Catching Up

No, this is not Photo-shopped. I took this at the duty-free store in the
Cancun International Airport!

Spring break, for me, at least, is over. School will be out shortly, and I'm trying to make up for all the days I missed when I was sick. I am also prepping for the El Dorado Hills Art and Wine Affaire (you can tell it's special, because it has the "e" at the end. ;o)), so I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off!


In addition to that, I'm finally being forced to get my act together and start fixing my official (currently crappy) website. The Mitchells were kind enough to put my web address in "How to Haunt Your House, Book 3," and I really need for it to look more professional. I've been complaining about this for literally years, now, and it's time to pony up the cash and get 'er done.


I'm migrating my site and my domain away from Go Daddy, because I really don't like the C.E.O. because of the now-infamous video of the elephant slaughter in which he took part, and used as an opportunity to plug his company. (Wow. I wonder who told him that would be good for business?) Fortunately, my friend owns Ballistic Designs and will be helping me to "focus my marketing statement," which apparently needs to be more sophisticated than, "I make stuff and you need to buy it." Who knew? He's also going to help me find someone to design a logo, inexpensively, and one that can be used for my fine art as well as (maybe) another one for the Hallowe'en end of things.


Well, anyway, enough of that. Vacation was fantastic. All of us had a great time and got some relaxing and beach time in, which is great as we're expecting four or so days of cold and rain here.


Below is a dead guy.

He showed up on one of the few English-language channels we were able to access, and stayed there for two-and-a-half days. We don't know why. Every so often one of us would ask, "Is the dead guy still there?" and the other would reply, "I don't know. Let's check." Was it Mexico's Zombie Apocalypse Alert?

We were vacationing with our neighbors, and neighbor V talked me into getting the shirt with her and her daughter. They didn't have one in Chris Aype's size, unfortunately. He made up for it by conquering the ruins on the hotel's property for all of ape-dom.

 These two nice gentlemen were our guides at "Hidden Worlds," which is what they call an adventure park. We had a blast! I went snorkeling in a small series of caves (the whole cave system, they told us, would take us an entire week to get through, and we'd need to be scuba certified). The best part was all the fruit bats that were in there with us. As always, I was the only one who said "Bats! Cool!" Everyone else (except Mr. ShellHawk the biologist) was freaked out about them.

We headed over to Senor Frog's at the request of one of the kids. Three words: overpriced, crappy food. If you ever head a little off the typical tourist traps, there's a great restaurant inside Market 28: Veracruz Restaurant. It's family-owned and the food is fantastic, cheap, and plentiful. They actually bring the bottle of tequila out to fill up your margarita tableside. Yum!


Only go to Market 28 if you don't mind seriously aggressive sales tactics by the natives, by the way. I didn't mind, but it can be a bit intimidating to those who aren't accustomed to it.

Of course, there was plenty of time to lay by the pool. Ape and his little friend, Val, worked hard on their tans and helped me with reading the big words on my Kindle.

Of course, I brought home some Day of the Dead booty. I may have to make a few more buying trips to Mexico to bring back more...

Yes. All in all, it was a great trip!