Things have been relatively quiet. . . . .

I've been taking it easy lately. I have been busy writing tutorials for my "day job". I also had to make a trip to UPS to pick up my replacement credit card. I am now busy updating my CC info at a number of online vendors that charge my crads monthly etc. What fun. Have I mentioned how much it sucks to get robbed.

Cari has been busy recruiting women for our website. We have a client in town that has met two of the women so far. He seems to be enjoying himself but no "sparks" yet. Another client, who got married down here in December, is coming back down on the 20th. I need to book my return trip to New York so I can buy a new laptop and take care of some other stuff.

I want to return to Santo Domingo for Carnaval in february. I want to shoot some more video of Carnaval to put on www.dr-tourist.tv We have a clip online from Carnaval 2003 in La Vega. I would like to shoot some more footage in La Vega, maybe Santiago, Definitely Santo Domingo as well. If I have the time I would love to make it to Monte Christi as their Carnaval is different from all the rest. Some men put on the Carnaval masks and fight each other with bullwhips! I think that could make for some great video! If I don't get hit with a bull whip!

Cari needs to computer today, so I will probably head out to shoot some video etc. I really miss my little DV camera that got stolen. It was very compact and I could carry it any where. I will try and get a replacement very soon.

That's it for now. I need to get out more and be less boring!

Another slow day and ramblings about food

I did some work on one of our websites. I was able to DL most of the site from FTP and make some necessary changes. I need to contact my hosting company to get log in and passwords for the other sites as well. Spent some time in online baseball forums reading about how my NY Mets were in the running to get Vladimir Guerrero. Vladimir is a Dominican and would have been a great signing. Unfortunately it looks like the Angels swooped in at the last minute and got him. He would have helped the Mets draw bigger crowds because of the large Dominican population in NYC.

I made myself a dinner of lamb chops and Rice a Roni! Every trip I bring down some soft sided coolers filled with US meat. The quality of the beef down here is not real good. Unfortunately because of power problems etc, my brisket and london broils got ruined! The Lamb Chops were good and I have been making Cajun chicken with rice quite a bit. I wish I was a more adventurous eater, and could eat some Dominican food etc, but I am very picky.

Fortunately there are more restaurants to my liking down here now. I can go to Fridays, Tony Romas and the Outback Steakhouse for American style food. There are a few Italian places I like, Bricciola in the Zona Colonial is good and a great ambience. Vesuvio has great food and is a tradition here. I like David Crockettes for imported steaks. There is an Argenitinan style Parilla that is decent as well. My new favorite restaurant in town is a Brazilian Rodizio. They serve 12 - 15 different types of meat. The meat is brought to your table on long skewers and you can eat all you can handle. There are actually at least 3 Brazilian restaurants in Santo Domingo. I used to go to the one in the Intercontinental once in a while but there is a new one in Plaza De Espana in front of Alcazar de Colon. Great location and the food is better than the intercontinental as well. Certainly not in the same league as a good Churrascaria in Sao Paulo or even Miami, but us beggars can not be choosers!

Fast food wise, we have KFC, which I can get delivered to my apartment by one of their moped delivery guys. Also McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Pizza Hut, Dominos etc etc . There was a Miami Grill and Church's fried Chicken but they both went out of business.

Fast food alos takes on a new meaning down here. It is rarely ever fast! It can get very annoying when it takes 10-20 minutes to get food. Especially at KFC. the chicken is already done and just sitting there. I figure it should be a simple process. . . . .I give them money, they put my chicken in a bucket and give it to me. No such luck!

Today Cari is heading out to take some pictures of women that want to be on our website, and I plan to go out and try to shoot some more footage for our Dominican republic Video site.