Tonight is our last night at Rocky Point (Aka Puerto Penasco). I couldn't believe it, but this was our fourth year coming to Rocky Point. It's become our August tradition. The time of year works out well, because the college partiers are back at school and the families are getting set to start the new year up again. So rates are usually pretty decent and there really aren't as many visitors.

This new place, Las Palomoas is fairly new. The first phase is complete and the second (of 3) is halfway done. Each phase has a lazy river with pools and hot tubs in between. There is an infinity edge pool that overlooks the sea and a swim-up bar for drinks and snacks. Overall not a bad way to spend a few days away from Phoenix's hot summer weather.

We're staying for the second year at a business friend's condo. It's a very nice 3 bed/2 bath condo on the 11th floor overlooking the pools and sea. We were the "discoverers" of this gem, so we claimed the master bedroom suite to our selves. The bathroom is nice with tiled dual sinks and a soaking tub and a large standup shower.

We were slightly nervous about the weather holding out. All week long the weathermen kept saying rain for the entire 4 days. It hasn't been too bad. Friday was gorgeous. Saturday was gorgeous. Both days were sunny and temperatures in the upper 80's or low 90's. Last night the winds began to kick up. Up on the 11th floor the winds were unbelieveable!

The winds kept up this morning and the entire day was filled with clouds and occasional rain drops. It was still warm, so I spent much of the day outside on the patio looking out and reading my book. The internet connection has been sporadic, but seemingly strongest out on the patio. This patio is huge and runs the width of the entire unit (from master bedroom wall across the living room and across the second bedroom... probably a good 40-50 feet).

We tried fishing today, but the currents were way too strong. Maybe next time we'll find a decent spot. The next time I want to check out Las Conchas and also Cholla Bay. Hmmm... maybe if I get my Jeep that will be our next mission.

So usually I would be reporting all this crap when I got back, but I've run out of my reading material and have nothing left to keep me occupied. I could be inside watching movies, but it's always a game of how long it takes for me to start nodding off. Last night three of us tried to make it through the second Lord of the Rings movie on tv. Oh my god... it seemed like the longest film ever.

Anyway... that's about it. We're back home tomorrow. Check out by noon and then we'll be home by like 4.

It's nice all these days are just comp days for me. At least I get to keep my vacation days building for our big trip at the end of the summer.

Work told me to take Tuesday off too. I told them I had a bunch to do at work, and they told me I had to take Tuesday off to make up for some extreme hours last week. Last week was the work week from hell: I had 2 proposals due on Monday at noon that I worked Saturday and all night Sunday on. Then on Thursday we had a proposal due that hadn't been started on until Tuesday afternoon. I worked on it Tuesday night and pulled another all nighter on Wednesday night to get it done and sent to our partnering firm on Thursday morning for a Thursday midday deadline.... talk about dedicated, dead-line driven work hours. We will not be doing any over-nighters for a long time!

So work is crazy like usual, but at least we were able to take a long weekend off at the beach.

... as usual, photos to come later this week.

Labels: condo, Mexico, proposals, Rocky Point, travel, vacations, work

posted by jame1030 at 11:58 PM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

It's nice to get away, but it's also nice to come home.
If anything, we needed to come home just to have some time to relax!

We had a great trip, and it was really nice to see our friends and family while away.


We went to the Cirque du Soleil show in Orlando, La Nouba (thanks to my generous parents). The show was amazing, and our seats were unbelievably close! We had a great time!



On Friday we went down to Port St. Lucie to meet up with Papa John, Ann, and Keith. We had a great lunch at a place right by the water. I had conch chowder for the first time. It was unfreakin believably good. They bring it to the table with a bottle of cream sherry. The conch chowder with cream sherry is so damn good!



I finally got a chance to meet some of Barbara's old friends. We were out until 3:30 at the clubs. As anyone reading may already know, I'm not the club-type, but surprisingly, I had fun. Man we were tired the next day.



We got up early and made our way to Sam and Amy's. It was a great visit. We went down to the beach, had lunch on the pier, and then we finally got a chance to meet his entire family. I had heard so much about them (as I'm sure they have about me), and their nieces are so cute!



Then on Monday and Tuesday we spent our entire time at Disney. EPCOT on Monday and the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday. The parks were not too busy, and we got on all the rides with little wait times (the longest we waited was about 10 minutes.)

We came back last Wednesday and were in our house by around 4. The vacation was fun but very exhausting. We had so much planned for our entire stay that we didn't really get a chance to relax (which was slightly dissapointing).


We vow that the next trip we take will not be for family or friends and will be solely for rest and relaxation... we'll see if that happens.

Check out more of my Florida photos here: http://jame1030.fotki.com/florida-2007/

Labels: Disney, Florida, vacations

posted by jame1030 at 1:00 AM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

We finally got through our busy week and now are on our way to Florida for a week. The weather doesn't seem like it's going to be too warm, but it will still be nice to get away for a bit.

We've got a busy schedule while in Florida - not much time for relaxing, but it will definitely be fun.

We will have internet access so I may be posting while away - we'll see about that.

... and check back next week. Of course I will have plenty of photos! ;n)

Labels: Florida, vacations

posted by jame1030 at 1:00 AM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post

For some reason when I load Jame1030.com, Firefox tends to repeat the bottom border of the top panoramic image. I'm not sure why it does this, and it bothers the shit out of me, but I really don't have time to fix it.

At some point in the near future I'd like to give my site a complete revamp, but I'm thinking that may need to wait until after we get more stuff done in the house. Not that we'll be done with the house any time soon, but our weekends have been busy with getting our house together.

House update:
The house is great. We installed some new front garage lights. I used the recommended 100 watt bulbs, but I swear we were lighting up the whole damn street. It may be that our not all our neighbors have front lights yet. So that contributes to the darkness, but our lights were too damn bright. 60 watt'ers are much better... less blinding.

We finally got the 2nd guestbedroom cleared out and things have been separated into managable piles within the room. Unfortunately I think things will stay like that until we have to get it ready for my parents to come and visit in March.

One of my wifey's coworkers just moved into an apartment and had nothing but a bed and some lawn furniture. So it worked out well that he took both our couch and loveseat. While he was here, he did us a favor and helped clear out more furniture by taking the papazon, a cabinet, and an old television. I guess it all comes back around again. I remember being donated a ton of shit from friends and family when I first moved out. Now I get to pass my junk on to others.

So what else is going on?

We finally firmed up our dates for our trip to Orlando next month. It should be really fun! I'm finally going to meet some of her old friends, hopefully see Sam & Amy, my grandfather, and we're going to Disney! I haven't been there in years. I think I was still in high school when I went there last. So it should be so much fun.

Labels: house, jame1030, vacations, website

posted by jame1030 at 12:42 AM |   |  0 comments  |  links to this post