Vince dot com

This past weekend I spent at Disney World's Swan and Dolphin Hotel for an ASME conference... and the transition from the streets of Managua to downtown Disney was the most dramatic culture shock I've ever experienced in a 12 hour period. Many things cost literally 10x more in Disney than in Nicaragua (taxi, food, hotel...) The conference was good though, I got to use my cell phone to call friends & family, and we enojoyed our evening in Disney.

When I got home, there was a cockroach on its back in the shower. At first I was worried, I always hear that they survive everything, so why were they dropping dead on the middle of the floor in my room? I saw it as a sign, like when the parrot dies in a coal mine. I kicked it, and it definitely wasn't dead. It is now though.

the death count so far:
cockroaches - 3
scorpions - 1

Finally, I finished my third book since I've been down here, and all three have been amazing, and come highly recommended by yours truly.
The Road, by Cormack McCarthy: a story of a man and his son trying to survive in a barren, post-apocolyptic world, for which McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize. Might make you cry. McCarthy also wrote ''No Country for Old Men.''
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez: A story of a town, the family that founded it, its rise and fall. From a review by William Kennedy of the New York Times Book Review, as printed on the back cover of the book: ''One Hundred Years of Solitude is the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race. ...Mr. García Márquez has done nothing less than to create in the reader a sense of all that is profound, meaningful, and meaningless in life'' I don't agree; I don't think everyone should read the book of Genesis. 100 Years of Solitude is now my all time favorite book.
Heat, Bill Buford: A writer for the New Yorker gives up his job to become a chef, with the guidence of Chef Mario Batali. Extremely entertaining, especially if you love cooking and feel like quitting your job to be a chef (I don't, but it's in my 20-year plan)