Here and There Blog

2009? It's a big blur. I'm pretty sure that this was not a record travel year but it was a close second as shown by the miles and points balances in my accounts. For everything that I did, my favorite day has to be the beach outing in Bermuda on Cruise Trek where we drank Dark and Stormy's and kicked back in the sun. That was a good day and good company. Best flight? The unexpected UA PS first class upgrade to JFK for above cruise. That was fun and all too short due to the tailwind! Worst day? Don't think I had one. (Don't remind me if I did) 2010? Looking forward to Kenya, Cruise Trek , and Thanksgiving in Vienna! See you all somewhere in the world soon!

Nine was on my list to see before I read all the critic reviews. I haven't read anything positive about the movie yet it has been nominated for several awards and that made me wonder what was so good in a movie so bad. So off I went in search of the answer. Daniel Day Lewis stars as Guido, an Italian film director and seducer, who has lost his way. The music numbers serve as his imagination of how a scene should be or as how he views his own life. Whatever, the music is white noise and serves no purpose other than to showcase the costumes. Who is good in this movie is Penelope Cruz who is the only female that has something to do that shows her as a person rather than a one dimensional character. Cruz was the only life in Nine and her Golden Globe nomination is deserved. Everyone else was average. What I found interesting is that several people were offended by the suggestive erotic nature of Guido's life and left the theater. Nine has no nudity, one sex scene under a blanket ...

The annual Karen Shawn Lisa dinner at Turf Supper Club has been replaced by the Riviera Club dinner. Same great owners and food but with a new and 100% better property! Then after a good Disney day, Kathy, Brian, and Karen went off to The Olde Ship in Santa Ana. Great pub food and beer!

It's Complicated has a specific target audience - divorced women, ages 50-60, whose husbands left them for younger women. Especially if the divorced women have had or still have emotional feelings for the ex, despite the fact that he has lied, cheated, etc. on them. If you are in this category, then you are the one this movie wants. It must have an impact because this was the group in tears at the end of the movie. Guys, young singles, maybe not so much going to enjoy this. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin play the divorced couple who haven't totally let go and they are both fine in their roles. The hurt/love connection between the two is played at times to the extreme where you're thinking, "really, who buys this" just so a later set-up can be had. The first half of the movie is sad drama and not really engaging (unless you are above target audience). The son-in-law character provides the single comic point of relief in this movie as the relationship between the ex...

If Spock and Uhura can be a couple, then this is the year for revisionist/updating of long standing characters. The 2009 Holmes and Watson have returned smarter than ever. Watson being happily refreshed into intelligent and strong instead of a bumbling side-kick for Holmes. Oh, and it turns out, that Dr. Watson really is a doctor. I never really got that sense from the books but here, he's given medical stuff to do. About time. At 134 minutes, the movie seemed to wander and so did my mind. Most of this was a set-up for future movies and while we know Moriarty is Holmes' nemesis, we only get a glimpse of Moriarty and not enough to worry for the sequel. This version could have been called Sherlock Holmes vs. the Dark Arts and even though there was no real witchcraft, I felt like I was waiting for Dumbledore to come in and save Holmes and Watson from the evil, corrupt, politicians of London. To enjoy the movie, lower all expectations and remember that this is a refresh or even alt...

Disneyland on a perfect warm SoCal winter day in all it's Christmas glory. The park designers topped any previous park decoratins this year. Crowds were not too bad by Disney standards and most ride waits were 20 - 30 minutes. It must have been something with the day, the Christmas music and the decor since the park had a peaceful soothing effect instead of the normal children on Mickey overload chaos.

Fantastic Mr. Fox missed my notice on it's release a couple weeks ago, and it was destined for an airplane movie until I was too lazy to leave Carlsbad to drive to Oceanside for The Road. My lucky day because I enjoyed Fantastic Mr. Fox. This completes the unplanned animation trilogy of the last week and the Roald Dahl story that I never read was brought to my attention. Reviews of Streep and Clooney's voice work had been so positive that I decided to give it a go. Fox is a reformed chicken hunter longing for his glory days and decides to go out with one big last raid. When a Fox, Opossum, Badger are linked together, the only way this could work is as a Pixar/Disney movie but we are treated to a Wes Anderson movie instead. The heart of the story is Fox's relationship with his son and wife and as discussed in a Saturday conversation, this could be called a guy coming of age or finding himself genre. Except that it is also a work of Wes Anderson and has the exact same quirky ...

Conversation, debate, potential are a few of the things that will stay with you after watching Avatar. The must see FX movie of the year, Avatar delivers on 3D technology that will change the way movies are made and viewed. What you think of the movie is going to depend on where you see it. Theaters that have invested in the newest 3D tech are going to have a brighter and more vivid film. Older technology will have a 3D experience but with muted colors. I'm not sure how Avatar looked in normal film but it will be fun to hear from someone who does both as once was enough for me. The plot is less important than the technology but if you decide to ignore the obvious (big bad corporation attempts to take over rain forest from tree loving natives) you'll be okay. The Avatars are the shell body made of the human host and alien DNA so that humans can enter a pod and transmit their consciousness into their Avatar. This allows them to interact with the locals to gain their trust, try to...

The Karen, Conrad, Carolyne reunion took place the other night at Buffalo Wild Wings in Buena Park! Fun was had by all and it was great getting together! Carolyne was our Karaoke Queen!

My first impulse was to pass on this movie and save it for an airplane. Upon learning that it was Disney's first hand drawn animated movie in several years, I changed my mind and set off for the theater. With a few deviations from the basic plot, the story is still girl kisses frog. frog turns into prince and they live happily ever after. That's about all you need to know. Updated a bit with New Orleans as a back drop and voodoo practicians acting as both the villian and the good fairy the animation is fun to look at and watch. I'd give it some effort for not being too annoying with singing and slapstick animal characters but I didn't love the movie. I had the sense that this was a set-up for the next Broadway musical, an addition to New Orleans Square at the theme parks, and DVD spin-offs. The target audience seemed to be about 5 years of age. The small girl behind me was tired and bored but other kids were so into the movie they were running to the front of the theate...

I always dreamed that someday I'd have a house with an ocean view. In my mind, that view was of the sweeping Cardiff coastline and surf near Encinitas but given home prices, I have to be happy with my 15-20% of the year view of the water. (I live in a fog pocket, ya know) After yesterdays storm the view was breathtaking today. Which brings me to the reason you can see this view. It's my new toy the Kodak Easy Share Z915 with the 10x zoom. Bought specifically for February's trip to Kenya since I don't plan on standing next to a lion, the zoom is the next best thing. So Canon camera, you can go back with me to Pakistan. Kodak - you get the big trips!

I've lived in San Diego my whole life and somehow never managed to eat at the Marine Room. Admittedly it has one of the best ocean dining views ever and that's really why you're there, more so than for the food. I went for a special December holiday brunch and at $32, that's pretty average for a Sunday brunch. My omelette above was crab, cheese and chive. Yum. But, I didn't take a bite out of it, the omelette maker seemed to be having trouble today. As he flipped the shrimp in the pan that were cooking for the next omelette, about half the shrimp took up flight and ended up on the floor behind him. He shrugged and added in eggs. The witnesses chose to decline comment. Sherry's been there several times in the last few months and was recognized by the manager. Side benefit - free, unlimited mimosas! Afterwards, a quick trip to the Shores. What I liked the best about the Marine Room was of course the view (we had the front seats) and my mangled omelette. The ...

Dec. 5. From here on out I always lose track of the days until it is Dec. 23 and I have done nothing to be ready for Christmas. I don't even do anything for Christmas which makes not being ready even more surprising than if I needed to do something. So today I bought my few Christmas cards, stamps, and am about to start putting them together. If you're reading this, it means you won't get a card. I reserve those for the few people in life who are still not online. The hobbits and Star Trek figures are all out and on their respective Christmas trees and sleighs. My blu -rays have arrived of Star Trek, Wolverine, and the Underworld trilogy. I'm set for holiday viewing. I think I have a social schedule figured out that amazing work did not interfere with. This is as ready as I'll ever be. Bring on Santa!

I recommend this day trip for anyone. One hour away from BA by the rapid boat, lunch, bus tour (short) walking tour (30 min) and free time - a few hours. When booking you have the option of either 8 or 12 hours, take the 8. Colonia is small and you'll run out of stuff to do. They photograph well - what more can I say? Lorie on the step. This is when it's still all nice and cool and we haven't baked in the sun al day. The town. Below - me at the closest thing that can be compared to "City Wall".

Recoleta Cemetery is fun to visit since it is a maze of statues, cats, alleys, and tombs. You have to look up, sideways and down to see everything. Me visiting Thomas Guido. OB and one of the many cats that live in the cemetery. Looking down one of the many paths.

Dinner at Dada Bistrot - This really was the best meal of the trip. I had salmon but the mashed potatos were my favorite. I could have had a double serving. Good red wine, great service. Lorie and Brad - Hard Rock Cafe. Hanging out in the room.

In the Recoleta Design area, a small garden exists. The butterflies seem to own the garden and flit about everywhere. I'm surprised these two stayed still long enough for a photo. Same purple flowers as Carlsbad. Must be the universal go-to plants for cities. All the plazas have some plants.

International Hardee's look quite different from their US counterparts. The California aspect is played up and the decor isn't the standard boring white/red color scheme. Lahore was unique with the stars on the ceiling. I was taking these photos right before opening when I looked outside and realized the door was open and the line was being let inside. The crowd piled in and it stayed busier than this for the rest of my trip and I can only assume that it is still plenty busy!

Home, tired. Don't know why - I slept 11 hours last night. It's strange to see random news banners on the CNN ticker instead of death counts from bombs. The disconnect is unbelievable. The news is almost the same except here in the US children are killed by child predators, usually one at a time but many every day. In Pakistan children are killed by suicide bombers, many at a time and almost daily. Wondering when as a world are we are going to stop killing children? Every child that I met in Pakistan was happy and acted with the same curiosity and joy as any kid, anywhere.

Okay, this one I couldn't quite get. If you look to the right of the tree you see a guy with a cart. The yellow objects sticking up are roasted corn cobs for sale. It's the Lahore version of the NY hot dog carts.

The delivery trucks are all colorful like this one.

Finally got one of the traffic jams and the police on the sidelines. You wouldn't realize it from the photos but the police are as numerous as the security guards. Off the side of the roads are barber shops. Pull over and get a shave. Flowers everywhere. These are around the hotel. And bagpipes at a wedding.

We had the VIP and Media event last night. Everyone was freaking out on free food and we had to shut down operations since apparently our highly paid security team was letting everyone in the door, no questions asked. So there you go. You can have the guns, the metal detector, the VIP list and it is all for show. I gave a kitchen tour for Masala TV, the Peshawar based food channel. That was impromptu and strange. I hope they ended up with something that can be used. The group of us females made the midnight news highlight showing us laughing and happy (good timing on the camera man's part) and I gave a couple of interviews one that was live (good thing I didn't know) and one that was probably a clip. I was too busy to take photos so I have to wait until some kind person sends the photos my way.

This guard peered over the roof as we were taking pictures in the parking lot.

Mid-day I walked into the dining room to take a break from the chaos from training. I sat down, looked up and saw all these kids. First I panicked because today was originally feed the kids day but it was changed and I was worried that some kids weren't told to come on Tuesday. Turns out that these kids were here to read out loud from the Koran for 90 minutes as a way to ask for Allah's blessing on the restaurant. (If I have this wrong, then maybe someone will comment) There weren't many children but they were loud! They also were not expecting me or my camera.

Okay, I know the guard looks a bit tired in this photo but that's because I'm making him pose. We have around 12 of these guys guarding the restaurant at any given time and they do look imposing plus of course, they're all armed. The most sought after people / jobs are police, security, and bricklayers because that is what everyone wants. Firepower and strong walls. To get into our hotel we have the car stopped at a barricade and then the hood and trunk are opened and checked. An explosive detector is passed around and under the car and sometimes the bomb sniffing dog is around. Then the fence is lowered and the other gate is raised and we go in the parking lot. Then there is first security screening which is only a metal detector and our bags are passed around. After that it is a full x-ray screening of bags and a second metal detector pass through. Inside the hotel it is one of the interiors where all the floors look down on the center lobby. So on the second and third f...

At a local place. The dessert was a coconut rice pudding type dish, served in the coconut. Doesn't show up well in the photo but it was almost like coconut pudding and really tasty!

After a few days of trying to get donkey pictures I could not believe it when I caught a glimpse of a horse and cart going through the Drive- Thru . Not only did I sprint out of the restaurant to get this photo, everyone was calling me because they knew I would want this photo op! The cart driver gave up and backed up the cart so I could get a photo. I think the horse looks pretty freaked out about the whole camera incident!