Going to the lands down under!

I have been planning this trip for a long time. As of Friday, March 7th I will be on my way to Australia and New Zealand for a 6 week experience of a lifetime. I'm not taking a laptop, so I'm going to pretty much be out of touch for the duration of the trip until my return around April 23rd. This trip will involve 3 days of diving off a liveaboard out of Cairns, hitting the Milford and Routeburn tracks (two of the highest rated hikes in the world), bungee jumping from a 400' platform, river surfing, mountain biking, glacier hiking, kayaking a lake with mile high mountains on either side, and whatever else I can fit in.

Here is my schedule for those that care:

Los Angeles, CA - Mar 7-8
Due to international dateline, March 9 2008 does not exist for me as I take off at 8pm from LAX on March 8th and land at 8AM March 10th in Sydney.

Australia

• Sydney - Mar 10-12
• Hash bus tour out of Brisbane - Mar 12-20
• Gold Coast - Mar 13
• Currumbin, Minjungbal - Mar 14
• Byron Bay - Mar 15
• Mount Warning hike - Mar 16
• Night Cap National Park, Minyon falls - Mar 17
• Byron Bay - Mar 18
• Brisbane area - Mar 19-20
• Perth (Interhash 2008) - Mar 20 - 24
• Diving on the liveaboard Taka on the Great Barrier Reef out of Cairns) - Mar 25 - 28
• Cairns - Mar 29

New Zealand

• Christchurch to Te Anua Downs - Mar 29 - Apr 2
• Milford Track - Apr 2 - 5
• Milford Sound - Apr 5 - 7
• Routeburn track - Apr 8 - 11
• Traveling south island (maybe north island?) - Apr 11 - 23rd

LA, CA - April 23
Back to Tampa - April 24

If there is anything important, then send it to my Gmail account and I'll try to check it whenever I get near an Internet cafe or couchsurf. I'll be sure to try a Vegemite sandwich and see what that darn song really meant by it. It has been bugging me since the 80s, so now I can find out.

On - On

Life gets a lot more interesting when you use a cattle prod.

Both my roommate and my girlfriend each have a dog, so one of the top projects on my list these days was to get a fence built in the back yard to make it easier to let the dogs play outside. Most of my backyard is uneven terrain, so putting in a fence around most of it would be very labor and time intensive. I settled on a 20' x 30' of fairly even area directly behind the house that gives them plenty of room as well as being out of view.

Though it took more time than I thought when working on it a bit at a time, I finally finished this afternoon. When I started conceiving the project, I knew I wanted to put in some kind of doggie door to enable the dogs to go in and out whenever they need so we wouldn't have to always let them out. The problem was that my screened back porch is about 4-5 feet off of the ground whereas my old home with the egress door for my old dog Kinda was pretty much ground level. After playing with some ideas, I finally decided to build on an extra platform with a ramp that looks like a cattle chute to the fenced area. Both Kristen and my roommate helped when I need someone to steady something, hold something in place, or bring out a cool lemonade!

Before putting in the doggie door. I had to take out the screen, add in a support bar, and then do the installation. This picture was taken before I built the platform and ramp.

Pictures of the finished product! With this the dogs, once they learn how to use the door, can go in and out as they please!

Inside shot with the completed door.

Can't a werewolf simply AVOID the moon by staying inside and watching TV?!

I went outside tonight to enjoy the cool weather and watch the lunar eclipse for a while. One thing that sucks about the Earth's rotation is that it is darn inconsiderate of my needs. Ever time I set up the shot on the tripod with my 300mm lens and 1.4 multiplier so I could take a series of shots, the darn thing would move out of frame in about 5-10 minutes. Darn celestial bodies! I only watched the first half for a couple of hours before turning in as I figured it the second half would be pretty much the same, except in reverse.

Disney's Law - Children under 12 must be accompanied by money.

After hitting the Orlando RDR, Kristen and I took in EPCOT at Disney World for a day as a means to relax for a bit. It was relatively peaceful there with few lines and we had a pretty good time taking in the World Showcase and other attractions.

Claustrophobia: fear of white-bearded men in red suits.

After having a good time at the Tampa Red Dress Run last weekend, we decided to head to the Orlando event so I can see some of the folks I'll be missing from Run-A-Muck this year when I'll be in Australia/ New Zealand. Since we picked up passes a couple of weeks ago, Kristen and I decided to stay at her family's condo in Kissimmee so we could hit Disney the next day. We dropped off her dog and headed to the downtown area to the first bar. We drove around for a short bit and found a metered spot that was just a block away from start. It was nice to see some of the old friends (Peterphile, Lunar, Skinamax, et al). The trail was nice as it even had a pretty significant turkey/eagle split that had the eagles running (in high heels, bare feet, or hooker boots mind you) for at least two miles! We went around the park with the big pond and fountain and got a lot (as usual) of strange looks and questions of 'what kind of event is this?'.

On Sunday we headed to Epcot for the day and went around the World Showcase. Instead of going through the front entrance, we parked at Downtown Disney and took a bus to the Swam and Dolphin hotel where we caught one of the water taxis to the back entrance typically only used by hotel guests. While it didn't save any time, it was something different and enjoyable. The rest of the park was enjoyable, as usual and we hit most of the showcased countries and even made it as far forward as 'The Living Seas', but skipped Spaceship Earth and the other rides since it was getting late in the day.

On the way back my front tire literally blew apart. I pulled over to change it, only to find the spare nearly as flat. I slowly made my way to the next exit and just as I was pulling into the pump, the tire was coming off the rim. We called AAA, however I had a bright idea and rejacked up the truck so the weight was off the tire. Now that the tire could stretch out, it would now seal against the rim and hold air. We canceled the tow and cruised home, totally exhausted and worn out, but it was a fun weekend.

My Orlando RDR 2008 pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mblitch/OrlandoRDR2008

Never waste a fair fight on your inferior.

Tis' the season for Elephant Ears, fo' teeth carnies, and bright flashy things. That's right; it is time for the annual Florida State Fair. Kristen took off a half day, so we decide to take advantage of the time by hitting the state fair. Last year I got to see Reel Big fish, but there was nothing on the bill this year in which I was interested. I had wanted to submit one of my photographs for the exhibit and even registered in December, but I had so much going on that I forgot to take in my work until after the submission deadline had already passed.

We walked around Cracker Country for a while and the various exhibits, including the animal feeding area. Apparently animals are known to nibble on the fingers that may feed it, so fortunately I figured a way to avoid that issue. After putzing around until it got dark, we headed for the mid-way. Part of getting old is not be able to enjoy, or maybe tolerate, the rides as much any more. :( Also, the prices for the 'armband day' keeps getting higher and higher with it costing at least $25 this year. Since we're both into photography, we decided to play around with the cameras for a while. I've been wanting to get some light trail shots for a while and brought the tripod just to try to get a few decent shots with slow shutter speeds.

Ever since attending the Coastal Carolina Fair in Charleston when I was young, only the big yellow slide has always remained a constant, so I'm determined that each year I attend I take a ride one an old burlap sack. It cost me $6 for the tickets for the two of us to go down the slide (I gave the left over tickets to some random mom with kids in tow); however one just cannot put a price on good nostalgia.

Remember when Potato had an 'E' and we had lower taxes?

Here is a rant I shared with a certain someone a few weeks ago in all humor;

"Don't forget it is also plant day of death. Is it strange on one national day (i.e. Arbor Day) we recognize the importance of planting things and on another day millions of dollars are spent to kill them only to watch them die over the next week? Roses only last like a couple weeks and that's if you leave them in water and then they really only exist to be pretty. So that is like saying "My love for you is transitory and based solely on your appearance".

But a potato! Potatoes last for frigging ever, man. In fact, not only will they not rot, they actually grow stuff even if you just leave them in the sack. That part alone makes it a good symbol! But there is more! There are so many ways to enjoy a potato, mashed, crinkle cut, waffle cut, baked, etc! You can even make a battery with the damn thing and that's like saying "I have many ways in which I show my love for you". Potatoes may be ugly, but they're still awesome so that's like saying 'it doesn't matter at all what you look like, I'll still love you'."

I awoke this morning to a bouquet of potatoes on the kitchen counter. That's right, a literal bouquet of potatoes.

Boys, eat your heart out.

I don't eat red meat anymore. I cook it until it's brown.

This weekend was the Tampa Red Dress Run. Most of us were feeling sickly over the past week, so I wasn't sure if we would be able to make it. Since we had a lot of out-of-towners coming in, I wanted to go, so we finally disinfected ourself and took off. We had about 80 people this year and the organizers hired a bus to take us around to the various bars, strip joints, and clubs that we'd be attending. There was plenty of beer, pizza, and friends around to have a good time.


My Tampa RDR 2008 pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/mblitch/TBH3RedDressRun2008
ICP's Tampa RDR 2008 Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JonBojar/2008TBH3RedDress

Job available in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel

I just got back from another great trip to the Southwest. I went to the El Paso 'Tex-Mex' Hash weekend and had a great time. We went go-karting, hashing every day, and lots of game, partying, and drinking. The Mexico trail was fun with a good A-B trip hitting several bars. The A-Hole trail Sunday was a 20 miler (or so) that included a gondola ride to the top of one of the mountains.

After that weekend, I headed off for some hiking and went to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad caverns National Park, White Sands National Monument, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Ft. Bowie National Historic Site, and Chiricahua National Monument.

Mexico's greatest export: Their population

tried to visit the Chamizal National Monument on the border, however it seems that the visitor center is actually closed on Mondays, so unfortunately I missed out in getting my NPS stamp. I ended up just grabbing breakfast and finding an open access point to catch up on E-mail and web browsing before I had to get to the airport since I wouldn't have enough time to get back across the border even if I was interested in in going back to Mexico. Besides, I had something better I wanted to see waiting back in Tampa. This is going to be a great year I think.