After the spa, we were deciding on where to have lunch. It was going to be one of the restaurants near the tour booking place... Pizzeto (pizza), Caffeto (cafe/deli) or Ciao (Italian/buffet). Pizzeto and Ciao had similar menus, but many of us had the pizza craving, so Pizzeto won out. I'll cover Pizzeto in a later post because I'm pretty sure we'll be back there and it'll be a more complete review.
After lunch, we hit the beach. I was in the sun for about 2 hours... one hour on each side, watching Transformers 2 on my Droid. I fell asleep for about 30 minutes during the first half of the movie. Even after all that, I only had a light tan. It wasn't even noticeable. The then ran the length of the resort on the beach. to get some exercise in. The distance really shows how large Hard Rock Hotel is. When I ran the equivalent distance in Cancun, I probably passed 4-5 hotels!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Rock Spa
One of the things we had to allocate credits to was spa activities. You can't use up all of your points on tours. Though that's what I would naturally prefer, it was still a good experience to try the spa since I had never done it before. We all had morning spots reserved, ranging from 9:30 to 11:30. The thing I liked most about Rock Spa was the decoration. The place had a very sci-fi look to it, as if you're traveling to some hidden land below the resort. The layout was like a maze, which added to the mystery as I was lead to the massage room. The lighting was relaxing and there was also a fresh grasslike scent all throughout. I didn't think the massage was that good though. It was relaxing, but I've had better. This one was more about the environment.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Arrival in DR
Since we took an early flight, our first day in Punta Cana didn't go to waste. The efficient airport staff also got us through customs and to the resort very quickly. We dumped everything into our rooms and then headed straight to La Isla for a buffet lunch. I already had a light breakfast in the airport in preparation. La Isla is the closest restaurant to our building.
Then we got settled in and explored the area. As it got close to dinner time, we headed to the main building to book some tours and activities that were included in the package. The way it works is you get a certain number of credits. You can use some of them on spa services and others on tours.
Then we got settled in and explored the area. As it got close to dinner time, we headed to the main building to book some tours and activities that were included in the package. The way it works is you get a certain number of credits. You can use some of them on spa services and others on tours.
Heading Out
Airport Security
Because the recent death of Osama Bin Laden, we were told security was stepped up. The limo service recommended we head out 3 hours early (since it's international) for our 8:30am flight. Between that and last night's Bulls game, I really didn't get that much sleep. Since it was way before rush hour, we arrived at JFK in no time. If anything, security was stepped down instead of beefed up. I've never gone through so quickly with all the electronics I carry around in my suspicious looking Alienware backpack. Some notable observations I had were:
1) Passengers had to do a lot of their own work. Usually, you would put your checkins on the scale and a worker would carry it onto the belt. We had to go around the service desk and place it on the belt ourselves. So the guys behind the desk aren't earning their salary. They're just doing nothing. Why not get rid of them to save money for the people doing the real work!
2) The security checkpoint was terrible. My dad put his keys in his bag instead of on the tray. The TSA had to manually search the bag because she thought the keys may have been knives. Is the X-ray machine THAT bad? If it can't show the difference between keys and knives, then that doesn't make me feel safe.
Jet Blue
This is my first time flying Jet Blue and so far they're really as good as what people say. Right from the start, their terminal is spacious and well laidout. They even have FREE wi-fi. I don't think any other airline in expensive NY has that. It was hassle free and fast. All I did was turn on my computer and agree to the terms. Jet Blue also has 1 checkin included, which made for a more comfortable and quicker boarding. Passengers didn't have to rush on board to reserve space in the overhead compartments. Snacks onboard were also complimentary. Jet Blue pretty much follows the pre-recession flight benefits.
Because the recent death of Osama Bin Laden, we were told security was stepped up. The limo service recommended we head out 3 hours early (since it's international) for our 8:30am flight. Between that and last night's Bulls game, I really didn't get that much sleep. Since it was way before rush hour, we arrived at JFK in no time. If anything, security was stepped down instead of beefed up. I've never gone through so quickly with all the electronics I carry around in my suspicious looking Alienware backpack. Some notable observations I had were:
1) Passengers had to do a lot of their own work. Usually, you would put your checkins on the scale and a worker would carry it onto the belt. We had to go around the service desk and place it on the belt ourselves. So the guys behind the desk aren't earning their salary. They're just doing nothing. Why not get rid of them to save money for the people doing the real work!
2) The security checkpoint was terrible. My dad put his keys in his bag instead of on the tray. The TSA had to manually search the bag because she thought the keys may have been knives. Is the X-ray machine THAT bad? If it can't show the difference between keys and knives, then that doesn't make me feel safe.
Jet Blue
This is my first time flying Jet Blue and so far they're really as good as what people say. Right from the start, their terminal is spacious and well laidout. They even have FREE wi-fi. I don't think any other airline in expensive NY has that. It was hassle free and fast. All I did was turn on my computer and agree to the terms. Jet Blue also has 1 checkin included, which made for a more comfortable and quicker boarding. Passengers didn't have to rush on board to reserve space in the overhead compartments. Snacks onboard were also complimentary. Jet Blue pretty much follows the pre-recession flight benefits.
Punta Cana Cast
After going on 2 cruises with the same group of people, we decided to change things up this year and go for an all-inclusive package in Punta Cana, DR. We all had a great time in the Cancun Resort for Reinhard and Marites' wedding. Then my parents went to Punta Cana shortly after and said that experience was even better than Cancun. So instead of doing a cruise again, my family got together and planned a trip to Punta Cana. We have the usual cast...
Me
Dad
Mom
Auntie Remy (Mom's sister)
Uncle Charlie (Married to Auntie Remy)
Ifore (Their son, recently started a fried chicken chain called Chicken Charlie)
Jiselle (Ifore's fiancee)
Uncle Mario
Auntie Susan
Missing this time are Auntie Aida and Edwin because Edwin is busy planning for his October wedding. Emily couldn't make it because she started classes.
This vacation kind of creeped up on me. It wasn't even on my mind because I was busy at work launching websites left and right. So it'll be a good break to get out of NY and catch up with my family.
Me
Dad
Mom
Auntie Remy (Mom's sister)
Uncle Charlie (Married to Auntie Remy)
Ifore (Their son, recently started a fried chicken chain called Chicken Charlie)
Jiselle (Ifore's fiancee)
Uncle Mario
Auntie Susan
Missing this time are Auntie Aida and Edwin because Edwin is busy planning for his October wedding. Emily couldn't make it because she started classes.
This vacation kind of creeped up on me. It wasn't even on my mind because I was busy at work launching websites left and right. So it'll be a good break to get out of NY and catch up with my family.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
OS X on Windows 7 Desktop (Part 2)
Intro.
Installing Snow Leopard onto Oracle VirtualBox on Windows 7 was a lot simpler than I though. Originally, I read that you had to install a hacked version of Leopard first. Then use that to install a legit copy of Snow Leopard. It turns out, all I needed was the legit copy.
In the photo above, I have OS X fullscreened on my secondary monitor so I can use both operating systems simultaneously on my Core i7 system.
Materials
- Oracle VirtualBox (I used 4.0.4)
- Snow Leopard 10.6.3 DVD
- iBoot ISO image
- A Mac system or Hackintosh... with a dual layer DVD burner
Instructions
1) Using an actual Mac (any OS X should do... I used 10.4.11 on my Mac mini), convert the Snow Leopard DVD to a .DMG.
2) On the Mac, open up a terminal window and follow these instructions.
3) Moving the .ISO is a problem because it will be over 7.5 GB. Most file systems support up to 2GB. So you'll get an error if you try to transfer to a FAT or NTFS drive. The best way to move it is to burn a UDF DVD DL.
4) Boot the virtual machine (see setup in the previous entry) to the iBoot image. You'll see a boot menu with the iBoot disc.
5) In the virtual machine, swap the iBoot ISO with your Snow Leopard ISO. Hit F5 to refresh and then choose the Snow Leopard ISO.
6) Follow the normal steps to installing Snow Leopard. One bug I ran into was I had to do a full install. When I went to "customize" to remove some languages I wasn't going to use, I got a kernel panic with 17 minutes left. When I left everything, things went perfectly smooth.
7) When that's done, shutdown the virtual machine. Put iBoot back in and startup. From the menu, choose the Snow Leopard installation you just setup. And that's it! You have a basic installation of a working Snow Leopard.
That's where I am now. It can be taken further by installing Chameleon so that you don't have to depend on iBoot each time. So far, everything works except sound. But it's functional and fast.
Installing Snow Leopard onto Oracle VirtualBox on Windows 7 was a lot simpler than I though. Originally, I read that you had to install a hacked version of Leopard first. Then use that to install a legit copy of Snow Leopard. It turns out, all I needed was the legit copy.
In the photo above, I have OS X fullscreened on my secondary monitor so I can use both operating systems simultaneously on my Core i7 system.
Materials
- Oracle VirtualBox (I used 4.0.4)
- Snow Leopard 10.6.3 DVD
- iBoot ISO image
- A Mac system or Hackintosh... with a dual layer DVD burner
Instructions
1) Using an actual Mac (any OS X should do... I used 10.4.11 on my Mac mini), convert the Snow Leopard DVD to a .DMG.
2) On the Mac, open up a terminal window and follow these instructions.
3) Moving the .ISO is a problem because it will be over 7.5 GB. Most file systems support up to 2GB. So you'll get an error if you try to transfer to a FAT or NTFS drive. The best way to move it is to burn a UDF DVD DL.
4) Boot the virtual machine (see setup in the previous entry) to the iBoot image. You'll see a boot menu with the iBoot disc.
5) In the virtual machine, swap the iBoot ISO with your Snow Leopard ISO. Hit F5 to refresh and then choose the Snow Leopard ISO.
6) Follow the normal steps to installing Snow Leopard. One bug I ran into was I had to do a full install. When I went to "customize" to remove some languages I wasn't going to use, I got a kernel panic with 17 minutes left. When I left everything, things went perfectly smooth.
7) When that's done, shutdown the virtual machine. Put iBoot back in and startup. From the menu, choose the Snow Leopard installation you just setup. And that's it! You have a basic installation of a working Snow Leopard.
That's where I am now. It can be taken further by installing Chameleon so that you don't have to depend on iBoot each time. So far, everything works except sound. But it's functional and fast.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
OS X on Windows 7 Desktop (Part 1)
I didn't want to risk installing OS X on my new system, so the safe way to do this was through a virtual machine. So this is basically the opposite of what people do on the Mac with Parallels. I installed Oracle VirtualBox on my Windows 7 Ultimate PC (3 Ghz Core i7-950). This project was a lot easier than OS X on Eee PC 1000HE mainly because each attempt on this super computer only took 15 minutes... as opposed to 2 hours on the netbook. Also, in this case the instructions on the net are much better. I don't even have to write my own findings. I follow this one:
http://www.taranfx.com/install-snow-leopard-virtualbox
I'm really only half way there though. I basically have Leopard (10.5.7) installed right now. The goal is to get Snow Leopard (10.6.3) running because I originally purchased a copy for the netbook. But it turns out 10.6.2 was the last version that supported the Atom processor. So I don't want my Snow Leopard DVD to go to waste. The next step is to install it using the Leopard install that's currently there. I'm at the point where I need to convert the DVD to .ISO format. That's actually done and sitting on my netbook. Transferring that 8 GB image is a problem though. Stay tuned!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Bryce's Birthday
Exactly 1 year later, but on a Sunday this time was Bryce's 6th Birthday party. Since Bryce started school, he has a ton of classmate friends now, so the party was at Whitestone Lanes rather than Century Buffet. I've been passing by this place for years and have never been inside before, so it was interesting to finally attend an event there. Whitestone Lanes is located at the corner of Linden Place and Whitestone Expressway. It's across from Toys R Us and the movie theater. The area used to be a bad one before the movie theater was build. It has improved significantly since then. While the outside appearance doesn't look that appealing, it was very kid-friendly and it seemed routine for them to have kids' birthday parties there.
We had 6 lanes for an hour and then the party room for about another hour. It was a comfortable crowd on a Sunday afternoon... not too packed, but not empty either. The customers were all parents taking their kids out. The staff was great at helping the kids get started and making sure all of the equipment was up and running. Though the primary function was bowling, their food was good too.
Related: 3rd Birthday (2008), 4th Birthday (2009), 5th Birthday (2010), Whitestone Lanes
We had 6 lanes for an hour and then the party room for about another hour. It was a comfortable crowd on a Sunday afternoon... not too packed, but not empty either. The customers were all parents taking their kids out. The staff was great at helping the kids get started and making sure all of the equipment was up and running. Though the primary function was bowling, their food was good too.
Related: 3rd Birthday (2008), 4th Birthday (2009), 5th Birthday (2010), Whitestone Lanes
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Donations to Japan
Friday's earthquake and tsunami permanently shifted Japan's coastline by a good 8ft. The country will still experience several aftershocks to come, so it will be a difficult recovery. I went through my list of relief organizations and personally link-checked all of them to make sure they had a way of donating to this specific disaster:
- AmeriCares
- ADRA
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc.
- Church World Service
- Episcopal Relief and Development
- Food for the Hungry
- International Orthodox Christian Charities
- Lutheran World Relief
- MercyCorps
- Medical Teams International
- Operation USA
- Oxfam International
- Plan USA
- Project Hope
- UMCOR
- World Relief
- World Vision
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