Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesday Quickie

I'm working on the last few entries of my trip, here's a quick funny of math conversions:
  1. Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi
  2. 2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton
  3. 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope
  4. Time between slipping on a peel & hitting the ground = 1 bananosecond
  5. Weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram
  6. Time it takes to sail 220 yds at 1 nautical mile/hr = Knotfurlong
  7. 16.5' in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod
  8. Half a large intestine = 1 semicolon
  9. 1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurt
  10. Basic unit of laryngitis = 1 hoarsepower
  11. Shortest distance between two jokes = A straight line
  12. 453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake
  13. 1 million-million microphones = 1 megaphone
  14. 2 million bicycles = 2 megacycles
  15. 365.25 days = 1 unicycle
  16. 2000 mockingbirds = 2 kilomockingbirds
  17. 52 cards = 1 decacards
  18. 1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 FigNewton
  19. 1000 milliliters of wet socks = 1 literhosen
  20. 1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
  21. 1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin
  22. 10 rations = 1 decoration
  23. 100 rations = 1 C-ration
  24. 2 monograms = 1 diagram
  25. 4 nickels = 2 paradigms
  26. 4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at = 1 IV League
  27. 100 Senators = NULL
Have a great Tuesday!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Day 11: En route to Puerto Vallarta

We had one sea day in between Acapulco and our next port of Puerto Vallarta. Here's the Indiana Jones-esque map:

I didn't take many pictures on the sea day, you've seen lots of pictures of the boat. I didn't even take a picture of the menus! I bet they were good tho. Steak, chicken, seafood, something memorable I'm sure.

Our special guests for this evening were Joey Fatone from N'SYNC and Alfonso Ribeiro who played Carlton on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air." They were the evening entertainment!

Joey sang "Under the Sea" and needed some help with the words. ;o)


They actually did a pretty good job, I thought Alfonso had a very good voice!


That's it for today folks! The next post will cover Puerto Vallarta, the city of iguanas, the Mexican navy, and Wal-Mart. Stay tuned at http://mynameisnotjonas.blogspot.com!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Day 10: Acapulco

20080519_121008Acapulco... a city with a mysterious name. Supposedly the Pacific coast resort town became famous because Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton came here for their honeymoon, and the rest is history. Something like that. It was a big, interesting, busy place.

We pulled into the harbor later in the morning, around 10:30-11am. My family had a city tour bus ride with the famous Acapulco cliff divers. It was pretty cool. I've been trying to work on a neat slideshow, frame by frame of the cliff divers diving off the cliff, but it is going to take waaaay too long to finish. Maybe another blog entry!

20080519_121017The city tour took us down the main drag and through Acapulco's three districts. I don't remember what they are, diamond, gold, and silver? Something like that.

We went down and drove by a really expensive area, armed guards at entrances and we couldn't really go anywhere. I got a few good shots from the bus tho.




This is a really nice looking area that we didn't get to go see. I looked very scenic, a beautiful little cove with a wonderful beach:

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We drove past this nice hotel, it was Mayan-inspired, can't you tell??

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For my good friends Jeremy and Amanda, Mexican gelato (with Internet access):

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We did see the cliff divers. If I find the inspiration, I'll make a cool animation of them jumping from the cliff. Or you can just take my word that they did it and save me the trouble!

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My grandparents ended up on a different bus somehow, I personally don't think that Jewish Mexican tour buses scare me, but I guess there's always exceptions!

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Dinner the night of Acapulco was the Mexican Riviera night, complete with Minnie's Mexican Party (or something like that) later that evening:

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I met Suzi (on the left) in the cafe one evening, and we chatted for a bit. I saw her later at the Minnie party serving drinks and posing for someone else, so I decided to snap a shot myself! I found out later, Suzi had her wisdom teeth pulled when we stopped in Cabo San Lucas. Ouch!

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We pulled out of port about 10:00pm local time, waving goodbye to the city of Acapulco.

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One interesting shot, taken on deck 10 aft, on the right is Palo (mmmmmm), with the ship's stacks and the bright moon in the distance.

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That's it for now! Our next night would feature two special guests, who all children of the early 90s will recognize. Check back soon for our special guest, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Los Angeles at http://mynameisnotjonas.blogspot.com!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Day 8-9: En Route to Acapulco


Off we go!

We had a couple of sea days. One of these featured another guest speaker, Don "Ducky" Williams. Don had a dream when he was a kid of working for Disney. In fact, when he was 10, he sent a letter to Walt himself asking if there was any openings and to keep him in mind. He actually received a polite reply from Walt explaining that they had no openings for aspiring 10 year old artists, but to keep them in mind later. Don explained that of all his collection, this was his most prized possession.

Don went into the banking business, as a teller, then a bank manager. He loved to doodle. Every Christmas, he'd put up some of his drawings in his office. This caught the attention of a local news reporter, one of his clients, who did a feature story on him.

Many people convinced him to send his work to Disney, and after much prodding, he finally did. They sat on somebody's desk for months, untouched. His contact liked his work, and asked him to send more. Every week, Don would create 100-150 works, and mail them down to Walt Disney World. He'd work his 40 hours in the banking business, then come home and draw.

Eventually, he decided he would need to move to Florida in order to work at Disney. He said he would get any job he could at the Walt Disney Company, and maybe he could work his way in. He got a job waiting tables at a nearby hotel, visiting the Disney HR group daily to ask about jobs. Finally, he found something, and it turned out to be a park caricature artist! He took the position. Instead of mailing the 100-150 works of art each week, he could hand deliver them to his contact. Finally they eliminated the caricature artists. He was looking for something else when a position opened for an artist.

The guy who he was to interview with was in the office right next to the contact he had been sending all his art to! So when they wanted to see some samples, they had about 10,000 works to check out.

Don began working on a 30-day trial position, and just kinda stayed around. He did artworks of Mickey, Donald (his favorite), Goofy, Minnie, and all the other characters. In addition, he learned how to draw portraits of Walt, and other real-type pictures. He has now been with the Walt Disney Company for over 30 years.

Don explains his story over a 60 minute session, and while telling his story draws some characters on a sketch pad. His sketches are raffled off (for free) at the end of the session. During the session, he sketched out 26 characters. I was one number away from getting one! There are some on ebay... but I don't need one that bad. :o)

Dinner was the Prince and Princess menu. The signature dessert was the glass slipper. The evening show was "Twice Charmed" which I've seen before, and I skipped.


Day 9 was so eventful that I only have pictures of the dinner menu! Looking back, I don't think I even did anything this day. Must have been nice. :o) Dinner was the Master Chef menu:


The show was new, it was called "The Art of the Story." It was really neat. I managed to snap some pictures later on deck 10. The picture on the right is the adults only area, with pool, two hot tubs, bar, and coffee shop in the back.


Thanks for stopping by at http://mynameisnotjonas.blogspot.com! I'll have more pictures and trip report from Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas before the final leg to Los Angeles!