Chris and I went to see Aerosmith and Cheap Trick at the Tweeter Center. Big surprise, huh?!? hahaha
We had a couple of the best seats in the house! Literally. We were barely 10 rows back from the main stage and right up against the runway/catwalk stage (whatever you wanna call it) that extended out into the audience from the main stage. Our seats were better than football star Doug Flutie who was about 10-15 rows behind us. :)
I took some really good pics with my camera-phone, one of which was published in the magazine Entertainment Weekly. You can see those pics I took along with pics that someone in front of us took here -- since they had a real camera, their pics are obviously much better than mine (but they didn't get any of theirs in a magazine, so there!!).
An extra cool thing about this show is that they were filming a scene for an upcoming movie that will be the sequel to the movie "Get Shorty". Since our seats were so great, I'm sure we'll be in a frame or two in the movie so I can't wait for the DVD to come out.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Bahamas, 2004
Lots of celebs on this quickie trip. James Caan has a son who is also an actor (who knew...?!?). He was staying at our hotel, in town filming a movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378109/). We saw Don Henley at the Atlantis casino. I missed it but Britney Spears was there the night before I got there as was country music guy Toby Keith. The owners of many of the Dallas sports teams were there, too (one of my buddies works for one of them and that's the reason I went on this trip).
The first day I got there, I was walking thru Senor Frog's (a bar like the Carlos N' Charlie's found in Mexico) and heard them playing pieces of some songs, followed by people shouting out the titles. After about a minute of this and hearing these Springsteen and Billy Idol riffs, I realized they were playing a "Name That Tune" game. Kewl! These people had NO idea what they were getting when I walked into the room!! Me + Classic Rock + Name That Tune? Forgettaboutit! Might as well send everyone else home. :)
Within the next 30 seconds, I quickly advanced to third place, jumped ahead to tie for first, and then held onto first for a long time. I would have won the entire contest if I didn't space out at the beginning of the last song. Unfortunately, the reason I spaced out was from consuming a little too much alcohol a little too quickly. Did I mention that the 'prize' for each correct answer was a bottle of something green poured into your mouth until it overflows? And upon correctly answering the bonus questions like "according to the song, The Heart Of Rock And Roll is located in which city?" and "how do you spell the 'Crue' in Motley Crue?", this 'prize' was doubled. Actually in the case of the last question, it was a triple shot 'prize' because the MC liked that I included the umlauts over the U. :)
I didn't go back to that place until two days later. This time was for lunch. They weren't playing any games but the MC was working the crowd to get people dancing and singing and stuff. Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" came on and the MC was walking around the room sticking the mic in front of people to have them sing "whoa, we're half-way there" from the chorus of the song. The MC walked past my table and said "hey, I remember you...you know all these songs, don't you", and then had me sing a full verse and chorus of the song. It wasn't a Karaoke thing -- there was no screen to read lyrics from -- so I got about a half bottle of that green stuff poured down my throat for this. :) I guess I must have done something right because this MC had to have seen at least several hundred people in the two days since he'd last seen me, but he remembered me right away. Like I said, they had no idea what they were getting when I walked into the joint... :)
The first day I got there, I was walking thru Senor Frog's (a bar like the Carlos N' Charlie's found in Mexico) and heard them playing pieces of some songs, followed by people shouting out the titles. After about a minute of this and hearing these Springsteen and Billy Idol riffs, I realized they were playing a "Name That Tune" game. Kewl! These people had NO idea what they were getting when I walked into the room!! Me + Classic Rock + Name That Tune? Forgettaboutit! Might as well send everyone else home. :)
Within the next 30 seconds, I quickly advanced to third place, jumped ahead to tie for first, and then held onto first for a long time. I would have won the entire contest if I didn't space out at the beginning of the last song. Unfortunately, the reason I spaced out was from consuming a little too much alcohol a little too quickly. Did I mention that the 'prize' for each correct answer was a bottle of something green poured into your mouth until it overflows? And upon correctly answering the bonus questions like "according to the song, The Heart Of Rock And Roll is located in which city?" and "how do you spell the 'Crue' in Motley Crue?", this 'prize' was doubled. Actually in the case of the last question, it was a triple shot 'prize' because the MC liked that I included the umlauts over the U. :)
I didn't go back to that place until two days later. This time was for lunch. They weren't playing any games but the MC was working the crowd to get people dancing and singing and stuff. Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" came on and the MC was walking around the room sticking the mic in front of people to have them sing "whoa, we're half-way there" from the chorus of the song. The MC walked past my table and said "hey, I remember you...you know all these songs, don't you", and then had me sing a full verse and chorus of the song. It wasn't a Karaoke thing -- there was no screen to read lyrics from -- so I got about a half bottle of that green stuff poured down my throat for this. :) I guess I must have done something right because this MC had to have seen at least several hundred people in the two days since he'd last seen me, but he remembered me right away. Like I said, they had no idea what they were getting when I walked into the joint... :)
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Monday, October 13, 2003
Italy/Sicily
See our pics here. We saw all the tourist spots around Rome such as the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, The Coliseum, and the Vatican. We also took a trip down the coast to Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento.
We then spent a week at a villa in Sicily and checked out Palermo, Agrigento, Taormina, Mount Etna, and Trecastagni where my mom found some relatives that she never knew she had before.
We then spent a week at a villa in Sicily and checked out Palermo, Agrigento, Taormina, Mount Etna, and Trecastagni where my mom found some relatives that she never knew she had before.
(do a Google search if you want to find out more about the various sights and cities listed above)
The airline flight over there was horrible! I couldn't watch the movie because the headphone plug for my seat was broken. The overhead light for my seat did not work so I couldn't even read. And because I was in one of the last rows, they had run out of all the good meals and only had fish (which I don't eat). So I got pretty whiney and pissy about all of this. I mean, on a $1000 eight hour flight, I should at least be able to eat something or watch the damn movie! Most of the flight attendants didn't seem to give a shit, which pissed me off even more. But one of them could see I was upset and kept on giving me lots of alcohol which eventually put me to sleep so I finally left them alone.
We had mixed feelings about Rome. On one hand, the architecture and artwork were absolutely stunning! In every sense of the word. But on the other hand, Rome is WAY too overcrowded and noisy and somewhat dirty. Graffiti everywhere. Lots of litter.
Our hotel in Rome wasn't in a bad part of town but it was noisy and we had trouble sleeping because we had to keep our windows open because they don't use air conditioners and there was a bar across the street that didn't even open until sometime after midnight. Oh yeah, and because the streets are so overcrowded during the day, the only time they can pick up garbage is during the overnight hours...and everyone knows how much noise garbage trucks make!
The tour group operator left a bad taste in our mouths. For one thing, they literally left me at one of the stops! The whole group took off without me! Despite my family's pleading and begging the tourguide. But the tourguide insisted that she had a schedule to keep and they had to move on. RIDICULOUS!!!! They KNOW we're tourists so what did they expect, that I could find my way back all alone?!?!? I called the tourguide's office to try to explain that I was left behind, but they didn't speak any English and I only know like maybe 10 words of Italian so that was useless. To try to make a long story short, being the smart fella that I am, I figured there would be another tour coming thru at some point. So I waited and found the next tour group and told the tourguide what happened. He couldn't believe it so he took me as part of his group. I was separated from my family for the rest of the day but at least I knew that I would eventually wind up back at the tourguide's office.
There was also an incident involving a tourguide and a restaurant they selected for us that was part of a tour to Pompeii. It was a very nasty and ugly scene. It was first-come, first-served seating and we almost didn't get seated because some assholes stole our seats and we got into a little altercation with them. We then kept getting pushed around to different seats...it seemed that every seat we tried to sit in was wrong so we were beginning to get upset. When we finally found someplace to sit, we were almost not served anything -- it seems they were extorting us and wanted us to buy a bottle of wine (the food was included with the tour but beverages were not). Apparently, since we did not want to buy their wine, they did not want us to eat. By the time we got something to eat, almost everyone else was ready for desert so when we finally did start to eat, we were rushed and the waitstaff was reluctant to serve us. And the strolling musicians started to annoy us and get in our faces when we started to eat. After all the bullshit, we didn't want anyone bothering us by this point but they took offense that we wouldn't tip them so they would play for us; we just wanted to eat in peace by now, not be forced to pay for music we did not want to begin with. I know it's too late to make a long story short but we got into fights with a lot of people there because of the way we were mistreated.
But the trip wasn't all bad. Quite the contrary, actually. We saw some of the most beautiful and amazing things. Buildings and churches that are thousands of years old but look brand new. We were at places that we've read about and heard about in history such as the Coliseum. The Vatican's ceilings have such incredible and intricate works of art that I can't possibly put into words! You should look at the pics and see for yourself, although the pics don't even come close to seeing everything in person.
Sicily was all good. We hired a driver, Rosario, who took us all over the island and to many of the hotspots and to some of the best restaurants. I think the places I enjoyed the most were Taormina, Mount Etna, and Trecastagni. Taormina has what's left of an ancient amphitheater on top of a mountain next to the ocean overlooking the coast. The views are breathtaking! I really cannot say enough about it. If you look at the pics, you can see partially crumbled walls in the foreground, different sizes of hills and mountains in the mid-ground to the west, and the coastline down below in the background. I really wish the pics can be 3D so you can get a better idea of what I am trying to say.
Mount Etna was cool because it's an active volcano. You can see steam coming up thru the cracks here and there. You can look down into old inactive craters and even the active craters if you dare. In the pics you can see a lot of black soot and ash. What you can't really tell, however, is that some of the soot and ash is piled up for dozens and dozens of feet, thus making parts of the mountain slightly taller. For example, we were able to see where an eruption a few years ago completely buried the giftshops and restaurant -- we could see the difference between the old top of this part of the mountain compared to the new top by the different shades of soot and ash. I know that probably doesn't make much sense to you but trust me: it was interesting to see it in person.
Trecastagni was really special to my mom. Both of her parents were born there and she often heard stories about it but had never been there until now. And she got to meet her father's family that she never knew about before. We had nothing except for a photocopy of my grandfather's passport but our driver, Rosario, was able to find the family anyway. He was like a bloodhound tracking a scent! We started at Town Hall and got copies of my grandparents' Birth Certificates that had old addresses. When Town Hall closed for lunch, Rosario took us
walking around a park across the street and where he asked all the old-timers if they had ever heard of my grandparents or their former addresses. He also asked the Police chief and when Town Hall reopened after lunch, we went to talk to the town doctor. The doctor made a bunch of phone calls and next thing we know, we were told "ok, come with us", and he took us to a house a short distance away. This turned out to be the home of one of my grandfather's relatives and my grandparents stayed at that house when they visited the old country in the 1960's. When the she answered the door and we showed my grandfather's old passport pic, we were greeted with open arms and "oh, Cirino...si...si...". It was truly amazing that with only an old passport photocopy, we were able to find this family. Rosario was unbelievable! A few days earlier, he had tracked down some of Rita's family, too. But that was almost easy in comparison because Rita had an old letter with an address that Rosario was able to find, way out in the middle of nowhere up in some mountains. We were pretty impressed by that but then like I said, that turned out to be almost easy compared to finding my mom's family -- he had a LOT less to work with.
Sunday, April 13, 2003
St. Louis, Hollywood, Las Vegas, and The O.C. in 2003
In the Spring of 2003, I went to St. Louis for a few days and visited some Hooters. My 50th Hooters was across the river from St. Louis in Illinois.
Several weeks later I went on a weekend trip to Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Orange County. I stayed at the infamous West Hollywood Hyatt, which is nicknamed "The Riot House" because it is where rock bands of the 70's wreaked havoc and rode motorcycles up and down the hallways. Oh yeah, and I went to more Hooters.
I have more to say about this trip and I will add that later. You can read more about Hooters or see some pics here.
Several weeks later I went on a weekend trip to Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Orange County. I stayed at the infamous West Hollywood Hyatt, which is nicknamed "The Riot House" because it is where rock bands of the 70's wreaked havoc and rode motorcycles up and down the hallways. Oh yeah, and I went to more Hooters.
I have more to say about this trip and I will add that later. You can read more about Hooters or see some pics here.
Friday, May 03, 2002
G.M.A. media-whore
ABC's Good Morning America came to Boston to broadcast live on May 3, 2002.
I guess all the times I was on TV in Boston wasn't good enough for me and I felt the need to go national? (LOL!) I dunno. But I decided to go to the show and be annoying and see how many shots I can squeeze into. This was one of them, shortly after I called my mom in Florida and told her to turn on the TiVo...
That's me in the upper left.
I guess all the times I was on TV in Boston wasn't good enough for me and I felt the need to go national? (LOL!) I dunno. But I decided to go to the show and be annoying and see how many shots I can squeeze into. This was one of them, shortly after I called my mom in Florida and told her to turn on the TiVo...
That's me in the upper left.
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
South Florida "work" hehehe
I spent considerable amounts of time both in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach from March to May of 2001. One of the coolest things to do in Lauderdale is the Water Taxi which will take you around town and drop you off wherever you want to go eat or drink or shop or whatever...all by boat. Very cool. In Miami Beach, I stayed a few blocks north of South Beach, where it's supermodels galore, and the parties and the night-clubbing do not end until 5am every day (after three weeks of that, I am almost surprised that I made it home alive).
I'll have a lot more to say about SoFLA eventually...I'm just too lazy to write about it now. In the meantime, you can see the pics.
I'll have a lot more to say about SoFLA eventually...I'm just too lazy to write about it now. In the meantime, you can see the pics.
Tuesday, February 13, 2001
New Orleans, 2001
Went to New Orleans in January/February 2001.
Stayed in the French Quarter.
Partied on Bourbon Street, where many happy-hours stretch from 11am until like midnight or so...and you can take your beer around with you from bar to bar in a to-go cup. Hadda have
Hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's.
Lunched at Emeril's restaurant, went to the Camellia Grill for breakfast, and had one of the best burgers in town at the Clover Grill.
No trip to New Orleans would be worth it without a stop at the Central Grocery and one of their Muffalettas...a sandwich that's almost as wide as a Frisbee and four times fatter, with three types of imported cheese, lots of Italian cold cuts, and a special olive salad spread...mmm...
Stayed in the French Quarter.
Partied on Bourbon Street, where many happy-hours stretch from 11am until like midnight or so...and you can take your beer around with you from bar to bar in a to-go cup. Hadda have
Hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's.
Lunched at Emeril's restaurant, went to the Camellia Grill for breakfast, and had one of the best burgers in town at the Clover Grill.
No trip to New Orleans would be worth it without a stop at the Central Grocery and one of their Muffalettas...a sandwich that's almost as wide as a Frisbee and four times fatter, with three types of imported cheese, lots of Italian cold cuts, and a special olive salad spread...mmm...
Thursday, July 13, 2000
Regis & Kathie Lee/Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
I took my mom to New York to be in the audience for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Live With Regis & Kathie Lee.
Regis is one of the coolest guys in the world! While at the taping of the Millionaire show, I told him that Mom & I wanted to see him in the morning with Kathie Lee, but we were unable to get in because it was Kathie Lee's last week and there was just too much demand. But Regis later came back to me and asked for my name and said he'd try to get us in the next day, even though it would be difficult. But it all worked out in the end and Mom & I got in the next morning. We also met Dianne Sawyer and Joe Thiesmann, both of whom are very nice people.
Kathie Lee didn't seem to like socializing much before the show. She was not pleased to sign autographs and squealed "no pictures, please" as I was taking this...
Mom on the set
Regis is one of the coolest guys in the world! While at the taping of the Millionaire show, I told him that Mom & I wanted to see him in the morning with Kathie Lee, but we were unable to get in because it was Kathie Lee's last week and there was just too much demand. But Regis later came back to me and asked for my name and said he'd try to get us in the next day, even though it would be difficult. But it all worked out in the end and Mom & I got in the next morning. We also met Dianne Sawyer and Joe Thiesmann, both of whom are very nice people.
Kathie Lee didn't seem to like socializing much before the show. She was not pleased to sign autographs and squealed "no pictures, please" as I was taking this...
Mom on the set
Wednesday, May 17, 2000
I spent most of the first five months of 2000 on the road...
...mostly in the Minneapolis and Denver areas. There was also a week in San Francisco and some time in Daytona and Orlando.
In Minneapolis...
The steak at Manny's melted in my mouth. Dessert there was a brownie sundae thing that cost $14. The waiter described how big it was so I asked him if it was enough for me and my date to share. He said it would be enough for six people to share. When it came to the table I quickly saw that he was not exaggerating too much. This thing was HUGE. It was dessert that night, as well as breakfast the next day, and lunch, and a midday snack.
Also in Minneapolis is one of my favorite places for Sunday Brunch: the Pickled Parrot. They have all the typical breakfast and lunch stuff with carving stations and omelet stations, but the coolest thing about this place is the make-your-own-Bloody-Mary-bar! They give you the vodka and you do the rest. They have all kinds of mixers and ingredients and since you make it yourself, you can be as adventurous as you want.
No trip to the Twin Cities area would be complete without a visit to the Mall Of America, the largest mall in the USA. This place is enormous! If you spent 10 minutes in each of the shops, it would take more than four days to do everything.
In the Denver area...
I tried Rocky Mountain Oysters for the first (and last!) time. I had NO idea what they were!! (no, they are NOT seafood and no, they do NOT taste like chicken, and I have no desire to eat them again). I was told that they are a local delicacy, but my friend would not tell me exactly what they were until it was too late.
I went on several road trips while based in the Denver area. We drove up to Nebraska and Wyoming, went out to the real neighborhood of South Park, and in a 19 hour day I drove out to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. There is a monument where Arizona and New Mexico and Utah all meet with Colorado, so you can literally be in all four states at one time. This whole drive was very pretty and scenic.
I went to the world's largest hot spring water pool in Colorado's Rockies. Millions of gallons of this spring water comes out of the ground at 122°F and they chill it down to 90-something for use in the pool. On the way back home from there, we stopped off and had a pizza at Beau-Jo's. Bring your appetite when you go there because their specialties include a five-pound pizza. But that pales in comparison to their "Challenge", which is 12-to-14 pounds! If two people order the "Challenge" and eat it in one hour, they get the pizza for free, $100, and a T-shirt.
You can see pics here.
In Minneapolis...
The steak at Manny's melted in my mouth. Dessert there was a brownie sundae thing that cost $14. The waiter described how big it was so I asked him if it was enough for me and my date to share. He said it would be enough for six people to share. When it came to the table I quickly saw that he was not exaggerating too much. This thing was HUGE. It was dessert that night, as well as breakfast the next day, and lunch, and a midday snack.
Also in Minneapolis is one of my favorite places for Sunday Brunch: the Pickled Parrot. They have all the typical breakfast and lunch stuff with carving stations and omelet stations, but the coolest thing about this place is the make-your-own-Bloody-Mary-bar! They give you the vodka and you do the rest. They have all kinds of mixers and ingredients and since you make it yourself, you can be as adventurous as you want.
No trip to the Twin Cities area would be complete without a visit to the Mall Of America, the largest mall in the USA. This place is enormous! If you spent 10 minutes in each of the shops, it would take more than four days to do everything.
In the Denver area...
I tried Rocky Mountain Oysters for the first (and last!) time. I had NO idea what they were!! (no, they are NOT seafood and no, they do NOT taste like chicken, and I have no desire to eat them again). I was told that they are a local delicacy, but my friend would not tell me exactly what they were until it was too late.
I went on several road trips while based in the Denver area. We drove up to Nebraska and Wyoming, went out to the real neighborhood of South Park, and in a 19 hour day I drove out to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. There is a monument where Arizona and New Mexico and Utah all meet with Colorado, so you can literally be in all four states at one time. This whole drive was very pretty and scenic.
I went to the world's largest hot spring water pool in Colorado's Rockies. Millions of gallons of this spring water comes out of the ground at 122°F and they chill it down to 90-something for use in the pool. On the way back home from there, we stopped off and had a pizza at Beau-Jo's. Bring your appetite when you go there because their specialties include a five-pound pizza. But that pales in comparison to their "Challenge", which is 12-to-14 pounds! If two people order the "Challenge" and eat it in one hour, they get the pizza for free, $100, and a T-shirt.
You can see pics here.
Saturday, May 22, 1999
David Letterman
On May 21, 1999, the Late Show with David Letterman featured an audience entirely from Boston. Audience members were mostly radio station contest winners. However, I had an idea...
I called the Late Show office the day of the show and asked if they had any standby or standing room tickets available. They said there may possibly be two openings but they wouldn't know for sure until later on -- just before show time. Perfect...that's all I needed to hear! So I called Chris with my whacky idea, we met at Logan airport, and took a shuttle flight down to NYC.
After a brief stop at Hooters in Manhattan (of course!), we made our way to the Ed Sullivan theater building. Courtney Love and her band, Hole, had just taped a show earlier that day so they were still hanging around. The bass player, Melissa Auf der Maur, was roaming around on the street while Courtney was hanging out of one of the windows of the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Chris saw Courtney up in the window and yelled, "Courtney, show us your boobs!". No such luck but she poured water down onto the crowd below instead.
Then out of nowhere we heard something like, "ok, who is showing their boobs?". We turned around and saw it was former WBCN DJ, Mark Parenteau. I hadn't seen him in several years so I was kinda surprised he recognized me on the street. While we were wandering around outside with Mark, we saw Biff Henderson and since it an all-Boston audience, the Mayor of Boston and a bunch of Boston's TV and radio people were there.
Among the media people was my old boss Charles Laquidara, who was a DJ in Boston for 30 years. It was Charles who made sure Chris and I got in to see the show -- he talked to a some people who talked to other people. They literally set up a few folding chairs for us way in the back of the balcony, but that was fine with us because at least we were inside and part of an historic broadcast featuring the J. Geils Band who reunited for the first time in years!
That's me, sitting in the audience.
There are pics on Charles' website, bigmattress.com.
I called the Late Show office the day of the show and asked if they had any standby or standing room tickets available. They said there may possibly be two openings but they wouldn't know for sure until later on -- just before show time. Perfect...that's all I needed to hear! So I called Chris with my whacky idea, we met at Logan airport, and took a shuttle flight down to NYC.
After a brief stop at Hooters in Manhattan (of course!), we made our way to the Ed Sullivan theater building. Courtney Love and her band, Hole, had just taped a show earlier that day so they were still hanging around. The bass player, Melissa Auf der Maur, was roaming around on the street while Courtney was hanging out of one of the windows of the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Chris saw Courtney up in the window and yelled, "Courtney, show us your boobs!". No such luck but she poured water down onto the crowd below instead.
Then out of nowhere we heard something like, "ok, who is showing their boobs?". We turned around and saw it was former WBCN DJ, Mark Parenteau. I hadn't seen him in several years so I was kinda surprised he recognized me on the street. While we were wandering around outside with Mark, we saw Biff Henderson and since it an all-Boston audience, the Mayor of Boston and a bunch of Boston's TV and radio people were there.
Among the media people was my old boss Charles Laquidara, who was a DJ in Boston for 30 years. It was Charles who made sure Chris and I got in to see the show -- he talked to a some people who talked to other people. They literally set up a few folding chairs for us way in the back of the balcony, but that was fine with us because at least we were inside and part of an historic broadcast featuring the J. Geils Band who reunited for the first time in years!
That's me, sitting in the audience.
There are pics on Charles' website, bigmattress.com.
Monday, February 01, 1999
Dallas
In January, 1999 I went to visit my buddy Rob-the-pilot in Dallas.
He showed me the jet he pilots...WAY cool and very impressive! I'm not talking about some small puddle-jumper type of thing -- this is the real deal!
We went to the spot where JFK was shot. The area looks the same as we've seen it in all the old news footage with the infamous book depository building and grassy knoll in the background. They have a red X on the ground where it happened and he took a pic of me standing on that X, but it's a little too eerie for me to look at now because I was standing RIGHT ON the spot where it happened with all the background scenery intact.
We also took a drive out to the Southfork Ranch which is where J.R. and the Ewing family lived in the TV show Dallas.
Here are some pics of the jet and stuff...
He showed me the jet he pilots...WAY cool and very impressive! I'm not talking about some small puddle-jumper type of thing -- this is the real deal!
We went to the spot where JFK was shot. The area looks the same as we've seen it in all the old news footage with the infamous book depository building and grassy knoll in the background. They have a red X on the ground where it happened and he took a pic of me standing on that X, but it's a little too eerie for me to look at now because I was standing RIGHT ON the spot where it happened with all the background scenery intact.
We also took a drive out to the Southfork Ranch which is where J.R. and the Ewing family lived in the TV show Dallas.
Here are some pics of the jet and stuff...
Wednesday, April 23, 1997
1997 Cruise
We flew from Orlando to Montego Bay on Air Jamaica…a VERY nice airline. Very efficient and well run. Nice wide-body jets with complimentary champagne and as much rum-punch as you want (yee-hah!). I had never heard of Air Jamaica before so I didn’t know what to expect. I had visions of sitting on milk crates in a propeller plane with a dread-locked pilot saying “In the event of an emergency water landing? No problem, mon”. But that was not the case at all. The airport in Jamaica was atrocious, however, and we had to stand in line for close to two hours in order to clear Jamaican Immigrations. On the ride from the airport, we passed by some very disgusting parts of town. The phrase “God-forsaken country” pretty much sums it up. The beaches were really nice, but get away from the tourist areas and it is total sleaze and disgust.
Cartegena, Columbia was similar. The “new city” with the beaches and skyscrapers is nice, but go inland towards the historical or residential areas and it’s run-down dilapidated houses, if you can even call them that. Most of them are shacks that don’t even have four walls and ceilings sometimes, but the locals seem content to live there like that.
The Panama Canal truly is an engineering marvel. It takes a few hours just to cross the first set of locks, but it is very interesting and that time flies by. Watching the locomotives along sides of the canal pull ships through to the next lock was fascinating. Seeing the doors to the locks open in front of us, close behind us, and then fill up with water and rise us about 20-30 feet in a matter of a few minutes is amazing. They make about a million dollars a day there. It costs an average cruise ship about $30,000 to use the canal, and tankers and freighters are significantly more expensive. The tolls are based on tonnage, with the lowest toll charged being 36-cents for someone who swam through the canal decades ago. It takes about eight to ten hours for ships to go the full 50 miles of the canal. Despite that time and the cost, it is definitely a better alternative to sailing the full 4000-something miles across South America to get to the other side.
Off the coast of Panama, we visited a group of hundreds of islands ranging in size from barely big enough to have a grass hut, to a few miles big. The main island in that group has a small but popular air strip as well as an open field where the natives peddle their hand-crafts and wares to the rich Americans who visit. We went island-hopping from there for a few hours. I didn’t know that we were going to go in the OCEAN with a canoe!! I was so petrified at first! I’m talking deep choppy Caribbean Ocean, probably shark-infested, in a canoe made from a hollowed-out tree!! Oh, and NO life-jackets!! The natives piloting the canoe spoke no English and not even any of the high school Spanish that I butchered the whole trip. They were walking around the canoe like it was nothing, but I was scared beyond belief working our way through the choppy waves of VERY deep ocean water without a life jacket. “Please sit the hell down” and “stop rocking the boat!!!” don’t mean anything to them. It wound up being cool though, once I got past that initial fear. All those tiny little islands, some of them just being oversized sand-bars…just like how you see it in the movies. And the grass and straw huts were very Gilligan’s Island-ish. Oh yeah, these island natives are not very sanitary by our standards. Their bathroom facilities are outhouses at the end of docks, over the ocean. You look down and you see sea. But that’s just mostly for show, though, because they don’t use outhouses themselves. Instead, they take a walk out in to the ocean and do their business the natural way. It’s a good thing the currents are pretty strong there.
We went on another boat ride in Costa Rica, but this was a 24-foot cruising boat that took us through rivers and canals through jungles and rainforests. Yes, it certainly does rain in those rainforests, and this is their dry season! We saw many different birds including toucans and parrots and other exotics like that. We also saw lots of monkeys and other jungle inhabitants, and we even saw real vampire bats! They REALLY draw blood from their prey’s necks and earlobes and fingers. And they do like humans. Thankfully, they sleep during the day so they weren’t bothering us at all.
Back on dry land, we went through banana and cocoa plantations. The cocoa plant is not at all what I would have expected. The cocoa grows in a large pod. In that pod, there are dozens of smaller pods that are white and slimy. You can eat them. The slimy outside is very sweet and tasty. If you bite into that, you get a purple colored raw cocoa, which is rather bitter and bad tasting. Cocoa needs to be dried and roasted before it can really be used (just as coffee).
In between all that, I participated in many activities on the cruise ship and won rounds of "Match Game" and "Liar’s Club". I especially kicked ass in "Name That Tune". I had 15 out of 20 correct the first night, 18 out of 20 right next time, and I won the final rounds, becoming the big winner of the week and winning a nice bottle of champagne to supplement the t-shirts, beach towels, decks of cards, and other assorted goodies that I won along the way.
Oh, and I also performed in a play. I was a butler to a rich old lady who found out her husband was two-timing and even three-timing on her. To make a long story short, she invites her husband and his "harem" over to dinner and tells them she is going to leave the country to start a new life and is leaving her husband and the women to fight it out with each other. She pours them all a glass of wine and wishes them a happy life together. They all died. Arsenic. She then calls me into the room. I see they’re all dead, and she kisses me and picks up a suitcase and the two of us take off for Nicaragua together. It was pretty funny.
After that trip, I spent some time in Daytona. Bike-Week was just winding down so it was very busy and the whole area was swarming with $20-30,000 Harleys and scantily clad people. From there, it was back to the airport for a flight to Savannah, GA via Atlanta. The shortest jet ride I have ever been on was from Augusta, GA to Savannah…17 minutes. Needless to say, no beverage service on that flight. An old friend picked me up at the airport and we drove from his house in South Carolina all the way up back to Boston. Apart from a brief stop to say hi to my buddy in Virginia, we drove the full 19-20 hours almost continuously.
A pretty good time on the trip but I’ll tell you what though: if I hear that damn Macarena song one more time, someone is going to get hurt!
Cartegena, Columbia was similar. The “new city” with the beaches and skyscrapers is nice, but go inland towards the historical or residential areas and it’s run-down dilapidated houses, if you can even call them that. Most of them are shacks that don’t even have four walls and ceilings sometimes, but the locals seem content to live there like that.
The Panama Canal truly is an engineering marvel. It takes a few hours just to cross the first set of locks, but it is very interesting and that time flies by. Watching the locomotives along sides of the canal pull ships through to the next lock was fascinating. Seeing the doors to the locks open in front of us, close behind us, and then fill up with water and rise us about 20-30 feet in a matter of a few minutes is amazing. They make about a million dollars a day there. It costs an average cruise ship about $30,000 to use the canal, and tankers and freighters are significantly more expensive. The tolls are based on tonnage, with the lowest toll charged being 36-cents for someone who swam through the canal decades ago. It takes about eight to ten hours for ships to go the full 50 miles of the canal. Despite that time and the cost, it is definitely a better alternative to sailing the full 4000-something miles across South America to get to the other side.
Off the coast of Panama, we visited a group of hundreds of islands ranging in size from barely big enough to have a grass hut, to a few miles big. The main island in that group has a small but popular air strip as well as an open field where the natives peddle their hand-crafts and wares to the rich Americans who visit. We went island-hopping from there for a few hours. I didn’t know that we were going to go in the OCEAN with a canoe!! I was so petrified at first! I’m talking deep choppy Caribbean Ocean, probably shark-infested, in a canoe made from a hollowed-out tree!! Oh, and NO life-jackets!! The natives piloting the canoe spoke no English and not even any of the high school Spanish that I butchered the whole trip. They were walking around the canoe like it was nothing, but I was scared beyond belief working our way through the choppy waves of VERY deep ocean water without a life jacket. “Please sit the hell down” and “stop rocking the boat!!!” don’t mean anything to them. It wound up being cool though, once I got past that initial fear. All those tiny little islands, some of them just being oversized sand-bars…just like how you see it in the movies. And the grass and straw huts were very Gilligan’s Island-ish. Oh yeah, these island natives are not very sanitary by our standards. Their bathroom facilities are outhouses at the end of docks, over the ocean. You look down and you see sea. But that’s just mostly for show, though, because they don’t use outhouses themselves. Instead, they take a walk out in to the ocean and do their business the natural way. It’s a good thing the currents are pretty strong there.
We went on another boat ride in Costa Rica, but this was a 24-foot cruising boat that took us through rivers and canals through jungles and rainforests. Yes, it certainly does rain in those rainforests, and this is their dry season! We saw many different birds including toucans and parrots and other exotics like that. We also saw lots of monkeys and other jungle inhabitants, and we even saw real vampire bats! They REALLY draw blood from their prey’s necks and earlobes and fingers. And they do like humans. Thankfully, they sleep during the day so they weren’t bothering us at all.
Back on dry land, we went through banana and cocoa plantations. The cocoa plant is not at all what I would have expected. The cocoa grows in a large pod. In that pod, there are dozens of smaller pods that are white and slimy. You can eat them. The slimy outside is very sweet and tasty. If you bite into that, you get a purple colored raw cocoa, which is rather bitter and bad tasting. Cocoa needs to be dried and roasted before it can really be used (just as coffee).
In between all that, I participated in many activities on the cruise ship and won rounds of "Match Game" and "Liar’s Club". I especially kicked ass in "Name That Tune". I had 15 out of 20 correct the first night, 18 out of 20 right next time, and I won the final rounds, becoming the big winner of the week and winning a nice bottle of champagne to supplement the t-shirts, beach towels, decks of cards, and other assorted goodies that I won along the way.
Oh, and I also performed in a play. I was a butler to a rich old lady who found out her husband was two-timing and even three-timing on her. To make a long story short, she invites her husband and his "harem" over to dinner and tells them she is going to leave the country to start a new life and is leaving her husband and the women to fight it out with each other. She pours them all a glass of wine and wishes them a happy life together. They all died. Arsenic. She then calls me into the room. I see they’re all dead, and she kisses me and picks up a suitcase and the two of us take off for Nicaragua together. It was pretty funny.
After that trip, I spent some time in Daytona. Bike-Week was just winding down so it was very busy and the whole area was swarming with $20-30,000 Harleys and scantily clad people. From there, it was back to the airport for a flight to Savannah, GA via Atlanta. The shortest jet ride I have ever been on was from Augusta, GA to Savannah…17 minutes. Needless to say, no beverage service on that flight. An old friend picked me up at the airport and we drove from his house in South Carolina all the way up back to Boston. Apart from a brief stop to say hi to my buddy in Virginia, we drove the full 19-20 hours almost continuously.
A pretty good time on the trip but I’ll tell you what though: if I hear that damn Macarena song one more time, someone is going to get hurt!
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