June 28th, 2009 Rockstar
Me and my buddy Jason Laster went to Vegas 6/9 - 6/11. Aubry and Jason’s wife (Stephanie) came as well.
We stayed at the Paris hotel on the Strip. The first night we ate at a nice French restaurant at the Paris, the food was great and I had escargo for the first time (it’s not that bad!). Then we did all the crazy rides at the top of the Stratosphere Tower, essentially fast moving thrill rides dangling 850 ft. above the Strip.
The next night we had some killer steaks and saw Blue Man Group. I had seen them once before, but it was cool to see again. I also had some pretty good luck int he Casino. : ‘ )
It was cool to hang w/ the Lasters, I look forward to doing this again with them some time.
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June 28th, 2009 Rockstar
As promised..
Shortly after graduating I took a week off work and went to Paradise Island in the Bahamas and stayed at the Atlantis Resort. Paradise Island is a small island very close to Nassau on New Providence Island (Nassau is the capitol city of the Bahamas). We flew into Nassau and then took a shuttle over a small bridge to Paradise Island.
We had been to Atlantis for a single day a year earlier while on a cruise through the Bahamas, and thought it was cool enough that we should try a more extended stay there.
It’s a beautiful place, a big resort hotel that’s maybe a quarter mile from a white sand beach in the Caribbean Ocean. In between the hotel and beach are lots of gardens, trees, aquariums, waterfalls and pools of water .. some for swimming in, and some that hold exotic marine life. Here’s a couple views from our hotel room facing the beach at sunrise: 1 2.
There is also a lot of water slides, and something called ‘The Current’ which is essentially a mile long lazy river where you get on a water tube, kick back and float around a mile long stretch of paradise in never ending circle. If you want a little more action there are parts with four foot waves and rapids, and you can take little side rivers that lead to a conveyor belt which then moves you to the top of a tower and drops you off on a water slide, and put you right back in the river. We floated around in this river thing for hours. There are also some pretty awesome water slides … one of them you drop down into a glass tube which is inside a shark tank filled with sharks.
Every morning we’d wake up, go eat a great buffet and then ’sleep it off’ in the shade of coconut tree by the beach while sipping on some tropical drink and listening to our ipods. We did this every morning that week. It was incredibly relaxing.
Day 1 - Got in fairly late, explored the hotel a bit. *One unfortunate little event: once we had checked in Aubry opened her suitcase and found an open jewelry box … someone had swiped the diamond necklace I bought her for her birthday a few weeks earlier. It was kind of a bummer. But these things can be replaced, we only let it bother us for about 10 mins. : ‘ )
Day 2 - We swam with the dolphins. Dolphins are intelligent yet strange creatures. I don’t trust them. Also visited the Casino. For some reason a certain ‘Monopoly’ slot machine just kept spitting money out at us, I think we came out up by like $200-$300.
Day 3 - We got massages at the SPA. I love massages. I have kind of have a bad back, and a good massage is magic. We took it easy the rest of the day, and had a nice dinner that night at a local steak house.
Day 4 - Busy day. We went into downtown Nassau. Here’s a picture of me in front of some old government building standing below a statue of Queen Victoria. The Bahamas remains a British commonwealth to this day.
We also went to a sort of outdoor bazaar where I bought some souvenirs and a DVD of the new Star Trek movie (even though it had only been out in theaters for a week or two). It came on a plain white DVR and was labeled ‘Stra Trek.’ heh.
A year earlier when we were in Nassau we asked a cabby to take us to “a good seafood restaurant,” and we were taken to a cool/strange little seafood restaurant called the Poop Deck. We visited the Poop Deck again that night.
Day 5 - Took it easy and played around in the Ocean a bit and lounged around at the resort.
It was a good low key trip, and nice reward to myself for graduating. : )
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May 18th, 2009 Rockstar
Hey all. Sorry for being bad about not updating my blog, I’ve had a serious lack of free time lately. Excuses, excuses. I plan to post more often.
On 5/4/09 I handed in my final assignment. I graduated with a 3.53 GPA, B.S. in Information Technology. : ‘ )
As a reward to myself me and Aubry flew to Paradise Island in the Bahamas for five days. It was great … more about that in a separate post. Right before I left for the Bahamas I had an old friend from my hometown visit me (Brian Tanner, see the link to his blog on the main page of my blog). I hadn’t seen him in probably eight or so years. It was great to see him, after all these years we get along just as well as ever. He’s a great guy, I hope he never changes. Next month I plan to hang out with my old friend Ryan Chidester, also one of my friends from my hometown in Bountiful UT. I’m looking forward to that as well.
Things Im enjoying right now:
- Resident Evil 5 on PS3 …. zombie blasting fun. It’s really nothing new, not a big advancement for series like RE4 was, but it’s just as enjoyable.
- An album that Brian turned me on to: Sufjan Stephens: come on feel the Illinoise. It’s very textured and well thought out. http://asthmatickitty.com/sufjan-stevens … it sorta sounds like a cross between Bob Dylan, Elliot Smith and the Beatles.
- 30 Rock. It’s a comedy sit-com that comes on after The Office every week. I started watching it after I met Aubry …. I’ve come to like it more then The Office, or any other weekly American Comedy. The comedy is smart, and in my opinion likable by just about anyone.
- Star Trek. The new Star Trek movie by JJ Abrams was just awesome. I’m a long time sci-fi and Star Trek fan .. I’m quite sure I’ve seen every episode of ST: Next Generation and the original series, and some of the later series. This movie was at the same time faithful and a complete departure from the Star Trek franchise. It would recommend this to anyone who likes Star Trek or sci-fi. : ‘ )
I’ll post about my trip to the Bahamas (with photos) a bit later.
– Rock *
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February 8th, 2009 Rockstar
I started college back in the summer of 2002, with the objective of getting a B.S. in computer science from Weber State University in Utah (from a satellite campus in Salt Lake City). At the time I started I worked for MSN (Microsoft’s ISP) as a Tier three DSL support rep. In 2003 I was officially hired at eBay, Inc. I worked in the Salt Lake office until 2004 when I was offered a job working in the eBay Network Operations Center in Silicon Valley (San Jose, CA). By that time I had finished two years of my degree with an approximate 3.8 GPA. I moved to CA and continued college there. In 2005 I moved to Denver, and continued classroom based college there.
Eventually I switched to online classes, and now have exactly three classes left until I graduate with a B.S. in Information Technology.
I put a lot of effort into my work, so it’s been hard to add school to the mix, but since the end is so close I’ll absolutely finish it. My goal is to graduate by the end of May, with at least a 3.5 GPA.
… back to my 10 page report on Network Security …
- Rockstar
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February 1st, 2009 Rockstar
Went and stayed at the Warwick hotel in downtown Denver, about 6 city blocks fromt he legendary Denver Fillmore. I saw a band called MOE. (opening bad ta leaf green).
The hotel was great, super friendly staff, good room, etc. They even let me and Aubry check in at 9 AM (great for the night shifters : ‘ ).
The openeing band Tea Leaf Green was pretty good, jam bandy and very fluid. : ‘ )
MOE actually kinda sucked …. I think it was a combination of songs I don’t like, and weak jamming. the set list was:
Set I: The Ghost of Ralph’s Mom, Understand> Okayalright, Head> Tubing the River Styx> The Pit> Head
Set II: Brent Black> Y.O.Y.> George> Runaway Overlude, Invisible Sun*> Opium, She> Brent Black
Encore: Recreational Chemistry
– looking forward to Phish in March : ‘ )
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January 16th, 2009 Rockstar
Even though I was at work for 16 hours, and was really tired when I got home, I couldn’t sleep. It happens to me all the time. My mind was spinning and wouldn’t calm. I walked downstairs and noticed one of my girlfriend’s books on the shelf that looked interesting and strangely apropos:
The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
It’s a 100 or so page book, based on an Asian fairy. It chronicles a young Buddhist Monk who lives in a temple on the side of a mountain. The monk’s life is threatened by a powerful man that can control the essences of the universe. This man is told by an Oracle that if he does not kill the Monk within several days, he himself will die. The only condition is that he does not physically harm the Monk. After considering this, the man decides to kill the Monk with a series of dreams that lead to certain death.
The Monk meets a fox who kept a den near the temple where he lived. This particular fox also had the power to appear as a beautiful young woman. The fox ends up falling in love with the virtuous monk and offers to give her life to save his, by stealing the nightmarish and lethal dreams and having them herself.
The monk selflessly prevents the fox’s death by openly offering his own life instead. The Monk takes back the nightmare, and with it certain death. In anguish that her love would soon die, the fox told the Monk that she sought revenge for the Monk’s death, the Monk’s final words were “Do not seek revenge, seek the Buddha.”
It’s a sad tale, with undertones of hope and virtue; the way it was illustrated was just like living a dream.
It’s funny how life throws little bits of inspiration at you from unexpected places at unexpected times.
And now I believe it’s time for me to enter the realm of dreams … good night friends.
-Rock*
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October 20th, 2008 Rockstar
After what eveyone thought was their final performance August 14th and 15th 2004 (they essentially announced it was their final tour) Phish has now decided to get back together for at least 3 days in March ‘09 at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. I’m definately going to try to go.
For anyone else who cares: Check it out here .
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October 20th, 2008 Rockstar
My sweet little sister Denise has left on a two year religious mission to Australia. And although I don’t subscribe to her religion, I support whatever it is that she thinks she should be doing with her life. I couldn’t make it to her “farewell” — so she made me a 5-10 min DVD with a bunch of goofy little clips related to old nostalgic memories. What sweet sister. : ‘ )
Write me! (And I’ll return the favor).
- Rockstar
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October 20th, 2008 Rockstar
This was the second half of my European trip in Spetember. Following the work week in Berlin we decided to take a trip down through Switzerland to the border of Italy. As I mentioned in my previous post, I lost my camera on a Train in Switzerland. So my photographic documentation of this trip is somewhat limited. Fortunately Aubry took some pics, so I have a few.
On Thursday, Sept 16th we took a flight from Berlin to Zurich. Zurich is a beautiful place, and clearly very much a big, international city. Zurich is located next to Lake Zurich, and is located at the point at which the Limmat River drains from the lake. Zurich is frequently listed as one of the top five cities in the world in terms of quality of life, and it’s easy to understand why.
We stayed downtown, at a hotel called The Senator. It was raining, but we decided to walk (1.5 miles) in the rain to the Swiss National Museum. It was rather wet, but we had fun. This is a view of us approaching the Swiss National Museum, which was at one time an old castle. It was totally awesome. The Museam is laid out in such a way that it takes you through the history of Switzerland from prehistoric times to the modern era. This is a pic of me standing under an ancient Celtic wooden statue of an old Celtic god. Apparently there had been a celtic settlement near Zurich in ancient times. Here is a pic of the museum, taken from one of the spires inside the building.
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October 12th, 2008 Rockstar
As I mentioned in my pervious post, I took a business trip to Europe in the last half of September (Germany, Switzerland / Northern Italy) … I took lots of killer pictures, but unfortunately left my camera on a train in Switzerland on the way to the airport at the end of my trip. It sucks so very, very much. I filed a report with Swiss Rail authorities and, here is the verbatim reply I received:
“Until today, the SBB Lost Property Service could not find your lost article. We shall inform you no sooner we have found it.” – looks like it’s lost in the sands of time. : ‘ (
Fortunately my girl Aubry also took some pictures, so I have some pics of the trip, although the selection is fairly limited. It’s a good thing I have Aubry. Since this trip was rather large, I’ll split this up into two posts: the Berlin trip (business trip) and the Switzerland trip (purely for fun).
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September 27th, 2008 Rockstar
Me and Aubry went to Berlin for work, and also took a small tour through switzerland. 9/11-9/22. Unfortunately I left my camera on the rail car on the way back to the airport in Zurich (doh!). I have an inquiry open with them to retrieve it .. but am expecting it to be lost forever. :’ (
I’ll wait until I hear back from them before writing a better blog post about the trip.
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September 9th, 2008 Rockstar
Me and Aubry drove up to Steamboat Springs on 9/4 and stayed for a couple nights. Steamboat is about 3 hours away from Parker, due Northwest. It’s another sort of mountain-ski-resort town. Steamboat Springs is a lot bigger then Telluride, and in my opinion, it’s also probably a bit less intrinsically scenic.
Day 1:
We got into town late on Thursday and had pizza at a place called “The Slopeside Grill” — it was medicore. We then went back to the condo and watched the enchanting Howls Moving Castle, which Aubry had never seen (I saw it in theatres when it came out years ago). You have to love Miyazaki films : ‘ ).
Day 2:
We woke up late and ate at a place called the Tugboat Grill. (What’s up with the “boat” theme in this town?).
We then went hiking on “Fish Creek Trail.” First, we rocked a small 1/2 mile hike by a river up to a fairly cool waterfall. Then we took a ~3 mile hike along a rather scenic trail up to a second, larger waterfall.
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September 3rd, 2008 Rockstar
On 8/26 me and my friend Jake drove through colorado to Telluride, a ski resort town in the mountains of south-western Colorado.
I had been to places like Vail and Park City (UT), and imagined this would be similar. This choice was partially brought on by the fact that the company me and Jake work for, eBay Inc, has a corporate retreat in Telluride that the executives use, which sorta made me curious.
Telluride is a beatiful place, it’s a tiny, scenic, and charming little village in a deep canyon, with heavily forested mountains on either side. It clearly caters to affluent travelers from all over the world who want a nice little vacation away from everything .. there are an abundance of 4 and 5 star resteraunts, film festivals, and nice hotels .. all of which struck me as a bit strange considering how secluded it is. We stayed at the ‘Hotel Telluride’ for two nights, which is right in the middle of the village.
We did some hiking on Bear Creek Trail, a 2-3 hour hike up to a waterfall. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and reminded my of the many nights I camped in the Uinta Mountains in Utah as a kid. Me + mountains = happy.
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August 23rd, 2008 Rockstar
Aubry moved in with me a couple days ago. Boxes and random clutter rule the house for the moment.
Some interesting facts about this scenario:
1) Moving sucks, any way you shake it. Thanks to Jake for lending a hand.
2) We now own two of several things that are not neccisarrily better in numbers: things like toasters, Monthy Python and the Holy Grail dvds, Playstation 3s, etc. Oh well, better too many then too few. : ‘ )
3) Three cats is too many cats. (Aubry’s two plus my cat Lily).
4) Aubry is great. : ‘ )
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August 10th, 2008 Rockstar
It was a good time. I had been to Manhatten before, but Aubry hadn’t. I figured it would be cool for her to see.
Flight: We flew on American Airlines, and on both the flight out there and the flight back we went through the Dallas/Ft Worth airport, and both times our flight was delayed by like 3 or 4 hours. Hanging out in airports is sub-optimal. We used points we had racked up flying to Shanghai in December, that was nice. : ‘ )
Hotel: We stayed at a bit of a peculiar hotel called the The Dream which I thought looked cool (a motif of dark rooms with a strange blue glow, strange art, etc) and had a great location, which was on Broadway, in between Times Square and Central Park.
When we arrived we were greeted with seeing a Giant Menancing Rat facing the entrance of the hotel. According to the protesters, the owner of the hotel has been involved in some shady and unscrupulous behaviors, and this is how they protest, NY style.
The day after we arrived we went a live taping of The Daily Show. This is me entering the studio. Above the entrance, a sign reads “Abandon News, All Ye Who Enter Here.” The Guest was Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News. Brian talked about a recent trip he took to Tehran to see the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it was fairly interesting. Apart form having to stand in line for 2 or 3 hours on arather hot and humid July New York afternoon (ugh), it was pretty cool. Too bad we couldn’t see Colbert.
The next day we walked north a couple blocks on Boardway to get to the southwest corner of Central park. We walked though central park to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Central park is cool … although it’s kinda crowded, it is nice to see such a peaceful and green place in the midst of skyscapers and busy streets. While walking though central park I walked past a statue in tribue of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” — one of my favorite books when I was younger. This is me standing amdist the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Alice.
The Met was very cool. It’s HUGE, and filled with art from some of mankind’s greatest masters. Check out me standing next to a self portrait of Rembrandt. We spent multiple hours looking at everything form ancient Egypian and Asian art, to Eurpoean Renaissance era paintings and sculpturs, to modern art.
The next day we took it easy, slept in late, ate some killer food at the resteraunt attached to the hotel, and then proceeded to galavant around Times Square.
It was an entertaining little jaunt. : ‘ )
– Rock *
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