Jan 18
RichardUncategorized
After what seemed a marathon journey (nine hours from Melbourne to Bangkok, and then another 12 to Tel Aviv), I landed safe and sound this morning. Nothing too harsh from the security guys. Got off quite lightly compared to one of my work collegues, who managed to trip the explosives detector!
Flight out from Melbourne was great – hardly anyone on board, so had lots of seats to myself with a nice buffer zone all around. No such luck on the next leg. As usual LY82 was quite crowded. To add to the joy I was right down the back of the plane, and all the overhead lockers were taken up with either spare life jackets or bread rolls.
Now, just trying to stay awake until dinner; then have some munchies and off for a good night of sleep. Sales conference starts tomorrow, fingers crossed I can stay awake.
Posted via email from Richard’s stuff
Jan 11
RichardUncategorized
I just wanted to publicly thank the nice people at the Apple Store at Doncaster.
For some reason my iPhone died on Saturday, displaying a strange error message about not being able to make calls, and that I should do a restore with iTunes. The restore failed. On three computers.
Disaster! Not only do I kind of need a phone for work, I'm heading overseas this week.
I jumped on the web site and tried to get an appointment with the Genius Bar. Earliest I could get (that would fit with my schedule) was Wednesday morning. Argh.
So, I decided to chance it. Sunday morning I just turned up, and explained my plight, and asked to go on the waitlist. The concierge who checked me in took the time to do some initial troubleshooting, and then agreed it looked fatal and said if I could hang around they'd do their best to try and see me. I didn't even get to finish browsing the audio input devices!
After less than ten minutes someone was working on my phone, and in less than another ten I was walking out with a brand new unit.
Okay, so, bummer it failed, but an awesome response!
Posted via email from Richard’s stuff
Dec 29
RichardUncategorized
Is that a question?
So, I discovered Posterous a little while back, and figured it seemed like a pretty cool little service. Quite handy in that you just send an email with whatever attachments, and it will post it online, as well as whatever photos, videos, etc you attach, as well as automatically updating a whole bunch of other linked services. Very cool.
The $50k question is should I move the family web site over to it?
I think my only issue at the moment is that every site has a "Posterous" tag at the top of the page… not really a big deal, especially as it's free at the moment – but I think I'd be happy to pay a reasonable annual fee to have the option of removing it.
In terms of ease of use it's hard to beat. Just send an email and attach pics, whatever. I might import our current site from WordPress and see how it looks.
Posted via email from Richard’s posterous
Dec 25
CampbellUncategorized Tweet
Merry Christmas every one. I got a new digital camera today. It looks like a phone.
Nov 18
RichardFamily, Travel
While we’re a little sad to have left San Jose del Cabo, the night-time view over Disneyland does go a little way towards making up for it!
Nov 16
RichardGeek
Surfing the web at 30,000 feet while heading back up to LA. Crappy to be leaving San Jose del Cabo, but at least the in-flight internet works!
Nov 13
RichardFamily, Travel
To continue the adventure kicked off with the morning of high altitude zip lining, yesterday afternoon we braved the desert sands on an ATV tour. Sadly, while a bit of fun, it didn’t live up to the high expectations set in the morning.
Usually these kinds of events have everyone on little quad bikes. As there were three of us, we made use of what was essentially a petrol-driven four-wheel-drive golf cart. While it was great we could all fit into one “ATV”, as it was wider than all the other vehicles we were constantly trying to avoid being whipped by tree branches and cacti. The steering also had about thirty degrees of play, which made navigating the narrow, sandy tracks somewhat interesting.
As for the description as a “tour” – most of the time you’re winding around narrow tracks, so it’s not like you can really see anything. The “guide” doesn’t stop and point out anything that might be of interest, he simply leads the way along the trails.
Once out of the forests of cacti, we were able to take in some pretty spectacular scenery – mountains to desert to coast – and once out in the open and zooming along the beach it was a lot more fun not having to worry about if the steering would kick in to actually take us around the next corner. Overall, however, I think I would rather have gone back to Costa Azul!
Nov 12
RichardFamily, Travel
An early start this morning (9am is early, right?), as we were off for some adventure! Adventure in this case is defined as some zip lining and rappelling, high over the Costa Azul canyon in the Mexican desert. How much adventure? The longest zip line was about 500 metres, and the rappel was 100 metres of sheer rock face!
Really, there isn’t much to say apart from “Wow!” This was just so much fun; a really great way to get the circulation going and start the day. If you’re ever over here this is a must-do activity.
There are several companies running these kinds of events. We went with “Costa Azul Canopy Extreme Tours”. Don’t let the word “extreme” cause too much panic, it’s really very safe – and heaps of fun. Check them out at http://www.canopycostaazul.com; we can’t recommend them highly enough. The guides were all great fun, and very careful.
Photos from the tour are at http://photos.stocksfamily.org/Travel/Mexico/Costa-Azul-canyon/. Note that for safety reasons they don’t let you carry anything with you; these pics were all taken by their photographer, all credit goes to them.
Nov 12
RichardFamily, Travel
Just realised I left out some stuff from the update yesterday: While in Cabo San Lucas, we also took the opportunity to try parasailing. No adrenaline required, just a nice cruise 500 feet in the air. Great view, and very relaxing!
Nov 11
RichardFamily, Travel
It’s been a while since we’ve updated – internet access here in San Jose del Cabo was initially looking a little patchy. Now we’ve discovered where we can hijack some open wifi networks, and we’re back online!
So, what’s been happening…
We arrived here on Sunday evening. It was all a bit of a shame with the timing, as we actually had to leave San Diego at about 8.30 so we had time to drive back up to LA. We went past Laura & Roger’s new place to say hi (and get rid of some luggage we didn’t want to bring with us – what are friends for?!) Fairly smooth sailing flight-wise, although we had some delays boarding due to passport info not being entered into the booking correctly.
We’d arranged a transfer from the airport with the resort, which was certainly the right thing to do. As soon as you leave inbound customs, you are set upon by tens of people trying to get you to buy transport to your hotel. Some of them get quite nasty with repeated refusals! We had no trouble finding our driver, who was lovely and whisked us off promptly to the resort.
Once here we really couldn’t be bothered heading out anywhere, so we just popped up the stairs to Sardina Cantina – very friendly staff and excellent food! Just what we needed! A couple of margaritas later we collapsed into bed.
Monday we figured we’d just laze around and get the lie of the land. Part of that was heading out to get some supplies for the week, so off we went down to Mega – and let me tell you, it’s huge! The locals were proudly describing it as “just like Walmart!” They sell pretty much everything, and only a ten minute walk from the resort door. Lucky, ’cause it’s so hot that ten minutes is about all you can do!
The only thing that was a downer was the orange-shirted scumbags that filled the place. These guys are all over you like a rash, trying to get you to attend timeshare presentations in exchange for gifts, discounts, etc. The resort staff warn you about them as soon as you arrive; they’ve been ripping people off for ages. Again, they can get quite nasty when repeatedly refused. It’s a shame they don’t do something to get rid of them, ’cause it really does spoil the vibe of your holiday.
Back from the shops, it was time to just chill out around the pool, and sample the wares of the swim-up bar. Best invention ever.
Now, it’s Tuesday afternoon (just gone 5pm), and we’ve just got back from spending a few hours down at Cabo San Lucas. Had lunch down on the waterfront, and then took a couple of jet-skis for a spin around the bay, and out to have a look at El Arco (the arch). I would have taken some pictures, but the sun was against me, and my hands were soaked in salt water from the high-speed, half-airborne trip out there, so I didn’t. I’ll scan a postcard instead.
What ruins the beach atmosphere pretty much everywhere around here – but especially in Cabo San Lucas – is having to keep saying “No, gracias” every three steps when someone trying to sell sunglasses / hats / tshirts / massage / tours / activities cuts you off and shoves their wares in your face. I know they’re only trying to make a living, but I’m trying to have a relaxing holiday!
Tomorrow, some more fun lined up with a bit of an adventure day – some ziplining over canyons in the morning, and a sunset ATV tour in the afternoon. Woohoo!
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