The Guy Behind The Guy Behind The Blog
This blog entry about the events of Tuesday, January 04, 2005 was originally posted on January 09, 2005.
DAY 444: I will dedicate this entry to my brother, Blogreader/Blog Hog markyt who, behind the scenes, has become an indispensable member of the crew behind The Blog. He is the liaison between the writer, the producer, and the guys at the Bootsnall.com, gracious host provider of The Blog. I am dedicating this to him because it’s a tribute long overdue — and, to be honest, because I didn’t do much in the day, and I need something to up my word count.
Well, that’s not completely true, the not doing much in the day I mean, since I worked not only on Blog duties, but on the production of the trailer for the big DAY 503 return party back in New York City (March 5, set the date). The trailer production required some CDs back in the States that markyt had put together for me and FedEx’d to the house in Greenhills, so that I could work on it (picture above) and finish it in time for American Commercial Day, a.k.a. SuperBowl Sunday. Markyt‘s efforts saved me a lot of grunt work, leaving me more time to produce and write the Blog and drink more beer.
And speaking of markyt, or Marky T, or Mark R. T., whose initials are M.R.T., which can be tweaked to Mr.T (yes, it’s a stretch), that night when I was flipping through the cable channels while waiting for the internet to connect, I bumped into the old Mr. T cartoon from the mid 1980s, on Cartoon Network’s Boomerang programming. Immediately my face lit up, since I had fond memories of watching the cartoon as a kid (while 1981ers were still learning to walk), a show which was created by Ruby-Spears during the hey-day of Mr. T, The A-Team, Mr. T breakfast cereal, and all Mr. T-related catch phrases — which have been immortalized in the Mr. T talking key-chain (like the one Tony had back in Moshi, Tanzania).
Anyway, there was this one part in the cartoon when one of the members of Mr. T’s crime-fighting gymnastics team was drowning in a pool. Someone called for help and Mr. T, who was casually sitting in a hotel room reading a newspaper (that made me laugh), came to the rescue by jumping off his hotel balcony and into the pool to save the drowning victim, all in one quick sweeping motion that took about forty frames of animation, if not less.
This I mention because my Mr. T, our Mr. T, markyt also “saves the day.” I remember one time when I was uploading some entries in Dar-es-Salaam, and for some reason the server was truncating all my work. Markyt was there to fix everything in a long cut-and-paste relay over instant messenger.
Markyt: ok its fixed
Erik TGT: you just saved the blog
So, nothing much to report on the events of the day — in fact, I didn’t even leave the house once (something I hadn’t done in a long time). The Blog continued on and that trailer for DAY 503 was well under way. DAY 503 will not only be a big welcome back party to see friends and meet readers, but it will be my opportunity to, at the very least, buy markyt a beer.
Next entry: Filipino-American, American-Filipino
Previous entry: Civilization
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Comments for “The Guy Behind The Guy Behind The Blog”
SORRY FOR THESE TWO UNEXCITING ENTRIES… More to come before the WHMMR…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 01:19 AM
First in a long time! Received a post card from Vietnam, Thanks….I bet that country seems like a long time ago to you Erik! I am glad you are enjoying the time with family and a bit of a day off. Thanks also to Mr. T. for without him we would all be lost with absolutely nothing to read.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 02:00 AM
All heil markyt.. I drink this next beer to you!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 02:35 AM
yes beer! oh and i bought anchorman!! i love lamp i love lamp!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 03:50 AM
beers for markyt!
Posted by Liz on 01/09 at 05:08 AM
ERIK: Everyone has caught the Blog reading mania at the TRINIDAD house in Paranaque…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 06:47 AM
MARKYT: How are the deleted scenes?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 07:24 AM
“What? I’m sorry, where you speaking? I’m sorry, I don’t speak Spanish.” (Will Ferrell, Anchorman)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 07:47 AM
“Oh, it’s so hot! Milk was a bad choice.”
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 07:48 AM
deleted scenes are the first part…you gotta see the extras like the music video!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 11:06 AM
hey kuya erik, i’ve been waiting for the boracay pix. where are they?
go markyt! ur such a nice bro
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 12:33 PM
Andean YMCA must be on the soundtrack!!!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 12:50 PM
yes, cheers for markyt!
I got a ‘Nam postcard too, thanks. I think Vietnam was a highlight of my trip. It took a few days to warm up to but sometimes the REALLY good places do. I’m back at work, yuck! After 3 weeks in Asia, it’s a hard adjustment…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 05:32 PM
kudos markyt! behind every great man, is a great…brother? ok, that doesn’t ring like it should….whatevers…
thanks markyt :o)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 06:09 PM
ahh gee thanks guys….it really is another job…plus i’m just waiting for erik to become rich and famous so i can ride on his coat tails….hahahah
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/09 at 06:35 PM
Horray for Mark! We ALL owe him a drink or three at Erik’s return party.
Erik - What’s up with that big clamp on the computer? Did I miss an entry where you beat off a rabid pack of hippie backpackers with your ibook?Posted by dunlavey on 01/09 at 07:45 PM
DUNLAVEY: Yeah, the clamp squeezes my logic board into place so the screen works… It’s been like that since Jaipur, India… (First picture of the clamp showed up in Chennai).
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/10 at 06:53 AM
That clamp gets me everything time
And I’d like to add that dispite the fact that I was “still learning to walk” I totally remember the A-TEAM and I vaguely remember the cartoon.
What can I say about MarkyT other then “I pitty the fool!”
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/10 at 04:34 PM
I have the A-Team theme song as a ringtone on my cell phone. dahnh danhh dahnhh dahn dahn dahn dahh . . .
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/10 at 06:35 PM
The A-Team is truly and international phenomenon. We were in Ireland in Oct. seeing friends and our adopted family, the Cutliffes. We met Rosey, Clair & Caroline Cutliffe’s roommate. Another boisterous Irish gal, and a laugh riot to party with—all of them. Anyway, they’re all musicians—classically trained musicians—which left me hopelessly un-musically quiet whenever they burst into song (which was ALL the time). So we went to a pub after dinner one night, and they all start singing Irish pub songs (go figure). Then seeing that we Americans couldn’t contribute, Rosey starts the all-talking theme-song lead-in to The A-Team! I didn’t even remember this whole long speech, which ended in “you call the A-Team.” I was absolutely agast that she knew all the words! Then the ENTIRE pub started in with the music… dahnh danhh dahnhh dahn dahn dahn dahh . . .
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/17 at 04:22 PM
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This blog post is one of over 500 travel dispatches from the trip blog, "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World (Or Until Money Runs Out, Whichever Comes First)," originally hosted by BootsnAll.com. It chronicled a trip around the world from October 2003 to March 2005, which encompassed travel through thirty-seven countries in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was this blog that "started it all," where Erik evolved and honed his style of travel blogging — it starts to come into focus around the time he arrives in Africa.
Praised and recommended by USA Today, RickSteves.com, and readers of BootsnAll and Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, The Global Trip blog was selected by the editors of PC Magazine for the "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without" (in the travel category) in 2005.
Next entry:
Filipino-American, American-Filipino
Previous entry:
Civilization
THE GLOBAL TRIP GLOSSARY
Confused at some of the jargon that's developed with this blog and its readers over the years? Here's what they mean:
BFFN: acronym for "Best Friend For Now"; a friend made on the road, who will share travel experiences for the time being, only to part ways and lose touch withThe Big Trip: the original sixteen month around-the-world trip that started it all, spanning 37 countries in 5 continents over 503 days (October 2003–March 2005)
NIZ: acronym for "No Internet Zone"; a place where there is little to no Internet access, thus preventing dispatches from being posted.
SBR: acronym for "Silent Blog Reader"; a person who has regularly followed The Global Trip blog for years without ever commenting or making his/her presence known to the rest of the reading community. (Breaking this silence by commenting is encouraged.)
Stupid o'clock: any time of the early morning that you have to wake up to catch a train, bus, plane, or tour. Usually any time before 6 a.m. is automatically “stupid o’clock.”
The Trinidad Show: a nickname of The Global Trip blog, used particularly by travelers that have been written about, who are self-aware that they have become "characters" in a long-running story — like characters in the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show.
WHMMR: acronym for "Western Hemisphere Monday Morning Rush"; an unofficial deadline to get new content up by a Monday morning, in time for readers in the western hemisphere (i.e. the majority North American audience) heading back to their computers.
1981ers: people born after 1981. Originally, this was to designate groups of young backpackers fresh out of school, many of which were loud, boorish and/or annoying. However, time has passed and 1981ers have matured and have been quite pleasant to travel with. The term still refers to young annoying backpackers, regardless of year — I guess you could call them "1991ers" in 2013 — young, entitled millennials on the road these days, essentially.
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