Firstly, thanks to Mark, Robyn and Rachel for offering us a place to stay and saving us alot of money while we traveled.  Second, huge congrats to my friend Phil and his wife Rachel (different Rachel) on the birth of their baby girl Bella.

And third…I.  Hate.  United.  They’re getting a letter.  We missed our connecting flight on the way home and they decided to put us up on a hotel that was 25 minutes away - forcing us to take a taxi back to the airport!  Overall, I kinda felt disrespected…and exhausted due to virtually no sleep that night.

Trip overall was wonderful.  Completely surprised Phil - he had no idea we were out there and the surprise was a total success!  Their baby girl is adorable and I got to check out Fort Carson - which is a huge military base in Colorado Springs.  This is when it finally sunk in that he was in the Army.  Hearing about it and seeing it are different.  I wish we could have stayed longer in Colorado to hang out with them and Bella more but just seeing Phil and knowing he was doing well was enough for me.  He leaves for Iraq again to finish up his stay there tomorrow (8/23) and he will return for a year in November.  I’m considering going out there to see him/Rachel/Bella in the spring but I need all the vacation I can get as we are planning to go to Japan next year.

San Francisco made me realize that it is entirely possible to fall in love with a city.  I’ve never witnessed such a cultural melting pot in all my life - it was incredible.  All food there is simply better.  Having so many cultures in San Francisco allows for some wonderful cuisine.  All we really did was eat and shop - and see the sights.  I had some wonderful sushi, a monsterous burrito, an incredible mexican fruit drink, tasty pad thai with prawns, a ridiculously delicious Angus sirloin and some of the best french toast.

It was sad to leave such a wonderful city and such an amazing vacation.  Thanks again to our hosts and to Phil:  stay safe bro.

Pictures will be up on my Flickr photostream soon (hooray Pro Account!)

I consider terrorists to be the rotten kids that ruin recess for the rest of the class.  Because Billy and Jimmy couldn’t shut their yap, the class can’t enjoy a day outside - THANKS! 

Because of this plot , a few days before we fly out, we’ll probably have to get to the airport earlier, and we can’t being any liquids onto the airline (carry-on, I assume).  We were only planning on bringing bottled water, and thanks to Bill and Jimmy, we can’t…ugh.  Not only that but you just know that there’ll be people bringing hair gel, toothpaste, booze, etc, etc on the flight and it’ll have to get taken away..which will probably increase the time at the already crappy security checkpoint. 

I haven’t been flying a ton but I simply suck when it comes to the checkpoint.  I get all nervous and I have to unpack the laptop, empty pockets, blah blah blah, while Mr. Jackass is behind me like his pants are on fire almost demanding that I hurry up.  Sigh…all’s well when we get on the plane, at which point I start acting like a 10yr old (as opposed to my normal 15yr old behavior).  I’m going to try to snag a few standard "picture of the wing" shots with the Rebel.

Few days till we leave, cannot wait! 

Why yes, yes I am!  Flight leaves at 6am (ugh) this Saturday and I cannot wait to leave this place behind for 9 days.  We fly into Denver for a few days of relaxing and sight-seeing.  Above all, we’ll be there to see my best friend, his wife and possibly their daughter (his wfe’s due the day we land!).

After a few days in Denver, and beating the crap out of a Chevy Aveo (that’s gonna be one fun rental car), we’ll be off to San Francisco for photos, food, sightseeing and other random stuff.  

I’ve reached that point in the year where I feel like I need a vacation badly.  June was a draining month due to the move mainly.  It’s been an amazing summer, even though I’m a workin’ dude and I don’t really get a "summer" - just warmer weather when I walk to and from my car .  Our original plan was to go to Japan, but we’ve put that off till next year.  

In other news, I snagged a flickr pro account.  I’ll probably be using that instead of my gallery mainly because of the comments I could receive and I can get alot more feedback on my photos - which I feel I need more than ever now that I’ve booked my first wedding, woo.

So, I’m off for a week or so, I rarely post as it is so I doubt I’ll be missed ;) 

From the last post, I noted that I was going to just breakdown and go buy a DS Lite after cancelling my online order.  Well, the buying of a DS Lite was fine, but the cancelling of the order…not so much.  Thus, we now have two DS Lites - one for each of us.  Our current "library consists of:  New Mario Bros, Animal Crossing (x2), Brain Age, Mario Kart.

I got Wi-fi setup at home by daisy-chaining my new D-link and my old Netgear.  The Netgear is using WEP whilst the D-Link uses WPA.  Upstairs computer uses D-Link while DS Lites use Netgear - I’m kinda proud of myself for doin it…now if I could only get our workgroup configured correctly .

I thoroughly enjoy the DS Lite.  Nintendo has impressed me.  Nintendo started me along the path of righteousness (and because my parents snaged an NES for me for Christmas ).  I found myself an opponent of Nintendo during the N64 era - and during much of the Gamecube’s lifespan.  I thought Nintendo simply wasn’t there for me from a hardware and software standpoint.  Sony found me alone on the street and brought me in from the cold.  Then, PC Gaming lured me in with it’s graphics and robust games.  Due to lack of time, PC Games aren’t as accessible.  For this reason, I purchased a DS Lite.  I don’t have to fire up the PS2, or double-click an icon.  I simply pull the DS Lite out of my pocket and I’m good to go.

Nintendo has revived the 4th grader in me who received some harsh comments from his teacher due in part to the first Super Mario Brothers.  I think I’ve simply missed the basic, addicting, moderately pointless games (Animal Crossing - so fun though).  Nintendo is good at what it does - platform games.  I feel the DS Lite will help the game industry focus on gameplay and less about their most immediate concern:  Graphics, realism, sound, etc.  I want a solid game, not a piece of art that looks good but doesn’t function worth a damn.

So thank you Nintendo 

Found this link just now.  Apparently Heath Ledger, a recent cowhand in Brokeback Mountain (really a powerful film) will be starring in the new Batman movie entitled "The Dark Knight" as on of my favorite villians: The Joker .  I didn’t think a sequel was necessary, as I thought Batman Begins was a prequel…eh, whatever.  I understand that Hollywood needs to make money as we must ensure our wonderful celebrities get paid. 

DS Lite Cometh

Ordered a DS Lite from Buy.com and decided to cancel it as there is a Gamestop right near my house - sweet!  I will be picking one up in roughly two hours.  Big thanks to Alex for helping me pull the trigger.

It’s so yummy lookin…