...... ON MY WAY

Whoo - hoo! On the way today. Time to go find a new beach. And with any luck, tomorrow morning - I'll have the above for a view. Unfortunately, I'm way too busy this morning to get excited about it. (or pack) But very soon I'll get all the TO-DO-LIST stuff out of the way - and I'll be there.

If you want to see where I'm going (and my fortnight friend too) - you can check it out here. Looks like a pretty awesome place I think.

So I'm going to try and do something a little differently with the blog this time while I'm away. And I can only do this because this isn't the first time to where I'm going on this trip. I'm going to try and use the scheduler thingy that Blogger's got. So each day while I'm away I'm going to hopefully do a post (guessing of course) of where I'm at. And we'll just have to wait and see if it all works out - when I get back.

........ and I was informed last night by my informant - that I'd better make a mention about the sour cream. No you don't just put the cream out on the counter over night (com'mon tell the truth - did you try it?) and wait for it to go off. No, that's not quite it - there's a little more to it than that.

TODAY: Clear-up all the THINGS-TO-DO, pack a suit case and get on a plane and get outta here. To bad the other Me couldn't come too. (darn job)

Time to Go!

THE HALF-WAY POINT

Half way through the week again. Well. I guess now that really depends on when you started counting it and when your week actually ends. Hmm?

So I'm wondering this morning what the correlation between banana trees and snakes is. Please somebody help me out with this cause there's a banana tree behind my house. (Everything seems to happen behind the house - including thunder and lightning and the afternoon naps the gardeners take.) And rumor has it - in our compound there's been many sightings of snakes. @#%!

Yesterday sure blew by. And sorry about my lack of effort with putting something of value into that post yesterday. Pretty darn lazy of me I guess. It happens. Not sure what's happening these days but having an inner battle with ambition versus the Blog. A Blog Block perhaps - or maybe I'm just too busy thinking about other stuff.

Like all the end of the month stuff I need to do (like fast) and some other projects I need to get finished for next month. One really, really big project - that will take all of next month to do. (why do I agree to this stuff?) Maybe this will be the last time - almost time to move on after that.

And get organized and packed. For the trip I'm about to take. Tomorrow night in fact - out of here and on my way. Will update you all tomorrow about that.

TODAY: Eat fruit and make a packing list (get a plan), straighten out the desk (notice I didn't say clean-up this time - I'm actually on a roll with that), bug some people that didn't do the stuff they said they'd do (@#%!), a tiny bit of a shopping trip and the ATM too, try and stay out the sun (cause it's really fricking hot), send some emails I been neglecting to do, and work on (maybe finish) a job that I need to do for the end of the month (that's like tomorrow in fact).

Ok, gotta run - thanks for reading everyone.

Good to Go!

NOT EVEN CLOSE TO MORNING

Oh oh. So, the day is gone. I started this post about twelve hours ago. But, before I knew it - whole day gone ..........

............ and now, my creative juices are dried up for the day. And no, that's not my fancy work in the flower pot. What can I say?

Here's something you should all check out. The King of Kings. Very cool - well worth a look. (and make sure you click on the little squares too.)

More tomorrow.

Go to Go!

FEELS LIKE MONDAY

Feels like Monday all over again. Snuck up on me and now here it is.

Thank you for inventing the Internet. (and the backpack) Although we're still having all kinds of issues with it (the usual ones - like it doesn't work most of the time), it's still number 1. And because of that I got to do the face to face Skype thing with one of my favorite sons (and some other special people too) - now if I could just do that with the other favorite one.

Note: The backpack. Ever noticed how almost everyone in the world has one?

So Me and the other Me had a really nice weekend (together). Spent more than 24 hours together in the same house. (been awhile since we got to do that) Nice. Quite likely a quiet precursor of what's to come. Busy days ahead, comings and goings for both of us - unfortunately though, not the same time or the same place.

How the weekend went. (not necessarily in any order)

:: Fed the cat.
:: Started a new book. (starts with Dear Mr. Premier - so far a good book)
:: Fell in love with the Apple TV and listened to music all afternoon.
:: Went to a Farewell Party.
:: Found out there's going to be another Farewell Party here real soon, and another one.
:: Drank too much wine. (again) (and, by now you'd think I'd know better than that)
:: Sprayed for ants. (again)
:: Booked a hotel room. (and confirmed)
:: Picked up plane tickets.
:: Listened to my favorite hockey team loose a Playoff Game over the Internet. (sad, sad, sad - so sad)
:: Crawled into bed and watched a movie in the middle of the afternoon. (enjoyed that)
:: And had an nap. (enjoyed that too)
:: Fed the cat. (again)
:: Ate too many perogies. (yes, I can cook)
:: Invented sour cream. (not really) (but I'd like to think I did - at least now I know how it's done, so simple in fact)
:: Watched F1. (and yet again J. Button is #1)
:: Fed the cat. (fat cat)

Ah, the ducks - at Manggar Beach. You can rent them. Like that's going to save your life out in the sea. I think NOT. But I bet their a whole lot of fun. I'd love to see them all out in the water together - all 30+ of them.

TODAY: Given that I pretty much did whatever I liked over the weekend - my Monday is now stacked up with a whole bunch of stuff I need to do (note, not want to). And with any luck, today I might even get my hair done.

Ok, gotta run.

Good to Go!

BIG MAC

Ok, so having some serious Internet issues here today. Off and on, and slow and starting and stopping and all that other stuff. Makes a person sooooo frustrated - can't believe I haven't just given up and quit. No idea what time or day I will actually get to post this but.....

So anyways, about the Samarinda trip; ah, every once in while a person needs to laugh at one self a little bit. Doh. Honest - we didn't know half of Samarinda was in the midst of a week long flood. (Regardless of a little, little article in the Jakarta Post all about that.) Guess we should have paid a bit closer attention to that. Ooops. Next time I guess.

Oh well, despite getting turned back a few times - the trip still worked out quite alright. We didn't get to the Museum we thought we'd go to or the Matahari Mall. (Under a meter of water we were told and the roads are impassable too.) But we did do some shopping, and McDonalds for lunch. Checked out the turtle eggs for sale along the road and saw the biggest I've ever seen mosque. Mesjid Raya Darussalam. Beautiful building in fact. Brand new I think. Not too sure about this, but my guide book talks about a mosque in Samarinda being the largest in all of Southeast Asia - but I'm really not certain whether or not this is it.


So imagine having your first BIG MAC. Good old McDonalds. Back home in North America, I don't even actually like the stuff. However, when it's not readily available to you - all of a sudden it rockets itself to the top of the food chain list. So anyways, turns out my driver has never been to a McDonalds before. (In his whole life.) First time for everything I guess.

So when it came our turn to order, he didn't know what to have. He does not ever eat chicken (?) - so that was totally off the list. Note: The Golden Arches do serve chicken and rice here. (And that does make sense.)

"Do you like burgers?"
"Yes."
"What kind do you like?"
"Hmmm, maybe you pick"
"Do you like cheese?"
"Yes."

So we got him a BIG MAC. And it was worth every single cent (rupiah) to see the look on his face when it was put in front of him and he saw the size of it.

"Sorry Mrs. Me not hungry yet"

Bless him - I think my friend said. So in the end he did take-away and that was a big surprise for him too. That BIG MAC made the trip all the way back to Balikpapan with him. And later that night, he shared it with his wife and his kids. Nothing like a cold BIG MAC.

TODAY: Suns out. Enjoy the the day. Happy weekend!

Good to Go!

FRIDAY RECAP

AWESOME! Ok, so where do I begin? This might end up being a little bit longer than the norm post. Need to do a bit of a recap I think.

The Crocodile Field Trip on Wednesday with the English Class - what a blast. I'm hoping if they do that again - they'll invite me back. What a great bunch. I must point out - I was invited along so the students would have an English as a first language person to practice with. And they did a great job of it too.


This was not my first trip to the Crocodile Farm - in fact I've been there quite a number of times - but it has been awhile. Note: This is a FARM and not a ZOO. Yes, there are a whole lot of crocodiles there - quite likely a thousand perhaps (maybe more). Big ones, VERY VERY BIG ones, medium to large ones - little ones (babies) and a whole bunch of sizes in between. I should also add there are a number of species there too. And if you so choose ......... they have crocodile meat (satay) to try too.

We didn't just see crocodiles there either. There's a few other things you can can see and do there too. There's monkeys, turtles, a pair of elephants (that offer rides on the weekends) and another weird looking thing that reminds me of a badge, but most impressive to me and the scariest - the snakes. Definitely the snakes - boa constrictors. The little snakes in the top photo are actually 2 baby ones that were found in someone's house. (Special Note: I am completely horrified of snakes.)

Oh yeah, and about the soccer (football) on the right. Well after all that, we ended up at the Pantai Manggar for a bit of football on the beach and fresh coconut drinks. Great fun everyone - Thanks for asking me.

And about Samarinda, now that's a whole 'nother story. But, enough for this post. Let's just say it was a long one. Will write about that next post. (Have some good photos too.)

TODAY: What can I say? It's Friday! And the usual pre-weekend stuff. Most importantly though - off to pick up plane tickets for next week.

Good to Go!

.....LATER

YESTERDAY: The Crocodile Farm. More later about that.

TODAY: Off to Samarinda. Gotta Go.

Good to Go!