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Monday, July 28, 2008

Back From Vacation At Comic Con

My vacation is just about over now. I did not blog very much while I was on the road. I spent my time, at comic con, with Kate, with my friends, seeing people, seeing movies, eating, and doing other vacation things. When I did have time at my computer I was working on my photos. I was looking through photos, uploading to flickr, or adding tags to the photos.

Comic Con was great. Kate had a good time going with me. It was her first comic con and I am happy that she had a good time. This makes it likely that we will likely back to Comic Con in the future. I am happy she had a good time.

One of the reasons she had a good time is because we got to see lots of friends there. Kate got to meet a lot of people from the first time. I am happy that Kate liked my friends and they liked her.

Top ten thing about comic con

10. Dumbrell Panel
9. Chuck Panel
8. Buying the first copy of Cool Jerk Vol 2.
7. Animation of Peanuts Panel
6. Taking Photos of People in Costume
5. Watching Chris Being a Tonight Show Correspondent
4. Shopping at Scarlett's Corsets
3. Walking around the floor before it was open
2. Watchmen Panel
1. Helping set up the Kids Love Comics booth

Top ten non-Comic Con Specific things

10. Driving down the San Diego with Kate
9. Sunday Brunch with Steve and Kristin
8. Swimming in Steve's Pool
7. Dinner at Pizza Port with Gerry
6. Karen's Birthday Dinner At Fred's Mexican
5. Dinner with the AZ girls at Ocean Beach
4. Dinner with Jimmy, Karen, Harold, Anna and Stella.
3. Staying with Steve and Kristin
2. Seeing people I do not see Often
1. Kate meeting my friends

Labels: comic con, flickrpost, tag overload, vacation

- Rich, 10:54 PM

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Road

The drive was easier than I expected. I am not sure why I was expecting more traffic. It might have been easier because I was coming down with Kate. The trip went very quickly. I just hope the drive back will be that easy.

Labels: road trip, travel, vacation

- Rich, 11:11 PM

Friday, July 18, 2008

Before the trip

It is the night before Kate and I end off to San Diego. We went to Target to buy snacks for the trip. I have taken this trip a lot in the past, but I cannot describe what it will be like. I do not not take this trip often enough that is in the front of my mind. I think that it will be great to drive down with Kate. it is just a time for the two of us to be alone.

Labels: road trip, travel, vacation

- Rich, 2:39 PM

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Travelogue - Portland Wrapup

To say the least, my trip to Portland was great. Kate really loved Portland also. We only went to a fraction of the places that I usually like to go and she still loved it. We talked about the chances that we would move to Portland some day. I told her that there were only a handful of places that I really wanted to live. Portland was near the top of that list.

It was a great trip for a lot of reasons. Kate and I travel well together. I am someone who like to keep plans open when I travel. I see that this did not bother Kate. We spent a lot of time visiting with Don and Jenna. Kate did not mind that we spent a lot of time with someone she had never met before. He instantly clicked with Don and Jenna and we all had a good time. That is also important to me.

Things I meant to show Kate but did not have the time:
Powells City of Books
The Rose Garden
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Pioneer Courthouse Square
SW Park blocks
Bagdad theater

I have the feeling that Kate and I will make our way back to Portland. It would be cool if I could live there again. Even if we just go visit there it will be cool. I have visited Portland on every even year since I left. I do not see that trend ending because of Kate.

Labels: kate, list, Portland, tag overload, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 10:39 AM

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Travelogue - Drive home

We drove home yesterday. It was 12 hours south on I-5. It was not a bad drive, but i was kind of tired. After a exciting vacation it is always hard to drive home. Kate slept a lot on the way home. I did my best to not fall asleep on the way home also. I was mindful not to speed too much, which made the trip drag on. To be honest I would have to loved to stay in Portland. I guess all vacations have to come to an end.

Labels: home, I-5, Portland, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 3:19 PM

Monday, March 17, 2008

Travelogue - Kennedy School

We are staying the night at three different places in Portland. Most times this might get in the way of a trip, but this trip it is working very well. It is giving me a chance to show Kate different parts of Portland. It is making the vacation feel like we are doing more without spending a lot more money. It is working out nicely.

Sunday we checked into the Kennedy school. I love the Kennedy School. It has been once of my favorite places in Portland since I moved there. I will admit that I am a bit of a mark for McMenamins. The idea that they are selling appeals to me greatly.

I am very happy that Kate also liked the Kennedy School. She likes the art that is on the walls. She like the design of the place. She loves that the building is an old elementary school. I think that is shows a lot in common with us. I think it something we see the same way.

Labels: McMenamins, Portland, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 3:48 PM

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Travelogue - Portland Saturday

Saturday we did two very Portland things. In the afternoon we went to the Portland Saturday Market. I love the Saturday market. When I lived in Portland I spent plenty of weekend mornings shopping there. There is something I really like about crafts. I even bought Kate a new purse there.

In the evening we meet Sean for the Portland Trailblazers game. It was a pretty good basketball game. I had never been to a Trailblazers game before. The Rose Quarter is a good arena for basketball. We were all the way at the back of the lower bowl in the corner, but we could see all of the action fine. The Blazers beat the Timberwolves 107-96. I am happy to see NBA scores back in the 100s.

It was just fun to hang out with my brother. We were late for the game, but that did not matter because I was hanging out with Sean. That was the whole point, for us to hang out with my brother. We ended up having to park no where near the arena. Note for next time, if there is a next time, take the MAXX to the Trail Blazers game.

Labels: basketball, Portland, Portland Saturday Market, Trailblazers, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 3:24 PM

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Travelogue - Staying the Night

On this trip we are going to be staying a couple of different places. I think this is an interesting way to see a city. Thursday night we needed to stay someplace cheap. From the moment we got into town I had a place in mind.

When I first heard the Decemberist song On the Bus Mall the line In our rat trap hotel by the freeway made me think of an place by my old apartment. Last night we decided to stay there.

I am not sure this was the place the Colin Maloy was really singing about, but after staying there, it just might be. It was not the worst motel I have ever stayed at. There was no evidence of rats, mice or cockroaches around the room. The carpet was not sticky under my feet. It did not smell funny.

Labels: logging, Portland, The Decemberist, travel, vacation

- Rich, 2:00 PM

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Travelogue - Waking up in Corning

We decided to Leave Wednesday night and drive past Sacramento. I did not want to start my first full day of vacation looking at traffic. I usually like leaving after work to get my start on vacation. It makes the vacation last longer.

Kate and I made it up to Corning. That was a nice jump on the trip. I can drive from San Jose to Portland in a day, but it is not a great drive. Starting early gets me in Portland early enough to do things when I get there.

I am glad I stopped in Corning. We got to see lots of beautiful country side as we drove north. We would have missed this in the dark. My favorite part of I-5 to drive is around Mt. Shasta. You can see much more in the daylight than you can in the dark.

Labels: Corning, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 11:51 AM

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Travelogue - Road to Portland

The first Stop is a Denny's on I-80 on the say to Sacramento. We had a Kathy like experence with a homeless guy when we got out of the car. He walked up to me and asked for money. I was pinned in with another car right there. Scaring people is not a great way to get me to willingly give money.

We are one hour into the road trip and it is going well. Once we hit the road everything was great. There was a little getting on each other's nerves as we were packing the car, but that all went away. More about the trip later.

Labels: I-80, kate, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 8:19 PM

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Open Road

July 16: Open Road
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I am going on a vacation soon, but it will not be a roadtrip. I will have to wait a while until I get to take a roadtrip. The road has been calling my name lately. I have really wanted to see other places lately. I have wanted to get away from here. It will have to wait a few more months. For now my next chance to get away from here will have to be enough.

Labels: flickrpost, road trip, self, vacation

- Rich, 7:06 PM

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Vacations

Kathy's Vacation:
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

My blog is really falling behind right now. I spent a week on vacation with my sister Kathy. We spent a week kicking around anywhere from Point Reyes to Lone Cypress. It included lots of baseball and lot of driving. It was a fun week, but I did not get much blogging done that week.

I have spent much of this week recovering from my vacation. Attending to all those things you cannot attend to while you have a house guest. On top of that I have to catch up at the office. Neither of those things put me in the mood to blog.

Of course in my wisdom I have plans for vacation next week also. That will give me another week where I have much better things to do that blog. I might be able to get an entry or two done, but it is not the kind of vacation that will give me much time to rest.

I guess I am just giving my readers a the reasons my blog is a little under published this month. I hope not to many people will care.

Labels: family, self, travel, vacation

- Rich, 7:11 PM

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Beer Guy

Staying at the Hostel in Cambria I meet Tuan Cháu Tiên. He brews Cháu Tiên. His website is PaleAle.com. I will have to look for his beer when I get back to San Jose.

Labels: beer, travel, vacation

- Rich, 9:02 AM

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Berlin Wall in Mountain View

Berlin Wall in Mountain View
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

Today I went to the section of the Berlin Wall that is in a parking lot in Mountain View California. I have know about this for years not, but this is the first time actually visited. There are sections of the Berlin Wall in a couple of places in America. There is plaque for the display, but it does not say why it is there.

It is in the back of a business park in the edge of Mountain View. When I talk to people about this they all want to know why it is there. I never have a good answer for them. It makes sense that pieces of the wall are in places like the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, and Westminster College. People have no clue why this is here.



When I saw the piece of the way, I wondered why these are not all over the place. I wondered why every state in America does not have a piece of the Berlin Wall on displace. You would think that Americans would want to show off more. You would think we would have imported 100s of sections of the wall.

This is a cool piece of history to have close to me. I am glad that I went to see it. This vacation is becoming about doing things I have put off for a while.

UPDATE: I wanted to include this comment from Don

The wikipeida article is not complete. There are more pieces of the Berlin Wall in America than are listed. For example, there's one at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.


Don

Labels: Berlin Wall, comment, flickrpost, history, Mountain View, tag overload, update, vacation, Wikipedia

- Rich, 9:49 PM

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Vacation at Home

January 28: CDs
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I am on vacation this week, but I am not going anywhere. I am just going to stay home in San Jose. Staying home for a week means that I will be listening to a lot of music. I will either be sitting at my computer with iTunes going or I will be out somewhere with my iPod.

In the last couple of weeks I have bought the new Apples in Stereo and new Modest Mouse albums. This will be a good time to get to know those albums better. I have been buying music at a pretty good clip this year. I need to take some time to listen to it. Since my time is mine over the next week, listening to music sounds like a good way to spend that time.

Labels: Apples In Stereo, flickrpost, ipod, iTunes, Modest Mouse, music, vacation

- Rich, 12:51 PM

Friday, December 29, 2006

Warminster, PA

Warminster
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I grew up in a suburban Philadelphia township, Warminster. My family is still there. I end up going back from time to time. I enjoyed growing up in Warminster. I had friends and it was the kind of place where my parents were not to afraid to let a child go around on neighborhood on his own. Some of the best times where when I was on my bike just exploring.

My friend Bill told me to take lots of Photos of Warminster on this trip. He and I went to high school together. We wasting much of our youth driving around Warminster in his blue van, The Bag-O-Donuts mobile, looking for adventure. Bill said he wanted me to take photos of Warminster so he could remember the place.

The thing about Warminster is that I cannot think of photograph that can sum it up. I cannot think of a shot in the town where I can say, "That Is Warminster." I might be missing something, but it is very hard for me to take photos of Warminster.

There are not many photos of Warminster on flickr, If you search for Warminster you will see mostly photos from the UK and the town my town was named after. It is like there is little out doors in Warminster worth taking photos of.

I wanted to take photos of Christmas lights when I went home this year. I just did not find the time. Maybe the next time I go home I should take photos of all the places in Warminster that were important to me.

Labels: billoneill, flickrpost, photos, vacation, warminster, warminster PA

- Rich, 4:50 PM

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Vacation

Christmas Vacation: Team Spirit
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I have been back at my parents house long enough for it to feel like I have been here a long time, yet there are a whole bunch of things I did not get done. I did not take many pictures while I was here. I would have loved to go out and photography Christmas decorations. I just did not find to the to do it. There are lots of things that I wish I could have done.

On the other hand I feel like I have been away from work forever. I am hoping things have been smooth when I have been away from the office. My guess is that they have been, but you never know. I do not want to be too buried in work when I get back.

It was good to see my family. it is a same that I only see them once or twice a year. I do not see that changing as long as I live in San Jose. It is hard for me to travel to see them and harder for them to travel to see me.

I did not spend much time in Philadelphia on this trip. It would have been nice to get into the city more. I just ended up staying out in the suburbs. I had so many little family events I just did not have the time to get away for a long enough time.

The hard part is being away from my own bed. I am happy to be sleeping in the guess bed at my parents' house, but it is still not my bed. I often find myself almost falling out of it. It has been a long time since I would rather sleep away from my home.

I am looking to get back to San Jose. As much as I like this area, I still have a home of my own to get back to.

Labels: Christmas, flickrpost, philadelphia, San Jose, vacation

- Rich, 2:24 PM

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Christmas Vacation: Cookies

Christmas Vacation: Cookies
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

Being here for Christmas is very relaxing. Whenever I stay in San Jose for Christmas there is always something missing. It just never feels like Christmas. It might be because I have a family in San Jose. After 7 years, I have a network of friends, but no real family. When I am here I have family around. Even with the drama that every family has, it is still a good time.

It is also good because I am not at the office. I have not had to deal with one work issue or read one work e-mail. That is pretty nice. I know this means that I will buried when I get back. It is nice to not have to deal with work while I am here.

Labels: Christmas, cookies, family, flickrpost, San Jose, vacation

- Rich, 11:25 AM

Friday, December 22, 2006

Writing with Dialup

For some reason I find it hard to blog from my parents house. My parents do not have WiFi or DSL. I am stuck using 31200 bps dial up connection back to my provider. It is not even a quick connection. None of their neighbors have a wireless network I can see from their home. I thought it would be a bad idea to wardrive their neighborhood looking for an open network.

What surprises me is how hard it is for me to blog using dial up. The computer is the same, it is just the connection it different. I am so on line and connected when I blog. It is hard to do it with a slow connection. It takes me forever to find a link. I takes me forever to look at other pages to get an idea of what to write.

The weird thing is the connection speed effects my attention span and my writing. I should be able to just open a text editor and blog at the same speed. For some reason it is not that simple. Blogging has become a connected event for me.

Labels: blogging, dialup, vacation

- Rich, 8:22 PM

Monday, December 18, 2006

Back in the old Hometown

Mom
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I am back in Warminster, PA. It is a midsized suburb about an hour north of Downtown Philadelphia. I am back sleeping in the house I grew up in. That is always a little strange.

I feel a connection to my parent's house, but I know it is not my place. There are things that change and things that stay the same. I know that I lived in my parents house a little too long. I was 26 by the time I moved out. I did not move out until I could get clear of the whole area. I looked at moving out before that, but when I decided to move out west I knew just getting out of the house would delay the greater move.

The whole area feels a little like the house I grew up in. I still feel a connection and love for this place, but it is not my place. I know my family would like me to move back. I feel a little jealous of them. I have to travel so far to see them and they are all around here. It would be nice to see them more often.

I know if I moved back here I would have to start all over again. It has been more than 8 years now. I could not just walk back into my old life. That time has passed. I am not the same person and neither are my old friends. If I moved back here I would have to put together a whole new life for me. I have some building blocks already in place, but it does not mean it would be easy.

I will try to write while I am here, but being home takes up so much of my mental space, it is hard to stop and find time to blog. I have not started my Christmas shopping yet. I need to get on that.

Labels: Christmas, flickrpost, mom, vacation, warminster, warminster PA

- Rich, 10:48 AM

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Comic Con 2006: Photos

Comic Con 2006:
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I think I am finally done posting my comic con pictures. I posted 369 photos. I think I took a total of 1028 photos at Comic Con. I feel like I spent more time looking at the photos than on the floor at Comic Con.

I am still going through the photos from the rest of my vacation. It will be a long while before I am done with all of them, but they have a longer shelf life.

I just felt I should post one last Comic Con 2006 photo to Sad Salvation.

Labels: comic con, flickr, flickrpost, photo, sadsalvation, vacation

- Rich, 7:08 PM

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Vacation - Back to the real world.

Traffic
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

My vacation has been over since Wednesday. I have still been recovering with all that time. I think after this weekend I will be back to my normal self. I still have some Comic Con photos to sort through and post. I am really behind when it comes to posting photos to Flickr. I have a lot of non-Comic Con Vacation photos to sort through. For right now you can check out my Comic Con 2006, Women in Costume, and Summer Vacation 06 Sets.

I still have a lot to write about from vacation. I will apologize now to the people who expect my life to be up to date in my blog. I am going to write a lot of entries about what has been happening over the last couple of weeks. I know that my writing will not totally be in order. That is just one of the things you will have to put up with.

I think I am going to blog as many photos as I have good stories for. I took over 1000 photos at Comic Con and over 1000 photos on the rest of my vacation. I think I need to put some of those photos to a little more use than just posting them to flickr.

Labels: blog, comic con, flickr, flickrpost, sadsalvation, vacation

- Rich, 2:50 PM

Friday, July 21, 2006

Vacation - Falling Behind

I am really falling behind with blogging about my vacation. I will catch up later. In the mean time you can see some of my moblogging at vox and my photos at Flickr. I will catch up later.

Labels: blog, blogging, flickr, vacation, vox

- Rich, 11:38 PM

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Vacation Day 5 - Resting

San Diego Beach:
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I know there are some big days coming up on this vacation. With day five I decided not to do much. I slept in late, went to lunch with Steve, and had nothing planned for the day. It seems like a perfect vacation day.

In the afternoon I decided to head to Mission Beach and take some photos. It should surprise no one that Photography is a big part of this vacation. I plan on taking a couple thousand photos without really trying.

I love the beach, but I never vacation there. I think I never vacation at the beach because I never have anyone to go to the beach with. I think the beach is a really hard vacation to take on your own. I think it is a social vacation place. All of my social vacations I am going to visit people. My friends who live near the beach are not really interested at being tourist at the beach.

This makes me wonder why I do not have friends who take vacations together. I can say that I am not one of those people who are asked to take vacations with them. I wonder if that says anything about me. The visit makes me think that I should rent a beach house in San Diego sometime.

I did have a good time at the beach. I only spent about two hours there. I walked around and took a lot of photos there. There is something that draws me to the beach, but I seem to try to resist it.

Labels: beach, flickrpost, Mission Beach, San Diego, vacation

- Rich, 8:36 AM

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Vacation Day 4: Around San Diego

Vacation:
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I spent much of day four driving around San Diego. I know it is a large geographic city, but I never really realize how large until you drive around. It is not just that it is large, it is also geographically diverse. The different parts of the city look different, you do not see that in all cities. I like cities that are more than one place. I think it makes for a more interesting city.

I wonder how many people come to San Diego for Comic Con and never see all those other parts of the city. I would guess a lot of people that come here for San Diego never get out of downtown.

Every time I come to San Diego I wonder if I could ever live here. My current idea is that I could live in San Diego if I had to. If I had a job down here it would be

mini golf

In the evening we decided to go miniature golfing. I have not gone miniature golfing in years. We keep on talking about going miniature golfing in San Jose, but we never do. Maybe I should suggest it as a flickr outing.

Going miniature golfing reminded me of when my family would do it down the shore in Delaware. It is a very vacation thing to do. Going put a big smile on my face. It might have been the best round of miniature golf I ever played.

Labels: flickr, flickrpost, miniature golf, San Diego, vacation

- Rich, 5:21 PM

Monday, July 17, 2006

Vacation Day 3: The Drive

Empty I-5
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I have driven from San Jose to San Diego several times now. I have done it enough to say that I know the drive. This year Andrew is coming to comic con with me. This is the first time I have done the drive with another person.

Taking a long drive with another person is different that taking it alone. Andrew and I talked the whole time. We never ran out of things to talk about. The trip was a constant conversation. The miles just flew by. I think I did not speed as much because of the conversation.

In the past I have liked the solitude on this ride. I did not miss the solitude this time. It has been years since I have taken a long drive with anyone. I have missed taking these types of trips with my friends.

I love conversations on the road. You really have nothing to do but sit and talk. I am known as the kind of person who loves to talk. There are few things better than really good conversation. Andrew is a good match for this idea. He can talk just as well as I can.

It took us about 8 hours to make it from San Jose to San Diego. We made good time and we only spent about an extra hour in Los Angeles traffic. It felt great to get here. I even found Steve's place without directions, I left the directions at my computer.

We did not do much once we got to San Diego. The drive took a lot out of us. It is funny that driving takes a lot out of you. You are just sitting down, but it it not as easy as it seems.

Labels: Andrew J Thomas, conversation, driving, flickrpost, San Diego, San Jose, travel, vacation

- Rich, 11:33 PM

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Vacation Dreams: Brazil

I did not sleep well last night. I had a dream that I was being headhunted by Yahoo. The problem is that Yahoo was being run like the government from the movie Brazil. Every time I came back to campus the structure of the company was totally different. I kept on going back because I was looking for a hidden treasure. I could not tell them what I was looking for. They kept on trying to hire me, but people who worked there wanted me to take them away from there.

Labels: Brazil, dream, Terry Gilliam, vacation, yahoo

- Rich, 7:21 AM

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Vacation Day 1: Giants v. Phillies

Meeting On The Mound
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I started my vacation before I was planning to leave town. When I originally set up my vacation I was going to use friday to surprise my girlfriend with dinner before I left town. Since I do not have to worry about having a girlfriend currently, I was on my own for the first day of my vacation.

My team is in town. The Phillies are here to play the Giants. I was worried that I was going to miss them because they were coming to town at the same time as my vacation. I ended up being in town even after my vacation started.

I was going to go into San Francisco early and take some pictures. I had the day off, I might as well get some use out of it. Because of a late start and poorly used time my day of photography turned into just a trip to Amoeba records and a little drive around the city. I am great at wasting time.

I got to the game early, but I could not get into the stadium. There was a mix up and the ticket I had was no good. I had to wait for Antwon and Ealasaid to get there. The mixup come out in my favor because I got a seat 10 rows behind home plate. I did not get my usual pre-game photos. I got to my set right before the first pitch.

The game was pretty good, except for the Phillies melting down for one inning. That is all it took for them to lose. The Phillies have lost most of the games I have seen them play in San Francisco.

After the game I went to the Valley Schwag party. It was an okay party. It was too hot, too crowded, and too many guys. The women were cute, but the odds were 4:1. Those are not good odds for me.

That is a pretty good first day of vacation.

Labels: ATT Park, baseball, flickrpost, Phillies, SF Giants, vacation, Valley Schwag

- Rich, 1:36 PM

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Comic Con Prep Part 3

March 26: Ready to go
Originally uploaded by earthdog.

I hate packing for trips. Packing is only cool when you get to buy new stuff for the trip. I am not getting to do this for this trip. That means I just need to pack all my old crap. That is never fun.

There are lots of reasons I do not like packing. One of the reasons is that I always pack too much stuff. Even when I try to pack light I pack too much stuff. Since I am away from my stuff, I want to bring everything with me. I need to not bring stuff just in case I need to use it.

I know I need to break myself of this habit. I should find a way to travel light. Taking my car does not help. Driving makes it really easy to take too much stuff. I take less stuff when I fly, but it is still too much.

Labels: comic con, driving, flickrpost, travel, vacation

- Rich, 8:11 PM

Monday, November 21, 2005

Travel-blogue Day 5

Overheard Suburbs

“What? You're looking for a barging at 7-11. Are you stupid? Stop joking and pay up."

Coast v. Coast

When I was talking to aunt about living in San Jose she asked me how I liked it. I told her that I love my job, the weather is never too cold or too hot, and that I have a good circle of friends. Then she asked me if I liked it more then here, the Philadelphia area. Of course she asked me this question while other people were around. I answered her by telling her that both areas have good and bad points.

My answer was a bit of a dodge, but it is true. There are things big and small that like about California. It is everything from Dreamgirl and my job to how many good coffee shops there are and my real life Flickr community. It has taken me awhile, but I have really built a life in San Jose. Even if I do not like it as much as Philadelphia, it is not something I can just walk away.

There are a lot of things that I miss about the Philadelphia area. It would be nice to love close enough to my family that I do not have to take vacation to get home for Thanksgiving. I am jealous of my sisters being able to see each other so often. I might not want to shovel snow, but I miss that the snow.

The suburbs have chanced a lot in just the last seven years since I left. There is still something here that I remember. It means something to be here and live here. It is hard to describe, but I see it whenever I come back. It has something to do with the way people interact. It is not the same in San Jose. I miss that undesirable thing.

Whenever I go to any city I wonder if I could live there. It is just the way I look at the world when I travel. I feel that I could live here again. There are a lot of things here that still appeal to me. I feel that I could put a good life together for myself. I am just not in a rush to leave San Jose.

Do I like San Jose more than I like Philadelphia? When it comes purely to the conflict of place, I think that Philadelphia has an edge. There are lots of things here I miss. The difference is that I like the life I have in San Jose. That will keep in San Jose for a good while yet.

Labels: Phillies, tag overload, travel, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 8:17 PM

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Travel Notes 7/8/03

Covert Trip

I am traveling back to Philadelphia. My goal is to surprise my Mother for her birthday. I talked to her on the phone last Wednesday. She sounded sad that I was not going to be there for her birthday. Everyone else is going to be there, even my brother who lives in Germany. I know that my mom really wanted to see all of her children and grandchildren together.

Now I am going to catch a flight that will arrive in New York at 5:30 in the morning. I will hang with the family for a few days. I will spend all the time with them. I will be back to San Jose before the weekend. Thank goodness for low dollar fares and red-eye flights. I just hope that nothing will screw this up.

Airport

Airport is a very American word. Airport has that ring of a word that was on a list and the marketing department chose the best one. It just seems like the kind of word an American would come up with. It is the kind of word that people in other languages just adopt.

I wonder what other worlds competed with Airport when that world started. It is the same idea as jeans and dungarees. What other terms did people come up with? The British called it an aerodrome until after World War II. I wonder if there is any way to figure this out. I wonder if there are any words better then airport out there.

High Speed

It cost $7 to access the wireless broadband at the Oakland Airport. It is really not worth it. I am only going to be here for the next 45 minutes. It looks like I will have to wait a while before I publish this.

Flight Mix

Wilco - Dash 7
Netural Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Pavement - Hit the Plane Down
Microphone - I'll Be In The Air
Dead Milkmen - Air Crash Museum
R.E.M - You're In The Air
Richard Thompson - Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair
Talvin Singh - Flight IC408
Jets To Brazil - Air Traffic Control
Ben Folds Five - Air
This Flight Tonight - Joni Mitchell
Meryn Cadell - Flight Attendant

Labels: airport, family, mix, music, tag overload, travel, travel notes, vacation

- Rich, 9:46 PM

Thursday, May 01, 2003

Travel Notes 5/1/03

Let work at about 7:30

I wanted to leave work earlier, but I had a meeting. It was an important meeting to be at. I had to make sure I was heard. I really wanted to leave at noon. My drive would have been a lot better if I was able to do that.

Driving

Drove to about 11:30
Made it to:
Best Western – Liberty inn
5521 Dennis McCarthy Drive
Lebec, CA 93243

It was hard to know what kind of time I was making. After I get past Pacheco Pass http://www.climber.org/DrivingDirections/PachecoPass.html the landscape stays the same most of the way until LA. It is not an exciting drive. I kept on having to press myself to keep driving. I think I got pretty far. I do not know

100 Most Rich Thomas Albums, Songs, and Artists

I found out today, the day that I am leaving my trip, that my sister Alice is flying into LAX on Saturday the 10th. I had to call her to make sure that she knew that San Jose is not near LA. I know lots of people have a poor sense of California geography. She told me she wanted to fly into LAX because she wants to drive up the coast. I think this is a great plan. It also gives me a defined time to return home.

Labels: driving, notes, travel, travel notes, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 3:58 PM

Sunday, January 05, 2003

Travel Notes 1/5/03

The extra day

I am so happy I am taking a day to get back into the swing of things here in San Jose. Most of the time I push my days off to the max. I have slept a lot today. It would have been bad if I had to go to work. I might have just called in sick. I need to remember this the next time I take time off.

Labels: San Jose, time, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 6:24 PM

Friday, January 03, 2003

Travel Notes 1/3/03

I had nothing planned for today, but I did a lot.

Hung out with Charlie and Ruth before Lunch. Spent an hour over there.

Had lunch with Dad.

took a nap in the afternoon

Had dinner with Mom, Dad, and Kathy.

Ruth, Joe and Charlie came over for a little while after dinner.

Mom, Dad, Kathy, and I played pinnucle.

Packed my bags.

Made my sisters a CD of all the pictures I took while I was here. I included most of the Pictures on my laptop. I tried to take a picture of everyone I saw on this trip. I think I did a pretty good job. I think I have already used my new camera more in two months then my old camera in two years. If not, I have already got down to $1 per picture.

Watched the Second half of the Feastival Bowl. Ohio State won in Overtime.

Labels: tag overload, travel, travel notes, vacation

- Rich, 10:16 PM

Monday, July 29, 2002

Monday Top Five

As people know I am San Diego on vacation right now. Sorry this is a little late. It lead to my top five for this week.

Top Five Vacation Towns

1. Ocean City, MD
2. Portland, OR
3. Ocean City, NJ
4. San Diego, MD
5. Dewey Beach, DE

Post your link or your answers in the comment box.

Labels: city, list, meme, top 5, vacation

- Rich, 10:41 AM

Monday, July 15, 2002

Vacation

The plans are set. I am going to San Diego. This will be the third vacation I have taken this year. After this I will take at least one more. After going to San Diego I will still have three weeks saved up. I have to use them anyway.

If you could go on vacation at this very moment, where would you go?

Labels: San Diego, self, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 9:51 PM

Tuesday, June 04, 2002

Tuesday

Today I had lunch with my sister Kathy today. I like the closeness I have with Kathy. I have a different relationship with each of my sisters. Kathy is the one I connect with most of the time. We spent a good time talking about her work and the law. The law fascinates me, in the way complex real world idea fascinate me. I like knowing things about the law, but I would never want to be involved with it.

After lunch I found a record store in Ambler. There used to be a really good one there, but it must have closed a while ago. The store I wet too had almost all used CDs. They were a lot of CDs that I used to own when I was in college. I could have bought a hundred of them, but I tried to limit myself to a few. I should take my chance to use the good CD stores in the area while I am home.

In the afternoon I went over to Ruth and Joe's house. I wanted a chance to see Charlie, Ruth, and Joe without other people around. I am never going to bond with Charlie if everyone else is always around. When I got there Charlie, Ruth and I played on their front porch. I will admit that I know nothing about toddlers. Charlie seems well behaved most of the time. We had to watch what we did in front of him and make sure we did not laugh when he did anything bad. I think that might be the hardest thing about discipline kids. Sometimes they do really bad things, but you just want to laugh a lot.

Later Dot stopped by. Dot and I took Charlie to the park so Ruth could get dinner started. I could tell that Charlie was starting to trust me. He was letting me take him in and out of the stroller. By the end of the trip to the park, Charlie was even asking me to take his hand. I could understand why I might scare him. It was nice that it did not take that long for him to warm up to me, but it did take a lot of work. After the park Ruth, Joe, Charlie and I had dinner. I stayed a while after dinner. Long enough that there was some time for Ruth and I to talk. If I did not go over to her house, we would have never had the chance to talk.

One of the reasons I would like to be closer to home is that I would like to be part of Charlie's Life. I am not going to be close to him if I am living on the west coast. I think he would not be afraid of me if I lived closer now. It is one of the pulls back to the east coast. I know there are a lot more things that I have to work on before I can move back there.

Labels: ambler PA, charile, dot, family, Joe, kathy, Ruth, travel, travel notes, vacation, warminster, warminster PA

- Rich, 11:55 PM

Monday, April 08, 2002

Back To Work

It has been hard for me to get back to work. I thought that taking a vacation would re-energize me to be at the office. It has worked in the past. I would go away for a few days and I would be able to swallow all the work bull again. Just catching up from being on vacation seems to be enough sometimes.

This time it is just not cutting it. I am looking at the work in front of me and I want no part of it. It seems more senseless then usual. I am just reminded that I should be looking for a better job.

Since getting back from Portland, I keep on thinking about how close 30 is. I keep on thinking about how I am not ready to turn 30. I should be doing more important things with my life. I should have done more things by now.

On top of all this, I have to take a three day trip to Albuquerque this week. I wish it was not right on the heals of my trip to Portland. I feel that I am going to miss a lot of things going on around the office. I am not recovered from my vacation yet. I do not want to go, but I do not want to tell my boss that either. It looks like I am on my way to Albuquerque tomorrow.

Labels: 30, Albuquerque, Portland, self, vacation, work

- Rich, 9:59 PM

Sunday, March 31, 2002

Travel Notes 3/31/02

Alone on the road
I have spent most of this trip alone. I knew that before I came up here. What am I trying to figure out with all this time alone? It is alone and away from my regular life. Today it was hard to be alone. I wanted to be closer to people. It is Easter, and everyone I saw where in groups. Not being close to people is really getting me down. I have to think about that.

Lost on the Street or Religion

When I left the restaurant I was having dinner at tonight I was panhandled by a girl. I am not sure if she was 16 or 24, but she looked in rough shape. She was eating a handful of gummy worms. She asked me if I had any change. I usually do not give money to panhandlers, but today is Easter. I gave her about seventy-five cents in change and left it at that.

I know what she meant her that she did not have any Easter candy or Easter dinner. I thought about the idea that Easter is really for religion. Easter is about faith. I wanted to tell her to look into religion. If she is living on the streets she is looking for something. I wanted to tell her to look for that something in religion. It does not work for everyone, but it might work for her. It might be better then living on the street.

I did not say anything to her. The whole time I walked away, I wanted to turn around and say something. I am not a super religious person. I just cannot think living on the streets is better then finding faith. I still wish I told her this.

I went back later to see if she was there, but she was not. I wonder if I would have said anything to her if she were there. I will never know now.

Alone thoughts
I am a little depressed today. I am depressed because I am alone. I know I took this vacation to be alone, but it is pointing something out to me.

Random Roads

I am spending too much money on this vacation.

Breakfast at Jo Rousserie & Bar

Lunch at Burgerville

Dinner at the Downtown Greek Deli & Cusina

The restaurant has an octopus on the facade.

I had a great sandwich there.

I had two bottles of beer today.

The city was really dead tonight

There was not much to do today

I spent a lot of time driving around the outskirts of the city

The beds at the Benson are really good

Labels: alone, easter, list, Portland, self, tag overload, travel, travel notes, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 11:04 PM

Saturday, March 30, 2002

Travel Notes 3/30/02

I went to sleep early last night. I was tired because I did not get much sleep for the three nights before that. I was almost falling asleep during the movie and during dinner. I did not have any plans. I knew that if I just kept drinking, I might get in a bad position. While this is a drinking vacation, I want to avoid being in a bad way about it.

Figuring out Portland

I have been having a great time in Portland. Everything seems great as I go around this town. I am asking myself why don't I live here right now. The problem is that I know I had problems with this town when I was here. I was happy to leave Portland. I am trying to remember why that was. If I do not remember why, I could get myself into trouble. If I do not see the down sides of Portland, I will pine for it. I will try to line up my return and that will be trouble.

I know that one of my problems is that I had problems finding a job I wanted. I temped two places. I know that I could have put in more time, but there are a lot better jobs in San Jose. There has to be something said for that.

I know it was something else also. I know that there are other things that where were wrong when I left. I have to figure those things out on this trip. Right now I cannot remember what those things were. I need to know what will give me problems if I come back here.

Random Roads

MP3 Player/laptop combination is great for vacation.

I drank 6 pints of beer today.

I am seeing a lot of building around town built in 1912. That must have been a big year in Portland.

I did not see a movie today.

I keep on thinking someone is going to mug me today.

Personal Pub Crawl, Draft at Shooter McQuades, Two Drafts at Kelly's Olympian, Two Drafts at Ringlers

I stole the 'history' card from Kelly's Olympian and turned into a letter for Jeremy

if I lived in Portland, I would try to drink in every bar in the city

Trying to remember the bad things about Portland

Shopped a lot today, Portland Saturday Market, Odd-Ball Shoes, Powells, Everyday Music, and Ground Kontrol.

Got Gifts for Mom, Kathy, and Alice at the Portland Saturday Market.

My ethics are untested

Portland seems larger then San Jose, but fewer people live in Portland

At Powells I talked chess and Deep Blue with a bunch of guys.

At Powells I bought coffee for a woman who did not have any money.

Rode the Max today. I love mass light rail.

Time Flies by when you are on vacation.

Labels: list, Portland, tag overload, travel, travel notes, vacation

- Rich, 11:17 PM

Lewis and Clark in Seaside

Labels: Lewis and Clark, Oregon Trail, photo, photoblog, Seaside OR, statue, vacation

- Rich, 10:01 AM

Friday, March 29, 2002

Travel Notes 3/29/02

Drinking on Vacation
I woke up hungover this morning. The pitcher of beer while watching Ocean’s Eleven last night did not help. I should not be surprised I was hungover. That will happen on vacations where one of your goals is to drink a lot of beer. All I am saying is that any hotel that has it own Brewery should have free aspirin in the rooms. It would be just like the free soap. One of the best things about the Kennedy school is that there is so much beer around. They brew it right in the hotel. It is like a license to drink

Why am I drinking on this vacation? I had another active night of drinking. Part of me says that drinking is a way for me to declare I am not responsible for anything on this vacation. I usually do not let myself get drunk because I have to do something like drive or go to work the following day. On this trip I do have to do anything. I just have to hang out. There is something very good and very bad about this idea.

There might be a different reason I am drinking so much. I had a clear idea why that might be when I take this note, but I am not really sure now. That is what happens when you drink so much. I might be drinking because it is an easy thing to do. I can make an even out of going to so many bars in Portland. It is something I can do instead of looking for other things to do on my vacation.

Random Roads

I saw Metropolis tonight.

Might go to see a movie every day

I have seen lots of signs for Apartments to rent

Would I want to live here again be the Question?

Still signs of life at the 800.COM building.

What do CEOs do with their license plates once the companies go out of business?

Bought Miss Wyoming By Douglas Coupland

Bought A Model World by Michael Chabon

Bought a Microphones-Don’t Wake Me Up CD

Bought the Uncle Tupelo Anthology CD

The Benson is a swanky place

Everything is expensive at an expensive hotel

I am on the 7th floor, but my view sucks.

Took the Valet Parking.

Had a beer at the Lotus. They sign still reads 1924 to 2000.

Dinner at Market Street Pub

There is something very Portland about McMenamins.

I cannot tell the street kids from the slackers.

I do not believe people when they say they have a self-selected family

Portland is full of cute young lesbians.

Made notes I cannot read

What are the chances I will see someone I know?

Hung out at Pioneer Courthouse Square

Lunch at Good Dog/Bad Dog

Hawthorne Blvd looks basically the same

I love women with sad faces.

I drank 6 pints of beer today

Labels: drinking, tag overload, travel, travel notes, travelogue, vacation

- Rich, 11:52 PM

Wednesday, March 27, 2002

I Just Want To Go!

I am sitting at work right now just waiting for the day to end. I cannot say I want to do any more work. I am just trying to get to the end of the day. I am trying to keep my head down until i leave for vacation. I want to keep people from looking for work for me to do. I want to not draw any attention to myself. It is a bad situation to be in at work. I have to figure out what time I can sneak out the door.

Labels: self, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 3:37 PM

Friday, March 22, 2002

Songs For the trip

I am looking for songs for my up coming trip. I am driving to Portland and I would like to make a CD mix of the drive. Please give my your suggestions of what should be on this mix.

Labels: suggestions, travel, travel mix, vacation

- Rich, 1:14 PM

Thursday, March 21, 2002

Portland To Do List

This time next week I will be driving 101 North through the land of the redwood giants to the Oregon Coast. There are still things I need to do before I am ready for the trip. I hope I am not forgetting anything.

To Do List...
Get oil Change
Do Laundry
Make 1 Mix CD
Select CDs For Car
Install Dial-Up service on laptop
put coat into car
pack cloths
Clean Car (back seat)

Done...
Reserve Hotel Room
Contact Doug & Amber
Request time off

Labels: list, Portland, tag overload, todo, travel, vacation

- Rich, 12:19 PM

Friday, March 01, 2002

Friday FIve

Friday Five

1. What's your favorite vacation spot? I tend not to go to the same places over and over again. I like San Diego it seems to be a very relaxing place. The Jersey Shore always has a soft spot in my heart. Portland is a great place to relax. I like going back to Philadelphia to see my family.

2. Where do you consider to be the biggest hell-hole on earth? Mexico City. I have never been there and I cannot think of a reason I would want to go there. I know this is not rational, but I have read a lot of bad things about that city.

3. What would be your dream vacation?

4. If you could go on a road-trip with anyone, who would it be and why? I like taking trips with my friends. I am taking a trip with Cathy this summer. I have known her for a long time and we have driven a lot with each other. She is someone who I can really have fun with in the car. I would like to take a long trip with Jeremy. There is something about the way the two of us see the world. We have taken really good road trips to Pittsburgh and Toronto. He would be great to drive cross country with. We never have enough time to talk. A cross country drive might be what we need to say everything. My sister Kathy would also be nice. I would like to take a trip from San Diego to Seattle. Kathy makes me work harder on vacation. I make Kathy relax on vacation.

If I took a road trip with someone famous, I would choose Richard Ford. I think he would have a good stories to tell. I think I could get along with

5. What are your plans for this weekend? I have no plans. I am on call this weekend at work. I might play some card games.

Labels: Friday Five, meme, philadelphia, vacation

- Rich, 10:00 AM

Thursday, December 27, 2001

Radio and Singing

On Sunday I hung out with Cathy, Chris, and Steve. Cathy described that day pretty well on her Live Journal. We spent a couple of hours doing her radio show. It was surreal on some level.

After the radio show we sung karaoke. Cathy has been telling me about this karaoke night for a long time. She loves going to this place and she wanted to show us why. Cathy knows that I have a history with karaoke. When I was 23, right out of college, I used to hang out at a karaoke bar all the time. She had heard lots of story of bad songs. I once suggested that a karaoke wedding reception would be a good idea. She knows that I would be at that bar every week if I lived in Philadelphia.

She described it in her Live Journal, but I cannot figure out how to link to specific entries. I decided to take this right from her page. Just remember that "I" refers to Cathy. I do not back up dance.

Peter did "Detachable Penis"

Steve did a bunch of old country stuff, like Hank Williams, and "Blue Suede Shoes"

Rich introduced the crowd to his "everything is sung like Tom Waits" stylings, taking on The Carpenters and Paper Lace's "The Night Chicago Died"

I did my best ever effort on "Mr. Roboto" and "My Sharona", rocking out, doing the robot and the Molly Ringwald dance.

Some new songs were done. Trishy debuted her version of Olivia Newton John's "Physical". Elisa took on The Spinners' "I'll Be Around".

I did more backup dancing duty.

Strangely Joe H., the DJ, struck up two conversations with me, and I got a hug at the end of the night. He definitely seemed in the holiday spirit.

The best moment of the night was when a large group of us got up and performed "Do They Know It's Christmas?" ala Band Aid.

Cathy left out that I sang Your Cheatin' Heart. I like that song because anyone can sound like a hillbilly. The group singing "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was great.

We had a great time on Sunday. It was the kind of night that I really look forward to having when I go back home. It had the kind of energy that nothing else mattered but having a good time right then.

Labels: broken link, Cathy Heard, Christmas, karaoke, music, philadelphia, radio, tag overload, travel, vacation

- Rich, 3:22 PM

Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Being Back Home (I mean San Jose)

Before I left for vacation I felt that I was only going to be home for a couple of days. I felt like I was not going to get time to do much. I knew that I would not get the chance to hang out with all my friends. I felt bad for not being able to take more days off. I am hoarding vacation to use it next year. I could have taken more days, but I want to save all that time for a big trip.

Now that I am back in San Jose, it feels like it was a long vacation. I look back on my flight to Philadelphia and it seems like more then a weeks time has past. Between seeing my family and hanging out with friends, it seems like a lot more then one week has past. I think that I got a lot of what I wanted out of this vacation. A big chunk of that was catching up with people. I wanted to make sure I renewed friendships with people I do not see all the time.

Being Home

Before I left I wrote about how I felt that this trip would either cure my homesickness or make me what to go back even more. I can say today that my trip has cured my homesickness. I feel that I am good for some time longer in San Jose. Like my last trip back to Philadelphia, I realized that I am not ready to move back yet. I do not think I am done in San Jose either. I feel that I have to spend more time in San Jose before I decide to move on.

There is a list of things that I learned.

1. Home is always a more complicated idea then expected. Before going back to Philadelphia I was not thinking about all the complicated issues that I faced there. It is like those issues are out of sight, out of mind. There are issues with family and friends that I do not face being on the other side of the country. If I moved back there I would have to deal with these issues more often.

2. I think I could live in Philadelphia in the future. I drove around the city with an eye on what I like in Cities. I think that I could live in a city like that. There are currently a lot of nice areas in the city. There are lots of parts of the city where I can live a very urban life. I can see why Cathy likes living there. Philadelphia has a lot of different identities for the people there. I think it has more personalty then San Jose.

3. There are still things I need to learn about myself. I moved out west for a lot of different reasons. One of them was to learn more about myself. I think there are still some things that I need to learn about myself. I think that I want to learn these things before I move. I think I have to understand more about how I feel about relationships, work, and living before I move back to Philadelphia. If I do not learn these things I could make mistakes.

4. Don't let turning 30 freak me out. I am turning 30 next year. I think it has been freaking me out a little. I think that I have been putting pressure on myself because of turning 30. I was upset that my life is undefined in places. I think that worrying about it is not making my life any better defined. I have to let these things develop at there own speed. I should not worry about the time that is taken. It is only time.

I apologize if some of these things are vague. There are things that happened that I cannot really write about in such an open place. These things are effecting my outlook. I am not sure I can give more detail without airing dirty laundry.

I will be writing more about this trip. There are a lot of specific things that I can write about. I just do not have the time to write about them right now. I know the next couple of days will be spend writing about things that happened when I was visiting home. I hope I do not forget about any before I get the chance to write about them.

Labels: age, list, philadelphia, San Jose, self, vacation

- Rich, 10:04 PM

Back in San Jose

I have spent most of today with a travel hangover. It is like a regular hangover, except I did not have fun getting it. I am not in the mood to go over all the details of my flight back, but lets just say I am going to think twice before flying America West again. I got back to my apartment at 2 AM this morning. That was almost three hours after I expected to get back. This was after having to fly into the San Francisco Airport rather then San Jose like I was ticketed.

I spent most of my time today sleeping and laying around my apartment. I really did not have the drive to try to do anything else. I am so happy that I took today off. It would have been a mess if I had to go into the office. I know for next time, If I fly into town late it is best to take the next day off.

Now I have to go into the office tomorrow. I wish I could take another day off, but I have to go into the office sometime. The good thing is that I am looking at a two day week. I only have to survive tomorrow and Friday. I will be able to relax a bit more after that. I know that I was just on vacation, but it was not all that relaxing.

Labels: San Jose, travel, vacation

- Rich, 9:23 PM

Thursday, December 20, 2001

Flying

Right now I am waiting for the cab to take me to the airport. The worst part of traveling is the waiting. I miss having the time to drive on every vacation. I felt more in control when I could drive.

Labels: driving, flying, vacation

- Rich, 8:31 AM

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Home for Christmas

Tomorrow I am leaving to go home for Christmas. Today I am just filled with energy. I cannot focus on anything. I just want to go, go, go. It is a hard way to be at work.

Labels: Christmas, vacation, warminster PA, work

- Rich, 2:29 PM

Thursday, October 18, 2001

Notes from my vacation

-Rented an Ford Escort. It is a car that I would never buy
-Drove over 300 miles on this vacation
-I was airsick just before I landed in Chicago
-Chicago is on the second tear of cities I would move to.
-Wondered how my life would be different if Jeremy and I lived in the same city.
-Slept on a pullout bed at Jeremy's Apartment. My neck was killing me by my last day there.
-Spent money like a mad man. This vacation might have cost me over a grand.
-Trimmed my goatee the day l left San Jose.
-I talked to Jeremy about everything in my head.
-We ate dinner at Harry Carey's Restaurant.
-The waiter insulted Jeremy's manhood. I gave him a bigger tip for that.
-Spent my time listening to the MiniDisc I made the night before I left.
-I had the Ben Folds song Carrying Cathy stuck in my head the whole week.
-Jeremy asked me if I pray.
-Cell Phones in Airport.
-I spent a total of 8 hours of my trip standing in lines in airports.
-I have to Blog all this when I get home.
-Jeremy made me laugh so hard I almost crashed the car.
-I am glad I did not buy an MP3 Jukebox.
-Won $25 at Video Poker in the Los Vegas Airport.
-I think I have to send out Christmas Cards this year.
-Got to see Jeff's New House.
-Jeff introduced me as the person who bought him the TiVo.
-I gave the TiVo sales pitch five or six times.
-One person said that TiVo might ruin society, I agreed with her.
-It was nice to see how Jeremy and Jeff live.
-I now have a mental idea of the world Jeremy lives in.
-I asked Jeremy for a list of instrumental CDs.
-Watched Enterprise with Jeremy.
-On my last night in Chicago Jeremy made me laugh so hard that I almost crashed my rental car.
-Jeremy and I talked about the worst albums we ever owned.
-My worst album is Pete Townshend's Ironman

Labels: Chicago, tag overload, travel, travel notes, vacation

- Rich, 12:57 PM

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Lots of things to write about

I feel that I will be writing about things from this trip for months to come. I did not so a lot of activities, but Jeremy and I talked a lot. Those conversations are things that give my mind something to think about. I know that subjects from these conversations will be coming up for weeks to come. Some of the conversations where just little seeds that will bloom later. I hope that no one reading this will be bothered by that.

Labels: Chicago, conversation, Jerery P Bushnell, vacation

- Rich, 7:56 PM

Back From Vacation in Chicago

Today I am going back to work. My vacation is over and I have to go back to the grind.

Last night, right before I went to sleep, I realized I had a good vacation. As I was laying down in my bed I felt like I did not remember what it is like to wake up for work. It felt like sleeping in my bed was almost an unfamiliar experience. Intellectually I knew was just getting back to my life. It was my physical memory that felt different.

There is part of me that did not want to come back to San Jose. It would have been nice if I would have been able to stay on vacation forever. It would be nice if I did not have to work and I had all the money I needed. I know that I am a long way away from that ever happening. I knew that too much of my life is in San Jose. I do not have the kind of support system that would allow me just to leave here and never come back.

I will have to see how long it takes me to get back into the swing of things at work. I know I only took five days off. It feels much longer then that. I think that I really emotionally escaped my job while I was in Chicago. I did not think about any of the day to day parts of my job. It might be next week before I am back in the swing of things.

I might be getting back into work before I get there. Last night I had a dream about TiVo's Evangelist, Richard Bullwinkle. I do not remember anything about the dream. I just know that he was in the dream.

Labels: Chicago, Jerery P Bushnell, San Jose, travel, vacation, work

- Rich, 6:31 AM

Tuesday, October 16, 2001

Getting Away from Me

Here is the MiniDisc Mix that I have been listening to all week. It might give people some incite to my trip.

Getting away from me

1. Wilco - Via Chicago
2. Dinosaur Jr. - Out There
3. Counting Crows - High Life
4. The Beta Band - Dry the Rain: Champion Version
5. Calvin Johnson - Love'll Come Back Again
6. Crowded House - Four Seasons In One Day
7. Sundays - Can't Be Sure
8. U2 - One
9. Talvin Singh - Traveler
10. Pete Townshend - Eminence Front
11. Calvin Johnson - Lies, Goodbye
12. Ben Folds - Carrying Cathy
13. Harvey Danger - Why I'm Lonely
14. Son Volt - Tear Stained Eyes

Labels: MiniDisc, mix, mixcd, music, tag overload, travel, travel mix, vacation

- Rich, 11:08 AM

Monday, October 15, 2001

Meeting Jeremy's Girlfriend

I finally got to meet Kat tonight. I "met" here for a few minutes on Friday, but it was only for a few minutes. Last night Jeremy, Kat, and I had dinner together. I have know about Kat for a long time, but I have never met her before. She has been dating Jeremy for more then two years now.

Kat had been described to me as a Communist. She is a part-time union organizer. She described herself as left-of-liberal. I am on the other hand of the political spectrum. I am not a total right wing nut, but I am a card carrying republican. I voted for George Bush, Bob Dole and George W. Bush. I can say that we have different points of view on the world.

Kat looked just as I expected her to look. She has long dark hair, glasses and a sly smile. Jeremy had described her to me and she looked that way. I was surprised that she was so close to my mental image. People are never that close to your mental image of them.

The odd part was that she did not act anything like the way I expected her to act. I was expecting her to be more mysterious. My mental image was someone that was a few mental steps in front of everyone else in the room. I expected someone that was cynical and hard to the world. I guess I expecting a old goth girl that how grown up.

Kat is a much more cheery person then I expected. She seemed to be the kind of person who almost bubbling over most of the time. It is hard for me to describe her without it sounding like I am making fun of her. I am not trying to make fun of her. She seemed like the kind of woman still likes stuffed animals.

I think I understand what Jeremy sees in her. She does not seem like an easy woman to understand. Jeremy said that he has had two types of girl friends in his life, the Smiths fan and the stuffed animal fan. He thinks that Kat is in both groups. I can see why Jeremy likes this.

Labels: Jerery P Bushnell, kat, relationship, vacation

- Rich, 10:46 PM

Sunday, October 14, 2001

Chicago Style Pizza

Tonight Jeremy and I went out for Chicago Style Pizza. Going out for Pizza with Jeremy is one thing that we have been doing for a long time. In the past we would go to Giuseppe's and figure out our lives. Our lives are not that simple anymore. We cannot figure them out over a pizza.

Our waitress was a woman from Brazil. We flirted with her a little. We also flirted with the waitress when we want to dinner my first night in town. There so something that makes it easy to flirt with a waitress when you are with another guy. If you are alone, it is hard to flirt with a waitress because you are a little too scary. It you do it when you are with a woman, you are sleaze.

I cannot try to figure out all the different topics we talked about. Going out for pizza is nothing really worth writing about, but it is just the reason I am having a good vacation. It is nice just to get the chance to hang out. It is nice to be here and it is nice to be with Jeremy. I miss the kind of time that we have together this week.

Labels: Chicago, flirting, Jerery P Bushnell, pizza, vacation

- Rich, 11:27 PM

Friday, October 12, 2001

The Rehearsal Dinner

The reason I came was to Chicago was Jeff's Wedding. I have had a really good time so far, but if Jeff was not getting married I would be in San Jose right now. This fact alone should make me rethink my priorities in the world. I have had a really good time visiting with Jeremy. My time with Jeremy alone would have made this trip worth it.

Right now I am saving most of my vacation time for a trip in 2002. The vacation time is also a bit of a fall back plan. If I get laid off from TiVo they have to pay me for my vacation time. Right now that vacation time is over two weeks. Maybe I should re-think the way I am trying to use my vacation time.

Tonight I went to Jeff and Jen's Rehearsal dinner. Before the Rehearsal dinner Jeff and Jen had cocktails at their new house. They are not moving into the house until after the honeymoon. The house is very nice. It is a four bedroom house about an hour outside of Chicago. They are living in the deep suburbs.

I gave them a TiVo as a wedding gift. The TiVo was on the dinning room table when I got there. I was happy to see they go it. They are not going to set it up until after the honeymoon. I told Jeff to call me if they have any problems.

Jeff introduced me to his friends as "Rich the TiVo-Guy." I spent most of the evening being called TiVo-Rich. I gave the sales pitch about five or six times. It was nice, but it is another example of how my identity is too closely tied to my job. All Jeff's friends are very pop culture savvy. I hope that I made a couple of sales.

At the rehearsal dinner I sat with his friends from college. I think that I fit in with them well. I might have talked a little too much. I seem to have the ability to dominate a conversation. Since I have an idea about everything, it is not a hard thing for me to do. I think I went the whole evening without sticking my foot in my mouth.

The whole table wrote a toast for Jeff and Jen. We wrote it on post-it notes. I was elected to read it. They told me they chose me for my voice. I kidding them for picking me, but I was happy to do it. I like being told I have a good voice. Everyone was touched by the toast. I did not screw up the reading.

Labels: Chicago, identity, Jeff Banowitz, self, travel, vacation

- Rich, 10:38 AM

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