Joel Rendall

In every port we visit in Central America, fruit is always fresh and plentiful – especially coconuts. Today, I had some Agua de Coco (Coconut Water), from a freshly opened coconut. It cost me $4, plus $1 tip. Compared to other places, this is pretty pricy. This is normal because we were close to the beach.

When I finished drinking the water, I asked the waitress to whack open the coconut so I could eat the meat inside. Coconut flesh is a great source of raw fat, which can be challenging for a raw vegan to get on a ship. Surprisingly, she wasn’t going to charge me to cut open the coconut, but I gave her two more dollars anyway.

Coconut flesh doesn’t appeal to me too much when it is fresh, because it is still pretty slimy from having the water inside. Ideally, I’d let it sit in the sun for a couple hours to dry out.

Since we are not allowed to have food (nor Magic Bullet blenders) in our cabins, it would be wrong for me to make a Coconut smoothie. But using my black-belt Photoshop skills, I have constructed a photo (left) to show you what this scenario might have looked like.

Also shown is a bottle of real vanilla extract, which I paid $8 US for. I had to look in a few different shops to find vanilla that was in a glass bottle. I made sure I got a glass bottle, because in the hot (caliente) weather, I’m sure that some serious toxins would be expelled from the plastic bottles. I’m told it’s cheaper for them to use plastic bottles, and t’s also easier for tourists to get through the airport with plastic bottles.

This morning’s breakfast included a delicious mango. Just as I was about to throw out the mango pit, I glanced over at a bottle of sparkling water / seltzer / club soda (whatever you want to call the stuff).

I put the pit in a glass, then poured the club soda on it. I put it in the fridge with a plate on top (since the bottle was a room temperature).

A few minutes later, I was drinking Mango Pop! It was better than I recall actual soda tasting, and your teeth don’t hate you for it, either.

You can reuse the same mango pit for several glasses. I intend to experiment with different fruit scraps to create different flavours.

At first, when I saw the latest Facebook updates, the larger fonts made me feel more like I was part of a Fisher Price social network. But that was just on the surface, and we all know we should never judge a… website by its fonts.

I was sending a Facebook reply to someone at 2:09 in the morning (don’t judge my sleep habits – I just woke up a few hours ago), and the below screenshot is what I saw.

The logic behind this hurts my brain… maybe I need to go watch Back To The Future again and take notes.

A few weeks ago, I tried a trial of a Mac program called Hazel.

I was tired of looking at a desktop full of random downloaded files, and other pieces of information that I thought I might need, but have no place to file it.

Hazel lets me automatically move files from one folder to another, according to my custom conditions. I set one up that moves all Desktop files that are 24hrs old, to another folder out of sight, called “Desktop Files,” predictably enough.

You can also have it sort files according to file type, which I use for archiving my TV shows after I have watched them.

After the 30 day trial expired, I remember it being pretty cheap to buy – between $15 and $20 (don’t quote me on it). They are obviously a small software company, so it feels good to be supporting them, rather than the big, expensive developers who charge outragous amounts of money (Adobe, cough cough!).

I prefer Mac, but at Joel’s blog, we’re non-OS-denominational, so I’ll Google around for some non-Mac alternatives:

Linux: Ok, I take it back – there aren’t any obvious Linux programs, other than getting geeky with scripting. If anyone with Linux can help (hi Steffi), let me know. Update: Check out Plasma Dashboard, for a solution to keeping your Kubuntu desktop clean. See Steff’s blog post for this, along with additional linux geekery.

Windows: Apparently there’s a built-in desktop cleaner. But if Windows holds true to their reputation, it could be irritating. Try watching this video.

Here is what I had for lunch today – A salad with spinach, sprouts, strawberries, and an improvised salad dressing.

Salad dressing:

- Strawberries

- Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil

- Carrot

- Garlic

- Italian Spices

Okay, I guess with a couple of those ingredients, it’s more like 99% raw. Sue me