TV, Travel, Etcetera

First Trip to Italy -- Rome

2010-07-05T12:13:00.023+10:00

In the summer of 2004 I went from Asuncion, Paraguay to London, England. It was so amazing -- a dream come true really. My sister Deej and I planned our first trip to Europe. That is what these pictures represent. The first day we went to the Forum and Colosseum. We had one of Rick Steves walking tours torn from a friends book and used it to walk around the Forum. I bought one of a book from one of the ubiquitous vendors around there that had photos of the ruins, with a sheet of plastic that went over it to show you what it would've looked like before its destruction. It was amazing. Between the two books we got a real idea of how the Forum was during its heyday. We got a gelato and just wandered around -- my imagination was put on fire.

The we went over to the Colosseum. Wow! It's huge, the Steves book explained to us what it was used for, it's dimensions and all that stuff. The hot guys dressed as legionnaires were out and about try to make a few lira (this was before the Euro), were out in force. Sorry no pictures of that -- we're way to cheap. We wandered all about the Colosseum, I think you can wander about a bit more then, than now. It was certainly more regulated when I visited in 2003. I do remember having to cross the street from the subway stop and it was so busy and intimidating.

One thing Rome has, which amazed us really was the wealth of statuary, bas reliefs, fountains and decorative arts -- everywhere!

Here is Deej tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain to ensure her return to Rome and the fountain. It was a long-standing tradition in Rome to build a beautiful fountain at the end of an acquaduct. You see them everywhere and they are generally very beautiful, whether large or small.

This is the Piazza del Popolo. It is one of the largest squares in Rome. We bought a drink from a vendor and sat at the Egyptian obelisk and looked at that. Twin churches, they are the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and the Santa Maria en Montesanto.

Here is the Pantheon. It was a beautiful day! The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to the gods of ancient Rome. I thought it was just one god, but according to Wikipedia -- the aribter of all things, it was built to honor all the gods. I know that at some point it was either taken down or destroyed and was rebuilt. With the advent of Christianity it was made into a church. I remember that there is a opening in the ceiling and that the floor is very gently inverted so that the water which comes in when it rains, drains away. The decoration inside is quite pretty. Apparently over the years, the marble which decorated the outside was taken away and reused in other places. The same was done with furnishing and decorations in the interior too.

The final picture is of the people in a cafe drinking coffee, looking at their guidebooks and generally relaxing. Nowadays, they'd be talking on their mobile phones or texting!

At the end of this day we went back to our pensione and rested before dinner. When we got hungry, I got off the bed to put my shoes on and my feet hurt so bad from walking around Rome that I couldn't bear the idea of walking. Deej was really nice and went to pick up some pizza for us to eat in the room. Thank you again!!

When I was in London I had read about a new mystery writer, Lindsay Davis and picked up her first two books, Silver Pigs and Shadows in Bronze. They were about the informer "private detective," Marcus Didius Falco and took place in ancient Rome. I just couldn't get into them though so I brought them to Italy, hoping I would be able to make them last a while. Well, that certainly didn't happen. I was so intrigued by what I had experienced at the Forum and Colosseum (which is where the books take place), that I just sped through them. The guidebook I had listed English language books stores and second-hand bookstores. We looked at these stores across Italy so I could feed my addiction and read more about Falco, his spouse and assistant Helena Justina, and their adventures. I'm still reading them to this day!

Over the next couple days we saw more of Italy, including the Vatican.

I had always thought the uniform of the Swiss Guard came from Michaelangelo, when he was creating the Sistine Chapel, but no. It is from the early 1900's.

This is the view from St. Peter's Basilica. Gosh, it's awfully high up, but what bothered me was the really tight, twisting staircase. It was almost not as bad going up, as going down.

Well, this was Rome, the next installment is Florence, the Cinque Terra and Venice.

Multimedia Player's or For the Love of iPOD

2009-05-29T16:22:00.002+10:00

One of the things I like to do when I'm talking to people about music is for both of us to take out our iPod's and list the first five songs that come up on Shuffle.

My list for Today, Friday, May 29

1. Christmas Is by Johnny Mathis.
Well, slightly off season, but enjoyable.

2. All at Once by Whitney Houston.
Got her first album, before she became WHITNEY HOUSTON. She had a guest role on Silver Spoons, which was part of the publicity for her album.

3. I've Done Everything for You by Rick Springfield. I was so in love with him, still really enjoy his music.

4. Look What You Done For Me by Al Green. Was part of a greatest hits album. Not a bad song, but...

5. Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison. Love me some Roy Orbison, probably because my parents listened to it, so I heard it alot. But he was pretty awesome.

Paraguayan Artistry

2009-05-28T17:36:00.007+10:00

One of the things few things to do in Paraguay on a weekend was to go shopping in the artesian towns, this picture was taken in Tobati. The man is Senor Zenon Paez, it's his shop. See this link http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+making+of+a+saint-a08494608 to read more about his life and work. The lovely lady next between us is Vida Martinez, a very good friend, with whom I've sadly lost touch. Senor Paez was lovely and I bought a copy of the tall thin wood carving next to him. I love it and Senor Paez was such a nice man. Under the photo of Senor Paez's family is a photo of him gifting Pope John Paul II with a special present. He pointed it out every time we visited him -- it was one of his proudest moments, I think.

Here is a sample of his work. Mostly saints, but on the bottom row are masks and peasant and his ox cart, which seemed to be a big "thing" in Paraguay at the time.

Here is the wood he saved for his carvings. I can't recall the name of the wood, but it had a very special scent.

My first big art purchase. It's a lapacho tree (otherwise known as a jacaranda). They are everywhere in Paraguay. They line one of the main avenue's in Asuncion and when the petals fall off the tree into the tram rails you would look down the Avenue and see two lines of purple, it was very picturesque -- I wish I had taken one. I bought this painting in particular because it was very representative to me of the Paraguayan countryside.

I don't remember where I took this one, it was one of the little artesian towns. That is not water in the background though.

This church is on the other side of the street. Very pretty, yes?

Don't recall where this was, but thought it was the weirdest rock I have every seen.

This is the "la Residencia" statue commemorating Paraguayn independence.

Typical "modern" village street in Paraguay.

Even more typical with the cow in the road!

Me shaking hads with President Carter! He monitored the first "democratic" election in Paraguay. Corruption in this, like in everything there was rampant. But at the end of the day people voted for the Colorado Party because it was the party they knew. I think they would've won even without the corruption. Carter's Secret Service team were a lot of fun!

Me and my date, Larry, before my first Marine Ball.

Me and the Marine Security Guards at the ball. This was the best group I've ever had the opportunity to work with -- a lovely group of men.

I had a GREAT time at the event.

Iguazu Falls

2009-05-27T17:41:00.005+10:00

There wasn't a whole lot to do in my first posting in Asuncion, Paraguay. The only place cheap and close was Iguazu Falls in the tri-border area of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. It was a relatively short drive and the hotel rates were very reasonable. We saw wildlife, strange billboards and lots and lots of waterfalls.
These are toucan's I'm sorry you can't see them very well. I need to get Photoshop so I can enlarge and stuff. I was very excited to see the toucans though.

These are coati's, they were everywhere and very aggressive as they were used to people feeding them, as you see these people doing.

This was at least my third visit to Iguazu Falls. I'm afraid I don't remember all their names. The girl on the left was our summer intern, then there is Stephanie Gonzalez, Karen Williams, another woman whose name I don't remember -- but I remember hearing she married a Marine guard. Then there I am -- note the long hair. Then there is Carlos -- he was one of our Marine's, a really nice, funny guy.

That's Stephanie and Carlos in front of me, we decided to see the falls from the bottom up close and person. It was wet. It was fun.

You go to see the Falls, expect to get WET. This wasn't the wettest part, but you could guarantee getting a bit damp.

This was one of the strange billboards. I couldn't resist. I was told they're advertising bull semen. Strange and weird, but amusing.

One of the many views of Iguazu Falls.

And Another.

And another. One of my favorite shots. I have a lot more in my scrapbook.

But I won't bore you, it's just more of the same.

More Paraguay Pictures Coming Soon! I love my new scanner.

Sunsets at Cape Conran.

2009-05-23T12:17:00.001+10:00

One.
Two.

Three.

Four.

Bendigo and the Dandenong Ranges

2009-05-23T12:09:00.003+10:00

The Imperial Dragon - Bendigo. It's one of the parade ones --

which we missed by a matter of hours.

Bendigo was very pretty. Lots of nice architecture.

Courtesy of all the gold mined in the area.

After the gold mine tour.
We were dirty and I had a headache from the helmut.

Deej drilling for gold -- didn't find any though.

Part of the mine.

The Puffing Billy Steam Train in the Dandenong Ranges.
But because of fire danger we had a regular engine.
Still cool though.

Another view of Puffing Billy.

A view from Puffing Billy.

Melbourne

2009-05-23T10:29:00.005+10:00

Old Melbourne Jail or as the Aussie's spell it, "goal".

The workings of a clock in the mall - cute.

They built the mall around this old shot gun pellet tower.

It was Easter-time so Ferroro Rocher put up this big gold egg.
It wasn't chocolate.

The prosecutor in the Ned Kelly Trial. She did an awesome job.

Beauty of a train station -- turn of century.

Melbourne City View.

Jervis Bay Area

2009-05-23T10:24:00.003+10:00

Yes, Only with CAUTION!
Yea! Deej didn't fall off the cliff!!!

Kangaroo or Wallaby? I'll never know.

View of ocean during the Murray's Beach bushwalk.

Our first sight of marsupial wildlife -- a wallaby.

Orbost and the Snowy River Area

2009-05-22T21:04:00.005+10:00

A pretty picture. Naturally prepared by the sea.

Have no idea what this is, but it's cool. Weird. Kinda creepy.

The most awesome seashell beach.

Deej's first kangaroos!

A pretty vista in the Orbost area.

The Buchan Caves.

Again, the Buchan Caves.

The view from our bedroom at the B&B at 6:00 a.m.

ULURU

2009-05-22T20:56:00.004+10:00

A Walk through the 7.1 kilometer HARD through the Olga's.

The Olga's

Uluru

Koala Bear!

2009-05-22T20:40:00.002+10:00

What is this, can it be a KOALA?

With Video?

Technology...part 2

2009-05-19T18:27:00.001+10:00

Technology is great. Wouldn't want to do without it. But my new computer isn't compatible with my old (and I mean old) printer. The new computer is Vista and I can't get Vista drivers for the printer. I shouldn't complain too much -- I've been wanting one of those new fangled printers that scan and copies for ages. But was too cheap to get when this one worked just fine.

However, I need to do my taxes. I get an automatic extensions because for once I don't owe anything. But I need to print the darn thing out. And I want to scan. And maybe copy someday. I want to be ready for anything, because that's me. Ready for anything.

Sometimes.

Movie Theater's I've Known

2009-05-18T19:43:00.009+10:00

My first movie experience was...well, I don't remember but I do remember the first theater my Mom let me go to alone. Well, not precisely alone, my sister Deej was with me. But there were only two movies in that theater at the time -- now I think there are six or more. It was a Disney flick to be certain, probably Aristocats! My most memorable movie experience was the first Indiana Jones movie. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" came out at a difficult time in my life. I remember first seeing the film in Bellevue, I was one of the last to get in at the preview showing and I've never before or since felt so one with an audience in a movie. When Satipo has the trantula's on his back I wasn't the only one to lift my feet. When Indy shot the swordsman we all cheered, as we did at the end of the film. Back then when the movie ended its first run it could run a long time in little local theaters for $2 I must have seen that film 25 times, every time I got depressed I went to that movie and was taken away from my problems for 115 minutes, for that reason alone it will always be my favorite film.

I had never left the United States until my family and I went on a trip to Puerto Vallarta. I was 31. Consequently, I had never been to a movie theater outside the United States until I joined the Foreign Service.

I went to my first posting in Asuncion, Paraguay -- very small country, not a lot to do or see, particularly in the early 1990's. When a movie came to the theater there it was there for a long time and there were only two theaters in the city. Who knows, maybe in the country. I remember going to see Jurassic Park (the original) for the first showing with my friend Jeff. His wife La was 8-3/4 months pregnant and did not relish the idea of sitting in a Paraguayan movie theater for two hours -- in less than comfortable seats, at least for a pregnant lady. The movie started, no THX sound, but whatever -- then in the middle of the movie, it stopped for intermission. A young man came out carrying a tray, like the cigarette girls in movies from the 1930's, in it he had candy, popcorn and dixie cups of warm Coke. It was an interesting experience and the movie itself was fantastic.

While in Paraguay, I went on my only real visit of South America, a co-worker, Ms. Katie and I went on a trip that went through Chile, we started in Santiago, did a day trip to the desert in the north, another south to an area that reminded me a lot of Monterrey, California. We went further south to Puerto Montt and then over to Bariloche, Argentina with a stopover in Buenos Aires. Ms. Katie and I had McDonalds for dinner. Give me a break, it had been nearly a year since the last time I was there! And then we went to the movies -- Schindler's List. You have to understand Ms. Katie and I had only a basic grasp of Spanish. So when we bought our tickets we just went and sat down. Someone came down and kicked us out -- we walked over to the usher who took us down and showed us where to sit. Pointing and gesturing, we finally figuree dout the seats were assigned. Ohhhhkay, but boy did we feel dumb. The movie was good, but sobering and I cried like a baby. But at the end where they're doing the epilogue -- it was all in Spanish and I couldn't read it fast enough. So I had my Mom buy me the book (pre-Amazon) and the book is different and the people in the movie are composites so I never have understood why they would do the epilogue.

My second posting was London, they have lots of movie theater's there. I saw movies I loved, some I hated, some I just plain didn't understand. Most were at Leicester Square -- it is full of movies, half price ticket booths, hucksters and pickpockets. But always full of life. One of the things I remember most is it was my first experience with having popcorn choices, salty or sweet. I tried both but I'm a traditionalist -- give me the salty! Also, it was the first time I had ever been to a movie theater that showed advertisements before the film started. WOW, was that a long time ago! When I go back to London, I usually always head to Leicester Square. The movies and concessions were expensive!

When I rejoined the Foreign Service, I went to Tel Aviv for my first assignment. We went to movies there quite often, particularly when my friend Ack was there -- she loves movies. We generally only went on Friday night or Saturday afternoons, as these were the days when the Israeli's didn't go to the movies. It was a security thing, back then a lot of malls were getting bombed. Except for the theater that was in the building in this picture -- you could go anytime there because it was an apartment buildng with a few shops and a movie theater and not a mall. The theaters in Tel Aviv did the same thing as in Buenos Aires, the seats were all assigned and woe betide you if you sat in the wrong one. It also did the intermission in the middle of the film, in mid-sentence if it hit the 40 minute mark there. Quite disconcerting. The movies were cheap and the concessions more expensive. Once a bunch of us were at a special showing of Harry Potter in Hertzliya and two cars got stolen from the parking lot while we were all inside. They were BMW's or Volvo's...

I loved going to the movies at my next post in The Hague. You could sit where you wanted, and no intermissions. You were spoiled for choice because there were a lot of theaters nearby. I would do "chick flick" get togethers when a particularly chicky flick came out and we would go and have a coffee and applebak after, or if we were down in Scheveningen go down to the Pier and go to the waflehaus for Poffertjes (tiny puffed pancakes, served warm with melting butter and powdered sugar on top but I always got them with fresh strawberries and whipped cream). Yummmmy. I want to go back to The Netherlands for Poffertjes!

Going to the movies in Australia is just like going in the United States, but the cost is even more than back home -- if you can believe it. I usually don't get any concessions because those are expensive too. But I will always go to movies!

Star Trek Lives!

2009-05-17T10:21:00.003+10:00

Wow!

I dragged my good friend Happy to see the new Star Trek movie. Now Happy isn't a huge SciFi or Star Trek fan, but she's a good friend and said, "Sure, I'd love to see that movie with you." We went and had lunch at the new Vietnamese place my sister Deej and I had found when she was here, then went to film.

Now some background, as a kid in the 1960's and '70's I watched Star Trek the original series in syndication on KSTW Channel 11 in Seattle. I enjoyed it, I can't decided if the "I, Mudd" or "The Trouble with Tribbles" episodes are my favorite or not. Time went on and I never really got into the new series Next Generation, if it was on I'd watch it, but it wasn't appointment TV. Then I got my first overseas posting to Asuncion, Paraguay. Lovely country, but at the time not much on TV in English and though I could do conversational Spanish -- the other person needed to speak much slower than they do in movies or television. But my good friend, Kreen had all the original episodes on VHS, and all the shows that showed of the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Kreen's collection became an unofficial lending library -- we all got hooked on Star Trek Next Generation, we even had a finale party for the series last episode. After Paraguay, I went to London and kept up with Deep Space Nine and the new series Voyager (but I was obsessed with Babylon 5). When the movies came out the entire Economic Section would go to dinner and the movie -- it was great fun. Then the movies started to suck eggs. DS 9 and Voyager went off the air. Enterprise did not grab me even though I have had a thing for Scott Bacula since Quantum Leap. So, when I heard about the new movie I didn't think much of it, but reports on http://www.aintitcool.com/ and were uniformly very positive--and these geeks are very critical of remakes, so I decided to give it a chance.

It was AMAZING. I want to see again! TODAY! Well, maybe not today, but soon.

The casting was spot on -- particularly Karl Urban as McCoy -- wow, a young (and a bit more handsome) DeForest Kelly. Yummy. But I digress -- the movie. The tone, the story, the sets, the action, the quiet stuff. Spot on in every sense. I haven't wanted to read anything about the movie because I didn't want to come into it with preconceived perceptions. I have inferred that some hardcore Trekkie's aren't happy with the change in canon. I can understand their point of view, but it's a new generation and they are remaking Star Trek and making it relevant again. I almost wish it was a TV series again, because I would totally watch this group go boldly onto strange new worlds and adventures. But a TV series would have the same production values and they'd end up losing the actors to movies.

My favorite bits -- the relationship between Spock and Uhura -- amazing and I never would've though it, but I love it. The bridge of the Enterprise -- WOW. I liked seeing the insides of the ship (where Scotty and Kirk ended up). I liked the scenes with Kirk's mother and father -- set a tone that really carried through. I wish Wynona Ryder and been on more -- I miss her as an actress. Need to see her doing more work. I liked the Spock/Kirk relationship, warts and all. I really liked the Captain Pike stuff. Loved seeing Leonard Nimoy as Spock...welcome back! Glad not to see William Shatner, I like him as original Kirk, but he would've been very out of place in this movie. I liked Simon Pegg as Scotty and John Cho as Sulu and the young man who played Chekov was good as well. I hope the next movie in the franchise gives them more to do.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough!

Technology...arghhhh

2009-05-17T09:52:00.003+10:00

Well, my old laptop is dying, it is only six years old. It's name was Dell Inspiron 9200. It has been through two major surgeries in it's brief lifetime, in 2006 it developed a problem with vertical single pixel lines. It took some work, but eventually this problem was fixed. Dell finally conceded that the problem was not a limited problem, but a series problem and replaced the screen for free. That took some major lobbying by any anonymous person who created a website devoted to that problem on the internet and the hundreds of people who added their same problems. My precious laptop lived another two years when this past November the hard drive started to fail, the hard drive was replaced in another major surgery, but this didn't take. It was a lovely machine, it's lived in The Netherlands, Pakistan and now Australia -- so you couldn't say it wasn't well-traveled. But I had hoped it would have a longer life span.

I decided to replace it, which believe me, was hard to accept. So I went online and found a PC that was half the price of getting an equivalent laptop. Even considering shipping costs. When I got it I was soooo happy, I almost immediately started putting it together. I looked at the power output it was 100-127/220-240, yippe no transformer needed! Well, for the past 10 years I've had laptop computer that automatically switched between power voltages. Well, I plugged my lovely (if BIG) PC into the wall and pop. I knew immediately what I'd done -- I'd blown the power supply. S--T, I swore very loudly, Darlin' came in wondering what had happened. I was concerned, this was a brand new computer, it was a major pain bringing those heavy boxes from the APO to my car and into the house. It was a major pain unboxing everything and setting it up. I didn't know what to do, I was depressed. Plus my lovely sister Darlin' had left and I would see no more family until Christmas. So when I went back to work I talked to the lovely men in the IT section at work. They said that's easy, won't cost more than $30 AUD to replace the power supply. But I told them I had no clue how to replace a power supply -- they took an old computer they were retiring and showed me how to do it. They told me where to go to buy one.

So this weekend I went to the computer fair -- found a lovely man who sold me a power supply and I put it into the computer. It worked! I'm using it now. Now, the love for this new PC hasn't come to me like it should, but hopefully over time it will become as beloved as my old laptop. Though I haven't completely given up on it. I want to take it somewhere to see if it can be fixed for a reasonable price -- cross fingers. If not I'll take the hard drive out and destroy it and recycle the rest of it. But that would be so sad, we've been through a lot together.

But I can do without anymore technology issues for a while. For quite a while.

Another Oz Trip

2009-05-11T19:39:00.001+10:00

My sister Darlin' came to visit me! Yipee, another family visit and so soon too, how lucky am I? Darlin' was here on business so was quite busy in Sydney so was very tired by the time she arrived. I decided she needed to see Jervis Bay as I have fallen in love with Jervis Bay and the lovely community of Huskisson. This time Darlin' and I stayed in a different B&B, instead of my wonderful Jervis Bay Guest House, this time stayed at the Huskisson Bed and Breakfast. Kate and Steve were awesome hosts, very friendly and accommodating and the rooms were lovely. They had loads of books available for reading which of course made me very happy!

I plugged the B&B's address into the GPS, who was nicknamed "Tomy Girl" by my sister Deej's friend Stacy on our trip through Europe. Tomy Girl is only a computer and as the default setting for calculating the route is "Fastest." Well, hmmm....not so sure that is always the best. We ended up on Turpentine Road, which was...scenic. And unsealed, which is Australian for gravel road. Luckily it had been recent graded so no major potholes, but...it was bumpy and dusty. But you know you travel for the adventure!

After we had settled into the B&B we went to the beach Steve had suggested to us, Steamer's Beach. He warned us that it was quite steep downto the beach. And it was! When Darlin' sends me the pictures she took I'll add them to this post. It was at least 250 steps, some quite steep down to the beach, but it was so worth it. The water was so many wonderful shades of blue and had a perfect surf, big and with lots of bubbly water as it crested, it made you want to jump in however, Darlin' says, it was darn cold! I plan to go back there and bring a blanket and picnic and spend a few hours next summer. Wow!

Later, we went to dinner and a pretty good Thai restaurant and had an early night. That night it rained. And rained. It's hard to begrudge drought ridden Australia rain, but why me? Anyway, we leisurely got up, had breakfast and got ready to leave and it was still raining -- so rather than going to another beach as planned, we headed to the Kangaroo Valley. It is the cutest little town, I picked up British first editions of two books by Frank B. Gilbreth, one written with his sister, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. One book was "Belles on Their Toes," the sequel to their 1948 book , "Cheaper by the Dozen and the other "Time Out for Happiness."

Then we headed to a few of the wineries in the vicinity of the Kangaroo Valley. At the first one we encounted the owner, who was rather rude and so we left. The second one, Jacob's Creek, was awesome the owner was very nice and welcoming and his wine was very good. He gave us a taste of a sparkling red wine, which is apparently quite popular in Australia now. Then we headed for another winery, well this was a unique place. The wine wasn't very good, but the owner which a kick. He was somewhat elderly, his white hair was sticking out on end, he had "British" teeth, which is to say they were crooked and missing. He was wearing the ubiquitous Australian shorts and a flannel shirt and had a very winning manner. He told us they hadn't expected anyone, and as it was a cafe as well as a winery, had no cook. But people kept coming in! He was so busy, he couldn't handle everything which included giving out tastes of wine, seating people, taking orders, deliverying orders. We didn't buy any wine but we quite enjoyed his personality.

Finally, we headed back home -- on the way we needed the "facilities" somewhere, anywhere!!!! Plus we were hungry. So as I saw another winery/cafe sign I knew they had to have a toilet so I stopped there and planned to eat as well. We were able to do one, but there were no seats to be had for lunch. But we did try their wine, it was very good and we bought quite a lot -- I mistakenly told Darlin' I could mail it home -- but later found out I couldn't. My very bad. So then we headed home and stopped and Maccas (Aussie slang for McDonald's).

It was so nice to get off the road for a bit. On Monday I went to work and Darlin' went on a run. That afternoon we headed to Tidbinbilla, I got a bit lost on the way, but we eventually found it. No koala's this time, but we saw emu's, a kookaburra, wallaby's and numerous kangaroo's. It was very nice. I took Darlin' to the airport and discovered that she had too much in her bag, and she ended up with overage charges -- darn budget airlines. So I took some home to bring with me when I head home at Christmas. Then I gave Darlin' a hug and was very sad to see her leave.

I had a great time with Darlin' and we sort of planned the trip she'll do with the kids next year. So much too look forward to!

First Oz Trip

2009-05-11T19:31:00.001+10:00

Well what a great trip! My sister Deej came for her first visit to Australia and we had a terrific time. I had Deej meet me in Sydney, so I worked half a day and drove up to Sydney, a very easy 3-hour journey--thank god for the GPS when navigating big city traffic. When I arrived Deej had pretty much just gotten back to the room after walking around Sydney since 9:30 a.m. She was tired, not just from not sleeping for umpteen hours, but from all that walking around. But it was great because I had been to all the same places just a few weeks before. It was great to see her again.

The first day the weather in Sydney looked...Seattle-like. So we decided to up to the Blue Mountains, which is roughly an hour outside Sydney -- first though, Deej needed her coffee and I needed breakfast so we headed to the a French patissiere and I had awesome hot chocolate and croissants. Then we got in the car and headed toward the Blue Mountains, again, thank god for the GPS in getting us out and into Sydney. As we got close to our target, a mist settled down all around us -- hmmm. We finally got to the visitors center car park and it was clear -- yipee. We went into the visitors center and got a map of walking trails, we came out -- yep, misty again. We looked in the direction of the Three Sisters natural feature and it was -- surprise, obscured by mist. Well, we decided to take one of the walking trails hoping it would clear up again, and ended up doing the Giant Staircase walk of more than 800 steps. It was steep in places and made up of rock, cement, and metal stairs but always with beautiful scenery--even if it was draped in mist. It was a long way down, then we walked over the the Scenic Railway which was another 2-3 km and saw the Koomba Falls on the way -- very pretty, but doesn't match what I saw at Iguazu Falls in Paraguay. We took the scenic railway back up, it is the steepest in the world and short, and fast. But it was pretty neat and I certainly didn't want to walk back up those 800 steps! All in all a very good day, if misty. We never did see the Three Sisters, just a bit of one or two on the way down.

The next day we headed to the beach--I was a bit sore from walking those 800 steps. First, we walked from the hotel to the ferry, going through the Botanical Park, which was cordoned off in the most inconvenient places. They were hosting a local triathalon there -- we were looking for the Ironman Triathlon Deej's co-worker had entered and my friend Brandon wanted pictures of -- but nothing, was was that darn thing? We took the local ferry to Manley Beach -- it started out to be a very nice day and for a while it was, then the clouds shrouded the sun and the wind picked up so we started walking around the area, the sun came out again and we enjoyed soaking up those rays! After we felt we'd had enough beach time we headed back to Sydney on the ferry to get a good view of Sydney Harbour from the sea. Then we did a bit of walking around the oldest part of Sydney, The Rocks. We stopped in the Visitors Center and found out the Ironman was indeed this weekend, but in Port Maquarie -- a 4-hour drive away -- maybe next time! We then went to the Susannah Place Museum -- which is 4-row houses that were built in late 1844 and continuously used until the early 1990's. They've kept it more or less as it was in different eras of the houses. I really enjoyed that, then we had pub dinner and went back to the hotel.

Monday we headed back to the car and started our drive down the Prince's Highway toward Melbourne. We took 5 days of 2-3 hour drives, our first stop in Jervis Bay was a winner, white sand beaches, pleasant bushwalks (hikes), wallaby's and quiet. Then as we headed to our next stop of Narooma, we stopped at a beach where, we heard, there were plenty of kangaroos (Deej hadn't seen one yet and really wanted to) we took a left at the sign for Pebbly Beach and it was a dirt road with plenty of potholes. We got to the beach, which was quite nice and settled down to wait for kangaroos -- but nothing. After a couple hours of enjoyable beach time and lunch we got back in the car, ended up on a different road with 200 yards of freshly graded dirt road and then ashphalt -- hmmm. When we got back on the Prince's Highway, I saw the turnoff sign, it said Mt. Agony road, personally I think road signs were switched! We walked around Narooma -- not much there actually, then had dinner in a great fish 'n' chips type place sitting on the water. It got very cool when it got dark though.

Then we headed to Orbost and stopped at Eden Beach, which was beautiful and we saw dolphins -- no good pictures though my camera just isn't good enough for that distance. Orbost is at the base of the Snowy River and we easily found our B&B -- it was a great place. We went for a long walk around the area which was lovely and quiet. When we got back the fire pit was lit and we took our bottle of wine and chairs and looked up at the stars, but it was too cloudy to see many. Sue and Glenn, our hosts, came out and we had a very interesting and wide-ranging conversation. They invited to their club the next night and gave us some suggestions for the next day. We went to the Buchan Caves to see the really cool stalagtites and -mites, as we came out we headed toward the carpark and guess what we saw -- kangaroos! Then we did a bushwalk to the Falls and saw a goanna (huge lizard) and a lyre bird (just the back but it was big and had long feathers) we got to the falls, but due to drought, no water. Then we headed back to Orbost to take the paddlewheel boat on the Snowy River -- very relaxing, if chilly. Then we headed to Cape Conran Reserve and went walking on the boardwalk at Sailor's Grave, it was great and there were beaches with some great seashells and photo ops. BTW a boardwalk here is just a nature hike over boards, I guess to try and minimize destruction of nature by manhandling it to make paths and people going off-path. Late we joined our B&B hosts Sue and Glenn at their club and had a great time, I haven't laughed that much in ages. Wonderful people, wonderful town! I'm going back!!!

The next morning we headed back down the road and stayed at a not-so-great motel and saw the old mining town of Walhalla, it was interesting, but the most interesting bits burned down in the 4 different fires they had from 1860 to early 1900's. I didn't like the motel so much, so we headed 45+ minutes away to go to a movie! So as to spend as little time as possible in the room.

The next morning we headed to Melbourne (again, thank god for the GPS) where we stayed with my counterpart, Leez. We saw Melbourne, which is a lovely city including the National Library where we saw the real iron suit worn by Australian outlaw Ned Kelly (he's Oz's Butch Cassidy, Billy the Kid type) the suit only covered his chest and torso, his arms and legs were not covered and that is what eventually got him caught. Deej, Leez and I participated in the Ned Kelly trial reinactment and it was great fun. Deej was the prosecutor, she took the role to heart and was very good, I was the chief witness and enjoyed it immensly. The guy may have been guilty, but that trial was a travesty of justice. The next day we did a trip to Dandenong Ranges on Puffing Billy, a old steam train -- gorgeous day and scenery. The next day we went to Bendigo another old gold mining town and went deep into a mine to look for gold, walked through tunnels, used a drill, cracked some quartz to find gold (but only found pyrite) and had a miners lunch of meat pasty and tea. It's a beautiful town with very eclectic and pretty architecture, you can tell it benefited quite a bit from the gold the miners found. Then Donna and I flew to Alice Springs to see Uluru (Ayers Rock). Out of 30 days of bad weather a year, we were there for two of them and couldn't see the great sunrise/sunset at Uluru or the Olga's because of all the cloud cover. Bummer. There was a great long and somewhat difficult walk around the Olga's, it was gorgeous though. There were some very good shops for typical Australiana souveniers in Alice Springs and I'm very happy with my purchases. But don't ask me to play that digereedo, just does'nt seem to want to happen!

Our final big trip was to Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef. This was amazing!! When snorkling or diving it was like swimming through an aquarium. It was to me, the major highlight of our trip. We stayed at a great studio room with a hot plate and stuff, and a grill by the pool, walking distance to town, the beach and marina. Loved it. The beach was gorgeous and the water soooo warm. I did the intro scuba dive and enjoyed it, would like to finish getting my dive certification and am working on planning that now. If you come visit me you CANNOT miss this. We also did some walking through Daintree Rainforest, which was rather nice with lovely beaches there too. Finally we flew back to Melbourne and drove my car back to Canberra. It's a long trip with lots of road construction -- we were so happy to be home! We did loads of laundry and saw the War Memorial (beautiful building), found a great new Vietnamese restaurant, and went to the Tidbinbilla nature reserve. Now Deej had seen the kangaroo's at Buchan Caves, but that was it. She was rather disappointed, I mean Australia is 'roo's, right? Well, driving around Canberra we saw plenty of "lazy" 'roo's (meaning dead), but few live ones. We get to Tidbinbilla and start driving to where the koala's are and she see 'roo's, so we stop and she takes some photos. Then we keep on driving and there are more 'roo's and more. Then we walk see the top bit of a koala high up in a tree, and wallaby's (same family as 'roo's), birds, etc. Then we see some duck billed platypus', but all you can see are their stomach's and if the ranger hadn't told us what they were we would thought they were anything but platypus'. On the drive back, around dusk, all we saw were 'roo's everywhere we went, more kangaroo's. It was hilarious!! But cool....so long as you don't hit one! Anyway, that is my first trip around Oz.

Deej will be back in 2011 and we'll do Tasmania and New Zealand. I'll also do some traveling with my parents and everyone else who comes to visit.

Netflix

2009-02-19T18:54:00.001+11:00

I waste so much money on Netflix, you just wouldn't believe it. I order shows, then don't watch them for a long time. I have a huge queue of movies and TV shows. Right now I'm in the midst of watching Reaper, a Fox show I believe. It's really very good. It supposedly takes place in Seattle and I guess it must be filmed in Vancouver because it kinda looks like the Pacific Northwest, but it would be really great if they threw in some Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound, shots of Seattle and it's landmarks. Just having a Washington state license plate does not make it Seattle.

The show itself is really cleaver and Ray Wise is awesome, young Bret Harrison is very good as is rest of the cast. I'm really enjoying the show and apparently it hasn't been canceled yet! I just finished the arc with the Devil's mistress and it was a lot of fun. I think they need to keep doing little arcs like this otherwise it will fall into too much of a routine. Like the Danielle Steel books.

I hope the show lasts a while longer. Next up in the queue is Captains and The Kings, a miniseries from 1976 and was based on a book by Taylor Caldwell. It starred a young Richard Jordan (he was beautiful) and a very young Jane Seymour (also very beautiful). We'll see how it stands up to my memory of it as a romantic 15-year old.

More Battlestar

2009-02-19T18:53:00.001+11:00

Hurrah! It's Fraking great! What's even better is that it is showing down here in OZ just about the same time as at home. What could be greater than that. I just don't know. The shows just keep getting better and better. Kudos to all in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Battlestar Galactica

2009-01-05T22:32:00.001+11:00

God, what an awesome show. I admit I loved the original late 1970's show a lot, I even bought the book tie-ins because I wanted to know the ending of the story. Then I heard about the new Battlestar Galactica that launched in 2003 on the SciFi Channel. Wow, I thought, cool, I'll find out what happened to Starbuck, Apollo, Adama and Athena.

I was in The Hague when the show premiered and didn't show there until some time after the U.S. premiere and I'd heard about how Starbuck and Boomer were suddenly women, and that a lot of the story was different. Well, I just didn't watch it. Then time goes on and the blogs and TV websites I read were praising the show to the skies and I was in the process of relocating to Islamabad for a year and I thought there would be little on TV so I bought the first three seasons. And they sat on the bookshelf for a year while I read a lot more than I watched TV.

Suddenly, I'm off to my new post in Canberra with a lot of travel time in between, so I packed the first and half of the second season of Battlestar Galactica to watch on my laptop. Still the DVD's just sat there. Then I arrive in Canberra with lots of free time on my hands and I finally, finally put BSG in the DVD player. I WAS HOOKED.

I couldn't stop watching, when I had to wait for the rest of the DVDs to arrive the first thing I did was unpack my TV and VCR so I could finishing watching. I was so hooked than when I finished Season 3, I went to iTunes and bought the available shows of Season 4. I went through those episodes in a weekend, albeit a long weekend. Now I'm totally into the webisodes and anxiously awaiting each new one and the start of the final part of Season 4 completely regretting the fact that the series is ending so soon.

I am inspired by the creativity shown on all levels in the production of this television series. From the writing, to the actors, the music and the production values this show is hard even for the most expensive Big-3 TV network to surpass. To my mind Lost is it's closest competitor. The parallels to modern day situations is dealt with and not in a "rosy" future world way, but in a realistic and messy manner. Which is one of the hardest parts of watching this show. Sometimes because the parallels are so close to what we are living through, I want a happily ever after Star Trek ending to each episode and we don't get that -- I salute producers who don't go the easy route.

If you want a great overview of the series so far, go to http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/ to see the terrific work of Maureen Ryan. She has take the last few weeks to watch and write about the previous seasons of the show -- I believe she still needs to finish writing up Season 3, but what I highly recommend reading her blog.

I can't wait for January 17th! I hope iTunes is prepared for loads of people wanting to download!

RIP - Soap Operas

2009-01-04T09:40:00.001+11:00

As a huge TV fan, I've loved soaps since I was a kid. My first soap memories are Meredith's death on One Life to Live -- it was so sad; and the string of saliva between Philip and Tara on All My Children -- it was so gross. I was fasicnated by the relationship between Marlena and her evil twin Samantha on Days of Our Lives and was sad when Marlene and Don's baby was killed by SIDS. By the time I hit the college years I was totally into Luke and Laura's adventures on General Hospital followed by plenty of Bo and Hope on Days of Our Lives. Then it was the star-crossed romance of Cruz and Eden on Santa Barbara, and the tragic death of the saint-like Mary by the letter C. I went to visit my cousin in Florida and she started me watching the CBS soaps too -- oh dangerous James Stenbeck and Alan Spaulding kept me interested for quite a while.

I used to take a late lunch so I could watch Days of Our Lives and I would put my tape recorder on so I could listen to at least part of General Hospital. I got my first VCR so that I could watch the soaps. As the years went by I became less and less interested in the soaps. A sick day was only fun because if I could stay awake I would watch my shows. I subscribed to Soap Opera Digest magazine to help me keep up.

As time went by General Hospital deteriorated into "Stories From the Mob" with occassional guest appearances by stories that actually dealt with a hospital and with love and loss. I stopped watching. Days of Our Lives deteriorated into "The Stefano DiMera Evil Show" with occassional guest appearances by stories that actually dealt with a real people and with love and loss. Again, I stopped watching. One Life to Live became "The Most Boring Show Ever" with very few guest appearances by the previously mentioned stories and I stopped watching.

My "soap" life didn't go away completely because I found Eastender's. A British soap opera that had real people with real situations. The actors had a normal attractiveness about them and I bet that most would have never even gotten past the doorman of a U.S. soap studio. The stories were enthralling, they had everything I could want in a soap. Sure, if I was sick I would run through the U.S. soaps, but the remote would be working the entire time, just picking and chosing the stories I was interested in watching.

Eventually I got my first overseas posting. Paraguay didn't have much in the way of television and for a TV-aholic like myself this was a disaster. I found a company that would tape TV shows and mail them to me. I got one tape of soaps, General Hospital and As The World Turns and one tape of dramas, mostly from the Aaron Spelling school of drama, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. I got back into soaps again because General Hospital brought back Luke and Laura, with their young son Lucky. And As The World Turns brought back Lily, and the fun triangle between Lily, Holden and Damien. Soaps were interesting again, they were fun again. The drama inherent in just Luke and Laura -- even with the occassional mob stuff thrown in, kept me glued to the mailroom waiting for my tapes. Watching Lily struggle between her long-lived love with Holden and her new-found love with Damien. When I went to my next posting in London, well my interest in the U.S. shows faded and I started watching Eastenders again. But there were a million other things on television and I just didn't care that much for my soaps anymore.

In London, Tel Aviv, and The Hague I've found that U.S. soaps are popular, about 5 years old - but popular. I've found The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, as well as Days of Our Lives on TV just about everywhere. Occassionally, All My Children is on too. But they are all old, and while I haven't seen the actual episodes, they don't really interest me.

Through all this, I did keep my Soap Opera Digest subscription and kept up on all the stories. I really like the magazine itself. You can tell the writers and editors enjoy soap operas and are trying their best to save this dying medium. However, it's the soap operas themselves that are letting the magazine down. They don't build story, they alienate their long-time views by bringing in young actors who have no training or experience. It's like they're just giving them on-the-job training, a sometimes lackluster story can be redeemed by the performances of competent actors. They focus the stories too much on what worked once and don't even try to go in another direction. Sure the mob thing worked for Luke and his cohorts, but it totally doesn't work anymore. Especially since The Soprano's showed just how violent that life is. I don't want to watch Kate or Michael get shot every sweeps period. I want to watch love, romance with a hint of danger and sometimes I want the danger to be psychological rather than violent. I'm tired of bombings and shooting sprees in my soaps. I get that on the news and on night time TV, which by the way people are not watching anymore.

After nearly 15 years I've let my subscription to Soap Opera Digest lapse. Not because of the cost of the magazine and not because of a lack of quality in the magazine both have remained more than acceptable. But because I just don't care about the soaps anymore. They occassionally peak my interest, when they bring back the characters I actually care about, when the stories are ones that wring the heart. But those are so few and far between that it isn't worth my money, nor any effort to try to watch them or pay for a subscription to a very good magazine devoted to them.

People say that soaps started going down the tubes with the OJ trial. I suppose that could be true -- I can't say whether people actually watched all that trial stuff during the day when soaps were pre-empted or not, I don't have the statistics and don't care to Google them. I can only speak of my own experience. When the OJ stuff was on I turned to another channel -- like millions of other Americans. When OJ was over, I didn't turn the channel back -- like millions of other Americans.

RIP my beloved soaps.

Vintage Television

2009-01-03T16:36:00.002+11:00

I have recently been watching some awesome vintage television. Quincy ME with Jack Klugman, Ironside with Raymond Burr and The Rockford Files with a James Garner. What an amazing three hours of television.

Besides the obvious, that they are crime shows and the protagonists name is in the title, they all three have one thing in common. The musical score is important to each episode because it was used to either convey a tone or a mood. This is particularly true of Ironside -- I've just finished watching the first season and am starting the second. In the first season particularly, they didn't just use the score to set mood and tone, but used actual songs. Their music director did an amazing job. I'm only on the second season of Ironside and I'm eagerly looking forward to the rest.

What I like about all three is that the cuts don't jump here, there and everywhere. They stay and linger on and move through the story in a gradual way, but still building up to the conclusion. The shows live and die on the strength of the iconic lead actors. Jack Klugman amazed a lot of people I think going from the comedy of The Odd Couple to the drama of Quincy. However, as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple he had the same intense-ness of Quincy. Quincy ME was a great show at the beginning, when it was more a crime drama however in the later years it got a little too strident when espousing or exposing a cause -- I just didn't find it as enjoyable.

The Rockford Files has held up, maybe because it had fewer years than Quincy ME. But in this role James Garner exhibited a lot of what has made him popular over the years. He has a real presence, charm and stubbornness that he exhibited in many of the roles he played in films and television. I love to see the interaction between James Garner and Noah Beery Jr,and the interaction between Garner and Joe Santos and Stuart Margolin. Plus, he works his charm quite well on the ladies, it has certainly worked on me.

2008-12-31T19:19:00.001+11:00

I just got books in the mail, my lovely Harlequin's. Why do I love them? Well, they always end happily -- as many of my writing friends say they are HEA's (Happily Ever Afters). They read quick and don't take up a lot of my attention.

I just finished Bob Newhart's memoir, "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This." A great book, I really enjoyed it. I think I would really love to sit and have a little conversation with him. Though reading the book I'm not sure I would've liked growing up with him and his practical jokes. My Dad wasn't bad, but Bob was really clever. Plus, he says where and when the idea came up for the ending to his 1980's TV show, "Newhart."

I've ordered Carrie Fisher's new memoir, "Wishful Drinking." Ken Levine from the by Ken Levine blog recommended it with a little snippet. I tried to go see her show in Washington DC when I was there this summer, but alas there were no tickets to be had for the nights I had left before going back to Seattle. Bummer. I've always enjoyed listening to her stories on TV and she's hilarious. I wish I had that kind of sense of humor about what sounds l ike a very difficult life.

I got $130 in Barnes & Noble and Amazon gift certificates. I spent it all in one day. I ordered music by Joni Mitchell, Jennifer Warnes, Motown, and Stax, books by Todd McCaffrey, Carrie Fisher, Susan Elizabeth Phillips and more. What a wonderful time I had! If you have a reader in the family it truly isn't an impersonal gift to give.

Benjamin Button

2008-12-31T19:13:00.002+11:00

I really liked this movie. I've always kind of liked Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but loved them in this film. I did have a few problems with some of the directoral and writing choices. The hummingbird thing -- didn't get it. Benjamin leaving Daisy while they were so close in age -- didn't get that either. I get that he wanted to give the baby a father to grow up with, not really having had one of his own -- but I still don't agree. If it had come when Daisy looked much older and people were thinking she was a lech or whatever it would've been called back then, yeah I get it. Unlike many of the critics I found no problem with the Katrina stuff -- it was real life and so much of that life had taken place in New Orleans.

On a side note: Movies in Oz are darn expensive and the concession food isn't much cheaper. They're pretty blatant about bringing in food from home so I guess the theater's don't have too much of a problem with it. But it the theater I go to in Woden has lovely seats with step down seating so even if a tall guy sits in front of me I have no problem seeing, yipee!

2008-12-31T18:59:00.000+11:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from my India trip. Though I didn't enjoy myself as much as I had hoped I did think it was an experience not to be missed.