Posts tagged ‘old blog’
My goodness my Guinness
Yes yes it’s that wonderful day ‘o green today. I’m part Irish (or so I remember being told at one point in my life) so on with the Irish jokes and links to today’s day ‘o green fun!
Six retired Irishmen were playing poker in O’Leary’s apartment when Paddy Murphy loses $500 on a single hand, clutches his chest and drops dead at the table . Showing respect for their fallen brother, the other five continue playing standing up. Michael O’Conner looks around and asks, “Oh, me boys, someone got’s to tell Paddy’s wife. Who will it be?” They draw straws. Paul Gallagher picks the short one. They tell him to be discreet be gentle, don’t make a bad situation any worse. “Discreet??? I’m the most discreet Irishman you’ll ever meet. Discretion is me middle name. Leave it to me.”
Gallagher goes over to Murphy’s house and knocks on the door. Mrs. Murphy answers and asks what he wants. Gallagher declares:
“Your husband just lost $500 and is afraid to come home.”
“Tell him to drop dead!”, says Murphy’s wife.
“I’ll go tell him.” says Gallagher
Cheers to my friend from Michigan spending this day in Ireland across the street from the Guinness factory.
The Vamps and Lez Zeppelin
Lez Zeppelin @ Magic Bag [Ferndale, MI]
Story:
Girls show Detroit how to rock
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Artist Name: Lez Zeppelin
Website: www.lezzeppelin.com
The blues
Wait…where is my review? Well it’s not posted here (duh). Here’s the deal…after seeing some of my photos on Flickr and the events I was attending, I was asked last year if I would like to start writing for Now Public, a free news source on the web.
Now Public describe their site as “citizen journalism”. So, since I have an interest in the site and a way to spread the word about some of the events I attend, I have decided to start writing. For my first “news story” I decided to cover a concert I went to recently…big shock!
The blues rock the house at Small’s | The News is NowPublic.com
Oops
I think I botched this up…I skipped December and January. Hmmm…I need a new tactic with this one. Like use the word “the” and then attack every blog I read with spammed-comments about word of the month on my blog. That’s kinda lame…
I might smell retirement for this one.
December 2005: Mexico
The Mayan Rivera…wow I was in for a treat! I visited Mexico many years ago, but this time it would be a two week visit. Backpacks, shorts (which I hardly ever wear) and lots of sunscreen. Oh, and my camera!
I got to the airport many hours early and promptly started my adventure…I slept on the airport floor. Finding someone to take me to the airport at 5am was tough, so I opted for a friend that could drop me off at 1am. Going on little sleep, a full day of work at the office and our holiday party I was beat. When it was time to board the plane I was anxious to sit in a seat that was comfortable. Thankfully I had the exit row seat that had no seat in front of me.
I slumped back but couldn’t sleep, couldn’t read, couldn’t listen to music. I was distracted. I wasn’t even thinking about the in-flight entertainment…the sunrise was beautiful and a perfect way to start my trip.
The most popular question I get is “so what did you do?” That’s a tough question to answer because I feel like I a did a lot, but I really did a whole lot of nothing! I got to see some amazing sites, but really I spent a lot of time relaxing and just being a regular person…not running around. It was perfect from that standpoint; more then I could have asked for.
We stayed in Cancun for a few days then left via bus to Playa del Carmen. The public transportation system was amazingly clean, new and reasonably priced. The U.S. could learn a few lessons from ADO Bus lines! Once in Playa del Carmen we knew we hit the jackpot! Unlike Cancun’s washed out beaches will little to no sand, we had tons of sand, tons of places to eat, tons of hotels and tons of nice friendly people.
There were only two things I really wanted to do on this trip, renting a sailboat was one of them. Thankfully I found a place that had a reasonable deal for a new boat. After a quick run out with the owner to show I could sail, the boat was all mine. Sailing a ways out in the the Gulf I felt like I knew what heaven was for a moment. Crystal clear water and the boat quietly skimming across the waves…I was more then happy.
A few days later we traveled to a local water park called Xel-Ha (Shell-Ha). We went snorkeling and saw a barracuda (see the pics on flickr for a scary shot of that one!), stingray, dolphin fish (I think) and a a lot of other sea life. I got the underwater case for my camera before I left and my friend had learned a little about underwater photography, so I was left with some great shots to share! We spent the entire day at the park, swimming, floating down a river and eating as much as we could. I slept like a baby after all the excitement. :)
What did we do for New Years Eve? We made up our own plans of course! We had gone on a pub crawl within a few days of arriving in Playa del Carmen so we knew what bars we really liked in the area. NYE we went out to a few places we went to before, first place? Where our new friend Danielle worked. He tried to kill us with a concoction he made a different night, so NYE I wanted to start it right: Tequila! We spent the moment of the new year dancing in the streets where a makeshift party appeared then we headed off to a mambo bar. that place started to fill up after 2am and then it was dancing all night until the sun came up. Well at least we were told the place to be at 5am is the beach with just about everyone else watching the first rays of sun in the new year. Unfortunately my feet were tore to pieces from wearing sandals and dancing, so we headed home before we saw the sunrise. I suck :)
Now it’s about time we did the other thing I wanted: go to Chichén ltzá to see the Mayan ruins. We scheduled a tour and a bus ride, then we were off for an adventure. We stopped at a cenote before the ruins. A cenote is basically a cave that holds filtered ground water. There are cenotes all over the Yucatan peninsula and in this case, you could go swimming! The top had caved in where a tree was growing, the lines you see in the photo are the tree’s roots that went all the way down to the water. The view was beautiful and the rays of sunlight cut through the clear water like butter to reflect off the bottom. It was amazing!
Chichén ltzá…an amazing ancient city created by people with an uncanny understanding of astronomy. The main pyramid with 91 stairs on each side, adding up to 364, with the pedestal at the top making 365: one step for each day of the solar year. Carvings at the top so that during the equinox twice a year a shadow would be cast of a intertwined snake (scales and feathers) running down the stairs. Even with people wondering around in modern clothes, it was hard not to think about what an amazing city it must have been hundreds of years ago.
The rest of my trip was spent wondering the streets, watching kids play in the parks, and sitting on the beach just listening to the waves hit the shore. It was an adventure, but also a vacation from my routine…something I needed more then I knew. It feels great to be home, but I wouldn’t mind returning to the Mayan Rivera sometime in the near future.
For the rest of the photos of the trip and some nice shots of the ruins, check out the Mexico set @ Flickr.
International White Band Day
“On December 10th, you can wear the white band and show you’re part of the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. On this final White Band Day of 2005, one of three days this year when people from America to Zambia unite in ONE voice, we can move a step closer to making poverty history by making trade fair.
World leaders took important steps at the G8 Summit in July and the World Summit in September. Now they must help make trade part of the solution to poverty, instead of one of the causes. As people around the world gather to mark White Band Day, leaders from around the world will also gather in Hong Kong to consider this opportunity to help millions lift themselves out of poverty by changing the rules of trade.”
– One.org
.: the babbling dweeb :. 