6.30.2006

Famous in seven continents

My first lesson on English, Baby! went up on Wednesday. Now you can learn English from the pro!

A full update of my California trip will be posted when it is over. For now, rest safe in the knowledge that Burgerville is better than In and Out.

-Thank you for reading.

6.23.2006

King of the road

I have done what I thought impossible: Make a solo, continuous drive to Los Angeles.

It wasn't my intention. I gave myself two days to make the trek, figuring I would just stop when I was tired. But I wasn't getting tired. So I made myself little promises... and kept breaking them. "Let's at least get to Sacramento and then stop at the next quaint town." There are no quaint towns past Sacramento. "I'll drive until it gets dark." Well, but the time it was dark, there was only three hours left to go.

Back home, three hours driving would put me in Bend - which is, normally, in my mind "A Big Trip." However, when put in the perspective of having already driven 11 hours - three more seems less daunting. There is also the practical matter of spending money on a hotel room. My life is on a budget these days, and this trip is an extravagance. But need it be overly so? No. The final push came from my pride, which would not let me come so close to this achievement and fall short.

And so, just before 11:30 pm, I arrived at Russ' house in L.A.

There are two things without which I would not have been able to do this: My ipod and 2 liters of Coke. Blessed be. I listened to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy on audio book - which killed a good six hours. The only way to drive solo is to pretend like you have someone else in the car.

More adventures to come.

-Thank you for reading.

King of the road

I have done what I thought impossible: Make a solo, continuous drive to Los Angeles.

It wasn't my intention. I gave myself two days to make the trek, figuring I would just stop when I was tired. But I wasn't getting tired. So I made myself little promises... and kept breaking them. "Let's at least get to Sacramento and then stop at the next quaint town." There are no quaint towns past Sacramento. "I'll drive until it gets dark." Well, but the time it was dark, there was only three hours left to go.

Back home, three hours driving would put me in Bend - which is, normally, in my mind "A Big Trip." However, when put in the perspective of having already driven 11 hours - three more seems less daunting. There is also the practical matter of spending money on a hotel room. My life is on a budget these days, and this trip is an extravagance. But need it be overly so? No. The final push came from my pride, which would not let me come so close to this achievement and fall short.

And so, just before 11:30 pm, I arrived at Russ' house in L.A.

There are two things without which I would not have been able to do this: My ipod and 2 liters of Coke. Blessed be. I listened to The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy on audio book - which killed a good six hours. The only way to drive solo is to pretend like you have someone else in the car.

More adventures to come.

-Thank you for reading.

6.17.2006

ROAD TRIP!

I leave next Thursday for Los Angeles. I'm driving solo and stopping in the Bay Area on the way home to see family.



But when I look at this map, I wonder if maybe I'm a little crazy. And does it freak anybody else out that All I really have to do is get on I-5 for 14 hours? I mean, I drive that road almost daily. And if I just decided to keep going, I'd be in L.A. Strange.

-Thank you for reading.

6.14.2006

A self portrait



I woke up at 5am today thanks to my inexplicable and pervasive allergies. I've been sneezing non stop since I got back from Belize. I think the humidity reset my allergy meter - flushed me out with it's sweet, moist embrace. And now my body must readjust to the various molds and pollens of my native land. Boo to that.

I've spent the time by getting in touch with my inner nerd by putting together a new external hard drive. I chose to go the economical way and DIY a regular old drive with an enclosure. It's not all that hard, and it saved me at least $50 - which will cover my haircut today.

I had a talk with Parrish not too long ago about wether or not I have any claim to h4x0r ski11z. What we determined is that there are many different tiers of hack and I fall in the "lower-middle class" area. I know where certain things can be downloaded. I will not hesitate to try and fix something myself - but my methods of fixing often end at turning everything on/off and unplugging/replugging cables. I have installed RAM. I like using keyboard shortcuts. I have looked at and changed a BIOS. I even changed out a broken power supply on my old PC tower - a particularly proud moment in my nerd-dom.

I cannot, however, do anything in DOS to save my life. If there is not a "set-up" assistant, I most likely will not be able to set it up. I do not solder things. I do not understand why or how the Internet truly works and continues to exist.

If I were to assign a number of stars to myself, rating my nerd-ability, I would say three of six. But a low three. Maybe two and half. I wish I had the gumption to photoshop a Yu-Gi-Oh card with Me on it, denoting my nerd rank.

IN OTHER NEWS!

I have agreed to be a part of the cast of characters at English, Baby. It's an ESL site for students wanting to learn conversational English. My job is to talk about predetermined topics and be recorded. No "work" is required on my part. Just talk naturally. It's very part-time, but I think it'll be fun. I'm really hoping to attain minor celebrity status in Asia - not that Asia is the only country where people seek to learn ESL, but its got the numbers on its side.

The Belize DVD Rough Draft has been completed. I'm very proud of the work, but it will need some reworking. Two things are certain: I've made tremendous progress since my last DVD and I've accomplished much more work in much less time. Both very good signs. But there's still a way to go before I would consider anything I'm doing "professional." Still, if anyone wants to see the fruits of my labor, let me know and I'll try to get you a copy.

-Thanks for reading.

6.12.2006

More places to read my words

Some good friends of mine have started a site where you can read about bands and CDs and art and such. One of these things you can read was written by me. Yay!

You can see it here, although you will need to click on "The Tallest Building in the World."

Silly windows.

-Thank you for reading.

6.09.2006

I believe they call it "The Big Time"

I've been busy at work on the video for The Lodge on St. George. The main editing is almost done - just tweaking a few things here and there. Also, I'm waiting for some of the professional photos that were commissioned. You can get a sneak peak of them here.

What's been really exciting, though, has been recording the music for the DVD. My friend Austin helped me out recording and editing five tracks. I suppose, for that kind of output, we didn't do a whole lot of work. I'd basically come in with a base melody that I wanted to play, we'd lay it down and then record a few "doodle" tracks and then pick out whatever worked from those. I'm really happy with the results and will probably end up getting some recording equiptment of my own so I don't have to bother Austin in the furture. Then again, he is trying to move all his equiptment up to his cabin - and a recording weekend getaway could be awesome, should it ever need to happen again.

I'm gearing up to road trip down to L.A. for the birthday celebration of a very old friend. I'm fixin' to stop in the bay area to see some family - either on the way down or on the way home. Not really sure. Is it terrible that I love not having anything solid going on right now? I'm waiting for the bubble to burst - and it will very shortly - but in the meantime, everything about life is awesome.

- Thank you for reading.

6.02.2006

Has it really come to this?

Must I check every beer in my six pack?

I buy this beer

and I only get two Blue Paddles.

And the rest?


TRIPPEL!!! Blech.

-Thank you for reading.

6.01.2006

I finally did something

The front page for my web site is up. Give me some feedback.

www.notsaid.com

-Thank you for reading.