Update directly from the Caribbean
Yes, right now I am blogging directly from the Golden Princess Cruise Ship somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean sea! Found a few spare minutes in my evening to hop onto a computer in the internet cafe via high-speed satellite.
Started off the week on monday with a full day at sea finally arriving to our first destination, Barbados! What a beautiful place for my first stop on my first caribbean cruise. While mostly flat, Barbados has a unique culture which is noticeably different than the latter islands I have visited. Around 8am Tuesday, I started hiking through Barbados, trekking through Whim gully.
Wednesday I woke up in the port of St. Lucia, a much more mountainous and hilly region of the caribbean compared to Barbados. Because St. Lucia has more rugged terrain, we took a Land Rover 4-wheel drive excursion all around the southrn part of the island. We we through small towns and also across rivers where we finally ended up at a 200 foot waterfall where we could relax with some local beer and swim.
Today, I arose to the sights and sounds of the island, Antigua, where 90% of their main industry is tourism. Once on the island we took a 25 minute bus ride to Seatons, which is small fishing village where we met our guides. We headed out about a quarter mile off shore in Skiffs where we were able to snorkel and swim with Stingrays and other colorful fish.
As I type, we are heading at 19.3 knots northwest towards St. Maarten and will arrive at port approximatley 6:15am EST. As for shore excursions for tomorrow, we have nothing planned so I expect we will most likely head to the city and shop along with lunch on the beach and some swimming.
For the end of my cruise, we finish off with St. Thomas which is known as one of the more developed caribbean islands and then head west to our original embarkation point of San Juan.
Time to join the Caribbean party which is happening on the back of the ship; look back later for more details and a full photo gallery!
-jw
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Cruise time!
Tomorrow begins my 1st week of vacation time off work in a long time, I'm so pumped. I am leaving tomorrow morning with my family to head to San Juan for an eastern Caribbean Cruise! It is going to be purely amazing. We fly nonstop to San Juan where we board, and make stops during the week to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and back to San Juan. This is my first cruise so I am sure it is going to be one of a kind. We will be cruising on the Golden Princess, which is part of the Princess Cruise Line for our 7-day carribean exploration. Be sure to check back in a week for an update on how it went. If you need to get a hold of me you can try my cell phone for when I'm in the states, other than that I will only be reachable by e-mail. :-)
-TDF Final Update-
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 79:27:17
2. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 06:38
3. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 06:59
4. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 09:09
5. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 14:30
6. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 18:20
7. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 18:46
8. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 20:10
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, 20:31
10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 23:13
Any questions? Armstrong heads to Paris in yellow
American beats second-placed Ullrich by 1:01 in final TT
Armstrong powers to another stage win and virtually cinches a sixth straight TourVictory for Lance Armstrong in Saturday's stage 19 time trial at Besançon was a fait accompli. So much so, that at his press conference afterward, the man behind what has been dubbed by at least one media outlet as the "Texas Chainring Massacre" was not asked one question about his terrific ride in the 55km time trial.
There was really no explanation needed about Armstrong's winning ride over the T-Mobile pairing of Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Klöden, who placed second and third on the stage at 1:01 and 1:27 respectively.
It was expected. It was provided. And it was so very conclusive. And it extended Armstrong's total of wins in the final time trial of a Tour he has won from four to five.
Ullrich finished second to Armstrong, but will miss the podiumIt most probably would be six of six had the heavens not opened over Nantes last year when Armstrong - again in yellow and assured of victory - eased up the pace after hearing that his nearest challenger, Ullrich, had crashed on a slippery traffic circle.
On a course whose difficulties included many rises, dips and turns, the stage was made even harder to conquer by a blanket of humidity and heat that swept over the France Comté region, especially in the late afternoon.
Basso gave it his all, but slipped back a spot on Armstrong's winning time of 1:06.49 on the circular course came at an average speed of 49.389kmh, and with the fastest split times at each of two intervals before the finish line.
-jw
Tomorrow begins my 1st week of vacation time off work in a long time, I'm so pumped. I am leaving tomorrow morning with my family to head to San Juan for an eastern Caribbean Cruise! It is going to be purely amazing. We fly nonstop to San Juan where we board, and make stops during the week to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and back to San Juan. This is my first cruise so I am sure it is going to be one of a kind. We will be cruising on the Golden Princess, which is part of the Princess Cruise Line for our 7-day carribean exploration. Be sure to check back in a week for an update on how it went. If you need to get a hold of me you can try my cell phone for when I'm in the states, other than that I will only be reachable by e-mail. :-)
-TDF Final Update-
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 79:27:17
2. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 06:38
3. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 06:59
4. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 09:09
5. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 14:30
6. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 18:20
7. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 18:46
8. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 20:10
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Rabobank, 20:31
10. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 23:13
Any questions? Armstrong heads to Paris in yellow
American beats second-placed Ullrich by 1:01 in final TT
Armstrong powers to another stage win and virtually cinches a sixth straight TourVictory for Lance Armstrong in Saturday's stage 19 time trial at Besançon was a fait accompli. So much so, that at his press conference afterward, the man behind what has been dubbed by at least one media outlet as the "Texas Chainring Massacre" was not asked one question about his terrific ride in the 55km time trial.
There was really no explanation needed about Armstrong's winning ride over the T-Mobile pairing of Germans Jan Ullrich and Andreas Klöden, who placed second and third on the stage at 1:01 and 1:27 respectively.
It was expected. It was provided. And it was so very conclusive. And it extended Armstrong's total of wins in the final time trial of a Tour he has won from four to five.
Ullrich finished second to Armstrong, but will miss the podiumIt most probably would be six of six had the heavens not opened over Nantes last year when Armstrong - again in yellow and assured of victory - eased up the pace after hearing that his nearest challenger, Ullrich, had crashed on a slippery traffic circle.
On a course whose difficulties included many rises, dips and turns, the stage was made even harder to conquer by a blanket of humidity and heat that swept over the France Comté region, especially in the late afternoon.
Basso gave it his all, but slipped back a spot on Armstrong's winning time of 1:06.49 on the circular course came at an average speed of 49.389kmh, and with the fastest split times at each of two intervals before the finish line.
-jw
Friday, July 16, 2004
- Quick Tour de France Update -
Stage 12 - Castelsarrasin to La Mongie (123.659mi/199km)
(from VeloNews)
Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) won Friday's 12th stage of the Tour de France, beating Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor) at the finish of the first mountain stage between Castelsarrasin and La Mongie on Friday.
Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Brioches la Boulangere) started his seventh day in the race leader's yellow jersey and had to work hard to keep it on his shoulders over the 197.5km run. The 24-year-old French national champion, who led Armstrong by 9:35 overnight, came in around four minutes behind Basso to retain the yellow jersey.
Basso, considered a future winner of the Tour, crossed just ahead of Armstrong, whom he followed in the final kilometers of the 15km climb, the second of the day and the first summit finish of the Tour.
However, Armstrong will be happy with his day's work as Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) struggled in more than two minutes later. Germany's 1997 winner and five-time runner-up now sits more than three minutes behind Armstrong on general classification.
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 51:51:07
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 05:24
3. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 05:50
4. Richard Virenque (F), Quick Step-Davitamon, 06:20
5. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 06:33
6. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 06:33
7. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 06:43
8. Jakob Piil (Dk), CSC, 06:53
9. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 07:23
10. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 08:11
-jw
Stage 12 - Castelsarrasin to La Mongie (123.659mi/199km)
(from VeloNews)
Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) won Friday's 12th stage of the Tour de France, beating Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor) at the finish of the first mountain stage between Castelsarrasin and La Mongie on Friday.
Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Brioches la Boulangere) started his seventh day in the race leader's yellow jersey and had to work hard to keep it on his shoulders over the 197.5km run. The 24-year-old French national champion, who led Armstrong by 9:35 overnight, came in around four minutes behind Basso to retain the yellow jersey.
Basso, considered a future winner of the Tour, crossed just ahead of Armstrong, whom he followed in the final kilometers of the 15km climb, the second of the day and the first summit finish of the Tour.
However, Armstrong will be happy with his day's work as Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) struggled in more than two minutes later. Germany's 1997 winner and five-time runner-up now sits more than three minutes behind Armstrong on general classification.
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 51:51:07
2. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 05:24
3. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 05:50
4. Richard Virenque (F), Quick Step-Davitamon, 06:20
5. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 06:33
6. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 06:33
7. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 06:43
8. Jakob Piil (Dk), CSC, 06:53
9. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 07:23
10. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 08:11
-jw
Thursday, July 15, 2004
All about BitTorrent
BitTorrent = not your traditional P2P. BitTorrent works in a totally different way than all of the other file sharing programs out there. BT is a program that you install on your computer which allows you to open "torrents". You download "torrents" from other websites and open them with BT and that will download your certain file (music, movie, etc).
BT is very unique from other P2P like Kazaa, WinMX, etc because it isn't connecting to a big large server and then trying to get the file. What BT does is it connects to the file through the site which you are using and downloads parts of it from many different sources (people) who have the same file until the download is complete. During and after (unless you close) as you yourself download parts of the file, you are uploading to other people as well.
Because the content available for download is not limited to a specific server, range of servers, or program, there are many torrent sites where you can get what you're looking for. My favorite and most used BT download site is Suprnova.org. It has a wide range of content and many seeds for good downloading speeds. There are many more out there, some that require registration, just do a Google search on torrents to find more.
As far as the actual BitTorrent program, there are a few now: 1) The original 2)BitTornado [my personal fav.] 3)Azureus. BitTornado is very similar to the original but has a few more options to cuztomize downloads, uploads, speeds etc. The also have a red/yellow/green light system which relates to your download speed. Green light is the best speed. If you have a firewall you will get a yellow light until you open port 6881 and above on your router. Make sure to open both ports on your hardware firewall and software firewall if you have both. For more information or help, check out the BitTornado forums.
Torrenting is most definitley my favorite way of downloading media and content from the internet due to its reliability and fast downloads. Check it out!
-jw
BitTorrent = not your traditional P2P. BitTorrent works in a totally different way than all of the other file sharing programs out there. BT is a program that you install on your computer which allows you to open "torrents". You download "torrents" from other websites and open them with BT and that will download your certain file (music, movie, etc).
BT is very unique from other P2P like Kazaa, WinMX, etc because it isn't connecting to a big large server and then trying to get the file. What BT does is it connects to the file through the site which you are using and downloads parts of it from many different sources (people) who have the same file until the download is complete. During and after (unless you close) as you yourself download parts of the file, you are uploading to other people as well.
Because the content available for download is not limited to a specific server, range of servers, or program, there are many torrent sites where you can get what you're looking for. My favorite and most used BT download site is Suprnova.org. It has a wide range of content and many seeds for good downloading speeds. There are many more out there, some that require registration, just do a Google search on torrents to find more.
As far as the actual BitTorrent program, there are a few now: 1) The original 2)BitTornado [my personal fav.] 3)Azureus. BitTornado is very similar to the original but has a few more options to cuztomize downloads, uploads, speeds etc. The also have a red/yellow/green light system which relates to your download speed. Green light is the best speed. If you have a firewall you will get a yellow light until you open port 6881 and above on your router. Make sure to open both ports on your hardware firewall and software firewall if you have both. For more information or help, check out the BitTornado forums.
Torrenting is most definitley my favorite way of downloading media and content from the internet due to its reliability and fast downloads. Check it out!
-jw
Sunday, July 11, 2004
- Tour de France 2004 Update -
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS - STAGE 8
1. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 3:54:22
2. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Fassa Bortolo, 00:00
3. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 00:00
4. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 00:00
5. KlÖden Andréas (G), T-Mobile, 00:00
6. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:00
7. Laurent Brochard (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 00:00
8. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 00:00
9. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 00:00
10. Danilo Hondo (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:00
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 33:03:36
2. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 03:01
3. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 04:06
4. Magnus Backstedt (Swe), Alessio-Bianchi, 06:27
5. Jakob Piil (Dk), CSC, 07:09
6. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:35
7. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:45
8. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 09:57
9. Gutierrez José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 10:02
10. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 10:06
11. Tyler Hamilton (USA), Phonak, 10:11
12. Floyd Landis (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 10:12
13. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 10:12
14. Bert Grabsch (G), Phonak, 10:16
15. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 10:18
------------------------------------------
Borrowed from Cory...
What do ya think ladies?
-jw
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS - STAGE 8
1. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 3:54:22
2. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Fassa Bortolo, 00:00
3. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 00:00
4. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 00:00
5. KlÖden Andréas (G), T-Mobile, 00:00
6. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:00
7. Laurent Brochard (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 00:00
8. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 00:00
9. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 00:00
10. Danilo Hondo (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:00
OVERALL STANDINGS
1. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 33:03:36
2. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 03:01
3. Sandy Casar (F), FDJeux.com, 04:06
4. Magnus Backstedt (Swe), Alessio-Bianchi, 06:27
5. Jakob Piil (Dk), CSC, 07:09
6. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:35
7. George Hincapie (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 09:45
8. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 09:57
9. Gutierrez José Enrique (Sp), Phonak, 10:02
10. Erik Zabel (G), T-Mobile, 10:06
11. Tyler Hamilton (USA), Phonak, 10:11
12. Floyd Landis (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 10:12
13. Santos Gonzalez (Sp), Phonak, 10:12
14. Bert Grabsch (G), Phonak, 10:16
15. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 10:18
------------------------------------------
Borrowed from Cory...
What do ya think ladies?
-jw
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Another memorable 4th of July
I was sad to see the weekend come to an end. After a great weekend spent with family who I see often, occasionally, and some once every two years.. I wished it would continue forever. Family is what its all about. Just having everyone all in once place at the same time and just enjoying the holiday and time together was grand. A total of 58 people landed at my Aunt's cottage this past weekend in Boyne (the usual place for our 4th of July family reunion). Many events went on such as professional cup stacking tournaments, to potato gun launchings, to just plain chillin out and taking relaxing naps. Nothing more to say but a great weekend; check the moblog for good pics!
USPS Team Leads Tour with huge Stage 4 win
As many of you know, the Tour de France is underway and today, in the Team Time Trials, the United States Postal Service team had an impressive win over the other 20 teams with a time gap of 1 minutes 7 seconds putting them in the lead for the Tour. Check out the following from Velonews:
The smiles of Lance Armstrong and his U.S. Postal Service team said it all and then some on a day that was bleak, stormy and awfully miserable for most.
By blazing a trail through the shadows of a wet day in northern France to win today's 64.5km stage 4 team time trial from Cambrai to Arras, they told every rival that Armstrong was the right stuff, and so was the entire line-up.
Armstrong said as much after his team finished with eight of nine riders, at an average speed of 53.71kmh, following a winning ride that saw them fight back from fifth place at the first time check of 19km.
"We started a little slow, got behind," he said. "Maybe some of the guys were a little nervous. But it is a sign of a great team that when they are down, they fight back," he said.
Armstrong said he will not set out to defend the yellow jersey in tomorrow's fifth stage, nor during the next days leading up to the Pyrénées, because it would place too much pressure on his team.
"I would like to hang onto it, but it is probably not in the best interests of the team," said Armstrong. "This is a hard race to defend, and right now we have to consider the strength of the team and try to preserve them for the second half (of the Tour.)
Tomorrow begins Stage 5 of the Tour which takes the riders from Amiens to Chartres in a 121 mile ride. Although there is only one 200km large climb, the towns in Paris have short hills and a lot of turns. Tune in to OLN for full coverage.
-jw
I was sad to see the weekend come to an end. After a great weekend spent with family who I see often, occasionally, and some once every two years.. I wished it would continue forever. Family is what its all about. Just having everyone all in once place at the same time and just enjoying the holiday and time together was grand. A total of 58 people landed at my Aunt's cottage this past weekend in Boyne (the usual place for our 4th of July family reunion). Many events went on such as professional cup stacking tournaments, to potato gun launchings, to just plain chillin out and taking relaxing naps. Nothing more to say but a great weekend; check the moblog for good pics!
USPS Team Leads Tour with huge Stage 4 win
As many of you know, the Tour de France is underway and today, in the Team Time Trials, the United States Postal Service team had an impressive win over the other 20 teams with a time gap of 1 minutes 7 seconds putting them in the lead for the Tour. Check out the following from Velonews:
The smiles of Lance Armstrong and his U.S. Postal Service team said it all and then some on a day that was bleak, stormy and awfully miserable for most.
By blazing a trail through the shadows of a wet day in northern France to win today's 64.5km stage 4 team time trial from Cambrai to Arras, they told every rival that Armstrong was the right stuff, and so was the entire line-up.
Armstrong said as much after his team finished with eight of nine riders, at an average speed of 53.71kmh, following a winning ride that saw them fight back from fifth place at the first time check of 19km.
"We started a little slow, got behind," he said. "Maybe some of the guys were a little nervous. But it is a sign of a great team that when they are down, they fight back," he said.
Armstrong said he will not set out to defend the yellow jersey in tomorrow's fifth stage, nor during the next days leading up to the Pyrénées, because it would place too much pressure on his team.
"I would like to hang onto it, but it is probably not in the best interests of the team," said Armstrong. "This is a hard race to defend, and right now we have to consider the strength of the team and try to preserve them for the second half (of the Tour.)
Tomorrow begins Stage 5 of the Tour which takes the riders from Amiens to Chartres in a 121 mile ride. Although there is only one 200km large climb, the towns in Paris have short hills and a lot of turns. Tune in to OLN for full coverage.
-jw
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Gmail v3.0
Google is now offering a beta e-mail service which will be available to the public very soon. The service called Gmail is Google's version of a web-based e-mail and offers 1GB of e-mail storage; the most any service has offered to date. Other than the large storage capacity, Gmail uses the power of their internet search engine and brings it to your e-mail. Any message that you have saved in your Gmail account is fully searchable which makes it easy to find messages that you may have received or sent from years past. There are also many standard features you find in the other e-mail services such as filters and POP3 forwarding.
Now that I have been a Gmail member for a while, they have given me one invite which I can now give away to a lucky someone. If you are interested, leave me a comment here with your e-mail address and you may be the lucky one!
-jw
Google is now offering a beta e-mail service which will be available to the public very soon. The service called Gmail is Google's version of a web-based e-mail and offers 1GB of e-mail storage; the most any service has offered to date. Other than the large storage capacity, Gmail uses the power of their internet search engine and brings it to your e-mail. Any message that you have saved in your Gmail account is fully searchable which makes it easy to find messages that you may have received or sent from years past. There are also many standard features you find in the other e-mail services such as filters and POP3 forwarding.
Now that I have been a Gmail member for a while, they have given me one invite which I can now give away to a lucky someone. If you are interested, leave me a comment here with your e-mail address and you may be the lucky one!
-jw
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