More Traveling & Baseball

Recently I took another couple of trips in my never-ending quest to avoid working too much. While I haven't finished relating the details of many of my previous trips, I thought I'd better get started on these while they're still fresh in the memory banks. All this mental hoop-jumping is good exercise for the gray matter anyway.

There was a quick jaunt recently to San Diego with some comrades from work to go catch a baseball game. Myself, 3 buddies from work, and 2 wives all made our way down to PetCo Park, the current corporate branding for the baseball stadium home of the San Diego Padres. We went in 2 separate vehicles as one of the couples would be staying overnight, whereas the rest of us would be returning here to Las Vegas right after the game. The whole thing is about a 650 mile round-trip from my one buddy's house, and seeing as how he'd be doing the driving this time, we'll measure it from there.

3 of us in this vehicle work in the same aisle in the post office, so we get to talk for a couple hours each morning while we set up our routes before we go out to the street to deliver the mail. We spend as much time joking and laughing as we can, because what else is life about if not trying to enjoy it as much as possible? So this ride to San Diego would be no different, as we do our best to rip each other apart, all in the name of humor and a good time. We can be a very entertaining crew of idiots...

We had prepaid for parking as well as the game tickets, so we were in a lot directly adjacent to the ballpark, and the lot was attached to our destination by a uniquely designed pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive. I appreciate interesting architecture, so I enjoy seemingly simple things like that. It also afforded a nice view of downtown San Diego, with the convention center, some hotels, train tracks, and PetCo Park all within close proximity.

This was not my first trip to PetCo Park, and it really is a very nice place to see a baseball game. In addition, it's a nice place to just hang around on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It's in a great area, with lots of attractions right around the park...including many of the magazine-cover cuties working at the Tilted Kilt Pub. We hung out there for a while waiting for game time, enjoying the good food...amongst other things...

Our seats were on the third base side, in the shade, which wasn't as important as it could have been, but I wasn't taking any chances when I ordered them some weeks before. We were about halfway up, and had an excellent view of the whole playing area, plus the Padres dugout on the first base side. It was an entertaining game, including a couple of home runs by the home team. One of my co-workers also made a new friend, as a very tired/drunk/hungover girl
sitting next to him kept passing out, and slowly slumping over onto him over the course of the game. It made for an additional entertainment factor...stuff like this always seems to happen to him, too.

The Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the game was secondary to the fun that we were all having. In addition to laughing and being silly and stupid, I was also once again struck by the lush greenness of a Major League Baseball playing surface. It never fails to be a site attractive to my eye, and with downtown San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter visible just over the outfield walls, the whole thing makes for a pretty picture.

We made a stop on the return trip at Portillo's, a Chicago-based chain of restaurants serving hot dogs, Italian beef, hamburgers, snadwiches, and other great items. So we sat, ate, laughed, picked up some beef for other friends/co-workers, and then completed the drive home. And then I flew out Tuesday morning to spend 3 days in San Francisco.

But that's a story for another day...

Blog Post Soundtrack; The White Stripes (live), Punjabi MC, Judas Priest, The Doors (live w/Eddie Vedder singing), Rollins Band, King Missile, Slayer, Yawning Man, Huevos Rancheros, Zeke, Galactic, Django Reinhardt, Orange 9MM, Megadeth, Clutch, Joy Division, The Minutemen, Blondie, Down, Primus, Cage The Elephant, Tygers Of Pan Tang, The Company Band, Mother Love Bone, Black Sabbath

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

As a matter of fact, yes, I do, thank you very little. Having spent the previous weekend in Seattle (and yes, I know I haven't finished writing up the details of that journey), I then drove to San Jose and back this past weekend. Unlike my recent Los Angeles trips, however, yes, I stayed over in San Jose. Actually, I stayed 2 nights, because it is a long drive (about 540 miles one way), and I'd never been there before, so I thought I'd check it out a bit.

The drive is one I have done before, but never in this direction. Since you can't get there from here, you have to actually travel a little south from Las Vegas first in order to get to San Jose, which is actually quite a bit north. Welcome to America.

It's a lot of desert from here to Barstow, with not a hell of a lot of interesting landscape to look at along the way, outside of some nice hills and mountains that you climb thru almost immediately upon entering California. Once you get to the other side of Barstow, you now have to leave I-15, the main freeway (the same road you take from Las Vegas nearly all the way to Los Angeles), and go to CA 58, which initially resembles I-15 quite a lot, but eventually morphs into something quite different. By the time you're leaving CA 58, you've driven thru lush, green, rolling hillsides that seem as though someone severely misplaced parts of the Scottish Highlands. It's a beautiful section of country, made even more so by the fact that it comes as such a juxtaposition to the countless thousands of acres of desert that surround it.

In the vicinity of the town of Tehachapi (yes, that's spelled right), is the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm, a collection of giant fans/windmills used to harness the power of naturally flowing winds and convert them into energy used to power parts of Southern California. It also makes for a uniquely stunning visual sight, seeing row upon row of spinning propellers perched high upon mountaintops. Not the sort of thing you see on a daily basis...unless, of course, you happen to live in Tehachapi.

The day I drove to San Jose (Friday the 11th of March) was a beautiful sunny day, so I was a little surprised to see a sign warning of heavy dense fog ahead. There were clouds around, especially one seemingly low-lying patch that looked as if it ended not much after it began, but they were outnumbered by the vast blue sky. Once I'd driven thru that, I forgot about it, and continued the ascent up CA 58. Upon beginning the descent, however, is when I realized the warning that had been posted earlier had been accurate.

The bright sunny day very rapidly disappeared as I, and the other drivers in my vicinity, went into a near solid wall of fog. Whereas we'd all been travelling close to 80MPH for the duration of the trip, with plenty of gaps between us, everyone now became bunched up in an effort to find the road at about half the velocity. Since visibility had been reduced to nil, it forced us to bunch together, as everyone was relying on the vehicle in front of them to help find the road. Cars were no more than 2 or 3 lengths apart, and even then the brake lights and a hazy outline were barely visible. This was made all the more interesting by being a downhill, twisty section of mountain road. Great fun! Which, for me, is the truth. I enjoy driving in those kind of situations where you're forced to sit up and REALLY pay attention. Something about that is really enjoyable to me.

Finally emerging from the cloud a while later, it was smooth, fogless sailing the rest of the jaunt to San Jose. CA 58 runs into I-5, which is then pretty much a straight shot northwest up to the Silicon Valley area, so named for the vast number of high-tech corporations which are based there. Getting to my hotel in the mid-afternoon, I checked the iPhone and paperwork provided by the hotel for nearby restaurants, of which there were an immense number within walking distance. Settling on a safe bet of an Italian restaurant, I sat down to a terrific meal of chicken parmigiana and vegetables coated with garlic butter at a nice place called Bella Mia. Gilroy, a town about 30 miles to the south, is apparently built around the garlic industry. The vegetables were fantastic, an excellent compliment to the chicken, which had a good amount of cheese and a nice marinara sauce on it.

Saturday morning I spent wandering around the downtown area, just exploring and admiring the monuments to computer technology that had been constructed. Many of the bigger technology firms in the world have their large corporate headquarters located within a few blocks of each other, along with quite a number of large financial institutions...and each with a uniquely designed building. I'm a fan of interesting architecture, and there was definitely some of that on display in downtown San Jose. Made for an interesting morning's stroll and picture taking.

I then headed over to the San Jose Museum Of Art in the early afternoon, which was located pretty much around the block from my hotel. While it was a nice place, and had some interesting displays (a display of Robert Mapplethorpe celebrity portraits, recent photographic pieces from other artists, and my personal favorite, a display of recent paintings by artists from India), having grown up in New York City, this museum paled in comparison. It's kinda tough to go visit museums in other places, unless they are MAJOR cities, when you've grown up with The Metropolitan Museum Of Art as your local museum. Again, I don't mean to knock the San Jose one; I liked what they had, but even taking my time, I wasn't there for much more than an hour. At The Met, an hour would get you thru maybe 2 rooms, leaving about 150 more to go. Still, I enjoyed what was in the San Jose Museum, and I'm glad I did it.

This was all a preamble though, as the main reason for my trip was Saturday night's National Hockey League game with the San Jose Sharks hosting the visiting New York Rangers. When I looked at the schedule many months earlier and saw that this was the week after the comic convention in Seattle, I figured taking a week off for the 2 events would be a great idea. Again, my hotel was within walking distance of the Shark Tank, which is what the locals have dubbed the arena with the ever-changing corporate branding that the Sharks play in. Seems that everything there is right on top of everything else, which is good if your visiting. There doesn't seem to be much living space right in downtown, as it's mostly corporate castles, upscale hotels, eateries, shopping, and spaces for the arts (theater, comedy clubs, etc.). Yet there were literally hundreds of people walking right along with me to the game, and I was going early, because I wanted to take in warm-ups, as well as have some extra time to explore and soak in a new-to-me hockey arena. It's possible many of them had taken either buses or trains that run with amazing frequency thru the downtown area that would have left them in the vicinity of my hotel, which was about a 15 or 20 minute walk away.

I don't like to let these entries get too long, so I'm shutting this one down here, with obviously more to come...


Blog Post Soundtrack; Björk (live), Tom Paxton, Tricky, Unida, TV On The Radio, Monster Magnet, The Chemical Brothers, Faith No More, Soundgarden, John Lee Hooker, Corrosion Of Conformity, Fu Manchu (live), Hermano, Tomoyasu Hotei, Misfits, The Lively Ones, Les Claypool, Ozzy Osbourne, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, John Frusciante, Galactic, The Doors (live, covering Van Morrison)

Just Not Enough Time

As the last of my 4 days off winds down, I realize that since I've done so much over these days that I just haven't had any time to write. After having never been to Los Angeles prior to Thanksgiving 2010, I've now been there 3 times in the short span of time since then. I just made the third of those trips this past weekend, as I drove there Friday night to go see Henry Rollins give a speaking performance at the same theater I saw Tim Minchin at a month earlier. And, as with Minchin, I was able to meet and talk with Rollins after the show for a bit, even giving him a business card for Unseen Films, knowing his love of film and unquenchable desire to see more. This was part of the 2 week "50" tour for Rollins, having performed nearly a week in New York City, followed by a show in Washington, D.C. on his 50th birthday (he was born and lived in D.C. until he was 20, when he joined Black Flag and his world changed completely), and then did a week of gigs in LA. And, also as with Minchin, I immediately got in the car after the meeting and drove all the way back home to Las Vegas again, making it in the door at 4AM. Another 600 mile round trip with a stop for a show in under 15 hours. I'll have to do a full story about this trip at some point, as the rainy weather I encountered for much of the drive, as well as meeting Rollins, was rather entertaining.

This was followed by going to see The Black Keys (with Cage The Elephant opening) at The Cosmopolitian here in Las Vegas on Saturday night. A friend of mine that used to work at the Post Office with me introduced me to The Black Keys about a year ago by showing me an incredible performance they gave one night on the Late Show With David Letterman. As with most things, it took me a bit to really get into it, but once I did, I got INTO it. I've since acquired all 6 of their albums, and they really are something terrific to listen to. Perhaps the best thing about them is the fact that with their sudden immense popularity, they've made the blues a trendy and viable art form again. The last time the blues was this popular of a musical genre was in the early 1980's with The Blues Brothers of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. I've been a fan of that type of music since about then (I must have been 11 or 12 the first time I saw The Blues Brothers movie, and to this day I enjoy it immensely both for the comedy and the music), and I have since become a great fan of artists such as John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Albert King, The Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and The Doors, just to give a few examples of the many diverse talents that can one way or another be categorized as blues artists.

The fact that The Black Keys have gained the popularity and critical acclaim they have while performing what they wanted to play, and not catering to current trends, is something nice to see. Stick with what you like, don't worry about whether anyone else likes it or not. If it makes someone else happy, wonderful, but play it because you want to first. The friend that I went with to the show shares a lot of my musical taste, but is always looking for new stuff, and she likes The Black Keys so much that she now wants more blues music. The circle of life continues.

I then spent most of Sunday over at my Vegas adopted mom's house, helping her and her husband get their recently acquired iPhones set up with iTunes on their computer, showing them a good way to have multiple iPods and iPhones be able to plug into the same computer and work off of the same iTunes library. Even though I live alone, I have an iPhone and 3 different iPods all working off of the same iTunes library on my desktop computer. Only 1 iPod is capable of handling the entire media library I have, so everything else needs to be customized to make it fit. My iPhone has music only on it; no comedy or speaking of any kind. I leave that for the iPods. Even then, I still had to pick which music for the iPhone, as it's only a 32GB, and my library far exceeds that. So it's got stuff on it that I'm most likely not going to skip over, therefore I can go about my work day without having to worry about tracks coming on that I may not be that interested in hearing.

Over the course of this busy weekend, in addition to not writing, I'd also not been sleeping, so it was nice to go to bed early last night, and other than laundry, not do much else today. Seeing as how I've got to go back to a busy day of work tomorrow, I wanted at least one day of relaxing and not doing much. And I've enjoyed it very much, thank you.

I thought I was going to paste one of my Unseen Films pieces here to fill this out, but I see I've rambled on enough to make that unnecessary now. Maybe next time I don't have anything to say (good luck with that ever happening...).


Blog Post Soundtrack; The White Stripes (live), Jimi Hendrix, Audioslave, Bob Dylan, P.J. Harvey, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Soulfly, The Datsuns, Judas Priest, At The Drive-In, Medeski Martin & Wood, Bad Radio, Danko Jones, The Doors (live), Glenn Miller, Fear (live)

Florida...An Actual Vacation...

So after my recent hectic trip to New York City last fall (which I still haven't finished telling the story of...), then followed by the Christmas season (busiest time of the year for a mailman), plus a couple quick there-and-back trips to Los Angeles (each for different reasons, but both pretty cool), I was pretty much in need of an actual vacation. One in which the emphasis on the word "vacate" would be very heavy. I was aware even before any of the aforementioned events that I would be wanting to have a week filled with pretty much nothing, and had begun planning this trip back in September. I managed to make it fit in nicely with my work schedule, found very reasonable flights, set-up the rental car, places to stay, and was good to go.

By the time the trip actually rolled around, I was pretty much ready for a nice break. As much as I enjoy my job, and running around doing things all over the place, the time had come to not do a hell of a lot for a bit. I was leaving on a very early Sunday morning flight, and amazingly, a friend offered to take me to the airport. I was perfectly happy just driving and parking the car at the McCarran lot; I told friends even before they asked that there was no way they were taking me. Not many people would want to pick someone up at 4AM on a Sunday to bring them to an airport...thanks, Rob!

Even though I was forced to switch planes in Atlanta (a direct flight was just not possible), I still had a very nice ride there. Got out, trammed my way to my next
flight's terminal, got on, and we were airborne within 10 minutes. All things in life should go so smoothly. Once I arrived in Fort Lauderdale, I went to my rental car counter. Having already paid for the rental car months ago, it wasn't much to get me to upgrade a little. For a very small additional fee, I wound up renting a black 2011 Ford Mustang for the week. The son of a co-worker friend has a 2008 model, and I do kind of like the new Mustangs, so I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to see just how much I might actually enjoy driving it. Over 1,000 very comfortable and smooth miles later, and I can see me buying one of those in the future.

Roughly the first quarter of those 1,000 miles on the Mustang were put on while driving away from the airport towards my main stay of the week. I have an uncle that lives in The Villages, a 50-years-of-age-plus community in Central Florida, about halfway between Orlando and Gainseville. It has over 70,000 residents, making it the largest 50+ community in the United States. It's about 260 miles from the airport in Fort Lauderdale, but I planned it that way. I got a better deal flying into there, and I really enjoy driving...and I was on vacation with little to no timetable to stick to. Just the way I wanted it.

Somewhere along the way up north I found me a Cracker Barrel restaurant (using the AroundMe app on my iPhone...if you travel at all, a rather invaluable tool to have), which I'd been looking forward to going to for some time. I was first introduced to Cracker Barrel by artist Charles Vess back in late November of 1997, when I stayed at his studio for a few days conducting an interview that was intended to be published in The Comics Journal. Vess has been in the field of comic books and illustration for probably close to 40 years now. One of his best known projects is probably Stardust, which he did in collaboration with author Neil Gaiman. He was, in fact, working on Stardust at the time I stayed at his studio. The book was eventually adapted into a movie starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Ben Barnes, and a host of others. For a variety of reasons, the interview remains unpublished to this day, but I think it was a great in-depth piece, and someday I'll get around to fully transcribing it, and maybe it will eventually get published somewhere. And the trip itself will make for a nice blog entry someday, too.

Cracker Barrel's are not to be found in the Northeast, and definitely not in New York, where I grew up. But once Vess introduced me to them, I've been hooked. It's a Southern chain, with good Southern cooking and hospitality. Vess' studio was in Abingdon, Virginia, within spittin' distance of the Tennessee border. The closest ones to me here in Las Vegas are in St. George, Utah, and Kingman, Arizona. I always hit the Kingman one on the way to and from Phoenix, and whenever I travel to other areas of the country that have them, I include them in the on-the-go itinerary. Using the AroundMe app, I located one in Stuart, FL, and loaded up on a good meal there. They were also kind enough to seat me near a wall outlet so I could charge my dying iPhone...the Mustang I rented did NOT have an iPod dock, which I found rather odd, so it was in desperate need of recharging, as was I.

I see that this entry is starting to take on a life of its own, and due to being a little jet-lagged, and having gotten in very late (didn't get to bed until after 2AM, and was awake a little after 6AM), it's obviously not going to be finished today, so I'll just post what I've got, and come back for more later...


Blog Post Soundtrack; Soulfly, Queen (live), Hater, KoRn, Rage Against The Machine, Yawning Man

To Hell (A) And Back Again

So having made my first sojurn into Los Angeles barely over a month ago, I was given reason to return again just the other night. I'm a big fan of musical comedian Tim Minchin, so much so that I've written a couple pieces (so far) on him for Unseen Films. Seeing as how he lives in London, England, he doesn't make it over to perform in the United States on anything approaching a regular basis. While he is huge over in the UK, and in his native Australia, he is trying to broaden his fanbase. There is a small group in the US who are fans of his, but in an effort to expand that to a much larger number, he is doing a small number of gigs here this year.

Since I follow Minchin on Twitter, I was lucky enough to stumble across an announcement by him that he was going to be playing at a small theater in LA in mid-January. I thought about it for a few minutes, as it was going to be on a Tuesday night. This was apparently a second show, as the first one (which I had missed the announcement of) for the Wednesday had already sold out. My day off for the week in question was going to be on Thursday, so I hemmed and hawed as to whether I should switch my day off, possibly not go at all (quickly eliminated...), or just take Tuesday and Wednesday off and roll that into my Thursday off...which is why I'm writing this now on Thursday, the 3rd of 3 consecutive days off.

I paid for the tickets online at an insanely cheap price (with service charges, still under $50 for the pair), talked to a buddy from work about going, and was set. When Noon(ish) on Tuesday January 11 rolled around, I left for my friend's house. Picking him up, we settled in for the long drive. If you go at off-hours, it isn't really bad at all. Making our way thru the hills and valleys between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, there are some areas that are rather beautiful, especially in winter, when some of the mountains have quite a bit of snow on them. Both my buddy and I enjoy taking long driving trips; many times he's piled his wife and 2 kids into the car and driven back to his native Cleveland, Ohio, and he normally does it in a couple days. That's a one way trip of roughly 2,000 miles...even I think that's nuts. I'll stick with just a few hundred a day, thanks.

Arriving in downtown LA just in time for rush hour, because we were heading INTO LA, it really wasn't that bad. I remember one time driving home from Brooklyn back to my house in Queens (where I grew up in New York), I got to a point on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) where Brooklyn-bound traffic coming off of the Williamsburg Bridge was merging with the BQE. I had been travelling kinda slowly, but now it just became a parking lot. The Kosciuszko Bridge, a small span connecting the NYC boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, lay just over a mile and a half ahead...and I made it there a FULL HOUR LATER. And I still had quite a bit to travel to make it home from there, but that was the worst part of that journey. So I am familiar with traffic.

We were actually moving quite steadily this time, never really dipping below 25 MPH. Finally passing one junction, we were able to open back up again, made it to what I thought was our exit (was actually one early, but a couple small side street diversions later...), and we parked at some mall/parking garage combo thing. We got dinner, then walked the few blocks north to The Largo At The Coronet. Getting our seat assignments from will-call, we still had time to kill before the show, so we thought we'd at least take a look as to where our seats were. Walking thru a door to the theater itself, I practically burst out laughing...as we had walked in at the very back of the theater, and a mere dozen rows in front of us was the stage! I knew the place was going to be small (having read up on it beforehand, I saw it seated less than 300 people), but it wasn't until actually being in it did I realize just HOW intimate this little gathering was going to be. I was already looking forward to the show; now I was starting to actually get excited about it.

As it neared showtime, we took our seats...only 5 rows from the stage. Very nice. And facing the stage as we were, we were all the way off to the right...my seat was actually up against the wall. The grand piano on the stage occupied nearly 2/3 of the performing area, with the seat off to the left...meaning I would be directly in Minchin's line of sight all evening. Another huge plus. Seeing as how he spends the majority of his performance evening sitting at the piano, I wasn't relishing looking at the back or side of his head all evening, so these seats were perfect.

Then, very quitely, Minchin just walked out onstage. After the applause died down (while it was a small room, nearly everyone there was already a big fan of the man, and with his infrequency of US appearances, it's not often we get to show our appreciation for his work), he mentioned that he normally does big entrances, but since this wasn't an actual tour, he wasn't doing that this time. And then for 2 solid hours, the small group of strangers gathered before Tim Minchin and a piano were thoroughly entertained. There were some new songs performed, along with others scattered from his previous shows. It was a fantastic performance, and it was wonderful to see it in such an intimate venue. Which led to my next decision being made much simpler...

Since I was aware of how small this place might be before we went, I was hoping I might have a chance to meet Minchin after the show. Seeing just how tiny the place actually was, I'd now decided I was definitely going to wait around after the show. Since I had the next 2 days off, and my friend had the next day, it wasn't a problem for either of us. A bunch of other people must have had the same idea, as somewhere between 70-100 people were milling around in the indoor/outdoor lobby of The Largo. After maybe a half hour, out walks Minchin, pretty much right towards where I was...and suddenly everyone else descended like vultures on fresh roadkill. Since I actually wanted to talk with him, more than just be a gushing fanboy, I figured I'd just wait out the fans who wanted pictures and hugs (at one point he said something about he's used to British crowds where not nearly so much affection is displayed), so that I could get a proper chance to actually chat for a few minutes.

When there was maybe half a dozen people left (about 30 minutes after his emergence), he started to put on his jacket that he'd placed off to the side when the meet and greet had started. Realizing this was probably the best time, I swooped in, handing him my business card from Unseen Films, introducing myself, and after getting my compliments and appreciations out of the way, asked him about the documentary film about him, Rock N Roll Nerd. Seeing as how it's only available in Australia, he asked how I'd managed to get a copy. That led to about a 10 minute discussion of how I was writing it up for Unseen Films after getting it as a Christmas present, watching it almost immediately, and thinking it was a wonderful film. By the end of the conversation, I'd almost felt like I'd made a friend.

Minchin is a very calm individual, and will look you directly in the eye when making his point on whatever subject matter. The fact that this is a very personal film, made by a very close friend, and containing some very intimate moments, may have altered his demeanor somewhat while talking to me, but I still got the sense that he is a very well-meaning man, and truly does care what his audience members think and feel. So being able to chat with him about something near and dear to him was a great thrill for me.

After thanking Minchin, my friend and I wandered over to a drugstore, got some cookies and drinks, and headed back to the car...which was nearly the only one remaining on that level of the garage...and possibly one of a half-dozen or so in the entire garage at all. It was just about 11:30 as we pulled out of there, and a few twists and turns later, we were back on the now reasonably deserted LA freeways.

Lots of discussion about all sorts of subjects carried us thru the near traffic-free night, and after a fuel stop in Yermo, CA, I found myself dropping my buddy off at his house at 3:45AM, with only a last 25 minute trip back home. Stumbling into my house at 4:10AM, I realized I'd just driven 600 miles round trip, with a stop for dinner, a great show, and a good conversation with the star of said show...all in the last 16 hours. A couple of e-mails later, and I was in bed by 5AM...and awake at 8AM...and then wound up going out with a friend that late afternoon/evening...where we wound up watching some of So Live by Tim Minchin.


Blog Post Soundtrack; Nuclear Assault, ZZ Top, Clutch, Anthrax (live), Simon & Garfunkel, S.O.D., Queens Of The Stone Age (live), Slipknot, Longwave, The Doors, Pearl Jam, Monty Python, Infectious Grooves, Megadeth, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dropkick Murphys, Monster Magnet, Talking Heads, Bobby Short (live), Brant Bjork, MC5, Metallica (live), Social Distortion, Santana, Corrosion Of Conformity, Fugazi, Desert Sessions, Tricky,

We Interrupt Our Continuing Story Of The NYC Trip...

...to bring you our coverage of the LA trip...

I switched my schedule around so that I could have Saturday December 4 off from work so that I could go to LA with some friends and see the Los Angeles Kings take on the Detroit Red Wings. Another friend at work is a partial season ticket holder, so he's able to get first crack at single game seats before they go on sale to the general public. When he the asked other hockey fans in the office if we would be interested in going to a game, a few of us agreed on a date, and wound up getting some tickets.

I've never been to LA proper before. I've been to Anaheim a couple times, but had never been to the heart of LA. It's not something that overly appealed to me. Having grown up in NY, I'm kinda wary of dealing with the crowds, congestion, and traffic of another big city. If I'm going to go to someplace new, I'd rather go visit nature, wide open spaces, and real canyons, as opposed to the concrete variety. But the chance to see an excellent hockey team such as the Detroit Red Wings, in a venue I've never been to before, was too much to pass up. And with the game being a Saturday night, we figured we'd just make a nice long day trip out of it.

I worked on Friday until about 5:30PM, and made a stop at Target after work to get myself a new digital camera. I have a nice Nikon SLR, but it's a big item with large detachable lenses. I didn't wanna deal with carrying much stuff, and many venues don't even allow you to take in something like that, for fear of infringing on their trademarked images (it's just another way controlling corporate America's money-grubbing society demands that you pay for everything...I'm really trying to stay off the soapbox in my blog lately, so I won't go there, but you get the idea...). I bought myself a nice compact Sony digital with a 10X zoom, and due to having a Sony credit card with lots of points built up over the years, I'll be getting the entire retail purchase price refunded to me anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. It's small enough to easily fit in a pocket of my leather jacket, yet still has a nice enough zoom lens to get some really good pics.

Leaving my house around 9:45AM Saturday morning, I made my way over to the first friend's house to get him and his wife, and we talked and just hung out for nearly an hour. We then proceeded to get the remaining buddy on our way to a convenience store to pick up a few road trip supplies. Knowing this was going to be a LONG day, I made sure to have some Exederin and Mountain Dew with me. Since I normally ingest ZERO caffeine, a small amount will allow me to keep going for quite a bit. So at probably around 11AM we were officially on our way.

The drive to LA is kinda nice. Although I've never gone to LA before, I've done many trips to other areas of Southern California for various reasons, so most of the journey there was going to be a familiar trek. My most recent trip in this direction was to Anaheim in April 2010 to a comic book convention where I got to meet a favorite writer of mine (and fellow blogspot blogger) J.M. DeMatteis, along with other artists whose work I've enjoyed and admired over the years, including Bernie Wrightson, Glenn Fabry, Simon Bisley, and Tim Bradstreet. I always enjoy talking with creative types whose work has interested me and given me some happiness.

We encountered a little bit of traffic due to some construction, but basically had a pain free trip to our slightly-out-of-the-way first stop, Portillo's Hot Dogs in Buena Park, CA. It's right next to Knott's Berry Farm (a place where Steve Martin used to work as a youngster, first honing his magician and performing skills that would serve him so well later in life), and is a branch location of a Chicago chain of restaurants. One of our group is a Chicago boy, so he planned this as a side trip on the way to the game. Located about a half hour Southeast of the Staples Center (home arena of the LA Kings), their Italian Beef sandwich made for a nice tasty, filling meal, the perfect break on our way to the game. The Chicago boy then loaded up at their catering section on pre-packaged frozen Italian Beef, gravy, and bread, loading them into coolers with ice packs we'd brought along. These were coming back with us for him, and some other native Chicagoans in the office who he had informed of his Portillo's pilgrimage.

As we begin to leave Portillo's, it's around 5PM, and beginning to get dark. Seeing as how we were now about to do the uncharted territory (for me) part of our journey, this wasn't the best of conditions, but I didn't really care. The game wasn't until 7:30, we weren't that far away from the arena, and it was a Saturday night. Which apparently means nothing to famed LA traffic, as we almost immediately came across a bumper-to-bumper 15 MPH logjam on I-5. It might be rush hour, but isn't that Monday to Friday? No, apparently LA citizens take their traffic jamming duties very seriously, and consider it a 24/7 obligation. Suddenly the idea of getting there early, having some time to walk around for a bit, and maybe get a couple of drinks at the ESPN Zone across from the arena started to go out the window.

And I am now truly no longer a virgin to LA traffic, as at one point while riding along, we all got jolted by the impact of hitting something. I leaned forward in disbelief, thinking "No way! I couldn't have hit this guy in front of me, unless he's got some invisible trailer that...wait, did somebody hit ME?!?" Which is exactly what happened. Somebody changing lanes behind me completely misjudged where I was, or just wasn't paying attention, or whatever, and banged into me from behind. In a flash I ran thru a number of scenarios in my head, did a quick mental assessment of damage based on severity (or lack thereof) of impact, made sure everyone in my car was OK...and just kept on driving. There wasn't any point in stopping, getting out, taking insurance info, delaying our trip even more, making an already unpleasant driving experience even MORE unpleasant for thousands of perpetually frustrated LA motorists...all for essentially absolutely nothing. Funny thing is, it was actually BECAUSE of the slow-moving LA traffic that there was no actual damage done. Due to the fact that we were going as slow as we were, the way I figured, no harm, no foul. We all noticed, much to our amusement, that although traffic remained bumper-to-bumper for quite some time after our little incident, there seemed to be quite a number of car lengths between me and the guy who hit me, now MUCH farther behind...

I should mention at this point that my ever-present iPhone was quite a wonderful thing to have on this trip. It made wandering thru a strange locale with destinations known but unpinpointed a sheer breeze. Being able to go to the internet and get an address for your destination, then type in that address and have it show on the map, and show you the route to take you from your current location to be able to GET to that spot on the map, makes this kinda travel much easier. Lewis & Clark woulda had a HELLUVA easier time if they'd just brought along their iPhones...

We finally got to a parking lot within a 5 minute walk of the arena, and, after checking to make sure there was no damage whatsoever to the rear bumper (amazingly, not even a scratch, let alone a dent), we made it to the Staples Center plaza at around 6:20PM...so the last roughly 30 miles took us about an hour and 15 minutes...reminding me of how much I enjoy NOT living in NYC anymore.


It was a pleasant evening weather-wise, so the walk was quite nice, especially after being cooped up in the car for many hours already. The ESPN Zone turned out to be insanely crowded, so we went to a bowling alley around the corner that had a bar at it, and my friends got some drinks (I don't imbibe, I just hang around and talk). We went to a spot outside overlooking the plaza, and after a few minutes of people-watching, noticed that 2 of the people walking by below us looked familiar...and there went Gene Simmons & Shannon Tweed (he of the band Kiss, she of erotic film lore, both of reality show Gene Simmons Family Jewels). Made for a nice LA celebrity sighting. Not that I'm overly impressed with either of them, but still, a sighting.

After finally making our way into the arena at just after 7PM, we managed to catch most of the pre-game warm-ups from our fantastic seats. Since our season-ticket-holding friend has first shot at single game seats, he was able to get us nice ones in the vicinity of his season seats, so we were at ice level, only 15 rows from the glass. We were off in a corner, exactly in line with the goal line at the end the Kings shoot at twice during the game. A terrific vantage point from which to watch the evening's festivities. Having never been there before, I really liked the arena, although the seats were a little cramped, with my knees feeling like they were in my chest all night. Other than that, a nice place to see a game.


I managed to fire off a few shots with my new camera of the Red Wings in action while warming up, and after they left the ice, I used the break before opening puck drop to nip off to the team store and get a couple things. I grabbed a Kings hat for my father as a X-mas present (don't worry, he won't read this, so I'm not spoiling any surprise), and a Kings puck for myself. I always grab myself a team puck from whatever arena I go visit for a game, and the pucks (along with team baseballs from stadiums I've seen games at) line the mantle in my living room, having recently moved from the top of the refrigerator in the kitchen, because I've been to too many places.

Returning to my seat just in time for the drop of the puck, we actually managed to catch a really good game. Neither team was dominant, although the Red Wings seemed to have an edge in play in the first period, as well as leading 1-0 on the scoreboard. It remained a tight, hard-fought game throughout, with neither team really able to gain an advantage. The Kings scored very early in the 2nd, followed almost instantly by the Wings moving ahead by one again, only to be tied a few minutes later...which is how it remained for the remainder of regulation time. There was plenty of end-to-end action, there was a nice flow to the game, and even though not a lot of scoring, it was still an entertaining game, and fun to watch from the sightline we had.



Before we get to the end of the game, something else that was fun to watch is what you miss out on by just watching games on TV. During commercial breaks, a crew comes out on the ice to shovel off much of the snow that has accumulated due to the razor sharp skate blades cutting and slicing thru the ice at harsh angles thru gameplay. The crew skates around in a very rehearsed pattern, each going up and down the ice in their designated section (and they rotate sections each time) in a very efficient ballet of ice janitorial duties. What the NHL figured out, in the last couple of years or so, is why just have a bunch of slobs in sweatsuits out there doing this? The predominantly male audience can now enjoy seeing the equivalent of cheerleaders in form-fitting, revealing outfits, skating around rapidly enough to make their long, flowing hair fly in the breeze they themselves are generating. Very nice...and yes, there were several girls on the ice, all very pretty, this one just happened to be my favorite. Of course it's superficial, but when in Rome...or in this case, LA...


This was the first live NHL game for the married couple that accompanied me, so they were getting their money's worth with a good game, now followed by an overtime period. The 5 minute sudden death period looked like it might end deadlocked which would have then resulted in a shootout to determine a victor...until the Kings managed to stop pausing and searching for a perfect shot and just get a rush up the ice, fire a shot...game over with 56 seconds remaining in overtime. All game they had been reluctant to take shots, choosing instead to keep passing it around when they had it in the Red Wings zone, searching for the elusive, perfect shot...and seemingly passing up many opportunities to get it towards the net. They finally abandoned this tactic as time was waning and just raced up the ice, made one pass and fired, and it paid off in the game-winning goal.

All in all, a very entertaining game, even though I would have preferred a Red Wings victory. They are a very popular team, and at least one third of the Staples Center was decked in Red Wings shirts, sweaters, or hats, myself included. I have a small collection of NHL sweaters, and my Wings sweater was the first one I ever got...on a trip to Phoenix back in 1996, of all places. All my jerseys have my last name on them, along with the number 25.

We hung around outside the arena for a few minutes after the game, just soaking in the atmosphere and determining our next move. Realizing we still had a long hike back home, we just decided to go. So off we went, and by the time we were driving out of the parking lot, it must have been after 10:30PM. Needing only to stop once for fuel on the way back, my companions and I kept a lively conversation going, laughing and joking most of the way home. We are a fun group, capable of lots of laughs. Good thing to have on a long drive such as this. I was the only one awake for a while though around 1:30, but I had my music to entertain me...obviously couldn't blast it, but still...

So after dropping off the friends in reverse order of picking them up, I finally was able to wend my way home at about 3:15AM, nearly 24 hours after waking up. Even when I turn my alarms off, I still wake up at 4AM...I don't GET up, but I'm awake. Managed to get into bed sometime after 3:30, and completely against my will, found myself awake at 6:30AM. I probably flipped the bird to the clock and rolled over, only to awaken again, with no real hope of going back to sleep...at 7:30AM. *sigh*

Now that I think I've come to the end of this tale of having fun and trying to recapture being young & stupid, I might just take a nap...except today's New York Rangers game starts in 20 minutes...

We now return you to our regularly scheduled story of the New York City trip, already in progress...


Blog Post Soundtrack; John Connelly Theory, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Unida (live), Deep Purple, Nirvana, AC/DC, Peaches, Louis Prima w/Keely Smith (live), Rage Against The Machine, Black Sabbath, The Les Claypool Frog Brigade, Apocalyptica, Discharge, Mike Patton, The Chemical Brothers, Iron Maiden, The Dandy Warhols, Clutch (live), Red Hot Chili Peppers (live), The Misfits, Foo Fighters (live), Deftones, System Of A Down, Pearl Jam (live), Tom Lehrer (live), Voivod, Monster Magnet, The White Stripes, The Beastie Boys, The Prodigy, Limp Bizkit (live, covering a Ministry song), Bjork, Neil Young (live), Metallica (live), Motorhead, MD.45, The Roots (live), Anthrax (live), Zeke, Queens Of The Stone Age (live), Stevie Ray Vaughan, Simon & Garfunkel, Yawning Man, Faith No More, The Smiths, David Buskin, A Perfect Circle, Blondie

Mental Projector

It's been a while, but I finally changed the picture at the top of this blog to another of my many travel shots. This one I haven't even posted on Panoramio (yet...), but I realized it would work well for the look of the blog. It was taken back in January of 2009 on my Southern Utah/Northern Arizona driving vacation that encompassed me seeing things like the magnificent Horseshoe Bend, a 180 degree turn of the Colorado River near Page, Arizona. The river has cut thru the earth at such an angle that as it makes it's turn at this point, it resembles a horseshoe (when viewed from above). It has also eroded the earth to a point that the surrounding cliffs are roughly 1,000 feet high, making for quite a spectacular view when you are standing there in person. As with many things in life, while there are nice pictures of it, no mere photograph can truly do it justice. I felt a true sense of awe standing there gazing over the chasm...every once in a while you are slapped in the face with your true insignificance, yet at the same time you are left marvelling at the beauty that surrounds you.

The picture at the top of the blog, however, was taken near the southern entrance of Zion National Park, just a little bit north of the "sleepy little resort town" (one is required to describe places of this nature with that phrase) of Springdale, Utah. Traversing along a winding path called Floor Of The Valley Road, you are surrounded by beautiful outcroppings of rock, and when the sun hits them just right, they look even more amazing. I purposely did this trip in January, because I figured it would look even more beautiful with a decent amount of snow around. It was also nice to quite often be pretty much the only person around for miles. Having grown up in New York, I'm not afraid of a little inclement weather, but as you can see, really all Mother Nature did was enhance some of it's beauty.

Bryce Canyon National Park was another portion of this journey, and again, there were plenty of moments when I put the camera down and just stood there soaking in the imagery with nothing but my eyes, and my soul. It's possible to get lost behind a lens and just click away and not entirely enjoy the experience of being where you are; I try not to let that happen. And with places like this, you really can't. The pictures are nice, but every time I look at them, they mainly serve as a spark for the mental photographs I have which are far more breathtaking. A truly stunning place, which will definitely be visited again before I'm finished on this plane of existence.



Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park was the other main destination on this extensive driving trip. Located in the northeast corner of Artizona, you actually enter the park from the southern portion of Utah. If you've ever seen a Western film directed by John Ford, you've seen part of Monument Valley. And the picture to the left is the typical image of the area, but there is so much more to it than that...not that it isn't stunning in it's own right. Another truly jaw-dropping experience, seeing these incredible rock formations reminds you of just how small your place in the universe really is. There is a 17 mile dirt road that loops thru the area, and you can't drive too fast on it...but why would you want to? These destinations are in the middle of nowhere, and it takes lots of driving time to get there, so since all this time has already been invested, you make damn sure to leisurely meander around, absorbing the natural beauty that encompasses your field of vision. I had truly beautiful weather the day I was there, and got some amazing pictures, but still the best ones play on the projector in my head...


Blog Post Soundtrack; Alice In Chains, Louis Prima, Pink Floyd (live), Joy Division, Medeski Martin & Wood, International Noise Conspiracy, Motorhead, Bjork (live), Louis Jordan, Fear Factory, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam (live), Samhain, Chemical Brothers, Primus, Misfits (live), Mr. Bungle, Rolling Stones, Dead Milkmen (live)...(and yes, I see the irony in that), Tomoyasu Hotei

Sunday Comics

I woke up this past Sunday morning with a bit of an urge to take a drive out to my local comic book store in Smithtown, Long Island, which is rather odd, seeing as how I've lived in Henderson, Nevada for over 10 years now. I've been a comic book person since I was around 12 or so, but I haven't taken a regular trip to a store in maybe 6 or 7 years or so. I still buy things, but almost always trade paperbacks that collect old books that I liked or original graphic novels. Either way, it's nearly always things that go on bookshelves. And all of those things are available online, or at big bookstores. I very rarely buy a single comic book anymore, and I just as rarely go into a comic book store anymore. But I occasionally miss it.


When I was living on Long Island (against my will...), the best store for me was about a 40 minute drive further out east in Smithtown. Since it wasn't exactly next door, I would just go out once a month on a Sunday morning, and make a nice mini day trip out of it. It was a pleasant experience to actually be DRIVING on the Long Island Expressway (LIE), as opposed to just sitting there, or stopping and starting every 15 feet, and having a small internal celebration if you were able to achieve a speed in excess of 20 MPH. When you aren't muttering about the appalling lack of progress due to too much humanity being cramped into too little real estate, you could come to realize that the LIE actually was a nice and fairly scenic route. And then, having to travel about 10 minutes north of the LIE to get to the location of Fourth World Comics in Smithtown, the road and the journey became even nicer, almost like wandering thru the countryside. Again, it really helped that there was no pressure about making a deadline, no having to be there by a certain time, and no other mass of humanity all trying to get to the same place as you at the same time.


The destination was also quite cool as well. Fourth World is one of the better comic book stores I've ever been in, and I've visited plenty, and even worked in several, including one in downtown Manhattan, located just East of Broadway, South of New York City Hall, in the shadow of the Twin Towers. I was already living in the Las Vegas area for well over a year when 9/11 happened, so I had fallen out of contact with the people at Chameleon Comics & Cards. I worked there for most of 1992, the first year of it's existence. Amazingly, despite their incredibly close proximity to the Twin Towers, the store survived the disaster, both physically and financially, and it is still in operation today. But being a Wall Street location, one of the pricier districts in an already financially-obscene area, the store is a very cramped and tiny place. While Long Island isn't exactly a cheaper area, at least there is a little more room to build out, so Fourth World was in a much physically bigger location. The store must be close to 100 feet front to back, so merchandise was able to be spread out, a greater variety of it was able to be stocked and displayed, and there was a little bit of elbow room as well.


And then, to really enhance the overall relaxation experience of the day, I'd make the return trip on a different road. It would usually be the Veterans Memorial Highway leading into the Northern State Parkway, which at that point is just a 4 lane tree-lined winding road meandering thru the hills that only qualifies as a Parkway because the speed limit is 50 and there's a barrier between the opposite directions. It's a really pretty ride, quite enjoyable if you're not dealing with millions of angry people trying to get to a job they hate so they can pay for the lives and debt they've trapped themselves in.


While I do enjoy the ability to be able to find just about anything ever published via the online experience, every once in a while I do pine for the days of yore, when a pleasant drive thru the countryside would lead me to a nice store that had some really cool books that I still enjoy today.


Blog Post Soundtrack; The Doors (live), Mondo Generator, Kyuss (live), Metallica (live), Republica, Down, Soulfly (live covering a Nailbomb track), The Fratellis, Ozzy Osbourne, Huevos Rancheros, Big Bill Broonzy, Rollins Band, S.O.D., The Dandy Warhols, The Ramones, The Waitresses, The Misfits (live), Dead Kennedys (live), Minutemen

Jean Alesi & Formula 1

Back in the mid 1990's & stretching into the early 2000's, I used to be a very devoted fan of Formula 1 automobile racing. I was a fan of IndyCar racing as well starting sometime in the late 80's (I remember watching the race they had in the parking lot of the Meadowlands sports complex in New Jersey on TV a couple times), and for some reason Jacques Villeneuve became my favorite driver. When he left IndyCar after the 1995 season to go to F1, I simply followed him over there, continuing to follow IndyCar as well, where Greg Moore took over my "favorite IndyCar driver" slot.

My F1 roots go back much earlier though, as I used to love watching the race from Monaco on ABC's Wide World Of Sports in the early & mid 1970's. TV coverage of F1 in the US at that time was practically non-existent, but I have very specific and fond memories of wanting to see the race where they went thru the tunnel, as that was a phenomenon that was unique to the race thru the streets of Monte Carlo. I was quite a young'n at the time, but I was into sports from a VERY early age. Seeing as how I was actually watching a few minutes of qualifying from Monaco this morning, that must be what triggered this journal entry.

I became such an ardent follower of F1 in the late 1990's that I actually journeyed twice to the Grand Prix Of Canada, held at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal. The 6 or 7 hour drive from New York City was a very pleasant one, except for a brief scare on the 1998 journey north involving Dave Winfield and a bird, and one incident on the 1999 return trip involving a flywheel in my 1983 Chevy Malibu that is a separate blog entry unto itself...which I'll get to someday.

But in thinking about my trips to Canadian F1 races, I stumbled across a very fond memory involving a driver named Jean Alesi. Alesi had tremendous talent, but was a bad decision maker as far as deciding when to drive for what team. He always went with his emotions, which endeared him to fans, but prevented him from having any real success at the F1 level. Despite competing in over 200 F1 races in a career spanning 13 years, he only managed one victory. That came at the 1995 Grand Prix Of Canada, driving a Ferrari emblazoned with the number 27, the same car and number that Gilles Villeneuve drove. This was a wonderfully popular victory with fans, and the partially-French Alesi was a hero in the very French province of Quebec. Alesi's car was so light on fuel that he ran out after the final lap, and hitched a ride with Michael Schumacher to make it back to the pits and the podium. Oh, and the Montreal circuit was named for Villeneuve after his 1982 racing death...and yes, Jacques is Gilles' son.

Alesi went with Ferrari in 1991, passing up an opportunity to drive for Williams. This was just as Ferrari completely fell off the map as far as competitiveness, and Williams became the dominant team for the next 6 or 7 years. He then left Ferrari after 1995 and went to Benetton when Schumacher went in the opposite team direction, and Schumacher took Ferrari to undreamed of success (albeit not right away), while Alesi was a "best of the rest" for 2 years with Benetton.

By the time the 1999 Grand Prix Of Canada rolled around, Alesi was with an underfunded Sauber team that, while not the worst in the field, also never had a chance of winning anything. But he was still a popular figure in the F1 world, and in particular with the fans in Montreal. But he sealed his immense popularity with the racing fans in an untelevised incident during practice at the 1999 event.

I had seats at the entrance to the Casino hairpin for the 1999 weekend (just outside the right edge of this picture, about halfway up), affording me a great view of the cars at the slowest point of the track, excellent for taking pictures. In 1998, I'd sat on the opposite side, and enjoyed it, but thought I might like the other side better. The exit side had about 30 or so rows of seats. The entrance side, due to just not having enough room, only had about 6 rows of seats. The first row was within 10 feet of the track, and it made for a great view of the cars as they rocketed up thru the gears on the exit. It also afforded a great view of the incidents that would happen, as the hairpin was a popular spot for things to go wrong. It was also a pretty safe area to pull over if you had a mechanical issue, due to the very slow speeds thru the hairpin itself.

At some point during practice on Sunday morning, Alesi came thru with something wrong with his vehicle. He pulled it over onto the grass on the exit of the hairpin, got out of the car, removed his helmet, and just waited at the wall. The fans, still remembering him for his 1995 victory, started to give him a great round of applause. Alesi, in appreciation, waved to everyone, which only made the applause get louder. With the superstar status afforded to these drivers, plus the performance standards they have to maintain, it's easy to forget that they are people, and some even cultivate the machine image. But Alesi has always been human, faults and all, and this is part of what endeared him to the F1 community. As everyone got caught up in the moment, Alesi got caught up most of all.

Sometimes drivers will throw their gloves up into the crowd after an incident, just as some kind of thanks to the fans. But that is usually over a catch fence where people are standing just on the other side at the same height as them. Alesi wanted to do something for this crowd, but the stands were just a little too far away and a little too high up to have his gloves make it. Seeing a break in traffic, he got over close to the stands on the exit side, and hurled his HELMET up into the crowd! In one magnificent gesture, Alesi went from popular driver to beloved figure in the eyes of everyone in the stands at that hairpin turn in Montreal. Needless to say, the adulation increased even more, and the roar of the ovation was deafening and beautiful. The helmet is something worth thousands of dollars, and my understanding of it was that he did receive some sort of grief from his team upon returning to the pits, as there are bits of technology in those things that the teams are very secretive about. However, nothing could diminish the feeling of the moment. It was truly something special to witness and be a part of, and even remembering it now stirs up wonderful feelings.



All this because I happened to turn on the TV this morning when I realized it was Monaco weekend, and I wanted to see a few minutes of "the race with the tunnel..."


Blog Post Soundtrack; Tricky, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Simon & Garfunkel, The Sugarcubes, Bjork, Les Claypool & The Holy Mackerel, Angelo Badalamenti, Soulfly, Kyuss, The Doors, Parannoyd, Ted Nugent, Beck, Britney Spears, Silverchair, System Of A Down, Latin Playboys, Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, Clutch, Mars Volta, Led Zeppelin, Peeping Tom

Vacations On Panoramio

I'm currently in the middle of posting some pictures from my recent vacation on Panoramio, the photo sharing website that I've used for the last 3 years now. First, a few words (there will be more later) on the vacation. My mom flew out here to Vegas on Sunday the 7th of March, and we started driving for the Pacific Northwest on Monday the 8th. Making our way thru the Redwood Forests of Northern California and Oregon, we also stopped in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and then she flew back home from Seattle on Tuesday the 16th of March. I then continued driving, doing the last 1400 miles in 30 hours, including a 10 hour stop in a nice hotel in Redding, CA that I wish I'd had more time to enjoy. Regardless, I wound up driving 3300 miles over the 10 days I was gone, seeing tons of wonderful things, and having a great time. As I said, there will be more detail about this in later posts.

As for Panoramio, I absolutely love the site. The fact that you can map your photos onto Google Earth is probably what attracted me to the site in the first place. For someone like me who enjoys organizing things, that has a tremendous appeal to me. Over the ensuing 3+ years since I first started posting pictures to it, I've now put up over 600 photos on that site. They've been taken on various vacations over the years. But the fact that you are able to map the photo to the exact location that you took the picture from is the most intersting point for me. You can then go on Google Earth, see your photo placed where you took it, and look at other photos in and around the same area, getting other people's perspectives on the same subject, or looking at things nearby.

Having taken over 600 photos just on this recent vacation, there will be quite a few placed on Google Earth and Panoramio over the coming weeks.


Blog Post Soundtrack; Heart, Blade Runner, Black Sabbath, Queens Of The Stone Age, Budgie, and some of the first period of The New York Rangers hosting The St. Louis Blues (Let's Go Rangers!)

Photo Explanation

So the photo currently at the top of the blog here is one taken by me in late January 2009. I did a driving vacation of iconic southwestern locations, encompassing Zion National Park in Southern Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park, also in Southern Utah, and Monument Valley, home of all those John Wayne/John Ford westerns, in Northern Arizona. I stayed at a hotel in Page, Arizona, right near the Glen Canyon Dam & Bridge, and Horseshoe Bend, beautiful sights themselves. It was centrally located to each of the aforementioned locations, albeit a good 2 to 3 hours of driving one way to get to any of them. I had a fantastic time driving thru much of the American Southwest (I think I put something like 1400 miles on my car in about 4 days), taking hundreds of photos, and losing a cell phone on a hike thru the snow in the process. You can see more photos from this vacation, and tons of other pictures I've taken, at http://www.panoramio.com/user/99980.

The drives themselves were much of the fun for me, as I enjoy driving thru territory I've never seen before. The above photo was taken about 15 or 20 miles east of Zion, on a terrificly foggy morning. This picture seems to represent my feelings about life; you can't quite see what's up ahead, but the view is really cool, and the interest in knowing what's up there keeps you going.

Blog Post Soundtrack; The album Slow Hole To China by the band Clutch