February 2005 - A ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians was declared in Sharm El-Sheikh, not far from here (Eilat). Its fragile and the weeks and months ahead will be full of challenges for both sides, but for the first time Palestinians elected a leader who told them he would bring them a better life.

On the business side, we have a new site, Content & Ads, that showcases our sites to the business world. We're doing what we should be doing - quietly getting ready for the next cycle. Having been through a full cycle of an economic boom, bubble and then recession, we've learned a lot and are proud to be doing the same thing for almost 10 years.

Even as a resort town mainly serving Israelis, Eilat has a lot of restaurants. Indian, Thai, Tex-Mex, and American are my favorites. I like not having to wait on lines as long for everything compared to what it was like in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I usually walk to wherever I'm going and when you want to go by wheels, every 4th car in Eilat seems to be a taxi! This past year is the first time since 12th grade that I'm living so far away from big cities. So far I love it - that's what's so good about having an Internet business that let's you work at home or wherever you and your cellphone are.

I watch every sunset from home or while walking around - I've never seen such colorful sunsets in my life. There are 3 weekly magazines in this city of 50,000. As Eilat is so far away from the rest of Israel, it becomes even more important to keep up with what's going on in this city and the surrounding parts. I have a lot to learn.

May 2005 - We're planning our wedding and honeymoon and its a lot of work and fun. The wedding will be more modest than what many do - a private wedding ceremony for the immediate family and two days later, a cocktail party for our friends and friends of the family. We'll spend a week in South Florida preparing for the wedding.

The day after we get married, we have tickets to see Paul McCartney in concert - opening night of his 2005 tour! Then the cocktail party. The day after that, we drive to Disney and spend 6 nights at a Disney Resort. The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, MGM Studios, Blizzard Beach and hopefully Animal Kingdom. From Disney to Islamorada in the Keys. We'll drive to Key West almost every day from Islamorada. I love Key West and haven't been there in years. Next comes a one week cruise to the Caribbean on the Caribbean Princess. We end our honeymoon with two nights in South Beach.

Its amazing how the Internet lets you plan a long trip - we're packing a lot in one month and I couldn't have planned this months ahead of time (when prices are cheaper) without the Internet. From Yahoo Travel to Cruise Critic to small sites about Key West, I was able to get information and read reviews. Sure, you can't trust any one opinion. But you can get a good idea from the collective view of many. Being able to print out directions on 3 pages for where we plan on driving is incredible. A few books and advice from friends and family helped as well.

November 2005 - We're back from our wedding and honeymoon. We've never had so much fun in our lives and its great to be home. Some photos and a few QuickTime VR's. I love being in the US and love The Keys and the Caribbean more than ever - we'll be back on future vacations. We went mountain biking, kayaking, hiking and spent lots of time walking (and shopping!) up and down wherever we were. We saw Paul McCartney in concert in Miami, stand-up comedians and a comedian hypnotist while sailing through the Carribean, and ate at the most unique restaurants that Disney, The Keys and the Caribbean Princess have to offer. I have lots of new music to listen to while working -- steel drums, calypso, Paul McCartney and even some Blondie. After taking it easy for a few weeks, I'm working on a few projects which keep me busy. I'm reading a few books -- Brian Greene's sequel to The Elegant Universe, Sharansky's book on democracy and a Hebrew book about the Negev.

Two weeks after returning, we went on a two day trip to the western Negev. We spent one night at Kibbutz Ashalim in an artistic guesthouse and the second night at Sde Boker. The purpose of the trip was to see the small settlements and towns in the area and get a taste of what it looks like there. Its potentially a great place to build a home - 45 minutes from Beersheva but far enough away that you get a big piece of land and have the chance to participate in building a community from scratch or from an early stage. We have lots to think and talk about over the next few months!

June 2006 - Its summertime in Eilat and that means its hot out. By 11am you want to be done with your morning errands and indoors. You don't even think of going out until 6pm. It'll start to get better on September 1st. I have a/c and lots of cold drinks and snacks here to keep me cool throughout the summer. When I do go outside, I see lots of tourists. If they're having a good time, I'm having a good time. So I spend much of the summer working on fun things - which for me means listening to and collecting music and planning a long trip...

Roger Waters performed in Israel last night and I listened to the show on the radio. It sounded great, especially Dark Side Of The Moon. I collect Israel shows - the concerts of bands who performed in Israel. Who's played here? Paul Simon (1978), Dylan (5 shows in 1987 and 1993), Eric Clapton (1984 and 1989), Jethro Tull (played here too many times to list!), U2 (1997), Dire Straits (1985), Sting (1994 and 2006) and the list goes on. Its not hard to find the shows on filesharing sites. Its cool to hear the musicians speak with the crowd and to hear the DJ comment on the show if its an FM broadcast. I even have Frank Sinatra's 1975 show in Israel - he did a pleasant cover of The Beatles song Something. An obscure thing to collect! For a small country in a troubled neighborhood, its quite an achievement for our concert promoters to bring these entertainers here.

We're planning a long trip to South America and a shorter trip to the USA in 2007. God Bless The Internet! Thanks to this thing that blossomed in the mid-90's, I can work from anywhere. If I can get online once to twice a week for an hour, I can keep up with things. The Internet has changed travel beyond recognition. In the 90's, we didn't have websites and tools like we do in 2006. Travel sites are fun to check out as it is. Today they're as useful as they are cool.

I'm able to read about cruises and even see photos and videos of the ships and their destinations. There are websites like Cruise Critic with reviews of every cruise ship and destination as well as forums and lots more. When you pay your $500 deposit for a cruise, you know what you're getting into much more than in the 80's and 90's. Once you do, the cruise liner gives you a username and password so you can prepare for the trip. You use their website to pick when you eat, make reservations at the spa and can even speed up boarding by filling out a form that they'll have when you embark. You can buy excursions on the islands from them or shop yourself on the Internet. Every tour guide and attraction in the Caribbean has a website. On our 2005 Caribbean Princess cruise, we reserved a mountain bike excursion on St. Martin and a small bus tour of St. Thomas via the web months in advance and both were unforgettable experiences. You couldn't do this as easily in the late 90's! The brochure websites of the 90's have become interactive brochures in 2006.

A road trip in the US has never been easier to plan. There are the obvious maps and directions sites and software to help you map it out. Being able to do this at home is a huge advantage! With Google Maps, I'm able to figure out what cities to plan on visiting based on where we'll be. If it seems too long a drive from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, its easy to see on the map that you can stop off in Reno for the night. Then you look up attractions and things to do in each city. The websites for theme parks have video clips for their best rides. Then you pick hotels and car rental and price it with the online brokers. Google and Yahoo aren't about web directories anymore. They're about being the most useful interactive websites for the average person.

And then there's backpacking! The good youth hostels all have websites and you can even make reservations online. Even if you don't want to plan every detail of your backpacking trip, you can take notes on a piece of paper and make a short list of good youth hostels where you'll be traveling. There're even a few youth hostel portals with tens of thousands of hostels listed by the site and rated by visitors. Even the Bolivian Youth Hostel Association has a website in English. Most youth hostels have Internet. Even if it costs a few pesos to use the Internet, it means keeping in touch with the world (and in my case, my Internet business) from your youth hostel. It used to be tough for travelers to preserve and not lose film while on the road. In 2006, you just upload your photos to a photo site or your personal site every week and burn a cd of the photos so you have a backup. Backpackers even 20 years ago couldn't imagine being able to sit down after a long day and chat with friends on a messenger while showing them photos (and videos) taken that day on a cheap digital camera.

All of the travel books in the world can't do what the Internet does! But I still bought three travel books and I wouldn't think of planning a long trip without Lonely Planet.

July 2006 - As you know, Israel is at war with Hamas and Hizbollah. A few weeks ago we thought we were heading into a relatively quiet summer. The government and Israel Defence Forces were very ready for this, but the public was surprised. Since 2000, Israel's north has been quiet. Every time Hizbollah broke the fragile quiet, Israeli leaders were hesitant to spoil the party. Now we're dealing with Hamas and Hizbollah head on. The battlefront moves fast and its intense. I've read that the Israel Air Force is doing 500 sorties (missions) a day.

You can read news and analysis of it elsewhere. Here's what it looks like from the ground in Israel.

Things are different when Israel goes to war. Even here in Eilat, everyone is glued to the TV. When I go to a local 24-7 grocery store down the street, the TV is on and when no one's around, the guy working there is watching the news. So is anyone who stops by. We all buy our favorite snacks for watching the war on TV. There are two major commercial TV channels and the government channel. Instead of finishing the nightly broadcasts at midnight to 1am, they all run stuff all night as many people - young and old - are wide awake during times like these. There are constant news updates. The Hebrew media on the Internet is working overtime thanks to the action.

Everywhere from Haifa and northward is quiet. The further north you get, the quieter it is. Past a certain point, nothing will be open at night. Pubs and discos will be open in Haifa but not in places much further north. Tonite's news showed how quiet a usually packed pub was last night. Tonite Nasrallah threatened all-out war with Israel and we're aware of what could be. Most of Israel's wars, when they get to this level, last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

As every Israeli seems to have a cellphone with a camera and video on it, some people are getting their clips on TV by rushing to the scenes of Katyusha landings and filming it. This afternoon, Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin found himself very close to a Katyusha landing and gave viewers an unforgettable first look at the scene of a Katyusha hitting a Nahariya neighborhood. As Tobin and his cameraman recorded the event, we saw how fast and calm the Israeli military, emergency services and police work as they arrive at the scene. We Israelis are just as proud of our emergency services as New Yorkers are of theirs.

August 2006 - Its August 8th and the war rages on. According to our real estate agent, there isn't a room to be found in Eilat. I notice when I walk around town - there are more people out and about. Its been hot for the past week! 100-106 degrees from 12pm till 5pm and then it slowly goes down. The war is taking place far from here, but you can feel it - every store with a TV has it tuned to the news and there isn't much going on since it started. Its the only thing people are talking about on the street.

I'm interested in what's going on and following it closely. But everyone needs a break from this reality sometimes. My music collection and video games are especially fun to delve into in times like these. I'm always working on planning our trip - found a few places in the Caribbean that we may visit.

The media coverage is still incredible. Fox News is covering the story all day while Israeli TV is back on a regular schedule with live updates on the hour. Israelis are watching Fox during the day, Israeli news at 8pm, and breaking news on all channels.

These times weigh heavy on all of us. Israel had about a year and a half of relative quiet - not peace or quiet by any means - since the last war, The Second Intifada, ended. That was enough for me for a lifetime. I'm glad we're in a quiet place for this one. I hope we win and hope it ends fast. I'm glad Israel has come together for this and am proud America is standing by Israel.


October 2006 - Almost magically, as the clock struck midnight on September 1st, a cool breeze welcomed the end of summer. There were a few hot days in September, but nothing close to what went on in August! October is so much fun - after 5 months of hot weather, its great to be able to walk around Eilat without the desert heat. A few days ago, we awoke to dark clouds and I was told it rained for a few minutes. It was cool to see dark clouds for the first time since March.

We're off to South America in early January. I'm trying to get as much done as I can with School Sucks and my hobbies as we plan the trip. I want to get most of this stuff done by the end of November so in December I'm focused on getting ready for the trip. We bought a few more travel guides thanks to a thoughtful birthday gift from a friend. We're only making specific plans for the first few places we go to and that's because of the season.

Its during times like these when I most appreciate working at home. I'm able to work on both business and hobby things at the same time. I wake up without an alarm clock every day - usually between 8am and 11am. Eilat is a great town to go for a late morning stroll and buy a few things. Then onto whatever projects I'm working on that day. A chat window is always open so I can communicate privately with my partners and of course we speak with each other on the phone a few times a week. Its productive and mellow.

Got some great new bootlegs lately - a dvd of The Who live in Houston from 1975 and the Dark Side Of The Moon part of a 1972 Pink Floyd show. I wish they'd release these!

I added two panoramas and two QuickTime 3d movies of those panoramas on my Eilat page.

May 2007 - We flew from Israel in January and have done so much since then! We spent two weeks in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Most beautiful vistas from above a city that I´ve ever seen. The mountains lead into the ocean and the city spreads out all around. We then flew to Foz De Iguazu and visited the Brazilian side of the breathtaking waterfalls. Crossed the border and visited the Argentinian side of the waterfalls in the city of Puerto Iguazu. Spent some time in Puerto Iguazu.

Then we took our first Argentinian bus. What an experience! I´ve never flown first-class, but Argentinian buses offer first class service like I never imagined existed. An 18 hour bus ride was actually fun. Lots of room, movies to watch, coffee and tea at-your-service and meals better than any airplane food I´ve ever had.

Buenos Aires! Wow! We planned on spending a week there and it turned into a month. Buenos Aires in 2007 is like Paris in the 1920´s or London is the 1960´s - a city at a cultural peak like no other. We walked along Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world. Visited the markets and fairs every weekend in San Telmo, Palermo, Recoleta and La Boca. And explored the coolest city I´ve ever seen in my life! The Buenos Aires Spanish sounds like Italian. I didn´t know there was so much Italian influence in Argentina until we visited Buenos Aires. Our hostel, Hostel Sol, was the cherry on top. The perfect group of travellers. They added so much to our experience and we miss them. A mix of travellers from Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, USA, Europe, Ireland, Mexico, Israel and everywhere else in between.

And the restaurants.. We counted 20 restaurants that we ate at! From cheap burger places to pizza (best pizza in the galaxy) to all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurants that cost $3.50 per person to top quality Argentinian steak houses. And then there´s the wine! I hadn´t drank much alcohol in a few years, but the wine there converted me to Argentinian wine. Cheap wine cost $1, good wine cost $2 and excellent wine starts at $4 a bottle.

My favorite part of it all? The Notorious Jazz Club. We went there four times! The two Bossa Nova shows we saw were heavenly. Sitting in a classy jazz club, drinking a bottle of good wine with my beautiful wife and listening to the soft sounds of Bossa Nova.

Then we headed north to Tucuman, Cafayate - a mix of desert and mountains in the Andes - to Salta and headed to Bolivia. So far in Bolivia, we´ve been to Tupiza, Oruro, Cochabamba, Villa Tunari and Santa Cruz.

We´re back in Israel in October and are having a great time! We´re uploading photos to The Amazing Journey - so you can follow our travels.

All the best from South America!

I enjoy reading your comments! Email me at kenny@sahr.com.