Spam, Christine Andreas, Turkey, Greece, and Onion

Okay, I really appreciate those people who comment on my site.

Love it. Most people send e-mail instead, and that's more than fine - I love hearing from people I miss. I especially love to hear from people I don't hear from often enough, who out of the blue will read some of my ramblings and send me a note. Comments are great, e-mail is great, whichever.

Thing is...

Has anyone else noticed, on their sites or looking at my comments, that the spammers, the spam-icists... they are now even sending blog-comment spam? Is that really the best use of our resources and technology?

Anyway, I forgot to mention last entry the great experiences I had last cruise with Christine Andreas and her "partner in life and in music" Martin Silvestri (who wrote the musical Johnny Guitar, amongst other things). It was a great pleasure to share our stage with such talented, gracious people. I even got a copy of charts for a song Martin wrote, which they perform together, called "Cover Me," which appears on one of Christines CDs. Thanks for being so lovely, both of you!

Today we are back in Rhodes and wow do I wish I had not left the old walled city. Venturing out here into the new city... yeah, stick to the historical areas. It is maybe the only place Ive been where Ill say for reasons other than life and limb that it is better to stay in the touristy areas.

THIS is funny.

Godspeed, Voyager

As I was once again walking up the beautiful winding street leading up from the piers to the silghtly less than 150 steps up to the center of Sorrento, Italy, I overheard someone else say...

"We have one more cruise, after this, then we start the crossing..."

And I realized it is true. In less than a month I will say farewell to the ship and cast, I'll head home.

We have all discussed this, at some points, that we'll be sad to depart from everyone but not so sad that it will not be an overjoyous moment when we're finally free to see family, friends, and home again.

So many little things I need to do... go to a big ENGLISH LANGUAGE bookstore... eat at about fifty different restaurants... see movie upon movie...

Today Sorrento, then a few days mor this cruise hitting Kusadasi and Greece and whatnot again. We've only one new place left to see - Crete. That'll be something. Kusadasi is great.

Then a cruise - the "one more" - winding a week from Athens to Monte Carlo. Then about five days in the Med, a few stops in Africa, and we cross the Atlantic back to Ft. Lauderdale.

We don't leave the ship then - two days later in Key West.

I remember getting on the ship and looking to the old cast thinking "they all seem so very ready to leave, to get out of here... I hope we aren't that way."

You know, it has nothing to do with being happy or sad or bitter or content. It has everything to do with wanting to be home and with friends and family and familiar things. Travel is brilliant, lovely, and I hope to continue.

Everyone needs a break, though.

I bought my laptop, by the way. An amazing deal at Tiger Direct on a Gateway 7426GX.

It will await my return...

Looking for laptops

Hey... the headshots have been chosen, and I chose three - one of which wasn't even posted as a choice. By the way, based on your choices I've come to the conclusion some of you are opium fiends.

Right now I am shopping for a newer, better laptop... and for what I'm looking to spend, I need some help. I have found a few options but I'm convinced I can do better.

I want at least:
100GB hard drive
1G Ram
DVD+/-RW optical drive
wireless, obviously
2GHz+ Processor

Beyond that, I don't know. I've found some options but please let me know if you have any good leads. This is my reward to myself for finishing this contract, which happens in such a tiny bit over a month...

Headshots!

Hey... if you´d be so kind as to help me choose my new headshots, head over to

http://donshots.blogspot.com

and let me know what you think.

In the meantime, here´s a picture you can laugh at.

Apple Tea and Levi's

I'm sitting here wearing my Levi's I picked up for what the shop guy called "very small price" in Kusadasi a few weeks ago.

I'd already planned on buying jeans there, so when I saw a display obviously intended to bait passersby into the shop promising "10 Calvin Klein boxer briefs for 10 Euro (the Euro symbol is not on this keyboard)"... I took the lure.

I bought my 10 pair, and instantly they began to hard-sell me on everything else in the shop. I told them I wanted some jeans, and they offered me several designer pair... for far more than I'd pay in the US. I told them this, and they asked how much I would pay. Of course, as we all know, even the best pair of jeans in the USA would never sell for more than $20.

Right?

Anyway, we tried clothes on and they brought us hot apple tea, which was amazing.

I discussed Elvis with the old Turkish man who apparently owned the place. He'd been to the USA only once, 20 years ago, but he'd seen Graceland.

"You go to Elvis palace?"

Yes, I have been to Elvis palace.

When a pair of jeans didn't fit, they took them to be tailored - no charge. More tea.

You don't get that kind of treatment at the mall. Not for what I paid in Turkey, at least.

Bruce Campbell and shoes

Ah... coffee. I will miss European coffee, but my kidneys will probably be happy to have the time to recover. Unless they´ve grown so accustomed to the constant intake that they can no longer function without it...

Today... Ah, mail-order. You get the weeks of anticipation and the joy of gifts, even self-purchased gifts.

Thus the Porsche-related doldrums were recently shaken by the long-awaited arrival of the new Bruce Campbell book, ¨Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way¨ and by my custom-made Nikes from nikeid.com.

Now, the book was fine. Short, and fluffy. Not actually fluffy, I didn´t, you know, have the urge to pet it, but "fluffy" in terms of content.

The shoes, though... well I have to say I thought it would be a ridiculous extravagance to order custom Nikes, but they´re no more expensive than regular Nikes and they turned out to be amazing. They´re so much better than I thought they´d turn out. To look at them it is as though Nike really makes a model called the ¨Nike Baritone", but I have the only pair.

We have found a lot of great stuff to do in both Ibiza and Mallorca, especially Mallorca. If nothing else, you can bake in the sun.

For someone my size I recommend about 350 degrees for an hour, baste, turn, then another half hour. Slice into sections, serves 12.

We´re all really starting to feel the "home-stretch" vibe, perhaps prematurely. 48 days left as I sit here at an Internet room in Ibiza.

Coming soon: I just had new headshots taken, at an old castle in Mallorca. I might post some here to help me decide between them.