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January 30, 2007
Lots of internet problems and outages the last couple of days here on St. Kitts. Guess there is at least one negative to living on a Caribbean island in the winter. I'll have to ponder that while I'm golfing today...
January 27, 2007
Big meal at the Di Molfetta residence tonight. One word - Wow. It was a typically huge and phenomenal Italian style meal. Started off by having gnocchi with meatballs and Italian sausage. Along with the bread and the Bailey's, this was a meal in itself, but of course I didn't realize that this was just the starter. Next came battered chicken stuffed with figs along with some eggplant in a type of marinara sauce. If that wasn't enough, we then had some roasted potatoes with eggplant again, this time covered in roasted garlic. Along with this there were sweet peppers and a large salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. Okay, so yeah, that was crazy good and a crazy large meal.
Oh, and to top it off, we had roasted chestnuts for desert with espresso and capuccino. Since it's winter, I guess it is appropriate to have chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but with the 85 degree weather outside, it doesn't quite feel like winter. I've never had roasted chestnuts before, and I can't believe how good they tasted. There was a nice crowd invited, and of course all the usual suspects were present. Made for a good start to the night, before quite a few of us ended up hitting the beach for a few after dinner drinks. Or several, as the case may be. It is now 2am and I am calling it a night as I have to work in the morning. 'Til later...
January 26, 2007
The big weekend has arrived for the Skydome Tournament that Team Venom is participating in. Results and pictures from the tournament will be posted online at the Venom website after the weekend. You can also get there by going to the baseball section in the menu on the left.
In unrelated news, I can't even move my arm after entirely too much tennis the past couple of days here at the courts on the resort. (Don't be jealous, Phil.) It's a far cry from the -27 or so temperatures that they are experiencing back home in Canada. I'm still not missing that cold weather.
January 25, 2007
I have to mention that while we were in St. Maarten, we also took in a movie at a nice theater in Simpson Bay. The listings were located online at Caribbean Cinemas. The movie we saw was called "Children of Men". It was dark but very good. I was particularly impressed with two long scenes, and in particular, the long scene at the end where the camera didn't cut away for a long time. After being involved in the movie business a bit now, I know that it must have been extremely difficult to shoot. It was worth the price of admission just to see the visual adventure the director took us on with this movie. One of the best films I've ever seen for cinematography. The baby scene is also very memorable.
It was the first time that I have been to a movie theater in about six months. The movie theater at St. Kitts is less than desirable to say the least, so I haven't made an appearance there yet after the horror stories that I have heard about it. Here's a short segment on why it may be the best film of the year.
January 22, 2007 (0) Comments
I finally had a chance to go to St. Maarten this weekend, and I must say it is quite a nice little island. "Sint Maarten" as the Dutch call it, is the smallest island in the world to be shared by two different sovereign governments, the Dutch and the French. We visited the Dutch side only where Dutch is the official language, but as far as I can tell, everyone speaks English. We spent most of our time in Phillipsburg, the capital. There was a great boardwalk extending all the way around the beach area. There were lots of little cafes and bars to grab a bite to eat. Even a McDonald's and a Burger King, which I haven't seen in quite a few months.
There were countless stores on the streets around the beach. The main street running behind the boardwalk is called Front Street. The other street behind that is appropriately called "Back Street". I can't possibly describe the number of Jewelry stores that lined Front Street. Had to be at least fifty, no exaggeration. Apparently this is the place for tourists off the cruise ships to buy all their duty-free jewelry. The street itself was very beautiful, and narrow. Back Street was under construction, and they seem to be doing a lot of that on the island from what we saw, in an effort to improve everything for the tourists. They seem to be doing a great job of that.
There are twelve casinos on the island, all on the Dutch side. They ranged in title from the "Dolphin Casino" to the "Tropicana". There is also the "Casino Royale" in Maho. Not sure if it's named after the movie, or the other way around. We didn't actually go in any of them. Many of the shops are open late, in recognition of the sudden desire by people to shop, triggered by casino winnings. You can find many chic boutiques open as late as the nightclubs.
Here are a few pics of our departure from St. Kitts, as well as an overhead shot of the volcano as we left St. Kitts on Winair. The last photo is a picture of a tiny island north of St. Kitts that isn't actually labeled on any maps that I can see.
Here's a few photos from the plane as it approached St. Maarten, as well as a couple from a taxi as we headed to Phillipsburg, the capital. Some are a little blurry, since they were taken in moving vehicles.
Here's the boardwalk, and a taste of Front Sheet and the shops all around.
There's a beautiful marble centerpiece at the main section of the boardwalk. It details the whole island. There's also a kids play area and beautiful wharfs. Lastly, there's a shot of me in the taxi.
The last couple of pics, including two photos of the Divi Resort with its own beach called Little Bay. It's a bit far away, but I had to take a few pictures as I liked the look of it. It is apparently very high end. Next up is a couple of photos of huge yachts in the harbor. Bill Gates and Paul McCartney among others park their yachts here quite frequently from what the locals tell me. The last photo shows our return to St. Kitts Robert L. Bradshaw airport from the plane.
There was a lot of shopping and exploring on this trip. Next time we'll have to take in the French side and do a little more sightseeing of the historic sites.
January 19, 2007 (0) Comments
Since I'm enjoying the sun right now, here's a little reminder of the perils of weather back home. Can anyone say "Minivan pinball"?
Went to a big dinner tonight. Had some Indian fare, in particular, curry. We had a vegetable curry and a chicken curry. There was also an Onion Bhajji and some Popadom. Popadom is like a big potato chip. You fry it in oil in a pan, and it expands like a big potato chip. It was quite delicious and I can't see how anyone could eat potato chips when they can quickly make popadom for a snack. Absolutely delicious. We also had some of Carol-Anne's famous home made salsa and some Mango Chutney as toppings for the popadom. Samantha made the onion bhajji and it was great. Kind of like fried onions with batter, egg yolks and some kind of flavoring.
Warwick brought some rum balls, made with Bacardi White. He's going to try Malibu next. The rum balls were quite good, but really strong. Since I'm not a rum drinker, they were rough on me, but still quite tasty. In case you're wondering, I brought the wine. It went fast. Fabio brought some limoncella, from d'Italia, but it went fast with the desert, which was some kind of crazy good cheesecake that Shelley made. She's quite a cook.
Eric and Shelley put on quite a dinner. Great time. I should have stayed longer, but the cheesecake did me in. I stayed long enough for some after dinner songs, and just long enough to see Cliff locked in the bathroom. But that is a story for another time. We had such a great time, we may gather again shortly. The ABBA music in the background made the difference. Vasil can't believe I knew the words to all of ABBA. He should thank the Irishcaper for that. Mamma Mia!!
January 17, 2007
If you're feeling a little bored, check out the 20 Worst Rhymes in Pop Music History.
I had a little clip of Sacha Baron Cohen accepting his Golden Globe for Borat. But I had to take it down as YouTube removed it due to copyright issues. If you get a chance, take a look for it on the web, it is memorable. Best dressed was definitely Ali Larter. Followed closely by Jessica Biel.
January 14, 2007
Here's the last couple of pictures sent to me from Carnival 2006-2007. Enjoy!
January 13, 2007
Here's the Reilly family Christmas tree from back in good ol' Sydney Mines. Looks a little different from the palm tree that I had up...
January 12, 2007
Here's a trailer of the original Star Wars from back in tha day. I just don't think it does the movie justice.
January 10, 2007
All of us in the casino industry know of the complaints people make of flea infestation in the carpets. It is always rejected by casinos when the topic is brought up, and they say that they control the pests with regular cleaning and such, but the staff at one casino in New Zealand took their own approach, they started wearing flea collars. Crazy stuff.
I'm not sure how they pay for this, but Movie Spider is a site where you can watch scenes and even whole movies online for free. There are a couple of ads on the site, but those movies must take up a lot of disk space and bandwidth. But you should check it out cause it's pretty neat, especially for movie buffs like me.
January 9, 2007 (0) Comments
Here's an excerpt from the poker blog for the Moneymaker Millionaires Tournament that my friend "Boomer" Lawrence participated in at Atlantis in the Bahamas. He won an incredible $86,000 for fifth place. That's a lot of dough my friend.
Congratulations.
11:56pm--And in the continuing story of how aces don't always win, Boomer just made the easiest move of his life. Steve jammed for 23.6K under the gun and Boomer moved all-in behind him. Boomer had red aces. Steve held KTs. The flop came 9c Kh 2d. Suddenly Steve had hope. The turn was a brick, 4c. But just as Greg Raymer announced how big of a dog Steve was, the king of diamonds fell on the river. Boomer, the consummate professional, took it like a man, despite watching his stack get cut in half.
12:13am--In case you're wondering, the play has tightened up a lot recently. A raise is usually good to take the pot. As such, we're not seieng any big hands and about to go on break.
12:16am--One heartbreakingly rollercoaster hand has knocked out Boomer. Details to come.
12:35am--Boomer Lawrence is about to call his sisters. They and about 50 to 60 other people have been following along on the blog, and Boomer says he expects there are a lot of tears back home. There are no tears here, though. His fiance, Josie is here with him. He's been watching closely all day. They're planning to get married in July, 2008. She's Italian, so Boomer says the $86,000 he won today will help fund an even bigger wedding. They also plan to put some more money down on a condo they're buying. Josie says she expects Boomer will be up all night, replaying the hands in his head. Boomer says people often forget this is a seven card game, and anything can happen. He says the guys who are left are playing great poker, but he predicts Jerry Watterson III will be the winner. But, like Boomer said, you never know what can happen on the river.
January 8, 2007
It was a good day for a bike ride so I took my mountain bike for a long ride to Basseterre and back. I had my trusty camera in my backpack and so I took a picture somewhere in the side streets of this little park (for lack of a better word) where there are a couple of big rocks. It is apparently the site of the first contact with Europeans on the island. It's kind of hidden away in between some houses and doesn't seem to be a major site for tourism. Interesting, nonetheless.
January 7, 2006
Check out the trailer for the second installment of the Fantastic Four Series, called "Rise of the Silver Surfer". Love it.
January 5, 2007
It's Friday, the best day in town for some action and the best day for shopping as the new shipments often come in on Fridays. So a couple of us headed to downtown Basseterre today for some shopping. It was a pretty tame day, but I couldn't resist this picture of KFC with the mountains in the background that I thought was an interesting contrast. KFC and Subway are the only two fast food restaurants on the island, if you can call them fast food. Haven't eaten at KFC yet, and I probably won't, but I have eaten at Subway once and the service was terrible, but that's not out of the ordinary here on the island and I've become a little accustomed and immune to it.
I also found out today that the Circus is modeled after London's famed Piccadilly. I've never been to London so I had no idea what it looked like. The ornate Clock Tower in the center of the circus roundabout is called the Berkeley Monument. A little trivia for y'all.
January 4, 2007
I just saw on the web that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has put forth images and video of Blue Origin, which is his effort to develop cheap space flight for everyone. It is pretty interesting to see the video of the first test flight that he did from his "sprawling" ranch. It seems that he started it in 2000 and has been quietly working on it ever since, releasing few details. I think it's pretty exciting to think that there is always that small possibility that we could go to space, if even for a few seconds of weightlessness, before we pass on. Incidentally, the Blue Origin coat of arms is visible, with the motto "Gradatim Ferociter" which I've learned means Step By Step, Fiercely. I like the motto, very appropriate for space flight I think. The first flights are scheduled for 2010, hopefully they won't stop at the edge of the space! By the way, they're hiring if you happen to be an aerospace engineer...
Here's the last couple of photos of J'ouvert that were sent to me. Until next year.
Also, as I speculated in an earlier blog entry, the O.C. is being cancelled due to low ratings. Last show will air on February 22. Since I only watch three shows regularly, I'll have to replace the O.C. with another drama or such. Any suggestions?
January 3, 2007
Here's a little video of J'ouvert Morning in St. Kitts from December 26 that was passed along to me. It starts out at 4am so it is a little dark, but it quickly gets bright out and you can see and appreciate the large masses of people marching and dancing through the streets while drinking rum the whole time, until they start to pass out by noon. Quite an experience.
January 2, 2007 (6) Comments
Today was the day for "Last Lap". This is a term used to describe the final day of Carnival where participants march and dance around the city in their troupes. It is pretty impressive to see all of the work they put into the costumes. They are beautiful and very intricate in their design. Needless to say, I snapped quite a few pictures and even some videos. After the troupes finish marching, all of the bands grab a spot in town and play for a few more hours. Definitely a great party that is worth taking part in.
After cruising the streets for awhile, I was able to get a good spot for some photos next to the radio setup for 98.9 WINN FM. I almost got interviewed for the radio, but it was not to be. You can see there was lots of food and drink, similar to the festivities that went on for J'ouvert.
Toward the end, I moved down to Port Zante, where I saw the best troupe of the day. Unfortunately, my camera didn't last as long as I did, and my battery died just when I was about to snap some photos of them. I only wish I could have a few photos of them, but alas, it will have to only live on in my memory. They had the most intricate and beautiful costumes of the day. One of the supervisors in the casino, Rinel, was in that troupe. If I can get any pictures from him, I will put them up in the near future. Here's the last few pictures of the day.
Don't forget to check out the videos for Last Lap.
January 1, 2007
Happy New Year!
Let's start off the New Year with a look back at my favorite video clip of 2006. Here it is, Aries Spears doing an amazing imitation of some popular rappers. You gotta appreciate this!
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