Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. There are more than 33,000 Rotary clubs located in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.

And this part is really important. To me.

Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.

At the ripe old age of forty-two, I have a feeling I’ve lowered the average age of the club. But I imagine that goes with the territory of business, professional, and community leaders – they tend not to be college-age kids.

Today’s speaker was Eric Keen from HDR. Hey, I know some people that work there. It was a great presentation about the bypass bridge at the Hoover Dam. A damn fine bridge for a damn fine dam.

The best part about being a Rotarian is that they tell you the secret word that gets you out of any parking tickets. (It’s “please”, but don’t tell them I told you.)

After we got out of Mexican Customs, we had to walk through a gauntlet of timeshare salesmen.  The timeshare thieves get to work inside the airport and the people we needed, the people who were taking us to the resort, had to stay outside.  Ah, capitalism.

In the ancient Mayan language, they say “It rained like a mother fucker.”  They are not equipped for such rain on the Yucatan peninsula.  There were lakes on the highway.

Domingo: Víamos el fútbol y tomamos tequila

It was 80 and Sunny on Sunday and I spent the entire day in a bar in Playa del Carmen watching football.  I told my Uncle Don that I didn’t care for tequila.  He said that was because I never had good tequila.  He was right.  We got pretty lit.

Lunes: Golf

Monday I went to the timeshare breakfast with my mom.  What a racket, but that’s for another post.  After breakfast, brother-in-law Greg set up golf from himself, Amber, Andrew, and me.  The above picture is of a coatimundi.  That’s a mammal that looks like a raccoon had sex with a lemur.  He walked across the fairway plain as day, but by the time I could get my iPhone out, he was into the trees.  He’s between the two palm tree trunks.  If you zoom in, you can see his tail sticking straight up.

We all lost our last ball on the last hole, so the round finished in a four-way tie (disqualification).

Martes: Ruinas

On Tuesday we drove 2.5 hours to Chichen Itza, a Mayan ruins site.  It was disappointing. After the ruins, we ate lunch at a buffet.  It was disappointing.  After lunch, I swam in a cenote.  It was disappointing.  After that, we visited a colonial town.  It was nice (my expectations were sufficiently low for that one).

On the way home, we stopped at a bakery in Playa del Carmen to get a cake for Amber’s 18th birthday.  It was a terrific little bakery.  The baked goods looked great, the place was laid out great, and the staff were very friendly.

Miercoles: Sin horario

Tuesday was filled with schedules and stuff.  So Wednesday, I decided that I would be beholden to no one.  I spent the day at the pool getting sun burned and drunk.  And other than that manatee in the Texas Rangers hat that got loose, it was an enjoyable day.

Jueves: Más tiempo en la piscina

I enjoyed Wednesday so much, that I decide to spend Thursday at the pool too.  I nursed my second degree burns with Modelo Especial, but it only helped a little.  Nancy went shopping in Playa del Carmen with her family.  Saying ‘queso’ while taking a picture isn’t as good as saying ‘cheese’.

Viernes:Pasé tiempo en la playa

This is the longest vacation I’ve taken since I spent two weeks in Europe in the early 1990s.  I was pretty much done after Wednesday.  I was as sunburned and hungover as I was going to get, and two more days wasn’t going to make it better.  The beach at this resort was in pretty bad shape.  They said that all the rain has washed away the sand, but I don’t buy it.

Amber got the heaviest drink she could buy.  Nancy and I checked out the flamingos they have at the resort.

Sabado: De nuevo en casa

We did nothing on Saturday except travel home.  I don’t have any photos about how disgusting the Houston airport is, so here’s a photo of the Dach family pretending to be sad on Amber’s birthday.  They are so genuinely happy that they can’t even pretend to be sad, and that makes me sad.  Or is it happy.

And if you like computer humor as much as me, go read my favorite xkcd comic ever.

Multi-year Resolutions – this is funny and will only take you 10 seconds to read, so just go read it.

Wins, not Goals – An interesting perspective.

Since New Year’s was coming, and I wanted to start the year with a fresh focus, I pushed my goals aside, and asked a simple question:

“What are three wins I want for the year?” …

No Goals – I have a hard time getting my head around this, but it’s very intriguing.  Short read.

Stop Blaming the Pancake – I saved the best for last.  When Merlin Mann writes, it’s usually worth reading and this definitely fits that bill.  It’s a little longer read, but worth it.

The former, “I have to ask you a question” means that I’m about to do something I don’t want to. If I wanted to do it, Nancy would have simply asked me the question.

The latter, “We really needed x” means that Nancy already bought something that we “really” needed because it was on sale. Last week, we got new flatware.

Nancy got a deal from work. It really is a good deal, but flatware doesn’t do it for me. I just don’t really care what I’m using to shovel food into my mouth. But I’m glad Nancy is around to keep things civilized. Here’s our fancy new flatware in our $.50 drawer insert.

Not the greatest image, but it’s the Gerson Everlasting Glow Micro Led Light String 30 Warm White Light. Click on the image for a better description. They’re battery operated Christmas lights. Here’s what it looks like in the dark

Here’s what it looks like with the flash on.

We’re pretty happy with how that turned out. I think we’ll buy some more of those lights. But where will we ever get more empty wine bottles? It’s a mystery.

Wild caught Atlantic cod:  rub with olive oil, light sea salt, heavy fresh ground pepper, Phillip’s Habanero Pepper to taste.  Wrap in aluminum foil.  Heat grill to 350 and cook until thick part is 140 degrees F (8-10 minutes).

Asparagus: put bag in microwave for 3.5 minutes.  I can’t remember the last time I ate a vegetable that wasn’t in a steamer bag.  Top with 1 oz of unsalted butter.

Cocktail: One part Tanqueray, two parts Fresca. Repeat until attractive or funny.

I only wanted to eat half of the cod, but it’s so flaky that there’s really no way to take it off the foil in a manner where you could store half.  So I ate the whole thing.  Nancy doesn’t eat fish and Andrew shrieks at the sight or smell of it, so sharing wasn’t an option.  Seven hundred fifty calories (sans alcohol) later and I’m stuffed.

Since July, DK and I have been working a deal where Nancy would get her old FX and she would use Nancy’s G35 as a trade. At almost every step of the way, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. Then a day or two before Christmas, her car came in and it all went down as well as could be expected.

Debbie got a new FX, Nancy got a used FX, and Carmax got a good deal on a G35. Oh, and Carmax also got a sale; they’ll just have to wait until I’m ready to buy. I’ve had two dealings with them, getting the car appraised and selling the car to them, and in both instances they far exceeded my expectations. I’ll likely be buying my next car there.

I kind of forgot to take pictures while everyone was there.  All I have is this one.

Nancy got some crafty gifts

I got new computer speakers and those suckers are loud.

And Nancy got a car

• Hanna – bad ass chick kills people.
• Seven Pounds – dying guy does nice things
• Bad Teacher – Cameron Diaz is hot and funny
• Bridesmaids – Your objections are noted, but I thought this film was funny.
• Green Zone – Matt Damon is a good-guy soldier in Iraq

• Friends with Benefits – Full dorsal nudity and Justin Timberlake is a good comedic actor
• Fright Night – Nancy really likes Colin Ferrell.  I don’t like horror flicks and I’ve seen enough vampire movies to last a lifetime.  And yet, this didn’t suck (npi).
• Our Idiot Brother – Paul Rudd is the actor nobody loves and nobody hates.
• Captain America – If I could give 2 1/2 stars, this would probably get it.
• Gulliver’s Travels – Jack Black is less annoying that usual
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides – This series has run its course.
• No Strings Attached – I really want to like Natalie Portman, but just can’t seem to get there.  Does that make me an anti-Semite?
• Paul – It would have been better if Paul’s voice would have been done by Seth McFarlane impersonating Paul Lind.  Oh, just watch an episode of American Dad and you’ll know what I mean.
• Arthur – People have a lot of contempt for this movie.  I thought is was OK.  It was at least as good as first one.
• Thor – Half of the movies in this post were picked because Nancy has the hots for one of the actors.
• Love and Other Drugs – Weird little true story.  Probably two stars if it’s not true.
• Limitless – Probably 3.5 stars if that was an option.
• The Kingdom – FBI agents busting some Saudi ass.

• Tron: Legacy – Oh, I’m a dope smoking hippie to so I must be the good guy.  Did the writers go on strike again?  It’s hard to tell sometimes.
• In Bruges – Good actors, but what’s the point
• The Manchurian Candidate – This one’s from 2004 but I didn’t remember seeing it.  Now I remember why I chose to forget.
• Milk – True story of gay SF politician from the ‘70s

• Life as We Know It – Stupid premise, predictable story.  I think I might ban Katherine Heigl.  What the hell has she ever done that’s good?
• I Am Number Four – This movie had such promise.  If I want to watch 109 minutes of teenage angst, I’ll hang out at the mall.