« Archives in February, 2009

More Cruise? Yes Please!

February 28, 2009 / posted in Photos, Travel / No Comments

Sorry I’ve been so bad at posting lately — between a new job and a new project (watch for it to launch in a few weeks to a couple of months!) I haven’t had the time I should to get on the ol’ Juniorbird.com. Which is also my way of saying that I may not post so much for the next few months either. Of course, the corrollary is that, the more you do, the more you do, so you may see more from me here.[1] But I do have something for you, something special from the cruise.
I got a little video camera before the cruise, a “Kodak Zi6″:http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001BO7R00/ref=nosim/wadearmstrong-20. I’m not usually the type to go in for something like that, but the price was right and the reviews online were nice and I thought I might enjoy adding some video to my still photos. So, I took a little footage — 30 seconds here, a minute and a half there — throughout the cruise. I have to say, I love that little Zi6. It was very easy-to-use, the shots came out looking great, and, while the reviews say it’s not good in low light, it certainly did better than I’d expect out of any still camera under $1000. It’s just small enough to be handy to carry around anywhere and the batteries made it through the whole trip on one charge.
When I got home, I put together the video in iMovie ’08, which came on my Mac. That was a little more painful, but, once I learned the keyboard commands, I got through it pretty well. (I’m just saying, a consumer-level Mac program should *not* be that much better if you use the keyboard than if you use the mouse.) I hear iMovie ’09′s better and might consider upgrading, although I do wonder if there’s anything in the market between the $79 iLife bundle and the $199 Final Cut Express.
Anyway, enough palaver; I just figured I owed you all the words. Here, in all its glory, is the cruise! (Make sure to click “watch in high quality” since the Zi6 records 720p.)

fn1. Like when I was blogging almost every week back in b-school.















Whipping Gretzky

February 24, 2009 / posted in Dreams / 1 Comment

We were playing a three-way game of hockey — us, the Finnish national team, and the Swedish national team, that is. With only two ends to the ice, we’d switch one team out when enough goals were scored against them. Except those darned Swedes never seemed to get scored on — they had their strategy down, and Wayne Gretzky[1] in goal.
Their strategy was actually simple. See, there were three ways to score points:
* There were plastic bowls on the ice, dozens of them, that you could shoot just like a puck.
* There was a big pot of hot water in front of each goal, a couple of feet beyond the crease, with a ladle in it; and a big pot in each goal. You scored a point for each ladle of water you poured into the pot in the goal.
* In the water were boiled vegetables. You could throw those into the goal using the ladle, and got a point for each vegetable you threw into the goal — but first you had to get some water into the pot in the goal.
The crafty Swedes had a strategy that was keeping them un-scored on
* Every time Gretzky blocked a bowl, he came out and put that bowl into a pile of other bowls. There were enough bowl-piles just outside the crease that you couldn’t really shoot from far away, and, if you tried to skate in close with a bowl, a Swedish defenseman only had to plug the small gap between two bowl-piles and you couldn’t even get in to make a shot. If you skated in without a bowl, there were no lose bowls inside the piles, so you couldn’t shoot anything.
* Gretzky was physically standing in the pot, so he could easily block you if you tried to pour the water in.
So I came up with a strategy. I hid down in the corner of the rink, behind the goal, while our good players shot bowls into their bowl-piles, breaking up the bowl-piles. In seconds, the swarming Swedish defenders were re-building their piles, and Gretzky had climbed out of the pot and was busy policing the bowls that had gotten inside their crease. Suddenly, I dashed in, grabbed a dipperfull of water, and slid head-first into the goal, pouring the water in the pot as I did. As I scrambled to my feet, Gretzky ran into the goal and climbed back in the pot; but by then I was at the pot of boiling water. I fished out a vegetable with the dipper and whipped it at full speed, right into Gretzky, who wasn’t expecting a green onion to come his way. It hit him square in the chest, scoring a point. As he tried to pick it off, I flung a bright red rutabaga at him, and then another green onion, and then a carrot, scoring points all the while. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Finns suiting up for their turn on the ice.
fn1. I’m fully aware that Wayne Gretzky is, in fact, Canadian. Apparently, my subconscious is not.















If They Could See Me Now

February 21, 2009 / posted in Photos, Reviews, Travel / 5 Comments

I like vacations. I’d actually kind of forgotten about that, but I like them. So I’ve tried to “take more lately”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/Travel. Cruises had popped up on our radar a few months ago; prices have been dropping dramatically as cruise lines have desperately tried to keep bookings up. Looking around for things to do for Valentine’s Day, a 4-night Carnival cruise to Catalina and Ensenada was actually so cheap as to be competitive with a nice dinner out. So I bought my honey one.
h3. On the Boat
I wasn’t sure quite what to expect when I got on our cruise ship, the _Carnival Elation_. On the one hand, when I’d seen these ships before they looked enormous; on the other, when I started to learn about everything they claimed to offer on board, I didn’t see how they could fit all that in such a small space. Plus, would I be surrounded by complaining 50-year-olds?
Well, the news is that Kathie Lee doesn’t lie: this cruising thing “sure is fun”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXAlXgodWAM. Our stateroom was great — we got an interior cabin, with no view, and it was as large as many European hotel rooms I’ve had, with a totally sufficient bathroom, and no window meant that we weren’t inspired to stay in our room. And, while the bed may not have been as plush as a Heavenly Bed, there’s something to be said for being rocked to sleep slowly by the waves.
Out of our stateroom, there was plenty to do. Bars had drinks at prices that would be ridiculously low in LA, and sodas and juices were free if you bought a special unlimited drinks card for $18. There was 24-hour dining on the top deck, including a delicious panini station, and the sit-down dinners were quite tasty enough. Plus, the waiters called us by name and remembered what we liked — I ordered mint tea after dinner the first night, the second night they were out of mint tea bags by the time they got to me, but the third night our waitress slipped me a mint tea bag 3/4 of the way through dinner to make sure I’d get my first choice before they ran out.
Entertainment was also plentiful. There was an OK comic and a brilliant hypnotist,[1] some surprisingly good live musicians, and all manner of Now, we got slaughtered at the casino, but the outrageously good hot stone massage in the spa more than outweighed that.
Overall, the Elation was a monument to what even a Vegas casino designer might’ve called “bright colors.” The ship also shared the Vegas casino designer’s preference for a lack of clocks, strange as there were so many scheduled events on-board. Still, it all was nice enough in a “hey! we’re on vacation!” kind of way:
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/478136669_JHWEC-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7419589_wBKgH/1/478136669_JHWEC
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/478138375_RSsmD-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7419589_wBKgH/1/478138375_RSsmD
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/478139668_bbYik-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7419589_wBKgH/1/478139668_bbYik
Our first day out, we ran into some bad weather — in fact, we were supposed to land at Avalon on “Catalina”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Catalina_Island,_California, but 40-knot winds[2] and 10-foot swells made that too treacherous, so, instead, we sailed around all day looking for sun. (The original itinerary was for our third day out to be a day at sea.) While neither I nor the AIG DJ L’il Bit[3] suffered any ill effects from it, I know others did, and the ride was much bumpier than I’d expected in a ship so large.
h3. Catalina & Ensenada
In a lot of ways, our cruise was like a Vegas vacation, except the casino went somewhere. Now, if you’re after the best gaming possible, then Vegas can’t be beat, but I for one always wish there was somewhere to go outside in Vegas. Well, there is on a cruise! We got off the boat on the small island of Catalina, and in the famous Baja California tourist trap of Ensenada.
Catalina was beautiful, relaxing, and fun. DJ L’il Bit rented us a golf cart — the locals don’t drive cars, they drive carts — and took us for an hour-long spin around the island to check out the views. We also got to walk around the small town of Avalon that passes for Catalina’s population center.
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/478169697_PL9iv-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7419644_YB9DT/1/478169697_PL9iv
Ensenada was a different trip for me — usually I like to walk around a city I visit, using my camera to within an inch of its life, and that’s what we planned to do. But we had some party fun time friends on the cruise, so we promised to meet them at “Papas and Beer”:http://www.ensenada.papasandbeer.com/2008/index.php briefly, just to be polite. Somehow a few minutes and a drink turned into all afternoon, probably because of the college students of all genders[4] doing tequila body shots off of each other.[5] I know I missed out on the real Ensenada… but man it was fun!
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/478141047_ki4rz-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7419646_cmzCM/1/478141047_ki4rz
h3. Cruise Advice
So the great thing about the idea of this cruise was that, at a bit over $200 per person for 4 nights including all meals, it was cheap enough that we didn’t have to like it. If we did it once and didn’t much care for it, well, little was lost at the end of the day. But we loved it! It was as corny and fun as a Vegas vacation at a quarter or less of the cost.[6] Everything was easy and taken care of. They made enchanting little beings out of the towels in our stateroom.
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/478150151_M4bTF-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7419589_wBKgH/1/478150151_M4bTF
Overall, it was great fun. If you decide to book a cruise yourself, here’s a few things I would recommend:
* Book as late as you can stand. Our friends who booked a week later than us — well less than a month before the cruise — saved $20 over even the low price we paid, and it seems like those who booked months earlier paid much more than we did, for the same or worse cabin.
* Buy the free soda and juice cards, they’re a great value.
* Buy a cheap bottle of wine with a screw top. Drink the wine. Fill the bottle with the liquor of your choice. Smuggle on board (you’re allowed to bring a bottle of wine.) Mix with said free sodas and juices.
* Cheap out on the cabin and just don’t spend much time there! Plus, the lower in the boat you are the less worry of seasickness.
* Bring a power strip since the cabin only has one outlet for all your camera, phone, etc. chargers.
* Go to the sit-down dinners — they matched us with great table mates, and our friends did even better.
* Explore the ship on the first day, there’s plenty of time if you show up a bit early to board (boarding’s quick and painless).
* Take your time debarking, the line is long and you may as well enjoy your last free meal!
I got to go on a fun ship, holy cow! And I already miss it. I will be going again! Now someone just needs to help me figure out if my next vacation is to Panama or Colombia.
fn1. Yes, I did get up on stage and get hypnotized. I might blog about it, I might not.
fn2. !!!!
fn3. The AIG is hereby being renamed to DJ L’il Bit, which is already her rapper name. It’s been brought to my attention that the name “Actual Irish Girlfriend” compares her to past girlfriends whereas she is, in fact, incomparable. Thus the renaming.
fn4. “All genders” sounds better than “both genders” and also has the bonus that I don’t have to figure out if there are actually genders numbering greater than 2 of which I should make myself aware.
fn5. Yes, I do have video. HD.
fn6. Unless you’re prepared to drive there and back and either forego the hotel room entirely or fit 8 people into one room, both of which were fun at 22 but maybe not so much now.















These Krav Students Walk Into a MMA Fight…

February 8, 2009 / posted in Sports / 1 Comment

Call me bloodthirsty. Some years ago — back in junior high and high school — I took Tae Kwon Do, and sparred regularly. It was a way of driving off the introvert shyness, and learning action and control. When I started taking “Krav Maga”:http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=krav+maga; and, for that matter, when I see the UFC or something on TV — that makes me miss fighting. When the “Krav studio I go to”:http://kravmaga.com/ announced that, henceforth, graduates of the Fight class would fight in front of an audience, well, I sure wanted to be part of that audience, as did the AIG. So, towards Santa Monica with us!
There were six fights, each matching two people of about the same size and experience level, except for the one that matched a 6’2″ guy against a 5’6″ one. (The big guy didn’t like getting hit so the little guy was able to work his way in and do damage and come out with the win.) Surprisingly for a bunch of amateurs in their first fights, every scrap was great! There was tons of action:
Big punches — including a couple of TKOs:
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469613748_J3Tg8-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7302447_yoSNo/1/#469613748_J3Tg8-A-LB
Kicks, their impact echoing through the venue:
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469610566_BT7sF-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7302447_yoSNo/1/#469610566_BT7sF-A-LB
Ground work, with everything from scrambles to mounted ground-and-pound:
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469613011_mqZha-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7302447_yoSNo/1/#469613011_mqZha-A-LB
A moderate amount of blood:
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469613352_2RFaC-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/gallery/7302447_yoSNo/1/#469613352_2RFaC-A-LB
An exhibition featuring “World Champion Kickboxer Roxy Balboa”:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=99278 and pro fighter “Markus Kowal”:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=24986982 (hint to the viewer: stay away from Muay Thai knees!):
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469616572_awdvb-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469616572_awdvb-M.jpg
They even had ring girls!
“!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469611859_a5k4b-M.jpg!”:http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/469611859_a5k4b-M.jpg
So, if I know you personally, expect an invite to the next Fight Night. And expect that, sometime in the next year or so, you’ll get an invite to *my* fight at Fight Night.















Stimulus for Startups

February 5, 2009 / posted in Elsewhere / No Comments

Washington’s all a-flutter over what the stimulus package to help us get out of this economic slump. Is it tax cuts? Infrastructure projects? Bank bailouts? Startups are a unique breed, and need unique tools to drive growth. Specifically, they need cash. Up front.