Salt Lake City Pics: 3/8 - 3/12

Skiing at Snowbird, UT. Yes it was cold. I think we are around 9,000 ft in elevation here. The top was 11,000 ft, and yes my lungs could tell.

You can own one of these for $40,000. It takes premium unleaded gasoline. And it only costs $3,000 to get a license to fly it. Crazy.

This place was like American Choppers, only with gyroplanes. This one was pimped out with custom Raven paintjob, plus leather seats and chrome controls.

Me posing with an apparently $150,000 Benz. I think it was an SL 65 AMG, V12... means nothing to me, but must be one hell of a car.

I'm in that thing! Coming in for a landing during my gyroplane flight. Check out the background. Amazing.

Joe and I pimping out the rental minivan on the mean streets of Salt Lake. It was white-out snowy conditions, that's why you can't see out the windows.

Throwing up the M-sign for mormons. Holla.

Joe probably offending people in the SLC airport. YEAH TEMPLE! ROCK!

Pics from February to March

My first time paintballing was a blast. That's me on the right, looking like a terrorist.

ATL Party Bus. Awesome night.

Cruising the mean streets of ATL in the Party Bus. Check out the cheesy track lighting on the ceiling. Psychedelic, maaan.

Our Party Bus driver... his name was "Cowboy" I kid you not.

At a Dueling Piano Bar at the perimeter. The piano player was hokey as hell, but the drinks were good.

Joe's impression of a leprechaun on the night of the Great Guinness Toast. That's the Guinness Girl who gave us all free shirts. We had just come from a Guinness Believer event so they were very impressed with our love for Guinness.

The most snow Atlanta got this winter. It melted within about 15 minutes.

Almost done with school. In no way is that depressing.

There is about 6 weeks left in the school year here at Tech, and then I'll be a Master of Science and concurrently homeless. The job hunt was going well but all the enormous companies either don't want me or are dragging their ass with getting back to me. I'm thinking it's the latter since they'll take about anyone. But anyways, I did hear from two companies, one in DC and one in Salt Lake (yeah, quite different). And to some's surprise and/or horror, I am probably going to accept the one in Salt Lake City. Yes, it is mormon country but it's also cheap-housing country and outdoor-heaven country. I went up there a few weekends back to check it out and interview, and went skiing up at Snowbird and Brighton. Pretty damn nice. Waaay different than my NY experiences. Even in the middle of the city you are surrounded on all sides by these beautiful mountains, which you can see from anywhere because the city is FLAT. That'll make bike riding a breeze. And cost-of-living is mad cheap. Oh and plus I like the job. It's a real small company that could probably go belly up at any moment, but I'm not too worried about that.

Even though I feel pretty good about it, it's still a big, big decision. This is Utah, people. I've been on the east coast, mostly Maryland my whole life. This is 2000+ miles away. Sometimes I get the "what the hell are you thinking" moments. But then I think, if I did move back to Maryland I would almost definitely regret not moving to Utah or somewhere else. I would regret playing it safe by moving back where all my friends/family are. Coming to Atlanta was awesome, I can't imagine if I had just stayed at UMD... ugh.

So that's that, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. I would have lost nothing. I'll look to Annie K for inspiration, she just picked up and quit her NYC marketing job or whatever and moved to fucking HAWAII to work on a cruise ship. I mean, what the hell! That's about as 180 as you can go. That's cool. When we hear stories like that, most of us think they are cool, adventurous, romantic, or just plain ballsy, but we rarely make those moves ourselves. I wonder why.

Pics from December - February

Me swinging around on a cable at the ropes course.

The Navy's Finest... Kenny throwing knives at the 'Mr. I hate America" cardboard target.

Blowjob shots on an amazing beer pong table.

The Polo club, est. 2006

Not cold at all. Camping at Sand Rock, AL.

The view from our campsite at Sand Rock, AL. Breathtaking.

The Navy Civilian's Finest... This can't be safe.

Washington Monument (no way, really Ben?) at sunset.

Some sort of house in DC that gets a lot of attention. I've heard it called the "White House" but it can't be that simple. Also look closely to see my shaggy hair... probably the longest it's ever been.

So Much to Say, So Little Effort to Say It

I have beaten my old record of time between updates, it has been almost two months. Since then I have turned 23, Christmas happened, New Years, my last semester started, and all sorts of other happenings that deserve a longer post but will be condensed into one or two sentences.

I got an iPod nano for xmas, big ups to the folks on that one, although just yesterday it broke (it won't turn off!). Way to go, Apple. Also New Years was very fun, I spent it at Hanbury's house which involved an outdoor fire and some poker. Uh, let's see, what happened in early January... ah yes, the Atlanta crew and I went camping in Sand Rock, AL, a rock climbing destination of the Southeast. It was bitterly cold for the two nights we stayed, but the view was incredible (pics to come). We camped right on basically a cliff that overlooked a valley, and the first morning's cloud cover made for some streaming sun rays and an even better view than normal. We also monkeyed around on the boulders next to the "real" climbers who probably found us annoying.

The next weekend I flew back up to Maryland and went skiing up in Windham, NY with the old Maryland crew. This was the 2nd annual ski trip, put together by Matt, my old roommate. That was a blast, although the temperatures were a bit high, and so the whole wintery experience wasn't there. Only the slopes had snow and all around was nice green grass due to the lack of NY snow that season. Conditions were still good enough for me and I tried snowboarding for the first time ever. It's very enjoyable but I still love skiing much more.

After the return to Atlanta there was some more boring school stuff, followed by a two-apartment party put on by our friends at post renaissance apts. There I mixed up my old favorite drink --tequila, triple-sec, cranberry juice, and a lime-- to great success. Also Chad and I dominated at beer pong.

Ok that brings us to last weekend. Kenny from high school came up to Atlanta for the weekend. He actually flew a small aircraft up here for part of his naval aviator training. We got to hang out Friday night and had a good time throwing knives at a cardboard target in my apartment and going up to the Buckhead bars.

Saturday and Sunday I went on an ORGT (Outdoor Rec at Georgia Tech) leadership retreat up in the North Georgia mountains. Again, it was bitterly cold, but I learned a lot and met a lot of very cool people. Most of the people there were rock climbers, and they inspired me to try some rock climbing. I haven't been in about 8 years, but it's like riding a bike, right? This guy Andy gave a presentation on his caving adventures in Peru, where he is exploring unknown caves to try and find the deepest cave in the world. He does this all on his own time and dime, which is incredible. Again, more inspiration hitting me... not to go caving, but to just get out there and do something big like that.

And of course the entire time since my last post I have been job hunting relentlessly. So far I have two interviews lined up and have been emailing contacts and hitting up career fairs like a mad man. I don't want to go too much into the job search, because a) It's not exciting and b) I don't want to jinx anything. And also c) there isn't much to say because I haven't had a ton of bites yet.

So I hope you enjoyed the rare update on my life so far... I will have a separate post with pictures from most of the events described above. You stay classy, internet.

Cold-Hearted Apprentice Finale

I never watch the Apprentice, although it is a good show in my opinion, but I caught the re-run of the most recent season's finale on CNBC last night. The ending was one of the most F-ed up things I have witnessed on a reality show. First of all it was between this 30-something guy, Randal, black, really well-educated, owned his own business, hell of a guy... and this 24 year old woman, Rebecca, white, real strong personality (in a good way), very succesful for her age.

Ok anyways, they do their typical boardroom thing (it was live with an audience) and Trump ends up picking the Randal guy. He gets up all excited and runs around hugging people, etc.

Then Trump goes, "wait Randal, sit back down... Now that youve won, what do you really think about Rebecca?"
Randal: "Oh Mr Trump, she's a great girl, *more compliments, etc*"
Trump: "So, don't you think she deserves to win, also?"
The crowd kind of gasps and starts applauding wildy, hoping for a double-hiring situation. I sit up in my seat, suddenly interested cause I thought the girl deserved to win too.
Randal: "Actually, Mr Trump, the show is called Apprentice, as in one, so I think there should only be one Apprentice tonight"
Trump: "Ok, you could have convinced me, but we'll leave it at that, then"

WHAT THE HELL?? Where does this guy get off? It's not like if she was hired they would have to split the job or money or something. It wouldn't have affected him at all. Plus he would not stop saying how much respect he had for her in the previous episode. What a selfish prick. The audience actually booed for a short while, which amused me.

But the main eye-opening part was that a girl about my age was such an impressive person and was almost put in charge of a multi-million/billion dollar corporation. Imagine that, readers.

Chicken and Waffles Restaurant Review

Last night around 2am I went to what apparently is an Atlanta staple: "Gladys Night and Ron Winan's Chicken and Waffles". The place was a LOT classier than I expected from an open-till-4am chicken and waffles place. First of all it was a sit-down restaurant, which I didn't expect. The tables were nice dark wood, real classy. The place was full or people, but not loud drunk idiots typical of a post midnight restaurant. It was mostly couples, real low-key. We all pretty much ordered the "midnight train", which was four jumbo chicken wings and a waffle. They had an array of hot sauce, and I partook with the Texas Pete, which was just fine. Dan tried the grits with cheese, which was incredibly good. Definitely getting that next time. Bhuan's catfish was pretty good too. Overall a great late-night meal. However, the prices were somewhat high, with a small side of mac&cheese at over $3 and the meal described above at $9 (four wings and a waffle). The waffle does most of the filling up, so we were all pretty satisfied after the meal regardless. I put their website link below, and all my Maryland friends, don't worry there is a location in DC. To learn more, head to your local library, kids!

http://www.gladysandron.net/

Dodgeball DQ

What kind of team gets disqualified for misconduct during a dodgeball match? Apparently ours.

During the game, this guy Brian on my team got called out for stepping over the line on one of his throws. He disagreed (to say the least) and really didn't even go out until the third time the ref told him to get out. While he was on the sideline he continued his "disagreement" with the ref, and after disputing that he crossed the line, ended by saying "you need glasses, man". At this point the ref lost it and walked out into the middle of the court blowing his whistle and waving his hands. Everyone was of course very confused because there was still a minute 30 left in the game and it was tied with 3 people on each side remaining. Then the ref just announces "you guys win" and points to the other team, who after a moment of confusion start celebrating. Our team at this point has a "what the..!" moment and so i run over to the group of refs and he tells me "you guys just kept insulting me, you're out". What??? "You need glasses" is an insult worthy of an entire team's disqualification? Spencer at this point goes right up to the refs face and yells "you're terrible!" They didn't like that too much either. Haha. It was almost funny. It was very lame that we only got to play for 2.5 minutes and could have won, but it was pretty funny to be disqualified from a dodgeball match. We probably would not have won the tournament anyways, so what a way to go. The refs were REAL pissed at us though, and becuase we had on those uniforms we were easily identifiable and I even got an evil eye from a CRC manager guy later in the night. That guy takes his job wayyy too seriously.

We had been playing at the Georgia Tech "One Night Stand" which is when the rec center is open until 4am and there are all kinds of organized sporting tournaments (volleyball, basketball, etc) and contests, such as doughnut eating and half-court shooting. All in all, a very cool idea and event. This dodgeball game was at 2am and I should mention several of my team members were therefore three sheets to the wind. That probably didn't help the situation too much. For this spring's intramural dodgeball I'm going to have to take the team to sportsmanship school.

November Pictures

The ITAR club, est. 2005

Getting a "Taste of Africa"... the intenstines were actually very good. I got video of the guy George in the middle doing an African dance with a wifebeater on. The man's got rhythm.

Georgia Tech 4 seconds from beating Miami... also looks like the Wizards won in the bottom ticker.

The brave ones that went on the Pine Mountain trip.

The only view at Pine Mountain and it wasn't even on the trail. This was after we finished and saw this overlook on the side of the road.

Interesting outfit at the Clemson game. To clarify, it was a few days before halloween.

Are you a Guinness Believer?

If you haven't heard of these Guinness Believer events, then I've got some good news for you. The event basically consists of Guinness representatives giving you as much Guinness as you can drink while telling you random trivia and history about the beer. It's all FREE and they don't try to sell you anything. You just sign up online for a local event, it's usually held at a local bar/club. Bring all your friends and they serve free food (appetizer type food) and best of all, free guinness!! They give drafts, bottles, extra stout, even Harp and Smithwicks. MY GOODNESS MY GUINNESS!

We went last night and it was better than I even expected. Unfortunately I had to drive myself so I couldn't partake as much as some people, but it was still a blast. I took home a Guinness pint glass and a three pack of those cool Guinness posters. Needless to say I'll be all over it next time they do it. Guinness is probably my new favorite beer as of thanksgiving break, where I was drinking the bottles while at home. Goes down extra smooth because there's no carbonation. And I learned that those little things inside the bottles and cans are nitrogen capsules, cause that's what makes the head stay and makes the beer creamier. LOVELY DAY FOR A GUINNESS!

Go here to find the event near you: http://www.believerrsvp.com/docs/lda/index.aspx
password is: Believer

I missed November, didn't I?

The time between my blog entries keeps getting longer. I got a lot to cover so I'll do it in my usual half-assed style. Let's see, since the last post we played Clemson at home in football, and wupped em. Their fans showed up in force and were quite obnoxious so it was a satisfying victory. Their school cheer is just spelling out CLEMSON TIGERS (like C-L-E-M... etc). Pretty dumb.

In early November me and 4 others (Ben P, Leah, Nick, Brian) went backpacking down in FDR State Park on the Pine Mountain Trail. It wasn't as fun as previous trips mainly due to the lack of scenery. The trail never has any overlooks or anything so it's just a long walk in woods. Plus it rained in the morning right as we were taking down camp, so everything got wet. But now I can say it was fun because it's over... isn't that how it always goes?

My friend George was in a "Taste of Africa" show on campus so a bunch of us went to check it out. There was a lot of African dancing and singing (including an Alicia Keyes song, which I guess is an African cultural song?). The highlight was a play they put on about an African guy finding a girl and getting married, that was really funny. The food at the end was interesting too. I tried some cow intestines, and it was surprisingly delicious, though chewy.

Oh and then surprise, Georgia Tech beat Miami in football on 11/20. That was pretty huge, we were at a party and everything kinda just stopped in the 4th quarter and everyone huddled around the TV. Like "what, we are going to win??".

Then I went home for Thanksgiving back to Maryland. I didn't do much at home except watch movies and the usual James Bond marathon on Spike. I think I only left the house once to go play some poker at Josh's new place. The highlight of that night was the last hand of the night. One kid had an Ace-high flush, I had a full house, and before I could reach and pull in the $30+ that was in the pot, Josh surprises us all with a King-high straight flush! Son of a! That's the second highest hand possible in poker! Helluva hand Josh.

On the intramural sports front, my bowling team ended up winning the Graduate league playoffs, so I guess that makes us champions, even though there were only 3 teams in the league. Ha. We play in the school championship monday, where we will play much better teams, and it will take a miracle to get through the first round. For volleyball, we made and won the first game of the playoffs, but then got stomped by a highly organized team with a guy that was like 8 feet tall... not fair.

Anyways, that sums up November/early December. I won't make the usual promise to blog more often, because I probably won't. Be cool, stay warm.