Guatemala is only 5 hours from Los Angeles. If you book in advance and on slow travel days tickets are very cheap. Mine was $320 roundtrip. The best time to go is in the off season, January thru April, because it starts raining in late April and continues thru August. However, don’t let the rain stop you if a summer trip is your only oppurtunity.

BY THE NUMBERS

84: Days spent out of the country
3: Volcanoes hiked (one of them was active! I kid you not I poked a stick into a lava flow and the guide roasted marshmellows)
3: Rivers swam in
2: Countires visited
1. Languages learned (mas o menos)
1: Sea swam in (could have been 2 but Jen got sick on the way to the Pacific coast)
2: Lakes kayaked
12: Cities stayed in (explored but didn’t spend the night in 3 more)
1: Cave spelunked
2: Ancient Mayan ruin sites explored (Tikal and Copan, the “New York” and “Paris” of ancient Mayan civilization respectivily)
1: Limestone bridge swan in
3: Saunes sweated at (1 was natural volcanic vapor)
7: Facebook friends added (met many other people from all over the world)
12: Number of dogs and cats that I am now on a first name basis with (Jen loves animals, this is mostly her doing - Alfombra, Pulke, Anoche, Chipotle, Feo, Goosey, Bootsie, Suki, Susana, Grimly, Lucy, and Ella)

…$3400: Aproximate number of US dollars that I spent including airfare

I hit up all the highlights but there was still a ton of stuff I wanted to do but didn’t have the time or money. Screw Europe! Don’t bother bother with the Paris’ and Amersterdams of the world unless you’re old and rich. It’s way more worth your while to go have an adventure.

I returned. After evaluating all my options-Applestore, private Mac repair shop, or DIY-I decided to just buy a new hard drive from iFixit.com and attempt to do it myself. I had never attempted a hardware repair on a laptop before but they have these detailed illustrated guides on iFixit that made it look pretty easy. I got the drive in the mail today and it only took me about a half hour to unscrew everything and swap the drives. Installing Mac OS adds another hour and I’ll of course probably never recover all the programs and stuff I lost.

Total cost was $174.92 for a 300GB drive (triple the space of my old one!) including shipping and a couple of specialty screwdrivers I needed to order (also available on iFixit).

So far I’ve sunk $274.92 into repairing my Macbook Pro. One more injury and I’ll be over the cost of AppleCare. If I count my wonky mouse button, something I would repair if it was still covered under AppleCare, it would have already paid for itself.

Gmail is wicked smart!

It’s awesome trailer week at Glitterfish! Movie was rescued from Sundance oblivion by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. It’ is out in LA and NY. Playing at the Archlight in LA. All the cool kids are talking about it!

Drinking whiskey with reporters…

Obama had a hard time drinking BEER.

Written and directed by The Coen Brothers, this new dark-spy comedy stars Academy Award nominee John Malkovich as an ousted CIA official, whose memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) intent on exploiting their find. Also featuring George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Richard Jenkins.

Looks awesome.

There is an article floating around about likely NY mayorial candidate Rep. Anthony Weiner’s love affair with a glamorous former vouge model and top Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin. There is speculation that this otherwise very uninteresting story about a couple of Clinton hanger on’s is actually a cover up designed to diffuse speculation that Huma Abedin is actually Clinton’s lover. The comments thread is pretty funny.

BBJR May 29, 2008 8:01:30 PM
Probably an article to defuse speculation about HRC’s sexual orientation. To me Hillary’s only significant love object is the vision of HERSELF as the avenging savior of helpless women throughout history, powering through the purported glass ceiling to pay back all the Bad Men.

mattfromcalifornia May 29, 2008 3:28:29 PM
Oh please. This is just damage control, because they realize the story is getting out that she’s Hillary’s lover. Do you really think they would let some guy travel in her campaign, just because he wants to woo this girl? Be serious people. How stupid can you get. This is more of the Clinton Spin Machine in action.

HornDog Mullins May 29, 2008 6:09:39 PM
What the heII is so “glamorous” about this woman? She looks like your average illegal alien bimbo.

Here is the rest of the article.

Here is the team. From the left: Writer/Producer, Andy Martinez. Director, Jonathan Pulley, Director of Photography, Jason Kelley.

Here is director, Jonathan Pulley, on set during a contemplative moment. This setup was the first of a number of epic rigs.

Jason has a gift. In terms of raw creativity, I’m not sure I know anybody who can match him.

Justin Harrington. The face of Junk Tank.

You don’t even need to meet this guy to know he is the shit. Actor/Father, John Pulley.

X-factor, JorDan Fuiller.

Actress, Dana Blackstone. She rocked our world.

Jonny and Jason have known each other sense grade school. They are totally Matt Damon to each other’s Ben Affleck.

And as a bonus…here is a creepy mask…

Thanks to everybody who sacrificed, pitched in, and made it happen. It isn’t done yet but a big part of it is behind us. The sheer number of you who helped put it all together floors me. I have a great friends and a wonderful family. I’m very lucky to have worked with you all.

This peasant risks his life searching in this horribly polluted river for glass bottles and other things he can sell for a small profit. He will use the money to buy more bomb ass hats.

This image is so interesting because it mashes up a couple of different styles making it hard to pin down. The landscape is sort of crude impressionism but it’s really serving as a backdrop for the woman to cover up. That means what we are looking at is actually a painting of a women painting over a painting (or if you want to get super technical actually a digital photograph on your computer screen of a painting of a women covering up a painting). That sort of self-referentialism moves it into DaDa territory but limited only to the “this is not a pipe” kind of DaDa.

It’s not exactly a Venus or anything but it is the female form. The upskirt angle is certainly provocative I would say borderline porny. And what does it mean that she’s white washing over nature? Does she look so caught in the act because her underwear is showing or because we caught her covering up the mural?

I couldn’t find anything about the artist other than it’s part of flickr user Trentcall’s series of similar images. Check them out.