Bermuda

rmiles7721July 31, 2007Travel

One of the places I would love to go on Vacation is Bermuda. Not quite as hot as the rest of the Caribbean as it is 650 miles east of North Carolina, the main vacation season in Bermuda is just the opposite of the rest of the islands. Most of them have their main seasons from December through March but Bermuda is supposed to have it’s best weather in the summer time.

The Bermuda Islands or Somers Isles as they are also known are a British overseas territory, the oldest remaining in the Kingdom of Great Britain. There are 138 islands in a total area of about 20 square miles.

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Photograph copyright Bermuda Ministry of Tourism & Transport

Bermuda’s population is somewhere around 65,000, about that of a small city. The weather in Bermuda is pretty temperate as well. The average summer time high in July and August are 85 degrees. May and June are 75 to 80, which is probably about the time I would want to go, although as I normally just want to hang out and drink beer January and February might just be the right time for me to go. Less crowds, less heat. Perfect, particularly if you want to walk everywhere.

From what I was reading about when to go to Bermuda, the off-season does sound pretty good to me particularly as the prices are much better, but this is also when most of the hotels and resorts do their major repairs and renovations. It wouldn’t be good to make reservations and then find out I was staying in the midst of a construction zone.

Everything I have read about Bermuda leads me to believe that the weather would be about what I am used to from Hilton Head, only slightly milder since you have the gulf stream going right through there. A perfect vacation spot in other words. I still haven’t given up on Key West in January but Bermuda is certainly sounding much better and it would be a shorter flight as well and since I hate flying with a passion, that’s always a bonus. It would give me an excuse to use that new camera too.


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Finally A Day Off

rmiles7721July 31, 2007Parenting/Family

It’s been a pretty darned long week. I managed to get some major clean-up finished at my worst store since the manager has been on vacation. I straightened up all of his stuff as well and got everything organized, since being neat and organized seriously helps speed up the job. We’ll have to wait and see how long that lasts. My boss and I are supposed to be meeting there in the morning for a little chat with the manager and that should prove interesting to say the least.

I have to run to Carrollton at some point today and visit the Social Security office. RePete is starting pre-K this year and I need her Social Security card. Not that I am going to allow the school to have her information, but I need her SS card anyway. The letter I received from her school showed proof of residence and SS cards among the items we are supposed to bring next week. Being against giving out my children’s social security numbers, I did some research and they have to let my daughter in when I refuse to give it to them, so I will be making an ass of myself at some point next week, not that that’s different from any other day of course..

Today should prove to be a fairly busy day as well. I have a ton of posting that I need to do, I have a computer to fix, and I need to get my closet cleaned out. Cleaning the closet will be the hardest part of the day. Computer equipment, old clothes, receivers. Hell, there might even be a dead body or two lying around in there.

NRCSA Study Abroad Programs

rmiles7721July 31, 2007Parenting/Family, Travel

The NRCSA has been around for 37 years assisting 80,000+ students by evaluating study programs abroad, evaluating them and finding the ones that fit what you are looking for. Start out with the NRCSA Study Abroad Programs by finding the category that fits you right. There are programs to fit every type of student whether they be a mature adult, a teen, or a teacher among a list of varied categories.

There are 36 different language choices in 42 different countries around the world that the NRCSA deals with and all of the NRCSA schools have been rated as the best in their area. Students rate the schools by different criteria and you can find the top lists in each category on their web site. Over 300 universities in the United States have formal programs with foreign schools involved with NRCSA and most of them lean heavily on language immersion training and area studies. Some of the others specialize in business and education.

Sooner or later all of the kids in the house will be grown and I will eventually go back to school. I would love to participate in some type of foreign studies program and expand my knowledge.


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Tramp Stamp Tuesday

rmiles7721July 31, 2007Site News

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I’m not at all sure what that is but it looks like an alien is about to eat her ass.


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Links directory

rmiles7721July 28, 2007Blogging, Technology

It is brand new and I still need to edit the default template but I have set up a links directory at www.shadowscope.com/links, if you are interested in being added it is free, just requires a reciprocal link on your main page. As it is a new installation if you have any problems or issues just let me know.

Another Day…

rmiles7721July 28, 2007Site News

…another dollar.

Halfway through this dude’s vacation. The week hasn’t gone too terribly bad. My relief manager is back to work today and he will be with me so hopefully it won’t go too bad. Unfortunately one of my other managers is off today so once I finish at the first store at two or three this afternoon I have to go spend a couple of hours at the other one. That sort of sucks.

Last night I ended up having to be at shift change at two different stores, which was quite interesting. I got to the first one, changed the till, made sure they had everything and rushed to the other one to repeat. I actually managed to get both stores taken care of in less than an hour and a half and was home by ten.

I don’t think today will go quite so smoothly but it would be nice if it does…

Muscular Dystrophy Association

rmiles7721July 28, 2007Uncategorized

I have participated in the annual local MDA Lock-up a couple of times over the last few years at work. It’s a pretty cool deal. Basically the Muscular Dystrophy Association sets up at a local businesses, in the case of Carrollton at a restaurant called The Mansion, invite a bunch of business owners and managers to participate in raising money. On the morning in question, local cops show up at work and “arrest” you and take you there, where you eat breakfast and spend a couple of hours on the phone harassing you friends and family to raise money for MDA awareness, unless of course you have already raised your goal in which case you just hang out for awhile and maybe only call one or two.

I always enjoy it and have raised a little bit of money for them. It’s a good cause and you also get to meet local business owners and network with them. I’m not even sure if/when they had it this year in Carrollton though. We also participate in the shamrocks program every year in March, which doesn’t go over very well because of course the waitresses all think that the folks giving the dollar will leave $1 less of a tip, so they are difficult to get to participate. I can understand that because in a lot of cases they are right. Anyway, when we were setting up and getting our shamrocks I asked the representative about the lock-up and she couldn’t give me an answer because it was apparently the responsibility of another region or something like that but she would make sure to give my phone number to whomever was responsible for setting up. They never called and I completely forgot about it. So much for that this year. It’s still a really good cause and I will just make sure to contact MDA directly next year should I decide to participate.

You can also go straight to the MDA website if you want to make a tax-deductible donation or go over to Charity Navigator which is a site that lists thousands of charities and rates them. They have all kinds of useful information such as the CEO’s salaries and how effective each charity is in spending the money as well as how much overhead is being generated.

This post is sponsored by Navtej Kohli. Find out more information at:

http://digg.com/users/navtejkohli/profile

http://navtejkohli.wordpress.com/

http://profile.typekey.com/Navtej_Kohli/

Cyprus

rmiles7721July 27, 20073Travel

The wife will probably be going back to Hilton Head at least once more this year to visit her friend that lives there and we will most likely be visiting her when we go to Parris Island in September as well. At some point later this year, as soon as she sells her business as a matter of fact, she and her children will be moving to Cyprus. The only thing I know about Cyprus is that my brother flew through there on his way back from living in Israel back in the late eighties/early nineties, so I decided to look it up as I am sure to be hearing about it from the wife sooner or later.

According to wiki, Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and one of the most popular destinations in the Mediterranean particularly among Europeans. It was a colony of Britain until 1960 and formed it’s own Commonwealth republic in 1961. The Republic of Cyprus has also been a member of the EU since 2004.

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Judging from the picture above and the other ones that I have seen Cyprus is an extremely beautiful country and I wouldn’t mind visiting at some point. DialAFlight has cheap flights all over the world and right now I can get a flight to Cyprus from Heathrow Airport for around $900. Not too shabby, although I could probably fly into a different EU airport and get an even cheaper flight from them.


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A Survey

rmiles7721July 27, 2007Site News

Found this by way of Memphis Steve

1. Were you named after anyone?
Yes, my two grandfathers.

2. When was the last time you cried?
The last time I sat down to watch a damned sappy movie..

3. Do you like your handwriting?
I write painstakingly slow so that it is legible. Mostly I type now.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat?
Taco or the elusive bearded clam.

5. Do you have kids?
Other than the ones that I post pictures of? Anything is possible.

6. If you were another person would you be friends with you?
Yes. I would probably want to have sex with me as well.

7. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Never. Maybe a little.

8. Do you still have your tonsils?
Nope.

9. Would you bungee jump?
Would you let me rip out your scrotum? I don’t even like to get on airplanes so why the fuck would I jump off a perfectly good bridge?

10. What is your favorite cereal?
Crunchberries and beer.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Nope.

12. Do you think you are strong?
More quick than strong.

13. What is your favorite ice cream?
Chocolate.

14. What is the first thing you notice about people?
Boobs.

15. Pink or red?
It doesn’t turn red until it’s been used for awhile and then it’s sort of a purply color.

16. What is the least favorite thing about yourself?
I am too nice at work.

17. Who do you miss the most?
My two best friends in the world. One of them is worm dirt and I haven’t heard from the other since I got married.

18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you?
Not particularly. Just killing time right now

19. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
Right now I am wearing khaki shorts, no underwear, no shoes. I just rode home from work in 90+ degrees with no air in the car.

20. What was the last thing you ate?
Double Cheeseburger and hashbrowns. What the fuck do you expect, I run three restaurants.

21. What are you listening to right now?
The clicking of my keyboard.

22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Purple.

23. Favorite smells?
Is bearded clam a smell? No? My ass I suppose.

24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
My wife who is swimming with the girls.

25. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
I stole it! He seems OK.

26. Favorite sports to watch?
The lights fighting behind my eyeballs or quite possibly waitress boxing. If you remember, I had to fire a couple of them for duking it out last month.

27. Eye Color
You color what?

28. Do you wear contacts?
Nope.

29. Favorite food?
Pizza

30. Scary movies or happing endings?
Scary movies. I enjoy watching horror flicks because once you see the tits you know she’s gonna die.

31. Last movie you watched?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

32. What color shirt are you wearing?
Flesh colored. Don’t get all hot and bothered, it’s more of a pasty sort of hairy flesh color.

33. Summer or winter?
Winter in some warm place.

34. Hugs or kisses?
I prefer head. Skip the foreplay.

35. Favorite dessert?
Banana Pudding.

36. Most likely to respond?
Not a damn soul, although if I were actually going to send this out Chickie would probably do it. Consider yourself fucking memed already.

37. Least likely to respond?
Most everyone else hates these as much as I do, particularly with so many irritating questions.

38. What book are you reading now?
Trouble Magnet

39. What is on your mouse pad?
Underneath the coffee spills and dried up spew? A blue wave.

40. What did you watch on TV last night?
Burn Notice

41. Favorite sound?
My own farts

42. Rolling stones or Beatles?
Both

43. What is the furthest you have been from home?
Southern California.

44. Do you have a special talent?
I have a drinking disorder. I drink 8 or 10 beers, throw them back up and drink some more.

45. Where were you born?
Georgia Baptist Hospital.

46. Whose answers are you looking forward to getting back?
Everyones. Send me a track-back or comment if you dare take me up on this meme.

Use Less Power With Google Shadow

rmiles7721July 27, 2007Technology

I may have posted about this once or twice before but I just came across it again and thought it was a pretty cool idea. Did you know that White and bright colors such as what I have at TheAppDotNet use up to 20% more power to display than dark colored sites such as Shadowscope? Googleshadow is the dark colored web search engine. Unfortunately it appears to be having problems right now as I just did a search and got an error, but I may just have to change the background colors on my sites that aren’t already dark.