Grublist Blog - Travel

The Great CanyonChasers Fire of '05

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 16:32:00 -0500

A while ago i embarked on a most epic and amazing adventure with some of my closest friends. Over 11 days we covered more than 3,500 miles on our motorcycles. We saw 6 states and 2 countries. We rode amazing roads, had experiences that ran the entire gamit of emotion from pure bliss to frustration and fear. It was a trip that can never be duplicated, including in writing. What you'll find here are simply some small bits i can put into words. If i really had to tell you the whole story it would take a month... and we were only gone 11 days!
Continue reading "The Great CanyonChasers Fire of '05"

Sydney Wrap Up

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 05:10:35 -0500

So here's the recap of my rides in Sydney (with pics here)
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Hiring a bike in Sydney

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:14:00 -0500

I just got into my hotel in Penrith, Australia after an interesting evening. Here's how my day broke down:
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canyonchasers hit Sydney

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 04:38:32 -0500

Man, how i love selecting the "motorcycles" category with the "travel" category for posts. whenever you put those 2 together you have the opprotunity for greatness. Hopefully this trip is no exception. I have just booked myself a F650GS from ozmoto (they didn't have any more VFR 800's) for the weekend. I'm gonna jump on a train tomorrow after class and get rockin on my weekend. It's gonna be expensive on my shoestring budget, but man it should be epic. No matter what, i'm gonna have a story that can start with "...so yeah, when i was motorcycling thru the blue mountains in australia...", and not a lot of kids from ohio can say that.

Suddenly, Sydney is more exciting The blue mountains wait. so does whatever adventure i manage to get myself into. thank god it's an adventure bike, eh?

finally sydney

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 02:00:11 -0500

so i finally made it to sydney. Business Class rocked... the seat was huge and fully reclining. I sat next to a cool lady whose husband didn't get upgraded, so they traded around half way into the flight (7 hrs). I slept most of the way.

I got in at 6am, passed thru customs and got in a cab to the Sydney Harbor Marriott. Pretty pimp setup this place has. I checked in and went up to the room. While i was waiting for my bags i flicked on the television and watched the last 8 laps of the MotoGP in Laguna Seca (yay for GP back in the USA!!!). Nicky Hayden won it, with Collin Edwards in 2nd and Rossi bringing up the rear. One/Two finish by americans and the rebirth of american GP. awesome!

I spent the rest of the day wandering around sydney and seeing all the tourist stuff i'm supposed to see. Got some pics of me in front of the major tourist attractions and saw some interesting things. there was a guy doing a street performance act in the harbor with a slackline, he finale'd by balancing on the slackline 10 ft off the ground on 1 foot while juggling flaming torches. He was damn funny, too. Then i came back to the hotel for a bit and had some chinese food. Then out for a haircut, and now i'm back agian.

Can't wait to see how my class is tomorrow, and what trouble i'll get into while i'm here... so far the highlights have been motogp on public tv (that'd never happen in america) and that street performer. hope sydney has more to offer

not quite sydney

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 01:59:18 -0500

So i didn't make it to SFO yesterday. Instead i went out with crystal and her little sister, allie. had a good time at barnes n noble walkin around with allie in her pajamas, then we went to the chang to get some food.

Spent today kickin it with brad. We went to the Cotton Bottom Inn for lunch. nothing better than a good garlic burger and a pitcher of beer for lunch, but it robbed me of the little bit of motivation i still had.

Managed to get to LAX in plenty of time for my flight, and thanks to the tight seating to sydney this week... i'm forced to fly business class instead of economy, so i'm sitting in the Red Carpet Room at LAX enjoying my nice free cocktail.

oops, time to get on teh plane. bbl.

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 21:26:00 -0500

K so this is going to be another one of those uber updates since i've been leading this rock and roll lifestyle too long to be checking in like i should. If i recall correctly, the last time i dropped a line was before cleveland, detroit, chicago, san jose and london. yeah i'm a slackass. so from the top...

Cleveland
cleveland was a side trip because i had to be in detroit for a meeting, so i flew in early, rented a car and drove down to suprise the fam. When i got to cleveland to find out about the happenings at jason's, turns out everybody was already in bed. So i called everyone else i know in ohio in the hopes they were in cleveland. Ruthy was in kent, and Rachel was in Miami, Ohio... but it was her birthday. And what kind of friend would i be if i didn't try to see her on her birthday? right. so off i drive from cleveland to basically cincinatti. I got down there, we had some drinks, and i left in the AM for cleveland again.

I called beth to make sure she was gonna be around, and she told me she had been working in the yard all day, and that Madelyn and Rosita were going to take her out for her birthday to dinner. I got a little worried, because i was blasting up I-71 to see her, and she was going to be OUT!? but that wasn't for a couple of hours. She asked me if i would be home anytime soon, and i told her i didn't think so (soon's a relative term, after all).

2 hours later, i walked into the house and suprised her. we sat on the porch and had a beer, then called madelyn and rosita to pick her up for dinner. i suprised them, and we went to bruno's for italian. god i love their seafood pasta, but next time i gotta try something else. and omg their teramisu. drool

We went back to the house and had some drinks and hung out, then went to bed. in the morning we all went to breakfast, and then spent most of the day bumming around. Cleveland really is great when i don't have a psycotic itinerary to live up to for 4 or 5 days. nobody knew i was coming, so nobody planned anything for me. it was awesome.

I went over to jason's that evening to check out the new house. cool place, will be awesome when he finishes it all up. Then i popped in on Terry on my way out of town and had a couple drinks, then headed back to Detroit with a front seat full of Angelo's pizza and pepsi. ah, cleveland traditions.

Detroit
Detroit was cool. Was nice to see everybody again, and definately good to meet the last few employees i hadn't gotten to meet last time. We went over new product release stuff, merger stuff and generally did a ton of team building. I won a Playstation Portable and sold it to Allen because i knew it was just going to be a money pit.

Chicago
Chicago was crazy. i managed to miss the fact that my itin had no hotel res, and the only hotel i could find was at Midway. So i flew into O'hare and drove to Midway. Then checked in and crashed. I got up early to take the train to the classroom, and got a little lost rolling around downtown chi town. Finally sorted, i got into class and did my "pre-config class" stuff. that's where it all went horribly wrong. Short version: i started teaching my class at 3:30pm instead of 8:30am. it was bad.

Luckily my cass was awesome. they volunteered to stay late, come in early, cut lunch short and stay late summore. we got through everything, thankfully. On tues nite i managed to track down Gina from my trip to mexico, and we had some drinks at TGI Fridays. was good to see her. Lestat, on the other hand, was in DC on a last minute FBI thing, so i didn't get to see her. maybe next time.

Chicago was tiring (long days and long commutes), but cool. the pizza was amazing, and chicago was a LOT bigger than i thought it would be. Can't wait to go back on a low stress gig

San Jose
I got booked a last minute gig in San Jose, which is fine with me cuz i love visiting my norcal friends. But David got booked there too teaching another class, so i had somebody to go hang out with @ lunch and stuff. I got kinda sick from all the travel and stress of the last week, so i stayed in a lot. I did manage to hit up B St Billiards with dale, becky, joe and mary who now lives in san jose! no fair. and of course got a nikko's burrito. next time i'm hittin up rickshaw.

London
London was sort of unexpected, and for some reason i wasn't really looking forward to it. Everybody else was excited for me tho. The flight out wasn't bad, i slept most of the way. I managed to get on a train to the main train station, Victoria, then took a cab. I settled into my hotel room (jesus it's tiny, oh right. europe) and slept to kill the jet lag.

The rest of the week i pretty much just spent on the underground tube to and from class. my class was pretty awesome. Kensington was a pretty cool area, i could track down food and such at night without train rides, and it seemed safe.

On thursday we finished up around lunch, so i went to explore. i got to go see the London Eye (giant ferris wheel), Big Ben, Picidilly Circus and a bunch of downtown london. it was cool, but man i could never live there. everything is rediculously expensive!!!

It was a good run, but i'm excited to have a bit of time off now. 2 weeks off, then sydney for 2 weeks again. Maybe i'll look up my buddy steve @ ozmoto and see about that VFR, or maybe the big GS. hell i'd take the lil 650gs and you know it.

Sydney
When i finally headed to sydney, it was on the heels of a call from my buddy Mark saying i had my pick of the Burton catalog this year. So i went a little crazy... Board, pants, gloves, boots. Laying out all that cash put me on empty, so i didn't hire a bike again in sydney. instead, i spent a lot of time loafing and working on hardbooter. Managed to get the new template all taken care of, up and running. i'm working on a new shopping cart system using paypal's API, which will be cool once it's done.

I went out with Amber, John, Dan and the crew from Clifton's while i was there. had some pints, had a huge steak in Manli (took a ferry at night, it was awesome), and then went out for more drinks. Amber disappeared suddenly when one of her caps came off at the dinner table, and she was too embarrassed to just come out for more drinks. Everybody was super friendly and fun. Had a good time but went home a little early with a headache.

monsterous update

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 20:44:03 -0500

so it's been a while since my last update... here's the highlights:

-went to Vernal for july 4 weekend with the canyonchasers. it was a damn good time, but oh boy do i need a better seat and some better boots for canada.
-spent july 4 with dave and the canyonchasers at liberty park watchin fireworks.
-spent the last 2 weeks veggin at home, not on the road for a change
-got to hang out a bit with chris gabel, who was in from toledo for break after med school boards
-fixed the damn pulsing problem on my bike, turned out to be a bad chain!

I am now currently sitting at SLC int'l airport, waiting for a flight to SFO that will connect with a flight to Sydney, Australia. Assuming i make this connection, i'll be there for 15 days. I'm pretty stoked. then i get back and have a week off, then i head out to portland, and then off to Canada! Lots to do for that trip...

new tires so i stick to the road
gps so i don't end up in Zion again accidentally
heated vest so i don't need 300 layers
boots i can ride and walk in
new seats so i survive 10 days in the saddle
saddle bags so we can bring everything we'll need
modify the luggage rack to keep new luggage off the paint
oil change so the engine makes it

and i'm toying of the idea of a rear box mod for the bike. more to come on that soon

amsterdam the clusterfuck

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Sun, 12 Jun 2005 22:47:32 -0500

So when my schedule came up as Utrecht, Netherlands, i was rightly excited. It was to be my first trip to Europe, and they were going to be flying me into Amsterdam! And the office is going to pay for the whole thing. There has to be a catch.
Continue reading "amsterdam the clusterfuck"

dodged a bullet in ATL

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 22:22:06 -0500

so i realize my last post was vague... here's the whole story.

I took a class on CMS so i could teach it in ATL and Houston. upon getting to ATL i realized i didn't know the package as good as i thought i did... i'm pretty sure the instructor skipped some sections or at least didn't explain them very well.

I managed to get it all taken care of, but i had to study a lot in my off time and wing a lot of it. not something i liked doing, but i did a good job.

Had fun with Hunter all week. we ate at a lot of good places. Maggiano's was awesome, as was Bone's. Also got to see Garcia and meet his fiance. she's cool. Definately gonna have to pop in on them when i get back to ATL.

I'm home till tomorrow, then i'm off to NYC for the week for an advanced WPS class... which i've also never taught before, so i think there'll be quite a bit of studying goin on there too. sigh least i can kick it with evan at ill bigatto, get some Drunken Noodles, inhale some cannoli.

Chinatown & Little Italy

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 19:36:38 -0600

So Evan gave me the 411 on this thai place in china town called pongsri, so i went to check it out. Walked up broadway in the light rain, went and got some bangin Drunken Noodles and eggrolls.

Saw this on the way into the thai place. Guess it's my reserved parking spot for the Triumph, eh? Talked to Matt about his oil change on his CBR. Turns out his bike already had a K&N airfilter in it, which means he returned his new one. He's also got his interest piqued in an electric vest, which i myself am trying to secure.

After dinner i rolled over to little italy and snagged some canoli. while i am not blown away with this town, i did like that i could go have amazing thai food, then walk 3 blocks north and get an authentic canoli.

The walk back was really wet. my pants n shoes are soaked, but it was worth it. now for some tv and a nap. i actually have class tomorrow

NYC 1, MC 0

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:01:38 -0600

so i had a hard time sleeping last nite... didn't get much rest. was in a big rush to get to class today in a city i've never been in, without an exact address for the classroom i was teaching in. i leave in a hurry down the stairs, and it's pissing rain. (makes a mental note to add an umbrella to the utility belt i carry on the road) So i walk in the rain like 10 blocks, find the building that has the classroom facility, and start wandering around looking for a classroom marked "wise". A nice man sees me wandering with that lost puppy look and asks to help. I tell him i'm there to teach the wise class, and he was like "oh just checking on things?". i give him a puzzled look, and he explains that my class starts tomorrow.

So yeah, totally flew to NYC a day too early. Wandered around Wall St for a little on the way back to the hotel, and dropped off some expense reports to fedex. now im ready to crawl back into bed cuz it's raining to hard to want to go be a tourist.

MC meets NYC

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 22:59:21 -0600

So i just checked into my hotel in NYC. cozy. Sitting in the SLC airport i got a call from Jules saying that dave was in a wreck on his board today at Park City and broke both his legs. don't have a complete story yet, but he called during my cabride to tell me he's alive. I'm really happy he wasn't hurt irrepairably.

Crystal and Brooke are prolly living it up in Vegas. Should be fun. wish i was with em.

we'll see what the big apple has in store for me.

Things slow down in Plymouth

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:32:05 -0600

So the last 3 days of this week i don't actually have class. I'm just chillin in the office, stealing apps from the network, abusing the 'net and doin a lil bonding with the other consultants. Said goodbye to my boss last nite. Don't know when i'm going to see him next. Really weird feeling. He says he'll be in Lindon every other month, so we'll do dinner or something.

Went to Bikram Yoga with Mary for the first time. Mike, our instructor, was awesome. He's gonna be opening his own studio shortly.Bikram uses a HOT room (110 degrees), but after 10 minutes i was working to hard to realize it was 110 degrees in there. I think im gonna have to check out a couple more studios around the nation.

Went for sushi at O'sushi after with Mary. great food, and i was starving by the time we got there. She left to get Evan from the airport, and i went to the hotel to crash.

Got up late (on purpose) today and came into work to tinker with my laptop, etc. just about ready to pack it up and head back to the hotel and chill for a bit. then 1 more day of office fun, and then i can head back to slc for the weekend to catch the Banf Mtn Film Festival, and hopefully get some riding in.

Detroit v1.1

nospam@example.com (Mike) — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 09:27:41 -0600

So i drove down to Cleveland for the weekend. On the way down i helped dave sort out his hosting problems with Cleetus, getting him migrated to Moose Hosting. I pulled over on the Ohio Turnpike and created a Virtual Host on my laptop with my cell phone cable in the car. Power geek, baby!

Had some drinks with jason and chris skaryd, and some of chris' wife's friends. Got drunk. THOUGHT i got into some trouble, so i left. Turns out it had very little to do with me but i just assumed i was the cause.

Spent some time with the fam, ate some home cooked food. Went out with Ruthie for coffee and talked about how weird it is to be growing up so quickly in recent months. She's engaged for fuck's sake. Crazy.

Went out for a couple drinks with my dad and we talked about Wise, retirement, home ownership and a bunch of other random stuff. We agreed on most of it besides home ownership, but i think he really assumes Wise is going to move me someplace so he doesn't think i should be tied to a home. PSH. In my current reading i wanna be tied to like 6 homes if i can help it, cuz then i don't have to worry about working

Aaron just walked into class and asked if anyone was observing Lent, because they would have ordered them special lunch. Heh, i didn't even know it was Lent go go gadget christian education, eh?

Now back to the Wise Install System class already in progress