hottie. So that was a bonus. Geneman and I were both quite smitten with her. She was lovely - and it seemed like she had a perfect personality too. She was really funny and spunky. She was the one who introduced me to the phrase "chick balls" during one of her performances. I won't get into that though, cause this is a family show.

The show was totally cool - Very laid back, very liberal on the content. I had a great time. I don't think I've ever had the nerve to actually sing in public. I mean, it was it a big group, of course, but normally the only time I sing is in the car with the windows rolled up. Even then I'm glad my windows are now tinted :)

After we closed up the bar, we ended up taking some extra pictures on the walk home. We were walking on the beach and taking pictures of our surroundings. Again, I don't know if any of them came out - It was dark and I wasn't using a tripod. So everything may be blurvision.

When we got back to the hotel, I showered, and was pretty much out.

(just like now)

Chick balls.

So onto the next day of my vacation (Sunday)...

For some reason I woke up around 8:00 a.m. I wanted to go back to sleep, but my desire to make the most out of our only full day in FL took over and I was up and about by 8:30. I could see the sunlight peeking into our room from the curtains (and from the outside door too!) I did my morning routine and checked outside - I wanted to see how sunny it was.

It was gorgeous.

As an added bonus, the hotel gave us a free newspaper. So I got to do my normal Sunday routine with a twist. The Geneman was still sleeping so I figured I'd go dowstairs by the pool to read the paper. I was able to lesiurely read the paper, thumb through the ads, and enjoy the sunshine at the same time. I was out there pretty early so there were hardly any guests around. Just the hotel staff that were getting ready for the day's activities.

About 10-ish I got Geneman up and we went to breakfast. I was never a big fan of hotel food until I started travelling for business. So we ate downstairs in the restaurant. I had the mega omlet stuffed with tons of goodies and Gene had the 2 egg breakfast. With our big breakfasts filling our bellies, we were set all the way through dinnertime.

We decided to be touristy for the first part of the day and take the Water Bus. For about 3 hours, we travelled the entire North Route, checking out the Intracostal and the New River area of Ft. Lauderdale. I strongly recommend doing this if you want to check out the local sites without spending much cashish. A pass to ride anytime the whole day was $5.00. The staff on the boat were really cool. They weren't official tour guides, but they'd provide some fun commentary about the local sights to see and whatnot.

We got to see some tremendously crazy and huge houses. And some equally crazy tremendously large boats. Sorry, yachts. The ones that would make Jay Z and Diddy approve of for use in their rap videos. Out of control. We saw unbelievable super-sized homes of people in business, the entertainment industry, and politicians. Words cannot explain how posh these homes and boats were (at least the outsides of them). Nobody really invited us inside to check out their cribs. Which is understandable because I would have found a way to get some really nice souvenirs for very little cost. Just kidding. Anyway, I'll have to post some pictures of the MTV Cribs style homes up soon.

I got to see how "the other side" lives. Definitely very well.

The Water Taxi boats were covered up top, and open air all the rest of the way around. I don't know what they do when it rains, but luckily we never found out :) Anyway, no matter where I sat on this boat, I was being blasted with sun. I had some SPF 30 sunscreen on so I was well protected from the harmful rays, but I felt pretty tired and dehydrated by the end of the day.

Around 3-ish we headed back to the hotel to try and get some beach time. The sun started to set around 5-ish so time was definitely at a premium. The late afternoon sun was definitely less strong than the midday - Which was exactly as advertised in one of those travel books that I was reading. So for the rest of the time (until it got fairly dark), we chilled on the beach with our towels stolen from the pool. (oops! Were they just for pool use?) I got to do some resting and light reading.

So pleasant.

Hearing the sound of the surf, feeling the breeze, and feeling the warmth of the sun was nice. I didn't want to move. I was so relaxed that I didn't even move when the sun hid behind the building.

(continued tomorrow - I'm going to bed)

40 to 80 (part two).

OK OK so I admit it - I fell asleep writing the previous entry last night. In fact, I didn't even publish it. I had to just now.

I was in bed by 9:30 p.m.

I don't know how long I'll last tonight, but I'll write until I get tired...

So let's see, where did I leave you?

OK, so we walked around the Beach Place for a while. This outdoor building had 3 stories of stores and bars. The coolest thing was that everything was pretty much open until about midnight or later. We were there Sunday night until 2 the next morning! More about that later.

So we ended up checking out all of the bars and stuff, just to see what was going on. Apparently it's not high season yet, so it was a perfect time to be there. Not too many people, and there wasn't a huge wait for anything. Don't get me wrong, the restaurants and bars were pretty full, but I would imagine they'd be packed come December or when winter really shows up in the northern states.

We walked around some more after leaving the Beach Place, but all we saw were more clubs, cheesy souvenir shops, and some store selling questionable adult material.

And no, we didn't go in. :)
(Gene wouldn't let me - I was just curious, honest)

We ended up going home fairly early. Like maybe 11 or midnight-ish? And I must say, the walk home went by much faster than the walk to the different places. But I was glad to be back to the hotel to take it easy. But for some reason I didn't feel like going back. Gene and I ended up chilling outside by the pool for a bit, just taking in the groovy weather and the ambience of the hotel.

I was lovin' it.

Gene was tired of the artifical resort feel so he went back out to the real beach.

By the time I was done showering, I was pretty much ready to pass out on the bed. I think Gene was talking to me, but I don't remember what I said or what he said.

(shrug)

Oh well, on to the next day...

-Kirk

40 to 80 in 3 hours.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well. I'm back from FL :) I got back this evening like 6-ish. I am waaaay tired. So I will have to go to sleep really early tonight. Two nights of going to bed late do not make for good times at work tomorrow.

Of course, I have to tell you about my trip, right? For my travelling buddy's perspective (he'll have pics with his narration, I'm sure) you can check Geneman's site.

So let's see, here's a recap:

After I left you Saturday morning, I managed to do some last minute stuff, like cut an MP3 CD (that I never used), wrote out a card to the X (it's her birthday today), and scrounge around for money (instead of going to the bank.

Around 11 ish I was on my way to the airport. Geneman was already there, so it was neat to meet up with him in the middle of the airport at our gate.

Before leaving, I had checked the weather - Rain in the morning. I figured no big deal right? We'd get there around 4, and stuff would dry out, right?

Wrong.

For the most part, the flight was fine - The descent kind of made my stomach queasy though. I didn't feel like needed to hurl, but I wasn't liking the feeling. We had gone through these crazy temperature fluctuations from the minute I got in the airport. In the typical air conditioned environment, it was nice and cool. The moment we stepped on to the jetway it was like we were already in Florida. Very hot - The plane was warm and cold at times as well.

By the time we touched down, it was raining. I couldn't tell if it was raining super hard, but it didn't look good. I was scared it would be one of those movie moments where it rained the entire 3 days we were out there.

We were kind of winging it, so we didn't have a definite plan of how we were going to get to the hotel. I knew that we were to take a cab, but the cab information that I got the first time around (the cancelled trip) was old and to a different hotel. We ended up taking a cab though - Driven by this low talking, mumbling dude that I couldn't really understand. He had a funny smelling cab too. It was a weird smell of like incense and bad air freshener. It actually reminded me a lot of the candle section at Middle Earth in Ann Arbor (sorry, couldn't find a link either) where they sold incense and stuff.

The initial "get in" fee for the cab was $1.50. I knew we were in for an expensive ride when the meter was already $2.50 and we were still under the airport structure. Lovely.

So again, it rained the whole way to the hotel. I tried to stay optimistic. I think I was just excited to get to the there. We got to the hotel, checked in, and went up to our room. Not to shabby. It was exactly as advertised:

(taken from the confirmation e-mail):
Room Description: 2 DOUBLE BEDSTRADITIONAL NON-SMOKING LIMITED VIEW MODERN LIGHT WOOD FURNISHINGS HIGHSPEED INTERNET FOR A FEE ARMCHAIR AND OTTOMAN, WELL APPOINTED;SPACIOUS 330 SQ FT; DECORATED IN TROPICAL JEWEL TONES; VIEWS OF THESURROUNDING AREA

I guess we never checked to see if the room was actually 330 square feet, but the tropical jewel tones were true (lot of coral and green-like color I'd say is close to teal.) We didn't use the highspeed internett (ripoff), and green armchair and ottoman. We did get a bonus chair though.

As i usually tell people, the main differences between the hotel rooms I've stayed is:
1) The mirror in the bathroom
2) The bed covering
3) Pillows on the bed (yes or no)

I'm not saying I've stayed at the super luxo hotels, but I'd say those are the biggest differences so far - I have ranged from the super cheap to mildly posh.

Oh yeah, there was a fancy embroidered robe in the closet too. Gene and I had to flip to see who got to wear it. Just kidding. It stayed in the closet, dirrty people. :)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so we check in, get kind of settled in, and decide to explore the hotel before venturing out to forage for food.

We went all over the hotel. There were 3 buildings - 2 were connected (our side) and then what I called the "ghetto tower" across the street. I thought it was the ghetto tower cause the lobby left much to be desired.

And everything smelled funny. Chemically speaking, of course.

You know, there's a normal "hotel" smell. Kind of like how the Gap always smells a certain way, no matter which one you go to. Anyway, I'm sure you know what I mean by hotel smell. So the ghetto tower, and parts of our building smelled like chemicals. Like a cleaning cart exploded on every floor.

OK, so what else - the hotel was nice. Beside the ice cold air conditioning that was pumping in the hallways, it was ok. Not kickass, just ok. It had two pools, a gym, restaurant, bar, yadda yadda yadda.

And of course, there was the beach :) The whole reason why we chose the Yankee Clipper in the first place. My main criteria in choosing our hotel was that I wanted to be able to walk outside of the hotel and hit the sand without having to cross a road or by walking really far. The beach was pretty much outside of the building.

When we first got outside, we took some time to snap some pictures of the surroundings at night. I don't know if any of the pics came out - I'll let you know.

By the time we had finished exploring the building and we were walking around the perimiter, the rain had stopped, and everything was drying up. It was all smooth sailing after that. The weather after that was kickass. Shorts and t-shirt the entire time. There were times in the evening where I could have used a fleece or something, but I never really needed it.

For dinner we ended up walking up the main strip that ran along the coastline and see what was around us for dinner. After walking for what seemed like a while, we came to a pretty busy area that had restaurants and cheesy souvenir shops. Oh yeah, and lots of tattoo parlors. The traditional kind, henna, and temporary. And where there's tattoing, there's piercing too. Pretty wild.

I figured the tattoo that I already had of "thug life" was enough.

After checking out the menu of a few places we ended up at the Quarterdeck Seafood Bar and Neighborhood Grill (couldn't find a link). The menu looked pretty good, so we were sold. We ended up getting crabs. Stone crab, to be exact :) We were lucky to be "in season." I've never had stone crab before, so I thought I'd give it a try. Geneman and I got the same thing so we were happily cracking shells and making them fly all over the table. One of the most expensive meals that I've ever had, but I would say it was definitely worth it.

We ended up walking around some more - And we found Beach Place (note, not the official site - I coudln't find it). It's this very swanky open air, multistory mall with shops, restaurants, and clubs. We poked around there, looked at a few menus, checked out a few clubs, and then we called it a night. We were pretty tired from staying up late the night before and from the travelling we'd done.

(to be continued)

Florida here I come.

My bags are indeed packed and I'm ready to go.

I just hope I don't forget anything.

-Kirk

On vacation.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well...

Vacation officially started at 10:00 p.m. this evening. I just finished packing my stuff. Maybe some last minute stuff tomorrow morning, but that's it. I think I'm ready to go.

(queue the leaving on a jet plane song)

I hope I don't forget anything... I've decided to go sans laptop. So I will be unplugged for 2.5 days. I'm sure I'll be ok, but it'll be weird, I'm sure.

Words of wisdom for today:
Learn how to fish.

Talk to you when I get back.

-Kirk

Actual Kirk-isms.

The first ones ever, actually. Words of wisdom derived today during a conference call. Each thought was originally separate but I ended up grouping three (so now there's two). Make sense?


Kirk-ism one:

Everyone wants to cross the velvet rope.

You must not touch
the dinosaur bones.

Even though you want to.
You musn't.


Kirk-ism two:

The cameleon is there.
You just can't see it.


Mull amongst yourselves.

-Kirk

Rocked the vote, Chose (not lost), Voted instead of Dying.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well on the tail end of the election day. I got out and voted this morning - took about an hour. So I was a little late to work, but no probs.

Had class tonite too. (Insert typical school comments here)

There was a mega line for my precinct, but not the other that was voting in the same building. Don't know what the deal was with that. But of course I had to be stuck behind Mr. Coughy and the Dude Who Knows it All. I was scared for Mr. Coughy. I thought he was going to cough up a lung. I kept checking on him to make sure he was ok - I didn't want him to fall over cause I didn't want to be late for work. Just kidding.

And of course the Dude Who Knows it All. You know this guy - He knows everything about the electoral process. Willing to rattle off facts about the judicial system at the drop of a hat. Has cutting edge ideas about how to improve and fully streamline the voting process. Lovely.

Overall, it wasn't a bad experience. I was just noticing the people in line in front of me. But, everything went pretty smoothly - I didn't experience any machine issues, my marker worked well, I was able to connect the lines on the ballot ok, and it was all good.

I think the best part of it were the cheery people that were working the polling place. The majority of them were senior citizens. They all had smiles on their faces and were all very friendly. Like they genuinely enjoyed what they were doing, and the service they were providing to the community.

Imagine that.

I don't mean to sound condescending - but the senior citizens were just happily working along at their own pace. Not in the typical hustle and bustle speed that you'd see at like, say, a supermarket checkout line. And what I didn't realize was that while I was chatting, they made me feel more at ease. I had no idea that I had gotten a little tense while waiting in the long line - Maybe it was worrying about getting to work in time or something. But honestly, talking to them and just enjoying their aura made the whole experience much nicer.

And you know I'm all about the experience.

I know it sounds really weird. But I appreciated their attitude. It reminded me to take it easy and not be in such a rush all the time.

-Kirk