July 20, 1969: One Small Step … One Giant Leap …
http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/07/dayintech_0720
biffsocko.com is a huge fan of the crew of Apollo 11 and NASA in general. For related posts:
http://www.biffsocko.com/2010/05/14/neil-armstrong-kicking-ass/
The Custer Observatory is home of the largest telescope on Long Island. Since it’s open to the public every Saturday night, I had the oportunity to gaze at the stars through it last weekend. It was a beautiful stary night and I look forward to going back again.
I was lucky enough to get out to Montauk this past weekend.
I hiked down the beach to “Camp Hero”
where the seals hang out on the rocks
With Christmas over, we swung right into New Years!!! We had New Years Eve at our house this year. A small group of friends and family came over and stayed the night. We couldn’t have a huge party this year because we had to fly out on New Years Day to Orlando, but in the future, we’ll have more elobarate NYE parties. The logistics worked out great at our house. We have lots of bedrooms and bathrooms so nobody has to drive home. Plenty of room to stay. I suppose we’ll do a big dinner on New Years Eve, and then a brunch on New Years Day. This year was the test run.
So, new years resolutions. As always, lose a few pounds, I lost some from last year but I’d like to lose a few more in 2010. Finish my MS degree. I don’t have much left, but I’d like to finish it up. Finally .. save more for retirement. We’ve made some dramatic changes this past year but I think we can do even better.
My wife, sister, brother-in-law, and myself go to Orlando each December or January (one of the past trips: Orlando 2008). This year it was flippin cold. In the 30’s most of the time. The forcast said 65ish, so I left my jacket in the car at the airport. Fatal error. I ended up getting a cold. As usual, we ate and drank our way through Orlando at Disney and a few other places. On this trip we discoverd Joe’s Crab Shack. Let’s just say “YUM”. Teriffic seafood, and lots of it. We also did a very nice dinner at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Shows. It was quite entertaining.
The weather and my cold was about the only bummer. We were in San Diego last month and the weather was in the 40’s because of a typhoon someplace in the Pacific. That’s unusually cold for San Diego. Now we went to Florida and they had the coldest weather they’ve had in years. I’ve been trying to escape the cold all winter without any success. I think I need another vacation. I’ve been gyped thus far.
Anyway, I’ll update again soon
Rosie and I took a trip to San Diego for a few days this past week. The weather wasn’t the greatest, but we had the chance to walk along the beaches on Coronado Island, did some antique and rug shopping in La Jolla, and of course we found a really good steak house called Georges on 5th. Our time share is located in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, so we didn’t really have to do much driving. There are loads of terrific bars and restaurants all through out San Diego, but there is a concentration of such places in the Gaslamp Quarter. One place we really loved was the Excalibur Cigar and Wine Bar. We spent a bit of time there sampling wines and smoking cigars. If you haven’t been there, or its been a while, I’d say its worth the trip.
Rosie and I stumbled on New Bern North Carolina back in 2007. This years ghost walk was based on the roaring 20’s. We had a blast, as we did back in 2007. We are definetly going back for the 2010 Ghost Walk. Once again, we ate and drank our way through the city. We plan on staying a few days longer next year so we can enjoy a bit more of North Carolina; perhaps taking in some of the area vinyards.
Our trip to Orlando is about over. We’ll be heading home tomorrow. The 9 day jaunt is ending way to quickly but I feel refreshed, which is kind of what taking such trips is about. For the last few years my wife and I have been trying to get down to Orlando with my sister and brother-in-law. We take in Disney, the outlets, the local restaurants and shows, and we like to hang out poolside with a few beers.
This year we came down with two other couples. We stayed in a 4 bedroom / 4 bathroom suite with a giant kitchen, living room, two hot tubs and a. long balcony. The other two couples drove down and were able to bring cases of wine, port, beer and mead. I think we all had a nice time, we dined out, cooked gourmet meals, drank fine wine, hot tubed, shopped, and rode roller coasters. We saw firework displays, Cirque Du Soleil (La Nouba), and smoked expensive cigars.
Now I gotta go home tomorrow and prepare to wake up on Monday at 5am to get my butt to the gym again 
I had dinner last night at Victoria and Albert’s last evening. If you clicked on the link you’ll get an idea on the type of menu that was there. It was a 7 course meal with wine pairings. The food was great, the wines were great (we were all looped when we left) and we had a ton of laughs through dinner (mostly alcohol fueled).
If you’re a foodie, its a must do. They have great combinations and interesting dishes. I’d say this review is accurate : Frommers Review
Rosie and I took the trip up to Newport RI for the weekend last week. We attended a wedding. It was very nice. The reception was at theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame. It was unusual and very nice. We bopped around the town a little bit, but spent most of our time shopping.
Family Guy: Road To Rhode Island!
Well today wraps up our weekend in the Wisconsin Dells, the water park capital of the world. We stayed with our timeshare( Wyndham Vacation Resorts) at the Glacier Canyon Lodge. We had an awesome time. The Wisconsin Dells it a fantastically well kept secret. It is only a two hour flight from LaGuardia Airport to Madison Wisconsin, and about a 35 minute drive from the Madison airport to the Dells. Well worth the trip. There is a TON of things to do here. We couldn’t fit it all in on a single weekend, but we did get the chance to do a few things.
On our first day here we did “Wizard Quest”, a live action adventure. You have to crawl through hidden passages, solve puzzles and find hidden passageways to free four trapped wizards. It sounds goofy but it was terrific fun. It kind of appealed to the geek in me. Afterwards we took a walk down the Wisconsin River and stopped in at the River Walk Pub. The picture on the website does it no justice at all. Check it out here. Afterwards we did a little shopping on its main street, went to a bar called Das Boots, and did dinner at a place called Del Bar, which was ok but a little over rated.
The next day we did the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory which was a little cheesy but fun never the less. Afterwards we went on a Sun Set Dinner Cruise where we had lobster and steak. It was quite nice.
I’m surprised that more NY’ers haven’t heard of the Wisconsin Dells. We really did have a great time and look forward to going back. We didn’t even scratch the surface of things to do.
