As I Live & Breathe

Life Lessons Learned by Loofah

2010-02-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

'Is this life moving too slow or too fast?
'Should we be so eager to separate ourselves from our past?
'Should we be among the sated or the one who contends?'
The echo off the perfectly tiled walls rings truer than the broadcaster intends.
Uneven cascades of water bemuddle every nth syllable,
Distorting even more the elusive moral of this parable.
'Is it true that "like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives"?
'Or can we hope that by some gorgon's head the sand can paralyze?
'As the clock continues to turn, our wick continues to burn,
'Neither slowing, oblivious to what we yearn.
'Knowing, as we do, that the constant of time will remain true,
'Would it not be folly to disregard the perks of acceptance to you?
'To disregard the facts and pretend that your life is left to chance,
'Will only ensure your inevitable position in an uncertain happenstance.'
For a moment it seems as though steam has clouded my mind as well as vision,
Then through the mist comes clarity, an onward approaching apparition.
Eagerly awaiting further oration, I cautiously pause my loofah activities.
'We should concede to the circumstances of our existence with all our abilities.
'It is not wrong to be mindful of death's premonition,
'But it is to life that you make this beautiful concession.'

Tweet by @scifri from Twitterrific

2009-10-23T14:36:00.001-07:00

video this week -- crittercam! see through the eyes of an armadillo,
and more. http://bit.ly/QIUC6

http://twitter.com/scifri/status/5104021185

Led Zeppelin all girl cover band rocks

2009-09-10T08:08:00.002-07:00

Norcal fire

2009-09-10T08:08:00.001-07:00

The Master

2009-09-02T08:56:00.001-07:00

Nerdmobile

2009-09-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

First pic with doodlebuddy app on iPhone

2009-08-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Lowest scoring and closest game of cricket I've seen

2009-07-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

Looks like Hawkins got a ride from LA to Loomis

2009-07-17T09:02:00.001-07:00

He's got somewhere to go

2009-07-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Goes together like parties and spiked punch

2009-03-04T21:38:00.001-08:00

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

"I know I can barely hide it, I know I am so excited!"

2009-02-22T00:54:00.000-08:00

Saw Dead Confederate tonight. There was only about 40 to 50 people there, but they rocked it pretty well. I recommend seeing them if possible.
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Dittoson

2009-01-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

Can you spot the 64 point word?

2008-11-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

Hint: it was played before trout.

Extra hint: the blank is an "S"
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Yes, this is an electric grill

2008-10-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

And yes, I did eat it.
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Seth meets the presidential candidates

2008-10-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

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October update

2008-10-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it's been a while since I posted, but deal with it. I thought having the pearl would make it easier but that doesn't seem to be the case. Anyway, it's October and Pooper had his birthday. He's 48 or something. Fantasy football is being cruel to me. I'm glad it's colder. That's about it. I'll make another statement about how I'll update and send more photos, but we'll see.

Taxman

2008-07-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

As you read the title of this post you might wonder: is he referencing the worst Beatles song ever written, or is he talking about his new paying occupation?

Yes, as anyone who would be reading this blog (and if that is you then you are truly in an exclusive class) probably knows already (who doesn't love redundancy?), I have been hired by the glorious Republic of California to make sure people pay their taxes in this time of need. Pay is pretty poor for a lawyer (public sector...), but certainly decent enough to make a living (I might actually be able to afford beer with graphics on the can). We'll see how it pans out; I'm pretty content with the whole ordeal, actually.

As a final reminder: Taxman is the worst Beatles song ever written.

Lawyer'd

2008-06-12T21:53:00.001-07:00

Sworn in on Monday, guess that means I'm in.
This conversation is confidential.

Passed the Bar

2008-05-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

As anyone reading this probably knows already, I did pass the California State Bar. I am pretty excited that that hurdle is over. I will be sworn in June 6th. Then you all can try to weasel free California-based legal services from me.

I really have missed my goal of updating this at least once a month. Hopefully I'll be kicking it up a notch here.

The man, the myth, the Cooley

2008-02-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

Cooley tries out his new uniform

Freedom!

2008-02-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

Linux has been good to me, and I to it.

Here's video to go check out. I don't want to embed all these videos in my blog and turn into some 2nd hand vlog (although that'd be a good name for a used item store, perhaps).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx1XIm6q4r4

No more Windows for this sad man

2008-02-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

Well now I've done it. I somehow became too close and personal with some crappy spy/adware demon named softwareprotector. Avoid at all costs. I seem to have gotten it, from all places, by looking at a pdf on a green energy website detailing how to make a personal wind generator. That's what I get.

Anyway, I just did an entire reformat and reinstall since the system was getting worse and worse. Hopefully this had made my hard drive more sterile than free hypodermic needles from the city. I am now running Linux (and yes, I am just a poser, but at least it looks like I'm putting forth an effort).

http://www.ubuntu.com

This is what I'm using. It works pretty well (after 1 day of use). I only had to pop into my Bios for one little fix concerning my wireless card and most everything else has been working swimmingly. We'll see if it sticks.

The Biology of B-Movie Monsters

2008-02-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

Check out this site/treatise done by Michael C. LaBarbera. He is a professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Geophysical Sciences, and is on the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago.

http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/2/21701757/

It's everything you ever wanted to know and more.

Sympathy for the Simbian

2008-02-03T23:57:00.000-08:00

Thank You Pooper

New Blog set up

2008-02-02T12:51:00.001-08:00

I've decided to create a side-blog. It probably won't be up and actually going for a couple months but I figured I'd announce it here.

http://utilitymonster.blogspot.com/

I wanted to create something that wasn't just what's going on in my personal business, but more of a forum to discuss things that are actually useful/interesting. The goal is to help make life easier and more fulfilling via a utilitarianism outlook. I want to provide posts that provide insight into the way things work, particularly with the law, and how common behaviors are wasting time, money, and other resources. But rather than just complain, I want to post ideas, concepts, and methods of maximizing gain while minimizing sunk costs and other losses.

I'd appreciate post ideas, comments, etc. If you want to actively post you can let me know and I'll make you an administrator. Right now it's just up with one post regarding Lessig's new book. I'm going to want to adjust all the ascetics of the page, but not sure how yet. And like I said, it won't really be active for another month.

My dream

2008-01-31T23:36:00.001-08:00

Who's Afraid?

2008-01-31T23:21:00.000-08:00

Turns out this feral beast of the Loomis Basin was a gray fox. What should I try and catch next? I feel like Ash Ketchum! Gotta catch'em all! Gotta catch'em all! PokeJohn!

Panic in the Streets! (or maybe it's branches)

2008-01-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

Big storm hit here in Californ-I-A, as some of you may know. I braved the streets and made my commute to work in the morning. It was pretty grizzly, almost tore apart my umbrella in the "hurricane-like" winds. I resorted to pointing it straight at the wind to use it as a cow plow. Then I get to my desk and notice it is darker than usual. Ah, the power is out and only every 7th overhead light is on. About 30 minutes later I was heading home, wishing I had called in or just not shown up (doubt anyone would have noticed). Street lights were broken and swinging and twisting on their poles. The placards with the street names on them were falling into the streets. Trees were laying in the street and roads were flooding over. And of course, people still sped past me while talking on their cell phones. God Bless America. It made me want a Gordita.

When I got home the power had just gone out in the house (about 11am Friday). Power didn't come on until sometime late Saturday night so I spent the weekend over at Red's - had to watch the redskins play terribly. Even though it appears the storm has passed, it's still a hard time for us. Supplies are running low and we can barely get out of our driveway because of all the little branches in the way; someone needs to sweep it for us. Where is FEMA when you need them?! Send donations please.

"O brave new world, that has such people in it!"

2008-01-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

Started work today. I don't know if I'm cut out for the professional life. Isn't there some semi-pro or amateur league I could sign up for? Maybe play part-time or ride the bench?

Oh well. I'm in a good place though, so that's good. The people are all nice. I get to be a taxman, and who doesn't love the taxman (or is that Santa Clause)? The day started off odd enough. I got there and my supervisor wasn't there, then my chair broke, I think I almost passed out from exhaustion and lack of sleep (it was very traumatic waking up before noon), but I persevered. Only the rest of my life to go! I can't wait for retirement.

Xmas comes early

2007-12-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/6840/news

Changes

2007-11-25T01:41:00.000-08:00

Urbocade is gone. I don't know if anybody used that anyway.

I replaced it with a slideshow from my flickr account. I figured that'd be more useful. I have a Yahoo app on my phone that lets me take a picture on the phone and send it directly to my flickr acct, so that'll be easy to add photos with.

Also, I made an xbox live account since I've been playing on my bro's, but I don't have my own 360 so don't expect me to be on it too much.

I Am Legend

2007-11-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

Trailer

So I saw a trailer for this about a week ago, I guess. I'm hoping it's a good movie. I think this is the third remake of this movie. Originally there was I Am Legend, then Vincent Price in Last Man on Earth, then Charleton Heston in Omega Man, and now this one. I hope that's right, just trying to go off memory. I never saw the original but the other two were pretty good.

[edit update: I checked on wikipedia and they said that the Vincent Price version was the original screen adaptation of Matheson's book. I thought I remembered a low budget version being done somewhere in the ten year span between publishing and Last Man on Earth, but I guess not. If you'd like to watch that one, it is in the public domain so you can watch it here. I gotta warn ya though, it's from 1964 so the pace is slow and 'action' wasn't quite what it's like today. Still, I enjoyed watching it. Also, while Matheson refused to have his name on it because of the diversion from his story, it is much closer to the original tale than Omega Man is.]

Also, I'd like to say that I passed my Determination of Moral Character for the BAR. Apparently none of my previous transgressions were evil enough to prevent me from being a lawyer. I am still awaiting the date to find out if I passed the test. I fly into Chicago the day before, so I'll be able to look for jobs there immediately in case I don't pass!

another month, another update

2007-10-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

whats going on everyone?

Hello?

Anybody....?

I guess no one is out there. Anyway, Halloween is coming up. Not a bad holiday. I don't really like the candy, or the kids, or the dressing up, but I really enjoy all the horror movies on TV. See, something for everyone to enjoy.

Nothing new for me. Waiting for the BAR results still. Sounds like everyone out in IN did well. I've been thinking about where I'm going to live. I don't think I can live in the Sacramento area. My options seem to be LA, the Bay Area (i.e. San Jose/SF), or up in Humboldt. We'll see what happens.

Happy holidays.

Mandangos

2007-09-23T16:52:00.001-07:00

Went to this cruddy little local bar in Roseville. It turned out to be
alright just because they had darts and free shuffleboard.

Person with us actually managed to throw a dart into the lock below
the dart board. Pretty impressive but wasn't on purpose.

I'm sending this from the pearl to see how easy it is. If it works
well I might actually keep up on the blog-ness.

New phone finally

2007-09-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

Ahh, yes, I do still have a blog, don't I? I figure by now that most people won't even be reading this anymore since I have failed to update it but once a month about. Anyway, Not much has happened, so now you're filled in. I saw some movies, applied for a crapload of jobs, and most importantly - got a new phone. I 'upgraded' my cingular account through amazon and got the Blackberry 8100 (Pearl) for free. It is a pretty nice little deal. It has a message center that keeps all my emails and text messages etc in one place and immediately up to date. It is fairly customizable as far as themes, layout, which icons get shown, uploading 3rd party apps and games, etc.

Parts of it aren't as keen as what I've seen on the iphone, as far as the media player on here, but it all works well enough for me, and has enough flash to keep me entertained. I already added gmail and yahoo mail right to my 'start' page, so that makes it pretty darn convenient. And it'll notify me if there is new mail from either account. I could do that with my hotmail account as well but I don't want to hear a ding every 2 minutes when new spam is delivered.

I'm still working out some of the apps and games. Quite a few of the apps seem redundant. For instance, there are about 4 maps apps, several browser variants, and 'find it' apps like infospace that are like internet 411. I also am trying to figure out how to get java games onto the phone, and also if I can make subfolders on the main screen since now each game and app I load is its own icon and if that stays true for java games I could have an incredibly long main screen.

Speaking of which, the screen looks great. Not touch screen but has a nifty trackball that works real well. The system is real intuitive as far as typing and navigating, although you need to hit the menu button and close programs or else they stay perpetually open in the background, although this doesn't appear to slow the phone down at all and keeps those apps (games for instance) in a frozen saved status that you can easily return to (via a 'switch app' command similar to alt + tab).

The phone has buttons 5 across and 5 deep making each button two letters in qwerty format. Typing is much easier than on my old nokia with three letters per key and the suretype system RIM uses is superior to predictive text. Two programmable soft keys on the side, volume keys on the side, and a mute button on top that can put the phone into 'sleep mode'. I use the right soft key to go into the camera mode: 1.3mp with flash that can be set to auto or always on/off. The left soft key I use for voice dialing. When you hit it you can say "call home" and it will ask to verify that it heard you right, you say yes and it dials. Really nice and convenient, it seems to always do a good job of picking the right number and you don't have to train it at all. With the same key you can say "check signal," "check battery," etc and it will tell you how strong, how much left, etc.

All in all, I like it. I've only had it for about a week though. It doesn't have wifi, the camera doesn't record video (but the phone plays video), and it uses the 3g network but not the new UDMPTS or whatever network that the cingular 8525 uses. I'm happy with it so far, as long as it doesn't break, it's working great. Need to test the bluetooth and try syncing with outlook. The other phones I was looking at were the cingular 8525 ($200 on amazon) and of course the iphone. In the end this phone was free, had the important options I would've used on the other phones, and is very small and lightweight.

Nobody Said it was Easy

2007-07-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

The Bar... oh, the Bar. For some it's a nice place to relax after a long day of working (or napping) and grab a brew. For others its a long metal thing that hurts when it hits your head. And yet for the unfortunate few it is a grueling 3 day (2 day for the weak) test of endurance meant to test your deodorant, ability to stay awake, and patience of having to sit in a large auditorium with 800 pompous former law students. It sucks. Hopefully it'll be easier when I take it again in February.

But I kid, I kid. I think I passed. Maybe there's some superstitious thing where I'm not supposed to make conjectures about what may or may not be. Sure, and I'm not supposed to use my married name until after the ceremony. Still, I feel pretty good about it. I looked around the room, talked to some people, noticed how many people went to McGeorge Law School and safely surmised that I did not fall into the 30% of those people who were not smart enough to pass on the first try. We'll see though, maybe I am down there.

But now, there's a little matter of attaining gainful employment that I must tend to. I'll take helpful suggestions.

Relieved

2007-07-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

So it's been a couple weeks. I've only posted a couple times on my south island trip (that was two months ago). And now I'm going to go on an even longer little break from wasting my time online. I will be back, it should be good, but now I have to attend to this matter of the BAR.

I finished all my classes at Auckland. I have been graduated from IU for a month or so (even though they graduated me with only 77 credits and 88 are required for a law degree). I have passed at least one class so far at U of A, still awaiting the rest of them but I'm fairly certain there is no chance of me failing any of them. After finals I took a short trip to Sydney, it was a good time, I'll have to post some pics when I get back online. I had a 43hr Thursday on June 28th. 28hrs of which I spent in airports or on planes. At 1:30pm I was in the Auckland airport and at 1:30pm 19hrs later I was in LAX. So now I'm back in Loomis and it is hot. Soon to be real hot. Using dial up connections to access the internet. Spending hours upon hours listening to this bar/bri ipod thing, trying to catch up at a reasonable speed without missing anything. But, come July 26th, I'll be done with the Bar and continuing on the job search.

Wish me luck, see you all in August, email me if ya want.

Franz Josef Glacier

2007-06-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

Franz Josef is the more famous, yet smaller of the two famous glaciers out here. We arrived in town at around noon and checked around for tours to get onto the glacier. Eventually we found out that several trips were available for $75-150. We figured we didn't have a choice and would come back the following morning and sign up for the cheapest trip we could find. In the meantime, it was still only 2pm or so and we decided to head on up to the glacier for some photos and looky-loos. Eventually we realized that the only thing keeping the public from the glacier itself were a few ropes, signs of impending doom, and a washed out path from the previous nights storm. So, being rude Americans we quickly bypassed the ropes barring entry, disregarded the warning signs, and made our way through the valley of rubble carved by the glacier and strode all the way up to the glacier itself.

It is, as you would imagine, a giant piece of ice, very slippery in my adidas sneaks. The whole valley is quite amazing though, with waterfalls littering the sides all over. You can see the stairs they've carved into the glacier to allow people to climb up there. Unfortunately, we could only go a couple steps before slipping on our arse so we only went onto the front part of the glacier. Not a bad little day. Afterwards we went into town and found a deal for $5 jugs of beer. The deal ended in five minutes so we got four jugs and ordered food. We then set up our tent on the edge of Lake Mapourika and played some card games. I got up just before I fell asleep and headed out for a little evening pissery and must've left the tent door unzipped for several hours later I awoke to Jake jumping up out of his sleeping bag. He started freaking out about a huge bug that had crawled into his sleeping bag and I was more than concerned myself, thinking of the giant wetas they have out here. Then I saw it, a blur running along the far edge of the tent, then making its way towards my bag. However, I was relieved to see that it was just a mouse and as it came up to me I was much less startled knowing that it wasn't a crazy bug, so I just picked him up and tossed him towards the tent door. I later thought about how if he had said it was a rat instead of a giant bug then I probably would have been a little more fearful and less relieved to have the rodent run up to my side inside the dimly lit tent. The following morning we went off to see the second famous glacier.

Franz Josef Glacier from a distance, this is about as close as many tourists came

Just one of the many waterfalls in the valley

The dim-looking valley floor carved out by the glacier

Going up to the glacier

They call this a glacier?

Cruel Hands of Fate

2007-06-17T02:32:00.001-07:00

Imagine, if you will, a man close to the end, on the brink of completing a series of tasking events that have left him both bereft of all lust for life and completely and utterly exhausted. This man, this emerging new technology in a population of rapidly changing innovations, has spent years of his life for one purpose, for two little letters, and now he is so close he can smell the musky cologne of success - and it smells like greenbacks. However, the nearer our hero comes to the point of success, the farther the finish line seems to be pushed towards the horizon; like a mother slowly backing away from her baby as it struggles to walk and urging it to 'keep on coming, you can do it'. But he can't. He will fall, and the mother will smile even bigger when he does. But this man-child cannot fall, he will not fall. Onward he waddles, each uneasy step akin to that of a lonely drunkard uncertainly zagging his way towards the nearest taxi, unsure which step will be the one that causes him to tumble.

So close. The years have turned to months, the months to weeks, and now the weeks to days. "Soon", he tells himself, "very soon shall I accomplish what I have been sent forth to complete." Each morning the fanciful thought crosses his mind that perhaps he has crossed the line, completed the circuit, finished what others doubted he could do, but alas, the morning is still yet to come to which this fanciful thought, this dream, is to be realized. Struggling through the last excruciating steps of this most unforgiving competition, the man for whom none cheer is fighting the demons of temptation that tease him with thoughts of early release; reminding him that "it sounds so soothing, to mix a gin and sink into oblivion." But still he rises each morning only to fall back down each night. Like the worn legs of a marathon runner: rising and falling, each rise exponentially more difficult than the last and each fall providing less relief than the one before. As each approaching horizon proves to be a false peak, will the adventure continue to its predetermined end, or will the man give in to every aching fibre of his essence. It seems as though at each turn, at each possible exit, he is met with dissatisfaction, like a man with a small bladder who comes across a cemented toilet. Oh, cruel hands of fate.

Castle Hill, Cave Stream, Arthur's Pass

2007-06-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

April 10th
We left Christchurch and headed towards the glaciers, straight out west. Of course, to get there we had to go over a mountain range. On the way we stopped off at this spot known as Castle Hill. It had a lot of cool boulders in this large valley-like area. Parts of The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe were filmed here (cool, eh). We had lunch on the rocks and took off.

While on the highway (just prior to Castle Hill, actually), I had a bit of an incident on the roads. It takes a little getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, apparently, and as it was my first day I was still getting adjusted to being on the right side of the vehicle as opposed to the left (throws off your alignment). We were behind these two trucks for a little ways and since the spiffy Pulsar doesn't quite have the pick-up one would appreciate when passing vehicles in the oncoming traffic lane, I had been hesitant to pass. Finally, however, the two trucks edged over to the left side of the road, giving me the sign to pass them on the right (the proper side in this backwards land). I was hesitant still since there was a turn coming up, but I thought I could make it in time. So I punched the gas and pulled out into the oncoming lane and just as I do this Jake yells out something akin to, 'oh shiiiit!'. Thinking that he is just now seeing the turn up ahead, I concur with his sentiment and think that I need to really punch it just to be safe, so I try my hardest to speed up and in doing so fail to get as far over into the oncoming lane as quickly as one would like. BAM!. a loud metallic smacking-like noise rings out and I keep flooring it, assuming that it had something to do with the hitch of the truck we were passing as it went over a bump. Looking over to my left however, I realize that what had actually happened was I smacked the side mirror against the back of the first truck we were passing. Thus realizing that Jake's excited utterance was due to the fact that I was speeding up more than I was getting over and coming too close to the truck. Long story somewhat short: the mirror folded in, left some scratches but was already scratched up, and everything ended just dandy.

After that they still let me drive and we headed just up the road to Cave Stream (they don't have very many imaginative names out here, for instance Hole in the Rock ends up literally being a hole in a rock). Cave Stream was cool. It was a stream going though a cave, surprise surprise. You walk down a decent hill to the bottom of the cave and enter in through that way, making your way up through the cave exiting the mouth near where you parked. At first I thought it was just going to be a little stepping in water and climbing some steps, so I was justifiable concerned when I saw people putting on wetsuits in the parking area. Turns out that you are immediately wading in waste-deep water in pitch black darkness. I had my phone flashlight, but it was still dark as hell. The water level goes up and down, never getting below your ankles and never too far above the waste, but it was cold as shit as well. You end up climbing up some small waterfall areas, going through some quick-rushing water, we saw a spider that only exists inside that cave and one other place on earth, and at the end of the cave there is a 6meter straight up rockface wall that has metal bars inserted so you can climb your way out of it. Pretty cool. I hit my head a couple times on the rock ceiling but most of the time you couldn't see the roof it was so high.

Then we made it up to Arthur's pass. Here is where I met two of my most hated enemies on the trip. The first being the Kea. They didn't really do too much personally against me, but I could sense the mutual hatred between us. The one in the photo below started walking over towards my feet, certainly looking for a tasty toe snack. Just look at the evil in its eyes. These are the only Alpine Parrots in the world and they have an insatiable curiosity of all things human that leads them to destroy anything they can, particularly rubber like windshield wipers). As you can see from another photo below, we didn't come as prepared as we would and we had quite a pitiful tent, especially this first night out. We also picked a spot riddled with my other foe, the sandfly. These are little gnat-sized insects that just land on you and bite the hell out of you, mostly arms and legs, then the next morning you awake to find all these itchy red bumps where each one bit you. Bastards.

The next morning we awoke and did a little hike that ended at the Devil's Punchbowl. A pretty cool waterfall that had a spot full of turmoil and swirling water that I assume was the punchbowl part. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty good so I didn't snap any photos.

Upon leaving Arthur's Pass towards Franz Josef Glacier we stopped a couple times along the way to see sites like the Otira Gorge Viaduct, Lake Ianthe, Whataroa Valley, and had lunch in Greymouth. All in all, still a pretty good trip, got in some good sites and did a couple hikes.

Evil Kea

Castle Hill was labeled as the spiritual center of the world by the Dalai Lama

Pretty good lunch spot too, popular for 'bouldering'

Of course I ended up on the side w/o the tarp coverage and it rained that night plus the ground was pretty soaked, but don't fret, we gradually improved our tent over time

Otira Gorge Viaduct, pretty cool, you drive under the falling water there and through the viaduct thing, reminded me of a course from Gran Tourismo or something

Whataroa Valley - I liked the monster-like remnants of a bridge. There was also this creepy old gold mining camp that reminded me of a Scooby Doo episode

Greymouth beach was grey - not too dissimilar from Humboldt's beaches at times

Of course I went to the brewery, but alas, our schedules did not align and I was merely restrained to a perusing of the gift shop; denied the pleasures of a good brewery tour

Christchurch & Lyttleton

2007-05-29T02:17:00.000-07:00

HERE IT IS! Finally, I'm getting around to posting up the beginning of the south island trip with pics. The beginning isn't the best part so it's just a teaser for ya. I actually really enjoyed the sites and thought it was cool, but only because I didn't realize what was coming up.

April 8th-9th
We flew out on Easter Sunday from Auckland. At the airport waiting for our departure we met a group of old Korean couples on vacation. We talked to a couple of the older gents who were trying to brush up on their English; conversation was strained, but enjoyable. During our conversations the wives would come by and hand us Korean candy, and then sit back down and giggle while we ate it. We talked about a few common things to keep the conversation going but their eyes didn't light up until I mentioned Soju (Korean rice alcohol, similar to vodka perhaps). I've had soju a couple times at Korean BBQ places, and apparently these guys have had a lot of soju. They even mentioned that it was expensive in New Zealand so they brought their own big jug of it to supply them for the trip. One guy got up to go get it so we could do some shots but then realized the airport had made them check it in their luggage.

When we arrived in Christchurch, one of Jake's friend met us at the airport and gave us a ride to her place where we were staying. We drove a little bit through town but since it was Easter we couldn't get any alcohol and all the bars were closed. After failing to catch a bus we decided to make another trip into town and wait for midnight. We entered a liquor store and found about 8 guys waiting for the beer cooler to be unlocked. These guys were already hammered too, one of them was telling us how much we had to get this "Flame" beer and then started hugging on Jake and kissed his neck. It was weird. So we got this "Flame" beer, I guess they like it since it's 5.6% or something like that, strong for these parts, but it tastes like crap. We taught the horse races to a couple of the local Christchurchians (actually Americans studying there, but whatever), and they loved it.

The next day we went to the Botanical Gardens. They were very nice. We walked around the square and watched a performer and then decided to head over to Lyttleton. You take a bus out of town and go through a long tunnel in a mountain to get to Lyttleton which is a port town. We walked around the port area and small town a little and then decided to climb up the hill that the bus had driven through (as seen in pictures below). From atop the hill you had a good view of all of Christchurch and a good view of Lyttleton while climbing up the hill.

We came down the hill and had a beer with the locals and then caught our bus back into Christchurch. The next morning we went to pick up our rental car which seemed to be out in the outskirts (sketchy) part of town, but it served us well. More on this later.

Christchurch is very uncharacteristically flat for New Zealand

Both that driver and the bike rider are in for a world of pain

Christchurchchurch, why not?

Very cool statue beside the church, both on the main square in town

Quaint port town of Lyttleton. Attractions include Major Hornbrook Trail, Cemetery with a view, and the Leper Island (not pictured due to censoring)

Like the picture is titled, we climbed it 'cause it was there (and not much else was). Major Hornbrook Trail starts off to the left and zig-zags up the hill mostly coming right.

"Been a long time, long time, ugh, shouldn't've left you (queue clicking and baby noises)"

2007-05-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, I haven't posted in a real long time. I've been feeling bad about not posting about my South Island trip, but I've finally labelled and organized all my photos so I'm ready to go. Unfortunately, I may only get one post up for a while, since I'm gonna have a real busy next couple of weeks (at the law school now so I can't put up any photos). Yes, believe it or not, I am still in classes. Thursday is my final day of classes. I have a final exam tomorrow afternoon in between classes. Then I'll have a full week off next week and my other finals will be the following wed/mon/wed in the two weeks after that. Then, I will finally be graduated AND done with school. This is the end of my studies (...or is it)

But besides being busy with school and studying, my buddy from just about the first day of my schooling is coming out to see the last day of my schooling. He's coming out tomorrow morning at 6am-ish. We're gonna muck around town for the week. Then go see the All Blacks take on France Saturday. Should be great game. Apparently the All Blacks are first in the rankings this year with France ranked #2. Then we're going to rent a car and do a quick tour of the north island.

I'll be back stateside June 28th. The California Bar is July 24th+. Here's wishing me luck on that. I'll try to get one posting at least up today to start the south island trip photos, and then whenever I have a chance and want a study break I'll do another one. I will get them all done before I get stateside. It was a good trip. I might be spending a few days in Australia before I fly back, but that depends on funds and how I feel. It will be good to be back home. That is, until I have to drive through the Roseville traffic again.

[the title was supposed to be that Timberland & Alaiyah song]

Zest Fully Clean!

2007-05-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

Moved out of my apt while on vacation to save funds and we came back and moved into the adjoining apt building: Zest. My bedroom is basically a double bed with 16inches of space around it and a closet, but it does have a wall that is all glass and a balcony off of it that overlooks some of the city and the Harbour Bridge and parts of the harbour. The first picture was the first morning when I woke up. It made me want marshmallow cereal.

This last one is just getting thrown in. I like how the Sky Tower (tourist trap and casino) overshadows the simple splendor of this remodeled historic church and fountain.

Rockin 'til the Break of Dawn

2007-05-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

Not really rockin', but more like roaming. I went out last night, had a pretty good time. Each time I was leaving somewhere I kept running into people and hanging out longer and eventually 7am rolled around. Since I had already made it that far I decided to walk along the waterfront and through the viaduct area where I haven't really looked around. Here's a few pics I thought I'd throw up. The lamp posts along the harbour are pretty cool. I'm not certain precisely what those trucks in that area were doing, but it sounds dangerous. Why the city stores spit, I don't know. The final pic of the art (sunken temple in the lawn) is actually from a previous night and a different area (Ponsonby) but I liked it so I threw it up. Enjoy.

Scrump, Scrump, Scrump it up!

2007-05-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

One possible solution to my most recent gripe may be found in this little fella down here. Scrumpy, as you can see, is 'strong cider' like Hornsby or Woodchuck but with a little more bite. It comes in roughly 42oz bottles and is 8.2%, so it's like drinking a St Ides but tastes a little better. The best part is that it's only $8.50 at most locations that sell it. Since they determine a 'standard drink' in NZ to be something like 330mL at about 4% they consider this guy to be 8 standard drinks, meaning I'm back at around $1 per drink, but not having to suck down 90oz of high calorie beverages to get the same effect. One of these is enough to share and have a pleasurable night. We'll see if I can put up with the sweetness enough to continue on with this guy.

Of course, I don't want any of you thinking that I've settled complacently for the ill ale situation out here. I still long for the much more amicable/sensible/placating alcohol atmosphere of America. Not saying that I partake too often, but when one does one should be able to have a pleasurable and mostly painless evening rather than a complicated and costly night. I know that I will be happy to return to the states for several reasons, this being one. Until then, I'll just try my best to Shine On.

He hath returned, and he is grumpy

2007-04-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

How's it going? It's been a few weeks but I'm finally back from my trip of walking on glaciers, racing alongside dolphins, bleeding profusely on rental cars, yadda yadda. But, before you all get excited and expect photos from me I'm gonna make you wait and read this gripe first. I'm still sorting and labelling photos so I'll leave you with this. Beer in NZ pisses me off.

First off, the quality of the beer is piss. I know, it's not actually urine (unlike Coors Light), but it still tastes nasty. Granted, I drink the brew with the lowest possible numerator in the price tag, but I still expect something drinkable. After you have a Speights, Lion Red, or Double Brown you feel like you should throw up to clear the taste out of your throat, but you don't cause that would mean having to drink two more beers to make up for the lost alcohol.

Bringing up point number 2 (actually number 4, but I'm rearranging to suit my on-the-fly transitional sentences); the beer is not only bad but weak. All the beers are 4%. It's like I'm living in Utah or something (no offense Fisher). Any beer actually having greater than 4% is highly advertised as being 5.2%! or something like that, but then of course costs twice as much for some reason.

Point #3: beer is expensive here. Back in Indiana I could get a 6pack of Falls City for $2.99, and Rite Aid is always good for an avg cost of 50cents/beer in LA, but out here you have to try hard to find a deal for $1/beer. Most stores don't have 30packs and the ones that do often charge upwards of $40. Now, the NZ dollar is weak compared to the US, but it is no longer a 2:1 ratio, in fact, the NZ dollar is rising steadily and quickly and is currently around 74cents US. Beers in bars are also a little on the pricy side. Down in Dunedin (a college drinking town akin to Chico), you could get lucky and find beers for $2 or the equivalent in pitcher-sized brews, but in Auckland you are lucky if you can find a beer for $4.50 and usually they are $6 or $7. The picture above is when we stopped in Nelson the night before we took the ferry across to the north island. We got what is called a Barmaid (that's the manufacturer's label). It's 3L (also available in 2L but c'mon) and it has a little tap on it and you pour your own mugs at your table then you can take back the cylinder to refill it at the bar. But still, even in this quantity and in a town outside of Auckland we only averaged about $3/beer, not to mention we got a lot of foam. It's just hard to find real cheap beer, but the good thing is quality doesn't raise the price proportionally to the already high prices.

Issue #4: lack of price range disparity in bars. Ok, so I just mentioned that this is a good thing, but hold on. So you have to pay $5.50 for crap beer, or you can pay $7 for the best Guinness outside of Dublin (something to do with the water here). That might make you happy, but just a minute, that's like getting excited b/c a double whopper only costs $1 more than a regular whopper. We need to look at the bigger picture and realize that the regular whopper is way over priced to start with. $7 for a good Guinnes might be a somewhat acceptable price in a bar in a big city, but that doesn't justify buying one if you just want to get a little tipsy on low funds. What I want is the cheap beer cheap and the good beer pricy; create social stratums w/in the bar scenes, the way it was meant to be. A chick should be able to see a guy drinking Chimay and think, 'ooh, he's got class and money,' but how can she do that when the guy drinking Piss Ale is only spending $1.50 less per beer and probably spending more overall cause he's trying to get pissed? I need my 15cent beer nights, my $1 specials at happy hour, and my 'this beer fell off the truck and has been here for three months, lets sell it cheap tonight' specials.

Lastly, and fifthly, -this should make all of you raise up arms against these fascist overseas brewers- the beer here comes in cans smaller than the US. Just like soda (another wallet gouger here), the beer in cans & bottles is only 330mL. A quick translation of that figure in the head tells the layperson that these beer cans are only 11.1586274 US fluid ounces. A traveshamockery you say? well I concur. If I'm going to pay $2/beer then I want to suffer through 12 full fluid ounces of that liquid hell, just like my forefathers did before me.

Summation: They win, I still buy the beer.

Off like Sputnik

2007-04-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Alright all, I'll be gone for a few weeks, enjoying the South Island. I'll be back with some photos. Hope you all have a good Easter.

Interior: Auckland War Memorial

2007-04-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

The inside of the museum was equally impressive. They had an entire floor dedicated to the war and remembering those who had fallen. Another floor was split up between ancient New Zealand and Maori culture and other past civilizations (Roman, Greek, Chinese, etc). A third floor dealt entirely with animals both current and prehistoric (including their 'national pride', the kiwi) and volcanoes. I really liked it.

Exterior: Auckland War Memorial

2007-04-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a while ago that I had visited the Auckland War Museum but I never posted the pictures, so here it is. These are from the outside, obviously. It sits up on hill overlooking the city and harbour. There is actually an ordinance preventing any buildings being built between it and the bay so that ships coming in can see it standing alone on the hill. The whole Domain is consecrated land and says to "tread not" unless done in respect of the people of this land. It's pretty impressive.

"And in the places you go, you'll see the place where you're from"

2007-04-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

One thing I noticed on the Piha hike and other trips around the Auckland area so far is that even though there are big differences between here and back home, there are quite a few things that look very much the same. Here's a few more pics from the trip. Quite a bit of it reminded me of Humboldt, particularly coming from the forest to the beach. Just remove 6 foot ferns and replace the world's second tallest trees with the world's tallest trees and you might not be able to tell the difference. Also, I like the fact that the coordinators decided to designate the emergency exit seat as the place to put their bags.

2day hike from Waitekere to Piha

2007-04-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

yeah, I threw a picture of myself in there, don't deny that you love it. It was good hike.

Hot Fuzz

2007-03-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to quickly send out a message saying that Hot Fuzz is a great movie. You may not like it or fully appreciate it at first, but it'll grow on you after you leave the theatre and you'll certainly enjoy your time in the theatre. It's from the same guys that did Shaun of the Dead (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, director Edgar Wright). Instead of a zombie comedy, this time they're doing an action comedy with some thriller-aspects to it. Just to warn you it seems to start off a little slow, but definately picks up and each part of the movie has its own mood. When it seems slow there is subtle humour, when it's mysterious there is more direct humour, and when there's action there is more physical humour. All in all, if I still had Netflix I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. However, on further viewings that might be up'd to 5. What is especially fantastic is the movies they give homage to.

"I'm pearly like the whites of your eyes"

2007-03-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics from around town. Most of these are places I pass whenever I go to school.

This is the Auckland Harbour area. This is just one wharf or dock or whatever it's called. There is a viaduct area with a lot of bars but you can't get in with shorts so I'll have to wait until it's colder to go...

This is looking down Victoria St towards Albert Park. These are the stones that were in the picture last post. I walk up to them and start heading left. You probably can't tell from the pic, but if you go straight past the stones the path goes up like 30feet very quickly, sucks to walk.

I took this pic from the overpass on the Motorway. Obviously, Sky Tower is the big building; tallest building in the southern hemisphere. Below it, the red pagoda-shaped building is the Choice Plaza hostel that I stayed in the first couple weeks.

I like the name of this company/building. You may have to click on it to read the name well.

If you've seen my facebook profile or badge on the side here then you've seen this billboard. It's pretty funny. It is in front of St Matthew-in-the-city (wierd name for a church). This is on the southeast corner of Wellesley and Hobson (about a half block from my apt on the way to town/school). Across the street at the same intersection is the Sky City Casino and on the opposite corner is the Albion Hotel/Bar - good company for a church.

Posting of Pictures for Pooper

2007-03-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

Living in the City

2007-03-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple maps of the area in the city I live. Both maps have my apt area located with the green arrow. The farther away map has the school circled with a green circle and both maps have a blue circle around the law school. The close up map has my actual apt circled as well.

To the south westish area you can see a stadium. That's Eden Park where the All Blacks play and where I saw the Blues vs Reds (previous post). If you look at the south east corner of the intersection the green arrow is on (Hobson and Wellesley) you can (barely) follow a long shadow to the Sky Tower which is on that block. It is the largest man made structure in the southern hemisphere.

Blues vs Reds

2007-03-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

I went to a Rugby game a couple weeks ago. It was the local Blues vs the visiting Reds. These teams are in the Super 14 league and several players on the Blues play on the All Blacks as well (higher league). Eden Park was a nice stadium, it's about 3 miles south of where I live. This rugby game live wasn't as exciting as baseball, basketball, or the Gaelic sports. I was interested for about 25 minutes when I still learning the game, but it has two 40 minute halves and their ends up being a lot of standing around. I'm excited about the All Blacks game coming up in June. The stadium should be packed and people get crazy for their games, so it'll be a good time for sure. This game did have this crazy opening ceremony where Bluebeard the Pirate comes out shooting sparks and fireworks. They had cheerleaders who were just awful dancers and seemed to piss off the true fans. One dad a little behind me trained his kids to yell at the cheerleaders to 'Get off the rugby zone!'

Flashback to Fiji

2007-03-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the images from when I arrived in Fiji. Click on the first picture for a bigger look at it and notice the delay for flight FJ 411, yeah, that's me. I went to a decent hotel but not much happened. Made some friends but I was just too tired and sweaty to do anything besides nap and shower and try to avoid the humidity.

AK07

2007-03-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

City puts on this free festival. Hired some French guys (Group F) to set off 1/2 ton of pyrotechnics in a half hour musical performance in the Auckland Domain (public park). 60,000 people showed up, including the prime minister Helen Clark.

UoA Law School

2007-03-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

I finally have internet in my apt so I'm going to try and put up some pictures. Here are two pics from the law school, the bottom one was my first viewing of the law school and not a good impression, but I thought it was funny. The top pic is how I first see the law school when I go to class and does a better job of making the school like nice.

snappered

2007-03-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

The party was alright, met some cool people and I got faded so I guess that's all that matters. Fishing was real fun. Although, it wasn't really fishing cause we forgot our IDs and couldn't buy beer for the boat. I caught a couple snappers and threw them back. Meanwhile one of them decided to thrash my hand while I was taking out the hook. Also, I might have tetnis from hooking my thumb a couple times. Got a bit of a burn as well, so now I'm pale white in the middle and bright red on the outsides (like an indian casino).

Won a little, lost a little at the casino again. Taking a break for the week. Problem is I'll go out and have a good time and then it'll get late but not that late and I'll try and think of something to do and I'll come up on the casino just before reaching my apt and decide to pop in for a few games to try and extend the night a little. I'm still up over a couple hundred, but more importantly I've realized that I need to play early evening during the week as opposed to late night on the weekend. I think after only 3 times I'm actually starting to burn out on it so I'll need to find another cheap time-filler besides watching Arrested Development episodes 5 at a time.

Hope things are good back where you are in the states -or if you're lucky enough- outside the states. Still finding too many Americans here in the clubs, and a lot of them are 18 where it's legal to drink here while it is borderline illegal for me to date them in the US. Therein lies my dance-night dichotomy. Classes are good. Don't need to read really, I feel like it is very redundant to read and attend class. Looking forward to the two-week Easter break they have out here. Going to head to the South Island for a few weeks (nevermind the discrepancies in lengths) and see all that I can. Jake (the roommate), found a deal to rent an RV for $1/day as long as we pick it up in Christchurch and return it to Auckland. We're not sure how long we can rent it for at that price, but hopefully a significant length of time.

Send me suggestions of what I should do while I'm out here 'cause I have plenty of time on my hands right now.

Hundred Dolla Bills, y'all

2007-02-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

Better mood today since my beloved begetters have labored arduously to correct the horrendous predictament WaMu had put me in. I went and took out some cash from the ATM, mostly to pay off part of the debt to my new roommate and some to sign up on campus for some necessaries. Then, with his new wad of rent money, Jake decided we needed to hit the Sky City Casino (where EVERYBODY'S A WINNER!!!). It's about half a block from our apt and about the size of a Reno Casino, not bad but could be trouble later on.

So we roll in and walk the floor a little, peruse the 2cent slot machines, meander past the $10 blackjack, and saunter on upstairs to the poker room. Jake was adamant about wrestling up some no-limit hold'em, but I pulled his reigns back and we settled on a $5/$10 limit table with $2/$5 blinds. The minimum buy-in was $60; good thing I had $63 on me. After about 20minutes of fairly loose playing I found myself committed to the pot with all my chips in on the river. Luckily, however, I won, doubling my original $60 and making me feel pretty good after the near-death experience that is poker loss. Fast forward just an hour and a half and I'm walking out of the casino with $313 - a nice $250 profit for an hour and half's 'work' (I finally feel like a lawyer). Jake ends up raking in another $100 on his original $60 and we go off to hit the town.

Rest of the night filled with unfortunately crowded bars, way-too-drunk 20 year olds, -a free hot dog-, and an hour of pool before grabbing a cornetto and heading home to relax after a long night of victory.

Supposed to go to a law student girl's birthday party tonight on the south side, and fishing in the harbor on Sunday. I'll let you know if anything worthwhile happens... and if nothing does I'll still probably write some BS up here anyway.

still kickin

2007-02-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I haven't posted in a while cause I'm poor. WaMu shut off access to my account, thinking it was stolen, so I'm waiting for that to get reset and in the meantime I'm cruising around town with only $10 in my pocket. I've been living off 50cent ice cream cones at McDonalds. Good news is I have an apt with a roommate (from maryland) so he bought some groceries and I've been able to eat a little at home. Can't 'top-up' my phone so I can't make calls, can't buy time on the internet so I'm not on much at all, can't put down a deposit to get internet at the apt so I'm not online there either. I can't even buy textbooks right now. Actually, I have an AMEX I could start using, but don't want to deal with trying to pay the bill from over here so I'm just being cheap.

A lot of walking around town. I live on one corner of the town center and the law school is almost all the way to the opposite corner of town center. It's about 20-25 minute walk but goes up and down a few steep hills so it gets to be tiresome. I have class in 5 minutes, talk to you all later.

who can it be now

2007-02-20T00:08:00.000-08:00

So I stopped by the old law school today. I wish I wasn't in an internet cafe so I could post the picture I took. I guess I came around the backside of the building b/c there is a vacant lot next to the law school building with a broken fence, overgrown weeds, and graffiti all along the stone wall that is shared with the law school building. So, bad news is there is no free internet anywhere in this town. My best bet is to subscribe to internet when I find a flat to rent and then it'll be either included in the price or $25 or so more, still shitty. The law school has a weak wireless signal that only works on certain floors of the library and you have to login through the school's program so it charges you money for as long as you are connected. But the charges aren't too terrible; I was on for about an hour and it charged me $.25 or something like that. Still sucks though.

Of my list of things to do in my last post I have:
1) gone to student accommodations and told them how worthless they are;
2) gotten a cell phone, I don't get charged for you calling me I think, but it's int'l so from the US someone would have to dial 011 or something then 02102486075 and then pay something like $2/min = shitty;
3) bought more toothpaste, and sunscreen after I started lobster-fying;
4) meet the british chick in my room, she left the next day and now I have a 4bed room to myself for NZ$20/wk; and
5) decided that NZ beer is not better than Fiji beer, although Guinness is still the best tasting beer in town I've had (Bill said there was a Guinness brewery in Sydney)

I went to the museum in town, it is in the middle of this giant park-like area called Auckland Reserve (i think) and it considered Consecrated Ground. The first floor was alright, some spears and canoes and stuff. The second floor was kinda cool, mostly prehistoric stuff, volcanoes, the ocean life. The third floor was badass, all about the wars NZ has been in, including WWI, WWII, the NZ Wars, and others. There was all kinds of real items from the war including a mauser pistol, fake head used in the trenches, Japanese torpedo, German V-1 (the flying rocket, actually had wings and all like a plane), a Sptifire plane and a Zero.

I also got a hold of Rosslyn who is around somewhere and met a Canadian chick who is in a couple of my classes. Seems like I'm all squared away except for getting a permanent place to live, so I'm off to continue on that trek. Apparently drinking Guinness while watching the NZ vs Aussie cricket match in the local pub with the classifieds in front of me wasn't working. Although it was surprisingly enjoyable, similar to looking for apts in LA and then giving up around 4 to get drinks at the Cock'n'Bull (jonny). later.

Oh Boy

2007-02-17T17:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm here in Auckland. I'm at a hostel right now, so no pictures or lengthy discussions of my journeys yet. I'll just say that I spent 15hrs in Fiji and it was humid. Met a trio of 19yr old Swedish chicks on the way to Fiji, two British sisters in LAX, and a couple of chicks from the US who were at my hotel in Fiji. Also got a business card from an old Kiwi who hated the idea of tipping at the airport bar in Fiji after talking to him for a while, and met a guy in Auckland who played the town organ in his hometown on the south island and now is studying music at the uni.

So far I've had 2 free hotel rooms, 4 showers, 5+ naps, 5 movies, and plenty of sweat sweaty aroma. New agenda:
1) bitch out student accommodations for neither picking me up at the airport nor setting up my accommodations;
2) get a cell phone (handy);
3) buy more toothpaste (TSA took my tube);
4) meet the chick I'm sharing a room with; and
5) see if NZ beer is better than Fiji beer.

I also need to get books for classes, find a place a live for 4 months, and some other small stuff but whatever.

Some more sights from the road

2007-02-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a nice little shot of the windmills on Tehachapi Pass.

I also saw Uncle Owen's moisture farm on Tatoonie. No womp rats though.

This was peculiar. I came up on a big truck with the MLB logo on the back and assumed it was something for the upcoming spring training. It was out in AZ or somewhere that made sense for an MLB truck to be. However, as I got closer I realized it was just a company called Major League Moving. Apparently it's just a professional moving company in Texas. Isn't this some kind of trademark infringment? Here's the website: http://www.majorleaguemoving.com/

Going, Going, Back, Back, to Cali, Cali

2007-02-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

So here's the last day. 800 miles and 11 1/2 hrs. From Flagstaff to Loomis. The previous night I had driven through the petrified forest, didn't really see anything in the darkness. This day I drove near the grand canyon but not close enough to really see it. As some know, my radio is a bit sketchy in my car. I took the risk of changing cds this morning and while the Daniel Johnston cd came out fine, the cd player lost power and was left open without taking a new cd. After a while I was able to get it going again and had some more music, but in the meantime I was wishing I had XM radio.

It was warm enough in the Arizona desert that I had to roll down the window and eventually turn on the a/c.

Transporting any fruits or vegetables? Why is California the only state I came into that asked this question before quickly sending me on my way?

The Mojave desert really is a desert. There were several dust devils whirling in the distance. You can kinda see one in this photo if you click on it. There was a smattering of rain through the desert. It had a nice smell to it, like someone spilled bleach in the laundry room downstairs from your apt. Aside from the cd player incident, things were going pretty good. But somewhere around Barstow, things began to go terribly wrong. I ended up getting on the freeway I needed to be and then planned to get off and get gas since I was dangerously low. Of course, there were no gas stations on this side of town, nor chances to turn around and go back into town. My only option at that point was to try and make it 27 miles to the next gas station. I did end up barely making it, but I'll tell you, I became very good friends with my car's gas light in the meantime.

I went over the Tehachapi Pass. It was surprisingly nice this time of year. It only got up to about 5000 feet which was about the same height as the high plains in Texas (unless I'm just imagining this through delirious memories).

Among the sights seen was an army of sleek dragons emerging from the fog for Don Quixote to battle.

Something like 2400+ miles and 35+hrs of driving in 3 days, crossed into a new timezone each day, 8 different states, and I nearly drove myself insane.

High Plains Drifter gets kicks on route 66

2007-02-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

Alright, here's the post from my second day of travel: OK City to Flagstaff, AZ. 865 miles and 13 hours of a not so good time. I went all the way through the pan handle of Texas and all of Mexico Nuevo to get to Arizona. This day took extra long because visibility throughout Texas was about a half mile most of the time due to fog. Then all of the New Mexico freeway system appears to be under construction.

This is from the Oklahoma or Texas, really whats the difference up in that region where they meet. It was flat.
Here was New Mexico as the sun was going down, not a bad drive if you can stay out of the road construction. These pictures are all taken while driving so they aren't the best quality. The last couple days of driving I was going through Indiana territory. Cheyenne, Mohave, etc. It was awfully nice of the US gov't to give the flattest, dryest, most unusable part of the country to those who were here first. I saw a sign along the highway for a free 72oz steak if you can eat it in an hour. I was tempted, but I felt like I needed my health for the drive to come.

13 hours is a long day, but the worst part of each day was the 3 to 5 hours. It's a time when you aren't really into the mode of long-driving but you don't still have the awareness you do when you are just starting the day. That's the time to pull over, fill up the tank and get a nice burger. In Texas I got a chicken fried steak sandwich that was pretty good.

On the road again

2007-02-09T19:57:00.000-08:00

I'm in OK City staying at the lovely Clarion hotel:

I drove for 700+ miles, about 11hrs, not too shabby. If I do the same over the next two days I'll be home in Loomis Sunday night. My car is packed pretty tightly:

Yes, Peter made it in the car alright. On the way out I saw the path of where a twister had torn through in Missouri. I saw plenty of water that had frozen as it was coming down a rock wall. I also saw the biggest McDonalds in America (you drive under it on the highway).

That's all I got right now, gonna get some food and sleep and get up and drive and repeat.

John Gone

2007-02-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

I decided to throw up some pics from the party celebrating my departure. Unfortunately my camera didn't come out until late in the night so I missed a lot of people. Anyway, good times.

Frozen Food

2007-02-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

On a journey to Goodwill I came across some roadkill,
Frozen through and through
On the side of the road, lost to its abode,
Worse off than me or you
It was by chance that I found it, this chilled little rabbit,
For while walking I kicked it with my shoe

While the rabbit's demise may be attributed to his unwise
Decision to cross paths with a truck
Are we to think, that we would not be extinct
If not for all of our luck
And when it no longer remains, when our fountain drains
Then we will be the ones who are -

Class Schedule

2007-02-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here is my schedule of classes for while I am in New Zealand. Looks like it'll be a pretty easy going. I didn't have the option of taking too many local New Zealand law classes, but I tried to pick more global topics and hopefully get the Kiwi perspective on them.

Westward Ho!

2007-01-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

Here is the approximate path to Cali with proposed stops (de minimis). I might shorten days depending on what happens or how I feel after driving 6 hours in the desert, but the days won't get any longer than this. From Albuquerque heading west, I will have a decision to make in Barstow where the 40 hits the 15. I can take the 15 south to the 10 and go to LA, then from there the final day will be heading up North (but I might have to go around the Grapevine which will add hours). Or, I can take 58 through the Tehachapi Pass and head up to Loomis (via Sacramento) that way. If I choose to take the Pass I'll have to find a stop in Barstow or possibly Bakersfield or Kingman, AZ.

I am planning on leaving on the 7th of Feb, giving myself an entire week to make it before I miss my flight. Each leg of the path from East to West according to Google maps is about 9.5hrs, 9.5hrs, and 11hrs respectively. If they actually do take that long I'm pretty sure I'll be stopping early, but it depends on how it goes. Aside from LA, I also want to make sure I get into town at a reasonable time to check in to a motel. So if I leave at 10am, I should get in at around 8pm.

I think it'll work.

blogging from an old phone is the cat's barf

2007-01-30T00:14:00.001-08:00

this is a test blog from my cell. It only took me half an hour. Time
to get a phone with more than 9 keys.

Charnock create blog to let mind speak

2007-01-29T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hello America,

please hold.