The Final Post of 2018: Reliving 2008 (and then some)...

Just thought I'd end this year by pointing out how 2018 reminded me of 2008...a year that I look back on favorably for personal reasons. 2008 was memorable because a spacecraft carrying a DVD that bears my name (NASA's Phoenix lander) successfully touched down on Mars, I attended my 10-year high school reunion in Pasadena, CA, I went to Florida and took part in a cruise (to the Bahamas) for the first time, and I did so many viewings of The Dark Knight in movie theaters because it was such an awesome film.


SpaceX

In regards to 2018, my name landed on Mars for the third time (via two small microchips aboard the InSight spacecraft over a month ago; my name is also on the Curiosity rover as it safely arrived at the Red Planet in 2012), I attended a dinner cruise in Newport Beach, CA, to mark my 20-year high school reunion two months ago, I went to Florida and took part in a second cruise (to the Panama Canal and other locales in Central America) last March, and I watched The Dark Knight in Universal City (twice during the summer) after the movie was theatrically re-released for its 10-year anniversary.


JAXA

Along with the highlights listed above, this entry also includes some non-personal events as well as cool, exciting activities that I did this year [namely, going skydiving in San Diego County for my 39th birthday (as shown in the pic at the very top of this entry)...and finally meeting 5-time NBA champ Kobe Bryant (as shown in the image at the bottom of this post)]. Check out the photos throughout this entry...and have a safe and happy New Year!

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MARS LANDINGS

NASA / JPL - Caltech

NASA's Phoenix lander arrival (at Mars' north polar region): May 25, 2008

NASA's InSight lander arrival (at Elysium Planitia): November 26, 2018


NASA / JPL - Caltech

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THE DARK KNIGHT


1st Theatrical Viewing: July 18, 2008

1st Theatrical Viewing (for 10-year anniversary release): August 26, 2018

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OLYMPICS


2008 Summer Games (in Beijing, China): August 8 - 24, 2008

2018 Winter Games (in Pyeongchang, South Korea): February 9 - 25, 2018


Chang W. Lee / The New York Times

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CARIBBEAN CRUISES


Bahamas cruise (from Fort Lauderdale, Florida): August 13 - 18, 2008

Panama Canal cruise (from Miami, Florida): March 11 - 23, 2018

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CLASS OF 1998 REUNIONS


10-year high school reunion (in Pasadena, CA): October 25, 2008

20-year high school reunion (in Newport Beach, CA): October 6, 2018

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And lastly, it only took 11 years to meet the Mamba...on October 23, 2018!

Back in the Day: Remembering My Visit to the Bahamas...

So today marks 10 years since I returned to Los Angeles following my 7-day trip to Florida...which also included a 3-day cruise to and from New Providence Island in the Bahamas. It was a memorable voyage—despite the fact that the ship I sailed on, the Regal Empress, was built in 1953 (and scrapped in 2009)! Oh well. I made up for that by taking a trip to Central America aboard the 12-year-old Norwegian Jade (which was commissioned on February 19, 2006) last March. But this Blog entry is about me remembering my journey to Nassau a decade ago. And the two days of me being stuck in an Orlando hotel right after the cruise due to Tropical Storm Fay! It's all good.

I look forward to marking the 10-year anniversary of my second trip to Florida next February—which was also the first time I visited NASA's Kennedy Space Center in person. I put "first" in italics for a reason... Happy Monday!

LINK: Photos I took in Florida and the Bahamas 10 years ago

Back in the Day: Remembering My First Trip to Florida...

Ten years ago today, I arrived at Fort Lauderdale in Florida to embark on a 7-day trip that involved taking a cruise to New Providence Island in the Bahamas. But before I headed to one of America's closest Caribbean neighbors, I spent the previous two days taking road trips across the southern part of the Sunshine State. I drove through Miami (which I would visit again almost a decade later) en route to Key West on August 14. I visited an Everglades park (where I saw many alligators on exhibit), and the actual Everglades (where I didn't see any gators, ironically) after that on August 15. Fun times! No seriously. Despite the fact that Florida is full of conservative nut jobs if you wanna discuss politics for a moment, I never get tired of visiting this state!

In regards to my cruise to the Bahamas, I'll talk about it next week. Until then, Happy International Left-Handers Day, fellow lefties!

LINK: Photos I took in Florida and the Bahamas 10 years ago

Photos of the Day: Another Caribbean Cruise...

Just thought I'd end this month by posting these photos that I took during a cruise to Central America from March 12 to 23. My folks and I flew from Los Angeles to Miami, Florida on March 11...and boarded our ship, the Norwegian Jade, the following day. The first port of call we made was at the Panama Canal (shown above), which we traveled through (somewhat; the Jade passed through the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side before turning around to dock at another port in Panama later that day) before taking a land tour to Panama City on March 15. The next day, we docked at Puerto Limón in Costa Rica. On March 18, we arrived at the Roatán island resort in Honduras. On March 19, the Jade visited Santo Tomás de Castilla in Guatemala. On March 20, the ship did a stopover at Harvest Caye (another island resort that is actually owned by the Norwegian Cruise Line , which we booked this trip with; hence, the Norwegian Jade) in Belize...and on the following day, the Jade arrived in Costa Maya, Mexico. It was here where my folks and I took another land tour—this time to the ancient Mayan ruins in Chacchoben, which is a 1.5 hour drive from Costa Maya.



All-in-all, this cruise was fun...overlooking the fact that I almost didn't go on it at the last minute. As of this Blog entry, I'm dealing with kidney stones on both sides that forced me to order two packages of 24 water bottles each (my dad ordered another pack of 24 bottles...giving me a total of 72 to hydrate from during the cruise) aboard the Norwegian Jade the day before we arrived in Miami so an unfortunate situation wouldn't occur during this trip. (It's crappy enough that the Jade had to turn around and return to Costa Maya a few hours after departing from that port on March 21 because another passenger suffered a heart attack aboard the ship! I hope they're okay.) It was nerve-wracking that I was sailing in the Caribbean Sea with the knowledge that I had around 3-4 stones in my right kidney (according to my urologist) during this 11-day voyage. But enough of the negative aspects of this journey; I know that this trip was very memorable in the exciting sense if I don't factor health issues in it! And I'm glad that I was able to fulfill my own personal pledge to go on another Caribbean cruise almost 10 years after a previous trip...when I sailed to the Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, aboard the Regal Empress. That is all.

And have a Happy Easter!

LINK: Additional photos I took on my cruise to Central America

Images of the Day... Just thought I’d share these cool photographs of three so-called blue holes (which are actually underwater sinkholes) found in two Caribbean countries. In the image above is the Great Blue Hole...which is off the coast of Belize, and is 984 feet (300 meters) in diameter and 407 feet (124 meters) deep. The pic posted directly below shows Dean’s Blue Hole—which is the world’s deepest known submerged 'vertical cave' at a depth of 663 feet (202 meters) and 82 to 115 feet (25 to 35 meters) in diameter, and is located on Long Island in The Bahamas. In the photo below this one is another blue hole in The Bahamas. This cave can be visited on Andros Island.

I first found out about blue holes (Dean's Blue Hole, in particular) in a magazine I saw at a local super market last week. (I forget which magazine it was... Might have been a special issue of National Geographic. Don't feel like driving back to that market to find out.) Pretty fascinating. Makes me want to go to The Bahamas...again.

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY... I went on a trip to Florida for the first time and took a cruise to The Bahamas (Nassau City, to be exact). Fun times. If you ignore the fact I gave the trip a B- because I wasn't able to visit Kennedy Space Center (KSC) due to Tropical Storm Fay. I'll upgrade the score to an A- since I was able to visit KSC earlier this year.


LINK: Photos I took in Florida and The Bahamas