Muddled messages

Wclomee to the bolg of siipnplg psat 50. I tguohht you mihgt lkie to tkae a look at a mdleudd but amlnzgaiy claer maesgse form the aouhtr of the page. Is is not a wneodr taht you can raed tihs msaesge wtih not too mcuh toubrle. Knid of naet isn't it. Click on the title above to make messages of your own. Have fun.

Are you a geek?

Avoiding Wilma and other adventures

PJ and I were in Mexico from Oct 8 to Oct 19. While there we were watching Hurricane Wilma work her way towards us. We were lucky. We got out on the 19th. Others weren't so lucky. Our resort appears to have faired pretty well. The villas, each having 36 rooms are built to withstand hurricane winds. The resort also has housing for their help on the oppostite side of the road from the hotel, away from the Carribean. They use some large rooms over there to safely house guests that couldn't leave during the actual strike of the storm. The people that stayed had to spend 2 days in the temporary quarters. But the morning after the storm finally made its way off the Yucatan, the people were back in normal rooms, with full power, air conditioning, hot meals, running water.

Reports from those guests that stayed were impressive. The resort's staff had the place spruced up again in two days. There was some damage to the thatched roofs of one of the lobbys and a lot of severe damage to the jungle that the resort is built in. The resort is working on that too. They actually have a nursery on the grounds where they grow most of the native plants and trees so they can replace them in case of severe storm damage. After Hurricane Emily in July, they ordered 2000 palm trees to replace damaged trees and to add more to a new section of the beach being opened up for use.

All in all, the resort has it's act together. They take care of their guests and their facilities, including the jungle.

Now their only problem is the airport and the airlines. The resort is ready for a full load of guests that can't get there.

Check out pictures at WWW.GROUPS.MSN/PALLADIUMADDICT

If you are looking for a great place to go on the Mayan Riviera, you couldn't do any better.

Troubling times

In view of the events of the last week don't our problems seem a little trivial? Thouands, maybe even millions of people have lost their homes, businesses, even families. A couple of years ago my wife and I spent a wonderful week in Gulfport, MS. It was the middle of April and the weather was beautiful, mid eighties and sunny all week.

Now the hotel we stayed in, which was right across from the beach is gone, along with about everything else that was near the beach. While there we rode to Dauphin Island and took the ferry over to Gulf Shores Alabama. All of these places were hit with the storm surge and mostly wiped out.

I can't fathom the pictures I've been seeing on the news. It's all gone. Let's hope that the government, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and lots and lots of church groups can help these people recover.

Palladium Grand Resort Pool Panorama 

Palladium Grand pool panorama

Above this you should see a large version of a panorama photo of the pool at the Palladium Grand Resort.

More jungle damage 

Believe it or not - this is the pool now - after the cleanup 

Cleaning the pool 

Repairing the theater roof 

More jungle damage 

Boardwalk and damaged jungle 

Jungle damage 

Repairing the thatch 

Main pool - yuk! 

More storm damage 

Where is the roof? 

More damage in the theater 

Aerial view before storm showing the jungle 

In the lobby 

Wind from Emily 

Theater roof destroyed 

We are going back!

Hurricane Emily made a direct hit on the resort my wife and I have visited for the last 3 years. She did a fair amount of damage - blew off most of the thatch from the palapas (the shade poles at the beach and pool), blew the roof off the lobbies and the theater. The storm surge also filled the main pool with filthy water, blew out some windows, and worst of all damaged the jungle that made this place special.

Hotel management has been posting repair updates to a chat group I belong to called PalladiumAddict at MSN.com. Group members have been posting pictures of the damage, lots of palm trees destroyed also. Management has ordered 2000 palm trees and already has most of the mess cleaned up. They are working on the palapas and I am sure by the time we go in October they will all be repaired or replaced.

I don't know if it was salt water spray or what, but the jungle that was all around the resort looks like it is mostly dead or dying. There are boardwalks through the jungle from the buildings that house the guest rooms to the restaurant and bar and pool areas. The first few days at the resort most people get lost alot on the jungle paths, but by the end of their stay they are experts on how to get wherever they want. The jungle removes all the noise you would expect in a place with a lot of people around. You can be in a crowd if you want, or you can be almost totally alone. It is really a unique environment.

I hope to put a link to an interactive map of the resort here. And mostly I hope the jungle can recover its former beauty in 2 months. I know it will recover, I just hope the tropical environment helps it happen in a hurry.

I will post a few pictures of the damage and repairs here also. Thanks to everyone that posted these pictures in the PalladiumAddict group at MSN. The link to the interactive map works - just click on the title for this post to go there. I found this link through the PalladiumAddict group also.

By the way, if you are interested the Palladium Grand Resort is a few miles south of Playa Del Carmen (Playacar) on the Eucatan peninsula, Mexico. Applevacations will get you there from the US. You'll be surprised at the resonable prices, from here in Illinois about $850 per week per person including airfare, the hotel, all food and drink and transfers.

Going Back to the Palladium Grand

Read this about PETA

The following story is from This is True dated 17 July 2005. It is
Copyright 2005 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved, and reprinted here
with
permission:

"Ethical" Defined

After more than 100 dead dogs were dumped in a trash dumpster over
four weeks, police in Ahoskie, N.C., kept an eye on the trash receptacle
behind a supermarket. Sure enough, a van drove up and officers watched
the occupants throw in heavy plastic bags. They detained the two people
in the van and found 18 dead dogs in plastic bags in the dumpster,
including puppies; 13 more dead dogs were still in the van. Police say
the van is registered to the headquarters of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, and the two occupants, Andrew B. Cook, 24, and
Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, identified themselves as PETA employees. An autopsy
performed on one of the dogs found it was healthy before it was killed.
Police say PETA has been picking up the animals -- alive -- from North
Carolina animal shelters, promising to find them good homes. Cook and
Hinkle have been charged with 62 felony counts of animal cruelty. In
response to the arrests PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said it's against
the group's policy for employees to dump animals in the trash, but "that
for some animals in North Carolina, there is no kinder option than
euthanasia." (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) ...Oops, my mistake: that's
"Playing God" Defined.

In his author's notes section, Cassingham had more to say about this
story:

The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of
them. The story of them killing animals isn't even unusual. According to
PETA's own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the
animals entrusted to its care -- a number that's rising, not falling.
Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA's home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find
loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care. A shortage of
funds? Nope: last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations.
It simply has other priorities for the funds, like funding terrorism
(yes, really). But don't take my word for it: I got my figures from
http://www.PETAkillsAnimals.com
-- and they have copies of PETA's state and federal filings to back it
up. The bottom line: if you donate money to PETA because you think they
care for and about animals, you need to think some more. PETA literally
yells and screams about how others "kill animals" but this is how
they operate? Pathetic.

And you know what I wonder? PETA's official count of animals
they kill is 86.3 percent. But if they're going around picking up
animals, killing them while they drive around and not even giving them a
chance to be adopted, and then destroying the evidence by dumping
the bodies in the trash, are those deaths being reported? My
guess: no. While 86.3 percent is awful, the actual number is probably
much, much higher. How dare they lecture anyone
about the "ethical" treatment of animals!

(This is True is a weekly column featuring
weird-but-true news
stories from around the world, and has been published since 1994. Click
the link for info about free subscriptions.)

MIT Survey

Eagle archway at WWII memorial 

Medallion under the eagle arch at WWII Memorial 

An official part of the WWII Memorial, Washington, DC 

Live life fully! 

Mama and baby on neighbors roof. 

Alex, route 68 Maryland 

Route 68 Maryland