Friday, July 04, 2008

live at red rocks

Thursday, July 03, 2008

the smoke beginning to clear from our section

fireworks so close, I'm getting rained on

the outfield seats are now... in the outfield

dammit. i could be watching the fireworks from the field

game over, man. game over.

extra innings

coors field

living room and kitchen

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

another day, another great lunch spot

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

curvi

straight

Sunday, June 29, 2008

nice spot at eagle lake for my birthday lunch

Saturday, June 28, 2008

giant sequioas

death valley is HOT!!!

progress

today

Today:
Going to Death Valley today. It's supposed to be 117F there today. So
far the a/c has been holding up great and the radiator has also been
holding up very well. No problems yet cruising at 80-95mph in 100+
degree heat so far. If we're good, we'll even make it to Sequoia in
time for a hike!

Yesterday:
Yesterday I tool the time in the morning to change the oil in the
hotel parking lot. I was curious if anyone would come out and yell at
me, but no one did. Activity of the day was hiking The Narrows at
Zion. Zion is still my favorite park. After four days there over two
years I have still not been disappointed. I have to say that my
favorite hike there is the Observation Point trail. Many people love
The Narrows, but I enjoy Observation Point Trail's variety.

Prior day:
Did a nice hike at Grandview at the Grand Canyon, then went to
Monument Valley. After visiting both the North and South Rim, I think
the South Rim is superior in terms of scenery and trails. And, I no
longer think the Grand Canyon is overrated, as I did before. But -
Zion is still my favorite.

Another day back:
Did the drive from Tucson to the Grand Canyon, passing through Sedona.
I wasn't planning on passing through Sedona, but I went based on
Dana's recommendation. It definitely has some fantastic scenery. I
can't say that I'm a huge fan of towns like that, but the location is
spectacular. We finished up the day by walking most of the Rim Trail
at the Grand Canyon and catching the sunset. Good times.

Day before:
Checked out the sand dunes at White Sands National Monument before
heading over Tucson where we took a stroll through the desert at
Saguaro Na... SNAKE!!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

first entry of the trip

So if you haven't noticed, I've been doing a pretty poor job this trip
in keeping this blog update. Usually I do my updates while ridng the
bus, but this time I'm driving.

So what am I doing right now? I'm sitting on the edge of a cliffat
the Grand Canyon waiting for the sun to set. It's been a great trip so
far.

OK. Sun is setting, so I'm gonna get up.

sunset at the grand canyon

grand canyon

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

souvenir cup

Monday, June 23, 2008

chillin' atop texas

Sunday, June 22, 2008

sonic!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

the ballpark at arlington

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

saint louis

Saturday, June 14, 2008

game at camden yards

clipper city brewery tour

Friday, June 13, 2008

let's race

My flight is scheduled to leave (late) at 11:50pm. Adjacent flight is
scheduled to leave on-time at 11:55pm. Both flights are from Seattle
(SEA) to Chicago (ORD). I think I'll sleep through this one. United
continued to suck.

apartment sketch

view of downtown from the living room

view of seattle center, space needle, elliot bay from the living room

view of queen anne from the living room

looking down from the living room

kitchen

living room

view from where the couch will be

view from where the couch will be

hallway from living room to bedrooms

guest bedroom

bathroom

view from guest bedroom

bedroom

view from my bedroom

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

done?

Official page

Let's see if I pass the background check. And those views are roughly what I get. No joke.

entryway

From left to right:
Huge closet
Master bedroom
Guest bedroom
Path to bathroom and living room

master bedroom?

guest bedroom?

new shower in bathroom

living room

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

in six days, I will be here


From http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/10/us/0610-STORM_10.html

Let's hope it dries up a little by then.

Monday, June 09, 2008

is this ace and gary's car?

Sunday, June 08, 2008

what happened to my thumb?

it's been a while

It's been a while since I've sent in a blog entry via my iPhone/e-
mail, but I'm back at it. Right now I'm on Alaska Airlines Flight #3
from Reagan National Airport to Seattle. It's my first Alaska
experience, but so far it's been good. Friendly staff, which is
tougher and tougher to find these days.

Anyway, I'm on my way to Seattle to spend a week looking for
apartments. It'll be a combination of broker and Craigslist. I started
looking up some places Friday and I've got two or three places to
check out tomorrow. I've got all week, but I want to do it right and
I've got to start somewhere. I'm getting a little tired of moving
every year or year and a half and I'm looking for a good place that I
can stay at for a few years and feel like I'm living like a normal
human being (in the States).


As for my car, I am still getting plenty of satisfaction knowing that
my 15 year old car is just as reliable as any new car (in my mind) and
costs very little. Besides, I'm soooooo close to 200,000 miles it'll
be wrong to give up now. After that, I guess I can shoot for 250,000,
aka a quarter of a million miles. I thought of that after someone said
to me "don't you have a million miles on that car?" when I told them
about my drive across the country.

Oh yeah, I'm also working on my reading list. I just finished The
Tipping Point, by Gladwell. I also started re-reading Zhuge Liang's
Mastering the Art of War, not to be confused with Sun Tzu's better
known (and earlier) work, The Art of War. This book has similar
concepts, but much more directly applicable to today's world. The
author is also featured in the neo-classical novel Romance of the
Three Kingdoms and in the series of Koei video games it has inspired.
In other words, the author is a badass in some video games that you
can play on your favorite console. But anyway, it's a great book. How
great? Wesley Snipes had it to read on the plane in the feature film
Passenger 57. BADASS!!!

Friday, June 06, 2008

bleeding cash

So I have a job, and I have a nice relocation package, and I AM BLEEDING CASH. I have no income till the end of July at the earliest, and I'll have a ton of expenses from the summer to cover.

It started with looking at how much I had saved, how much I will need to spend, and when I get paid. That progressed to looking at when billing cycles for credit cards are. Now, after learning that I have to pay for the $200/night room for four nights next week out of my own pocket (to be reimbursed probably in August), I'm looking at the magical world of credit card APRs and balance transfers.

Looks like Chase has a sweet deal with no fees. That's all I'm looking for really - something with no fees with an APR that's lower than the typically insane credit card APRs. I usually ignore those since I always pay my bills in full. Except I CAN'T! Thankfully, I think I have found some weird solution. Let's hope this deal sticks around.

Even if it doesn't, I can always get a huge cash advance from my First Internet Bank credit card that I rarely use. No fees and 12% APR. It'll cancel out half of my 1% reward from my credit cards, but I guess I'll live. Damn it.

ready for another 10,000 miles... and then some