"Roamer, Wanderer, Nomad, Vagabond, Call me what you will."

One of the reasons I planned to being town for a couple of days was to recharge my batteries, get clean, and attend the Metallica concert at the Ice Palace in downtown Tampa. this was one of my favorite groups growing up and I'm glad to have gotten another chance to have seen them.

People who cough a lot never go to the doctor...just to movies, concerts, and lectures.

I enjoyed the Dave Matthews Band show tonight. Traffic was kind of tough getting in, but I was able to make it to the venue well before the opening band started. This was my first DMB concert and I really enjoyed simply relaxing under the cool evening sky and listening to the music. I'm not much for dancing at concerts, but I absolutely loved the combo rendition of 'All Along the Watchtower' (which is about my favorite ever song and easily verified when I used to drive someone nuts by playing the DMB cover of it it all the time while on the road) and 'Stairway to Heaven'. It was well mixed as they seamlessly transitioned from one song to another. I was hoping for just that one song and was not disappointed. It started with a soft opening rift of the first bit of StH, jumped into AAtW, and then mixed them up again and again.

Here is a video of a different concert, but about the same gig: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF5WH_e8JAk

This is a good video of just AAtW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yam6mrCCvD4

Cartoons: music played in an automobile?

I hadn't been to a concert since attending a fairly grand show at the Ice Palace in December and decided to hit to Matisyahu concert at Jannus Landing. I cannot believe it had been so long since doing something like that, silly monkey I suppose. I missed seeing him preform at the Warped Tour last summer by just a short while, so I was glad to have had a chance to make up for it. He was an opening performance for the headliner, Les Claypool. A group of three of us hung out in St. Pete for a while at a friend Ryan's house for dinner before heading out to the venue. The show was pretty nice and the weather actually fairly tolerable, but even at 8 o'clock it was obvious that summer and the accompanying humidity was here to stay. I enjoyed the music as well as the mix of reggae, hip hop, and rap for which Matisyahu is known, though the sounds of Les Claypool were definitely something to which I had really been exposed too often. I suppose that happens when listening to too many podcasts and audiobooks.

What's shorter than a weekend? A Vacation!

Kristen's birthday is Monday, so we did some early celebrating and activities and had a pretty packed and complete weekend. On top of a birthday, just accepted a great job offer at Media General at a pretty good position which will involve a lot of work, however it'll be an incredible platform to learn and blossom. Friday I met her at work and walked through downtown to the Channelside area to have dinner with the family at Tina Tapas. After dinner, we all attended the Trans-Siberia Orchestra concert at the Tampa Forum nearby. I've always intended to see them throughout the years but never got around to actually going and was thankful for the opportunity. They are most famous for their holiday albums, especially their rendition of 'Carol of the Bells' that tends to get hourly play on most stations the week of Christmas. It was a fairly long concert with the first half dedicated to a Christmas story and associated songs with the second half involving other works that have their same flair for production and 80's style arena rock. I was especially looking forward to their performance of Carl Orff's 'O Fortuna' as they have yet release that album. Carmina Burana is my absolute favorite musical composition and this song is recognizable in a dozen movie musical scores over the decade, especially any scene involving knights riding off into battle against evil.

Saturday involved an early wake-up to pack gear and food for a morning drive to Jupiter, on Florida's east coast, for a couple of dives. I hadn't been in the water since the Australia trip in March and Kristen hadn't been in a couple of years. I spent part of Friday getting gear together and repaired and picked up a saltwater fishing license so we could go lobster hunting. The seas were a tad rough, however the dives themselves were fairly nice and it was good to get back into it again and felt as easy and comfortable as if we had been diving last week. Being typical east coast diving, we saw a nurse shark within a minute of hitting the bottom as well as turtles, spotted and green moray eels, and the usual assortment of fish. I was able to capture one small Spanish lobster, though 3 others go away. Mid-way through the second dive, I started hearing a hissing from the first stage behind my head and felt back to find quite a bit of air escaping from my high pressure hose. Apparently the hose was starting to split and was gradually getting worse. I took off the gear to look at it, probably freaking Kristen out a bit in the process since we were at 75 feet and still swimming with the current, and after inspection figured I would not be able to fix it. So I would not have to cut the dive short, and thus be cold, queasy and bored sitting on the boat, I just put my gear back on and spent the rest of the dive reaching back and turning on the tank just enough to pressurize the regulator to get a breath before turning it off to exhale. At first Kristen was right there with her alternate ready, but finally figured I must know what I'm doing and thus resumed the dive. Eventually we had to call the dive on NDL time. I was able to have a nice chat on the ride back in with an old dive acquaintance I knew through one of the online diving forums when I had been seriously active on the SCUBA forums and found it nice to hear of the divers still active and some of their recent trips.

On Sunday Kristen went to the football game, though I decided to bow out. I'm really not that into professional football and didn't want her to not enjoy the game and be worried that I was bored, so she hung out with her dad at the stadium for the Bucs vs Vikings game while I spent some time working in the garage and getting some things straightened for the party next weekend. Hopefully I'll have a chance to get the hot tub working and the rest of the yard fixed up before everyone arrives next weekend.

In a concert you just have to face the music

Though I considered it for a while, I only decided to attend the Warped Tour in St. Pete this morning. I parked near by the park on the water next to the airport, across from Demens Landing for some free parking (since the parking garages were full anyway) and rode the bicycle to the concert. I missed Matisyahu since they played earlier than I expected, but was able to enjoy the non-stop music for about 8 hours. If one group got too boring or loud, it was nice to just walk over to one of the other stages and enjoy a differnt music genre. The headliners for me was Gym Class Heroes and of course Reel Big Fish, one of my favorit ska bands.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. - Heraclitus

I 'had the opportunity to' get up early this mourning to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Tampa Riverwalk project downtown. This is a big project being pushed by the mayor to revitalize the downtown community. It'll eventually create a user accessible pathway from near the Aquarium to a new development up Hillsborough River past the Preforming Arts Center. Several of the main movers et shakers were there to commemorate this first big step. Though the project is not expected to be finished for quite some time, it was important to provide a physical proof of concept that allows the public to get a better feel for the overall idea.

In the evening we went to the Florida Orchestra concert in the park near Tampa Stadium at Al Lopez park. It was a nice performance that had a fireworks display to coincide with the playing of the '1812 Overture'. After all the recent constant moving about, it was nice to just sit back, relax, and enjoy some lovely tunes.

Instruments come in many sizes, shapes and orchestras.

Last night I went to a Florida Orchestra performance at Al Lopez park as part of their free 'Pops in the Park' series. The blanket of smoke covering Florida and the Tampa area for wildfires up north almost canceled the concert, however it was decided to just eliminate the intermission in order to reduce exposure. We took out chairs and some picnic items and really enjoyed the music. It had a very Spanish theme with the guest Angel Romero conducting. Unfortunately this is nearly the last of the outdoor series for the season.

In a mad world, only greater madness succeeds.

Upon invitation I went to a concert at The State Theater in St. Pete headlining the Greyboy Allstars. I was not previously familiar with their work, but am always interested in being exposed to something new. the music consisted mostly of soul/acid jazz that had the feel of an overall jam session with few lyrics spoken throughout the evening. a highlight for me was an unexpected opening guest, Gary Jules. I was first exposed, as I assume a lot of people might have been, to his music when his cover of Tears for Fears 'Mad World' was used on an XBox commercial (previously having been used in the 'Donnie Darko' movie soundtrack). I have the 'Mad World' song playing on my MySpace profile. Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening and I'm glad to have had a chance to check out something new.

It is a XX world.

Since this is one of the last weekends I'll be around for a while while Halcyon is playing, I headed over to Skipper's Smokehouse to listen to the music. Halcyon tends to be one of my favorite local bands and I typically enjoy going to listen to the harmonizing duo. Most of the people there tend to belesbians, so it is weird to be just about the only male there (and still not have a chance to score!), but oh well, I just go for the music anyway.

I still have a lot of little projects at the office going on and am still planning the summer travel season. Getting an itinerary together is taking quite a while as I try to plan out all the trails, the food, and driving directions, but am sure it will be worth it.

The Joy of Sax - Life is like Jazz, it should be improvised.

I was set to hare the trail for TBH3 and had it arranged so that we'd meet early and close enough to be able to make it to the Pub Crawl that was sponsored by WAKA, the kickball league with which we have a team that plays Tuesday evenings. I had intended to scout a bit earlier, but I had so much to do this morning, and of course yesterday was obviously unproductive, that I didn't have a chance to do anything. I hared from that general location previously, so I knew my way around. The entire trail was live and I was the only hare. After giving 'caulk talk' to a couple of virgins that showed up, I took off. trail was fun and I was able to keep it fairly interesting by running the pack through a couple of bars, a house under construction (taking them through the back door and out the front window), and down the street through an art show in Old Hyde Park that I had not know was there. I looped them back to the start for a beer stop and then on toward Howard, through McDinton's pub (where we would start our pub crawl) and then through a few apartment complexes on the way to the end. Though there were only a couple of runners, the pack enjoyed the trail and we finished in enough time to get to the pub.

The pub crawl was fun for the portion I attended. I had to leave early since I want to the Harry Connick Jr concert at the invitation of my friend Heather, whom was able to join the start of the pub crawl. after a scenic tour to Ruth Eckerd Hall, we arrived just in time. The show was enjoyable, however I was surprised as to how much talking he was doing instead of music playing. He related a lot of stories that were humorous and interesting, so at least it was entertaining. I really enjoyed listening to the music and recognized a few songs, including a rendention of 'Hello Dolly'. Afterwards we went back to see if anyone was still around, but most had gone home. I was able to hang out with Michelle and her out-of-town friends until the bars closed down for the evening and had an overall great time.

The plural of "musical instrument" is "orchestra"

This evening I decided to go to the Florida Orchestra concert at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg to listen to them play music from the score of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. I have been a LOTR fan for a while and was always moved by the music that was composed by Howard Shore and felt it made the movies so much more moving and potent. I wanted to get to the theater early, but I had an issue at the office with which I had to deal, so I left really late and was in a rush to get there. I didn't pre-purchase any tickets due to online 'convenience' fees and such and figured I'd just chance it and hope for the best. This strategy has worked out in the past such as the recent concert I attended at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater last month. I was then able to get great seats in the orchestra section through someone selling from Craig's list for less than the cheapest seats in the house. I do tend to believe in karma a bit in terms that if one is willing to help others, then they may be helped as well.

I arrived less than 10 minutes before curtain, so most people had gone inside already and I figured my only chance was to get something from the box office. Unfortunately someone was just ahead of me, so I had to wait a bit. Just as I was starting to get antsy, someone came up and asked if I needed tickets. I inquired a bit more and apparently the guy had some extras and was just willing to sell them for about $20. Since even the cheapest tickets advertised were at least $25 (I later found out that all those were sold out and the only available seats were $45), I decided to go for it. I was dismayed to find that I only had 2 one dollar bills, a ten dollar bill, and an hundred dollar bill (just got paid for a job) that I was going to use at the ticket counter. The guy was very kind and accepted the $10 since the seats were right next to him anyway. After he went inside, I tried to get chance for the large bill, but was told that she didn't have enough. I went inside and when I looked at the ticket I was surprised that it was for the orchestra section, in the seventh row!!

I explained to the guy about the change thing and tried to give him my address and phone number so I could later send more money, however he politely declined any additional money other than the last two dollar bills that I had thrust into his hand. Apparently he did web design for the orchestra and instead of getting paid, they gave him tickets to events. sine they were nearly free, this person could have just as easily not even taken the time to offer them to someone standing in line, especially when the concert was minutes away from starting. Though they left during intermission, I did try to extend my appreciation and get a chance to chat for a few minutes.

The performance itself was phenomenal! With some minor variations, it was very nearly like the soundtrack, only better. Besides just the instruments being played, there was a 170+ person chorus consisting of the USF Chamber Singers, Florida Boychoir, and the Clearwater Christian College Chorale. Almost all of the major pieces from the soundtrack were played with splendor, including soloist vocals by Kaitlyn Lusk. I have no problem admitting that parts of it were as stirring this evening as they were when I first heard them in the theater. In all they played a little over two hours and I am very glad to have had a chance to experience this and am encouraged to attend more events when I have the time or money available. In the warmer weather there will be some free concerts in the park that I'll have to add to my calendar of events.

Life is fair - it's people who aren't.

Last night I headed over to the Florida State Fair for opening day. I guess stability is a good thing at times, but I don't think the county/state fair has really changed much in the past 20 years of memory. I think the same rides are there and I'm quite sure the same fun houses are there. I left work around 3PM, did a quick bit of shopping for the weekend, and then headed to the fair. I was supposed to go with a friend, however they got stuck in Atlanta on a job, so I ended up wandering around for most of the afternoon checking out the same exhibits that seem to be there year after year; Cracker country (the 'sample of Florida living in the early 1900s'), steam exhibit (where I had a educational conversation with one of the volunteers there for a while about Faraday, Tesla, and Edison), and the art exhibits.

After a while one of my roommates showed up just before the 'Reel Big Fish' concert. I was excited about seeing the RBF guys play and had been listening to them for a while. Though they played a little over an hour it was non-stop fast tunes and debauchery (well fast tunes stuff really). They played a bunch of different covers, most appreciatively a-ha's 'Take On Me' and even a portion Metallica's 'Enter Sandman' for a few minutes. Live bands like this are what makes the music scene fun when the band seems to have a good time and just feeds off the crowd.

After the show we decided to hit the Midway section for a while and take in some rides and high calorie ladened food. Of any fair I attend I have one single tradition, I have to do the yellow slide since this is the first fair memories that I have. Fortunately the roommate humored me enough to let me have my indulgences. After a couple of rides of that, I think I reverted back to being the age of 7 for a while as we hit some of the other rides, slides, and fun houses. When I say things seem to stay the same, I meant it. Not only were almost all of the rides the same as they have been for 20 years with few things added, but there were more of the same! I think we went through at least 4 of the same 'house of mirrors' that were designed and laid out in nearly the exact same way. There were probably 3 examples of the 'Gravitron' (the spinning flying saucer thing that would slide you up the wall through centrifugal force), 2 bumper cars (which were a lot faster and more fun that the cheesy Busch Gardens toned-down junk), 2 zippers, and 4 Ferris Wheels. Why is it though that one still has as much fun as we did in the old days?

I suppose one really cannot mess with old memories.

The cow ate bluegrass and mooed indigo.

It was a long week of trying to catch up on various projects, but I decided to go check out the 'Indigo Girls' in concert. I had been listening to them since high school and even got a chance to see them perform when I was in California last summer. I took a look at Craig's List and saw a few tickets for sale and sent an email. One person was selling a pair for $50 but indicated that they would sell a single if no one else was interested. Since the tickets originally went for $37 plus service charges I decided to jump on it. When we met up, however something had happened with the family, and so the seller could not even use the two tickets that they had for themselves. since she was give me a great deal, I offered to try to sell the extras.

The tickets they were going to use were even better than what was going to be sold to me, so it really worked out well. Just before getting inside, I was able to sell the two back tickets for $50 (the seller previously said that they would be happy with $15 for each one), though I wasn't able to sell the last single ticket that would have been next to me. as I said a few days ago, I think there can indeed be good indications that karma works.

Trains charge those going to rock concerts, said Tom with fanfare.

Nearly on a whim today, I decided to join a couple of friends and check out the Aerosmith/Motley Crue concert at the Amphitheater at the State Fairgrounds. I had seen them in concert previously, so I wasn't about to spend much money and figured I would either get last minute tickets really cheap or not attend. fortunately, not too long after getting there I was able to find someone selling a ticket for $20, which was a good deal considering they were sold at the box office for $40. I took over the grill and cooked up some chicken and corn and had enough for the friends when they arrived. We hung out for a little while enjoying sangria and were able to get a ticket for each of them for $25, so in all, we were able to get what we needed without having to even get out of the camp chairs.

The concert itself was ok, though Aerosmith didn't play the one song I was really hoping to hear 'Don't Want to Miss a Thing'. Both bands went through a fair amount of their well known catalog. Though it was decently cold, it was clear and a pretty fun experience. My friends left early, though I decided to hang around. I've always had a problem leaving a concert, game, or other event early since I figured I might as well get my money's worth. As my standard practice now, I just hung around reading for an hour while the traffic died down instead of wasting time and gas idling in a line of cars.

In a concert you just have to face the music.

The concert last night was a lot of fun. I ended up getting to the fairgrounds parking at around 3:30 and the place was already packed. I lucked out in that I was directed to park right next to the entrance, so it made things a lot easier when folks were attempting to locate us through the evening. Apparently the parking opened a couple of hours early (around noon) since there were already a 100 or so cars parked on the highway. I didn't have a chance to really wander too long, but there was tailgating goodness as far as I could see. There had to be a massive amount of food and beverage consumed. I brought out the propane grill and cooked up some turkey sausage and chicken while boiling the corn on the stove. I got to play with my new hand crank blender and it worked great. How can you tailgate at a buffet concert and not have real margaritas? Throughout the evening a bunch of hashers showed up (Slim Prickins, Dances with Dildos, Hops on Pops (and some other Gainesville hashers), BallChecker, Cockblock, Battery Motivated Wench, Kitty Litter, Dabadoo, Hops Her Barley, Smelley, Ben Gay, and other various friends of friends. Corey was awesome in that he went into the amphitheater a couple of hours early and secure some prime real estate on the lawn for the whole group so that we could hang out at the camper until just before show started.

There was no opening act for the show that started around 8. The concert was very lively and most of the major songs, at least any that I know, seemed to have been covered. With the break half-way through, the music ended just before 11 o'clock. We leisurely made our way back to the trailer and reset the chairs to hang around while the traffic dies down. I didn't want to waste time idling and figure it is just best to relax a bit after the events until the cops kick us out about 90 minutes later. For whatever reason, a couple of us decided to go down to Ybor and close down the Green Iguana until about 3. I got up in the morning, did a few projects in the garage, and now have to pack for an overnight trip to Orlando for a birthday party before coming back to hit Fort De Soto Saturday night. The weather is turning out great right now and is a perfect time to spend outdoors.

We are the people our parents warned us about.

I'll be going to the Buffet concert with a bunch of friends on Thursday. Most of us are taking a half day from work and will be heading to the parking lot around 4 o'clock (if not earlier) for some tailgating goodness.

I'm sure there are a bunch of Tampa friends going as well, so you are all invited to run by and say hello. You are welcome to bring any food you want to throw on the grill or join us in margaritas, daquries, or other different kinds of golden nectar. In the least bring a chair and share in what we'll have.

I'll be taking the blender, grill, stove, awning, and other necessities. I am going to try to see if I can park near the high voltage power line tower closest to I-4 (on the north side) as a rally point. If you come out, look for the silver Nissan Xterra with the small 4x8 silver teardrop camper attached. I'll probably also be flying my green 'Hash House Harriers' flag if I remember to pack it.

Give me a call if you happen to be by and cannot find us.

Our brochure says 'safe beach'. You must have gone into the water

On Friday I went to the Santana concert with my roommate, her friend, and my friend Adrienne's roommate (since I had an extra ticket). We got in a little early and parked for some tailgating before heading inside. I was working on the teardrop camper wiring and wanted to make sure everything worked with the inverter and found that the floor fan made things quite comfortable.

The show itself was quite enjoyable with a pretty large crowd in attendance. I liked how there were many different instruments including quite a bit of brass and even an organ. There was a good set list covering the decades Carlos Santana has been playing and towards the end the tempo really picked up, which got me to do some dancing even! After the show ended, we returned to the trailer to wait out the insane traffic and relaxed in relative comfort as the gridlock worked itself out. After about an hour we packed up and were able to pull out without stopping, which made for some stress free riding back home. Saturday was spent doing some house work and more painting at the apartment before heading to the hash run that evening. The trail was set by a some hares that are training for a marathon, so I knew we were in for a good trail that ended up covering a little over four miles. We hit Po Boys cafe as the on-after and then a few of us had an impromptu pool party at SLF and BS's place. Since I had to be back at the apartment around 9 in the morning, I decided to not even bother driving home and just slept in the camper in my office parking lot since I was just a couple miles away. Though it is a bit tight in terms of roominess, I think it'll work perfectly for my intended uses, namely a quick and comfortable place to crash when on road trips and place to cook a few personal meals.

Sunday was spent doing a little work in the morning before I met Dad at the residence of someone selling a small camper. Apparently he found a tiny pop-up style camper and was considering getting it when the bigger camper is just overkill. While we were looking over and discussing it someone else pulled up and after they conferred with the owners, we were told (while we were standing right next to it mind you) that it was no longer available and had just been sold. That is a pretty pissy thing to do, but what can one do about it? I headed over to the beach since I wanted to take Kinda out for some exercise and since I hadn't really been able to lay out on the beach during the day in quite a while. The weather was awesome and I sat out while catching up on some reading for a few hours. Before taking off I walked around Fort DeSoto for a while and then drove over to the point closest to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to take a few pictures of the Carnival ship heading out to sea. Kinda decided that even after the bath she wanted to play a bit more and ran out to lay in the water. While I grumbled at having to dry her off *again*, it did make for a couple of decent shots. This week will be spent finishing with the apartment, office financials (bleh) and packing for the upcoming weekend in DC. It should be fun.

Orchestras will try a new pitch to lure concertgoers.

One of my favorite old school bands is 'Hootie and the Blowfish'. I remember listening to them when growing up in Charleston, before they became more mainstream once they got to play on Letterman, at concerts such as the 96 WAVE Free Fall Jam back in '94 and even at the old Music Farm. I tried to catch them whenever they were in town back home in Charleston and even once I moved to Florida. I was able to secure a bunch of tickets to the show that they put on with 'Better Than Ezra' at the Ford Amp.

I've been working a bit on the new teardrop camper and have been adding in some wiring, a battery, some 12v lights and fans, etc. This makes a perfect little tailgate party platform for concerts and sporting events. I learned last time that after the show the traffic can be horrendous as a few thousand people try to escape by one of two exits for the fairgrounds. It was quite relaxing to simply sit back and listen to the radio or mix a couple of drinks while being cooled by the industrial fan plugged into the inverter. While I mainly got the little camper for short road trips around Florida and even some mountain hiking on extended trips, I think it will be handy for even playing around at the beach or any other small event. The rest of the weekend is spent working on local projects and trying to catch up with things in the job jar.

True swinging does not require ropes or vines.

After a long hiatus due to summer traveling, I went to the swing club on Sunday. I had to run around and scout the running trail for next Saturday's event, but after getting cleaned up I headed over to the Zendah Grotto. There seemed to be a lot more people there than had been since I was last there. My friend Adrienne and her fiance Jesse were there and have been attending pretty regularly. They looked great on the floor and I'm glad to have a chance to be a photographer at their wedding in a few weeks! Since I'm leaving Sunday for the week-long cruise to Grand Cayman, Belize, Cozumel, and Costa Maya, I wanted to get in a bit more dance practice so I won't get as many 'white boy' dance comments as I did last year. :(

This week is spent organizing for the trip and getting in a lot of project work at the office and one of the rental homes. A tenant is moving out and has a serious amount of damage inside from marked up walls, torn window, to a dryer that had lint piled up inside the door. You would think someone would wonder why clothes were not getting dry. Could it be the lack of any exhaust because you didn't check the unit?!? How so many people can be oblivious to the operation of things one which they depend is just beyond me.

I also bought a new small camper this week. I've been researching the old teardrop campers for a little while and found one on eBay that had just what I wanted in terms of style, and features. The big camper is great from large events like at the hash campouts when I usually have 2-5 other people crashing with me anyway, but I wanted something that I could take to the mountains or on diving / kayaking trips without killing gas mileage due to weight and aerodynamic drag. I'll post some pictures when I get back from the trip. The camper is in Tallahassee and I was dreading having to waste 10-12 hours of my life merely driving up there and back just to retrieve it. Fortunately I thought to ask around just before I was about to go and found that one of the hashers that will be going on the cruise this weekend lives in Tallahassee and was willing to pick it up for me. This saved me an incredible amount of time and gas and it was really nice for the guy to be willing to help out another hasher, whom he had yet to meet, in this manner. This kind of camaraderie is one of the things I liked about the group when joining. I may not believe in karma per se, but I think such acts are rewarded. The guy is bringing down the camper for me and I'm hosting a bunch of out-of-towners, setting the trail, and even taking people to the airport, so in the grand 'circle of life' I think it will all work out.

Friday I'm going to check out the 'Counting Crows / Goo Goo Dolls' concert at the Ford Amp since I was able to get ahold of a bunch of tickets and will be taking some of the people I'm hosting for the weekend. I probably won't have time to blog anything until I get back, so I hope you all, assuming anyone even reads my blogs, have a great week. BTW, the picture I posted is something I created when playing around with some photo mosaic software. The picture is constructed using photos that I took when in California. I'm still learning the settings, but for a first attempt, it isn't too bad! You can see the original here.

Living one long sunrise, for to me all things are new!

It is an interesting experience to see the sun rise on the east coast and then watch it set on the west coast. As would be expected, I didn't get any sleep Wednesday night as I was packing and trying to make sure I had everything that I needed. My roommate was able to take me to the airport at some ungodly hour since one of her friends also needed a ride at the same time. Check in was a breeze and since I was flying business class (the coach seats were all books in the times I wanted to fly), I was quickly placed on board. Before I could even sit down the stewardess was getting my drink order. After a quick switch in Atlanta, I was on my way to Los Angeles. When I arrived, I grabbed my bags and jumped on the shuttle to Alamo and picked up my car. I reserved the cheapest (and hopefully best gas mileage) car I could get and ended up with a great little vehicle (a blue Chevy HHR). The great thing about this is that the back and front seats fold flat, so I was able to easily stack my bags and gear on one side and have the other for my foam sleeping pad and be able to stretch out when sleeping on the road. My first trip was to Burbank to check the schedule for the 'Tonight Show', but apparently they were not taping this week for vacation. I the headed over to the Hollywood area and drove up to a park near the Hollywood sign and did a bit of hiking to get some great shots and decent views of the area. After that I headed to Santa Monica to hang out at the pier. Every Thursday night there is a free evening concert, and the headliner was the 'Indigo Girls', a group I've enjoyed since early high school. During the concert, I was able to meet a couple of lovely people. I talked to Tracy, who is apparently a very talented artist that even has a few gallery shows going on with samples viewable at www.tracy-rose.com) for a while when she came up to the pier (her friends were sitting on the beach) until her friend April finally joined us. We chatted for a while and sang along with the group whenever we knew the lyrics, which was probably more often than I should admit! An unannounced surprise guest showed up at the end to play with group. Vonda Shepard (best known for singing on the show 'Ally McBeal' many years ago) played one of her songs from that show soundtrack; 'Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow' with Emily Saliers. It was indeed a trip to seem them playing together and quite enjoyable, especially for a free concert. After the concert ended, the three of us hung around and played on the pier for a while and rode the Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and some other ride while enjoying the scenery and just chatting. Eventually it got late enough and exhaustion was setting in and I needed to get my start towards San Diego so I could at least get out of LA before I crashed so I wouldn't get slammed by traffic in the morning. I did have a slight scare in a typical moment of dumbassness. I went into what I thought was my parking garage and couldn'’t find my car!! I guess the first clue should have been that this garage only had 5 floors when I swore I was parked on the sixth! After going between floors, thinking I misremembered the right number, I decided to try another location. I went back down a block and found the right garage (that in my lackluster defense had the exact same decor and in the same location relative to the corner). All was right with the world again and I headed out. I eventually crashed about 45 minutes after leaving Santa Monica (around 2AM local) on some side road off the interstate. This was definitely a way to start the trip! I have a feeling that this is going to be a heck of a trip and I'm already calling it the 'summer of superlatives'.