Skiing at Breck!

So, not much truly exciting has been taking place recently besides paling around with Kristen. Until yesterday, that is!

My first visit to Breckenridge was on a trip with some fellow Clara Vista workers back in the mid-90s. The first day was blech -- snowy, cold, and zero visibility. The next day was at Vail, with perfect weather and skiing. However, the altitude and dryness kicked my ass and I didn't ski the last day back at Breck.

My next visit to Breck was awesome. While I was doing some consulting work in Colorado Springs a few years ago, Mike and I accidentally met up with Mitchell and Sue and had an one of my best days of skiing.

Yesterday was a great, first day of the ski season for me. So far this season Breckenridge appears to have the most snow of the Colorado ski resorts, plus it is a little farther away so the crowds were non-existent. Most of the double diamonds were closed, so I wasn't tempted to risk injury. The few difficult runs I did reminded me how much my legs muscles have atrophied. What I love about Breck is the plethora of long, intermediate runs where you can go fast and work on technique.

Of course, the views from Breckenridge are quite amazing.


You can check out my latest photo set from my trip to Breckenridge yesterday. I've added my most recent photostream pics to the top of the blog.

For inquiring minds...

Blog updates have been few and far between. Part of this is due to working on lots of stuff, and since I tend to work on things in parallel, nothing gets done timely. Working on it...

Anyway, I've been working with Pat on Sneaq/Blurt/<name still to be determined>, a fast and loose blogging engine, and spending too much time debugging all the stupid little problems I seem to encounter.

Oh, and I met an absolutely wonderful girl here in Colorado Springs. Here's a couple pics of Kristen and I while hiking Seven Bridges...


On the downside, I just found out how bad Colorado is for consulting rates. Oh well, time to write the killer iPhone application and just let the money roll in...

Jack Quinn's Runners Club

Yesterday I ran 5K with Jack Quinn's Runners Club. It's more of a drinking club with a running problem as it's sponsored by a great Irish bar in downtown Colorado Springs, with free appetizers and 2.50 Odell beers. The beer is actually really good, my favorite so far is their 90 Shilling (a Scottish ale), but in September they should have the seasonal Extra Special Red.

This club is a really big deal, at least in terms of participant numbers. 628 ran yesterday -- yes, they keep attendance, and after 10 runs you get a really nice shirt. Most people stick around afterwards, either upstairs where the food is, or outside spilling onto the sidewalk.

Out of the 627 other people, I met two: Colb (sp?) who was volunteering to bus the tables, and Sue, an English woman who's been here for 21 (23?) years and participates in half Iron Mans. Both were really nice and fun. Time for me to volunteer and meet some more people...

My two goals were accomplished: meeting some new people and not stopping to suck wind during the run. Yay for me!

First purchased iPhone app: SmartSokoban

I generally do not buy applications unless absolutely necessary and usually only the best in class. I've purchased VMware Fusion, OmniFocus (if it had support for time keeping, billing, and simple reporting I'd probably use it), and OmniGraffle.

However, for $4.99, SmartSokoban (AppStore link) is worth all 499 pennies. Sokoban is a puzzle game where you have to move boxes around a maze and set them in the appropriate place. The trick is you may only push boxes. This implementation has very slick looking and minimalistic graphics, in fact it looks better than any other implementation I've seen. It also features the option to download additional Sokoban level libraries.

Of course, SmartSokoban could use a few features like counting how many moves, concurrent level libraries, and many other obvious ones, but it is brilliant in its current simplicity.

P.S. If anyone figures out the level 11, let me know. I'm pretty sure it is unsolvable.

Goodbye Treo 700p, Hello iPhone 3G

Apple must have known I wanted to ditch my decrepit Treo because I picked it up today after ordering three days ago, even though they told me 10-21 days. The delivery quickness might be due to ordering the white version, or maybe it is Kharma making up for BMW still not having my motorcycle fixed even though they've had it for a month. From tracking various availabilities on the Apple web site, it seemed that white was in stock more often to black, and I didn't really care about the color as I'll be putting a skin on it. Any recommendations?

Here are my first impressions:

• The sound quality is awesome. My parents said I sound so much clearer, unlike the fishbowl of the Treo.
• The UI is a little confusing at first. E.g., sometimes you use gestures to navigate and sometimes you have to click little buttons to go forward and back. Not really confusing, but I was trying to use my gesture-fu only to find it was lacking. Otherwise, no complaints.
• The keyboard is a little difficult until you realize you want to aim the center of your finger, and not the edge, on the center of the letter. Still would be nice if rotating the phone would always give you a bigger keyboard.

My current list of installed apps:

• eReader - Gotta have a book to read.
  
• Google mobile app - Just testing, seems redundant right now.
  
• iWant - So far seems useful for finding things near my location, but it doesn't appear to find the closest movie theater (or I just think there should be one closer than the one it found.)
  
• iYardage - Just in case I caddy because I ain't playing golf no mo'.
  
• Moonlight Mahjong light - I've always liked Mahjong.
  
• Pandora - Wow, this is definitely an awesome app. Needs a buy from Amazon MP3 option... I wonder if Apple would allow it, and will Amazon will sue if not?
  
• Phonesaber - No, I'm not happy to see you, I've got a phonesaber in my pocket.
  
• Twitteriffic - At least until there's a better Twitter app. This one's good, but the ads could get annoying.
  
• VoiceNotes - I thought you could already take voice notes on the iPhone, but maybe the iPhone doesn't sync those. These get sync'd.

More updates as I think of them...

100 Things or Bust

Since I am moving to Colorado Springs and staying in the house of friends, minimizing my stuff to the essential was necessary. I had read a while ago about a guy living out of a rucksack, which was interesting but impractical for anyone not busking for quarters on the street corner or running from the law. Also a while ago, I read about people limiting their personal items to 100 things, and more recently about Dave Bruno, oddly named the same as an elementary school friend who I just reconnected with via LinkedIn, doing the same thing.

Playing by the Rules

Like the Constitution of the United States, a simple statement may be interpreted many different ways. Limiting yourself to 100 Things is equally flexible. I chose to casually follow these rules:

1. 100 Things
2. Books are excluded, but limited to the unread or essential reference material.
3. Certain items may be counted as 1 regardless of number, e.g. socks, underwear, and support items for computer equipment. Shoes are not counted this way (sorry, Jeff!)
4. Completely excluded from the list are sporting equipment (hockey, baseball, camping, ...) If you have hobbies, you are going to have stuff, and the more complicated the hobby, the more stuff it requires. (Sorry again, Jeff, N pairs of hiking boots are still counted individually.)
5. I’m not sure whether to count the luggage required to haul this stuff around, but I'm not. So I guess I am sure.
   

I’m contemplating something more like 200 Cubic Feet (10×10x2) since it might make packing easier.

Summary

Narrowing down my items to an essential 100 Things was much harder than I thought, even with the exceptions. Part of the difficulty was the accounting and packing process happening at the same time. The most difficult were the last 25 items during the last hour of packing. Right now I’m not sure how many things I actually have sent onwards to Colorado as that final, frantic hour was a bit of a whirlwind. There were a number of late entries like the Viget ski hat swag Brian gave me while out for drinks on Thursday night. Please note that swag is free stuff, and schwag is low grade marijuana -- probably good to keep discrete.

Overall, just attempting to limit my possessions was fun and insightful. It will be a week or so until I realize what I may be missing, and I will follow up accordingly. Regardless, I’ll be back in DC to get my remaining stuff (kitchen supplies, keep sakes, artwork, and the like) during the middle of August, so I can probably suffer through anything I might not have, if only because I’ll be living in a sweet Victorian house built in 1996 containing a 54” HD LCD TV.

The existence of the TV will be interesting because I’m more or less broken from watching it since my XC motorcycle trip. However, once hockey season starts up I’ll probably suck it down like last week’s 31 year old Macallan.

Update 1 (already???)

OK, so I'm here in Austin visiting Erica and I've already forgotten some important things. They are replaceable, but annoying. The first item I noticed missing was the power supply for my Macbook Pro. Oops! The backup power supply is in a box on a slow boat to Colorado Springs, but I do have 2 batteries, and Erica should keep me suitably entertained to not want my computer. Jeff has kindly acquiesced to overnight it.

While I managed to pack all my dress shirts and pants, I neglected to pack my casual summer shirts. This is a problem in Austin as it is 100 degrees and walking around in a dress shirt on a Saturday might make people think I'm a Mormon (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Update 2

Here I am in Colorado Springs, really missing my laptop power supply and squeaking by with one for a MacBook Air (ugh, Worst Buy stacked a discounted, open box Air one behind the Pro one and I grabbed w/o checking.) "Just go return it" would be great advice but the BMW dealer neglected to note the date I was returning and pushed off repairs until this week (i.e. until I called and asked when it would be done...)

Turns out I am also missing my GPS charger. I'm not even sure where that might be because I don't remember seeing it.

The List

1. pillows
2. comforter
3. duvet and sheets
4. bag, rust, REI duffle
5. tent, teal, 2 person
6. sleeping bag, blue, Northface 3 season
7. shoes, brown, dress
8. shoes, black, dress
9. shoes, brown, casual
10. shoes, brown, sockless
11. sandals, brown
12. sandals, green, Chacos
13. sandals, orange, Crocs
14. shoes, white, running
15. shoes, grey, trail
16. boots, brown, hiking
17. jacket, rust, light windbreaker
18. jacket, green, North Face soft shell
19. jacket, green, Marmot waterproof shell
20. jacket, black, Fieldsheer motorcycle jacket w/ warm, waterproof liner
21. long sleeve t-shirt, white
22. long sleeve t-shirt, yellow
23. pants, black, dress
24. pants, khaki, dressy-ish
25. pants, jeans
26. pants, jeans
27. pants, blue, dockers
28. pants, khaki, dockers
29. pants, black
30. suit, black
31. mock turtleneck, green
32. t-shirt, orange, biking
33. dress shirt
34. dress shirt
35. dress shirt
36. dress shirt
37. dress shirt
38. dress shirt
39. iomega hard disk backup, black, includes power and cable
40. shuttle computer
41. keyboard
42. usb wifi
43. wireless mouse
44. GPS
45. southwest quilt
46. motorcycle helmet
47. underwear
48. socks
49. MBP and other goodies
50. ipod, red, 4gb nano w/ 2 pair headphones
51. camera, black, canon 870is and accessories
52. t-shirt, white, undershirt x 5
53. shorts, blue
54. shorts, green
55. shorts, khaki
56. shorts, khaki, fast drying
57. shorts, blue, fast drying
58. shorts, khaki, convertible
59. shorts, black, swimming
60. shorts, black, swimming
61. shorts, blue, running
62. pants, gray, rainwear
63. pants, black, light sweats
64. pants, black, light exercise
65. shorts, blue, running tights
66. shorts, black, biking tights
67. long sleeve shirt, black, cold weather
68. long sleeve shirt, blue, fleece
69. jacket, blue, Marmot fleece
70. long sleeve shirt, orange, Mountain Hardware windproof
71. gloves, black, exercise
72. gloves, black, windproof
73. hat, orange
74. hat, black, balaclava
75. water reservoir, blue, Camelbak w/ spare valve
76. sweatshirt, blue, rochester hoodie
77. surge protector, black, 4 port
78. power supply, white, spare Macbook pro power supply
79. speaker, white, portable
80. bath towel, green
81. bath towel, red
82. bag, silver, BMW waterproof duffle
83. t-shirt, green, breathable
84. t-shirt, rust, breathable
85. t-shirt, blue
86. t-shirt, blue
87. t-shirt, green
88. t-shirt, black
89. t-shirt, khaki
90. t-shirt, khaki
91. t-shirt, grey
92. GPS motorcycle mount, black
93. bicycle helmet, orange, w/ gloves
94. books, none, reference and unread books.
95. baseball glove, brown, Nokona w/ baseball
96. alarm clock, brown, Zen chime
97. battery charger, white
98. baseball hat, red, Phillies signed by Chris Coste
99. speakers, white, ipod portable

Days 36-37: A Blooming Good Time

Catching up with the Bloomers is always fun. John and Liisa are both entertaining, in vastly different ways. I also finally met their kids Maddie and Alex. Both are absolutely awesome and warmed up to me faster than they usually do.

While having lunch outside near the beach, we actually ran into my old friend Chris Mason leaving a late and long lunch at the same restaurant. He looked drastically different, shedding his surfer locks (or what passes as the surfer look in Rochester, NY) for the clean cut look. We had a barbecue with him and his family on June 29th. Even his Mom was there, whom I hadn't seen since I left Rochester many, many moons ago. Everything was wonderful and it was great to see him again after so long.

John played hooky earlier on Thursday, and we visited a bunch of places, the highlights being the Carvin guitar store and the Matchless guitar amplifier factory. The manager/engineer for Matchless is a friend of John's and graciously spent some time showing us around the relatively small warehouse. Oddly, we didn't get to actually hear any of the amplifiers, probably since they were pretty strapped for time getting a shipment out. Their operation was surprisingly small, but cool in a startup kinda way. We also visited the Labrea Tar Pits, which weren't quite as interesting as I thought they would be.

Pictures for Colorado through Utah

I'm at my friends' house in LA now. I took full advantage of his FIOS and uploaded a whole bunch of pictures. I've also started uploading them in sets, so hopefully its a bit more organized. Enjoy!

Days 35-36: Joshua Tree and Visiting the Brady's

I arrived near Joshua Tree late on the 34th and stayed at the worst motel of the trip. I said to myself, "Self, you've been staying at too many nice places, time to go cheap!" and ended up staying at the first place I found. For $50 it sucked, especially since there was a Motel 6 1 mile down the road. When I arrived, no one was in the office but the sign said back in 15 minutes. So I waited. Across the street was a bar, and shortly a guy exited and ran over (liberal usage of "ran"). I was worried when he said he had to show me the room and explain the quirks. The quirks were nothing too odd, mainly having to do with the cable tv and juggling the power outlets for the lighting. OK, already too much time spent on this place...

Joshua Tree was really nice, as you can see from the pictures. I love the photos warning against swimming.

After the bulk of picture taking was finished, I decided to drive through the park figuring there would be a gas station near southern entrance to quench my rapidly parching tank. Without realizing that California had a helmet law, I cruised to the other side sans protection since I was the only one on the road and it was damn hot. When I arrived at the highway, I returned my helmet to its proper location and set out towards Palm Springs and a gas station. Turns out it wasn't that close, and I rolled in almost on fumes. Luckily the cycle gets about 55 MPG or it would have been fun hitchhiking for the first time.

I had intended on going up the tram to the top of the mountains in Palm Springs, but I didn't find it until I was leaving. Suffice to say, Palm Springs may be skipped unless you are, as my friend John described it, old or have an alternative sexual preference. Stevie, which one of these are you?

I finished up the day by visiting my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ed. Sadly, Ed has pancreatic cancer and isn't given much time to live. As I write this (2008-06-28), I have find out that he passed away last night after exiting his coma long enough to say goodbye to his family. I'm very glad I was able to see him because it had been about 21 years since they moved to California. It was fun catching up. Even sick, Ed looked good, and Nancy didn't seem to have aged.

Next up, the Bloomers in Redondo Beach!

Days 31-34: Sin City, Now for Children!

After dropping my bike off for service on Friday, I had a wonderful wakeup call at 8am on Sunday when BMW of Las Vegas called to tell me my baby was all fixed up and ready to go. I was very fearful it would take until Tuesday, so knowing I'd be free to roam on Monday made me happy. After picking up the bike, I met my cousin at Excaliber and our weekend of drunken debauchery commenced.

When I think of family vacations, my thoughts tend towards skiing, the beach, camping, Disney, and cultural excursions into the museums and galleries of the cities. I did not realize how many people had Las Vegas on that list. The only thing I can think of is the parents showing the kids where they were conceived. Some might even have had the biological father along for the show and tell portion.

Seriously, who thinks Las Vegas is for kids? There were kids of all ages, too. From one year olds up to young teens. Of course, the streets are lined with desperate looking scallawags snapping business cards with images and advertisements of women on demand and strip clubs. These same cards ended up plastering the sidewalks -- the same side walks used by the kids. Sigh...

Of course, it got worse. Someone thought it would be a great idea to bring their little yipster with them and then lock it in the hotel room all day and late into the evening. The dog was yelping for about 12 hours, though I think it was getting tired around midnight because I could no longer hear it in my room.

The two shows we saw were Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity at New York, New York and Penn and Teller (at the Penn and Teller theater, no less!) Sadly, tickets for Robin Williams were starting at 200/ticket so we had to pass. If only I had won more that first day at the tables. I had seen P&T before, and they didn't disappoint -- by far one of the best shows for your money. Zumanity is the adult/over-18 show that all the casinos are pushing right now. The difference is that this is Cirque du Soleil and you know they craft an good show. Though there was toplessness, the nudity really wasn't what made it adult; it was the extensive and well acted lewd jokes and behavoir that made it so risque. I won't say more, but I would urge you to splurge on the loveseat tickets.

On Monday, luckily the crowds were too busy escaping Vegas to worry about clogging up the buffet or the line for the roller coasters. I managed to ride the Manhatten Express with a wait of about 10 minutes, whereas the line always looked at least an hour or more on Saturday and Sunday. My first stop after leaving Vegas was Buffalo Bill's Desperado roller coaster, which in 1996 had the longest vertical drop in the USA. Both were amazing rides, and if you suck at gambling, you are better off giving the casinos your money that way.

I met a guy at Buffalo Bill's who said I should go see Hoover Dam since the traffic heading towards LA was stretching as far as the eye could see from the top of the roller coaster, so I turned around and drove back to Vegas and on to Boulder City. Sadly, there's a bunch of construction going on at the dam which caused more ridiculous traffic, plus the hike I took (4 miles each way) was also affected by the construction and didn't offer a view of the dam.

As for gambling, a great streak at the $5 blackjack table in Buffalo Bill's enabled me to at least close the gap in my losses. Officially I'm 1-1-1 for the three days, but the loss day was a big loss, especially since I was going to walk away even and then ended up losing $140. Oh well,I suppose it was all part of the fun. The big win day did allow me to pay for both my cousin and my dinners in Paris.

OK, I'm off to Joshua Tree now to look for a place to stay tonight...

Day 30: Viva Las Vegas, a little early

I caught the morning shuttle to Flagstaff where I picked up a rental truck and drove it back to the South Rim. I then requisitioned the help of about 9 park service personnel to help me run the bike up the ramp. Actually, I asked for 3, and then like a Disney movie, the petite, blonde ranger started singing "It's a small world" and more rangers appeared out of the woods. I'm not kidding! After securing the bike with some nifty knots I looked up online, I headed to Vegas, baby.

Here are my first thoughts on Vegas:

• From 90 miles away I could see the light of the city, as if the second coming was imminent.
• In Vegas, the lights go all the way up to 11. I've never seen anything so bright.
  
• The Luxor is much more impressive when it isn't viewed next to the buildings twice as tall.
• A corvette completely took my 16' Budget truck off the line. What's funny is my bike in the hold could completely kick his ass assuming I was on a level surface when I stopped.

Tomorrow I drop the bike off at BMW where they told me they'd do an express fix-er-up-er and then I'll ride the rollercoaster on the roof of one of the hotels the rest of the day.

Day 29: South Rim - The day that shall not be mentioned

Originally, this post was titled:

• What's your vector, Victor? Where I detail how vector calculus is necessary to successfully transit Arizona on a motorcycle in 40-60mph winds of variable direction.
  
• All the world's a sand storm. Where I detail the glory of zero feet visibility.
  
• Some other stuff exhaustion has wiped from my memory.

Suffice to say, I have a 32" inseam, the bike is approximately 32" high at the groin, and the road wasn't as flat as I thought it was. My friend Ted is convinced that the Canyon is cursed. While on his XC trip, he was hit from behind by speeding, drunk, Native Americans causing his car to perform multiple flips and compress like an accordion. He and his travel buddy escaped unscathed, though. Something to be said for Honda safety ratings...

The views from the South Rim were amazing. Much better than the North views. It was a tourist haven, though. I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, as I had to arrange for housing, and all the stuff one needs to do to transport a 700 lb bike to Las Vegas for less than 900 dollars.

What's really awesome is that I got the room comp'd! Which is good as it wasn't worth the $100+ they would have normally charged me.

Day 28: Mules and Fumes

I woke up early and had a minimalist breakfast of a pear and a blueberry granola bar because at 7am the breakfast room was packed and the Jacob Lake lodge seemed quite understaffed. I then jetted off to Cape Royal on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I started the day w/ almost a half tank, figuring that would be enough for there and back again.

Camp Royal was pretty cool, but I was unable to find one of the trails I wanted to hike, so my stay there was pretty short since the nicely labeled trail was only about a mile total. There were some excellent views which I'll be sure to post once I find a bigger series of tubes.

When I got back to the lodge, I sat in on a forest firefighting review session. It was very interesting. One of the arguments is that since the average temperatures are going up, the plants that would normally be moist are dry and brittle, making for better fuel. Fifteen years ago, a large forest fire burned 45,000 acres. Now we are seeing multiple "mega" fires each year that burn 200,000 - 500,000 acres. Remember, your life is more important than your property, especially if you have insurance and your home is $1M or more.

Next was my half day riding a mule down into the Canyon. For those of you that don't know, a mule is a male donkey bred with a female horse. Mules cannot reproduce themselves due to horses and donkeys having a different number of chromosomes, which seem pretty sad for the mules as sex is probably the best part for your typical labor animal. The mule ride was pretty darn slow, which I suppose is good since we were four foot wide trails, the outer edge being a pretty quick drop off. Overall it was fun, there were only a few picture worthy shots and I could have hiked the trip faster with more benefits.

So I had less than 10% of my fuel left as I started my 45 mile (or is it 52? I'm not sure whether the sign was to the lodge or the entrance to the park) journey home, I realized I'd already gone about 280 miles, which is 40 more miles than I had gone before on a full tank. I made the gas station on fumes, putting 6 gallons into my 6.8 gallon tank. I have no idea how I could have put another .8 gallons since the tank was almost at the overflow point. Needless to say, I was pretty worried I was going to be walking a few miles...

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm off to the South Rim to see why so many more people go there than the North Rim. I'm guessing (hoping) they have more and better hikes. I'm pretty sure they have more crap to sell. Raise your hand if you like Silver and Turquoise!

Day 27: Grand, Isn't It?

I'll upload the pictures of the Grand Canyon (as well as the other pics from Utah) as soon as I get some bandwidth. No Verizon service out here in the sticks, but luckily I'm getting dialup speeds out of my AT&T USB adapter.

I didn't do much today besides sleep in (accidentally) and score the last hotel room at the Jacob Lake Inn, the owner of which, John Rich, was at the birthday party I attended on Saturday in St George. Of course I found out he was the owner (well, his family owns it) after he had left and I hadn't met him!

I did attend a brief presentation of the geology of the Grand Canyon, and took two short hikes.

The big news, I suppose, is my first true riding screw up. I was going around a left curve and shifted my weight onto my left testicle causing me to shift off, angling me off the road. I'm perfectly fine, though the bike sustained some ugly scratches to the right side where it scraped some rock.

Tomorrow I'm slowing it down by riding a mule down into the Canyon...

Photos Photos Photos

I finally uploaded all my photos to Flickr (I'm now a pro user since they put so many arbitrary limits on non-paying customers. Pickle, wherefore art thou?)

So, now that blogging is mutually exclusive of photo uploading, updates should roll much more frequently. Enjoy!

How undemocratic!

Exactly why are registered Republicans allowed to vote in the Democratic primary? Seriously, Texas and now Indiana (and maybe others...) have had Republicans flocking to make sure Hillary wins the state for the Democrats since McCain already has his party nomination wrapped up. Luckily, the people in Texas voting the delegates somewhat corrected the problem. I'm not sure how it works with Indiana. What does this say about Hillary if her party's opponents want her to win the nomination? I wonder what her paying supporters think?

Regardless of why this is allowed (state or party rules), unless you are an independent, you should not be able to vote in whichever party you want, it goes against all rational sense. The people switching sides *may* want the candidate they vote for to win, but they should have to disavow their party affiliation before the voter registration deadline. I guess "fair" doesn't really count much in politics anyway, so maybe it's just fun for them while we all get screwed.

Segue

I'll be starting the hardest, most annoying, least pleasant, part of the trip on Sunday. The good news is I'll be in Carlsbad on Monday to begin the long awaited portion of the trip. Check out the itinerary. Plans subject to change as weather and exhaustion dictate.

I'll hopefully find time to catch up on the missing days. Sadly, nothing truly exciting or picture-worthy has happened, so you aren't missing much. I do have minor regrets for not pulling over when I see funny billboards, but I suppose I'll get over it. I really need a video camera that can record my funny commentary for all the crazy things I'm seeing and forgetting about.

Day 8: The Big D

Not much to say about Dallas other than "blah".

My friend Dave and I went to a Rangers-Royals game at the new ballpark in Arlington. It's quite nice and it was a doozy of a game -- the Rangers won 11-9. It wasn't that close for most of the game as the Rangers jumped out to a 9-1 lead before the Royals woke up in the 7th inning with five runs of their own. Josh Hamilton, who has a good comeback story, was very impressive, even though he was much ridiculed at our roto draft back in March.

Much thanks to Dave and his wife (Lisa? I should be able to remember this 2+ weeks later, but I didn't really meet her) for their hospitality.

Day 6: Just a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge

Since my schedule is pretty tight, each day I generally have to chose one or two things to do before I hit the road. This morning in Chattanooga there were two seemingly good choices: the new aquarium and IMAX theater and Rock City. I say "seemingly" because the people at the Waffle House yesterday went on and on about how cool the new aquarium was, and for 20 miles into town I saw billboards extolling the virtues of Rock City. The map of Rock City seemed pretty cool, and since I wanted to be outdoors, not to mention I still haven't been to Baltimore's aquarium and I skipped over the awesomeness of Atlanta's, I figured it was a good choice.

Time for New Rules: Unless you know otherwise, never go to a place that advertises excessively and uses fun but meaningless adjectives like "amazing!" and puts other phrases in quotes "See Seven States" (yeah, I can see all 50 from the space station ...)

The map of Rock City makes you think you are going to be climbing up a hill, after all it is on Lookout Mountain. Well, Rock City is at the very top of the "mountain" and the approximate difference in potential energy between the entrance and the top is about 0. It might be fun for kids, but the price is pretty steep, in both time and money.

Speeding away from Chattanooga towards Memphis, I took a brief detour to travel on the Natchez Trace Parkway which runs from Natchez Trace, Mississippi to Tennessee. Nick Bollweg recommended the trip to me, but originally I was going to go through Birmingham, Alabama and ride on the parkway much longer than the 10 miles I ended up riding.

Eventually I ended up in Memphis, land of blues, barbeque, and Elvis. After checking into my hotel (5 stories tall and the slowest elevator know to man. Luckily I don't mind exercise), I headed down to Beale Street to check out the action. Of course it was Monday and the pickings were slim. Of course, part deux, I was two days early for the only day during the year when motorcycles are allowed on Beale Street -- it's usually blocked off from all traffic. I ended up having amazing pork ribs at Alfred's while listening to a great band play blues.

When I left the parking garage, the attendant who took my money scolded me for parking my motorcycle in the garage. I just shook my head and rode off.

Day 5: Hotwire bonus: Chattanooga Holiday Inn Choo Choo

Good ol' Hotwire came through for my first hotel booking: the Chattanooga Holiday Inn Choo Choo. Chattanooga is probably best know for the Chattanooga Choo Choo, both the Glen Miller song as well as the train that inspired it. The first train was a wood burning engine travelling between Cincinatti and points south in 1880 at a time when nearly all trains going south went through Chattanooga.

The hotel was neat, a combination of hotel, museum, and theme park. OK, the theme park is basically a short train ride. You could stay in a train car that was converted into a room and visit the model train museum. I advise against paying the $3 entrance fee and just check out the images in my flickr stream like this and this.

While on my way to Chattanooga, my ride was interrupted by a torrential downpour forcing me to seek solace at a Waffle House in the middle of a town with no dentist. OK, that's mean, the people working at the Waffle House were quite friendly and fun to chat with. They also made a mean hot chocolate, three of which were needed to warm my body up for the remaining hour ride.

Day 7: The King and I, Pt 2

Knowing nothing more than Graceland being Elvis' home, it turned out to be a surprise. I was expecting something more mansion like, but the house was respectable. The 60s and 70s weren't good for decor, though, and pretty much every room in the place was nightmarishly gaudy, but over all it was a very cool place.

I didn't realize quite a few things about Elvis, the main one that he wasn't "fat" Elvis until near the end. Most of his Vegas shows he looked older and overweight (due to his medication, not so much to alcohol and such) but not as drastic as most of the pictures I've seen that led me to believe that he was grotesquely overweight. Sadly, I don't know if those images were placed there by real pictures of him or parodies...

After Graceland I drove to Nowheresville, Arkansas. I mean I drove to Arkadelphia. Nothing to report. Move along...

Day 4: The King and I, Pt 1

To kick off the morning, I treated Nick and Brigid to breakfast at Ria's Bluebird, an awesome joint near the Oakland Cemetery. The cemetery was unfortunately hit hard by the tornadoes that flew threw recently, and the cleanup process is preventing pedestrian traffic.


Atlanta is known for at least three things: Sherman burning it to the ground, Martin Luther King, and Coca Cola. I spent the first part of my day at the Martin Luther King Center. This museum is awesome. It's basically a chronological summary of his life and the times. A lot of audio and pictures telling a moving story.



Out of curiosity, I researched whether Sherman really burned Atlanta or whether it was an exaggeration. Turns out it happened, and Sherman justifies his actions in a letter to the mayor and councilmen:

But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on until we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war.

I'm sure this observation isn't unique, but most people view the succession as "It was a Constitutionally valid action" or "We must protect the Union," the latter having the implied notion that it was just a "bad thing." If you look at Mexico, it has never been a stable country. IIRC, they still have major issues with drug lords, corruption, and revolutionary groups, not to mention their economy. There are a plethora of alternate histories based on the South seceding, and I think all of them predict the same thing: war, so maybe violating the Constitution was the right thing overall...

Anyway, back to the trip... The World of Coca Cola and the humongous aquarium were both booked, the lines to get in almost joined each other, so I wandered around a little bit and ended up at the CNN offices where it appears Chinese-(americans, immigrants, ...) were protesting CNN's coverage of Tibet and the Olympics.


I waited a bit for something exciting to happen before heading to the hotel for the bachelor party w/ my friend Chris Bray and his buddies I've never met before, though Mark seemed familiar from somewhere. Lucky for Bray and I we already had facial hair so we didn't have to wear the faux ones.

Day 3: Sherman had it easier

Now that the pictures are all up, I can just get on w/ posting the literary (laugh) portion of this blog...

This morning I listened to Rebekah give a report on the water cycle. She had really good slides and presented them very well. Hopefully my comments helped her out.

The highway in and out of Raleigh to the west is not a pleasant ride, so I decided to take Rt 64 to Charlotte before continuing to Atlanta. The ride was very nice and relaxing until I reached Rt 85, which is not pleasant as you approach Charlotte. I drove this way in a car last summer, but it is very different on a motorcycle.

For miles I saw signs in SC for a peach this and peach that, so I stopped since I needed a break anyway. Guess what? No fresh peaches in the entire store. I don't care if peaches weren't in season, there wasn't anything fresh in the store except some scraggly looking strawberries. I did pick up some great Vidalia Onion and Peach salsa as a gift for Nick and Brigid who were gracious enough to have me as a guest, seeing as I only knew Nick from IM and his time doing some great Drupal work for my old company.

I eventually rolled into Atlanta around 7pm. The traffic to get to Nick & Brigid's house was painful. I now know what giving birth must feel like for the baby, as they were trying to squeeze watermelons through these tiny roads with heavily imbalanced light changes. Their neighborhood is a bit sketchy, but their house and yard are nice. After numerous breakins last year, Nick bought a safe. I wish I had taken a picture because it is very impressive. I'm worried it will disrupt their foundation. Maybe it can be offset by their future washer and dryer... For dinner, Nick grilled us some awesomeness: stuffed green peppers, corn, and some bratworst for me (they are pretty strict vegetarians, but their grill isn't, thankfully!)

As you know, my parents and brother are in the dark about this trip. My friend Tim suggested I send them postcards along the way. I've made them fairly anonymous, but I'm sure they'll figure it out from the handwriting.

Day 2: A leisurely ride to Cary, NC

Google wanted to send me from Charlottesville, through Richmond and south on a major highway to the Raleigh area, but Tim said to take Rt 29 and bear east. I saved time and it was a much prettier and less stressful trip!

In Cary I visited with my friends Alicia and Craig, including their adorable children Rebekah, Isaac, and relatively new Elsah. Isaac is as rambunctious as my god-kids Lawrence and Drake, but at 1/3 the volume. After an excellent beef kabob dinner by Alicia, Craig had a roller hockey at a very impressive indoor facility. His team led going into the final period when a really bad penalty call at the end of the third allowed the other team to tie it up. They ended up losing when the other team outworked them down low. Faster line changes, people!

Day 1: A slow beginning and a fine ending in Charlottesville

Living in DC, my body acclimated to the relentless traffic noise of Wisconsin Ave. How else to explain sleeping in until 10:30 this morning while various people worked with power tools outside my open window?

Despite the sluggish start, things ramped up quickly from there. I think I actually packed everything except a long sleeve shirt, but I can live without that for now. I did have to bail on bringing the tent and sleeping bag as they took up way too much space to justify a few nights of camping.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride -- a little warm, but the breeze was nice. On my way to Charlottesville, I had a quick visit with my friend and former co-worker Megan Mink. She just got back from riding the Dragon in North Carolina with her husband Joey. Isn't that sweet? He's a lucky guy, but he knows that.


The ride went very smoothly after fighting past the traffic lights on Route 29. One of the cool sights was a seeing a biplane cruising around overhead (as opposed to faceplanting in the corn field.) After meeting up with my friend Tim Gallagher, we joined his friend Tate at the UVA baseball game. Like the Flyers game I attended, the team I was rooting for lost. Damn the Tribe of William and Mary! Who names their team the "Tribe" anyway? What does it have to do with William and Mary? We drowned our sorrows at the Court Square Tavern where I enjoyed a Young's Double Chocolate Stout.


Next up are my friends Craig and Alicia in North Carolina!

Trip's On!

The hand is about 80% of normal and getting stronger every day, so the trip is on! I went for a ride in today's beautiful weather, and my mood and excitement level are both through the roof. Thursday I take the blue beauty (the color is really called Sinus, which is just ick) to Bob's BMW in Maryland. It's a ride and a half in early rush hour traffic, but it should be a good warm up for the real deal next Wednesday.

What to do?

So it appears I have skier's thumb making my trip unlikely as it has been planned. Apparently, braking is a good thing. I hope to see a doctor soon, but it's weak enough that I doubt it will be better in two weeks. Given this expectation, I've added a poll to the right. Should I wait or go by car?

Pro Car:

• Hauling stuff is much easier.
• Less chance of
  
• Weather isn't an issue.
• More miles covered per day when there's nothing worth stopping for.

Pro Motorcycle:

• It's just way cooler.
• Bragging rights.
• More in tune with the surroundings: the best part about riding.
• Better gas mileage.
• Selling the bike in Cali is much better than having to drive back East.

The last pro-motorcycle point pretty much answers the question for me. What are your thoughts?

Go West, Young Man...

These words introduced directions to my friend Jackie's house outside Buffalo one summer while I was working in Rochester, NY back in the early 1990s. Starting on April 23rd, and ending around the beginning of June, I will begin a more involved trip starting in Virginia and ending in California, or maybe even Oregon or Washington!

My long running fascination with going out West began, perhaps, while living there as a little kid -- I vaguely remember playing in the white sands when our Volvo broke down while moving back east from Arizona. My intention of attending UC Boulder was met with Mother's tears, more or less influencing my tenure/imprisonment at the University of Rochester. My applications for PHD studies in astronomy at University of New Mexico and New Mexico Tech probably evoked laughter after seeing my Physics GRE scores -- probably the best for both parties. You would think doubling your percentile ranking would count for something.

Since then I've punctured the west with various ski trips to Utah and Colorado, and friendly visits to LA and SF. As much fun as these trips are, their narrow focus doesn't do justice to the experiences awaiting my discovery.

Upon hearing of this trip, people usually respond with support and enthusiasm, though some react with concern: You're driving a what where?!?! My friends at Viget Labs gave me an unbelievable going away present in the form of a motorcycle jacket. I'm not sure if they really knew what they were doing when they purchased it, but aside from the size -- who would have thought I needed an extra large? -- the jacket is comfortable in dry, wet, warm, and cold weather. More importantly, it's sexy. All it needs is a Viget logo...

Note: I wrote the preceding text while flying back from Utah with what I thought was a sprained thumb. Upon further review, there could be a minor fracture. Hopefully it will get better in the next week.

My Current Route Across the US of A

Sadly, GoogleMaps doesn't allow you to embed a map w/ your highlighted route, so you'll have to link over to my route to see it.

A Boy and His Bike (and His Blog)

Concurrent with the launch of my blog, I'm also announcing my proposed cross-country motorcycle trip. The plans are still developing, but here's what I do know:

• I have to be in St George, UT by May 17th for my friend Luisa's wedding.
• I would love to be magically transported from Cary, NC and Austin, TX. If you own a matter transportation device that can accommodate me and a 650lb motorcycle with luggage, please get in touch.
  
• My focus is on the Southwest: New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. I really meant to move out here ten years ago. I'm not sure what happened, but I hope this trip makes amends.
• I will visit Las Vegas, with my cousin hopefully joining me for a bit of carousing. I so want to stay at the Luxor, part of my fascination with Egypt, as faux as this experience will be.
• The trip will end in California, most likely, with the bike being sold on EBay, again most likely. It would be awesome to store the bike somewhere (free!) until I have time to tackle the North West.
  

I had wanted a specific blog for this trip, but aboyandhisbike.blogspot.com was already taken (and boy does it suck!), so I decided to just keep it all together.

The whole trip, from planning to execution (poor choice of words?), will be recorded here until the Feds, Mormons, or Scientologists (did I forget anyone?) tell Google to take it down. Please feel free to leave comments and offer trip suggestions as trying to find interesting stops along the way. Apologies for the excessive use of parentheses -- think of them as side comments from my inner peanut gallery.

Why this trip? That's a topic for another post. Next up, the Google map of my current trip so you can better understand WTF I'm heading.

Your host,

K