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Pictures and updates

shua on Sep 03, 2008 09:18 am

OK! So I finally got some pictures uploaded, check the gallery for those.

I am in a nice little coffee shop right now. Good coffee and free wifi... ahhh just like home! Things are going pretty good down here, though I am definitely ready to come home. Traveling with Joe isn't pure hell, but I have learned that for sure I will only either travel with Yuka or by myself in the future. Travel + Compromise = no fun.

The waves here in Puerto Escondito are fucking huge and crazy. Although Joe and I are about equal in surfing skill, he is a way better swimmer than I am, and here, that seems to be the most important thing. So when it comes to surfing, and that is all Joe ever wants to do, Joe has way more fun than I do. Yea, I am pretty bored. Oh well.

However, things are looking up on the surf front. I am finally healed up enough to get out in the water and we found a nice point break to surf at. It's a little crowded and rocky, but the waves are big and slow and fun. We will probably paddle out when I am done here.

We are planning on leaving Friday morning, though it may be sooner as Joe is having some sort of alergic reaction to everything. One day it's a rash, the next his forehead is swollen, today he has swollen lips. Poor guy... 2 trips to the doctor and a handfull of pills and nothing is seeming to help... though I am sure it has something to do with the fact that we keep accidentally eating stuff he is not supposed to (the list of no-nos: sea food, chocolate, dairy products, strawberries, chilis and pork... all common foods in Mexico!).

Well, maybe I can convince him to bounce out tonight or tomorrow.

Tags: adventure mexico travel

Good times!

Shua on Aug 27, 2008 07:27 pm

We finally made it to Puerto Escondito. Itīs really nice here, mostly because it is off season and not very crowded. Itīs still more crowded than San Blas, but much cleaner. The ocean is also much cooler, itīs actually refreshing when you get in the water.

The trip down here was quite interesting. We got a ticket for running a red light in some god aweful prodestant town. It really sucked there, the people werenīt as friendly as expected of normal Mexicans. Also it was interesting, the cops took the plates off the car until we paid the ticket.

The next interesting thing that happened was actually cool. We were driving and saw some palapas on the beach and headed down to investigate. We met the owners and they let us camp for free for the night. The next day, the third and last day of driving brought us through the tourist hell known as Acapulco we got stopped for not having our seat belts on or something. Which was ridiculous as I have never seen anyone in Mexico wearing a seat belt. They said we had to hang out for four hours before we could go to the police station to pay the ticket, which was 800 pesos. We asked if we could pay the ticket now, and that we only had 400 pesos. They took the money of course and then gave us a police escort though town.

We finally got here at 6pm yesterday after a total of about 30 hours of driving. The surf is insane here, usually too big for my liking, but really good at times. Well, for a beach break it is.

Well, I am sick of typing so for now thatīs all... I promise to upload some pics soon!

Tags: adventure travel mexico surfing

Oh joy!

Shua on Aug 20, 2008 12:59 pm

I love to jump off things. Too much so evidently. Nacho and Cole took Joe and I to these awesome waterfalls in the middle of the forest somewhere outside of town. They were so beauitiful! I have pictures to come, I will try to upload tomorrow.

Anyway, Nacho and I climed up to the top of the waterfalls and jumped off. It was about 20 meters (60 feet) or more. It was a hard landing and I ended up with some bruises and pulled muscles. I instinctivly put my arms out when I hit the water and they hit the water pretty hard. I bruised the palms of my hands and my right leg on the side. Not a big deal till about an hour later when the muscles in my chest area start to ache. I don't know if I sepparated my septum a little bit or just pulled a bunch of mucles but it fucking hurt. I was pretty much out of commission for 3 days. Hopefully I will be able to surf tomorrow. I am feeling much better today... almost healed.

Other than that things are going good. The $20 quarter pound of weed I bought is almost gone, perfectly in time for leaving Saturday. I am not really sure what I will be able to do, as I don't have a whole lot of money left. I am still waiting on payment for both the tickets website and from SDV. And on that note, I quit working with T-Rik, it was just too much stress and hassle. How can I be expected to be reliable when I am not reliably paid? Oh the woes of modern life.

On a more archaic note, Nacho and Cole brought some insturments (2 drums, a whistle and a guitar) over to the crib and we spent the whole day yesterday jamming. It was great.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for today ;)

Tags: adventure jump injury travel

Another Day, Another Dollar

Shua on Aug 14, 2008 01:04 pm

Well, I am pretty much all set up to work here in Mexico. There is a great bar with cheap prices, good coffee and high speed internet access. In fact it's the fastest I have found since I have been here. It is a good feeling getting all caught up on work.

As far as what has been going on, things have been nice and mellow. Surf, eat, work, nap, work, eat and play chess. Very mellow and nice.

I also got a hold of the book Fruit of the Gods by Terrance McKenna. An awesome book, great pre-reading for Joe and My proposed journey with our friend Nacho to go pick mushrooms up in Tepic. We are also trying to figure out where to rago to do ayahuasca with some tribal shamans. This is likely more important to me than joe, but he seems to be into it.

We haven't made it to any ancient ruins yet, but we did get to explore an old Spanish fort on the top of a mountain. Those damn Spaniards were everywhere down here. Supposedly there is treasure to be found... I will keep my eyes and ears open.

Well, it's about siesta time so Joe and I are going to go look for waves and/or go surfing.

Hasta luego....

Tags: adventure work mexico programming

Words from Mexico

Shua on Aug 13, 2008 04:50 pm

Ok third time is a charm. I keep messing up and erasing everything I write. ARG!

I finally arived in los mochis 6 hours late due to delays and time changes. Thanks to Joe's cellphone working in MX I was able to get a hold of him and we got a hotel for the night. Aside from the fact that his dog keeps biting me, things are good.

The next morning we awoke and headed for Mazatlan. Maz was a huge dissapointment because not only were there no waves, the city was big and dirty and not what we were looking for, so we pressed on.

We contined driving south til 1 in the morning and camped out on the beach in San Blas. San Blas is awesome. Here we met Don Smith, an ex-pat into mexican realty that ended up renting us a house for 2 weeks for 200 bucks. Not bad at all.

Surf has been great, the food is great and I always love speaking Spanish. I promise to go into more detail in my next post. Till then... adios!

Tags: adventure mexico surfing travel

The Final Countdown!

Shua on Aug 05, 2008 03:06 am

Well, I just sent my final state side email... perhaps you are reading this because you received it!

It is the wee hours of the morning, and Yuka and I are getting ready to crash out for the night. By this time tomorrow I will be only 13 hours away from my destination. It's not far at all!

It's strange how life can take so many twists and turns and still end up running in the same direction. The direction seems to point toward the equator, however I doubt this direction I speak of can be found on any compass. Nor am I sure of the difference between the part of me that is running away from everything and the part of me that is running toward everything. Trying to get away, get away. When I am almost far enough away I go running back with my tail between my legs. What am I afraid of?

There is no creation without destruction, no life without death... so then what? Where is the true importance in all these things we hold so dear? For certainly they are not the source of true happiness. To need nothing is to have everything. To let go of everything is to hold the universe.

So once again I throw caution to the wind and set sail. All these worries and fears I leave behind me are only traded for new ones ahead. Spit polished and new and therefore welcome. For now for what else is there?

Tags: adventure mexico travel bus surf

Getting Closer

Shua on Aug 04, 2008 05:40 pm

Picked up a surf bag today and now I am ready to go! I am actually going to catch the bus in downtown now, as it just goes there from hollywood and then waits for an hour. I figure it's better to spend the extra time w/ Yuka.

It is going to cost me an extra $10 to bring my surfboard, no biggie. I am just hoping that it will be easy to get my Tourist Card, or FM-T once I get to Tijuana.

Yuka and I are off to have a sushi dinner before I head out... I will try to post before I leave... but the chances are my next entry will be either in Los Mochis or Mazatlan.

Tags: surf travel mexico adventure

Ticket in Hand

Shua on Aug 03, 2008 03:53 pm

Ok, just scored my bus ticket to get to Los Mochis, Mexico. I ended up doing this for a few reasons, it's a shorter bus trip for me, it's a shorter boat ride for Joe, and its way cheaper for both of us. I only paid an even $100 for my ticket, sweet. Anyhoo, here is my itinerary:

Departing Greyhound Hollywood, CA, CRP 7521 at 11:10am Tuesday.
I arrive in Tijuana MX at 4pm and get on Crucero Bus 0179 to Los Mochis at 6pm.
Then it's 21 hours of Mexican roads to get me to Los Mochis at 3:30pm Wednesday.

Hopefully while I am in TJ I can sort out my Tourist Card. Something I have never had to deal with as I have only ever been to Baja California.

I am so excited... all I have left to do is get a bag for my surf board.

Tags: surf bus travel mexico adventure

Mexico here I come!

Shua on Aug 02, 2008 03:22 pm

All plans are now coming to fruition. The journey to Mexico is about to be under way.

Three weeks ago, Joe left for Mexico, while I stayed behind to catch up on some work. This didn't work out as planed (no pun intended), it turned out to be a waring fiasco. Evidently I am not currently in the head space to be a reliable worker. Fine with me, I need to get away. I have been breathing smog for far too long.

I am leaving by bus at 11:10am on Tuesday morning. This should be interesting. The bus trip is 34 hours. Wow. Too bad the battery in my iPod only lasts for 6. I am sure I will manage.

I am scheduled to arrive in Mazatlan, Mexico at 10:25pm on Wednesday.

Clean air and sunny beaches, here I come!

Tags: adventure mexico travel bus surf

Updates

Shua on Jul 23, 2008 10:49 pm

So, I haven't left for Mexico yet. Joe went ahead without me. Not to upset about it though, as I was having second thoughts about going anyway. It changed from being a 'get away from society' trip to 'lets make a surf movie' trip. Kind of sucks. But it's probably for the best, it's hard to travel with people, and I don't know if Joe and I would have been able to get along.

On the work front, I have been doing a bunch for http://foryourart.com and http://stardustvisions.com. Also finally launched the ticket system I built for http://hotelcafe.com. http://fartherwest.com (Ubercart implementation) is also up and running with only a few more style bugs to work out.

Finished a slight restyle of the AOC front end today to make it more compatible with hand-held devices. Still working on the back-end now, but it's close.

Also added a bunch of new stuff to the Wiki, most notably some OSX pages:

http://artofconfusion.org/wiki/?title=OSX

Damn! I have been busy! I have also written a new Uncyclopedia article!

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Corvette

Tags: wiki updates design style aoc web

Wiki

Shua on Jul 05, 2008 06:31 pm

Added a wiki to the site today, at http://www.artofconfusion.org/wiki

All future projects and hacks will be managed there.

The main area of the site will be for Blogging, Image Galleries and File Archives. Everything else will be in the wiki.

I have already moved the Smartcard / Amex GCR415 information pages to the wiki, and all the files from the GCR415 pages will be available in the archive.

http://artofconfusion.org/wiki/index.php5?title=Smartcards
http://artofconfusion.org/wiki/index.php5?title=Amex_GCR415_Smartcard_Reader

Tags: smartcards community web updates aoc wiki

Blogware Complete!

Shua on Jul 05, 2008 01:31 am

Yay! Blogware is complete, or at least close enough for government work.

Now I just have to use it ;)

Tags: updates travel web missives

Haven't left yet....

Shua in LA on Jul 05, 2008 12:55 am

...but I am still going :)

A lot of prep work has been done, and is still getting done. Joe and I went to the animal shelter the other day and adopted a dog. Her name is Hazel and we hope she will prove to be a good look out.

What am I doing in LA at the moment? Mostly just tying down some loose ends before the trip.

The new site gallery, blog and archive are some of the loose ends I am tying. Got the gallery software working for the most part, now I am getting this blogware up and going.

Been playing guitar a lot. Been having a really good time with Yuka.

Hoping to get all my current projects worked out in the next week and get paid so I can go to Mexico.

Tags: missives life updates la travel