Short trip report thread

[suzzer99]

FYI - I just put up some pics from my Ireland trip. Nothing too exciting like some of my Asia stuff. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Was a very nice time though, and I'm trying to get fancy with my new Nikon D80 here. With mixed results maybe - I dunno. But I had fun playing with the pics in Picassa. Soon I move up to Photoshop. Intimidating.

I guess they had their wettest June ever, but we got really lucky in that the sun seemed to come out whenever we needed it. Yay luck o the Irish.

http://www.synergizethis.com/Ireland2007/index.html

Can't think of too much that would entice the forum in a trip report. Standard family fun, touristy stuff. Love love love the country and the people. I don't think such a thing exists as an Irishman w/o a personality or a great sense of humor. It's absolutely amazing how two islands right next to each other can have such different personalities.

If anyone is looking for a swanky place to stay in Dublin I can recommend Number 31 . The hosts were incredibly gracious and by far the best breakfast (smoked salmon omelette) I had in Ireland. Also if you want to see what live NLHE might have been like in the states 10 years ago (where they actually played it) try a local poker tourney. Pretty sure most of my table had never bluffed in their lives. They were fun. Don't miss Kilmaneum Gaul (the jail) if you tour Dublin. Seriously it was an incredible tour.

Oh yeah and the Guiness, or any nitrogenated beer really, is so much better over there.


Blarney Castle



Killarney National Park



SOFREAKINGGOOD



Tractor at the Jameson distillery

[Zeestein]

Steak and Kidney Pie from British pub while watching soccer/football:

beef + kidney + vegetables + delicious Guiness gravy sauce + puff pastry = awesome

Highly recommended

[Lazy Meatball]

One night and two days in NYC

So my friend Phil, who loves driving everywhere picked me up in the early afternoon before picking up our other two comrades in Boston and hopping on I-95 south. On the way there a case of beer is consumed with blatant disregard for open container laws. We arrived in the city around 6 or 7 and made our way over to Shea Stadium where we parked on the grass on the side of the highway and proceeded to urinate on the surrounding bushes.

At the game I saw my mighty Reds go down 2-1 inbetween many $7 Budlights and and a hot dog. I really have no interest in the Reds except that I went with a Mets fan and felt like antagonizing him so I bought a hat and an Adam Dunn shirt before the game. On the drive home on whatever bridge connects Queens to Manhattan we pulled a variation of the Chineese Firedrill, only instead of waiting for a stop light Phil just threw on his hazards and stopped in the right lane, then proceeded to urinate off the side of the bridge.
Surrounding traffic was not amused.

After checking in to our hotel in Midtown we got dinner at a BBQ joint (sliced beef brisket sandwhich and fries with pitchers of Stella Artois), and went barhopping with some friends who live in New Jersey. I made the witty comment towards some couple taking forerver at the jukebox "What are you doing, picking out baby names? which was responded to by some bitch saying "Shut up." I was recognized on the street at 3am by an old summer camp friend I had not seen in over 10 years. he bought me a beer then proceeded to hit on the bartender despite her possible engagement ring. When we got back to the hotel (after being locked out for 20 minutes) we realized that the suite Phil booked only had a twin bed and a pull out couch. In an amazing Coup d'Etat Phil claimed the bed for himself, made two dudes share the pull out couch, and I threw the couch cushions in the bathroom and slept in the tub. Before going to bed a drunken argument arose about the order of defecation in the bathroom in which I claimed first dibs now that the bathroom was deemed my domain. I however forgot to lock the door and saw a camera phone sneak through the crack and take a picture of me on the can. In return I gave Phil a pressed ham against the shower glass doors when he had to take a piss the next morning.

The next morning I got to pick where we had lunch, but was then overruled when I picked the first Pub that served beer. I vetoed the indian restaurant and we went with the Mexican place I picked which was very nice inside, and had just opened so we were the only ones there and got great service. Best of all it offered and all you could drink in an hour special for $10, however it only came if you ordered from the brunch menu. I appreciate how they were encouraging us to drink as much as we could with breakfast. I went with four margaritas while Phil ran the gamut and ordered one of everything included in the special: Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Domestic Beer (Amstel light), Screwdriver, and a Margarita. We had the Nachos appetizer which I followed with a Western Omelet

We then took the Subway to Shea, watched the Reds lose again, ate a street side taco and I slept in the car ride home.

[BK_]

Recently went to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands with my parents, grand parents, girlfriend, brother, sister, and sister's boyfriend. (Technically was my parents 25th anniversary - we never go on family vacations so this was a rare outing)

Welcome to Virgin Gorda:



On the way to the villa we came across a nice view:



That night we ate and drank alot. This picture shows neither:



Later that evening (Very drunk by this point):



The solution to such a night is water and sun:



Apparently my brother was feeling ok:



more can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7611776@N06/

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

I went to see the film Tristana at the Bangkok Film Festival. It is a Luis Bunuel film from 1970.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066491/

I thought it was cool to watch an old movie from 1970 in a movie theater, but unforchantely I found the movie boring and I had no idea wtf the director was trying to get across. For the most part, I dislike movies that try to show what is happening in society by observing a few individual people. It seems like every other French movie I see has a fat ugly old man as the main character whose head I would like to ram through a window. I fell asleep somewhere near the middle and woke up during the last five minutes.

[secretprankster]

Saw the White Stripes at MSG this past Tuesday. Was reluctant because I knew they weren't going on until 10 and I had to get up at 5 the next morning, but they really rocked. I had never seen them before but had always read that their live thing was based around improv and going with the flow, something that I guess is easy when you just have a one-man band and a girl thwapping out basic 2-4. They played basically everything I could've asked for, save "Offend In Every Way" and "Hardest Button to Button." Jack's definitely a great stage presence and they set up these disco-ball light shows during the climaxes of three songs which are escaping me. One was "Seven Nation Army."

Instead of an encore they basically did two fairly big sets. I think they had ten songs when they came back the second time, and basically all ten were their big hits. The crowd went nuts for "I Just Don't Know..." and that was a lot of fun. But man, they are REALLY loud for a duo.

Other highlights were "Catch Hell Blues" and "Ball and Biscuit."

[ahnuld]

Had the biggest poker loss iv ever had on wednesday. Played some 10-20 HU and just got ridiculous beats. Im finally down 16k and then tell BBV im going to take a 10k shot at 100-200 plo to get even. Very first hand dealt I call a raise with K2ssTT. We take the flop 3 handed and it comes out Qs Td 5s. I check, first guy pots, other guy calls, I shove, first guy reshoves and we get it in heads up. He has QJ97 with spades but he actually only has 20% equity on the 23k pot. He hits, I lose, and want to die.

I had plans for the night so I cant chase my loss even further. I have two tickets to see the police, which i got for my dad for fathers day. hes very grateful and wants to take me out to dinner before the concert so we go to queue de cheval, the supposed best steakhouse in Montreal. It is pretty good. I had lobster tempura to start which was a bit to heavy for me, but good nonetheless. Main course I ordered the filet mignon, which I was disappointed with. I ordered it blue while everyone else ordered it plain rare yet all three steaks came out exactly the same. It was good, just not what I ordered and I expect more from a place like that. I didnt complain because we were in a rush, but at the end of the meal my dad was talking to the manager when he came over (my father had been there the week before taking out a senator) and we got a round of ten year port on the house, which is always nice.

So we finished the port and went over to the concert. The police were pretty good. Sting couldnt hit all the high notes on roxanne or dont stand so close to me, but he realised his limitations and worked around them taking the songs in a more jazzy route. The place was packed and by then end everyone was into it, standing and singing along for the last hour. They did the first encore which ended on every breath you take. I assumed that was the end and a bit cheezy, but then they came back for a second encore and ended on some earlier punky stuff which I didnt recognize but appreciated anyways. All in all, it was a really good night, if not a horrible day.

[Boris]

Here are some pics from my mini vacations this summer.

Rafting on the Madison River near Bozeman, Montana.




Lewis & Clark Caverns



On the trail hiking in the American Selkirks in Northern Idaho


Fault Lake


Happy Dogs at our camp site


Bushwhacking across a saddle below Gunsight Peak


I was stoked to find huckleberries late in the Summer at high elevations. Delicious.


Our camp site.


Storm over Priest Lake. We were soaked within 40 minutes after taking this picture

[Boris]

Oh yea, one part I left out of my report was the trip to the strip club in Missoula, MT. Obviously no pics can be provided. Due to some drama on the home front, my buddy needed to go to Fred's Lounge slightly NSFW. 90% of my strip club experience has been with Las Vegas strip clubs, which rule for the most part. So although I didn't really want to go and was only doing this for a friend, I was curious to see what this place would be like. The positives are that the girls get buck azz naked. The negatives are that place is tiny; there are only like 5 strippers working at one time; and the girls have just a little bit of an attitude (but are still pretty nice) because they have a captive audience. Oh yea and only one of the girls was certifiably hot. The rest were attractive but would not make you go wow. The drinks were expensive ($4 a pop for Coors Light) but what do you expect in a strip club? In summary, the Fred's experience is nothing like the mega huge vegas strip club experience but I guess it will have to do in a pinch. Afterwards we went to another bar with one of the strippers. I know it sounds like there is potential for awesomeness here but she was extremely annoying with her chatter so we went home to mom's house and passed out.

[El Diablo]

All,

Had lunch w/ JaBlue at Ferry Building. We had Roasted Pork Vietnamese sandwiches from Out the Door. JaBlue and his gf are both very cool. I felt very old.