I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!

BBC has so many great programs! This show gives me my weekly dinosaur fix!

Is it over yet?

I'm so sick of hearing about "Joe the Plumber" - enough all ready! Shut up!

PROP 8 IS ALL ABOUT DISCRIMINATION

I think if I hear one more 'yes on 8' ad I'm going to POP OFF! This vote is asinine. Would the people of California put brining slavery back to a vote? Hell No! Would the people of California vote on taking the vote away from women? Hell No! Would the people of California vote on making interracial marriages null and void? Hell No! So why why why do people find it necessary in the friggin' 21st Century need to vote on allowing gays to have rights. Oh my god. If that damned law passes I'm leaving this idiotic state. Hear that John, you're moving out of this hell hole like it or not! I'm not staying in a place that votes I'm not a citizen like everyone else. While we're at it, let's vote on straight marriages! Why dont' all the gays complain about being taught about straight marriage in school!!!! What do you say to that California? HUH! WHAT DO YOU SAY!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU SAY YOU MORONS WHO SAY YES ON 8!!!!!!!!! Ya, you say that's not right don't you!! WELL HELLO !!!!!!!! FAIR IS FAIR SO LETS VOT ON YOU MOTHER F*ERS!

And if you need to know what popping off is, look up Tanisha on You Tube!

Mexico Part 3

Our next port was Puerto Vallarta. I'm sad that I didn't get to see PV, as we decided to have a beach day, so we'll have to go back and see the town! We spent the day at a first class private spot on the beach, equipped with snorkeling, kayaking, a cooking class, a buffet for a king and a cute little dog.




We had a 45 minute speed boat ride to our hideway, "discovered" by John Huston, when he filmed 'Night of the Iguana' with Elizabeth Taylor. No, he didn't discover it, but he made it known to the U.S., helping make PV a tourist attraction. (The same happened in Acapulco after Sinatra and others "discovered" it.) This beach spot is set up to hold 150 people comfortably, with only 25 of us, we again reaped the benefits of vacationing in September! Normally a 90 catamaran ride is taken to this spot, so by cutting the travel time in half, we got an extra 90 minutes there! We of course snorkeled, swam, drank, took part in the paella cooking class, and of course, in eating the paella! I would love to see this place at night. There is no electricity there, the place is lit up at night by torches and hundreds of candles and the cooking is all done over open flame. There is a theatre, as they do night dinners and shows there, a must see when I can return.
Oh, there's a WalMart and a Sam's club right near the port....seems wrong.

We found a rock covered in crabs of all sizes, I enjoyed watching them all move around for a while. The water was clear, so I was able to keep watch on my ankles as well!

Our next port was Cabo San Lucas. Again, I need to go back and see Cabo. We did the Dolphin Trainer for a Day here. This was 6 hours of pure delight. The place was not crowded, there were only 4 of us on the excursion, so we got a LOT of extra time playing with our dolphins! We spent some time with the birds, were outfitted with hats, shorts and shirts we were able to keep, taught training commands, fed, swam, danced and played with the dolphins all day. We had an excellent lunch, cooked by a chef, not just a sandwich as we had anticipated! I kind of want to be a dolphin trainer after that!!! The center was right on the pier, so we had time to grab a couple of souvenirs and a two beers before boarding the ship for the last time.

We had another two glorious days at sea, first class treatment, new friends, great entertainment and amazing food before we had to get off, let other people have our room, our butler, our concierge..but not our memories!

Mexico Part 2

Our fourth day was another day at sea. Day five was Acapulco! This was our longest stay at a port, we were there from 8am until 12:30 am, allowing us time to do three excursions. In the morning we went to the Petroglyphs, which have been dated to 2,500 BC, before the Aztecs or Mayans. We had a great hike to the top of the mountain, overlooking Acapulco Bay.



After the historical part of the excursion was over we had a snack a great little Mexican restaurant. The place stopped at reminded me a lot of the places I used to frequent in Brazil, I felt right at home and was pleased that my Spanish was coming back to me when I needed it. It was buried back in my brain after all!

We had time go back to the ship and clean up before our midday sail around Acapulco Bay. The driver educated us a bit on the history of Acapulco while we sailed the bay. Following the 2 1/2 trek, we went back to the ship, for cocktails and clean up again for our night excursion. The first part of the excursion took us to one of the top ten restaurants in Acapulco (I wish I could remember the name of it!). The restaurant was right on the bay; the atmosphere, service, presentation and food were all exquisite. I had the best sea bass I've ever had there! After dinner the bus took us to see the famed Cliff divers. It's not a long show, but it's breathtaking. How these guys dive off these cliffs, some backwards, is beyond me! The guide said there have never been any deaths in the 85 year history, but there have been two people blinded, one guy lost his hearing, lots of broken bones, and one or two people left paralyzed. I don't want a desk job, but, that may be too extreme!

Our next port was Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. Zihuatanejo, a small port town, very charming, is the actual town in the area, Ixtapa is tourist area, with First class hotels. We didn't go to Ixtapa, but merely saw it from a hilltop. We chose to do the canopy adventure. We had such a great time last year in St. Lucia, we had to do it again in Mexico. This one was very different, in addition to the standard zipline, we also had tightrope-like walking, dangling triangles to pass through and other unique obstacles. We also had to keep a close eye out not to kick any wild ostrich in the head as we flew by! After the adventure is over, the staff load you up with some excellent tequila! I'm not a tequila fan at all, so for me to say the tequila was excellent, means, the tequila was excellent. After our canopy adventure was done, we had time to walk around Zihuatanejo before returning to the ship. Sadly, this stop was a short one, we had to be back on ship at 1:30pm. Nevertheless, we had time for another great authentic Mexican meal. Enormous $3.00 margarita's, that were very good! I'm not a margarita fan either, but, I like the real thing, not the Americanized stuff. Another thing I learned on the trip was that I like Mexican corn tortillas. I hate those color added rubber things that are passed off here as corn tortillas. In Mexico they are very light and tasty, and not artifically colored, so they are a pale yellow, almost white.

Mexico Part 1

I wrote three extensive emails to one person, and decided to publish them on here, as my Mexico Cruise recap for anyone interested to read, rather than retyping it over and over. Hopefully I've caught all the personal email references and taken them out. I mainly highlight the ports, and don't really touch on the five days at sea at all.





If you ever get the chance, you must take a cruise. Some people hate it, I don't know why!, but I just love it. It's a great way to see multiple places and not keep packing and unpacking! It's like two vacations in one, you have your port time and your sea time.

This cruise left from San Francisco - which was so convenient. No airports! This cruise we were on NCL. I won't say it was better or worse than Royal Caribbean, they offer different things and are rewarding in their own way.

Because we were in a suite, we got the first class treatment all the way, from the time go stepped onto the sidewalk until we left. We were able to wait in a special area, with snacks and beverages until it was time to board the ship, and we were the first four onboard. That was kind of fun! NCL greets their guests with champagne or a mimosa when you first board. We were escorted to our rooms, where a complimentary bottle of champagne was waiting, chilled in a bucket. Our room was dead center, at the front of ship, which was awesome! I loved seeing where we going, watching the ship dock at each port, passing under the Golden Gate and so on. Now I'm spoiled, and don't ever want to be anywhere else on a ship again! We were also under the ship's bridge, so there was nothing to keep us awake at night! I had some friends take a cruise last year and they were under the karaoke bar, kept away all night by people attempting to sing!

Our first two days were at sea, which was great, because it felt like we got to relax and enjoy the ship this time. Last year we had one day at sea and didn't get to enjoy the ship at all. Our first port was Mazatlan. We took an excursion that lead us an hour away to El Quelite. This is a great colonial style Mexican village. It was very much "old Mexico" with the cobblestone streets, the detailed and colorful buildings, clean and friendly. We took the ATV adventure. I had never been on an ATV before, and took to it like a bird to flight. Some people were a bit afraid of the ATV's, but I loved it!! September is a great time to travel, because all the vacationers are basically done, which means, less crowds and more time at things - like on this excursion. During the busy months the group is divided, because there are only 10 ATV's; we were lucky, with the number of people not driving, but riding on the back, we had the exact number covered and were all able to go out together, giving us a longer adventure! I was in the back of the group, the perfect place to be. I could hang back a little, allowing the group to get a head of me, then hit the gas and go for a real ride! The ride itself was fantastic, we went out into the country on a dirt road, lined with gorgeous flowers, trees, beautiful countryside, horses and literally 1,000's of butterflies that grew larger the further into the countryside we went. We stopped at a small village for a beverage and a tortilla, then headed back into town. When we arrived, the entire troop was covered in dirt! We were a mess!!! But all smiling! We had a small meal at a local restaurant that I would love to have here! We dined in a beautiful open air bar space, had a friendly poodle and a parrot to keep us all company while we drank our Negro Modelo's and ate our tacos - which are nothing like the crappy Americanized versions we have here. We had a scenic ride back to the ship, where we found a nice spread of cheese, crackers and chocolate covered strawberries in the room to enjoy before dinner! That is, after the best shower I ever had!!! The tub was orange when I was done!!!

Pinot Grill, Downtown Los Angeles

If you're going to Los Angeles, pack your bags...your grocery bags that is. You will be hungry before you reach your destination. On a recent weekend jaunt to L.A. my co-horts Jennifer and Jennifer (yes) thought it would be nice to have dinner before seeing 9 to 5: The Musical and have a nice affordable dinner out beforehand. The show started at 8pm, we had to travel 15miles, that's 15 miles, so we left at 5:30, allowing plenty of time to get there, and find a reasonable dining locale. Our first mistake was not leaving at 2pm to travel, once again, only 15 miles from the hotel to the theatre. Our second mistake was not packing a picnic lunch for the incredible journey on which we were about to embark. Literally, it took 90 minutes to go, again, I must repeat the distance, because it's so insane, 15 miles. On a Saturday!!! SATURDAY!! I think we devoured all the crumbs in the car before we arrived. Okay, side bar, you're probably wondering why we were so hungry, we just drove from Northern California. Back to the story, at this point in time, there are only two places close enough for us to be seated and eat, both right there at the theatre. I don't remember the name of the once place we walked into, but we didn't have time to take out a loan for soup, so we went back upstairs to the Pinot Grill.
We were seated right away. If there hadn't been gale force winds, the setting would have been great, outside near a fountain, under the stars of the warm Los Angeles night. Our server was both nice and entertaining. The server assistants were friendly and nice to look at. I ordered a Cosmo. The smallest, most expensive Cosmo I've ever had. It was $13 (with Grey Goose) and came in one of those half-size martini glasses. I wanted to ask if I could have the other half with dinner. Next we had to decide what to eat. We should have known by all the $17 hamburgers being served that that was our best bet. Jennifer, not to be confused with Jennifer (hee hee) ordered a bowl of soup, for like, $10, since she didn't get an overpriced half-size cocktail. She said it was good, but not $10 good. Jennifer and I ordered the skirt steak, the $27 skirt steak, key word, skirt steak...$27...other Jennifer ordered the $25 salmon. When the server assistant brought our skirt steaks out and called it a hamburger, for which he apologized, stating he's been serving hamburgers all day, that should have been our second clue. Frankly, the food was just not worth the price, $7.99 would have been more appropriate. The skirt steak was overcooked and somewhat tough and Jennifer said her salmon was just okay. That was honestly the most overpriced, overcooked, worst meal I have ever had. A Lyon's or Denny's should open down there, they'd very well! Until then, my recommendation: unless you give yourself a good half day lead, don't eat at Pinot Grill, do pack a lunch and a flask.

Zihuatanejo, Mexico.....how everyday should be

The sign on the lawn...

I walked outside today and across the street a neighbor has a YES ON 8 sign on their lawn. I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's a strange feeling to know that someone living across from you thinks you are less than human and do not deserve the same rights as they do. I wonder if the blacks and the Indians of years past had a similar feeling in their stomachs. Some people just need a good swift kick in the a$$! Dear neighbor, how dare you say I don't have the right to marry. How dare you.