Sarah got me a swell iPod Touch for Valentine’s Day. So, what must-have apps will complete the experience for me? I already tried the WordPress app, but for some reason, it’s not playing nicely with this blog. Also have Skype installed, which works great.
Microblogging Meets Regensblogging
February 14th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: blogging • geeky stuff • iPod • Touch
Greetings from Nürnberg
February 13th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: blackface • Nuernberg • snowy rooves
Oh no I didn’t! When I say rooves, I mean rooves! Especially on this blog!
Here are some more snowy rooves. I know you’ve been missing them since we moved from the top floor loft to essentially two ground floor apartments across town. Thanks, Nürnberg!
There’s apparently a protest movement going on about Neo-Nazi clothing brands and the stores used to sell it. I tried googling it quickly, but I’m still at a loss. The English wikipedia article makes it sound like a clothing company with an unfortunate choice of logo (in the past at least), whereas the German sites my searchers turned up claimed it’s clothing line for Nazis, by Nazis (the Aryan FUBU?). The text on the billboard informs us that Nazis are camouflaging themselves. Nürnbergers, care to clarify this topic for us?
Following up with another cheery racial theme, how about Mr. Bleck? This topic intrigues me in two ways. First because of how freakin’ hard it must be for Germans to say the vowel sound I know and love in such words as “cat,” “scratch,” and — say it with me now — “black.” Apparently “bleck” and “black” are tonally indistinguishable ’round these parts. OK. But if you have a minstrel as your logo, shouldn’t you just call yourself “Mr. Black” and be done with it? AFAIK, “Bleck” doesn’t have any other meaning to it in German that would allow for a pun…I guess, unless it’s the proprietor’s name or something.
Kinda weird that the vegetarian aspic loaf is on the meats.
freshmeat: End the Ban
February 10th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: equality • military • politics
Saw this via the blog of a friend of friend. It’s great. Read it if you think people should be treated fairly. Read it even if you don’t — it might change your mind.
Woot : BIG HAPPY FUNTIME JAPANESE COMMERCIAL SUPER EXTREME ROUND-UP!
February 6th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: commercial • pop culture • video
Woot : BIG HAPPY FUNTIME JAPANESE COMMERCIAL SUPER EXTREME ROUND-UP! .
I read woot.com’s feed for good deals on stuff — typically electronics, but not always (and I rarely buy anything, but enjoy their product descriptions). Now and then they also put together excellent collections of content for pure entertainment’s sake.
I saw this page today (linked above): Nicholas Cage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Krazy Kiefer Sutherland shilling for the Japanese market, and some true-to-form Kyle MacLachlan Twin Peaks canned japanese Coca-Cola-company-produced coffee weirdness*. Enjoy.
We’re back…ugh.
February 1st, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: gripes • travel • weather
This weather is awful! Who messed it up so badly while we were gone? I miss pretty much everything about Puerto Vallarta right now.
In less gripey news, it only took us 25 or 26 hours of continuous travel to get home to Regensburg (it was at least 29 on the way down). Time to take a shower and spend some time reclining.
Puerto Vallarta 2010 wrap-up
January 30th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: pictures • Puerto Vallarta • travel
The Newlyweds...well, two years ago
Or was it just a fluke?
But after they headed home to crappy weather, we stuck around down here for another week,
- soaking up the sun at the pool,
- strolling up and down the beach,
- observing the pelicans,
- scouting around downtown and the local supermarket for good eats,
- playing with camera gadgets (thanks Susie!),
- and as is tradtional for a visit down here, OOHing and AHHing at the sunsets.
Here are some of our favorite shots of those activities:
Here are the rest of our favorite shots from this trip:
Stuff we (still) want(ed) to do (again) but which will have to wait until next time:
- head over to Bucerias for Wednesday Night Tacos or just in general
- check out the Botanical Gardens
- watch baby turtles run down the beach after hatching
- try various recommended resturants
- Rent Segways® for zooming around the marina area
- charter a sailboat and crew for a day sail around the bay
Some of these things are more fun or cost effective when you can split the cost more ways, or when someone who’s done it before can show you the ropes.
This has been an excellent trip, but we are dreading the return to reality. Planning our return always keeps us hopeful.
Two Vallartan slideshows
January 25th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: family stuff • pictures • Puerto Vallarta • whales
Two slideshows up in this post. I hope you enjoy them.
My sister and brother-in-law departed today, headed back home to cold parts of the world (though apparently not quite cold enough for winter sports, he lamented). It was great seeing them; we attended their wedding in December 2007 (after a previous visit to Puerto Valllarta) and hadn’t seen them since. We only overlapped with them for two full days (odd that we didn’t notice that at the time of ticket purchase), but we’re thankful for the time we had and their recommendations in the whale watching adventure.
Here are just a few shots of them, with me trying to get my candid artsiness on:
And here are the shots from our whale watching adventure. There are about 30 of them…Sarah and I tried to cut it down, but although these shots are not technically perfect, we’re already reliving the thrill by viewing them. We were lucky to get not only a glimpse of a whale, but a mother-calf combo at play.
Thar she breaches!
January 24th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: Puerto Vallarta • punta mita • travel • whales
Yesterday we walked up to the airport and caught a bus North to Punta Mita. A little over an hour later, we found ourselves in a cute little tourist town not quite as overrun as Sayulita with beach bums and surfer types.
In town, Captain Tobi approached as we made our way toward the harbor and asked if we wanted to do some whale watching. Yes, indeedy! My favorite shot from the trip is pictured here. There are more however, and I’ll upload them when I can and make a slideshow out of them.
After the whale watching, we snagged lunch at a beachside restaurant. I had Camarones Ensilantrados — Shrimp in a garlic/butter/cilantro sauce. Yum!
Here’s Punta Mita in relation to Puerto Vallarta:
View Larger Map
poolside webcam
January 22nd, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: poolside • Puerto Vallarta • travel • webcam
The connectivity down at the pool is great, but the screen visibility in
the sun is not. Fortunately, a towel remedies that nicely.
Today we stocked up at the grocery store on our favorites: chorizo,
Malibu, those lime-flavored coated “japones” peanuts, coconut yoghurt.
Tomorrow will probably be a whale watching expedition. Low-key stuff
today was a good idea given the monster travel day yesterday.