Man, oh man… The last couple of weeks… It all happened on one day — but what a day!

It started by my main computer crashing. I back up everything vital — so I didn’t have to worry about losing any photos, or anything, but it’s just a frustrating thing to deal with. Especially considering that this was my FOURTH mac crash in 4 years.

So as I was bringing the computer downstairs, I dropped it. The drop broke it. Glass everywhere. That beautiful 27 inch screen was no more!

Later that night, I dropped my iPhone — and that broke, as well! After tweeting and facebooking these events, I had so many funny comments…

Funny stuff :)

So from there, I got Apple to fix all the broken stuff (from the drop). But they had to wait until things were shipped in to do that. Once that happened, I picked the iMac up and took it apart to deal with the hard drive. So I replaced that with a new one (a bit trickier with these newer, 27″ iMacs).

Now to installing the OS… This was tricky. My drive ALSO broke — unbeknownst to me — so I couldn’t simply install from the original discs. My mom has an external dvd drive… but, go fig, it was ALSO broken! So through some friends on Twitter, I finally figured out how to format the OS to a CF card, and boot the new hard drive in my iMac through the CF card… It felt SOOOO good to get that up and running!

Since that’s all taken care of, next up is getting my iPhone fixed! And if you want to learn more about my luck with Apple products, here’s what happened to my iPad a few months ago, crash #2, and crash #3 :P

Bobby

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I’ll be taking retainers for next year’s RPTE to Thailand and Cambodia very soon. Email me at info@bobbyearle with the subject “RPTE 2012 SIGNUP” and you’ll be on the list of first people to be able to jump on before it’s announced on the blog.

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Today was the last full day. And we went out with a bang. We went to the lake village, took a boat out to the Tonle Sap, swam, and rode in canoes through the village and into the mangrove forests. Putting this day into words is nearly impossible. This is one of the absolute highlights of the trip for me. It’s so calm and peaceful.

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This is Mr. Don…

…and the above images sum him up as good as any series of words ever could. One of the reasons I love the one and only Don so much :)

Off to school.

This little buddy steered our canoe from the back :)

I smoke cigarrettes for my UC and my hair curls something terrible because of the humidity. Those are my excuses. Ali, on the other hand, looks creepy like that for no excusable reason ;)

These are some instagram shots — those shrimp were DEELISH!!!

Not a bad place to be reading A Grief Observed, by C.S. Lewis ;)

Hank and I enjoy a good game of volleyball. Fortunately, Cambodians also love a good game of volleyball. Unfortunately, they love it so much that they wouldn’t let us squeeze in at this VERY serious court in downtown Siem Reap. This place was SERIOUS. I felt like I was starring in White Men Can’t Jump 2! It took us a good 15-20 minutes to finally make a game happen. These courts are no joke. They play for money and they are very into winning. It was just the two of us, so all I have is some video of us showing up. Such a cool experience…

We ended up winning our first game and BARELY losing our second game. Made a dollar and then lost a dollar. Good times :)

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the Bangkok airport to catch our flights home :(

Saying goodbye to my dear, dear friends in Cambodia is never easy. But it’s always nice to know that I’ll be seeing them in a year. Who else is coming with me??? I’ll be taking retainers for next year’s RPTE to Thailand and Cambodia very soon. Email me at info@bobbyearle with the subject “RPTE 2012 SIGNUP” and you’ll be on the list of first people to be able to jump on before it’s announced on the blog.

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To the group that I feel so honored to have led around the world… I miss you all so much. I couldn’t have been happier with each of you being there. Like I told you all at our last dinner, when we got hit with that monsoon after like 30 hours of travel during our first outing to the beach and you all ended up having a blast through it?! I knew I had a special crew of people. Collectively, I feel you took away more from this trip than any other group I’ve taken — and that’s saying a lot as I LOVE my other groups (I’m going to get some flack from past RPTE peeps for that one :P).

With all sincerity, thank you so much for coming along with me. Love you all ;)

Bobby

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The first week of 2012 was an awesome one! So many little things took place :)

We went to the beach…

I hung out with some raccoons…

Clive and his buddy, Jack, went to the petting zoo (at the Wild Animal Park :)…

And then Lindsay got her tattoo! It was an anniversary present that’s been a loooong time coming… Josh at Dark Art Tattoo killed it!

And that last one of Clive is just for good measure :) Hope 2012 is starting great for everyone out there!!!

Bobby

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9 years. I married Lindsay on January 4th. 9 years ago. I still can’t believe that so many years have gone by so quickly and I find myself at the same time confused as to how I went nearly 20 years without Lindsay. It’s very, very odd when I try to imagine my life pre-Lindsay. Almost like that part never happened, if that makes sense :)

Lindsay and I are a bit different with anniversaries and valentine’s day. We never plan much of anything but usually by the end of the day some special things take place. We’ve had Valentine’s in Prague, anniversaries in England, China, and other places I can’t remember… But we’ve never really set out with the idea of “ohh… let’s do something SUPER special today!” The irony is that something special typically ends up happening :)

Yesterday was similar. We started out the day with Clive and one of my best friends, David. Just hanging out. Then, when Clive went down for a nap, we left him with my parents and headed over to Lindsay’s consultation for her tattoo! She’s been dying to get some tattoos for a few years now — and I figured that would be a good surprise present for our anniversary. We’re both really excited about what she’s getting. She’ll be getting inked up this Saturday and probably won’t sleep Friday night :P

Then we took Clive for a walk and eventually put him down for the night. We met up with my best friend, Garrett, and our good friend, Ali, for dinner. We’re weirdos who like to eat WITH other people on “our” day. That was perfect.

The ender ender, after black hammer (as we say in skateboarding) was as Lindsay and I pulled out from the restaurant. We took a photo together (the one below) and Lindsay thought she saw a cat in the gutter. But it wasn’t a cat — it was three raccoons!!! If you know me, you know how much I love running into any kind of wildlife. We used to have tons of raccoons in Escondido when I was growing up, but they aren’t common in my neighborhood now. Haven’t seen one in quite a few years.

I parked the car and headed over to the gutter with my leftovers. People inside were looking at me like I was a crazy person as I was squatted down, smiling at a gutter :) Within a few minutes, I got the raccoons out and eating from my hand. It was as fun for me as playing with monkeys out in Cambodia is, to be honest.

As we were driving home, Lindsay kept talking about her tattoo and I kept talking about my raccoons. I added “the only thing that could make this night better would be an owl…” No joke, before I finish the sentence, I look over and see an owl perched on a fence. It flies away and ends up landing on the fence right next to our window. I get out, with the car lights facing it so that I can walk close to it without it seeing me, and just watched him until he flew away. I freaking love owls.

All in all, it was a great anniversary. I love being married to Lindsay :)

Top left: Lindsay’s gym bag and Clive’s gym bag. Top right: Clive having a blast going backwards down the stairs.
Middle left: Remmy and Trouble. Middle right: Clive is shocked that we’ve been together for 9 years!
Bottom left: A few minutes before midnight. Bottom Right: My raccoon pals :)

Bobby

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I’ll be taking retainers for next year’s RPTE to Thailand and Cambodia very soon. Email me at info@bobbyearle with the subject “RPTE 2012 SIGNUP” and you’ll be on the list of first people to be able to jump on before it’s announced on the blog.

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Today was incredible. We do two things that are out of this world. Watch the sunrise over Angkor and we go to Beng Melea. The sunrise over Angkor is, in my opinion, one of those bucket list type things people need to do before they die. It feels like this natural phenomenon (the sunrise) blending perfectly with this man-made phenomenon (Angkor Wat). It’s a special sight to see.

Beng Melea is out of this world. It takes a couple hours to get to by tuk tuk — and that is half of what makes it so amazing. The temple itself is out in the middle of nowhere. It’s a jungle temple. Completely overgrown and has yet to be severely excavated — it gives you the feeling of what it would have been like to hike through the jungles of Cambodia a hundred years ago and come up on one of these temples before any tourism existed. It’s absolutely insane.

My favorite part of the day, however, is the two hour ride back home. We leave around sunset — and this gives you incredible glimpses of Cambodian country-side lifestyle. Houses are open so you see everyone making dinner, building fires, and just gathering together for the evening. All with the sunset. It’s incredible. This part of the trip tends to be a major highlight for everyone on the trip :)

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Bobby

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