manalang

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  manalang 12:29:26 am on August 11, 2004 | Comments | # |
  Tags: travel

  This past weekend (yes old news), my wife and I spent the weekend on the Mendocino coast — a 3 hour drive north of San Francisco. It was a great weekend to unplug and recharge. Even if we didn’t want to unplug from the connected world, being in Elk (15 minutes south of Mendocino) forced you to do it. There’s no cellular signal or land line where we were, not even a television. Unlike camping, however, we had a nice room overlooking the Pacific.

  On Saturday, we visited the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg. It’s an amazing garden nestled on 47 acres next to the ocean. The dahlia garden was impressive. Here are some photos I took that day:

  
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• manalang 09:33:18 am on July 26, 2004 | Comments | # |
  Tags: travel

  I hate long flights. It’s even worse when you’re flying coach. I’m currently headed to Sydney for a four day workshop my team is hosting. I used to love traveling to far away places for work. When I started at PeopleSoft back in 1997, my first consulting assignment was a six month gig in Melbourne. It was a great gig with great people. I could have stayed longer, but just couldn’t commit myself to a two year stay.

  We just crossed the international dateline. The problem with these long flights is that I can never get a decent wink of sleep. Being fairly tall doesn’t help when cramped into a coach seat. Business class is not really an option these days. I don’t travel enough now to have dispensable airline points to upgrade. Luckily, I’m in an isle seat and the seat next to me is empty. The bad part is across the isle is a family with two small children. The kid next to me keeps throwing up. Just a few hours ago, I noticed him gaging and so I quickly got the barf bag in my seat pocket and held it out for him. However, I was a few seconds too late. He ended up hurling his dinner into his hands. I feel sorry for the guy. He just can’t seem to keep anything down. Every once in a while, his little sister screams at the top of her lungs, “MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!!” I’m not really bothered by all of this commotion since I’m awake and currently not trying to get any sleep. I just feel sorry for the family. Traveling on a vacation should not be that difficult.

  Another reason I probably can’t get any sleep on these flights is that I just don’t like the idea of sleeping amongst strangers. When I was little, I never took to the idea of group naps. Although I think naps are great and should be a part of the everyday routine, sleeping with a group of people was just never my thing.

  Oh no. He’s yakking again. His mom is now asking others for their barf bags… he’s already gone through all the barf bags in the center row. Poor guy. I wish I could help them.

  Five hours to go. Time in the Bay Area: 9:32 AM. Time in Sydney: 2:32 AM. It’s going to be a long day.

   

• manalang 01:16:28 am on June 9, 2004 | Comments | # |
  Tags: travel

  One of our goals on our vacation last week was to hike up Mt. Tallac. In October last year, we made an attempt to summit, but ended up turning back 4.8 miles into it (at Gilmore Lake) — just ran out of time. So, last week, we were highly determined to make it up to the 9,732 feet summit of Mt. Tallac.
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• manalang 02:11:56 am on June 1, 2004 | Comments | # |
  Tags: travel

  Time for my real Memorial Day extended weekend to start. We’re headed up to Homewood for a little R&R. It’ll be nice to be disconnected for a while. I’m beginning to feel a little too addicted to blogs — reading and writing. On this trip, I hope to do nothing but:

  * wake up
  * eat breakfast
  * read the paper
  * go for a run or bike
  * eat lunch
  * take a nap
  * maybe go geocaching
  * hike up Mt. Tallac
  * play with the dog
  * eat diner
  * sleep… lots

  That’s it. No e-mail. No internet. No weblogs.

  I also plan to catch up on some New Yorker issues and also read Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. I’m not much of a gambler, but when Cindy and I were in Vegas a few weeks ago for work, I played the craps table and multiplied our money by six times in less than an hour… not bad for someone who doesn’t really gamble.

  Anyway, I hope it’s a slow week in the blogosphere. It’s always a drag having to catch up after you’ve been gone for a while.

   

• manalang 08:09:10 am on December 21, 2003 | Comments | # |
  Tags: travel

  Just in case anyone’s wondering… I’ve been away on vacation to the Philippines. We’ll be here until the 27th. Lots of wonderful pictures and stories to share when we get back.

  Happy Holidays!