If you’re going to take a cruise, make sure you book a room with at least one full window and a balcony for two - otherwise, it’s simply not worth the cost. I’m not one for the great outdoors, but you simply can’t beat the views from any private cabin - no matter which direction you happen to be facing.

For our first cruise, Ponzi booked us in a closet with a small porthole - and it was quite uncomfortable. Our other two cruises (including this one, our honeymoon) have been in upgraded suites. 350 square feet may not sound like much, but it’s a perfect size when you’re looking for a home away from home.

I think what surprised us most about our Regent Seven Seas Voyager room was that it came complete with iPod speakers (a full dock from Logitech). We were offered an iPod to use, too - but Ponzi had already brought her own. How’s that for an extreme level of personalization? It’ll likely be twenty years before cruise ships come with Zune ports, I’d imagine. This ship’s a rockin’ - and if you come a knockin’, maybe you should use our doorbell instead? On second thought, this is our honeymoon - and we probably shouldn’t be bothered at all. What am I doing online again?!

From the port in Progreso, Mexico, we’re taking a short flight into the Yucatan penninsula to visit the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza today. It’s going to be an eight-hour excursion - a lot of walking, a lot of flying. You’ve probably seen the site a thousand times through photographs or in produced video segments - but what about in person?

One of the most dramatically beautiful of the ancient Maya cities, Chichen Itza was discovered by Europeans in the mid-1800s, and much here remains a mystery. Experts have little information about who the Itzas might have been, and the reason they abandoned the city around 1224 is also unknown.

The sight of the immense El Castillo pyramid, rising imposingly yet gracefully from the surrounding plain, has been known to produce goose pimples on sight. The pyramid dominates the site both in size and in the symmetry of its perfect proportions. Open-jawed serpents adorn the corners of each of the pyramid’s four stairways, honoring the legendary priest-king Kukulcan (also known as Quetzalcoatl), an incarnation of the feathered serpent god.

On the Anexo del Templa de los Jaguares, just west of El Castillo, bas-relief carvings represent more important deities. On the bottom of the columns is the rain god Tlaloc. It’s no surprise that his tears represent rain - but why is the Toltec god Tlaloc honored here, instead of the Maya rain god, Charac?

At 490 feet, the juego de pelota is the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. Yet if you stand at one end of the playing field and whisper something to a friend at the other end, incredibly, you will be heard.

El Caracol is one of the few round bulidings built by the Maya, with a spiral staircase within. It’s clearly a celestial observatory.

The Groupo de las Monjas has some of the site’s most exquisite facades. A combination of Puuc and Chenes styles dominates here.

The Plaza de Mil Columnas, in typical Toltec-Maya style, once had a roof covering the parallel rows of round stone columns in a long arcade.

They honored a serpent god? Interesting. They built a celestial observatory? Fascinating. Now I wish I had brushed up on “ancient astronaut” lore before coming - if only to heighten my sense of wonder.

I can’t believe it - Ponzi posted something to her blog a few minutes ago! She’s been having a good time on our moneymoon cruise, too - and she’s even considering taking the Excel class on board (since I’ll be accompanying her to a Mexican cooking class later this week). We’re both looking forward to seeing the Mayan ruins:

The Four Agreements, a book that includes Toltec wisdom, has peaked [sic] my curiosity to see the birth place of its people. The language and thought patterns taught by the Toltec way seem so civilized and it’s language of community seem so selfless. Also the architecture has always caught my attention. I’ve heard stories of human sacrifice and savage games played in these places long, long ago. I’m eager to learn more truths rather than hearsay and opinions. There’s something really special about the privledge of learning about a place in person rather than through a book. I feel very fortunate to be able to go to these wonderful places. Hopefully I will gain better insight to the Mayan people of long ago, their way of living and how it has shaped or lost it’s roots in the world we live in day to day.

We have our own butler! I’m not sure what this means, though. I think we can ask him to bring us odd things at seemingly random times? “It’s three in the morning - where’s my freshly-pressed cranberry juice?” He asked us a zillion questions up front, but that’s only to make for a seamless experience on the open seas. Regent is spoiling us. I’m gonna call our butler again and ask him if he’ll come back and change the channel for us.

The one thing we’re missing: dress clothes. Thank goodness the ship has its own clothing store, which will most certainly have attire proper for dinner dress. “Informal” isn’t my kind of informal, by the way. Ponzi is using this as an excuse to buy an entirely new wardrobe. Guess it’s never too early to start planning for our next Seattle summer, eh? We’ll likely find a few cheap threads on shore, too. What I really need right now is a keychain (mine broke).

We’re at sea all day - which is fine by me. We’ve scheduled couples massages for each day we’re not docked, which we’re totally going to need after returning from our planned excursions. Ponzi’s got us going kayaking, hiking, flying, drinking, dining, and walking a million miles in comfortable shoes. I’ll do my best to take as many photos as possible. So far, this trip isn’t turning into a “Maui” - and that’s a good thing. And in other news…

Well, so much for free WiFi. Our travel agent from Vacations to Go told us that there would be free access available from the ship’s library, but it’s apparently closer to 35 cents a minute (ouch). I’ll just give Pluggd another plug for having kept us plugged in on our Alaskan adventure a few months back. The climate is certainly warmer in southern Florida!

Our experience with Regent has been superior to this point - far exceeding our expectations. The security line was non-existent, and despite not having our cruise passes with us, we were checked in swiftly (manually, as the computer system was down). We were welcomed aboard, guided to the theatre for admission, and promptly handed our suite keys. Five minutes later, we were having a casual lunch on the top deck - where Ponzi asked about the WiFi. The waiter noted that someone would be along in a moment to help with that. Imagine our mutual confusion when someone came along to pour some white wine - which we didn’t want or need. “WiFi” sounds a lot like “white wine” in context, eh?

While the Internet access certainly is not free, I’m able to get online from the comfort of my own bed in the Penthouse. Awesome! We haven’t even left port and already I can tell this is going to be a spectacular experience - as every moneymoon honeymoon should be.

We made it! The honeymoon has begun! Break out the champagne! Where’s the Tylenol!?

We flew from Seattle to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale - leaving home at 9 AM (PST) and hitting the hotel pillow somewhere around Midnight (EST). It was a long day, but in retrospect - it “flew” (so to speak). The first, and substantially longer, flight was on one of Delta’s newer 757s - with LCD monitors sewn into the back of each seat’s head rest. I watched “Little Miss Sunshine” on demand, a few minutes before Ponzi started to watch the same movie. I laughed, I cried.

After that, I went back to the main menu, flipped through a couple of Dish satellite-powered television stations, then opted to try my hand at a touch-screen clone of Galaga. A few minutes later, my screen had completely locked up - and I didn’t know how to reboot. I fiddled with it for a few minutes and ultimately gave up. Thirty minutes later, it seemed to reset itself - and I saw Linux booting! Yes, I just so happened to capture a few seconds worth of video just for posterity. No telling what distro they’re using, though.

The hotel doesn’t have a restaurant - so it’s pizza delivery for dinner. Our room is cozy, and doesn’t smell like fart. I hate it when hotel rooms smell like fart.

Ponzi couldn’t take another week of cold, wintery weather - so we’re blasting off to the Carribean for the next couple of weeks for our honeymoon. If you email me between now and then, I likely will not respond. Internet access will be quite limited (as you can very well imagine), but we’re cruising on a six-star Regent ship:

Following closely in the wake of the Seven Seas Mariner, the new 700-guest Seven Seas Voyager is the world’s second all-suite, all-balcony ship and the second to feature a restaurant operated by Le Cordon Bleu of Paris. There are four main dining venues, surprising for a ship of her size. The Voyager also features some of the highest space and service ratios at sea, and her suites are the largest “lead-in” suites in the industry.

We’re flying across the country in a few hours, as our port of departure is somewhere in the great state of Florida. This will be quite a journey! Allegedly, the ship has free WiFi in the library - so I should be able to blog daily updates. If you’d like to track our adventure, here’s where we’ll be (and when):

• Thu Dec 28 - Flight to Florida
• Fri Dec 29 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Sat Dec 30 - At Sea
• Sun Dec 31 - Progreso / Merida, Mexico
• Mon Jan 1 - At Sea
• Tue Jan 2 - Roatan, Honduras
• Wed Jan 3 - Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala
• Thu Jan 4 - Belize City, Belize
• Fri Jan 5 - Costa Maya, Mexico
• Sat Jan 6 - Cozumel, Mexico
• Sun Jan 7 - At Sea
• Mon Jan 8 - Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas
• Tue Jan 9 - Return to Seattle

This will be our third cruise - and the first time we’ll be celebrating New Year’s at sea? I never imagined our honeymoon in the Carribean, but I’m looking forward to seeing a few ancient ruins throughout. Gotta find some sunscreen / bug repellent lotion!

Apparently, we’re going to be charged for Internet services we have not used for the better part of a month - all because we did not send you a statement in written form (according to your CSR, by phone, a few minutes ago).

We were planning on moving out of Comcast’s area at one point, which is when we initially notified you about closing the business account. You allegedly told Ponzi that she would need to submit the request in writing. She tells me you never asked for that, and I certainly don’t recall hearing about it when I called back a few weeks later to confirm our business account had been closed.

Either way, you’re telling me that I’m wrong and you’re right - and I have virtually no way to prove it. Playing “he said, she said” just wastes more time, energy, and money. Consider this a completely formal request to ONCE AGAIN CLOSE OUR BUSINESS ACCOUNT WITH COMCAST.

Thank you.

We moved into our new house a few weeks ago, and I think we’ve emptied just about every single box! As you can see from the photo thumbnails, Ponzi still has to empty the boxes for her new home office. Seems like she’s been doing laundry non-stop, and we finally got all the clothes picked up off the bedroom floor and sorted semi-appropriately (seeing as we don’t have any drawers in our new master closet). It’s been slow going, and I’m very anxious to feel that “settled in” feeling before too long.

We have a small bit of roof work that needs to be done, as you can tell. That, and I think I’ve got a long list of “curiosities” for an electrician to review at some point in the near future. Today, I hope to put a few more things away and prep our exercise room for when we return from vacation. Home ownership is awesome, but it’s also a lot of hard work. I must thank every single one of our friends who have helped or offered to help us through this season - I would be going insane without every single one of you.

Oh no! Wicket just ate our chimney!

Oh, what a wonderful Christmas Eve we had - with Ponzi’s aunt and uncle, and our good friend Brandon Paddock. It was a quiet evening, for the most part. We had dinner, exchanged a few gifts, decked the ficus with a single string of lights (as we didn’t get a Christmas tree this year), and reminisced about Christmases past. When it was just the two of us together, Ponzi and I made a halfhearted attempt at exchanging gifts and whatnot - although most of her gifts are to be acquired after our honeymoon. I can only assume that everybody out there had a good night, too - merry and bright and all that jazz.

Christmas, this year, will be a non-event. I’m disappointed, but realistically prepared. We don’t have a Christmas tree, we haven’t set out many decorations, and our shopping schedule has been extremely cramped as of late (fiscally and physically). Santa Claus didn’t forget us, though; Ponzi’s been picking up items from my wish list, and I’ve been planning a stocking to end all stockings for her. It’s almost three in the morning here, and I’m wondering if I’ll even have time to pick up a screw for my glasses tomorrow (it fell out at some point this evening). That would be a wonderful gift: time.

Ponzi says she only wants one thing this year for Christmas: a completely new wardrobe. Apparently, clothes go out of style after you wear them twice - and it’s only fashionable to wear 1/10th of the outfits 90% of the time? Well, that kind of gift is unrealistic. She thinks I’ve already seen my presents (as they’ve been coming in all sorts of boxes, mixed in with wedding registry gifts). In my mind, the best Christmas present for her at this point is to match the amount she spent on me - letting her spend the same amount on her wardrobe, “guilt free.”

My life is completely consumed with everything outside of the technology memeosphere. The inbox is certainly sitting happily below 50 messages, but I feel irreversibly out of the loop. I never thought I’d ever say this: it’s time for a vacation.

Christmas shopping has been a bust, items are still scattered about the forewinds of our new home, and the honeymoon will be starting in a few days. I need a mental reset, to regain clarity and re-energize my body, mind, and spirit.

I’ve been flying around the house, taking care of smaller tasks that whittle away at the ebbing and flowing collections of clutter. Most boxes have been emptied at this point, but we’re still “missing” a handful of key posessions. Last night, Jake came over to help me reconnect the media center - only to discover that our speaker cables had gone walkabout. I believe he’s headed back tonight, if only to sample Ponzi’s Mexican-themed dinner.

Her office furniture arrived (unassembled) yesterday; it was almost the straw that broke my back. I don’t mind putting things together, but I was simply not looking forward to setting up her new desks and bookshelves. Jeff Barr emailed me and asked if he could be of any assistance - simultaneously volunteering his sons (Stephen, Andy) for labor. His timing was impeccable. Males of the Barr family came to the new gnomestead with tools in hand, and by mid-afternoon had pieced together Ponzi’s home office. I’m so very thankful for their assistance.

In a bit, I believe that Brandon is scooting by to help me upgrade the Quad FX system (with a new set of heatinks). We’ll see how that goes. And tomorrow is another day.

Once a year, I can count on my mom sending a practical gift or two. This year, one of the mini-presents was a plastic package opener that would allegedly never go dull. Sounded awesome, as I’ve grown weary of opening up water- and adult-proof plastic containers. Ready for the kicker? The plastic package opener comes in a plastic package that’s equally impossible to open.

Now, I’m all for foiling theives and shoplifters, but the industry must adopt a better standard at foolproof protection. If they’re going to pack something in a plastic coating, at least they could provide USEFUL perforations in key locations. I’m waiting to start getting band-aids in plastic containers so that I can cover my cuts quickly after opening the plastic container containing the band-aids.

Remember, I’ve been almost completely incommunicado for the past couple of weeks (inadvertently and intentionally). I mixed metaphors in a recent entry, but I hope to redeem myself in this one. Minutes after whipping up my communications communication report, Vik Dendi blasted me a URL with a screen capture of the potential iPhone device. It’s the first semi-legit presentation I’d seen of Apple’s alleged entry into the telecommunications arena. “Many functions. No buttons.” Sounds interesting, but I gotta say that I’ve always disliked (to an extreme degree) any phone that lacked tactile feedback. When I want to mash “5″, I don’t want “4″ or “44″ or “45″ or any other digit series! Lame. Then again, I argue that an input device is diseased if it doesn’t have at least two buttons and a scroll wheel.

Remember, I’ve been almost completely incommunicado for the past couple of weeks (inadvertently and intentionally). I mixed metaphors in a recent entry, but I hope to redeem myself in this one. Minutes after whipping up my communications communication report, Vik Dendi blasted me a URL with a screen capture of the potential iPhone device. It’s the first semi-legit presentation I’d seen of Apple’s alleged entry into the telecommunications arena. “Many functions. No buttons.” Sounds interesting, but I gotta say that I’ve always disliked (to an extreme degree) any phone that lacked tactile feedback. When I want to mash “5″, I don’t want “4″ or “44″ or “45″ or any other digit series! Then again, I argue that an input device is diseased if it doesn’t have at least two buttons and a scroll wheel.