Chris.Derecola

This post is less likely to be about the Dominican Republic the locals know or even the one that tourists who don’t stay at a resort know. Instead, it is a reflection of my week at an all-inclusive resort that happens to be in the Dominican Republic. I start with this disclaimer because some people associate the experiences at these resorts as representative of the country, when in reality they are a far greater reflection of how well the resort is organized and run their show. I will try and separate my opinion of the place from the country as much as possible, but it’s probably a good idea to take everything with a grain of salt.

So that all sounds fairly gloomy, right? Well, I will say that the week ended up being a mixed bag. There were times when I didn’t want to be anywhere else… and then there were times when I couldn’t wait to be home. Why the swings? If I had to summarize everything, I’d say it’s mostly because this type of vacation does not suit me.

I know a lot of people who love nothing more than to lie somewhere tropical for a week of doing nothing. This described a good portion of our week and there were times during the week when I thought to myself “this is absolutely perfect.” The problem arises during the fifth or sixth hour of doing nothing in a day. Maybe I’m just overstimulated, or my ADD is to blame, but as time passes I get bored pretty easily and that eventually leads to anxiety. I want to be doing something, anything and I couldn’t even tell you what that thing would be.

Looking around, I could see that most people spent their time lying/sleeping in the sun or reading a book. I think I might be in the minority when I say baking in the sun is not something I’ve ever been interested in. If I’m at the beach, I want to be in the ocean swimming… usually where I can’t touch the bottom. I am somewhat unique in this, since it doesn’t seem like a ton of people swim in the ocean. Melissa will swim for a half hour, but I’m the type of person who wants to swim out to where I can’t touch and float there for hours. I have known very few people in my life who prefer this, so I usually end up alone until I get bored. Reading a book? I tried that – made it about 50 pages into a book on something I find very interesting. Most of you know I’ve read less than a half dozen books in my life… so… yeah. This is something that does bother me, and I thought it would be my best chance to read something, but it just didn’t work.

All this means we spent a good portion of the week sitting by/in the pool drinking booze and doing nothing. Sounds pretty great, right? Yeah, it was pretty fantastic. By the fifth day, however, I’d had my share of being drunk in the pool all day. I know. I know. Even I have a limit to how much alcohol I can consume. I think we might be able to stretch that out were there a big group of people all getting drunk together, but my family are not big drinkers. No fault on them, it’s just that we had to make a conscious decision to be the drunken aunt and uncle and that loses its luster after awhile.

They do have a bunch of activities (excursions) you can do off the resort for an additional cost. Melissa and I decided to do an “Adventure Buggy” tour our final full day and this turned out to be a great decision. It was every bit cheesy and touristy, but it actually provided a great way to get beyond the walls of the resort to see what Dominican Republic is really like. As we drove from destination to destination in our buggies on public roads, we were afforded the opportunity see 1) how lush the country is, 2) how amazingly friendly the people are and 3) how very poor most Dominicans are. If anything, I was grateful to see just how warm and loving the children who lived in nothing short of poverty were. I felt guilty speeding by on my buggy, but the smiles on their faces as we waved to one another made me think I was probably more unhappy about the situation than they were. Sharing that moment with them may very well have been better than the other things that day, including visiting one of the most spectacular beaches I’ve ever seen and swimming in a cave (which were both pretty awesome).

Beyond that, the resort is best described as a cruise ship that doesn’t move. The staff are exceedingly polite, the food is the same mass produced marginal crap day after day (even if you go to a “nice” a la carte restaurant) and while everything looks nice, the closer you look the more you notice things are a bit rough around the edges. The food is really the only thing that bothers me… and I’m not just saying that because I’m a food snob. If I could Yelp it, I would probably give every restaurant 2 stars with maybe one 3 star thrown in. Most of the family, who are not nearly as particular about food as I am, tended to agree. I think the format is better suited for people who want to live like a celebrity, with every whim catered to. We met many families who appeared to fit into this category, with more than one that acted like they were the most important people there and were determined to have nothing ever be good enough. Melissa and I are somewhat opposite from them in that we like to find our adventure, not attend a resort designed to shelter you from every aspect of it.

I don’t mean to sound like everything was miserable and we had a horrible time, if that’s how I come across. It’s not lost on me that we had the chance to do something not many people can, especially in a relatively poor economy, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. To be clear, I would choose a week of spending time with Kirsten, Addison and the rest of my family in a tropical resort over working or being unemployed 1000 times out of 1000. My point is simply that if I’m choosing a vacation, one of a similar type isn’t going to be near the top of my list.

I guess the one question I haven’t really answered is what about the trip I would recommend. If lying on the beach for a week with a good book or three and not having to lift a finger is your thing – definitely. If you like the comfort of the resort but want to see and do more, a cruise is a better idea. If you want to get away from the crowds and experience the simple life, DR is probably best suited for it… although I can’t say I was a HUGE fan of the weather.

For us? Our next major trip is likely to be a month backpacking in southeast Asia; a considerable difference.

P.S. – It’s amazing just how much of my high school Spanish came back to me during the week!

I recently picked up an ASUS Transformer tablet for personal use. I’d decried the minimal value add of the form factor for a long time but decided to jump on it after hearing good things about this one and flying/traveling around the eastern part of North America over the last six weeks. I’ve been using the laptop AOL game me when they laid me and considering it’s the only laptop I’ve ever owned, I figured it was time to step up. I’ve been thinking about getting a netbook for a long time, but never really wanted to pull the trigger because they didn’t seem to offer much over my current laptop other than portability. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t somewhat of an impulse buy… although the ability to purchase a keyboard/battery/dock and turn it into an Android netbook was really the deciding factor. After two weeks of use, I think I can comfortably give you my thoughts on both tablets in general and Android as an OS.

Tablet Form Factor

• Positive: It’s ultra-portable… duh. A few weeks ago, I was on a plane so small that I couldn’t even use a 10″ netbook effectively. A few weeks later, I was on a similar sized plane with a tablet and it was happy sailing. It also comes in handy when you don’t feel like pulling out a whopping big computer, like in a coffee shop, or resting on the display of your stationary bike while you exercise. Nothing makes exercise time go faster than the internets. I’m a big fan of touchscreen navigation, even if I still think touchscreen typing is largely a pain in the ass (more on that later).
• Neutral: I think the ergonomics are questionable. Much of my original opinions about difficulty using on the couch or without a table still hold true. It’s okay if you’re two-handing something like a video game, but using a tablet without a table is fairly annoying. I’ve tried holding it, propping it up with pillows and everything in between; not feeling it. A folio case might help mitigate some of my gripes but I shouldn’t have to buy a case to use my electronics as I see fit.
• Negative: There is no way I would be able to type this entry on a tablet. I mean, I could, but why would I do that to myself? Paraphrasing something a friend said: tablets are great for content consumption, not creation. Considering I still do a decent amount of this with webmastering a few sites and writing a ton of reviews, this thing will not replace my laptop. Once I get the keyboard, I could just use my desktop for that stuff… but I like doing it in front of the TV. I do know my laptop will likely never leave the house again.

Android and/or Mobile Operating Systems

• Positive: Boots fast, light on battery usage and interface is very slick. Google knows everything about me, so integration with my life and where it’s stored on the internet was just a single log in away. Finding, installing and updating applications are a breeze and heavily supported apps like Google Maps are simply amazing on the device. The notifications and home screen widgets are a definite plus.
• Neutral: There is some discontinuity in experience. By that I mean I’m using an OS that, while geared towards tablet use, still sometimes operates like it’s a phone. I can’t explain it except to say you do things very serially. I guess this is what people talk about when they say “true multitasking” is missing. The apps for the Transformer are also a bit behind that of other Android devices and iOS. Netflix is a good example – I can’t watch it… yet. Ice Cream Sandwich is supposed to seriously address Android fragmentation, but I’m guessing third party apps will still have to scale properly to all the different devices.
• Negative: I side-by-side Excel and a browser to update the 944 Cup standings; impossible with this device. It’s also possible to outpace the device and/or operating system by trying to do too many things too fast or using processor/memory intensive things. I have found websites that don’t work all that well on the Transformer, which can be said of most mobile devices. Yes, I’ve seen similar results on an iPad so it’s not unique to this device or OS.

All in all, I’m happy with the purchase. I don’t think it’s a panacea by any means and it definitely falls into the toy category, but I’m okay with that. Now if only they’ll release the Galaxy S II close to my upgrade eligibility in a month…

Writing reviews for places you went to six months ago is an interesting exercise in recall. Once upon a time, I would devote a post to each and every establishment we visited in Chicago. Those days are not long gone, but since I’ve written this post over the span of several months it’s gonna be a bit fragmented. I’ll try and touch on the things that stick out in my mind and what my overall impression of the places were. I have a feeling I’ll get into it and make this post way longer than it should be, but I don’t want to break any hearts if I don’t. Anyway…

Hot Doug’s -This is one of the places I was really looking forward to visiting. Unfortunately, they closed for a three week vacation the day we arrived so I didn’t get to sample the seemingly wonderful duck fat fries. Sad.

Tierra Caliente – Tacos Al Pastor is like the Mexican version of gyros. I’ve never been a HUGE Mexican food fan, but that’s because there is so much bad Tex Mex in this world. Who knew real tacos could be so delicious with so little toppings?

Guanajuato – Carne Asada done right. I’m a big spicy food fan and this was pretty spicy even for me. The star of the meal, however, was the horchata. The giant white container of creamy white liquid is a bit intimidating, but the drink was delicious. It sounds gross, but it’s like drinking ice cold, watered down rice pudding. I loved it.

Map Room -We met Mike late on a Sunday night, after we had a fairly ridiculous dinner at L2O. The bouncer asked us where we came from, since were so dressed up, but that’s all that was made of our unusual visit. The place was pretty empty, but it reminded me of a great corner bar to meet up with friends and drink the night away. Their beer selection was fairly awesome and despite clearly not belonging, we somehow fit in. I’m glad I don’t have a place like this in walking distance.

Hopleaf Bar – Their beer menu is absolutely ridiculous, especially if you’re into trying every Belgian beer in existence. For what was essentially a neighborhood bar that has tables and a two page menu, the food was impressive. It’s really hard to go wrong with a sausage platter, which was the best dish of the night. The mains weren’t nearly as memorable, but that might be due to the numerous high ABV beers I’d had. All the patrons seemed local and considering it was after dark on a Monday night, I’m surprised at how packed the place was. I have no idea if Hopleaf is a typical Chicago neighborhood eatery, but I think it speaks well for the city.

The Publican – I love pork and therefore I love The Publican. This was another dinner with Mike, who I believe described the restaurant as one of his all-time favorites. Their menu reads like a foodie’s wet dream, which makes it tough to narrow down your selections. The three most memorable things about the night were the crispy pig ears, the head cheese and Mike not realizing the hot waitress was hitting on him. We didn’t drink nearly as much beer as I thought we were going to, but I blame all the pig we ate. The choices were certainly there were we willing. The community tables is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure it’s for me. Thankfully we had one of the penned in booths; an improvement that still had me feeling a bit claustrophobic. I could see how people wouldn’t like the atmosphere, with the hustle and bustle, but the food makes it all worthwhile.

L2O – I’m not really sure one can write a review of the Tatami Room dining adventure because it’s one of those things you have to do for yourself. Nineteen courses of some of the most elegantly prepared and delicious food I have ever experienced is not something easily described in text. Countless plates of cooked and raw fish, wagyu beef,  smoked salmon, scallops, lobster, jalapeno sorbet… all great… and the list goes on. The private bamboo lined room was romantic and our kimono-clad waitress was extremely pleasant and knowledgeable. I can’t say the cost of the meal was something I’m proud of, but life is about experiences and our dinner there was definitely one you talk about for a long time. I don’t think I would have ever recommended a five hour dinner to anyone, but I’m recommending this one.

[Included below is a scan of our menu. You can also find pictures of all dishes but one in the Derecola Archives.]

Part of the reason we went to Chicago was for the food scene. I’m happy to say it did not disappoint, although I think knowing a local gastrophile helped us out tremendously. The fare is really a lot more down-home than I expected, although considering the roots of the city, isn’t surprising. Somehow, the city manages to make eating both comfortable and experimental at the same time… if that’s possible. It really is one of the better food cities I’ve visited and I’d recommend it to everyone.