Banal Leakage » swimming

Myrtle Beach 2011

martymankins — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:18:11 +0000

So it’s been a good month since I was in Myrtle Beach. About time I posted about my trip. Here’s a series of photos, with stories to go along with them, that document my ten days on vacation in this beach town of South Carolina.

My view each morning for 10 days

Once we got checked into our room at the Westgate, the first place I went was out to see the beach. And this is what I did each day I was there. And seeing this awesome view often made my vacation that much better.

This is the view from that beach area at the Westgate resort. Is it a converted Holiday Inn, which was obvious from the front, but from the back, it looks like other resorts. Our room was in the middle tower, somewhere on the 6th floor. I could never find it from the beach, unless my wife was standing on the balcony. The tower to the far right is the newer one, which we were not in (maybe next time we will stay there).

tanning the backside

If you are going to go on vacation to a beach area, your main goal is to get tan. And tan I got… well, not right away, but after a few days of bringing my un-tanned body from a winter state, the tan took. The magazine I’m reading is Vanity Fair.

Red like a lobster

See, I had to get red and a bit sunburned before I got tan. Splotchy in color, this eventually become a nice brown tan all over. I even used SFP 50 on my face and SPF 30 on my body and still got red. This is from spending a good 6 hours a day out in the sun.

Kiddie pools are not for adults with no kids

The pools were a nice break from the sand and ocean water. I never went into the kid area for fear they would have thought a lobster made it’s way up from the ocean. So I mostly stayed near the pool bar and the larger pool pictured at the top right of the photo.

east coast storm a brewin’

There was one afternoon and evening where the sun faded and dark storm clouds replaced it all into a gloomy and dimmed sky. The storm continued for a night before having the sunny skies return. I was ok with the storm because it was cool to see and experience and it only lasted one afternoon and evening.

Take a walk on the Boardwalk… if you pass GO, collect $200

Myrtle Beach has a recently rebuilt boardwalk with shops, places to eat and easy access to the beach. We had some awesome scallop tacos at Dirty Don’s, saw a very diverse crowd of people and found many places to just relax and enjoy the ocean and the atmosphere.

Pier pressure

Two piers are lined up along the Myrtle Beach coast, which are pretty much just old wooden structures that people fish from. These piers also had restaurants and gift shops and charged a $1 to go out to see people fishing. Or at least a different view of the ocean.

a barge of people enjoying the river

Based on a suggestion from one of the many gift shops in town [there are 3 for every tourist], we drove the 2 hours south to Charleston, SC one afternoon. The above photo was the river from flows from the Atlantic Ocean into town. This place is filled with history and class.

Awesome bridge

Driving into the city across this giant bridge was pretty cool. We want to go back here again someday to experience more of the city’s rich history and culture.

Don’t look a gift shop in the mouth

Speaking of gift shops, these places were all over. Mostly with names like Eagles or Whales or Bargains and sometimes three of the same name within 1/2 a block apart. Some like the one above, have inviting entrances. All in the name of a t-shirt or seashell with “Myrtle Beach” on it.

Here I sit all connected…

One of the only times I complained was trying to get online (as I normally do when traveling). Not only was the cell signal coverage bad inside the resort, so was the wifi the Westgate had. First off, I had to pay $25 to have it for the week. Secondly, the signal didn’t work anywhere inside the room… except in the bathroom, where full bars made me happy again. I also had full bars out on the beach front, which I obviously didn’t complain about. Complaining to the front desk also didn’t net me a refund nor an apology. Must remember this for next time I visit this Westgate location, where I will ask for a room in the newer tower. [where I did test the wifi and it worked flawlessly]

Reba and Marty

One of the many photos my wife took of us. We are happy. How can you not be when staying next to the beach and ocean.

not actual size, but it was still pretty big.

Almost every night, we walked the beach. On our last night, many jelly fish had washed up on the shore. This was a close up of one of them. We made sure to avoid touching or stepping on these newly-beached sea creatures.

the final sunset

And on our last night, we enjoyed – as we had many nights before – a wonderful sunset. We’ll be back there again someday. It was a wonderful vacation.

Meme Sheep

martymankins — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:28:17 +0000

Okay, if this meme was good enough for Poppy, Karl and Dave2, it’s good enough for me to take a lazy blog post day [Actually, besides the cut and paste part of it, this post took much longer to put together than I thought it would]. I’ll be back soon with many posts that I’m working on for public consumption.

ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? crashed on my bike, hit my nose and upper lip into gravel
WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR BEDROOM? a picture of a giraffe and lion
WHAT DOES YOUR MOBILE PHONE LOOK LIKE? a Palm Pre (i also have an iPhone)
WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? all kinds, except for country and opera
DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? 6:10am
WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? to be a successful writing and movie maker
WHO DO YOU MISS? my mom
IS ANYONE IN LOVE WITH YOU OR HAS A CRUSH ON YOU? my wife
WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU KISSED? my wife
WHAT’S YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Lee
THE BEST TV SHOW EVER CREATED? Get Smart
THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO? a co-worker
DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK? sometimes
THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY? myself
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOGNE / PERFUME? Polo Blue, Calvin Klein Euphoria
WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? blonde or brunette, brown, blue
WOULD YOU RATHER BE SMART OR FUNNY? funny
COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS? mostly coffee, but energy drinks during the day.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING? sausage
IF YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? pan-seared scallops
WHO IS THE LAST PERSON WHO MADE YOU MAD? myself
DO YOU SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE? nope
WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU? a train set from my mom for my birthday
DO YOU LIKE SOMEONE? yes, many people
ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED? nope
FAVORITE CLOTHING BRAND? Timberland
WHAT’S YOUR DREAM CAR? Mercedes C-280
WHAT COLOR IS IT? dark blue
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF EXERCISE? treadmill, swimming
WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING? maybe
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU? being kind to them
WRITE A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED? 29
BLONDES OR BRUNETTES? both
WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN? my daughters
WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? being asked questions all the time
HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY? WHERE DID YOU GO? WHAT PLACE DID YOU LIKE BEST? Mexico and Canada – Tijuana and Creston
YOUR WEAKNESSES? not being able to say no
FRIES/CHIPS, RICE, OR BEANS? rice… every kind
FIRST JOB? dough roller at Chuck E Cheese
EVER PRANK CALLED SOMEONE? many times
WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS? updating user accounts at work
IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY WHAT WOULD IT BE? remove extra skin under my chin
WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS MEME? because I wanted to be part of the cool kids in my blogging circle
WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST? how nice I am to others
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME ILLEGAL? make my own moonshine – gin and vodka
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? relax alone time with no worries or stress… and a MacBook Air
HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT? i have 1 and am very happy with 1
WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? the movie “Marty” (my mom loved movies and movie stars)
DO YOU WISH ON STARS? not always
WHICH FINGER[S] IS YOUR FAVORITE? index on right hand
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Arby’s Beef and Cheddar
DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? for the most part, yes
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? pastrami
ANY BAD HABITS? many
WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF? used to be Paula Abdul “Forever Your Girl” not sure I have one now.
IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? yes
HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL? yes
DO LOOKS MATTER? yes
YOU RELEASE YOUR ANGER? yes
WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME? Orange County, CA – Newport Beach
DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY? for the most part, yes
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Vertibird
HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR MOBILE PHONE? over 500
DO YOU USE SARCASM? often
DO YOU KNOW ANYONE FAMOUS? Lenny Dykstra, former NY Met
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT? yes – 1999 Rage Against the Machine concert
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A PLACE TO LIVE? temperature, altitude (I live in the wrong city now)
WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Chilly Willy, Martyman, Spewbacca
HOW MANY HATS DO YOU OWN? WHAT’S YOUR HAT SIZE? not sure. maybe a 6
DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? always
WERE YOU UPSET ABOUT STEVE IRWIN DYING? sad, but not upset
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? pistachio
ARE YOU LAZY? sometimes
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT THE MOMENT? “Houdini” by Foster The People, “Rope” by Foo Fighters
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND? Depeche Mode
HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE? none
DO YOU WANT TO GO ANYWHERE SPECIAL THIS YEAR? just got back from Myrtle Beach, so another beach to relax on.
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Foster The People, the new Cars album “Move Like This”
LAST THING YOU ATE? I already answered this at #51 above
LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? my wife
WHATS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT YOURSELF IN THE MORNING? once I open my eyes, any odd bumps on my skin
FAVORITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG? “Still Remains” by Stone Temple Pilots
FAVORITE TWO THINGS TO HATE? drama of any kind and lima beans
FAVORITE DRINK? gin and tonic, Dr Pepper, sweet tea (that’s more than 1)
FAVORITE ZODIAC SIGN? Leo
SPORTS YOU LIKE TO WATCH? NFL
WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? Brown
EYE COLOR? Brown
DO YOU WEAR GLASSES? No, but I’m sure I will need to soon
SIBLINGS? 1 brother and 1 sister from my mom’s previous marriage
FAVORITE MONTH(s)? August
DO YOU LIKE SUSHI? yes, love it (except for uni – disgusting shit, literally)
LAST THING YOU WATCHED? Daily Show With Jon Stewart
FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Sunday
ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? no
SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
KISSES OR HUGS? kisses
RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE-NIGHT STANDS? relationships
WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CELEBRITY? other than John Cusack, I have several – Cindy Crawford, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino
WHO IS THE LEAST LIKELY TO ASK YOU ON A DATE? someone I’ve never met
BOOKS YOU’D LIKE TO SEE TURNED INTO A FILM? already happened: The Bourne series

Floating Into Reno

martymankins — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:34:38 +0000

My wife and I were on vacation this last week. Most of it was surrounding our drive to the Redwoods in California [which I will blog about once I get my gazillion photos and videos organized.. yeah, it may be a while longer], but leading up to our 2nd anniversary. We got married in Lake Tahoe and thought it would be nice to spend our day at least somewhat close to that city, choosing Reno, NV for a couple of days.

Our Room

We had two nights free, thanks to signing up for mailings at the Peppermill in Wendover, NV. Our room was better than we expected. Here’s proof:

Welcome message on the giant LCD flat screen TV

Our bed and the rest of the suite

There’s even a TV in the bathroom

Our room’s view of the pool

Pretty damn suite… he he. Needless to say, we enjoyed a nice room.

Lunch With A Princess

Our anniversary was on Monday, June 21st [the first day of summer] and we enjoyed each and every minute of it. – including meeting up for lunch with Lisa of Floating Princess at the Peppermill. We talked, ate and took pictures – including a cameo appearance by Cooper Trooper.

Lisa adjusting Cooper on my shoulder

Marty and Lisa

I met Lisa for the first time at Avitaween, but didn’t spend much time chatting since I was the social penguin that was getting his drink on. So this was a nice chance to chat and eat lunch and finally get to know how cool a person Lisa is.

After time out at the pool, a visit to the day spa, a nice dinner and some gambling, we ended our first full day in Reno. All in all, a great day filled with lots of fun, a visit with a blogger friend and great food.

Scooter Sunday #17

martymankins — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:58:54 +0000

It’s the post-vacation edition of Scooter Sunday.

Vacation Time Over

So on Saturday, our week-long rest/vacation (local, as it was) ended. I had two solid days of doing pretty much whatever I wanted [the first part of the week was working and doing what I could to make our visitors happy].

But if you remember from last Scooter Sunday, I had so many plans to write, read books, read articles in magazines and lots more. So let’s play catch up here and see what I DID and what I DIDN’T do:

DID

Drink - And that I did… and I was very successful, thank you very much. I only made four kinds of drinks: gin and tonic, red bull vodka, Gumby [vodka, Midori, sweet and sour, Sprite] and dirty martini [drank from a wine glass]. But I had multiples of each one. I also had a couple of margaritas with dinner on Sunday night. I didn’t get trashed, but had a continuous buzz most of the time.
Read Books - I took my copy of “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins with me. I read some of it, but didn’t get as far as I wanted to. The fact that I committed any amount of time to reading was a plus. I love reading, but I get distracted/interrupted, which breaks up my reading into wider-paced gaps of time.
Read Articles - I took a couple issues of Vanity Fair and Playboy [yes, I actually do read it for the articles, too ] with me and actually got through several articles. I’m about half way through the last one I started, but will finish that this week.
Tan - With the pool being major packed with kids most of the time, I got lots of sun time in. I used sunscreen on all but the last two days, where I limited my time in the sun to maximize my tan.
Listen to Podcasts - Before the week started, I had hours and hours of some of my regular podcasts that I let build up. I am happy to say I got through at least half of them, which helped reduce the storage on my iPod nano 4gb. I am sure this will fill up pretty damn quick in the next two weeks.

DIDN’T

Work out - I took my gym clothes with me and planned to use the very nice [and free] exercise facility they had at the Westgate. With the exception of getting my shoes out of the bag and putting them on [once], the workout facilities didn’t get a visit from me.
Write - Blog posts didn’t count on this one. I am currently [and actively] working on two screenplays, a short film and two novels. None of them got worked on this last week. No worries on this one, but I did plan to sit down and plink out at least a chapter, a scene and finish the script to my short film.
Movies - To my credit, I watched one: V For Vendetta. We took twelve. My wife watched two: V For Vendetta and Ladies In Lavender [Do you see why I only watched the one?] My Netflix movie I took up with me sat untouched in its envelope. Big surprise.
Upgrade to Leopard - I took all of the neccsary items I needed with me to upgrade my MacBook Pro to Leopard [I'm still running Tiger for various reasons]. Because the PAY WiFi option was extra shitty [and a major pain in the ass to get the owner discount], I used my Treo 755p as a modem, tethered to my laptop the whole time. Judging from the fact that I would need to download a BIG list of applications, updates and what have you, I postponed the upgrade to this coming weekend, where I would have both work and home broadband connections at my disposal.

As an added bonus, there were also a few things I did that I wasn’t planning on that I was pretty happy about:

Steam Shower - So the shower in our room had a steam option. You start it 5 minutes before turning on the water and getting in. You now have this walk-in steam room that did wonders for my nose [dry weather is never kind to the inside of your nostrils] and my skin. Only one day back and I miss that a lot. My wife informs me that the gym we belong to has a steam room. [hint hint, nudge nudge].
Pumice my feet - I do this regularly at home, but the cement and pool bottom did more damage than I thought. Plus add the steam and a seat inside the shower, and scrubbing my feet was a lot easier. Ok enough on that before people think I’ve gone metrosexual.

Not too bad, considering I had a good time and spent some time relaxing. Maybe one of these years, I can accomplish each item on my list and not have to go into work any of the days I have off. We’ll see what happens next time.

More Lego Indy

My daughter saw this at the local Wal-Mart a couple weeks ago. Pretty cool. Lego is cool, regardless of what it is, but who can resist a Lego Indiana Jones? Hopefully all little kids will and obey the DO NOT TOUCH! sign so everyone can enjoy it’s awesomeness.

Olympics

As I mentioned in a Twitter message this last week, I’m really not all that hot on the Olympics this year. There’s a few bits of coverage that I like [all of the swimming and diving events are cool], but for some reason, I’m just not into it like I normally am. Whatever it is, it’s more time for me to accomplish the things I need to instead of being glued to the TV. We’ll see if this lasts throughout the 17 days of the games.

That’s All

And with that, ends another Scooter Sunday.