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Local tours by local guides
It seems that in many places we visit, tourism is so rampant (if you will) that there aren't enough tour guides that are native to an area. We went on a kayak trip the other day in Kona, Hawaii where the guides were from Long Beach and Colorado, so we didn't get a flavor of native culture. On the flip side, my wife and I just got back from a tour of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with Warren Costa of Native Guide Hawaii. It was an excellent tour where we learned so much that my head is about to explode! If you're on the Big Island of Hawaii, we definitely recommend a tour with Warren.
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Taking breathing for granted
I rarely think about breathing through my mouth and nose, except when I am congested and can't adequately breath through my nose. Today we went snorkeling and when I first put the mask on which prevented me from breathing through my nose, I almost couldn't handle it. After a few minutes in the water and some heavy mouth breathing, I got used to it for a little while. I'm not sure how people can SCUBA dive and strictly mouth breath.
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The comforts of home
One of the things that makes vacationing uncomfortable is sleeping in beds that are usually uncomfortable. Why do hotel beds have to be so uncomfortable? Going back home to my own bed is the best thing about vacation :-)
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Virtualization Software
As much as I'd like to use Mac OS X for everything, there are just some things that are not (yet) available on the Mac. This includes firmware updates for my Garmin Forerunner 305, mapping software for my iQue 3600, etc. In addition, certain websites just don't work on my browsers. With the switch to Intel, it was only a matter of time before companies started developing virtualization software for the Mac; this is different than emulation as the instruction set isn't emulated and goes right to the processor resulting in excellent performance. Recently Apple announced Boot Camp with isn't virtualization software, but allows an Intel based Mac to dual boot into Windows. This isn't very interesting to me as I only need to pop into Windows once in awhile and if I have to reboot, might as well just boot my Windows machine that I control via Windows Remote Desktop. Right after Apple announced Boot Camp, a product called
Parallels was released. I installed the trial on the Intel iMac I have on my desk, installed Fedora Core 5 and was amazed at the performance. I then installed Windows XP, but since I have an OEM version for my Dell, I can't activate it on another CPU and fully test it. However, they're offering a pre-order price of $39.99 vs. $49.99, so I couldn't pass this up. Even at $49.99, it is a bargain. However, now I need to find an inexpensive copy of the full Windows XP so that I don't have to use my Windows machine. (Right now Parallels doesn't handle USB devices attached to the Mac, but if the speed at which they're putting out betas is any indication, I think that by the time I get my MacBook Pro, that will be worked out.)