finger pointing

just an update - i'm back in california, flew in the afternoon of 12/12. Looks like a bunch of winter storms back east, can't say I didn't love a good snow day - hopefully it's not messing anyone up too badly, I'm sure some of you teacher folk are all giddy, waiting for that 5am phone call so you can feel like an awesome person not having to go to work. God bless you all. it's nice here, like 65 during the day, colder at night. my plans for the place in newport are crumbling, not worried though - i'm sort of realizing that i don't want to live there anyway, that i'd prefer saving some money living further inland . . . say on a golf course maybe? I could get used to that, absolutely... I love the water, have lived by it all my life, but I'm sure I could adjust to a lake. anyway, you guys really don't care where I live, let's be honest.

So if anyone pays attention to the news like I do - or even much less which would be more than the average person - you probably have read, listened to, or watched some article or reporter about major league baseball's current social predicament. If not, I'll make an attempt to paraphrase it all for you in a short bit.


The MLB is a business. And the CEO of the MLB is called the Commissioner. Teams are often referred to as a franchise - which they should be, because just like an individual can pay corporate McDonald's to open up their own restaurant, individuals can pay the MLB to operate their own ball club. As with any major orginized business, there are several different factions that each have their own interest within the 'company'. Obviously, there are the workers, or players in this case who, with baseball don't necessarily create a tangible product to sell to consumers. they do sell something wonderful, an exceptional physical talent, an atmosphere of competition, and a certain celebrity appeal that consumers - or fans - pay money for tickets to view these athletes. Fine, got it. Secondly there is say the managers, who manage the players - they answer to the General Manager - he answers mainly to the team owner(s) - who don't really answer, but communicate with the League Office - or the MLB headquarters. Just like any other business, team owners want to increase player value, cut costs, increase revenue - basically do everything they can to have cakes and eat them too. That's understandable, fine - nobody wants to own a business that loses money. Team owners also consider their players as assets, which they are - Derek Jeter is worth more then say another player for several reasons. He performs on the field, basically he's a great ball player. People love him, he sells jerseys, puts butts in seats, and makes the time that the yankees are on tv more valuable - hence, advertising $$$$/rates go up! So it's in every owner's interest that these player perform, and perform well - and the player, well he needs to perform because that is his livlihood. He swings a bat and throws a ball well for money, serious money - like 305,000,000.00 for ten years... figure 160 games/year and this guy is making some seriously serious money. With that obviously comes very high pressures to perform.

I have to run, i can't finish this now - but I will, i want time to gather my thoughts here before I go rattling on as usual in no coherent manner. It's going to be good though, I promise you, because I can't stand people that point fingers and pass judgement - so I'm going to highlight all the shortcomings of everyone who felt the need to put these ball players in the spotlight.

Like the wise Eric Welsh once said, for ever finger you point at me, 3 point back at you . . .

Not if I'm Count Rugen, because then I would have eleven fingers, and ultimately meet my demise at the hands of Inigo Montoya.

I know that you knew that I knew that you know...

I just deleted seven hundred plus words because even I didn't understand what the hell I was trying to say. I'm going to start over and stay focused on a direct approach to my point here. Let me preface this post with a few notes. Foremost, I think my topic, if I had to label my report here, would be, "First Impressions, Adam in Retrospective Analysis". Now that sounds really dorky, but it's not - basically I'm going to try and analyze myself from someone else's perspective. Which, vaguely admitting that I have multiple personalities, should be easy to do. I once dated a girl that referred to me as Adam, #'s 1-10 - I'm not sure why she did this, because quite frankly we all had diffrent middle names, if she even cared to ask...

I basically like everyone - everyone starts with an 'A' in my book and the only way you lower your grade is by doing something that really offends me, and your grade rarely if ever goes up - my logic is based on a few fundamental ideas. One being that if you offend me enough to get to a C-, that you are a habitual offender and even if you do redeem yourself, you have proven already that you will experience a recrudescence of your offending persona. Two, I have high standards - and while I won't point at you and say, 'you don't meet the minimum requirements for being an associate of mine' I don't have any qualms with being an active avoider. Did I change my phone number and you didn't get it . . .well let me think. . . Get the point? That specific incident does not apply to everyone, I want to make that clear. I feel like this blog entry is borderline egocentric - but truthfully I'm writing this more for myself then anyone else, so yeah - it is, very much so egocentric.

So, what was the catalyst of me writing this - what was the causative event in my life that made me want to really write about something that is fairly personal. Well, I have written about things that are personal to me - my drinking, my gambling, but they are not really a big deal - they never got to a point where I wasn't in the driver's seat, I could always stop those vehicles of destruction whenever I wanted. I've throttled them back to what the government standards would define as 'moderated usage', at this point, and as I physically age - I just don't want to give half of my day to the previous night because I feel like ish.



So back to the motif here. Modus vivendi, it means 'way of life', and recently I've hit what I'd most easily describe as a HUGE FUCKING ROCK, in advancing personal relationships and I'm wondering if my modus vivendi is . . .well, broken. I think in our minds we all form a self image which is slightly to very oblique. I mean that we are inclined to buff our self image in our minds to a smooth, blemish free shine. That's human nature, who wants to concentrate on their personal flaws? So we just pretend they don't exist. There is an alternative obviously - and the quickest way to find the best answer to a problem is to go straight to the top of the list of things you really don't want to do and execute #1. Whatever is the exhaustive, tedious, trite method - well it's usually going to get the job done. Your fat, go to the gym - you're broke, get another job - you can't spell, memorize the dictionary. My point is evident. Using that logic, I give off the wrong impression of myself - or maybe not. I just feel like, based on other folks reactions that I'm not getting the results I would expect from who I consider myself to be. So I'm going to make a list of possible flaws - and to be honest, I'd like people to add to my list. I'll post every single comment, even if they are anonymous, and I assure you that there is no way I can discover who wrote what. I want to know what pops up first in your mind, the first thing - and just say it. Will I be offended, yeah, sort of - more likely to be embarassed... but at this point I'm sort of in the 'who cares' mode, and I have to be honest - reading what other people don't like about me will have some entertainment value. Just be careful, because while I'm putting this list up for everyone to see - I think it would be good for everyone to sit down and compile a list of their own. My intent is to adopt this list into my life and be conscience that my estimate of offensiveness might be lower than yours. I'm just bothered lately. Before you go off getting all personal and insulting me, just remember that life, I believe, is a zero sum situation. Anything you have, was somehow acquired from somebody else - we don't create, we just reappropriate what we have acquired from one person to the next. How is my zero sum theory relative to the former words here, well I guess I'm starting to predict what people are going to suggest - and before you judge me remember that anything that I have acquired in this life was taken from somebody else - and in that taking, a moral tax has accumulated on my conscience, which sits on my shoulders like an 800Lb gorilla. No free meals, action/reaction, everyone pays to cross the bridge, even, if not especially myself. So am I going to start a list, no, I changed my mind - I don't want to spur your imaginations and feed off of whats already in my crazy mind.



And for the record, if you plan on putting up that I over exagerrate my stories - don't, most of the time I edit them to bring them down to some level of believabiltiy. Because if I'm the guy that can walk into Lorenzo's ( http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4919129&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6 ) in the wee hours of the night, slap Joe Santiago ( http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E3DC1E3DF933A15753C1A9649C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/S/Santiago,%20Joseph%20J) on the back and say, 'what's up buddy' .... well you better sure as shit believe that I don't need to lie to you.



So thanks, and if you're wondering if there is a specific incident or person that I'd direct this entire post at - if there is somebody that I would like to be happier with, or I'm not quite sure how things got to where they are . . .well there is, and that person is me. You, well thankyou for being honest, and now I'm going to listen to one of my favorite pop classics.... again. Michael jackson's 'Man in the Mirror'



I hope you all realize that I'm not being serious here... sort of, but I want to make more of a point that we should all be a little more conscience of our surroundings - and while you may think that the way you act or what you say is relatively harmless, it's not always the case. Just make sure your mouth stays connected to your brain, and this world will be a better place, and that goes for him also.



Goodnight Adam.

Goodnight to you too.



Ps - I feel like Doogie Howser, MD - right now, when he types at the end of the episode, yeah you know.

my thoughts on the holiday season so far.

I haven't been home long, but long eneough to realize that this time of the year between Thanksgiving and New Years has the potential to be the most stressful of the year. (the following are facts, aka things i've heard or think i've heard) The obvious things come to mind, first being money - I mean what's Jesus' birthday celebration if you don't have the cash to buy things for people because you or they were born into the same family? Considering the average income for an adult, 25+, is 32k/year - and the average monthly expenses, now this I'm going to wing a little bit - but figure 1850 for rent/mortgage, 200 utilities, 325 car(s), 200 loans/credit cards, 300/month for personal. That's what, 2900/month? For the average household of two I'm saying.... 29x12 = 34,800..... so that leaves us with 31,200. Now I based that on a two person house, under realistic circumstances. 30% of married couples don't have kids, 70% do - so figure 70% the families under those conditions, with the additional expense of children, and you just want to jump out the fucking window. I don't know what to contribute this to. I def. think that there is a social thing happening here, a peer pressure thing to try and impress your siblings and/or family with how thoughtful you are...... well how thoughtful for when? One day? What about the other 364 days 5 hours and 28 minutes it takes for the earth to orbit the sun? I just dont see it, and to be honest, I will admit that I have flat out not bought presents for people because even though I was supposed to under the social standards we inherited from our parents, I didn't. Do I feel badly, no, I don't because I would rather they kept their money and been happier then spend it on SOMETHING THAT THE OTHER PERSON MIGHT LIKE! Apparently my message was clear because my family decided that nobody is getting anyone presents this year except for the kids - or kid, if you group me in with that then it's me and my neice Skyla, who is 3.

I just don't get it.

I turned the TV off today, because just like when the first winter storm hits and you have some fuckface reporter standing on the corner of an icy intersection explaining to us that 'This is ice slippery folks, see this, I'm going to stand here and slide on this ice - --and it's clear, so you can't see it, focus in on this ice here Stan, see folks, it's clear ice that is slippery and dangerous' . . . . .you know the story, and all they are hoping for is that somebody t-bones somebody else on live TV - when the reason the accident happened was probably because they were watching the news crew. So we have this loser moron that shot 20 people or whatever, and killed 9 in Nebraska. What in this world is so horrible that you needed to do that? Because your girlfriend dumped you? People go through heart wrenching ordeals every day, and when you look ahead, you realize that most everyone gets over it and the next person they meet they can't understand how they ever lived without them.... Now for the rest of the people that had family members, friends, loved ones involved with this, they will forever associate christmas and the holidays with their death. I'm not a very religious person, but I would start to believe more in God if it meant that you were having your eyes eaten by crows every day over and over again in hell. I just don't want to see it anymore, about the stresses and ills associated with the holidays - what ever happened to being happy to spend time with your friends and family? Do you need to provide them with a gift wrapped in nifty paper to say I love you? I don't think so. Maybe I underestimate the complacency other people have towards spending time with their families. I know I don't, I don't get to spend much time with them anymore and even though my mother berates me for refusing to sleep in a bed, and my dad is always inquiring about if I'm paying my taxes, I still feel like I'm at home. For as much as I despise airports, for as many times as I vomit in the airport before I get on a plane, for as many pills as I take to not realize I'm on a plane - I still do it because I realize that one day that won't be possible, there is no plane that can take you to see dead people. So have I changed, have I realized a few things - yeah, I have. I realized that whenever I get the chance to see somebody I care about, have cared about but don't see much, or even somebody who just passed through my life briefly -I take the time to let them know I'm thankful, not by presenting them with a gift, but just by spending time with them. Sometimes less is more when it comes to spending time, but nontheless, you will remember the time an old friend stopped in for a few beers years after you have already forgotten that gift. Now maybe I'm just getting all emotional here, and maybe I'm wrong. I know it feels good to get a gift, it really does - for a birthday, a wedding, or just out of the blue, it feels great. but there is and always will be that grey pressure around us wondering if we got the right gift - I'll just be happy to be in the same room =)

And if I do get you a gift this year, it's probably because you didn't get me one and I want you to feel awkward. Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wasn't really sure...

if people still read this. I don't know if anyone does, but reading back on what I have written so far, it seems like a good idea to me (and a few other people) that I keep on writing. I think it's great when people make references to my blog when I talk to them. I'm never quite sure what people find interesting, be it me cascading down the Red Rocks on my ass or the horse shit making me regurgitate the tiny crustaceans in New Orleans. I can say that my genes have endowed me with a tremendous memory, so for me it's kind of neat to be able to relive almost every moment - could I write about them all, yeah, probably - but let's be honest, I don't want to know what the hell you guys do every minute of your lives and you don't want to know what I do. Like right now, I have a tremendous pressure in my head - I don't know if it's from the ... Hold on, let me take a step back........

I was awoken this morning by the vibrant voice of Millie, my mother, screaching at my father. I didn't quite catch the basis of the 'conversation' because I was still basially asleep - last night I slept with my headphones in, I have the shure brand noise cancelling headphones (ravens just intercepted brady and then lost it back to NE, fuckers, I hate the PATS - cheaters) so anyway, I wake up, not realizing I have headphones in my ears, so I think I'm deaf now until I realize I fell asleep watching A Clockwork Orange on my computer.. blah blah.. anyway, the short story.
My mom wanted me and my dad to carry down dozens of boxes containing Christmas ornaments from the attic - so needless to say, aside from being alergic to the goose feathers in the pillows on the couch I'm sleeping on (yes there is a bed available, but that would feel more like I'm moving back home, I don't need the permanence of a bed, I prefer a couch) or the dust on the boxes, but I've been sneezing like a bastard with itchy eyes, and not to mention the wonders of the whisteling nose - nothing to me is more obnoxious then a whistling nose or a people that chew with their mouth open, i hate that shit. So now that I was guilty of having a musical instrument attatched to the front of my face i needed to get out of the house for some fresh air. all was fine out on the road, but now I'm back on the couch and my nose tingles with fresh boogies, my eyes are puffy and I'm sneezing (which of course has nothing to do with allergies, it's because I travelled ten feet from the garage to my vehicle without a jaccket on . .according to my mom)

So here is my solution, I have next to me a fresh bottle of 'Original Formula' Nyquil, of the 6oz variety, and I'm going to drink the entire thing, in one chug, and see how long I can stay awake!

My computer says it's 7:09 right now, but I think it's stuck in pacific time mode, so it's actually 1009, we'll say ten o'clock... here I go.. before I drink it I'm going to throw out an early estimate of 3 hours. I haven't eaten much today, so that might affect me, but I did just chug almost half a gallon of milk - I don't know what that means, but somehow it will make a difference. Ok, here we go .. . .

WOW, that was officially disgusting - and now that I feel like a junkie.... Anyway, initially it tasted like licquorice, now all I have left is this tingy tasting acidic feeling in the back of my throat, it's almost like something I have tasted before, but it's not - now my stomach is saying what the fuck did you just put into me? and I'm going to tell it, I'm going to look at the back of thebottle now and see what I just did.
Ok, so 6 ounces is 177ml and in each 177ml serving of Nyquil you get 500mg of acetominophen (advil) Dextro...(cough suppresant) and 6.25mg of some long worded antihistimine - so I took roughly 10x that so I shouldn't be coughing or sneezing or doing much of anything for sometime.

I just want everyone to know that the recommended dosages on these labels are for small children and the adult dosage is for small people. So being almost 300 pounds I feel as if I'm qualified to take more. and i did do some calculations and I figure that I'll be ok. I haven't had anything to drink today so my liver should be good on that and as allergic as I am to everything in this house right now I think that I took the equivalent of six benydryl. I'll be fine, so nobody needs to worry. To be honest I feel better then I have all day right now and it's only been ten minutes. I don't know why anyone would want to read this, I think this will sereve as a reference for myself in the future.

Do you think that this is what they call 'sippin on some sizzurp'? am i going to see shit like lil wayne does in the club? I'm pretty sure that on any one of my benders I have consumed more alcohol then is in this six ounce bottle, and the next morning I have dumped the advi container in my mouth, so this can't be any worse & the ony thing that I have seen when I do that are ugly chicks that look hot - I don't know if it's my vision is going when I drink, or my standards get lower, or I just get more adventurous and think 'well I wonder what it would be if I did that!'

oh well, that may have or may not have crossed a line ( that last sentence) and I'm not a huge line crossing fan, but we'll see how this works out.

I do want to say that I miss California already, I've said it before that everyone ends up somehwere for some reason, and I think that I belong there. TOUCHDOWN BALTIMORE!!!!!! it's 1023 now, so yeah, I 'm reading some of my typos now and I'm going to leave them in there for scientific reference. But I really love being back here, I miss my family whenever I leave and my older brother is having a baby any day now, literally any minute I feel like and my other older brother gets depressed when I go away. we have sort of a bond that transcends verbal communication, i swear we can communicate via other methods. i remember once that we just sort of nodded at each other for about five minutes and totally communicated about something. I cant remember but whatever who cares i don't.

i want to confess that nothing i really ever do is not planned, i might give off the impression that i sort of just wing shit, but that is very far from the truth - one thing I didn't intend on was find the perfect place to live in Newport Beach and then having to wait a few weeks for it to be ready. I don't know why I expect everything to work overnight, especially when moving into a new place, but I hate waiting for anything. So i decided to fly home and it's working out fine. My hearing is going... this might be the first side effect - I don't know if the commercials are getting quieter or my hearing is going bad, something weird is happeneing... anyway, it's been fun so far - I drove out to see Chewy and Poacher when I got back, my parents were in europe so I had there place to myself for a couple of night so i called all of my friends the second night and had a big party - so all three of us partied it up. Just kidding, Chew and Poach and the whole Harrisburg crew are so laid back and fun that I love going out there. I have to say though that I haven't laughed it up as hard as I have then when the entire lambertville crew went to ota-ya and then out where I proceeded to NOT FIGHT some douche face named Petey, who coincedentally ended up getting tossed by some guy later that night so I hear, glad it wasn't me. I've looked online to see why people get such a different drunk off sake then say vodka, and sort of how champagne and tequila fall into that same category . . . i can't find anything, I know, from being in the business that chemically all alcohol is the same, so who knows - it's probably all in our heads, well I'm sure it is - but you know what I mean. Man, I'm fading hard - getting tired, but I just checked my pulse rate and I'm fine so it's not like I'm going under. I wouldn't have drank the whole bottle mind you if I honestly thought it was bad - believe me, those five vodka martinis some of you probably put back on a regular basis are so much worse.

I am fading hard, getting very tired.

I can't say eneough how it feels like I've been gone for years - trying to readjust to the time pace of being back at a home is awkward. Living at a fast pace for the past year and now being all lazy laying around all day, well I hate it. So who knows what I'm going to be getting into the next few days.

I wanted to give you guys some fill ins - some stories that I either left out or neglected to put in, or purposely did not say antyhing about. The first would be the guy that took his shirt off for me at the graveyard in Anteitam. I don't quite get it, at all - why anyone would feel the need to take their shirt off in cooler weather with just three guys standing around in a historic graveyard of a battlefield. I'm not impressed by his display of manliness. I actually wanted him to fall down and look really stupid. I don't know what it is... but I like women, call me nuts.

I am so tired right now, it's been what like 20 minutes, I can fight this off no problem.

One of the things that I was upset about the first week or so of my move was the fact that it rained, rained hard up through asheville, nc. I wanted to spend more time outside, but seriously, I'm not camping in shitty rainy muddy weather. I had eneough trouble finding hotels that I could do my laundry at that I didn't want to have to deal with being all muddy and dirty all the time. Not that I care personally, but it just sucks getting your clothes all dirty when you know you have to wear your jeans like five times before you'll get a chance to wash them.

I'm going to bed. I'll finish this later.

since i'm really really bored sometimes I thought I'd let everyone know what web-sites I use to kill time - I know it's super cool of me to share this information and your all so excited so I won't keep you in all this suspense.

www.definr.com - it's a super fast dictionary web-site and I'm trying to improve my spelling abilities past the fourth grade level.

http://plabox.info/real-age/ - this is a creepy tool that tells you when you are going to die. I'm going to live until I'm 74, according to this here machine.

http://www.gracenote.com/map/ - this is a really cool interactive map that shows you which singers/bands are currently the most popular in any country in the world. For instance, I know that Celine Dion is hot in Iran right now - you didn't know that before right now, I told you.

http://www.kazoop.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=24 - not I'm handing this one out reluctantly, use them at your own will. Personally I prefer movieforumz.com, but whatever. Don't ask me about them or anything like that, they are all confusing as hell but once you get the hang of them you can steal movies off the internet until you drop dead for all I care.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/12/01/30-essential-pieces-of-free-and-open-software-for-windows - I hand this one out more frequently then I ever expected. I use some of the software myself actually. I get super confused on when it comes to which format I save documents in and if they are compatible with the computer that I need to open it up with.. the horror of the days in high school when your 'book report' that you saved in .doc format opens up and prints in a language that ony NEO can read. NEO from the Matrix. so I use abisoft word processor which opens and saves in any format, and clamwin, a free virus protection program which works well and doesn't dominate your computer for the first ten minutes when you turn it on. Check it out.

http://www.radiomat.com/streaming/index.html - this is a great website. it streams audio from local radio stations. it's free and no sign up and it works great. cool for me because I can listen to philly and ny radio stations wherever I am. can I listen to the eagles broadcast on 94.1 WYSP, no, well sometimes - it's so busy sometimes you can't connect, and that is because the eagles are so great.

There are so many, I'm just going to post all of the links some other time not here.
I'm headed to the beach.

Ps - driving around yesterday I was at a traffic light with my favorite car of all time, well one of them - a ferrari of sorts - I felt really cool because he had chrome rims on his ferrari and I have 'chrome look' wheels on my Jeep, so we were basically like brothers up there on the line. I was going to ask him if he wanted to swap for a few days, but I don't know if he could handle my HEMI.

it's been a few days since I've had the opportunity to write at all. More so than other places, I've really been soaking in the surroundings here - getting my bearings as to where I am and what's around me. It seems that i'm in an area that's 'younger'. not saying im an geezer, but i don't really want to go out every night, wake up at 2pm hung over the next day just to finally get out of my pajamas in time to do it all over again.. huntington is def. a beach town, but it's very much also a working town - the 405 & 55 freeways run right around here so it's a good place to live if you have to commute to san diego or LA - sort of like the Hoboken of CA.
It's really fun, and Chupes and his roommate Cris, who I also had classes w/ at central really have been accomodating. I don't want to jump in and settle down into a place before i know what the neighborhood is like. rent here is rediculous, anywhere from 1500 - 2500 for a one bedroom and 1600+ for a decent two bedroom. I'm in the air whether to buy a place further inland or just rent a place closer to the beach. Either way, who knows. i have my eye on a couple places but i'm still filled with that 'is this really it' feelings. should I pack up and head back east or what? It's still new to me, like a vacation, but that's fading and I'm starting to come back down. Part of me just wants to hit the road for a part two heading up north to Alaska or some shit, but just reviewing my finances made me realize the nonsense that would make. 28 days and almost 6500 miles or whatever has set me back the cost of a deluxe hot-tub with remote timers and a three year waranty. I did pick up a Coors Light 36 PACK. 36, I know, I thought they only come in 30's, but it was only 19.99 at Stater's (grocery/booze) I know from selling the shit for years that the top deal on Coors was 20.17 on 300 cases, and that's wholesale. So I got a good deal, the dirty in me wanted to buy a bunch of them, tape them up into six-packs and sell them for 5 bucks each, netting me a profit 15 dollars per 36 with a beer for myself to keep the smile for the customers. I will say that things get rolling later out here and on that note, I'm going to get going. but I appreciate everyone saying hi on my blog, it's like not leaving home- sort of.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend, and I'll catch ya'll in a month!

so i never got to tell you guys more about denver, it is a nice city. my procedure for checking into hotels has been usually just logging on to expedia.com and searching for hotels in or around my planned destination. it works well, and I've found that the cheapest rates so far are set aside for expedia/hotels.com/orbitz, etc... search for 'places to stay in xxxxxxx city' you get the idea, read some reviews to find out where & where not to stay. Not that I'm worried about a few ruffians here and there, it's more that I have most of my priceless stuff with me - pictures, no need to get sappy, but you get the idea - stuff that I would probably burn the hotel down unless it was returned in a timely fashion, someone in there took it - one bad apple! Spare the details I ended up at the Ramada Downtown, which at first I didn't like but the first night I decided to go to the hotel bar.

THE ROCKMADA LOUNGE

That's the real name, and it has a loud stereo which was pretty sweet, and the music selection was def. 80's. Long story short, the Ramada was where most of the bands in town stay and it had more of liberal attitude towards . .. everything. I truely admired the look on guests faces when they were checking in and thirty feet away there was Motley Crue being played loudly. I love that kind of stuff, watching people feel uncomfortable. It's so obvious when they try to hide it, worried that if they decide to go to another hotel they'll lose their deposit. anyway, so the first night i was tired after cruising into denver from roswell, nm - so i didn't even bring any bags up to my room at first, i checked in, took a nap and went to the bar to eat. i meet rory (the guy who owns the distillery & troy, the comedian - who is very very funny)

I don't know if I told this part of the story yet, but I was overhearing rory. his situation entailed something about his truck being worked on by 'D' the biker or something. I was referred to as 'Adam from New Jersey' and later on came 'Sarah the photographer' so rory neeeded a ride to a town called palisade. rory is one good guy to sum it up, but I'll tell you his name could have been Rory Bushmills McMurphy, because he drank like I could and loved to party. Over a few pints of ale I agreed to give him a lift to his truck - which turned out to be at his distillery, Peach Street Distillers, which I highly recommend. I do want to thank Rory, and his lovely lady friend Amanda for their hospitality and Amanda especially for tolerating mine and Rory's schenanigans.

Anyway, a day later, after sacrificing two coolers to make room - I have Rory, Sarah, and COLBA - C.O.L.B.A. - an awesome labrador riding out west towards utah to do a photo shoot for Sarah and Rory.

The short story is that Rory makes a vodka called 'Goat Vodka' of which I have a bottle in my possession now. Sarah, the one with the camera thought it would be good for rory to pose with goats - while the goats thought it was a good idea to hammer rory in the tackle with their hooves. This is the day after we got there, the distillery is also a local attraction that people go to to sample the goods/drink/drink drink & have a good time. So rory treated me to about 8 drinks. They make awesome brandy and bourbon and all sorts of goodies, so I sampled most of them under rory's supervision. Rory and I road the 'company vehicle' into town that night, the company vehicle being one of those low rider bicycles - he had his customized with some sweet ass pegs for me to ride on. So you can imagine two slightly intoxicated individuals.. you get the pictures. I will say that we have a combined weight of well over 500 pounds so the company vehicle earned her keep that night. Rory rode the bike straight into the bar, not the side of the building, but through the front door, which was kind of ironic because there were real bikers in the bar and I thought it was just the funniest thing. Anyway. moving on.

My real reason for sitting in this horrible restaurant listining to the Lady Seniors Golf Club talk about their 'net adjusted handicapps' while my breakfast sits here getting cold is barry bonds. I like the guy - I think he is a tremendous athlete and personally I don't understand what's going on.

Steroids - not the stuff they taught us about in high school health, I'm talking about the good stuff.

If I want to sacrifice my body - which he is not, because any doctor would admit off the record that with the proper diet and excercise regiment steroids will halt, if not reverse any damage or deterioration caused by vigorous activity or just over time. I've seen it! I have, unfortunately lived within close proximity to steriod users and know how they work. D-bol, Winnie, whatever, I've seen them all - i've even been lucky eneough to witness needles between toes, in ass cheeks, etc - it's just awesome. So what's wrong with that - everyone is doing it anyway, why do you think the russian commie swim team (women) shaved their heads? so they couldn't test them. NFL players are prescribed them, ex-NFL players use them illegally because they swear that it's the only way they can still walk. And are they leadign a negative example to younger crowds, no I don't think so. What is hockey showing, that if you disagree with another person that it's cool to just start punching them in the face? Fuck you Congress, and you douche Mitchell for ruining a guys carreer. Does your anger stem from the fact that a baseball player at your prep school in connecticut was banging your girlfriend while you were at ice hockey practice, probably - get a life, if being an asshole was a crime, they could just put a big cage around the capitol building - but it would have to be between jan and July, because you fat fuckers only work half a year - the rest of the time you are playing squash, or boating, or trying to get blow jobs in park bathrooms. Leave the guy alone and stop trying to deflect the light off of the fact that our country is in total disarry. PS THANKS FOR LEAVING US AND OUR KIDS AND THEIR KIDS AND SO ON WITH TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF DEBT TO PAY OFF! FUCK YOU ALL!

I'm out of here, I've been sitting in this place for too long. I miss you all so much and I'll be back in late dec. I'm headed to cali. tomorrow and I'll check back when I can.

Looking back at the Mile High City

Ah..... Denver. The mile high city, the name comes from the coincedence that the 13th step of city hall is exactly 5280 feet above sea level. The city kind of reminds me of Boston, tree lined residential streets one block - hookers on the next. My hotel experience is a matter in of itself. I met some of the most interesting people which led to another town...palisade...spare the details for now and look at the pictures.

This is obviously Red Rocks Ampitheatre, it is about 17mi. southwest of Denver. The city of denver was sort of built piecemeal. The original street plan when the city was 'established' is contradictory to the new street plans, so needless to say, traffic is so congested that it took me nine hours to travel 17 miles. Worth it though.

This is Adam Live @ Red Rocks! The seating here is pretty limited. It's tought to gauge the size of the theatre but it's not very big - i'm sure the information is somewhere on the internet. I'm standing on the state here so now I know what Dave Mathews sees if he's not too drunk to see past the first few rows. That is a dog on the right hand side - believe it or not, at 6500 feet, you can barely breath. I had several heart attacks walking up the steps - while there I witnessed five psychotic women doing stairs here. You can just walk into the place, I think it's more of a park then anything - there is a gift shop a few minutes down the road where your receipt is from the park system. It's a really neat place to see, I have other pictures but this one is what it looks like right on the stage.

This is the Denver Skyline taken from an obscure point in the park. I was zoomed in almost 32x so it actually appears much much smaller with just your eyeballs. The tallest building are Republic Plaza, Wells Fargo (a Mormon Bank), and MCI Tower. I mention the Mormon Bank issue because once upon a time about four years ago they wouldn't let me use a wells fargo credit card to finance a gambling account - who are they to judge. Put your magical goggles on to read your magical tablets about how it's ok to have more than one wife and who cares if they are 14 either. If your offended by that, well I'm fine with that - I don't like you either. You and all your magical tricks can go elsewhere. if your still not convinced about what I'm saying I'll provide a few links here.

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/oh-my-mormons.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Steed_Jeffs

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/gaming/2000/dec/12/511161819.html

http://mormonconspiracy.com/cult.html

I highly recommend all of them, especially the ultra-biased ones which I agree with, and are 100% factual.

That little spec at the bottom is my Jeep, and yes, I honestly thought that you had to park there to get to the Ampitheatre. There weren't many signs, so yeah - I hiked up this slope, which is much steeper then it looks. My physical aptitude and technical skills aided me greatly, when I fell, my love handles gaurded me against the sharp rocks and my ability to fall and not spill my beer protected my camera as I sacrificed every other body part so my camera wouldn't hit the ground.

Here is my trustee steed. We've been getting along ok as of yet. The whole 3+ dollar gas thing has def. influenced my trip decisions. I will be in California next week. I'm not saying where I'll be for the next 5 nights, but it's in Arizona on a golf course and there are washers and dryers in my room. I just washed her, makes me happy when she's happy. Today she's getting fresh oil, and possibly new brakes - going 3 miles on a 7% downgrade riding the brakes wears them out soooo fast. Gotta give props to Jiffy Lube though, you know that if you have the Jiffy Lube sticker on your window that they will fill up all your fluids for free if you stop at any of them.... So yeah, I pull into every jiffy lube for more windshield fluid because you have no idea the size of the bugs that splatter on my windshield, and because I take a ton of pics from the car I want it clear. Big bugs, like small birds almost - and the rabbits are so big that their ears flop up on the hood when you clock them with the front bumper. And for the record Road Runners do exist... BEEP BEEP!

I gotta run, but I have so many more pics I want to show everyone. I'll put a few more up now without descriptions and let you guys ponder what they are.... good luck.

Funny

I was just hanging out last night, got burger at this irish pub across the street from the hotel and i was shooting the shit with this guy. he was really cool, turns out he's some really funny comedian. he gave me four tickets to his show tonight downtown. he was cool. we packed dippers at the bar and talked about golf and women. so me and my three friends, yeah, we're all going down to a place called comedy works - should be funny. I found the guy on the net.
http://www.comedyworks.com/Members/Event.aspx?cid=157

should be fun, and no I don't know why he insisted I take four tickets - but that's pretty cool. I also met a really cool guy and his girlfriend. He owns a distillery where he makes a vodka called goat vodka, and a new gin. I think that's who I'm going out with tonight, I usually find people to go out with but these guys seem just like me. Anywy, I'm busy on my other computer uploading almost all of the photos fit for myspace. so you can see them at www.myspace.com/legsweep

later folks

pictures so far...

I think that you guys will get better idea of where i've been if i just put up pics.

here is the road from lubbock to denver, north of lubbock. most of the roads were like this.

as you get closer to denver, in northern NM you get to see the preamble of the mountains.

I have more pictures that i'll post later, i am starving, i ordered food to my room last night when I got settled in and they didn't deliver it for 2 hours so i refused it. i'd rather go hungry than accept that level of service. so i'm going to eat my breakfast, which will be free because i let an older lady handle some business at the check in desk ahead of me. turns out her mother is in the hospital, so after waiting for 30 minutes i checked in and they gave me a free breakfast.

and a word to the wise, don't always believe the reviews you see online about hotels.

and one more thing. right now I have a tissue stuffed up my nose and a sink full of blood. the rumors about the dry air, well they are true - my skin is itchy as hell and i have bloody noses all the time. I know you might think that because i'm driving so much that i'm probably picking my nose, well I'll plead no contest to that - but it's the dry air, im sticking to that.

I'm starting to learn some things.

I never made it to Santa Fe, and I'm not going. Everyone of these towns from San Antonio to Roswell, NM is the same. It's starting to get to me. Not the cities, like Austin, or actual downtown San Antonio, or even Lubbock - it's the interim towns that make me nauseous for some reason. I can't ever imagine living in a town like that. Get the FUCK OUT! I understand everyone has a reason why they are where they are. Jerry and Ali are in Harrisburg because of Jerry's job & and Ali's and they really love each other and it was worth it to both of them to make it work, Buff is in DC because she made the choice not to teach in the Bronx, I'm in New Mexico because I made the decision to find what is going to make me content. I'm learning a whole bunch about myself, a few interesting things, a few things that you people have told but I needed to feel them for myself. First thing, if I'm not occupied in some PRODUCTIVE manner, I go right back to being very fickle. I get depressed, emotional, and I don't like it. It's like I have my period, everything pisses me off and anything that anyone else suggests or mentions is just plain silly nonsense to me. I start to look for other venues to occupy myself like gambling, drinking, and spending money. I don't like that stuff - not when I'm in that mood - so I've def. learned to find a way to occupy myself lately which is like sort of exciting to me, because my traditional venues of staying busy are not the best ones. I can even list them in order now of what I do. I traded vidoe games/drinking beer for golf, which I am getting very good at. I traded finding a casino for putting a large portion of my money into the stock market which is why I have two computers infront of me with a tv watching bloomTV since 530 this morning (that and the bastard next door, his alarm is going off). And I've really taken a liking to taking pictures, it's satisfying to take a good picture. I will admit that you absolutely can not take the good quality pictures you want with a 'pocket' digital camera, so I broke down and bought an official tourist camera, complete with fanny pack holder, straps galore and rechargeable batteries that I can charge in my vehicle. I can say with absolute conviction - I am a different person. Sitting in your car, by yourself for hours and hours on end you have tons of time to think about things, and lately I've been going through people, person by person and I've really just wondered if I did things that way or this way or what way would have been best...best for who though, me? No, probably not, I'm too occupied with making other people happy and now I'm making myself happy. Not to say that there aren't a few situations where I wish they worked out better, but for the most part, I'm happy - and I can work on those situations when I get back.....


You know, I know that I wasn't who I wanted to be in lambertville, and no, I didn't know what I was going to find out here on the road, but I knew that I spent years in NJ looking for it - I found parts of it, but not all of it. The hardest part is missing my family - I've always really liked to be around my family, even though I don't talk a whole bunch most of the time I enjoy being around them. This trips been good for me, I don't know what it is, but I'm starting to find it.

So I'm off to Denver, I can't stand this shit in the desert any longer - I'm going nuts....

And after a full day investigation my conclusion is that there are infact aliens in New Mexico - they speak Spanish and ride around in pickup trucks.

See ya in Denver.

good morning

i just want to say that i'm mad because I fell asleep with my laptop on my bed and knocked it off and now there is a crack in the glass.

so it's 555 am and I have to wait for the sun to come up so I can go take pictures of Chewy's childhood home. I don't want to do it in the dark because I'll probably get shot - -it is Texas, where I was told it is legal for your passenger to 'shotgun martinis' as long as I wasn't hitting it. I'll have to look that up, hold on. It's was true unitl 2001, now it is a ticketable offense. I'm up this early because honestly I knocked my computer off the bed and now my blood pressure is so high because of the cracked screen that I'll not be able to go back to sleep, and I'm just up.

I'm headed to Roswell NM, this morning - see what all of this UFO hub bub is about. Time allowing I'm going to head north to Santa Fe - it's another long day, but I'm good like that. I stocked up on mountain dew at the hotel gift shop and also picked up a copy of golf digest. I was going to play golf today but I don't really feel like it now, I just want to get the hell out of texas.
I wish I had a travelling friend now for some reason, I'm starting to get bored of being alone.

Lubbock, TX

So yeah, in review I see that I've spelled a few things incorrectly. I think back to grade school and I always scored 100%'s on Mrs. Holcombe's 4th grade spelling tests, I'm not sure where my spelling abilities went, they must have been contained in the brain cells that have been massacred through years of heaving drinking... alcoholism is a disease, so you can't blame me, it's like blaming somebody for being a diabetic - it's just not cool to do. I haven't honestly been boozing on the levels that most of you have seen in my previous years. Aside from New Orleans and two night in San Antonio, I haven't been drinking on my off nights. I don't feel comfortable driving at all in Texas after even one drink, and if you think I was going to dull my senses while I was camping in Creepyville, LA - you're crazy, I don't think I'd be able to defend myself against a bear in hand to hand combat with alcohol in my system. Without the alcohol it's an even odds match up. I will admit that I ran like hell when an armadillo cornered me out of the blue, they may not seem like the most aggressive animal, but come face to face with a fanged mammal with built on body armor and the way I see it, it was a one sided match - so i used my super unnatural sprinting speed to avoid a bloodbath.

Anyway, I'm in Lubbock TX right now, and I must say that as much as my impression of the small towns I've stopped in to get gas or eat were 'out there Texas' they weren't. From LA, to Austin then San Antonio it's quite a few miles - I've learned to stop for gas as soon as I get to the half tank or so mark, learned because there are stretches 200 miles plus with not much, let alone a gas station. I do have my navigation, but this is also the nav. that gave me directions from San Antonio to Lubbock today that were overall 300 miles longer then the map directions I followed on my paper map. I'm not sure why it always does that, but last year when I was driving back from Chicago, it felt the need to take me through downtown Pittsburgh on my way back to NJ. I should have realized how far off course I was, but after a 3 day bender in the windy city combined with driving for 6 plus hours I was on autopilot and just following the arrows. I did pass through a town that an old friend was living in while he was in the Air Force, some of you might know Craig H. He's in Iraq now, but he was based in San Angelo, TX and just by chance I had the pleasure of being in this area. It seems like most of these towns have two things in common. one, the towns seem to sprawl outward from a main shopping center, in this case one usually anchored by a wal-mart. Two, things are relatively cheap. I say relatively because when I stop to eat at Joe Bob's BBQ or Nancy & Tommy's Burgers I eat like a champ and the bill never comes to more then 15 bucks including tip. I also found that the standard tip for anything down here, from what I've seen outside of your chain restaurants is $1. Six beers for the group, $1. I guess we're just used to the fact that if you don't tip your server your not going to get served - I also noted that tipping the 20% that I usually tip and people are overwhelmed. Let me restate that, at the hotel, where I ate the first few meals in San Antonio, I tipped for every drink and 20% on my bill. I ate at the bar, which was nice, they had a really good restaurant in the hotel, but you could eat off of that menu at the bar, and I being by myself it's nice to talk nonsense to the bartender or watch TV instead of sitting at the table alone looking around at people and the room like your on a bad date. I ate mostly at places right on the river walk, so there were always people around, which was nice. I did do something which is typical, I went to a restaurant and I chose to sit behind sort of where the monitor for the karaoke machine was - I didn't know this, because there was another monitor that the 'artists' were reading the lyrics from, so I thought that this group of ladies that kept looking over where checking me out -totally understandable. I'm not going to get into details here, but I was wrong - in the end it worked out, they accepted me into their tightly knit gaggle and we all went out together that night. I think they thought I was gay, which was cool because they weren't weird around me and my classic good looks and polite manner. I thought that the unibrow would give it away that I'm not - but I think that was offset by my new cowboy cut jeans. Anyway, the roads I drive seem to all look the same

Flat on either side and the occasional 'mesa' if you will popping up here and there. They actually aren't that big, they look big, but when you get next to them they aren't much higher then 300 feet. I say 300 because ones similar to this that I saw right after had wind turbines on top of them, and from previous research I know that they are about 350' tall and they about doubled the height of the mountain. For example if there was a house on top of this one, you would be able to see it clearly from where my jeep is. One thing I did notice was that my left arm is considerably darker now then the right, from riding west I guess and the sun being on me. Another thing I really pay attention to is my vehicle, we've really gotten to know each other lately and for some reason my back right tire jumps in psi's. I have about 4o0 pounds of gear in the back, so I shifted the heavy stuff up right behind the driver's seat, but for some reason the tire jumps up to about 39PSI from about 31 cold when the others stay at 35/36. I inspected the tire for any visual defects, none - but I have to find a jeep dealer to get my 30k service and I'm going to have him switch the tire to the other side rear. I don't want it on the front because, now I don't know - but it makes sense that if I do have a blow-out that I'd rather have it on a non-steering tire. My Sirius radio unit is on the fritz, which pisses me off because I don't have an address where they could ship me a new one, and I can't exactly go to the store I bought it at either.

I'm in Lubbock anyway, mainly because I told Jerry that I'd take a picture of the house were his parent's lived in - and also, Texas is sooo big that where I'm headed next/tomorrow (I haven't figured out yet) well there isn't really any place to go that wouldn't require five+ more hours of driving, and while I don't mind driving, I'd rather spend the money on a hotel then run the risk of falling asleep. I've never fallen asleep behind the wheel, but I have had the conversation in my head that if I closed my eyes for 5 seconds that it would be OK, which is totally ridiculous, I don't know if anyone else has had this conversation with themselves, but it's the most idiotic thing - just proof that humans can be really really stupid. So I'm going to do that tomorrow, Lubbock is a pretty cool city, around 210,000 people - there is a Hooters right across the street, but a single guy going into Hooters is weird because everyone knows the food is awful and I'm not that desperate to see boobies. Not saying Hooters makes a city cool, just saying that because I'm looking out the window and I can see the place. I couldn't walk there, it's on the other side of the 'street' which is actually a major overpass for route 87.

One really cool thing that I saw, which started about 40 miles out of Lubbock were cotton fields, I've never seen a cotton field before but there were cotton fields as far as you could see on both sides. Most of them were harvested already, but this patch hadn't been. The blue thing is an oil producing well pump - there is a rod ont he right hand side which goes down however deep necessary and operates a pump which pulls the oil up. My question is where the hell does the oil go after you draw it to the surface, apparently there is a pipe that collected it, but I have yet to see one, so as far as I'm concerned they don't exist. I know this picture is fuzzy, but you get the point. There were HUUUUGE tractors with these mechanical contraptions on the back that picked, cleaned, and compressed the cotton. The picture is of a huge block of cotton - probably 40x 12x 8. Enough for a few t-shirts anyway. And yes, I did notice that they use genetically engineered cotton plants called FiberMax. There were literally hundreds of these large blocks of cotton along the way, I can't imagine how long they last out there - but I did see signs that indicated that it was a big time crime to intentionally bring boles or weevils - I know I spelled them wrong. I guess that they eat the crops? not sure, but it was interesting to see signs like that.

I'm getting pretty tired, I need to exercise more, I'm getting tired too early. I'm actually getting enough probably because I walk about ten miles a day. I just got a drunk phone call from a friend and now I can't remember what the hell I was writing about. Somebody asked me about why I haven't written about Gettysburg and North Carolina. I probably should, so I will.

Miss everyone, love everyone, and I'll see y'all soon enough.

PS - I spell checked this.

my spelling and grammer

I want to point out that I do know that I spell things incorrectly and sometimes I skip punctuations. I know this, but i type 94 WORDS PER MINUTE SUCKERS AND I MAKE SOME MISTAKES BECAUSE I'M SO FASTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. That means that I typed this entire paragragh in TWELVE SECONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where I've been...so far

I left NJ on 10/23 after Eric's Halloween party. I headed out to Harrisburg for one last taste Kokomo's wings. Truthfully I sat in Jerry and Ali's driveway for about 20 minutes wondering two things. One, where the hell am i going now, and two - oh man what am I doing. Anyway, I've drive just over 3,000 miles so far, so in a straight line I'd be in California already, but I'm still in San Antonio, TX. I like it here. In order these are the places I've been to - the ones with * are places that I've stayed.

1. Gettysburg Historical Park - Battlefields



2. Anteitam National Park - Battlefields



3. Roanoke Virginia* (1 night)



4. Blue Mountian Parkway - beautiful but slow road to NC



5. Ashville North Carolina* (1 night)



6. Great Smokey Mountain Park



7. Nashville, Tennessee* (1 night)



8. LONG DRIVE SOUTH to New Orleans* (3 nights)



9. North Toledo Bend State Park* camping (2 nights)



10. LONG DRIVE WEST to Austin, TX* (2 nights)



11. South West to San Antonio* (2/4 nights so far)

it's been long, it's been far - and I'm about 1/3 of the way used up in terms of resources and personal energy. It's not like a vacation, I still have things that I need to do. Ever think about laundry? hope I don't get sick, I would probably die before I go to a strange doctor. Can't eat out every day, so I do buy groceries and make sandwhiches in my room. It's actually pretty nice, kind of feels like a home. I have to admit I'm living the good life here in San Antonio - my hotel room is bigger then my old apartment in L-ville. Here is a funny picture that the housekeeper left me...... If you know me then you'll get this one.

"To: Guest

From: Hsk.

I did not make your bed because your belongings were on it."

I had a pair of pants and two shirts on it. Minor infractions, seriuosly.

So far everything has been amazing. I will put up a few things so far that have made me mad.

• People in restaurants that get antsy at the end of their meal. They sit there for 10 minutes and sip their drinks, talk about nothing (I eaves drop), so on and so forth... but at the minute that they decide that they are done, and I've noticed that there is usually a discussion about if the couple or more are finished... "are you done? do you want dessert?" Usually the answer I hear is yes I'm done, no I don't want dessert let's get the check. And it's as if there is nothing more important in the world then the check. the alpha male usually starts looking around frantically for a member of the wait staff and as soon as he makes eye contact he gives the head nod lip sync 'check' business. if that's not your waiter, he has to go get your waiter so he can bring you your check. BUT NOOOOOO, you have to use your magical fucking air pen to write 'C-H-E-C-K' Oh I get it now, now that I see what you wrote into the air it's so much clearer now. And I'm glad to see that you're educated, I know this because you spelled check in cursive - I was confused for a minute because you are the first people I have served ever in my life and I didn't anticpate what you wanted. I'll go get your check so you can analyze your bill for several minutes when I actually know that your not doing anything except proving to the wait staff that if you ever come back they better not make any mistakes on your bill because you check your bill at the end of the meal. It's so rediculous, these antics, just relax, because 9/10 times all I see you do for the next five minutes after you stand up from your table is adjust your belt, decide where to wander next, talk on your phone . . .but good thing you got out of that restaurant so fast. good for you jackasses.
• Next thing, is people behind me in traffic that curse at me because I have New Jersey plates. I see your ugly ass and all your bastard kids in your minivan you loser. Stop karate chopping your steering wheel peering around my vehicle - THERE ARE THREE LANES PACKED WITH TRAFFIC IDIOT! IT'S 5 PM IN THE 7TH LARGEST CITY IN AMERICA! Like all this traffic ismy fault. I see your bright red lipstick in contrast to your clown white makeup while the sun is glarring through your windshield. I read your lips, "See this, this guy from New Jersey, he just let that guy go infront of him....blah blah blah"Listen to me you moron -there were EIGHT THOUSAND CARS on that highway at the time and you can go F-YOURSELF. I bet you went home that night and stuffed your face with Dominos and cried after you sent your kids to bed at 7 because you hate yourself. If I wasn't so patient with people i would have put my truck in reverse and really gave you something to explain to your four year old sitting behind you - he just thinks his mom is crazy now.
• Another thing is people looking at me because I'm by myself at a restaurant. I don't want to sit at a bar when I'm eating. I want to sit on at a normal table - fine treat me like a leprosy patient and hide me at the back table. I hate that crap, and truthfully if I get a shitty table I just order the cheapest beer drink half of it and leave. I see the nine tables you have ready, just put me there - I'm not like 80% of the people I hear asking what the specials are, I'll order what I want and pay for it, not like those idiots who order the 9.99 fish special even though you can tell they hate catfish.
• I'm all fired up now, I'm leaving.

San Antonio

it's early friday morning here in San Antonio. This place is pretty cool, the river walk is pretty sweet.

this is a picture that I took on the 'loop' of the Riverwalk. The loop is basically a channel, a "U" shaped waterway averaging 7 feet deep that is sort of plugged into the San Antonio River. The water level is controlled via locks on both ends. The purpose of the channel was/is to prevent flooding. Apparently there were two 'disasterous' floods in the 20's that only killed 50 people and caused 'millions' of dollars worth of damage. I don't want to talk about something you could look up on the net yourself, but I will tell you this. In San Antonio, the people here just act like this waterway appeared! It was dug, by people and machines. If you know what the WPA is, well that is how this project was funded. The WPA sent workers here to construct the channel which was the idea on an architect named Hugman. It was highly criticized because of a few reasons. one, the wpa was highly scrutinized because it provided money for projects that weren't necessarily necessary. A fine blend of need and want, blended with a healthy dose of coercion is what I think brought this riverwalk to fruition. I'm getting sick of bartenders and roving historians putting emphasis on the whole 50 deaths and the whole 'millions' of dollars worth of damage so they feel better about something. If you have two 'MAJOR' floods and that's all that happens then just shut up, because we all know that is nothing. Anyway, eneough ranting.

I do want to put out there something that I think you should all know. If anyone has the urge to fly all the way to italy to visit Venice, just come here. It's basically the same, except that in Venice you get several things.

• Rude People


• Smells AWFUL


• Dirty, trash in canals


• Pigeon shit in St. Marks Square


• Overpriced Everything


• Graffiti that reads "venice hates Amercia" <-- Spelled wrong yes


• Hotels that won't bring ice to your room


• Seafood that falls on the street and then goes to your plate


• Guys selling fake Fendi bags on every corner, worse then the beaches in Cancun with sunglasses and beads


• Not to mention free boat rides to islands around venice then not giving you a ride home until you buy a 1200 dollar glass bowl.


• Venice is sinking into the sea, so obviously it was chosen by God to not exist any longer.

Austin to San Antonio is only about 70 miles, so it was a relatively short trip. ALong the way I stopped at 'The Natural Bride Caverns' and took an hour long tour. The room here is the largest room on the tour, the cieling was almost 120' high. The formations are composed of calcium carbonate and grow at an average rate of one inch every 100 years, so imagine that this would have to be millions of years old. The formation on the left of this photo is called 'The Kings Throne' - you can sort of see there he would sit at the bottom - I didn't see it, and I especially didn't see the 'Ice Cream Cone' to the right incase he gets hungry. it was really interesting seeing all this, I didn't feel safe AT ALL! They may convince some of the visitors that it is completely safe. There are 'vertical cracks' in the ceiling, 'not to be confused with faults' - c'mon buddy, its a crack in the rock, which is sedimentary, so don't tell me that sooner or later this cave is coming down. I had fun - there was a stop ont he tour where the guide took a photo, sort of like on a roller coaster and he kept grouping me with the two old women behind me as a 'family of three' so at picture time i said I was just a family of one from New Jersey and he looked at me like I was a criminal. I'm really getting sick of that crap, the 'New Joisey' shit, I hear it all the time, so if I dno't really like the people I just tell them I'm from Canada.

Today is going to be really fun. I'm headed to Wurst Fest with the hotel bartender Petra - she's from Germany. The slogan for Wurst Fest is 'The Ten Day Salute to Sausage' ----I"M THERE.

check it wout http://www.wurstfest.com the town is about 30 minutes away from here, and I'm driving so I'm not going to be able to drink much beer. The police down here are copies of Walker, Texas Ranger, so I'm not fussin around with the law when it comes to boozin' - especially with Jersey tags. I have so much to write, but I also have so much to do - so I'm going to get lost for now and hopefully check back later or tomorrow. I appreciate comments too - just so I know somebody is reading this thing!

Texas is Huge

Wow! I have so much to write about. Last time I checked in I was in New Orleans... I left that city a different person. I arrived in N.O. after a long long drive from Nashville, which I must say is a place that I recommend to everyone. The people there were super nice, the food was great, and there is sooo much to see I couldn't take it all in. Anyway.

I didn't really know where I was headed after I left New Orleans, the next city was Shreveport LA, but I didn't think that there was much there in the way for me so I decided to go camping instead. I'm not really sure what I expected, I think it was what I would expect say when I go to Bulls Island. Generic spots, so on so forth, you get the idea. I crossed into Texas on Sunday, then wound back and forth into LA travelling north. I originally planned on staying at a place called Ragtown, which is a campground on the Sabine Resevoir in Texas, but finding this place was beyond rediculous and I sort of stumbled on North Toledo Bend SP. I checked in at the ranger station for 3 nights, ended up only staying 2. The scenery there is beautiful.

So I'm checking in, granted I probably didn't appear to be the most rustic of folk when it comes to spending time in the wilderness. I had my 'fancy' blue jeans on, my #36 Westbrook jersey on and you could tell the lady ranger behind her counter was passing all sorts of judgement on me. There was an older couple there reserving a site, so I perused the ranger station, reading various pamphlets on what not to eat, what not to leave out overnight, what to do if you see certain vermin, what to do if you get attatcked/bitten/stung/whatever by any of the various deviant critters. I gotta tell you guys, at this point I'm seriously questioning what I am doing... Why would I choose to sleep outside in the backwoods of Louisiana as opposed to a comfy hotel. It's just something that I like, I like camping. In retrospect, as with almost everything, I was wrong. I like camping with people, in a place that seems remote, but is actually just not - like Bulls Island. Sure I'm camping in the woods, but ten minutes away is the fine city of lambertville.

So this is what my campsite looks like...

What you see is my chair, my lantern (rechargeable electric), my tent, and the fire ring. The tent is pitched on a 15x20 elevated sand. You can see the sun shining on the right side of my tent - that is west, behind me about 30 yards is the water where alligators are, and the picture is taken sort of from where my jeep is parked. I have more pictures of that. The trees are tall, and it gets dark fairly early. I think that night I cooked a steak on the grill - it was good, but I didn't much enjoy it with my eyes darting around at every noise I heard and my arms and legs flailing around everytime a bug landed on me. I must have emptied an entire can of OFF on myself.

The campsite was pretty generic. It has water and electric, so that came in handy - but there wasn't another camper withing 200 yards of me, and EVERYONE else was in there huge fancy RV's - so I don't know what the ranger was looking at me all funny for - I was atleast in a tent (for one night anyway). So anyway, when the ranger did find out that I was camping in a tent, she handed me a pamphlet that instructs campers on how to safeguard there tents and belongings from insects. Now I'm going to say that I'm not very fond of spiders, but the two that are most common where I was were the 2 that YOU DO NOT WANT TO BITE YOU. EVER, NEVER FUCKING EVER! The one is the Black Widow, and unless you live in a cave underneath a mountain you know what a black widow is. They say that being bitting by a black widow is like being struck by a bolt of lighting - not something you want. I can take that though, I mean I know I'm not going to die, and this thought honestly went through my head 'well atleast I'll have a hospital bed to sleep in' but anyway, back to my point. The other spider is a less known one. I'm familiar with it only because one of my friends e-mailed me a link to photos of what it looks like when you get bit by a recluse spider. I knew that the spider venom caused necrosis, simply put it kills the flesh where you are bit, I didn't know that it proliferates and will continue if not treated. Here is a picture of some poor bastards thumb that got bitten by a brown recluse spider.

It's gross, and I don't use foul language lightly, but that is just fucking disgusting and I would rather die than get bit and look like that. Not to mention that I have a sleeping back that is meant for zero degree weather, so sleeping in 40 degree weather makes it really hot, and I was just sleeping in my boxers. I don't need to finish this sentence, but I would rather burn in hell then get bit on my...

So yeah, and guess what - after a light sleep of a night, because I was hearing all sorts of racket through the night, I go to take a wee and just chillin on the driver door of my jeep is one of these bastards. Shit - in my mind the whole campsite is infested and I'm probably going to get bit and die and some animal will eat me and I'll never be found again. Strike one - two more nights left, and I've already had a close brush with death. Anyway, I went hiking after I made some breakfast.what you're seeing is my stainless steel cooler with a few things on top. On the left is a tortilla shell with two semi-melted pieces of cheese on it resting on top of a stainless pot. Behind that is a 300g canister of coleman x fuel. I think it's a blend of propane and another gas. it burns extremely hot and effeciently. it's hooked up to a regulater and braided steel cord which leads at a collapsable four legged burning element. I have a cast iron pan on top of that which is cooking 3 pieces of ham with the lid to the pot on top of that. I don't know what that does, but I always see chefs putting shit on the top of their food so I figured why not. I ended up making an egg ham cheese tortilla - it was ok - not ok 3 miles into my 4 mile hike. I thought I was going to have to poop in the woods - which I haven't done... yet.

Anyway, that was basically it - I stopped at the ranger station after my hike to do laundry and I bumped into the same lady ranger again and she said this... 'so you're camping alone...it's almost halloween ya know?'

STRIKE TWO AND STRIKE FUCKIN THREE I'M OUT!

I actually ended up sleeping there that night again, because it was getting dark and I didn't have enough time to break down all my stuff and pack it properly. I knew I had around 500 miles ahead of me to Austin, so you need to pack properly otherwise I can't see out of the back of my Jeep and it dangerous having shit flying around. I finished up my laundry, got into my Jeep put the seat all the way back, listened to the Monday Night Football game on my Sirius radio, watched Invincible again on DVD and fell asleep, woke up it was 6:18am sun was about to come up and I went to the 'Comfort Station' where the showers and toilets are and cleaned my act up, shaved, and mentally prepared my plans for the day. It took me some time, more then I thought it would to pack all my stuff up and I finally got on the road to here around 11 I think.

You know, overall - I'd do it again, but in a place with people. I do want to add two things that are important. One, there was this white cat that stalked me the entire time I was there, two, another brown recluse spider came down on my chest this morning at the hotel when I was on my way out to play golf. I flipped the shit out and crushed him on my chest with an empty diet mountain dew bottle. That's not the entire story, but I'm sure you don't want to read about me flailing around in the carport at my hotel infront of 50 people screaming spider spider spider!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure there are more in there, hopefully they saw what happened to their buddy and decide to leave.

I can't even begin to tell you all the side stories - hopefully when I get back around New Years everyone who is actually reading this will be with me and we can hang out over a beer and I'll tell you.

I have to get going, it's Halloween Night here in Austin and apparently it's like a wattered down New Orleans. I must say, there are some of the most gorgeous women down here - and believe it or not, they talk to me!

For anyone who cares, I shot a 1,232 today at Falconhead golf club here in Austin.

I'm going to post here more often, I figured out how to put pics up and stuff. I'm leaving tomorrow for San Antonio for 4 nights. I used up all of my rewards points on this one to get a nice place on the riverwalk..... I was going to stay for just two nights, but apparently San Antonio has some amazing stuff to see. So if anyone feels the need, fly on down and you can crash with me!

Love ya'll!!!

First Few Days

So I left Tuesday from Harrisburg, I guess I consider that my starting point for some reason. I like Harrisburg, I love Ali & Jared, and for some reason I sort of just feel like I connect with the city. I'm in my hotel room in New Orleans now, so this is all sort of in retrospect, but I'm starting to wonder if my fascination with the 'outside bar' in Hburg and me being here are related....probably, but oh well. I felt a little bad about not doing the personal goodbye with everyone, but they make me feel like I'm saying goodbye and then climbing into a coffin, to be sent to the bottom of the ocean. it's 2007, we have cell phones and computers and airplanes - I'm not selling bibles in Africa, I'm driving around the country. But I do apologize to anyone who was offended - then you can go hump a tree because I'm emotions are for sissies, no room for emotions on the road here, have to be tough . . .like leather in the sun, two dollar london broil tough.
it was kind of like a whirlwind of shit in my head when I left, I said to jared "Shake my hand" and we did the hand shake/back pat. We're past that crap, I could have just pounded it up with him, but incase you guys aren't aware, he is big on formalities (returning phone calls, RSVP's, greetings & salutations & GOLF RULES) so I'm glad I did, because Chewy, I love you and I keep many of your words of wisdom on the tip of my tongue. Alison, I was fake sleeping, thanks for the head pat and I'm going to miss the shit out of your couches. I took my toothbrush out of the basement bathroom, that wasn't a resignation of my domicile, it was more of a concession of rights. Anyway, I miss all of you guys so much and I think you all know that.

It's an odd situation that I find myself in... at the end of the 'day' when I either have reached my destination or I'm getting sleepy, I try and find the most reasonable place to crash. I really want to just camp out, but it's been rainy for the entire trip since I got to new orleans and not that I'm giong to melt or something crazy, but the additional mess that it would make in my already jam packed jeep wouldn't be worth it. Most of the 'primative' camping facilities don't have laundry machines either, so I don't want to be that guy walking around in new towns with a scruffy beard, dirty clothes, smelling like campfire - I mean I care now, but talk to me in a few weeks, I'll be eating scorpions in the desert that I killed with a hand fashioned spear made from the bones of dead wolves. Anyway, I'm getting really hungry, it's almost 7pm here and I am that lazy that if I get hungry eneough I'll just eat at the hotel diner instead of going downtown (3block away) so I'm going to put some clothes on and get out of here. Later Ya'll!

Oh yeah, eating lunch today was some experience, I want to make this detailed but I wont. So I'm hung over as shit, I was playing blackjack at harrah's until like 5 am, I won - anyway, dewar's kicked my ass, I woke up with a bottle of cola in my bed that was empty and my stomch was doing things I didn't approve of. So after two pots of coffee and sucking water out of the faucet until it felt like my stomach was about to explode, I finally made it to the shower and out the door. So I stop at the Cajun Cabin for lunch, it's right on the strip and they have a balcony and whatever. So i order all sorts of food, from alligator, gumbo, you name it. I felt like shit, but I really was hungry and that's all there is on the menu generally speaking. Some variation of some meat that I usually wouldn't eat. FYI, the most succulent part of the alligator is in the tail. So there are beer trucks idling outside, deiself fumes, aromas of clams from the clam bar across the way, and then the sun sort of hits me. I get the sweats, mind you I have already downed four bottled waters at this place, and it's down to the mental battle of not throwing up. Keep in mind that on the recomendation of Gia from the day before, I had downed a couple of Hurricanes, with an extra shot on top, as Gia recommends. I was straight fucked up last night, I kept it together though pretty good, and the casino offered me a room, they had somebody escort me home instead. Not because I was too drunk to walk, it was because I had a pocketful of scrilla and I don't exactly blend in at night with my flaming pink polo shirt. Anyway, off the topic, a horse and cart go by and I literally see the poop coming out of this horses dumper and I imagine he had some fresh business in his doody bag already because I just flat out barfed into my cup - a controlled barf into my soda cup. Aside from the resulting sweat and patika (hemmoraging of the blood vessels in the eye) I felt great.

So that's it - I'll write more later, but for now I gotta get going. Boston 2 Rockies 0.