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Who is nerdier? I dare you. Post a comment. Do it.
(Link)

teapots

Frat boys are funny. Tonight, walking home at about 11pm, I saw about twenty of them gathering in the middle of campus talking about something. They were pretty loud, and eventually, they started jogging down towards kirkwood shouting (like a marines' cadence) "I'm a little tea pot short and stout. Here is my whistle, here is my spout..." over and over. It was rather funny. They marched right up to La Bamba's where another twenty or so were waiting on the terrace outside.

Little Teapots, huh?

epitome

This makes me laugh every time I look at it...



This seems to me to be the epitome of all Windows XP error messages. I have the joy of doing work in many different operating systems (Unix, Mac, Windows...) and XP takes the cake with error messages. The only OS I've used with better error messages is BeOS (God rest its soul) with its haiku errors. Go make your own (Link).

hmph

As you've probably noticed, I've discontinued posting my costa rica travelogue. I don't think anyone's reading it, so it's not worth the typing (currently it's written in a hand-journal).

Anyway, let me know if you want to see more and I will post more.

costa rica travelogue (6)

1/2/2005

It was the day of ultimate relaxation. We woke up and spent some time reading before heading to the lodge restaurant for our complimentary breakfast. It was raining when I woke up. Its still raining as I lay down for sleep.

Breakfast was festive -- the waitstaff remembered us from yesterday and joked around a bit. It was a buffet style meal, but there were six types of fresh fruit juice and one of the waiters made us omelets while the other cheered him on. It was hilarious!

After food, we went back to the room and watched the wet birds fly around restlessly. My favorites are the scarlet-rump birds. While birding, a little black weasel-looking thing started trying to get into the restaurant (just a few meters away). Poor little thing had bags under its eyes! I suppose I would too if I lived underground and it was raining.

A short while later, I heard some screeching outside my door, so I went out to investigate. A pair of parrots (big ones, Macaw sized) had flown into the overhang to perch on a limb out of the rain. They just sat and cuddled, vocalizing a bit at passers by.

Shortly after noon, we caught a taxi to Tabicon Resort for the hot springs experience. This magical water park is just high-flow natural springs flowing through human-coerced lava rock channels. But there are tons (> 15) pools and waterfalls, only two are cold. The brochure says that the springs top out at 102°F, but I think it gets hotter!

The buffet dinner leaves something to be desired but five hours in the springs & pools (with two bars, one you can swim up to!) made me very relaxed. Unfortunately we didn't have time to try out the spa services (Facials, massage, etc).

Mmmm.... Sleepy time.

The red-rump bird was called a "Red-rump Tanager."

sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads

Apparently the latest in high-tech anti-aircraft weaponry is, that's right folks, lasers. The FAA is cracking down on people who shine lasers on airplanes, possibly blinding the pilot. They claim it is a terrorist threat.

"... [the FAA] recommends that pilots immediately report any unauthorized laser events to air traffic controllers ..." (Link) A laser isn't a threat, a BOMB is a threat. A laser is something you can buy for $24.99 at Radio Shack (Link).

I'm beginning to think they're winning: our country is freaking out about every last thing! Isn't that the point of terrorism? Not killing, that's massacre, but instilling fear? Damn, we suck.

costa rica travelogue (5)

Happy New Year!

1/1/2005

I greeted this morning with a lonely but submersing hike on some trails behind our lodge. I got the full feel of a rainforest today (sans wild animals) since it was raining as I trudged down the muddy paths. Along the trail, I saw some damp butterflies and giagantic trees. The cloud forest really is beautiful on the ground and in the air.

Our time at the cloud forest lodge outside Santa Elena came to an end as we finished our coffee, checked out, and caught our 4wd ride towards Arenal. It took about two hours to go 50km -- up and down crappy pock-marked muddy roads. Luckily we had someone else driving (I would have quickly grown impatient) so after just a couple hours we arrived at a boat dock on the only lake in Costa Rica. I stepped out of the jeep and removed my two-hours-of-bumping-on-the-seat wedgie before we boarded the boat that would take us to our next stop: Arenal Lodge.

Throughout the whole 45minute boat ride, we were heading straight for the Arenal Volcano, but it was overcast so I could only see the bottom third most uninteresting parts. That's okay. We have 3 days in Arenal, hopefully one will be clear.

We got out of the boat on the other side of the lake after waiting for the people blocking the public landing to move. It was interesting how our tour boat was empty except for the two of us, the guide & driver. I think the boat could comfortably fit fifty. Unusual. Anyhow, once we were back on land, we were greeted with a pleasant surprise: a paved road!!! Haven't seen one of those in days.

We waited a few minutes for our next ground transport to arrive. It would take us the three kilometers up the mountain to our next abode. A roadside vendor had a huge knife and a truck full of fresh coconuts, so we bought one to drink. He whacked a small hole in the top and it was completely full of water! What a nice treat to suck down the natural canteen's contents after a long trip.

Our ride arrived and took us the remaining distance up past an entry gate really far up a long suspenseful driveway to the Arenal Lodge. The scenery was beautiful (again). I can't really say much other than we ended up with a marvelous room with french doors, a couch, coffepot, double sink and a private deck with rocking chairs to sit on while enjoying or own personal view of the volcano! It was just all right there: our room with a view. Awesome.

Through a bit of exploring, we really began to love this place. The restaurant had excellent food. I had a twelve dollar fillet that was HUGE and very melty. Not bad, considering my other steak encounters in this country have been quite disappointing. We found a little comfort in great wait-staff and receptionists.

Walking around the property, we discovered a butterfly garden and a mini-zoo. The zoo had a family of boars, some deer and a pair of lazy Pacas. We decided to save the hiking trails for sunnier times.

While in the remote edges of the property, we found a strange clearing that plateaued on top of the hill and housed three italian-style fountains. The area seemed to be perfect for weddings and stuff of the like since it was flat, remote, not too windy and had a breathtaking view of the lake and volcano.

All in all, today was exciting. I can't wait for the volcano to reveal itself. I've heard a few rumbles but not seen anything yet. Meanwhile, I will settle for the churps, burps, and squeels of the nighttime jungle outside my bedroom window.

I heard you can see the lava flows from the volcano at night... nifty.

costa rica travelogue (4)

Bugs!

12/31/2004

Today we took a trip to a butterfly farm. I learned a lot about insects, bugs and arachnids--and I got to play with a praying mantis. The mantis is really a cool insect. I played with a (large) female and I was amazed at how her head could move: she followed my finger as it circled her head just as a cat might. During the pre-tour info session, I learned that cockroaches are actually very clean. they spend a lot of time cleaning themselves, much like cats. I also learned that they're only two percent water, so you can microwave or freeze them and they won't die.

Anyhow, the point of the tour was to see butterflies, and that we did! I got photos of transparent ones, striped ones, owl-looking ones, and iridescent blue ones. Butterflies are really neat -- we saw one who just finished coming out of its' chrysalis and the wings were still wet and unfolding. It's amazing how fragile these bugs are. On a side note, I learned that moths BUILD their cocoons from other materials (like the log-cabin moth that makes a cocoon out of sticks that looks like a log cabin) whereas butterflies grow a chrysalis like shedding skin. Anyway, I got some good pictures and walked away with lots of new knowledge.

The farm was run by a US citizen and volunteers from the states, so the tour was speckled with humor that made me feel right at home.

After the butterflies, we caught our ride back towards the lodge, but asked our driver to let us out early so we could explore the town nearby a bit. We had to verbally wrestle with him since he spoke absolutely no english at all, and eventually I had to open a door to show him what we wanted to do.

When we got out of the jeep, the coffee shop from yesterday was so close that we had to stop in for some coffee. There we saw a couple from our butterfly tour group and some of the zip-liners from yesterday (the Israelis). We sat and chatted for a while, and I decided I don't like Carajillo. Stick with coffee, Sid. Also, while we were there, I nerded out for a bit (ten minutes) and sent some emails from an internet station in the cafe. Only a dollar for ten minutes, not bad.

Afterwards, we proceeded on a hike to the bustling town of Saint Elena (really quite built up around a cobblestone road) and found a quaint little restaurant for lunch. The family-owned establishment had a huge menu, and mom and pop quickly fixed us up with some flat-fried chicken, rice, beans and pickled veggies that their six-year-old daughter served us with gusto. An amazing meal with huge portions, a glass bottle of coke and a banana smoothie (fruit, ice, water) all for about eight bucks. I have a new favorite place for tico food. After lunch we waddled down the road a bit to a second coffee shop where we played cards and drank extremely strong coffee. On our way out I picked up some cigars to celebrate the new year.

We passed a grocer on the way back, so we stopped in and bought some wine and an apple to go with the fresh loaf of bread (US$0.35) we bought from a bakery. Fully loaded for a party, we slowly began our uphill trek of about 4km (very steep) back to the lodge. We took about an hour to do it, mostly because half of the road was on at least a thirty degree incline.

Back at the lodge, we made "reservations" for dinner and plowed through the wine, bread and apple over two more hours of card games.

We were the only guests left for the night, so we had the whole restaurant/bar staff waiting on us. I kind of felt bad that they couldn't take off and go celebrate with everyone else, but they seemed pretty happy to serve us.

After dinner, we played more cards (I'm beginning to think it's a compulsion) until we grew weary, then listened to a fireworks display before hitting the sack. We had a long day ahead of us: we were to set out towards Arenal to see a volcano the next morning . . .

Santa Elena is really a neat town, not as touristy as many of the other towns in Costa Rica.