Garth’s World

I just uploaded my new photo gallery from my trip to Greece.  Click on the My Photos link above and check them out.  They are filed under Travel Life - Europe

The trip was great but expensive. I do not think I spent that much in Vegas over such a short time. Drinks at10 to 15 Euros a pop were the killer. I went to Athens, Mykonos, and Loutraki (the Greek Vegas…sort of). Frugal was not the word, but oh well.

Athens is a truly amazing city.  Tourists go for the history and they will find more there than just about anywhere.  Among many other highlights, it was unbelievable to see, shortly after seeing the movie 300, some of the spear points recovered from the Battle of Thermpylae.  These were the weapons King Leonidas and his men bore fighting the Persians to the death.  The links between this ancient battle of East vs. West and what we are struggling with today are still relevant.

Mykonos will always be the party spot of Greece.  We went at a time the Greeks call the low season, but the weather was in the high 70s and 80s the entire time — perfect.  The clubs and bars were manageable rather than annoying.  The beaches were scarily empty.  It might be fun to go with some of the 700,000 visitors Mykonos gets during June through August, but I was not missing them on this trip.  Being one of few people in some of these huge beach restaurants gave me an idea of how crazy it must get.  It must be like spring break for two months straight.  Renting an ATV on the last day to drive all over the island was a great call.  We scoped all the major beaches, so we will know where to be if we want to be one of the 700,000.

One unfortunate observations is that the Greeks did not come across as particularly friendly. 

Do not get me wrong, they were pleasant.  Walking the streets, however, was never easy.  I talked to several Americans and Europeans who said they have never had so much trouble walking in city streets.  The Greeks are either unaware or rude — they just do not get out of your way.  There were other small things that are tough to summarize, but I thought it was only me.  After talking to numerous other tourists, they commented on the same thing.

There is no way I can let that small aspect get in the way of an amazing trip.  I hope my pictures do it some justice.

In my most recent trip overseas, I…

Walked down Abbey Road and ate a meal at a friend’s home overlooking Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded most of their albums.

Ate Italian food at a table full of sailors on an island in the Gulf.

Enjoyed beautiful spring days with snow-capped mountains circling the horizon.

Flew in six types of aircraft in 96 hours.

Attended a BBQ without all the usual BBQ fare but lots of other highlights such as: camels, falcons, lobster tails, ice sculptures, henna artists, and princes.

Circumnavigated a country to see an underwhelming castle. Got three speeding tickets in the mail from the traffic cameras for the trouble (two were within 5 minutes of each other — the other 20 minutes prior).

Learned about the French Foreign Legion from one of their former commanders.

Had to make way for His Highness.

Here is a cool visual display of where your tax dollars go. This only represents the discretionary budget that the President submits to Congress every year. Entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security are not included even though they are a huge part of the taxes we pay.

I will admit it.  I think good spelling is important.  Please correct me if you ever see anything that looks wrong on this site.  One word people are excellent at spelling incorrectly is definitely.  Apparently, someone takes spelling this word even more seriously than I do.  They have devoted an entire website to the word.  Pretty funny.

Yes, you can. Check out Slate, which is keeping track of several websites that allow you to wager (or invest if you will) on different candidates and their chance/price/odds.  You can follow the trends in these over time on Slate’s page.  Many, including DARPA, belive prediction markets are very effective at predicting events, much like publicly traded stocks predict the future of corporations.  In fact, the prediction markets were, over time, excellent at predicting President Bush’s win over John Kerry. 

Check out this link.  I failed and guess you will as well. 

Have you ever wanted to plot a course for a run but wanted it a little more exact than driving your car using your odometer? If so, this is the site for you.

It uses Google maps, and you can plot an exact course using waypoints to measure out an exact course. I just did it for a 5K course on Bayshore.

GMaps Pedometer

Traveled to 5 countries in 8 days covering 19660 miles, averaging 102 miles per hour

Passed the water taxi desk to pick up my rental Ford Focus

Missed our exit on the autostrada

Got the chills in a medieval wine cellar

Landed during the worst time of day into the most dangerous landing zone in the world

Drove after midnight through wet, terror-filled streets

Flew in 4 different aircraft models over the course of 12 hours

Had a sandwich in a palace, kangaroo in a villa, burrito in a tent, stir fry in a warehouse, and Indian at my seat in business class

Drove through vineyards in two separate countries – one where the growers are famous for the wine and one where they killed for it

As a photographer, I love this site.  The site continually updates with a new time and picture.  I am going to have to find a good time to add one of my own.

Check it out here 

The first time I cried in a movie was junior year in high school.  Unfortunately, I saw this movie in History class, Sergeant York.  Immediately after watching this movie, we watched Yankee Doodle Dandy, where I cried again.  Crying in school was not ideal, but luckily the lights were out and half the class was asleep.  Both were proud and patriotic movies, where I cried out of happiness (and both won their leading actors an Oscar).  The next movie I really cried in was of a similar tone, A Few Good Men.  Are you seeing the theme for my future?  I must have at the age of 17.

After all those (and a few others along the way), the movie I cried the most in was a recent one…Stranger than Fiction.  As in the other movies, this was a happy cry.  This was one of best movies I have seen in years.  It may have gotten away from the patriotic military theme, but it caught another theme for me — I watched it on the plane.