What makes a wedding so great is how it's one of the rare times you're able to round up all of your friends and family (even those that live far away) in one place for the sole purpose of having a party. Amy and I had friends coming in to Atlanta from New Jersey, California, Canada, and even Belgium! It was like the dream celebration that we all wish we could organize, but never actually have the opportunity to put in motion. It makes me want to throw a big party like that every year.
The honeymoon was a blast as well. We went to the Turks & Caicos islands (Providenciales, to be specific) and stayed right on the beach. The beaches and water are as advertised, which is to say they're absolutely spectacular. We didn't have any rocks or reef on our part of the beach, but you could still snorkel out a hundred yards off-shore and find live starfish and conch sitting there on the sea bottom. I've never seen that anywhere else, and I've been to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. In addition to snorkeling we also tried our hand at SNUBA, which is snorkeling with a SCUBA regulator and air tank instead of a regular snorkel. Amy isn't a certified diver, so it was a great way for her to get the scuba diving experience without having to spend time learning the ropes.
The only current drawback to Turks & Caicos is that there isn't much else to do outside of beach/water activities. A major hurricane came through last year and beat the islands to a pulp, meaning that anything outside of the resort area looks like a refugee camp. Everything is slowly getting rebuilt (I told a friend of mine that the whole place is one big construction site), but as is typical with most Caribbean islands, the first priority is to rebuild the resorts because that's where the money is. It's sad, but true. The Caribbean is truly a land of the haves and have-nots, where you'll see a condominium complex with $4.5 million properties on the beach side of the road, and locals living in a tin-roof shanty across the street. It's a very strange juxtaposition that Amy and I have never been able to get used to.
Still, I'd recommend Turks & Caicos for a honeymoon. If you're looking for island culture and hustle'n'bustle you can do much better (Puerto Rico, for instance), but if you want to get away from it all and turn off your brain for a week it's the perfect place to do it. The beaches are sparsely populated (my Best Man also went there for his honeymoon, and couldn't believe how few people there were around), everybody is really friendly, and the atmosphere is completely chilled and laid-back. As my Mom likes to say, "You have nothing to do, and all day to do it in". For us, that was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Of course, the NWR crew got a big kick out of me always being "around" to check in on their E3 coverage. They kept telling me to go enjoy my honeymoon (which I was), but what can I say? I just can't turn it off, especially during the biggest week of the year in video gaming. Our crew did an amazing job (which didn't surprise me in the least), had a great time from all accounts, and provided our readers with an absolute avalanche of news, previews, and impressions. I couldn't be prouder of both our E3 attendees and our home team, who banded together to get the job done. I think the fact that everything went as smoothly as it did without my presence is testament to the high-caliber team we've assembled here at NWR. It may also mean that I'm a superfluous figurehead, but that's why I get paid the big bucks.
Whatever the case may be, I look forward to attending E3 2010, putting faces to email addresses, and having a great time covering the show. I personally learned a lot from the planning of this year's coverage, and I'm sure those that attended learned a lot as well. Next year most of the staff will already have that first E3 under their belts, and we'll come out swinging for the fences. I can't wait.
Now that E3 is out of the way, our attention can also turn back to the site. We definitely have some improvements in store, and some long-simmering projects can now finally be tended to. The first six months of my stewardship of the site have been pretty crazy, with several major game industry events hitting one after the other. The summer will give us a chance to regroup and catch our breath before the holiday madness begins in September. Stick around, because you're going to like what you see.
Take it easy everybody, and as always, thanks for being part of the NWR community!
-Lindy
