Ahhh, a red snapper. Very tasty.

There's a very nice sushi place here in Dallas called Sushi Sake. We went there last night, and I ordered the Aji sashimi (it's actually a Mackerel, but I just like the title). It came with the body of the fish artfully arranged with the sashimi. The sashimi itself was quite good, however when I was done, the waitress came by, took the plate, and said she was going to "fry it up" for me. I wasn't paying that much attention so I just nodded.

After she disappeared to the kitchen I actually processed what she said. Fry up the fish... head? And fins? And tail? Hmmm. Eventually she brought it back, and yes, what was left was definitely deep fried. I girded up my loins and actually ate most of it. Apparently the Aji has soft bones, because I was able to just chomp right on through. That last sentence might be a little squeamish for some folks.

I didn't eat the head (or eyeball) though... as Shawn said, you have to draw the line somewhere.

   
Click here to download:
Ahhh_a_red_snapper._Very_tasty.zip (286 KB)

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Cruise Anecdotes

I figure I should probably talk a little bit about the cruise we recently went on, since it was our first real vacation in a while, and will probably be for another while.

We went on a Cruise from January 4th through the 8th down from Mission Beach to Catalina to Ensenada. I like cruises because everything is pretty much taken care of for you. 

During the trip, Rachel saw the ocean for the first time, though I don't think she quite understood it. After a little prodding, she took to walking on sand, and really liked the shoreline. We had to keep her from running in more than once.

The food on the boat was pretty decent, though I think our best meal was back in Mission Beach at a restaurant called "World Famous". I had a ridiculously good sea bass wrapped in some thing potato slices and some sort of shrimp/crab cake like thing to go with it. Very tasty. On the boat, the dessert was probably the best. They had a chocolate molten cake that was a chocolate lover's dream. Erica had it every night.

One particular evening, we were heading down to dinner and saw another couple get into an opposing elevator. When the doors shut, Erica commented how the lady was wearing gigantic heels and that she wouldn't be able to walk in those. Both elevator doors opened at the same time, and as if on cue, the woman took a step, her heel caught, and she went tumbling, throwing her martini glass down and shattering it into pieces right in front of us.

Rachel developed a new game, called "Run Around". We would take her to an empty deck and told her that she could indeed, "run around". She took it a literally, and held on to a hand and would run in circles around Mommy or Daddy, while yelling "Run around! Run around!" 

Taking a 2 year old on a cruise was a bit of work, but didn't have any big issues. We got a big enough room, that we could unfold a pack-and-play next to the bed, and if we covered the sides with towels, Rachel would go to sleep pretty easily.

In Ensenada, I was offered quite a few opportunities buy Viagra, though I passed them up.

Pictures are available here: http://swilliamsphoto.com/galleries/PacificCruise/
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Empty Space

An old saying from Lao Zi:

Thirty spokes unite at the single hub;
It is the empty space which makes the wheel useful.
Mold clay to form a bowl;
It is the empty space which makes the bowl useful.
Cut out windows and doors;
It is the empty space which makes the room useful.

Taken from ilovetypography.com.
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Getting Dressed

One of the bigger differences between living out of a hotel and living at home is that when I am home, I can just stumble out of bed, throw on a t-shirt and shorts and then eat breakfast. I don't think they'd appreciate it at the hotel if I did that. Putting on shoes to eat breakfast sucks.
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Considering a Hero

My contract with T-Mobile is up in a couple of months, and I've been looking at the HTC Hero (on Sprint) as a replacement. I saw this review on Amazon:

"The Hero is very adaptable. For example, I have a variety of home screens set up on my phone... but I also downloaded... a Star Trek soundboard, so now whenever I get it a text Worf says 'Captain, incoming message.' "

Yeah, I'm going to count that as a con.
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Itinerary 12/13 - 12/18

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Mmmm, Dreary

Ok, I threw some filters on the picture to make it looked like a bombed out World War II picture, but yeah, it's kind of like that.
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An SAT Comparison for My Breakfast

Bread : Communion Wafer :: Bacon : Today's bacon at the continental breakfast.

(Yes, if you follow my twitter feed, this is the second thing about bacon today. Deal with it, I'm a little bored).
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Itenerary of the Week (12/6 - 12/11)

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So, Dallas

     
Click here to download:
so-dallas-zrcIFIBibwlhhqqplzne.zip (1067 KB)

Our first full day here and it snowed in the morning. These were shot out my hotel window on the iPhone so excuse the lack of quality.

I had thought that Dallas had about the same weather as Phoenix, though apparently it is a wee bit different. This morning was clear, and even colder. This weekend I will be purchasing some more cold weather clothing, including a longer coat. 

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About

These are my mostly unfiltered thoughts.