Sydney, Australia

Wednesday November 21st, 2007

We had a 4pm flight to SYD, which was late and with storms, we did not get off the plane until about 9pm. The Airport Link train was a fast route to Wynyard station, but cost about $13 each. We checked in at the Grace Hotel Sydney, and went to bed.

Thursday November 22nd, 2007

Today we headed to the harbor. We gazed at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge for a few minutes, and then bought tickets to take the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. We spent about four hours at the zoo, got some pictures with some Koalas, and headed back to the harbor. We did something called an Animal Encounter. We spent 10-15 minutes with Koalas in their environment where we got up close with them and took pictures up close with them (Australian law prohibits visitors from touching the Koalas). The Taronga Zoo is much better than the Melbourne Zoo and we really enjoyed our time here. We then walked around the outside of the Opera House for a while. Up close, it seems smaller than what you see in pictures and TV. We headed back to the hotel to figure out dinner and ended up going down the street to La Bora Italian restaurant. The food was decent, but nothing special. We looked for desserts but could not find anything near by.

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.

Friday November 23rd, 2007

We got up, got some food at the Espresso Bar next door to the hotel (good), and took the train to the Blue Mountains. We got to the train stations right around 10, and we had just missed the train to Katoomba that leaves every one hour. So we found some take away sandwiches for the train and boarded the Blue Mountains Line train around 11. The two hour train ride was nice as we needed a little time to sit, listen to music, and play some sudoku. We read that the few shuttle services/tour trolleys leave every hour and are lined up with the train arrivals, so we picked the cheaper one (Blue Mountains Trolley Tours) and quickly got our tickets once we arrived. We really only needed the shuttle to get us down to the Gordon Falls so we could start a hike along the rim. Due to the late start, we decided to not try to get all the way to Three Sisters, so we hopped on the bus for the last kilometer or so. We made it from Gordon Falls, through Leura Cascades, to Honeymoon Lookout. It was a nice hike and fairly rugged. The views were wonderful and made for a quite relaxing time. Kacey grabbed a cupcake to eat and we caught the 5:24pm train for Sydney Central. We switched trains at Central to get us up to Wynyard to stop off at the hotel before dinner. We walked a few blocks south to Captain Torres for some pretty good Spanish food. That night we stayed up late packing as we had to leave the hotel around 6am for the train station.

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Cairns, Australia

Sunday November 18th, 2007

We arrived in CNS, got a taxi (about the same cost as the bus), checked in at the Rydges, and went to P.J. O’Brien's Irish Pub for dinner. It wasn't anything special, but at least it was a little lively.

Monday November 19th, 2007

Today was our boat trip for snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We went with the Silver Swift company and they were very good. It was about $140 each, but we went out on a high speed boat and had time to hit three different dive sites. There were tons of fish! We first hit Milln Reef where we stopped at Whale and Fishtown. Whale is a spot that got that name because the reef comes up to the surface and causes a vortex, which looks like a whale spouting water. Fishtown got its name in an obvious fashion; it has lots of fish. Last we went to Flynn Reef for a stop at Tennis Courts. I am not quite sure how this got its name. Each spot we were given around an hour to dive, which is quite a long time. The last spot had very strong currents which made it extremely tiring, especially at the end of the day. We were quite tired by the end of it all. They served some muffins, coffee, and tea for breakfast during the one hour ride out. Although highly encouraged to take the free motion sickness medicine, nearly every one got sick off the back of the boat (and some didn’t make it to the back in time). Kacey was close, but just sat and relaxed to get through it. Coming back was the exact same thing; you really think people would have learned their lesson! It was a great day though. We didn’t get to see any sharks, which I really wanted to, but we did see some giant clams.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 20th, 2007

Today we rented a car and went north to the rainforest. We first stopped in Barron Gorge National Park at Lake Placid. We watched the ducks and ate a little food. We then drove up to the Hydro Station. There were some nice views of the Gorge along the way. After this we headed to Kuranda. This was a mountainside road that was very curvy with a steep elevation change. We stopped at a lookout about half way up for some views of the ocean and towns below. Once in Kuranda, it was obvious this was a little tourist stop. We stopped only for some information and moved on to the Barron Falls Lookout. Barron Falls feeds in to an enormous gorge. There was a nice hike through the rainforest to get down to the lookout. Next we drove over to Wrights Lookout.

From here we decided to drive inland (west) to Mareeba and drive south down highway 1 to Atherton, and then head back east to Gordonvale. We stopped in Atherton and looked for some information and Kacey ate some Greek food. Next we headed to the Curtain Fig Tree. This was a pretty large display of a Curtain Fig Tree. We also snapped many pictures of an Australian Brush Turkey, but only a couple came out any good. Our next stop was at Lake Eacham which is park of Crater Lakes National Park. Here we saw a few more Brush Turkeys and got a look at some turtles in the lake. We then stopped at Lake Barrine, just down the road, and got a view of several pelicans feeding. As it started to rain (as it was on and off all day), we ran to the car and headed over the Great Divide toward Gordonvale. Near Gordonvale, we snapped a few pictures of the natural Pyramid, a hill naturally shaped like a pyramid. There was not that much to see of it, so we headed north back to Cairns. We stopped at Adelfia for some good Greek food and called it a night (after buying a half liter of gelato for dessert).

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Wednesday November 21st, 2007

We bummed around this morning. Ate lunch at La Pizza (nothing special here) and walked the boardwalk.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

Friday November 16th, 2007

We arrived in AYQ near Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) and headed for Yulara (aka the Ayers Rock Resort). It was kind of surreal seeing the large monolith sticking up out of the ground while flying in. We checked in at the Lost Camel Resort and went to the grocer to purchase food for lunch and some random snacks. The rooms are interesting here. No TVs, just a radio and fridge. The hotels are very well made so they keep the heat out fairly well. Drove to Uluru, stopped at Cultural Center and spent a little time reading there. Went for two hikes (driving counter-clockwise around Uluru); the Kuniya Walk and the Mala Walk. Came back to the hotel for a quick break. Drove back to Uluru for the sunset view. Ate dinner at the Pioneer BBQ and Bar, which is a cook your own food place with live entertainment (locals playing covers).

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Saturday November 17th, 2007

Today we slept in, relaxed some, got a coffee (cheaper than Starbucks, in the middle of the desert), and went to grocer for juice and muffins. Finished grocer food for lunch. We drove to Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas), talked to Ranger Sam about park rangers here in the desert (~43 rangers). We ate dinner at the Pioneer Kitchen. Not too bad; pizza and vege wrap. We tried to do a Night Sky Show at the Observatory, but it was too cloudy.

There is not much to Kata Tjuta National Park. There are only a couple trails at Uluru and a couple viewing points along the way. The climb is usually closed unless you are here in their winter. The Olgas only have a couple trails as well and only a couple viewing areas as well. The Valley of the Winds trail is also usually closed.

Pictures from Saturday can be found here.

Sunday November 18th, 2007

We got up at 5am for the sunrise at Uluru. There were not really any good viewing places as it is a roadside stop and not elevated above the trees. Drove by to see if the climb was open and it was already closed due to winds. We bummed around by the pool until check-out. We ate at the Gecko's Café nearby and were disappointed. They gave our pizza to someone else, but we were the ones that noticed the mistake. When we brought it up, they did not apologize or anything and said that they were now putting another pizza on. Not until after I started to pay did I mention that this was disappointing and as soon as I mentioned a review of the place, she said sorry and no payment was necessary. The damage had been done and I threw a $20 at her and said it is too late.

Yulara is a resort that was planned and built in the mid 80’s. They did a fairly good job of hiding the resort in the hills and with trees. Crowd controls are pretty good too. This may be due to expenses here and several bus options for people to come in from Alice Springs. The bad part of the buses is when two or three show up to do a hike. They are loud and make shots difficult. The town is a little expensive, but deals can be found – like eating food from the grocer for breakfast and lunch. Dinner can be done for $30-60. The food actually is not too bad considering you are in the middle of the desert; we didn’t really have anything bad. I think the Aussies know how to plan and get food (and other things) to these remote towns fairly well. I thought a lot about how the village works (I can’t help it). I believe they satellite in TV, internet, phones, and a few radio stations. They then re-broadcast the radio here with transmitters as there are a few stations (some just may be accessible from Alice Springs. I doubt that any fiber has been run here. They make their own electricity and water. Internet is expensive too. There are wireless options around, but they were not available from our room. The rate was $25 for 24 hours (cumulative over two days) which is not too bad for out here. I am guessing it would not be that quick, though, as the internet terminals are not that fast either (about half your time at them is spent waiting for the pages to load). And, since the terminals are some proprietary crap software, we could not log into our bank to move funds.

Pictures from Sunday can be found here.

Melbourne, Australia

Monday November 12, 2007

After about 24 hours flying and waiting in airports (ORD, LAX, and SYD), we arrived in MEL. Customs and baggage took almost an hour due to a random search or visa hiccup (not sure which). We got through, tried to exchange $$US for $$AUD, but they wanted to charge about 8%. So we instead pulled some cash off the ATM (about 1-1.5% for us). We picked up some brochures for the city, bought two bus tickets, and headed for Melbourne CBD (central business district). We snapped a few pictures on the way in on the bus; typical looking city on the ride in. A fair amount of tall buildings were on the horizon. We arrived at the bus station where we received a free transfer to our hotel. We were dropped off at the front door of the Adelphi and in we went. We checked in, got to our room, and proceeded to immediately shower. We felt and probably looked nasty. After a quick rinse, we sat around for a few minutes, checking out the Australian TV shows while we rested for a bit. Around 2:30, we proceeded to talk a walk down the Yarra River. There were many little restaurants and some upscale shopping. We walked to nearly the end of Southbank and stopped for a sandwich and a pastry. This was our first realization that prices are high for goods and food in Melbourne. Part of this is the fact that there is no tipping at any time. Also, all taxes are included in your price. Once you understand that, it becomes a little easier to shell out the money. We proceeded to start walking back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a grocery and picked up some water, two peaches, and a mango. We also stopped for 15 minutes at the internet café to email the family and a couple friends.

After another quick rest in the hotel room watching some Netball, we headed down to meet Justin in the lobby. Once he arrived, we headed down for a walk west along the Yarra through the Alexandra Gardens. It was good to catch up and hear about his stay here, as he was leaving the next day for home. We proceeded back toward the Southbank and discussed the Eureka Skydeck. It is the tallest residential structure in the southern hemisphere. We decided to pay and head up to the observation deck. It was a pretty good view; the afternoon sun was throwing some serious glare our way, but we made due. The observation deck has a glass shelf that you can pay to ride on; it proceeds to extend out 10 feet over nothingness with a glass bottom. I recorded a video of it coming out, we will see if it came out.

After coming down, we started looking for a place to eat. Most of the places on the river are unnecessarily marked up, so we headed toward the center of town. Justin let us know that (similar to Europe) the best places are in the alleys. There was one stretch of street where all the restaurants were competing for business pretty loudly. After listening to the spiels and trying to get a little extra, we picked Vons. Both Justin and I got the Kangaroo and it was very good! Kacey got the Gorgonzola Gnocchi, but it tasted more like Romano. Our waiter didn’t speak English very well (sounded French) and was obviously not an experienced waiter. We asked a few times for drinks, but no tipping, so no worries. As it was getting late, Justin headed back and we quickly fell asleep.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 13, 2007

Today we slept in until about 8 or 9. We decided to walk to the Queen Victoria Market to see what all it had; we read that you can find anything and everything. Well, they were almost correct-there were no cars for sale. On our way, we stopped by the alley way off of Flinders Lane one block west of Swanson Street. This alley way had numerous little coffee shops and we ended up eating breakfast here every morning. Once at the Market, we started walking through the clothes and souvenirs area first and it was mostly stuff we didn’t really need. We walked for about an hour before we got to the food. It was wonderful; just to put in perspective each row was about 150 yards long, and there were about 8 rows before we got to the food and then there were about 4 rows of food. There were lots of local Australian fruits and vegetables, so we picked up some snacks. I ate a $1 mango, and Kacey got some strawberries and cherries. We also got some nanshi (sp?), which look like white apples and taste like them too. Then we crossed the street to another row of food, and some indoor shops with cheeses, meats, olives, wines, and pastries. We ended up buying some bread, white cheese, salami, and olives along with the fruit. We also bought a fig stuffed with mascarpone. Ah, so good.

We came back to the hotel room to eat and after a little rest we walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens south of the city. The guides said it would be about 1 mile, but it was probably 3 or 4 to get there. Once there, we let the cameras start snapping. We walked most of the gardens over a 2.5 hour period. There were plants and trees from all over the world here. We almost trammed back, but were not sure how the short ride ticket worked, or how much it was. By the way, the tram system here can get you where you need to go, but it is a little expensive (unless you have a day pass and use it all day). Also, you have to kind of know how it works; it is not a simple ticket purchase and ride till your stop like subways are. There are different ticket options and different zones and you can buy certain tickets at certain places.

For dinner we headed to Grossi Florentino. They have 3 eating areas; an upstairs fancy place, and two downstairs places. We ate at the one that is a small café/pasta bar that was supposed to be one of the better places. Well, the menu was limited and although Kacey’s pumpkin tortellini was good, my lasagna was so-so. Not much flavor or cheese. We then looked for a place to eat dessert, but as it was just past 9pm, everywhere closed up quickly.

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Wednesday November 14, 2007

Today we got up early to rent a car and head for the Great Ocean Road. The process was fairly painless as driving out of the city during the day is not too hard. We reached Geelong within an hour and kept on moving to Torquay. Just after Torquay is where the road started to get fun. This road reminded me just a little of the Road to Hana. A few straight a ways and a lot of hairpin turns thrown in there to make it load of fun to drive. On our way to the Split Point Lighthouse, we stopped at quick overlook. This was our first taste of the rest of the day. Once we reached the Split Point, we stopped to take a look, and ended up walking down to the beach. I was tempting the tide and walked out on some rocks just in time for a tidal wave to come in (about 6-9 inches out of nowhere). After attempting to dry my socks out, we hiked back to the car and I put my sandals on in hopes my shoes and socks would dry out.

We stopped in Lorne to pick up some information packets on Otway National Park. We read about a few water falls in the area, so we drove back to one, the Erskine Falls and hiked down for a view. While heading back down to the Ocean Road, we also stopped at Teddy’s Lookout for a nice view of the valley and ocean. Our next stop was Apollo Bay for a quick bite and a view of the ocean. We ate at the Apollo Bay hotel; the fish and chips were not spectacular, but we ate it up and moved on to Maits Rest. This was a nice loop walk through a Rain Forest. We were going to stop and hike to the Hopetoun Falls, but the road was closed.

As the forest turned to rolling pastures, we stopped at Castle Cove look out for a quick view of the ocean and some cliffs. Coming up next was the Melba Gully State Park. This was another nice Rain Forest hike that we had all to ourselves. This hike included what is believed to be the oldest tree in Australia (an Otway Messmate). Amongst this beast are the Mrytle Beech trees. These trees, which provide the canopy for the rain forests here, grow fast and tall. These trees are having difficulty with disease in the area, so much work is being done to protect them, and in effect protect the rain forests.

Next on our route was to be the 12 Apostles in the Port Cambell National Park. Unfortunately, we missed the turn as the carpark was on the inside of the Ocean Road (everything else was on the ocean side). So, next we turned in for a stop at Loch Ard Gorge (this is when we realized we had passed the 12 Apostles). After some gawking at the cliffs here, we headed back a few kilometers to the 12 Apostles. A short walk out to the cliffs, we were again amazed at the formations in the rock off the coast. The pictures probably won’t do justice to the size and height of these formations. Next on our trip we stopped at a scenic view of a natural arch made in the rock. (We forgot to take a picture of the name of the place (PB140093 – 97)). Just down the road from here was London Bridge (which some people now call London Arch). We had heard about this stop along the Ocean Road. This is another rock formation that used to form a double arch (hence the London Bridge name), but in 1990, the arch connecting the rock to land fell into the ocean. Two hikers were stranded on the formation and were rescued by helicopter. After a quick 2.5 hour drive on a long, fairly flat, lonely road, we were back in Melbourne. This is where the fun started. We were very hungry and just wanted to eat. Since we had a car, we headed to Carlton which is known for its Italian restaurants. Parking was sparse and navigating these streets at night was no picnic. We headed to one that was supposed to be open until 10, but it was not. We went to the first place that looked ok and open; the Key on the Wall Ristorante can be skipped if you are in the area. We headed back to Brunetti for coffee and dessert. After finding a place to stash the car overnight, we finally got to bed around midnight.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Thursday November 15, 2007

We bought a day pass for the MetLink system. We went to the Melbourne Zoo. Then we headed down to St. Kilda Beach. Ate some gelato and walked around a bit. We saw the Luna Park, but it was closed. Trammed to the store Books for Cooks. We got the idea for Tapas there and ate dinner at Movida. We bought the chef's new cookbook and had him sign it too!

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.

Australia & New Zealand Pictures are Up!

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/

You will find a link for Australia & New Zealand on our site. Feel free to browse through our pictures, or try the Favorites link if you have a slow internet connection or less time. Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had web hosting problems. So, please let me know if you find any problems. Also, I am not sure when the guest book will be working, but I am trying. Feel free to leave picture comments on this post.

I hope to pull out the journal we kept on the trip and write a post about each city we stayed in; not just for you the reader, but for us to reminisce our wonderful trip. Maybe I will have time this weekend for that.

Enjoy!

Format War - It's Nearing the End

Lots of news today, and people are predicting the end! Good for the consumers? Well, most of them.

Engadget Death Watch

Wal-Mart bows out

Toshiba "reconsidering the market"

It is good for the consumers that were waiting to make a decision. It is bad for people like me, but not in the way you would think. See, I have been supporting Blu-ray for a while now and since I picked a camp, I have been purchasing very cheap Blu-ray discs on Amazon ($15-20 each). Once Blu-ray is declared the winner, Sony camp will have no more reason to move Blu-ray discs at severly discounted rates. Oh well...

Just curious, any readers out there declare this enough evidence to hop on board? If not, go read some of the news articles about player makers that are siding with Blu-ray as well.


UPDATE 16-Feb-2008:
This just in!

Rose-Hulman on the Superbowl!

If you were watching part of the 6 hour Superbowl 2008 pre-game, you may have seen the part where different people from the NFL read a part of the Declaration of Independence. If you viewed Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning of the Colts and wondered where they were filmed, it was in fact at the White Chapel at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (my alta mater).





I have some friends that were married there (it was built after I graduated). Alan and Ericka Study, along with Dan and Shawnna Householder were married at the White Chapel.

Ideas, Starting Now

Ok, so it has been a little busy lately. I can't tell you why yet, but trust me.

http://gizmodo.com/349163/google-contest-winner-delivers-clean-water-via-bicycles

I ran across this article the other day and thought I would share it. Being an engineer, I absolutely love thinking up ideas, especially when they can help people. No, I have never had an idea with nearly the impact that this could have, but I do have ideas all the time that I don't even write down. I should have made that a resolution for this year... at least capture those ideas.

Hey, I can use Google Documents for that!

Do You Talk To Your Cats? Now You Can!

Some people say that cats can not be trained because we can not communicate with them. I disagree. For example, our cats play fetch, as well as scratch their scratching post before eating. We trained them through repetition (except for the fetch part, we have no idea where they got that). So, for you all out there who have cats and would like to communicate better with them, take a look at the link and read through their suggestions. I found a few of the facial expression notes interesting and am already working to better talk to my cats.

http://www.wikihow.com/Communicate-With-Your-Cat

Alzheimer's Reversal

Sorry, I am a little late in getting this post up. Very amazing stuff!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109091102.htm

Web Hosting

I am curious of everyone out there - who hosts your website and are you pleased?

I have been a user of ipowerweb for a couple years now. I have been having problems recently, but didn't think anything of it for a few days. Now, as I started googling ipowerweb, I see the news. They have been having major problems for months and there are talks of lawsuits and massive movements to other web hosting solutions.

So, I am just getting ready to move...

I know some of you out there appear to have a small hosting of a blog, and then use flickr for photos. Photos is my major use of my website, so I am now considering this route too.

Who Does Mike Huckabee Look Like?

Wait, which one is Kevin Spacey and which one is Mike Huckabee?

Warner Bros. Makes A Decision, For Now

(January 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros.
Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the
Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry
Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner
Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

from deadlinehollywooddaily via engadgethd

One By One - Alter Bridge

I mentioned last year I had this new album, Blackbird, by Alter Bridge. It really is fantastic. Read the lyrics to this song and you may see why this is one of my two favorite songs on the album. Also, listen to part of the song here. Unfortunately, you can not get the full effect of the intense cord progressions of the chorus in this sample, so head over to the Alter Bridge website and you can listen to their songs there (bottom left on their page).

Underneath the desert sun
They bid my brother’s blood to run
Many miles away
Hell has come today
Fire raining from the sky
See the face of fear asking one last time
Let me get home safe
Before it’s too late

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all

Deep within the castle walls
So many grievers’ funeral songs
Echo in their sleep
Ode to memories
The sacrifice of flesh and blood
For a promise land that may not be won
Let us not forget
The hero laid to rest

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all

And they gave it all
A price we can’t ignore
Is there hope in what they're dying for?
For every hero gone
For every family torn
We will honor you forevermore

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all
They gave it all

Comcast - Day 1

Day 1 status after being switched from Insight to Comcast.

HDTV Not Working (Jan 1, football day)

Thanks Comcast. Get ready Dish/DirectTV. I am switching soon.

Geeks Love Foxtrot!

From Foxtrot.com today

Beautiful!

Google Street View has come to Indianapolis

Google Maps has added Indianapolis to Street View. But, they have not stopped at just downtown, no, they have added the greater area, including many cities and towns within 50 miles!

Greenwood, IN

So, this includes Martinsville, Terre Haute, Greenwood, Brownsburg, Shelbyville, Bloomington, Lafayette, Kokomo, Muncie, Anderson, Columbus, Crawfordsville, the list goes on (sorry Ft. Wayne, you were just barely missed).

Now, if NAVTEQ would only add my subdivision! (My battle continues with them, as they supply map data for nearly ALL online map services for Indianapolis and Greenwood)

Recycling and Cleaning

We are doing some cleaning around the house and we are attempting to recycle nearly everything we throw away during this cleaning. (BTW, we currently recycle glass, plastic, and newspaper/phone books, and we compost).

I know there are several good options out there for recycling old cell phones, but I thought this was especially easy. You print out this postage-paid label for a box, and throw your cell phones in the box. Its that easy! We are sending about 5 cell phones out on Monday.

http://www.recellular.com/kab/shippingLabel.asp?RequestID=199&barcode=KAB054

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! And my God bless you and yours during this season of remembrance.

So I am up on Christmas morning reading news, actually. This article about the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD war sparked a thought as I disagree with their opinion.

Some powerful voices are telling buyers to remain on the sidelines.
Consumer Reports instructed readers not to purchase either HD DVD or Blu-ray players. Film critic Roger Ebert recently wrote that he's not buying until the format war is settled.

If people take a passive approach and wait for one side to win, no one will win. We, the consumers, will continue to be the losers until some sort of agreement is made, or dual media players become more prevalent. I say pick a side, and go with it! Pick the side that you prefer (depending on if you are an XBox 360, PS3 fan, Disney fan, etc).

For consumers, picking one high-def player means some favorites flicks won't be available in their chosen format.

While this is true, the flicks will continue to be available in regular, good old DVD. So, you will be able to purchase and watch in home any movie you desire. For example, I wanted to purchase the Bourne Trilogy, but as it is not available in Blu-ray (my choice), I will purchase the DVDs. And, as I have picked Blu-ray, I have access to great titles such as The Simpsons Movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, and all Disney filmes. I say we the consumers work to end the war and pick the side we think is better (Blu-ray!) and help ensure they win the "war".

Lucky for my side, Blu-ray has Disney, which is what I hope will help end this so called war.

New (To Me) Web Site!

Ever try to park at the airport parking during a very busy holiday or other time of the year?

Now, we need not worry anymore. I just made my first reservations, for about the same price as the long term lots, and they may even wash my car!

http://airportparkingreservations.com/

The website was very easy to use. I will let you know how the experience ended up.