One of the sights I like to read frequently is The Consumerist. It’s a great website with all kinds of useful information pertaining to consumers. These folks have even been able to help some people out by showing them how to properly write a complaint letter, tell them who to send it to, and have even put pressure on the entity in question to get answers.
But one thing I have also noticed is that if you read the site long enough you’ll find that consumers are fed up with Wall-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and all the other big chains. They are also fed up with American Airlines, United, Delta, etc. Keep reading the site long enough and you’ll start to wonder where can you go to buy that big-screen TV, blender or your next plane ticket.
We may not technically be in a recession, but I think if you ask the average person they’ll tell you that things are bad right now. Gasoline is up and the trickle down effect is horrible. Add that to the shrinking value of the dollar and we are setting ourselves up for even more problems. And sure, that is part of it. But here is the catch:
Americans are still buying as much oil as they were before it skyrocketed. They are still buying as much food, clothing, electronics, etc. People are still spending money, which is why we aren’t in a recession.
But what I think is happening is that consumers have no confidence in retailers and are fed up with what they are getting for their money. Pretty much everyone has a horror story about getting screwed by some commercial entity. But now, it’s almost as if it’s the norm. Promises that are broken, abysmal customer service, horrible business practices, etc. That’s why people are fed up. Not only are we paying more, we are getting less product, a less than favorable experience and the market is basically telling us “tough shit.”
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I am a Fashion Victim!
I was told this once by a girl I was dating. It drove her nuts that I wasn’t into the latest fashion trends and tended to dress comfortable and inexpensively (i.e. slob). I remember on one specific occasion we were about to go off to a very casual party at some friends (mostly hers) house. I can’t remember if I had on jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and a t-shirt but that was it. She asked if I was really going “like that” and I explained that I was. She obviously didn’t like it and so I told her in no uncertain terms that if she didn’t like the way I was dressed then I’d be staying home. She went on to tell me how it was embarrassing because it looked like I couldn’t afford clothes. I explained to her that I already made more money than just about everyone there and I didn’t give a fuck what they thought about me.
I went to the party, and nobody seemed to care how I was dressed. Maybe they did care and were talking behind my back. I didn’t care. I had a good time and I was comfortable.
So maybe I am a fashion victim, but then again maybe I’m not. Maybe you are the fashion victim! I certainly have no desire to keep up with the Jones’s. I don’t care about designer clothes and trying to fit in with the trendy crowd. My wallet doesn’t shrink just because some movie star started wearing the same style of sunglasses Elton John wore back the 60’s.
But I do have to buy clothes from time to time. Oh sure, I pretty much wear what I have until they have holes in them and are falling apart, but eventually I have to have new stuff. I can’t stand shopping. I hate department stores. I hate all the Yentas with their kids in strollers. I hate the prices and I hate the lines. If I could do drive-through shopping or call my order in ahead of time I just might do that. That would work for most of my stuff, but sure enough I do have to actually look at some things and try them on before I will know if I like them.
So here are some of my major pet peeves with fashion at the moment:
Elton John sunglasses that make you look like an ET.
These are just hideous, OK? They went out in the 60’s for a reason. And not only are people buying them, they are buying them in droves. The designers got in on it and are stamping them with their logos and charging a butload of money for about $3.00 worth of plastic and manufacturing. Slave to fashion.
Sagging
A black guy once told me that this arose from prison wear. Prisoners would be issued pants and would not be allowed to have a belt while on suicide watch (standard for new prisoners) so their pants would sag. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s plausible. In any case, I am all about functional clothing. If you can’t walk right, can’t run, and can’t use one hand because your pants are falling off then you are a slave to fashion because you are well beyond the limit of functionality. To me, you look like a tard that doesn’t know how to buy the right sized clothes.
Shorts
I love shorts. I’m a very warm natured person and I get hot really quick so shorts are vital part of my wardrobe. But I do not understand why shorts have gotten so long that you might as well be wearing pants. With the exception of a specialized short (i.e. running shorts or climbing shorts) shorts should be roughly knee length give or take an inch or so. But now days the trend is for shorts to be half-way (or more) down you shin. When I was growing up these were called highwaters and you would get made fun of for wearing them. WTF is the point in this trend? It’s not much cooler than a pair of pants. Combine it with sagging and you get a bunch of guys that look like they are wearing skirts! Tards…
Sandals
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I cannot stand flip-flops on men. It looks and sounds totally retarded. It also perpetuates the entire slacker shuffle-your-feet-and-make-noise attitude that I can’t stand. Be a real man and put some fucking shoes on your feet. Ever see a guy get into a fight with flip flops on? It’s hard to be macho and intimidating to another guy when you get ready to throw down and your shoes are flip-flopping all over the place and as soon as you start to scrap those things are off your feet and you have no traction.
But that’s the fashion trend. It’s almost all flip flops out there. There aren’t many sandals left. And don’t give me a shoe that is mostly nagahyde, leather, vinyl, or human-skin that has vent-holes either. I want an open-toed sandal that has a strap on the front, one across the top part of your ankle, and one on the back to hold the sucker in place. Think of a sports-sandal. Those are great, but it would be nice to have one that is made in a material that looks good in a restaurant, too. I’ve been searching for weeks and I’ve found TWO that look like this. One wasn’t my size and one was $125 – are you fucking high?
Designer Crap, Logos, and Price
First off, I’m an admitted cheap bastard. As an example, I’m not spending $125 on a pair of sandals. Give me a good, quality pair of Italian leather shoes and I might spend even more on them. But not on a sandal.
People have gotten out of control with the whole designer thing. I don’t care if it says Mossimo on it. It doesn’t mean that it is any better than something else. In fact, most of the big designers are employing the use of sweat shops in other countries so that they can crank out their product faster putting more of it on the racks so that your hard earned dollars fly out of your wallet even faster.
And what do you do? You pay more for it. You pay more for it to say Mossimo, or Abercrombie and Fitch. $60 for a plain cotton t-shirt with a logo on it? Really?
And just what are you paying for? For the privilege of advertising for these people!!! I don’t mind if a shirt has a logo on it, but don’t splash it across the whole shirt and expect me to pay even more money to advertise for you. I have several Nike t-shirts that have mostly been given to me as gifts. Every single one of them has faded inside of a few weeks and most of them fell apart not long after. My cheap-ass, freebie, Mars t-shirt that was given to me at a promo deal years ago? Still as black as the day I got it and still holding up.
The last round of shirts I bought cost me $15.00 at target, don’t have fancy logos on them, and keep me cool and comfortable. If I want a $60.00 shirt it’s going to be a lot nicer than the crap people are putting on their bodies to hang out in.
And what about good merchandise? I have no problem paying good money for good merchandise as is evidenced by my sunglasses, suits, dress shirts, etc.
So you can probably see why I hate shopping for clothes. The current fashion trends drive me up the wall and they aren’t cheap. It’s getting harder to find good, quality clothes at a reasonable price that don’t make you look like a slave to the fashion mill.
I went to the party, and nobody seemed to care how I was dressed. Maybe they did care and were talking behind my back. I didn’t care. I had a good time and I was comfortable.
So maybe I am a fashion victim, but then again maybe I’m not. Maybe you are the fashion victim! I certainly have no desire to keep up with the Jones’s. I don’t care about designer clothes and trying to fit in with the trendy crowd. My wallet doesn’t shrink just because some movie star started wearing the same style of sunglasses Elton John wore back the 60’s.
But I do have to buy clothes from time to time. Oh sure, I pretty much wear what I have until they have holes in them and are falling apart, but eventually I have to have new stuff. I can’t stand shopping. I hate department stores. I hate all the Yentas with their kids in strollers. I hate the prices and I hate the lines. If I could do drive-through shopping or call my order in ahead of time I just might do that. That would work for most of my stuff, but sure enough I do have to actually look at some things and try them on before I will know if I like them.
So here are some of my major pet peeves with fashion at the moment:
Elton John sunglasses that make you look like an ET.
These are just hideous, OK? They went out in the 60’s for a reason. And not only are people buying them, they are buying them in droves. The designers got in on it and are stamping them with their logos and charging a butload of money for about $3.00 worth of plastic and manufacturing. Slave to fashion.
Sagging
A black guy once told me that this arose from prison wear. Prisoners would be issued pants and would not be allowed to have a belt while on suicide watch (standard for new prisoners) so their pants would sag. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s plausible. In any case, I am all about functional clothing. If you can’t walk right, can’t run, and can’t use one hand because your pants are falling off then you are a slave to fashion because you are well beyond the limit of functionality. To me, you look like a tard that doesn’t know how to buy the right sized clothes.
Shorts
I love shorts. I’m a very warm natured person and I get hot really quick so shorts are vital part of my wardrobe. But I do not understand why shorts have gotten so long that you might as well be wearing pants. With the exception of a specialized short (i.e. running shorts or climbing shorts) shorts should be roughly knee length give or take an inch or so. But now days the trend is for shorts to be half-way (or more) down you shin. When I was growing up these were called highwaters and you would get made fun of for wearing them. WTF is the point in this trend? It’s not much cooler than a pair of pants. Combine it with sagging and you get a bunch of guys that look like they are wearing skirts! Tards…
Sandals
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I cannot stand flip-flops on men. It looks and sounds totally retarded. It also perpetuates the entire slacker shuffle-your-feet-and-make-noise attitude that I can’t stand. Be a real man and put some fucking shoes on your feet. Ever see a guy get into a fight with flip flops on? It’s hard to be macho and intimidating to another guy when you get ready to throw down and your shoes are flip-flopping all over the place and as soon as you start to scrap those things are off your feet and you have no traction.
But that’s the fashion trend. It’s almost all flip flops out there. There aren’t many sandals left. And don’t give me a shoe that is mostly nagahyde, leather, vinyl, or human-skin that has vent-holes either. I want an open-toed sandal that has a strap on the front, one across the top part of your ankle, and one on the back to hold the sucker in place. Think of a sports-sandal. Those are great, but it would be nice to have one that is made in a material that looks good in a restaurant, too. I’ve been searching for weeks and I’ve found TWO that look like this. One wasn’t my size and one was $125 – are you fucking high?
Designer Crap, Logos, and Price
First off, I’m an admitted cheap bastard. As an example, I’m not spending $125 on a pair of sandals. Give me a good, quality pair of Italian leather shoes and I might spend even more on them. But not on a sandal.
People have gotten out of control with the whole designer thing. I don’t care if it says Mossimo on it. It doesn’t mean that it is any better than something else. In fact, most of the big designers are employing the use of sweat shops in other countries so that they can crank out their product faster putting more of it on the racks so that your hard earned dollars fly out of your wallet even faster.
And what do you do? You pay more for it. You pay more for it to say Mossimo, or Abercrombie and Fitch. $60 for a plain cotton t-shirt with a logo on it? Really?
And just what are you paying for? For the privilege of advertising for these people!!! I don’t mind if a shirt has a logo on it, but don’t splash it across the whole shirt and expect me to pay even more money to advertise for you. I have several Nike t-shirts that have mostly been given to me as gifts. Every single one of them has faded inside of a few weeks and most of them fell apart not long after. My cheap-ass, freebie, Mars t-shirt that was given to me at a promo deal years ago? Still as black as the day I got it and still holding up.
The last round of shirts I bought cost me $15.00 at target, don’t have fancy logos on them, and keep me cool and comfortable. If I want a $60.00 shirt it’s going to be a lot nicer than the crap people are putting on their bodies to hang out in.
And what about good merchandise? I have no problem paying good money for good merchandise as is evidenced by my sunglasses, suits, dress shirts, etc.
So you can probably see why I hate shopping for clothes. The current fashion trends drive me up the wall and they aren’t cheap. It’s getting harder to find good, quality clothes at a reasonable price that don’t make you look like a slave to the fashion mill.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Seven Words You Can’t Say
George Carlin died yesterday. I loved George Carlin. His crass and cynical New York sense of humor really appealed to me for some reason. Maybe it’s because I am such a smart-ass myself.
He had a different way of looking at things and sometimes that perspective was very refreshing. He was one of the comedians that was relentless with profanity and how ridiculous our society is about its use or restriction of it. I won’t write his biography here, you can read that somewhere else. He died of heart failure at 71. I think he impacted a lot of lives, whether it was to make someone laugh or to piss them off.
Ironically, I found humor in the CNN marquee scrolling by on the TV during lunch. It read “George Carlin Dies” and I could just hear Carlin saying “BULLSHIT! He’s already dead! He’s not dying, he’s not in the process of dying, it’s over….it’s done with….so stop prolonging it.”
Carlin didn’t believe in God and religion but I can’t help but to say Godspeed Carlin.
Here is a quick tribute:
The Seven Words:
Religion is Bullshit:
He had a different way of looking at things and sometimes that perspective was very refreshing. He was one of the comedians that was relentless with profanity and how ridiculous our society is about its use or restriction of it. I won’t write his biography here, you can read that somewhere else. He died of heart failure at 71. I think he impacted a lot of lives, whether it was to make someone laugh or to piss them off.
Ironically, I found humor in the CNN marquee scrolling by on the TV during lunch. It read “George Carlin Dies” and I could just hear Carlin saying “BULLSHIT! He’s already dead! He’s not dying, he’s not in the process of dying, it’s over….it’s done with….so stop prolonging it.”
Carlin didn’t believe in God and religion but I can’t help but to say Godspeed Carlin.
Here is a quick tribute:
The Seven Words:
Religion is Bullshit:
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Young Blood has 9 Lives…
Well maybe it’s only 8 lives, now. Last night I was out with Hopper and YB to get a bite to eat and have a few beers. I took my truck because I won’t drink and ride. Hopper and YB both will drink and ride which I think is a bad combination.
I’ve never been a very spiritual person. I’ve never felt like I’ve been touched by God or had some epiphany which I attributed to divine intervention of any faith. However, last night I think YB certainly felt that something or someone was watching out for him.
It all started innocently enough. We had dinner and some brews and then went into downtown FTW. We all had another drink and then I decided to split so I could get up early to catch a flight to Chicago.
I get home and I can’t sleep. I’ve had two horrible nights of insomnia. But as I am finally getting ready to crash YB calls me and tells me that he’s been in an accident. Of course, the first thing I ask is whether or not he’s OK. He is. How is the bike? As he put it, mostly OK but there are chunks missing out of his wheels. WTF? I get his location and tell him I’ll be there in a bit.
According to YB he was moving at a pretty good clip somewhere around 80 or 90mph down I-30. I’m not quite clear on exactly what happened next but he must have been maneuvering to overtake someone when he hit a curb, or a curb-like structure. He said he remembered the bike going airborne, and he going airborne off the bike. He held on to the handlebars and came back down. When he landed he said he could tell something was really wrong as he had no real control of the bike so he pulled in the clutch and eased it into the ditch.
Sure enough, as you can see by the pictures the front wheel is bent up pretty good but there is a huge chunk missing out of his rear rim. I have never seen a set of rims that was messed up so bad that the bike wasn’t completely wadded up. Usually the bike is wadded up causing the rims to get trashed, but it can happen either way. 
Rear Tire -
Fortunately, he had some other guys stop on the side of the road with him. We were able to load his bike into the back of my truck and get it to the shop where he works. He took a work truck home.
YB is real lucky. He not only walked away from this, he has walked away without a single scratch and no other damage other than to his pride. I hope he thinks about that next time a beer is set before him while he has his bike out.
I’ve never been a very spiritual person. I’ve never felt like I’ve been touched by God or had some epiphany which I attributed to divine intervention of any faith. However, last night I think YB certainly felt that something or someone was watching out for him.
It all started innocently enough. We had dinner and some brews and then went into downtown FTW. We all had another drink and then I decided to split so I could get up early to catch a flight to Chicago.
I get home and I can’t sleep. I’ve had two horrible nights of insomnia. But as I am finally getting ready to crash YB calls me and tells me that he’s been in an accident. Of course, the first thing I ask is whether or not he’s OK. He is. How is the bike? As he put it, mostly OK but there are chunks missing out of his wheels. WTF? I get his location and tell him I’ll be there in a bit.
According to YB he was moving at a pretty good clip somewhere around 80 or 90mph down I-30. I’m not quite clear on exactly what happened next but he must have been maneuvering to overtake someone when he hit a curb, or a curb-like structure. He said he remembered the bike going airborne, and he going airborne off the bike. He held on to the handlebars and came back down. When he landed he said he could tell something was really wrong as he had no real control of the bike so he pulled in the clutch and eased it into the ditch.
Sure enough, as you can see by the pictures the front wheel is bent up pretty good but there is a huge chunk missing out of his rear rim. I have never seen a set of rims that was messed up so bad that the bike wasn’t completely wadded up. Usually the bike is wadded up causing the rims to get trashed, but it can happen either way.
Front Tire -
Rear Tire -
Fortunately, he had some other guys stop on the side of the road with him. We were able to load his bike into the back of my truck and get it to the shop where he works. He took a work truck home.
YB is real lucky. He not only walked away from this, he has walked away without a single scratch and no other damage other than to his pride. I hope he thinks about that next time a beer is set before him while he has his bike out.
Monday, June 16, 2008
I Didn’t Wear any Underwear for a Week!
That sounds pretty disgusting, eh? Actually I was wearing swim trunks or quick-drying hiking shorts with built-in mesh undies the entire week. Now? I am wearing underwear. In fact, that’s all I am wearing. I just got done mowing the jungle that is considered my yard. Why was it a jungle? Because I wasn’t wearing any underwear in Costa Rica for a week.
BTW - I was trying to wait until I got the rest of the photos back from the trip, but that hasn't happened yet so I'm posting what I have!
We took off for Costa Rica on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008. Our flight was late getting into Costa Rica but getting through customs and immigration there was a breeze. We flew into San Jose, but then had to take a van ride to Manuel Antonio. This is across the country and took about 3 hours, in the rain, dark and fog. The ride wasn’t too bad but they drive differently down there. Our driver drives the route all the time and so he was hauling ass, even when it got real foggy up in the mountains and visibility was down to a few feet. I don’t know how he saw the hairpin curves, but he did and was able to make it even if the rest of the group was white-knuckling the armrests and chuckling nervously.
We made it to our rental house at about 3:00am. Fortunately, we had pre-ordered some groceries and liquor so we were able to make beverages and have a snack. We stayed up until about 4:30am and then decided to crash out. Unbeknown to us at that point, the sun comes up about that time and by 5:00am you can’t sleep anymore because it’s bright and sunny….along with monkeys, crickets, frogs, and birds all yammering at each other.
The house itself was beautiful. It clearly was designed to be a rental property with lots of room, every room facing the ocean, full sized bathrooms for every room, a third floor balcony, a swim up bar in the pool, and a small guest house. I am still not 100% clear how we came by this place but one of the guy’s family owns a rental house in Costa Rica. I believe they swapped a week of rent at their house for this one, plus the difference in price which meant that we got away with this dirt-cheap.
Surprisingly, it was significantly cooler there than it was here. The sun would fry you quick as we were only 9 degrees off the equator, but it rained every day and with us being about 300 feet off the ocean we had a cool breeze most of the time. We rarely ran the AC and generally kept the place opened up to let the breeze through. However, we had to keep the screen doors closed because the monkeys would get in and steal stuff. Yes, you read that right – keep the screen doors closed because the monkeys would get in.
They would hang out in the trees right off the balcony’s and while I never saw it, it supposedly was not unusual for them to be hanging out on the balconies and porches. There were several species of monkeys there. The howlers were the noiseiest and while we never saw them we heard them on most mornings as they would migrate through their territory.
In front of the deck was a fairly tall tree that was dead as a doornail. It was referred to as the “Tree of Life.” I know that sounds odd, but growing in the tree was an orchid vine that was beautiful and the birds that would hand out in the tree all day were incredible. There were toucans, at least two varieties of redheaded woodpeckers as well as several other species of very colorful birds. They would hang out all day, fuss, and catch insects.
We also had a sloth hanging out in the tree by the driveway. Yes, we were truly in the jungle even though we had a pretty kick ass place to stay for the week. We didn’t venture to the beach much because the deck and pool of the house was such an awesome place to hang out, and of course we had our beverages handy.
But venture forth we did. All of the tour companies were really cool. They would pick us up at the house and take us back. Most of them provided breakfast and lunch in the tour and this pretty much meant that all we had to do was get up and be ready. This wasn’t real hard when the sun came up and the jungle erupted in a chorus of cacophony.
White Water Rafting
One of the tours that we went on was a white water rafting tour. Now, I have friends that kayak and lived with a guy that did this professionally. I’m not exactly ignorant of the sport, but have always been a bit afraid of it. I’m not a real strong swimmer and I know you can get sucked into a hole and not be able to get out – lifejacket and boat or not. So I had a bit of nervousness going on this particular tour but I wasn’t going to let it ruin it for me.
On the way to the put-in point we stopped several times so the guides could point out the trees, vegetation, birds, etc. Some of the cool stuff was the teakwood trees and the leaves that could produce a henna-like die if you rubbed the leaf on your fingers. Costa Rica has several types of plantations including teak wood, rosewood, African palms, coffee, etc.
After we got to the put in point it was raining a little bit and they gave us a great safety briefing. We put on all our gear and then divided up into two groups for the two boats that they had. One of the other guys, Steven, and I got stuck up at the front (bow) of the boat as the “strong rowers.”
The rafts are large inflatable rafts divided into small rows. There are NO seats and nothing to strap you in (you really don’t want to be strapped to a boat that is flipped over anyway). You basically wedge your feet into the seams of the raft and sit on the outside of the boat so that you can row more efficiently. I know what you are thinking….sounds sketchy, right?
We were told that the rivers would be running upwards of class IV rapids. Rapids are classified by how difficult and dangerous they are. A class I rapid is smooth, calm water without ripples or obstacles. A class VI rapid is imminent death and should only be attempted by someone that is both a professional and completely crazy. To me class IV rapids just meant a lot of fun, but fairly scary, too as they are definitely dangerous.
We had a great time going through our first few sets of rapids and made our way to a giant waterfall that we all hung out in before setting back down the river. That’s when the trouble started.
We entered into a class III / IV series of rapids. We got through this just fine and since we were having a good time our guide decided to take us back up the seam and into the rapids again. When the rivers are running good and making these rapids they often create “holes” which is where the water drops sharply over something and goes below the average waterline. This is typically followed by a wave. He guided our raft into what looked like a pretty serious hole and I don’t exactly remember what happened but what I was told is that Steven got pitched out of the boat. I am also told that I was in the air going over Steven, also being pitched out of the boat into these rapids.
Now I had a lifejacket and helmet on, but it still took me a good three or four strokes to reach the topside of the water. Once I got top side I oriented myself appropriately for being carried down the river. Worst case? When I hit the pacific hang a left….
But seriously, the boats were WAY back there and there was another set of rapids approaching. Even with my lifejacket on it was difficult to keep my head completely above water when it started rippling. I was not looking forward to going into the next set of rapids without being on a boat.
Fortunately for me, the guides were trained in rescue techniques and got me into a boat prior to hitting the next series of rapids. After our guide realized that Steven and I were OK and that we weren’t upset or mad it was “game on.” While the other boat would hit the rapids and side-skirt the holes and waves our guide would take us directly into them. You might approach a hole that had a 2 foot drop before hitting a wave that was already 3 feet above us. Hitting that kind of hole felt like the boat was going vertical. The guide is yelling at us to row and I can’t find anything but air with my paddle. I heard later that the guy was evening leaning back off the boat and all kinds of stuff to make sure we got the “good experience.”
But it was a lot of fun and a lot of work. Just before we stopped for lunch we hit the last set of rapids and there was a small hole that we went through. All of the safety kayakers that had been traveling with us were waiting there. Our guide whistles at them and says something in Spanish. They all vacate the area as we turn the boat back around. This is looking bad all of a sudden. Sure enough he takes us up the seam and then intentionally turns the boat sideways into the hole pitching everyone out of the boat. My friends tell me that he was already jumping out before flipping the boat. He wanted to make sure we had a good experience. But the kayakers were right there and we all managed to get the boat flipped back over and recovered everyone.
After lunch the safety kayakers took off because there were no more rapids and it was simply a calm float down the river. Calm until we saw the crocodile that is. It was sunning itself on the rocks and when we came by it slid into the water and disappeared. The croc was maybe four or five feet long, but if you heard our friend Cassandra tell the story it was about 20 feet long and breathing fire as it came after our raft and we had to beat it off with our oars.
But it truly was a fun and awesome time on the river. The guides were all very good and everyone in the outfit was paying attention to us and our safety. Will I do it again? Sure. But I’m hoping I don’t get pitched out next time…..
Zip Line Canopy Tour
Another tour that we did was zip-lining in the canopy of the rain forest. A zip-line is a steel cable that is suspended between two platforms. You are in a small climbing harness of sorts and you secure yourself to the cable with a very small pulley and let it carry you between the two platforms.
This was a really fun tour because you are about 90 feet up and really in the treetops at any given time. We had one girl with us that was absolutely terrified and wore a strange mask of fear mixed with a smile. Admittedly, the first time you zip-line it’s kind of sketchy because you are stepping out over a ledge above a tree, river, etc. and the only thing holding you up there is a little tiny steel cable, a carabiner and your harness.
Once you get over the initial fear and learn to trust your gear and the guides it gets fun really fast. You have to climb and hike a bit to get up in the canopy, but once you are there it’s a lot of zip-lines to get around. The guides were very strict about safety and you were not allowed to touch your own gear (least you unhook something and fall). Even the guides were very serious about staying fastened to something at all times. Out on the zip-line you could get moving fairly quickly and a quick glance around made it seem as if you were just “in the middle” of this beautiful forest.
During the tour we also got a chance to do a couple of free rappels from tree platforms down to other platforms. This scared some of us more than others, but the big terrifying event was a Tarzan-like swing between two platforms. Figure that you are between 80 and 90 feet up. You are standing on a platform in one tree, and you are going to grab a rope and swing Tarzan-style to another platform in another tree. Of course, you are hooked on to the rope so you can’t really fall but for some reason this terrified people far more than anything else we did that day. I was OK with it as I used to do stuff like this all the time as a kid but for some of our group it was the thought of it being a rope and not a steel cable that scared them. The girl that was terrified of everything else literally screamed out in fear as she swung from one platform to the other. I was in tears I was laughing so hard at that that point. Yes, I am a bastard as I found it highly entertaining. But I have to admit, this girl was pretty much terrified the whole time but she did it. That takes cajones!
The only thing I was even remotely disappointed in with the tour was that it was all about the zip-lines and having fun. There wasn’t much in the way of pointing out the flora and fauna of the forest, and I can’t recall seeing any animals of significance during the tour.
We all agreed that the photographers drove us batty. They managed to get some good pictures and that was a good thing, but they really could have toned it down some and allowed us to experience things without feeling like we had to “smile” and “look at me” the whole time.
Horse Back Riding
The last tour we did the day before we left. This was a very gentle horseback ride up a pretty sketchy road through the rainforest. The horses were family owned and we heard that they were all treated very well and only had to do one tour every three days. The family was nice and began our tour with the traditional rice and beans with eggs and a tortilla for breakfast.
After that we met our mounts and took off up the road. When I say took off, it was a nice and slow relaxing pace. Finally we had a chance to look around and take our time checking things out without someone driving past as we looked out the window. Our guide seemed to understand this and we had some good conversations about how this was what made the tour very enjoyable.
After a while we came upon a cut-out in the forest and our guide led us up a trail. This trail was barely wide enough for one horse and it seemed like you could get hurt pretty bad if your horse decided to take a wrong-step. I was thinking that this must be similar to what it’s like taking a mule into the Grand Canyon.
At the end of the trail was a beautiful waterfall. We all went for a swim and the guide took plenty of pics for us. At this particular river the water was mostly fed from a natural spring but during the rainy season it would be fed by runoff of the higher mountains. The whole area that we were swimming in would be under water and the waterfall itself would engulf the surrounding walls and vegetation.
The ride back was non eventful, but again that is exactly what we all wanted. Simple and relaxing. It started raining while we were at the falls so we just let it rain on us. We were already wet, why not? We did find it amusing that while on the way back we passed another tour that was on ATV four-tracks and they had their ponchos on and were trying to stay dry. Why you would want to take a four-wheeler up in there is beyond me. Our guide offered us the ponchos that were tied on our saddles several times and we all refused. We enjoyed having it rain on us. We were in the rain forest after all. There was a certain peace and symmetry with this. I think our guide appreciated this as this was his home and his way of life.
Just Chilling
Otherwise, the rest of our time was pretty much spent relaxing at the house with an occasional walk to a restaurant or the beach. I ended up cooking most nights, but that was fine by me as I usually had someone making me a beverage and I didn’t have to help clean up. Dinners were usually had outside and we all enjoyed each others company. We did walk down to the national park of Manuel Antonio one afternoon and hiked up The Cathedral, which is a natural peninsula. It had a pretty good elevation difference with the beach and you could get some really good views from the top. We also saw a number of types of vegetation and critters that we hadn’t seen yet. Some of these included lizards, geckos, crabs, mushrooms, flowers, and of course up-close-and-personal monkeys.
After the hike we ended up on a very calm beach and all took turns taking a swim in the cool waters. There wasn’t much in the way of waves as the beach was fairly well protected by the rocks and other land masses. This helped cool us all off before we took off and hiked back to the house. It was downhill getting to the park, but it was all uphill going back. At least we were getting our exercise in.
The day we left it was raining and had been all night. It was supposed to rain for another three or four days. Our driver picked us up early so because there were already reports of felled trees and accidents on the main road back to San Jose. Still, I don’t think our driver drove any less slow or any safer than he did at any other time. At least this time we got to see what we missed on the way in since there was some daylight out.
Costa Rica is a beautiful country with a very diverse panorama. You just have to take your time and stop to smell the flowers.
Democrats and Oil
Not too long ago I made the mistake of telling one of my friends that Democrats want to raise the price of oil. My friend is involved in the Democratic party to some extent and told me that they didn’t think it was part of the platform campaign. After they looked into it, it turns out that it is indeed not an official stance of the Democratic party. Ok, I stand corrected.
But, it’s often been said that actions speak louder than words. The actions of congress are pretty indicative that the Democrats (currently controlling congress) either want the price of gas to go up or that they simply do not understand basic economic models.
It is believed that there is enough oil in America and in American shorelines to give us independence from other countries for our national oil supply.
But,
· Democrats have blocked the development of new sources of petroleum.
· Democrats have blocked drilling in ANWR.
· Democrats have blocked drilling off the coast of Florida.
· Democrats have blocked drilling off of the east coast.
· Democrats have blocked drilling off of the west coast.
· Democrats have blocked drilling off the Alaskan coast.
· Democrats have blocked building oil refineries.
· Democrats have blocked clean nuclear energy production.
· Democrats have blocked clean coal production.
Keep in mind that the red part of the graph is over an eight-year time span. The blue part of the graph has occured in less than one year.
My impression is that Democrats, through environmentalists, want to source and utilize alternative forms of energy. I’m OK with this and think it’s a good idea, but I’ll also point out that it’s unrealistic to believe that any new energy source is going to be plentiful and economically viable in the next three to five years. That means that we should have two goals. The first being to seek out and develop an economically viable energy source that we can integrate into our society. The second being to alleviate the economic stranglehold that other countries have on us due to our dependence on their oil.
I don’t see why they have to be mutually exclusive and I certainly don’t understand why we have to impact the economy so severely in the interim. One person I spoke with said that if we don’t do this then there isn’t any incentive to develop new technologies. I suppose that is entirely possible but I’d also speculate that we are well beyond that as many companies have too substantial of an investment in alternative energy sources as to forget about them. Furthermore, that mentality is an “ends justify the means” mentality which I’ve never been very fond of.
What I really find astounding are the people that vote in the existing congress, and then get mad at what’s happening to the economy due to the soaring price of gasoline. Yet, they still don’t want to allow drilling on our land and off shore. Obama says that he is not upset at the price of gasoline, but that it rose so quickly. Not upset? It was almost $5.00 / gallon when I was just in CA. The trickle down effect is amazing and yet the nominee for President says everything is chill.
And if the environmentalists are so concerned then why do we allow foreign countries like China to drill off of our own shores and capitalize on our resources while we stranglehold our own companies? China has got one of the absolute worst track records of environmentalism of any country.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Hertz Uses Lube
Ok, I really don’t know what I did to piss off the car rental gods in some life, but I must have done something really terrible. I think when you break it down to an ass-reaming, the car rental companies are far worse than the airlines. If you want a good ass-reaming just go rent some cars.
My trip has been a little rough mostly because of dealing with Hertz. I flew into San Jose on Tuesday. Now, I know better than to fly into San Jose without a car rental reservation. If you don’t have one, you may or may not be able to get a car. If there is one available, be prepared for that ass-reaming I was talking about. Lube is optional, but certainly not provided by the car rental companies.
The flight was OK, but when I get to the car rental company there are about 25 or 30 people in line, and only TWO agents working the counter. To make matters worse, there are another handful of people standing and sitting around. After waiting my turn to get to the counter I get to find out why. Despite the fact that all of us had confirmed reservations, there are no cars available. Not that the car you wanted wasn’t available, there weren’t any cars available.
So after dicking around with them for about 2+ hours I finally get a car and am on my way. I drive down to Salinas (CA) and make my first day of class. Let me tell you, there is freaking nothing in Salinas, CA. It’s the lettuce capitol of the world. All the lettuce and cabbage comes from Salinas. You can drive for five miles and see nothing but lettuce and cabbage. And the town? Think of Trader’s Village that just goes on for miles and miles. Really, there just isn’t much here.
But that evening I hit a Japanese place that the students / clients had suggested. It was surprisingly tasty and they had some of the best sushi I had eaten in a while. I go out to the car and it won’t start. Nothing. The engine won’t turn over. I dick around with the gear shift lever and a few other things that could cause this type of behavior, but it won’t turn over. I’m thinking electrical / dead battery. It’s about 7:00ish so I call Hertz and they send out someone to jump start the car.
This guy shows up in his power diesel and hooks up some cables. No luck. It still won’t turn over. It won’t even try to turn over. But this guy was only called to jump the car so he takes off. I have to call Hertz again. Hertz says they want to tow the car to San Jose and that I can get a new car there. San Jose is at least 1.5 hours away. I tell them I’ve already had to dick around with waiting for the car, now I’ve been stranded an hour, and that I am not going to spend the next three to four hours dicking around and that they need to bring me a car. They inform me that there isn’t any place open at this hour and I’ll have to wait until morning. Fine, tell the tow truck drive to give me a ride to the hotel (which he did) and get me a car in the morning.
The next day, starting at 6:00am, wasn’t much better as the first agent I talked to said I would have to go pick the car up. I told her in no uncertain terms that was not the agreement that we had and that it would be in Hertz best interest to proverbially kiss my ass and make things right or I’d never rent from them again.
I end up getting a cab to my client’s site because they can’t get me a car in time. Later they give me a ring and tell me I can come pick up the car. Again, I have to explain that they are supposed to bring me the car. They explain that it will be “a little longer” because they are busy. I call them again at 5:30 and ask where my car is. It’s on it’s way.
The guy shows up in the car and asks “where is the other car.” I told him that Hertz had it towed and I hope he isn’t expecting me to take him back to wherever he came from. I think he took that well. Finally, 22 hours later, I had another rental car.
I haven’t written Hertz, yet, but you can bet that I will. I want an apology, and I don’t want to have to pay for an entire day of car rental that I didn’t get to have. Somehow, I am still not as mad at them as I am at Budget. Maybe it’s because Hertz used lube….
My trip has been a little rough mostly because of dealing with Hertz. I flew into San Jose on Tuesday. Now, I know better than to fly into San Jose without a car rental reservation. If you don’t have one, you may or may not be able to get a car. If there is one available, be prepared for that ass-reaming I was talking about. Lube is optional, but certainly not provided by the car rental companies.
The flight was OK, but when I get to the car rental company there are about 25 or 30 people in line, and only TWO agents working the counter. To make matters worse, there are another handful of people standing and sitting around. After waiting my turn to get to the counter I get to find out why. Despite the fact that all of us had confirmed reservations, there are no cars available. Not that the car you wanted wasn’t available, there weren’t any cars available.
So after dicking around with them for about 2+ hours I finally get a car and am on my way. I drive down to Salinas (CA) and make my first day of class. Let me tell you, there is freaking nothing in Salinas, CA. It’s the lettuce capitol of the world. All the lettuce and cabbage comes from Salinas. You can drive for five miles and see nothing but lettuce and cabbage. And the town? Think of Trader’s Village that just goes on for miles and miles. Really, there just isn’t much here.
But that evening I hit a Japanese place that the students / clients had suggested. It was surprisingly tasty and they had some of the best sushi I had eaten in a while. I go out to the car and it won’t start. Nothing. The engine won’t turn over. I dick around with the gear shift lever and a few other things that could cause this type of behavior, but it won’t turn over. I’m thinking electrical / dead battery. It’s about 7:00ish so I call Hertz and they send out someone to jump start the car.
This guy shows up in his power diesel and hooks up some cables. No luck. It still won’t turn over. It won’t even try to turn over. But this guy was only called to jump the car so he takes off. I have to call Hertz again. Hertz says they want to tow the car to San Jose and that I can get a new car there. San Jose is at least 1.5 hours away. I tell them I’ve already had to dick around with waiting for the car, now I’ve been stranded an hour, and that I am not going to spend the next three to four hours dicking around and that they need to bring me a car. They inform me that there isn’t any place open at this hour and I’ll have to wait until morning. Fine, tell the tow truck drive to give me a ride to the hotel (which he did) and get me a car in the morning.
The next day, starting at 6:00am, wasn’t much better as the first agent I talked to said I would have to go pick the car up. I told her in no uncertain terms that was not the agreement that we had and that it would be in Hertz best interest to proverbially kiss my ass and make things right or I’d never rent from them again.
I end up getting a cab to my client’s site because they can’t get me a car in time. Later they give me a ring and tell me I can come pick up the car. Again, I have to explain that they are supposed to bring me the car. They explain that it will be “a little longer” because they are busy. I call them again at 5:30 and ask where my car is. It’s on it’s way.
The guy shows up in the car and asks “where is the other car.” I told him that Hertz had it towed and I hope he isn’t expecting me to take him back to wherever he came from. I think he took that well. Finally, 22 hours later, I had another rental car.
I haven’t written Hertz, yet, but you can bet that I will. I want an apology, and I don’t want to have to pay for an entire day of car rental that I didn’t get to have. Somehow, I am still not as mad at them as I am at Budget. Maybe it’s because Hertz used lube….
Recent Things That I Wish I Didn’t Know About
Preparation H and dance clubs
Apparently, the club-goers out on the east coast are slathering their bodies up in preparation H prior to going in the club. Apparently the cream causes your skin to tighten over your muscles giving you a more “ripped” look. But that’s all it is, the look. And what do they do to combat the smell? Dump a bottle of cologne over their heads.
But it must be working, this is the trend and those guys are getting the chicks. Go figure.
The Poo Button
http://www.poobutton.com
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Back from the Jungle!
Well I am back from Costa Rica. It's hotter here than it was there. I am trying to write up my thoughts and notes on the trip, but am only able to write a little bit each day. I'm also waiting for all the pictures to get compiled from all the cameras.
Be patient, it's coming.....
Be patient, it's coming.....
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