Beach Party

Spc. Jeremy M. Dimaranan, 29, Virginia Beach, Va., June 16, 2004, Iraq

Capt. James C. Edge, 31, Virginia Beach, Va., April 14, 2005, Iraq

Chief Warrant Officer Travis W. Grogan, 31, Virginia Beach, Va., Nov. 27, 2004, Afghanistan

Yesterday we spent the morning in Virginia Beach. A little girl walked over with this in her hand and showed us what she found. After I took this photo, she carried it into the beach house to show her mom, who I’m sure was more than happy to have this fine specimen in her kitchen.

It is the quintessential urban park that almost every city should be envious of. Central Park is literally the cynosure of all New Yorkers and almost every tourist likes to take a brief walk through its green environs. I had visited New York on previous two occasions and both times, the time I spend in Central Park hardly revealed the breathing space that keeps New York alive. The first time, I took a brisk walk alongside the Great Lawn although the weekend sunbathing people did slow down my pace a wee bit. The second time I was with my parents and like every person past their prime walking years, they found the vastly spread out green a bit of a drag. However this time, I was with two people very much in their youth and an equal eagerness to see the Park. Of course, it wasn’t a one-day job so we just walked across (again!) to the East side alongside the reservoir. At that time, I was meeting up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin busy in discussing urban space facets of the park rather than simply taking in the view. But as my oft-practiced tolerance for less-visiting relatives is inevitable, I let it be.

Naturists in southern England are concerned about the status of Eastney nude beach at Portsmouth in Hampshire. Described in the Bare Britain guide as ‘easily accessible’ and ‘officially recognised by the local council’; its future may be threatended by proposed high-rise residential development adjacent to the naturist area.

I know all about buoys, and how to steer my way to open seas. I know what to do if a tug boat pulling a barge crosses my path. (unlikely on this lake) I know what to do when gassing up the boat (sniff for fumes before starting up the engine, gas cans filled on the dock not in the boat) I even know the correct part of the boat to step on when climbing in from the dock. But what I do not know is how to turn the boat on, or make it go. I asked husband if friendly boat donor planned on showing us how to do such trivial things and he didn’t think so. Oh, canoe, canoe, canoe.

plans are mostly set for our canoeing trip in july. Ed and I are going to canoe for a few days. It’s going to be down the Greenbrier River, something like 30 miles. very excited about it. a little apprehensive being so far from civilization, but Ed’s boy scout training will keep us safe.

After the housecleaning, I went shopping for a swimsuit. This what I learned: I am WAY too chubby right now to be trying on swimsuits! None of them look good one me. So, I bought a pair of overalls instead. It is much kinder to the general public for me to wear overalls instead of a swimsuit. So, tomorrow starts my diet in earnest. I have to lose a few pounds and tone up before we go to Vegas! You are all my witnesses! Feel free to call me on the carpet if I write that I am eating any really fattening food! I will let you know how much...

This weekend brings us another puff-piece biopic from the Arts & Entertainment channel, this time one that makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look celebrity cool and teddy bear charming. Unlike the 1977 Pumping Iron version of history, in which young Arnie smokes a joint at a beach party, the 2005 reenactment has him politely declining the chance to get stoned. Well, of course he declined. No matter what was really happening on the beaches of California thirty of forty years ago, Arnie is now Governor, and there’s a certain honor in the way a governor...

Onward to: St. Paul’s Cathedral. I strolled around the outside and was shocked (shocked!) to see people sunbathing on the grounds. I’m certainly not a religious sort, but that seemed a little disrespectful to me. Inside, there was a service going on — it’s easy to forget that these classic churches which are such popular tourist stops are also functioning Anglican churches. I was a little surprised to find a service happening at 3:30, but there we were. Not much opportunity for touristing around, so I just listened to the sermon. It was a woman vicar (at St. Paul’s — I was stunned) and the lesson was quite reasonable: you don’t have time for God when you’re rushing from place to place so just Slow Down. I went downstairs and had a quick afternoon nosh (tea, I suppose) at the Crypt Cafe. Why, oh why didn’t they have t-shirts? I would have bought one in a heartbeat.

I’m not so excited about going through the worst of the summer while at my largest. Thank goodness our apartment is air-conditioned and has a pool. Score two for Carrie. Knowing my luck, we’ll have one of the hottest summers on record. Note to self: must get cute maternity swimsuit. Does such a thing exist? Maybe I’ll just get a bikini and scare the hell out of my neighbours. Heh.

Meanwhile, in my own, er, research this evening, I've also come across Dahlia Gordon's doctoral dissertation, titled Strippers and nudists: A comparative study using the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). Yeah, it's funny to read that "participants were recruited on a voluntary basis at nude dancing establishments and at a public nude beach," but a comparison of the two groups does really interest me, in that the idea of even being in a strip club makes me queasy, yet I'm entirely comfortable and happy on a nude beach. (Just to be clear, nothing against strippers: I'm friends with a few current and former strippers, and they're wonderful.)

The abstract is a tease (no pun intended), so if I really want to learn how these two groups differ from each other, and from the general population, I might have to actually read it.

Ever been outside when the temperature is -60 degrees F? Actual Temperature? How about a windchill of -65 degrees F or lower? If you think it's starting to sound like Antartica here then you'd have to stick around for our summers, where record highs are about 114 degrees. The heat wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have about 15,000 lakes the size of 2 city blocks or more each (some miles and miles long) heating up like giant humidifiers as well. The humidity here can easily reach 80% - and it's not raining. These same lakes freeze in the winter - sucking all moisture from the air.

My last flight was very smooth and suddenly the weather which was warm and sunny began to turn cold. My fellow passenger was a lady and she put on her jacket and asked me if i was flying to finland for the first time.The view was simply awesome, i was able to see the "Land of thousand lakes" and i could see water everywhere.Also there were lot of clouds around and i was feeling i was in heaven while sailing in the clouds.

Maria and I are looking forward to seeing you all again this year. By now, you know the way to La Casa Goomba. Bring your swimsuits, your funniest stories and a sense of humor. This year we'll be parking out on the street. The lawn still hasn't recovered from last year. There's only so many pick-up trucks that Bermuda grass can tolerate.

You basically strap the camera in to the casing, attach it to the plane and then as the aircraft soars above the ground you can take panoramic shots of yourself, your mates or if, you are so inclined the fox sunbathing naked in next door’s back garden. The plane, which can apparently accommodate up to 55g of cargo, also comes with some other accessories including a mini parachutist, a little bomb and a cargo pod so you can drop messages. There’s even a paper glider that you can release when you're up in the big wide blue. Potential stalkers...

I'm feeling very unsure and insecure about this whole story. It's back to that old debate again that discourages me so much, that you can only write what you know. I don't think it's true -- or maybe I'm just desperate to believe it's not true because it would be so limiting, so limiting. Now I'm getting into the part where people are actually scuba diving and I don't even know what I don't know. This is so difficult. I cut all of the bits about people with accents because two people commented on it and I felt weird about it myself. Now it's...

The new Wynn Las Vegas casino and Casears have joined trendsetter Mandalay Beach in offering topless pools. Besides reaching back to Vegas' more carefree days, the option is turning into a pricless marketing and money making niche. Mandalay Bay rents out the cabanas above the pool to high rollers for $500 on the weekends.

Shank said he thinks more people came to the Myrtle Beach rally this year because the weather in Daytona Beach has not been very good the past few years, because there are lots of beachfront hotels here and less expensive hotels than in Daytona, and because there is more opportunity to ride here. ``Some rallies you go and sit. Here you can get out and ride. We try to encourage people to go to Charleston and Wilmington. People have a bike for a reason,'' Shank said.

When we got the island, I thought "Canoe!", the husband thought "Speed boat!" or some other kind of big, noisy, gas guzzling, lake polluting boat, I don't know the difference.

On my first visit to Brasil, this place completely captured my imagination. The people, culture, food, music and beaches - wow those beaches! I knew then, and still believe 8 years later (living here 2 years), that somewhere here in this massive, fascinating country, there sits a place on a hill, elevated just high enough above the marine eco-zone to grow a garden, surrounded by rain forest, overlooking the beach, and out to the sea, where I can buy or build a Casa, then I will have discovered my place in the sun.

Caye Caulker is a small island off the coast that has no beaches and where a person can walk across the island at its widest point in 5 minutes. It was once an affordable place to vacation until the tree hugging greenies protected the reef, slapped a $20/$30 use fee (to be read as a penalty like taxes) on any use of the reef such as diving, fishing or snorkeling. They even protected the see grass that grows in the shallows by the shore so the only way to enter the water legally is off a dock or some other man made obstacle. Next the ´Committee To Drive Up Cost And Send Tourist Dollars To Honduras´ will be protecting the dirt so a person will have to pay to walk around. So Mel and I saved our dollars for Honduras where we can snorkel ($5 rather than $35) and Dive ($15 a tank rather than $50) on the same exact reef. We found a disintegrating concrete wave break that was destroyed during a hurricane in the 80´s to sun on, bought Rum($6) and Fruit juice ($4) and drank the whole thing until we were drunk. We swam is the aqua blue water that was refreshingly warm and rested as a sweet ocean breeze cooled our tanning bodies After a nice sleep in the lazy sun we went to a local soccer game and met some natives, who are the nicest community of people ever, and then dined with a very nice family from Utah (not Mormon, not that there is anything wrong with that) who were in advertising. Next day we caught the 7:00 ferry for the mainland to catch our connecting bus to Guatemala. There really was not much to do in Belize as all of the tourist we met were trying to go somewhere else also.

We were excited about getting our reservations for the San Blas Islands. We had heard that we would have white sandy beaches all to ourselves and that we´d be sick of lobster by the time we left. I´m not sure who told us this but it wasn´t exactly true.

This last leg of our trip has involved three different beaches. We spent the night in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, a tranquil fishing village on the Pacific coast of southern Nicaragua. We didn't do much but eat ceviche and walk the beach before taking a water taxi to a remote backpackers oasis at Bahia Majagual - one of Nicaragua's most beautiful areas. There we stayed in a huge thatch roofed dorm room with bunk beds for 30 people and also shared community bathrooms with the other guests and several cute little...

Looking for a perfect family canoe trip with desert landscapes rivaling the Grand Canyon, ancient Indian ruins to explore, and no crowds? Then pack up the kids, strap on your canoe, and head to Canyonlands National Park for a float on the Green River. Just don’t forget to calculate the “Sky Factor.”

Have you ever fantasized about a room full of sexy college coeds sweating over a match of Strip-Counterstrike; or perhaps you long to see young, bikini-clad sweethearts slaving away with soldering irons, installing mod-chips in their home consoles?

Dr. Beach announced America’s best beaches for 2005, and Fort DeSoto tops the list. Ranked #2 last year, Ft. DeSoto in South Pinellas is truly a great spot for fun in the surf, tanning, and catching some rays. We make our way over there a few times each summer, since it’s Wifey’s favorite beach too.

As an experiment I grabbed a handful of photos form the streets and beaches of Rio De Janeiro and cropped out some women in bikinis. I added some descriptive tags and POOF. Within 15 minutes of uploading the photos in my Brazil’s Bikini Girls set each of the photos had more views than any of my other photos that had been uploaded for days. Now that the swimsuit clad ladies of Copacabana and Ipanema have been up for 24 hours they have more views than my other 600+ photos combined. In fact the only photo that can even compete a little bit with...

From Saigon, I headed north to Nha Trang, a resort town famous for its beached and world class scuba diving. The diving was good, but too cold for me to go out for more than the one day. I did see more moray eels and lionfish in one day than I had seen in all the diving I’d done up until that point. I’m looking forward to getting back to the warm waters of Koh Tao. After a few days on the beach, I moved north again to Hoi An, home to over 200 taylors and famous for its custom made clothing that costs a fraction of what you would pay at home. Of course, I took advantage and has a few suits, jackets, skirts…a little of everything made. You walk into a store, look through their catalogs, pick out something you like, choose any material from the shelves, any color, and then a small group of vietnamese girls converge on you to take any and every measurement possible to make the fit perfect - it’s fun.

Sales are up and inventory is down in Lake Havasu City, according to the latest real estate report from Realtor Carl Flusche.

From Freycenet, we drove back to the Tasman Highway and travelled South through Swansea and then lunch at the bakery in the little town of Triabunna. We stopped at a couple of scenic beaches. There were a couple of places that we could get some good views acoss Oyster Bay back to the ‘’Hazards” on the peninsular.

» My latest adventure in transportourism*: The Cheseapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a 17.6-mile roadway that connects the eastern shore with the mainland of Virginia. This bridge is so long that you cannot see one end from the other. With some time to kill in Virginia Beach Saturday, I drove over the bridge and back in my Ford Escape rental. The bridge-tunnel, first opened in 1964 and expanded in 1999, includes four lanes of low-level and elevated bridges, plus two one-mile underwater tunnels where traffic narrows into two lanes. The bridge-tunnel...

The Surfpark is built specifically for surfing and will include three separte pools including the Pro Surf Pool, the Training pool and the Boogie Pool for surfers of all ability levels. So Florida’s land of make believe will also have fantasy waves….how fitting! This will make it a lot easier for me to go visit the in-laws in Florida! I can take my daughter to Disney and surf world class artificial waves in the same day! Now we just need one up here somwhere outside of Boston so it’s kind of central to everyone in New England. What a great way to make it through flat spells and the cold of winter!

It will take about 15 minutes by car to go from the airport to the city.� This highway runs along the ocean on your right side and the desert on your left side.� You will also pass some poor housing developments.� Still, this road is safe and clean. Before it reaches Downtown, the road passes in front of the Costanera Sur (a narrow highway that runs along the beach on the Southern side) and Chinchorro Beach , one of the three main beaches in Arica, and the longest one.

This mug stands 6 3/4-inches tall and holds twelve ounces. On the front is brown-haired woman, wearing a blue bikini, riding a yellow surfboard. On the back are five dolphins jumping in the ocean. Also on the back are “Aloha”, “Hawaiian Village”, and “525-9222″.

The "Monsooning" of coffee first happened quite by accident in the deep of sailing ships - a shipload of coffee bound for Europe acquired a mellow yet unique taste en route, with the coffee beans 'swelling' due to the moisture in the air. A new kind of coffee was born - Monsooned Coffee.

It’s been a pretty easy week workwise, not too much drama which is A-ok as far as I’m concerned. Lake Havasu was interesting, got to take plenty of pictures of the London Bridge with my phone which will be posted when I get home. For those of you that are unaware, was in one incarnation, relocated to the desert. I would’ve moblogged, except for the fact that T-Mobile coverage here is spotty, at best.

Sat on the beach reading my travel books and pondering this and that. Then along came Tommy and Charlie with some kayaks amped up for a late afternoon paddle. We headed off out past the reef and up past Gun beach (because there is a big black gun on it) and pulled up a bay just before 'Two Lovers Point'. We headed into a huge cave - that I had actually zipped in and out of during the race to note down a code word.

Around 1300 paddling enthusiasts from all over the world will be on Hamilton Island from Friday June 24th for a long weekend of outrigger canoe racing.

American, Karel Tresnak Junior, who is the number one OC1 (one-person canoe) paddler in Hawaii will be competing in the OC1 races as well as steering for Team Hawaii’s Open Mens Crew.

I have a weakness, I admit, for this sort of thing. Two years in a row I went on a multi-day canoe trip with my (now-)wife’s stepfather and a group of other guys. Now, I’m not a big fan of the outdoors, with all the bugs, and the paddling, and the sleeping in a tent, and the bugs. (As my mom used to say, my idea of “roughing it” is a Holiday Inn where the elevator’s broken. I like to think of myself as an avid indoorsman.) But buying camping gear? That I can get behind. Waterproof bags, sleeping bags, backpacks, travel toiletry kits…set...

Just a quick update. We are packed and ready to leave for southern Turkey. We will be travelling through the areas around Ephesus looking at ancient Greek ruins. I am very excited about it. Things have been happening so fast and we haven't even been here for a week yet. Our honeymoon on Lesvos will give us a chance to slow down and reflect. We are looking forward to some beach days. The weather is looking good for our trip, so there should be plenty of swimming and sunbathing. I didn't know this would be possible, but I am falling more in...

Summer is here! It's been so nice out. I really want to go sailing bad, but I don't have a boat, so that would be a problem wouldn't it! I've though about building one vs. buying one, I still haven't descided yet. I'll probably start a whole new thread on this topic. I'm so into sail boats now, I think about it night and day. I have a friend who's supposed to take me out sometime this summer, I need to get in touch and remind him :)

The 2005 Rolex Trans-Atlantic Challenge sailing race is scheduled to start on Saturday at the mouth of the Hudson -- and end at the mouth of the Thames in England.

We took a great ride down the nile on a Feluca, it was very relaxing and peaceful, just listening to the water and the birds. We past banana and corcodile island, numerous little villages and fisherman, even had some nice mint tea. It was a very special feeling sailing down the nile, the sunset was golden and absolutely beautiful.

Me and my friend Dave. We had gone sailing for the weekend and were parked in the marina at Fire Island. We were on our way back to the boat with some provisions, but accidentally tossed our limes into the water. Here we are, saluting our limes lost at sea. Tanquerey & tonic kinda sucks without limes. Yes, we were humming Taps.

Below the jump, Jim Shepley, the fellow who taught Duane his first licks, recounts wild tales of Duane the juvenile delinquent. I bet y'all will like this one better than last week's article:

I met Duane in a pool hall in Daytona Beach when I was about 14. I was shooting pool, and he saw me and came over and started talking. I learned that he had just moved down from Tennessee with his mother and his brother. We lived close to one another - he was in Daytona Beach Shores - and that's how our friendship started. Over the years we rode motorcycles together, we played together, we partied together. We were definitely the best of friends back then. I really liked the guy.

Since summer is almost upon us I thought I would entreat all you savages to what summer is to me. Mostly, it's beer and bbq and women wearing less clothes, which is usually a good thing. But then again I suppose there really isn't an 'off' season for beer....or for women in less clothing being a good thing.....especially that terra....damn she's sexy...*catches my breath* ...ok but I digress....Since it is summer, what better way than to have a mock beach party. What we should do is have the girls send bikini pics *specifically...

Finally got the most successful pictures from our diving trip up on Flickr. There are some other great scuba diving pictures, but these are the ones that we took, and we’re proud of them.

Those who know me know I'm not a good navigator. If ever a guy could turn a 41/2 hour trip, into a 8 hour adventure-its me! My family laughingly will tell you they've never been to Myrtle Beach, SC the same way twice! Yet we've vacationed there on and off for nearly 30 years! Folks have tried to encourage me. They've told me I can learn to navigate better-my wife assures me I have potential-but two words just keep tripping me up-short cut! I just can't resist looking for a short cut!

The diving has begun! Today I joined the Kwajalein SCUBA club and had my orientation dives. I tagged along with an instructor and her student. First we went to a sunken Japanese ship in the lagoon. It was a pretty nice wreck. It was about 400 feet long. Supposedly there is a car inside one of the cargo bays of the ship but we didn’t find it this time. Visibility was pretty good…about 100 feet or so. There were tropical fish everywhere and it felt like I was swimming through one of those tank in the pet shop. That dive went to 118 feet. The low point being when we swam through a big cargo door and right back out a huge hole on the ship. For the second dive we went to the Troy coral head. The lagoon is pretty much 150 ft deep throughout. In several locations large coral heads build up from the bottom to about 30 ft of depth. you can anchor the boat to the head and dive down along the coral head. This one is famous for..SHARKS!

The gentleman on the canoe is floating over the soccer fields between Rivertown and Four Seasons.

I was born in Calcutta. Whilst I have many memories from my time there, the one that stands out is of a flood in late 1970. I remember it starting with water outside the house, we lived downstairs while the landlord lived upstairs, and then the water entered the house. My distinct memory is of an uncle of mine walking around in a few inches of dirty water inside the house with a shrimp net yellling at someone to shut the door as water snakes were coming into the house. My other recollection is of another uncle, my "burra chacha", using a kayak or a canoe to go grocery shopping for my mom. He took me with him, water had reached 4 feet at least as I recall people in the streets wading in water upto their chests. As the water level rose, we moved upstairs to the landlord's apartments, our furniture and stuff piled up on the stairs and landing, while another distinct memory is of playing in the landlord's four poster bed with his grandchildren. That was when I saw my first set of false teeth in a glass on the bedside table.

I just feel really lonely is all. We are that perfect "gag me" couple...I am truly empty without him. To be clique...he completes me. Today my "trigger song" came on...yes, it's Kokomo by The Beach Boys. Then I somehow zapped back to the time when John and I were in Venice. We were holding hands...chasing and playfully pushing each other near the pier...then he kissed me. I loved it. I felt like those people in the ever-so-perfect diamond ring commercials. You know, those "A Diamond if Forever" ones?

According to the Washington Post today, Cape May no longer bans men from wearing Speedo swimsuits. The town also eliminated a rule barring bare-chested men from walking down the boardwalk. Now men of all ages and unfortunate shapes can wear skin-tight swimsuits. Can a male thong be far behind?

According to the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, the respiratory illness has seven out the state’s 18 dog tracks under full quarantine. That includes the Daytona Beach Kennel Club…..

Once we arrived on the banks of the Mitchell, we had lunch, packed most of the food stores into a barrel, which would be with Phil - the water instructor. He was in a canoe, and carried the food, and his gear and Harry’s gear, as Harry had an uber big pack.

Following the spine of the Southern Alps further towards the southwest is Mt Cook National Park and nearby Westland National Park. Home to New Zealand's highest mountain and remotest beaches, these two national parks serve up some of the most spectacular scenery on the South Island.

The thing that baffles me about all of this growth is where is the money coming from? And what audience are they trying to cater to? Virginia Beach has always been growing, but this kind of growth is different–it’s the affluent kind of sprawl you see in Northern Virginia or Raleigh/Durham. And unlike those areas, VB doesn’t have the economic factors to justify these kinds of development. There’s no spillover effect from the free spending federal government. There’s no “Research Triangle.” All there...

Situated at the southern end of Topsail Island, off the coast of southeastern North Carolina, the Town of Topsail Beach is the smallest of the three communities located on the 26-mile long island. North Topsail Beach occupies the northernmost section, and Surf City, the largest town on the island, is in the center.

I just realized that Journalcon 2005 is the weekend of my birthday.

In San Diego, where Southwest flies and I hear there are beaches.

2005 is the year of the beach, you know.

Once we reach to pelawan beach suddenly we were screamin like mad ppl and makin alot of funny noises and faces. We c 7-eleven so we decided to sleep near the 7-eleven as it is convenient for us to get food in e middle of e night. And we prepare our tinz to spot our sleepin area and we decided to lay down our sleepin bag on the sand and start chattin all night long. Sexy Slut received an sms from his frienz that the bora bora pub is having a beach party which is located at pelawan beach. I and Sexy Slut wanted to go but Munchie Mouse said she' not goin and we stand on by her side.

This month's Rolling Stone (which my son calls the geriatric version of Spin) sports a picture of Orlando Bloom, "Hollywood's No. 1 Pretty Boy". Just to prove my son right, the initial pages are just filled with old guys: DeNiro doing an AMEX ad, Sting playing on a college tour, Springsteen out with Devils & Dust, Paul McCartney back on tour, Neil Young just out of a hospital for a brain aneurysm, an interview with a lined and haggard Robert Plant, and Elton John announcing his upcoming marriage to long-time partner David Furnish. Garbage band members managed to put aside their differences long enough to make Bleed Like Me, which has hit the Top 10. Whoda thunk? Mariah Carey's new CD, The Emancipation of Mimi, sold 600,000 copies in the first two weeks. Good Vibrations, the Broadway musical based upon the Beach Boys catalog, closed its 3-month run after savage reviews.

Outside of acquiring some fishing wisdom, we also had a lovely time at Peter and Lissey's, who are good friends of my Mom here. They usually take my Mom on multiple day sailing trips on their catamaran. Here you see the four of us at their house after a great dinner:

Basically, these are "good neighbor" practices that should be followed on any beach. So, if you are visiting a nude beach for the first time, just behave as you would on a non-nude beach, except take off your clothes, of course.

Yes today was another horrible day. It seems as though your born and are destined to suffer for the rest of your life. Although it is punctuated by brief spurts of joy. Today was just as sucky as Friday. My stupid alergies or something keep making me feel like crap. Then having to go to school make the day a billion times worse already. Anyway I’m listening to The Bravery and I like the song becuase it’s all depressing. Not that I need more depressing stuff. Oh and I watched Eurotrip, pretty funny movie. Except the stupid nude beach scene with all the guys, just didn’t want to see that. Now I must go gouge my eyes and do nothing as usual.

Sydney is nice. It’s nice how people drive on the correct side of the road even if they have silly power socket designs. The opera house is nice too as is the bridge in the middle of the city. And it’s fun seeing sky scrapers for the first time I can remember in my life. The surf and beaches are nice and the ferries are really nice. Being able to take a random late night ferry and sleep out under the stars on a beach is really nice. Then there is the national park, real forrest for as far as the eye can see, we rented a canadian...

Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite. (And yes, that...

John Fitch was a not particularly successful brass button maker, and later a manager of a gun manufacturing shop during the U.S. Revolutionary War. Captured by the Indians, he was sent to prison in Canada, and later returned to New York in an exchange of prisoners. Somewhere in his experience, he conceived of using a steam engine to power a boat. His first model was small, and used a paddlewheel. A few months later, in September 1785, his second model was tested. It was larger, and used automated canoe type paddles. ...

Imagine the tourism potential. The Wild Coast in the former Transkei could become a Mecca for those tourists who have traditionally ventured to Amsterdam or Kathmandu. They could sit on the black rocks, overlooking golden beaches and crashing waves, spending their pounds, euros, dollars and yen not only on ganja but also on accommodation, food (probably a whole lot of it, including affordable crayfish), transport and curios.

Those Cadbury commercials are cute, especially the one where the surfer shook his little chocolate booty at the shark. Doing a little search on it revealed that it was first shown in Australia in 2002. I guess they’re just recycling the advert here now. Even if I’m not a chocolate lover, it’s still pretty catchy. Makes me want to go out and get some, well almost. Tried to find the video or at the very least, audio of the songs but to no avail. The song is to the tune of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys....

With the resort’s wide variety of recreational facilities, there is something for everyone. Water sports enthusiasts will delight in the huge array of aqua-activities like snorkelling, diving, canoeing, wakeboarding and water-skiing. Experienced sailors can rent the centre’s catamaran for offshore excursions or fishing trips. The marine centre also runs a Windsurfing Clinic where beginners can learn the basics in a fun and easy way with the help of an on-land simulator. For golf-lovers, tee off at the 18-hole championship golf course designed...

4. If I could be a scientist...I'd find a way to incoporate chloroplasts into our skin so we could photosynthesize while sunbathing and thus make our own food and thus end world hunger.

What can you say about this iPod Mini case. It’s waterproof and the 3mm thick plastic protects your iPod. Oh, it also looks pretty neat too. The baby brother to Eroch Studios LiliPod, it allows you to listen to your iPod mini during activities never previously possible - Skiing, Sailing, even lazing on the beach.

Adam treated me to a fabulous stay at Montage Laguna Beach while we were in CA. It was the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at. When we drove up to the valet, the men asked our last name, radioed the front desk, and by the time we walked through the front doors, a lady was there to meet us with room keys and paperwork. We were given complimentary Champagne and sparkling cider (for Aidan), and our room opened out onto a beautiful, semi-private lawn with views of the tide pools and ocean below. We had our photos taken on the beach by the same, awesome photographer that took our engagement and wedding photos, and when Aidan was 4 months old. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present (although I guess I did ask for it).

Wrtote this in October last year. Have learnt a lot since then. Windsurfing in Pattaya Jomtien Beacn is even more fun now.

Ok so it has been a couple of days… months… since I got to post. Sorry. Since I last talked to you I have been many places and seen many wonderful things! First I want to tell you about my “first spring break” in February. Chelsea and I went to Myrtle Beach! It was a well deserved trip we both earned. We stayed in the crappiest hotel I have ever stayed in. It was beach front though… but it was also Off Season. Service was crap. Anyways… The high light of that trip was that I found my true love (joking Brad,...

It's been a relaxing week in Lake Tahoe. I've spent some solid time in the saddle despite the chilly weather - 130+ miles and 7200 vertical feet over the past five days, including a 74 mile ride around the lake. I'm a pretty addicted road cyclist and I try to ride at least 100 miles a week even during the winter. If I hadn't come across this glorious sport in my thirties, I might have made a career out of it. So it comes as no surprise that cycling is on my mind today.

Posting might be a bit sporatic the next two weeks or so, as I'm traveling to Europe for a while. Yep, it's going to be beaches, amazing wine, and beautiful women for ol' Thundercat for a brief time. I'm really looking forward to it. The women I met in Europe last time I was there were incredibly sexy and a whole lot of fun! ;-)

Last March dozens of packets of the drug washed up on the palm-fringed beaches of Ebeye, one of more than 1,000 coral islands which make up the Marshall Islands.

Well I will be gone, off to Puerto Rico for the next week. You don’t have to feel too bad for me as I will try to have as much fun as I can there on the nice beaches. I have one main mission while there. Try to get some sun on some very vitamin D deficient patches of skin. In fact I have bought a thong just for that very purpose. So it will remain to be seen what will happen with that plan. I am torn right now between getting a tan on the places that the sun doesn’t usually shine which would be nice, and what would not be so nice, and...

Tuscany is the most well known Italian region world wide, famous for its art, history and evocative landscapes. Strategically placed in the centre of Italy, it stretches over the slope of the Apennines and reaches the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Tuscan landscape, mainly mountainous and hilly, is one of the most representative images of Italy in the world, but the region also has a plane (the Maremma), long sandy beaches and headlands as well as the small enchanting islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

My 2005 windsurfing finally started today. Met up with Chad at Medicine lake for some strong SE wind. Rigged up the 8.5 and the 280 and was overpowered for the first few reaches. The wind let up slightly and was awesome sailing for 2 hours. The water is still cold so I wore my drysuit, to my disappointment the left wrist seal is ripped. Luckily I didn’t bite it too many times so I stayed plenty warm. The weather was great except for the clouds. Excellent first time out for the season.

We had breakfast with Mickey and the kids loved it and were able to get their picture taken with all of the characters. After breakfast we zoomed over to Magic Kingdom and hit the rides non-stop all day including Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. That afternoon we headed back to the room and found that we indeed had a new room, closer to the pool and non-smoking so we made the switch and got ready for dinner. We then caught a bus to Epcot where we dined at the Coral Reef Restaurant. While there Mickey Mouse decided to go scuba diving. According to our waiter, this was very special because very rarely does that ever happen. After dinner we caught the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth - a fantastic fireworks show on the water. After that we raced back to the room were we crashed for the night.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce hopes a federal grant will help kick-start a marketing campaign aimed at convincing more people to fly to the Grand Strand for their vacations.

Meanwhile, Spy Optic (the oh-so-chic sunglasses co.) are offering a chance to win a 2-night trip for two to the The Block , the world's first snowboarders hotel, in South Lake Tahoe. (Since the trip must be taken between June 21 - August 21, I'm assuming the winner will be doing anything but snowboarding, but Tahoe is gorgeous in the summer.) The prize includes round trip airfare plus hotel accommodations in the Spy Room at The Block. Ground transportation and meals are not included.

Montezuma is a quiet, difficult to reach town at the southern the tip of the Peninsula Nicoya. Perhaps because of the remoteness and the tranquil beauty, the place has somehow become a haven for hippies and burned-out wanders. It’s an oasis of vegan restaurants and bead-markets in the middle of the jungle. The beaches are fantastic. Some property of the coastline (perhaps the steep grade?) causes large tidepools and an erratic break with monstrous, steep waves. It seems like the waves rise and fall nearly vertically. Trying to body surf...

Continuing on with our Miami Beach theme, please welcome NYCBoys new blog mate Spilling Seeds! "The life of a Miami guy who happens to love men", this eye opening blog offers up some tasty photos of the Miami boys, posts on his Miami life, and the dirty South Beach we remember. Welcome.

One of the things that we saw at the pre-race expo last weekend was some women’s underwear that can best be described as racing thongs. California Girl prefers to run in some plain mid-rise cotton bikini underwear so I didn’t think that there would be much of a market for athletic panties. There is one woman at work who works out in a moderate thong. I thought that she was just wearing the same underwear that she started the day with. I didn’t know there were athletic thongs just for working out in. Now I know.

Leo plays Richard, an American tourist who is tired of the same old thing. He's in Bangkok, looking for adventure, but he soon begins to feel that even there, people have a tendency to bring their homes with them, making even the most exotic location into just another Spring Break beach party.

In Richmond, it is illegal to flip a coin in any eating establishment to determine who buys a cup of coffee.
It is illegal for a man to kick his wife out of bed.
It is illegal for a man to pat his wife's derriere.
There is a state law prohibiting "corrupt practices of bribery by any person other than candidates".
It is against the law in Virginia Beach, Virginia for a woman to leave her house not wearing a corset

The National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapists, sister to AHU, is a national spiritual hypnosis organization with its annual convention at the Virginia Beach-Front August 25-September 2. We conduct the AHU graduation ceremony there. This grand event, packed with multiple educational workshops and seminars, offers accelerated 1-5 day certification programs in hypnotherapy, reiki, and much more. Examine our schedule of events, past newsletters, books and CDs, and more on www.holistictree.com. Just look at the tree on our home page and click...

The next morning we drove down to Playa Coco, one of the prettiest beaches in Nicaragua. We almost purchased a fabulous B&B there (five houses on a 2-3 mile beach) last winter, but we didn’t get the financing together in time. As gorgeous as it was, we realized that it would have been disastrous. It is a 30-minute drive from SJDS along a dirt road and it requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle and something with clearance. We crossed a river with water levels as high as the engine. It’s the dry season right now. We definitely need a more urban environment, though most people would laugh at the idea of describing using SJDS as urban.

I really hate looking for swimsuits! And it doesn't help that they are so expensive! I have recently found a few online but I can't pick which one I like best, so I need help.

We spent all day doing outdoor stuff, the walking in the area is amazing. The views are amazing and although the weather was a bit wet, the walking is great. We were hoping to do some sailing as well, but the weather proved a bit difficult in that area, but we did get in a motor boat hire and several trips across and around the lakes. We also went horse riding, which is something that I haven’t really done much of, but I enjoyed it immensely.

Mauritius, one of the Mascarene Islands, is fast attracting $1,000-a-night sun-seekers from North America looking to top off an African safari with a beach vacation.

Inside are short pieces on water sports (learning scuba at Pan Aqua, canoeing with the Gowanus Dredgers), plus a getaway to Montauk, a rundown of three great oyster bars and a list of summer beach reading.

Anyways back to reality.. we went to bid on the foreclosure today and it was canceled at the last hour before the freakin auction.. how disapointing. Seriously it is impossible to find a decent house in virginia beach right now. I don't have 250K to spend. What are families like ours supposed to do? Anyways we have decided to wait it out and look at possible houses but plan on trying to rent in a good school district when AJ starts school in september.

Another High Surf Advisory has been issued for the South Shores of the Hawaiian Islands. This swell started to show up on the Shores of Maui late yesterday and is expected to build throughout the day with its peak coming tonight and Wednesday. Select beaches could expect wave faces with heights of 8-12 feet. There should be some fun wave riding to be had on island. This swell already made its presence known in the Pacific with some extra large surf in French Polynesia. The world championship tour of surfing was gearing up for its annual event at...

Did I mention it’s a beautiful drive? One of those bridges is seven miles long and looks like the bridge to heaven on the incline - just you and the sky above you. I’ve never seen the like and it was breathtakingly cool. We were so enthralled we didn’t stop until mile marker 40 - Bahia Honda State Park. Just like the John Pennekamp, it’s $3/person to get in. we parked in the swimmer’s lot and changed into swimsuits in case we got the urge to jump in. We walked around the trails and saw what looked like a little movie...

A popular beach and scuba diving center, Belize has been thrown into turmoil over the last week by riots, strikes at the main telephone company and opposition calls for Prime Minister Said Musa to step down due to unpopular tax increases and corruption scandals.

A male ivory bill was seen by a lone kayaker on Feb. 11, 2004, in a cypress and tupelo-gum swamp in northern Arkansas. Since then there have been six other sightings. A year ago this week, a video camera mounted in a canoe recorded four seconds of the bird in flight, catching its distinctive white wing patches.

Cunningham has lost a whopping 172 pounds with her diet. She now weighs 125 and just came in second in a bikini contest.

Took the early bus out of Santa Elena, with a short stop in Liberia, a dusty little town in the center of the Nicoya Peninsula that serves as a transportation hub to all the nearby towns and beaches. After wading through confusing lines and another six hour bus ride, I found myself at a ritzy little resort town named Playa Flamingo.

As promised, the slutty bikini. It was photographed on my cell phone, since I haven't charged the camera's batteries yet, but I think it shows the cuteness/sluttiness pretty well.

For memorial day weekend I’m flying into Los Angeles and then driving up to Cambria to windsurf. I’ve been there once before, last summer, and it was sweet- the two windsurfing pictures on page 3 of the gallery were taken there.

Just another note. Today during surfing about three dolphin swam right under me. They were less than a foot away and so fast! I don’t think I have ever been that close to one.

saw the most random thing on the islands - a phone booth right in the middle of the nude beach! there it was.. standing as nude as the people who frequent the beach itself.. in the middle of the sand. now, i understand they can run wires under the sand - but it seemed very out of place. i can’t even imagine the sight as nude beach patrons decide they need to make a phone call as they lean provocatively on the phone booth and chat for a few minutes to friends.

Now the Missouri River is of special interest to me as I originally came from Missouri and spent a fair amount of time on it's banks and the many tributaries and lakes it fills. Certainly, the health of the river effects a lot of communities from Colorado (where it starts) to where it joins the Mississippi. It is the longest river in the United States. Word that it is drying up is a catastrophe as it provides drinking water for many communities, moves a lot of commerce, provides primary water supply for millions of acres of farmland, and then there...

We did make a short stop about 5:45 for 10 minutes in San Pablo at a place looking out over a lake and some fish farms. The area does a lot of tourist business because of the seven lakes around the area and the tall, dormant volcanos to be climbed. Mt. Makiling has three peaks and Mt. Banahaw is supposed to have mystical healing powers in it’s springs and streams. The town was setting up for their annual celebration which starts on Monday.

After locking myself in rooms and forcing myself to do work, it was time to get out and party. I had a three day agenda, and well 3 days to do it. I partied at my friends on Thursday & Friday, and then threw my own on Saturday. It was a "beach party" at my apartment and it got off without a hitch, and left without any hiccups. It was pretty festive if you weren't there, we had a hula girl touching herself, mini beach balls, not enough pink & white leis for everybody and most people dressed for the occasion. This was a party that you only throw once....

This story is both frightening and comical. Only in the EU. HT SDA at Shotgun:

Ever the masters of punctilious regulation, the European Union's 25 Commissioner have outdone themselves with a code of conduct for their new and beautifully-appointed Brussels sauna.

A 10-point code sent to Peter Mandelson and his colleagues advises them on etiquette in the mixed facility, which opened last week. Nudity is de rigueur, according to the commission's infrastructure office, but bravado is not.

More flexibility coming your way, this time courtesy of DuPont. They’ve created a digital printer for fabrics that promises to transform the way people make swimsuits, purses, slipcovers and curtains. All they would ahve to do is create an archive of fabric patterns and should they require a certain fabric, they could use the printer to print one to order. Saves time and money.

Sunday I went grocery shopping and stopped in at Stormin' Norman's Spirit Grill, near 1st and Commercial. I had the special: a 6-ounce venison burger, fries and a drink, for $8.95. Well, mine was an extra buck, as I went for the cheese and fried onions. It was goooood. They told me that they cook up burgers on Wreck Beach in the summer, too. "It's a nude beach, but you don't have to take your clothes off." Hmm.

Washington Post writer Angus Phillips spent $100 on a shocking pink Pyranha kayak and drove out to the class III rapids of the lower Gunpowder River, where, he tells us, he came very close to getting a high opinion of himself. That was before the nose of his boat dipped into a hole and he suddenly found himself looking up at the river bottom. Phillips piece makes the roar of the river sound like the song of the Sirens, and he suggests that whitewater wannabes contact the Canoe Cruisers Association, or the Monocacy Canoe Club to learn more about where and when to take their chances.