What follows are tales that have emerged from my head. They may or may not be suitable for reading and discussion.
In any case, it's my world here so I will do as I please....
This email conversation was in response to the post I put up on May 7th regarding an IM conversation my roomate scott left for me while I was out..... (you should scroll down and read that post 1st...)
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Tomat
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 11:04 AM
To: 'Scott Stuart (E-mail)'
Cc: 'Pete Gallo'
Subject: your idea
Scott – as I was browsing around Pete’s web page today out of boredom I found your idea for tracking Pete with a GPS system…. I have to agree that the ‘around but not here’ message is getting a little old… used to be a time when you’d IM Pete and get a location and invitation to join him wherever he was… such as “by the pool stop by” or “rollerblading in the park join us”
I’m sure you’re already aware because you’re a hip kinda guy that keeps up on technology and such… however my understanding is that Nextel has a gps system that you suggest… how do I know this?? well it seems that there are salespeople here that need to be tracked and apparently our systems guys have figured out how to do that via the cell phone… so barring that Pete has not left the cell phone somewhere other than on his person… we’d be able to track him and know his whereabouts regardless of whether it’s aisle 3 for Vaseline or 7 for the iced tea… or better yet the mall buying us presents J
Just a thought… look into it… report back…
Regards,
Linda M. Tomat
-----Original Message-----
From: scott
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 1:05 PM
To: Linda Tomat
Cc: Pete Gallo
Subject: Re: your idea
hi linda,
thanks for your support in my initiative for enhanced auditing of pete's whereabouts. good surveillance makes for strong friendships, and we all stand only to benefit from implementation of such a system. or do we? i recall the days when pete (even without the benefit of technological assistance) would provide more detailed information on his current location, along with an invitation to join in the action. today we've regressed into the vaguest of away messages: dull, monotonous, unchanging, and devoid of any useful data. could this indicate a subtle conscious or subconscious desire for pete to distance himself from his loved ones? is it sheer laziness, or a more contrived attempt to insulate himself from his would-be companions? and would a technologically-mandated change have any effect on his true feelings? these are the questions that plague me daily, and i look forward to continuing dialogue on this important matter.
-sp
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Tomat
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 2:12 PM
To: 'scott'
Cc: 'Pete Gallo'
Subject: RE: your idea
Scott –
I agree good surveillance makes for good friendships… I mean how else are going to keep up on the cool things to do if the cool friends don’t inform us up where they are going?? And yet maybe that in itself is a plot… are we to be left behind as you suggest?? Gone are the days when I would look forward to IM’ing Pete just to catch a glimpse of the fun and exciting life he led… instead it’s the same old same old with an occasionally ‘call me on my cell’. Has life become so hectic that only time permits choosing an already pre-typed away message? and yes we must ponder would more technology really be the answer? What did we do before IM? We called and spoke… archaic as it seems I miss the good ole’ days J
Linda
-----Original Message-----
From: scott
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 4:56 PM
To: Linda Tomat
Cc: Pete Gallo
Subject: Re: your idea
yes, and even the conciliatory "call me on my cell" seems rather half-hearted...chances are he'd rather us not call, yet leaves it there out of a sense of obligation.
or perhaps pete has a greater plan in mind... perhaps he's serving as a catalyst for us to build more exciting lives of our own, by not allowing us to be dependent on his life of high adventure.
still though, it's rather dreary to see the same ambiguous statement of absence day after day, and how many times must we be reminded of his stance on chronological vs. psychological aging, and his views on the role of consciousness in creating and alleviating problems?
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Tomat
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 5:31 PM
To: 'scott'
Cc: 'Pete Gallo'
Subject: RE: your idea
Perhaps in the greater scheme of things you are correct… Perhaps Pete has been grooming us for this time in life when he cuts the proverbial umbilical cord and lets us go on our own to explore the fun and exciting lives that we have not experienced as of yet… we could almost say we are at a crossroads in our friendship with a choice of the road less traveled in front of us… and maybe we could also say that to his advantage if we are to go out and experience other things and then come back and share those experiences, we are then able to have two experiences so to speak….
And so we go back to the question then… shouldn’t the away message reflect those experiences?? Should we not share with all those willing to IM us the great and exciting adventures that we are embarking on??
-----Original Message-----
From: scott
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 8:46 PM
To: 'Linda Tomat'
Cc: pgallo@pgallo.com
Subject: RE: your idea
i agree! if not to improve the quality of our lives, what is the purpose of technology? should we not embrace the electronic messaging revolution as an opportunity to share more with one another? i was moved this evening by the informative nature of your away message: out of love for your fellow beings, you specify not only your location in space-time (“in the kitchen”) and the experience you are presently having (“baking”), but you proceed to expound poetically upon the intensity of said activity (“baking up a storm”); you indicate the presence of companions (“someone’s in the kitchen with linda”); you invite others to co-create the experience with you (“call me”); and end with a note of playful agitation (“...if you dare”). if only all away messages were so thoughtfully crafted.
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Tomat
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 9:19 AM
To: 'scott'
Cc: pgallo@pgallo.com
Subject: RE: your idea
Scott – so glad that I informed and moved you with my away message last night… I thought maybe it was too much with ‘if you dare’ but the playfulness of it only inspires and encourages those that know and love me to reach out or stop by I feel… and although that message has been used before I think it stands the test of time…
-----Original Message-----
From: scott
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 2:52 PM
To: Linda Tomat
Cc: Pete Gallo
Subject: Re: your idea
oh, and i forgot to mention that adornment with the cheerful, yellow flower takes viewers of your away message to even higher states of bliss and communion. (pete uses trillian, so he can't see the flower, nor can we see his icons. do i smell elitism? but i digress...)
as perhaps my closing comment on this matter, i feel comfortable giving pete the benefit of the doubt, concluding that behind the apparent staleness and banality, his away message is aiming towards a higher good. whether it will be a successful agent for this purpose remains to be seen. in the meantime we always have the rogue microchip we stuffed into his onstar board last night...
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Tomat
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 3:04 PM
To: 'scott'
Cc: 'Pete Gallo'
Subject: RE: your idea
Once again thank you for your comments… and in closing on this subject let me say that there is a sort of comfort that comes from the hum drum of Pete’s away message… we’ve come to count on it on some level I’m sure… whatever the purpose I’m sure the greater good of it will be revealed to us at a later time… until then we have the microchip…
-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Gallo
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 3:29 PM
To: 'Linda Tomat'; 'scott'
Subject: RE: your idea
I have concluded that you are both wack.
[12:34] Scotty P: i'm getting a little tired of the vagueness of "i'm around, just not here". i think you should begin to carry around with you a little GPS transceiver somehow interfaced with IM to dynamically update your away message with precise latitude and longitude. how bout it?
[12:34] *** Auto-response sent to Scotty P: Hey, I'm around, just not here. Leave a message or call my phone......
[12:37] Scotty P: "Hey, I'm at 74'32"N 32"59"W, heading NNW at 32.4mph. Leave a message, call my phone, or come intercept me in my travels....."
[12:38] Scotty P: i think that would be cool
[12:52] Scotty P: a second-phase enhancement is to interface also with mapquest or similar service, to resolve your coordinates into a probable road, address or place of business. this would greatly simplify matters, and i'm sure your friends would approve.
[12:56] Scotty P: in fact, i bet you could customize your onstar hardware to do a lot of this already... but that would leave unsolved the issue of what to do when you've left the vehicle.
[12:57] Scotty P: yeah, i know it's tempting to just leverage your existing assets, but i'd say stick with the portable gps to ensure maximum coverage...
[13:04] Scotty P: although . . .
[13:06] Scotty P: it could be argued that wherever your truck is parked, you're not far away. is it not enough to know that you're at the CVS? does one need to know you're inside the building, aisle 3, picking up blueberry-flavoured vaseline? i think not. that level of granularity would be an invasion of privacy.
[13:08] Scotty P: also, factoring in the margin of error with the smaller gps units, it might not even be reliable to that level of detail. i mean, only a few feet error might result in one concluding that you're over in aisle 7, grabbing a can of iced tea.
[13:09] Scotty P: of course the more insightful among us would immediately doubt that conclusion, knowing that you avoid purchasing small quantities of iced tea.
[13:29] Scotty P: if you do go the onstar route, another exciting possibility is to outfit it with some basic text-to-speech, so you can conduct IM sessions through the sound system and mic, perhaps using the XM radio display as a buddy list
[13:31] Scotty P: imagine you're driving along and out of nowhere a speak-and-spell pippin booms out through the tahoe. what could be better?
[13:32] Scotty P: i guess you'd lose the advantage of sending and receiving emoticons, but that's a shortcoming we can live with for the initial rollout.
[14:33] GonzoGallo: bored at work today, huh
Hey, on a related note, I used my sunroof for the 1st time today. I know that probably of no interest to you but too bad, this is my website and I'm going to mention anything I want to so PBBbtthhhhh.... Anywho, I never owned a sunroof before, and it was pretty cool.... although I now need to get a pair of sunglasses so I can see while I am driving......
Oh well, back to class......
I do so many things for fun that I end up not having enough time to do them all. The last thing I need is something new to occupy my time. So I must have been on drugs this morning when I decided to try my skill wakeboarding. (I won't even comment on how insane it is to get home at 1:00am and then be on the road heading to the lake at 4:30am.) The adrenaline kicked in bright and early (as did the XS caffinated energy drink) and I had a blast. It was so much fun even though I took a beating. My arms are so sore... But I can't wait to do it again. Now all I need is a lake, a boat, a board, a lake house, hmmmmm........ Why are all of my hobbies so expensive. Why couldn't I just take up breathng....
I took some pictures of the morning. None of them are of me though, as I was the one taking the pictures and there really wouldn't have been much to see except me lying in the water. They are pictures of Brian and Marie, the two extremely patient people who spent the morning teaching me the basics. Thanks guys. I will have the pictures posted properly later, but in the mean time you can view them here.
On Tuesday, I received a book from Time Life. It was a book I ordered and when I got it I was excited to see that there was a label on the box announcing a free gift inside. Naturally I thoght to myself, Woo Hoo a free Gift! So I tore open the package and revealed my free gift. Are you ready for this? The free gift was a small magnifing glass, a moist towelette and a pair of shoelaces that are probably for a size 2 childs shoe. This is perhaps the worst gift I was ever given by anyone. Damn you Time Life for getting me all excited and then trampeling on my excitement. Hmmm, I wonder if I can re-wrap the gift and give it to someone else.... Chris' birthday is tomorrow I wonder if he would like a pari of shoelaces...... Hmmmmmmm
In other ramblings, I have been reading a book lately that talks alot about omens. The book is called The Alchemist and it is by Paulo Coelho. So far its pretty good. Anyway, I saw a T shirt that I liked today and I almost bought it, but I didn't. Then I thought about the story and how the T-shirt may be an omen so I went back to buy it. But when I got there and looked at it closer, I decided it was actually a piece of crap. Oh well, so much for omens.
As I was watching him he saw me and smiled. Then he told me to watch. Which I was doing and it confused me that he asked me to watch. But then I realized that he was letting me know that I had a watch on my wrist. He then showed me his wrist and he said no watch. What an innocent conversation. To me it was meaningless, but to him it was the whole world. It proved to him that he could communicate with an adult and he was obviously pleased with himself. Then back to the marbles game he went.
I think the next time I am in a social situation I will try to be like the inncoent boy. Perhaps I will point out the watch on some strangers wrist and see what he/she says. I wonder if they will humor me or perhaps (more likely) I will simply recieve a punch in my face.......
I also bought chocolate covered blueberries at Starbucks today. They were good, but they melt in the car. Oh well.....
That is the topic of tonight's discussion. That's right, I'm quoting a movie I saw this evening; Bruce Almighty. Today I bummed around all day then at 8:00pm I got a craving for popcorn. So I called up Leo and we went to see Bruce Almighty. I expected it to be a stupid comedy but it turned out to be a pretty good movie with a nice moral. (Is that the word? In any case, you understand what I mean.) The quote, Be the Miracle is a pretty powerful quote. It pretty much empowers you to take action, which is what the point of the movie was all about. You can live life praying and begging and wishing for devine intervention or you can take control and make things happen. For yourself and for others. Instead of blaming a diety when things don't go your way, try stepping up to the plate. Put the gears in motion that will change the direction you are heading. I'm not dissin' any religion, all I am saying is that if you want something to happen, you have a better chance of it happening if you get off your butt and do something about it. Or you can just sit there and have your own pity party. Its up to you. Be the Miracle.
That reminds me of another movie quite, "Don't dream it, Be it." I won't tell you what movie that because I don't want to dis-credit the power in that quote. Lets examine it. It says pretty much the same thing. Instead of just dreaming of what you want. Become what you want. If you want to be a millionaire, go out and become one. Dreams are nice but if they don't call you into action then they are nothing more than fairytales. I plan to retire by age 35, and do you know what, I WILL retire by age 35. I am already taking action to make that dream a reality. I am living in that reality and it is making all the difference.
Ask yourself: What are your goals? What are your dreams? Now, stop surfing the net, get off your ass and take action. Do it today. Do it now.
In other events, the last 2 months have been exteremly busy and productive. On the road to becoming financially free in the next 5 years, I have taken some major steps. These include starting up a company, hiring an accountant and an attourney, and networking with people in the business world. I have also secured some credit towards my endeavors and just yesterday I signed my 1st contract for a condo unit in North Jersey. (Let me tell you, the check I wrote for the deposit was the largest check I have ever written... .... I sure hope it dosen't bounce.) My schedule for this week dosen't get any lighter, but its all good.
I can't believe that next weekend is already Memorial Day, I better get around to opening up the pool soon. Then 2 weekends from now its off to vacation in Vegas! Woo Hoo!
Oh well, time to hit the soccer field..... Wish us luck..... we need it.......
Second, and this is soooooooo totally awesome. Today I went to the Home Depot and they now have Self Checkout Lanes! I love the Home Depot. Home Depot, you rock!
The rest of the weekend was pretty slow. I had planned on getting some snowboarding in today but it rained. Oh well. Instead I got a ton of crap done that I had been putting off (like posting some new pictures to my website.) Of course the truth is that I am procrastinating from doing my taxes...... Maybe tomorrow.......
I bet you thought I was singing to myself. Technically today is my birthday, but in all actuallity, its only the 30th anniversary of my birthday. Today, Feb 27, 2003, is really Syrus' birthday. He was born at 1:30am and he was 10 pounds and 22 inches. Congratulations David, Jennifer and Marley!!!!
So as you probably know by now, today I am the big three zero. And I am also 165 pounds and 67 inches. Wow, thirty years go by so quickly and although I realize that I am merely 1 day older than yesterday I also realize that if time flies the way it has been, I will be 60 in a blink of an eye. That is why for the last year of so I have been putting my priorities in order and planning for my future. The way I see it, life is a waste of time unless you are actually out there living it. Granted I find myself enjoying life locally with my friends and family. I enjoy coaching soccer, snowboarding, going out and even hangin with the kids in the neighborhood. (does this sound like a personal ad yet.....) But there is more to it. Life needs to be lived globally, not just locally.
The next step to living life to its fullest is to travel a lot, meet many new friends and experience all that there is to experience. The main thing that holds people back from fuifilling these dreams is time and money. That is why last year I set a goal to be financially free by age 35. If I don't have to worry about money, then I don't have to work and I can persue life's adventures. When I set the goal last March, it gave me 6 years to attain it, but as time certainly does fly; I am now down to 5 years. So this is the year I get my act in gear and start heading towards my goal. Don't get me wrong, I haven't sat on my but all year and done nothing, I have been laying the foundation to my future all year, but this is the year I actually take the big leap and don't look back. Stay tuned, its sure to be a wild ride and anyone who wishes to come along is more than welcome. Let me know if you want in as the train is about to leave the station and there is no looking back.......
It will be good to be home. (Except for the sewer problem that Brian just emailed me about......... )
Anyonewant to hit Mountain Creek this week?
Last night Todd and I decided to go out and celebrate Matty's birthday. (Seriously, even though Matt was in North Carolina and we were in Florida, we went out to celebrate for him.) We ended up spending the night club hopping at Disney's Pleasure island and we had a blast. It's been way too long since I went out with Todd.
So now I'm back in Fort Lauderdale and I'm gearin up to head back north. It was nice to have this brief "spring" to break up the winter, but I'm already jonsing to get back to the cold and back on the slopes.
Today I was supposed to fly home from Denver, but due to a tiny snowstorm that they are calling, “The Blizzard of 2003” my flight was cancelled. So I am at the ticket counter and they tell me that the earliest that I can get a flight into New York is Wednesday night. So I ask the girl where else they are flying to today and she says that the only other flight that they have is to Fort Lauderdale….. So, to make a long story short, I am typing this update from my suite in the Fort Lauderdale Wyndham Resort and Spa. When I woke up this morning, who would have known that by the day’s end I would be staying in a room that has a bidet (sp?) in the bathroom.
Once again, I have come to the conclusion that Spirit air is crappy and I doubt I will fly them again. The airplane was old and you could see parts of the insulation sticking out between the wall panels. The seats were so old that they had ashtrays in the armrests. And the entire airplane rattled as it moved.
As soon as the plane was airborne the guy next to me puts a blanket over his head and goes to sleep “ghost style”. I thought, great another looney. A little while later Ghostman wakes up and looks over at me. I was reading a real estate investing book and he decided that this gives him permission to talk to me. He asks me if I have ever invested in real estate. I try to blow him off, but eventually we get to talking and it turns out that he is a real estate investor and he is actually on his way to close a deal in Florida. He tells me about some businesses he was involved in and he gives me some advice on how to create a business plan and how to run the numbers to see if the real estate venture I am looking at is actually worth investing in. It turned out to be a very educational flight.
After leaving the airport, I called Todd and DJ and they picked me up. As we were looking for a hotel, we ran into a guy who works at a nearby hotel and he gave us the name of the guy to speak to. We went to the hotel and spoke to the guy, who turned out to be the manager. He gave us the room at the employee rate. That’s a saving of like $50.00.
Tomorrow I will make the 8 hour drive to Tampa to chill with some more of my friends for the rest of the week until I take my flight home on Sunday.
Let the adventure continue…….
Day 3 in the Colorado Rockies and once again the day was excellent. Today I spent some time doing some double black bowls as well as the terrain park. I decided to push the envelope a bit and go all out and I have to admit, I was not disapointed. I actually amazed myself with the shit I was pulling off. As a matter of fact, as I was barreling straight down the slope listening to my music I couldn't help but think that at one time I was actually fearful of steep terrain and speed. This week, the only thing that actually came close to scaring me was the stupid poma lift. (If you are a snowboarder and you have ever ridden a poma lift, then you would understand that.) Don't get me wrong, I did some pretty challenging terrain but I know my skills and I am confident in my abilities so I am no longer fearful of the mountain or of the speed that I can attain.
Oh well. Tomorrow I leave for home. The weather forcast for New York (where I am landing) is calling for a massive amount of snow. So tomorrow's trip may in itself be an adventure..... Stay tuned.....
I thought yesterday was exhausting, it doesn’t even begin to compare to today. Today was awesome. It snowed all night so we had some fresh powder as well as some nicely groomed terrain to play with. We spent the morning warming up and then at 10:00 am we decided to try out one of the steepest, most remote bowls that they have. To get to it we took a 10 minute snow cat ride up the mountain. (A snow cat is basically one of the machines that they use to groom the trails. This one had a cab that could hold 12 people and they use it to shuttle people up to the top.) Once we were at the end of the snow cat ride, we had to hike 30 minutes to the peak. Boy was that tiring. If wearing a ton of clothes, carrying a snowboard, and hiking up-hill for 30 minutes isn’t bad enough; now add in the fact that the air up here is thin and therefore we were breathing less oxygen. It felt like I just ran a marathon and I still needed to ride down the cliff. So after a brief rest to catch our breaths we were on our way. The bowl was amazing. It was perhaps the best riding I have ever done. That is until we got about 75% of the way down and we entered the trees. Now I have heard about the powder out west and I thought it was all an exaggeration, but when my board finally came to a stop in the powder up to my waist, I thought to myself, oh crap. Getting out of the deep snow was a chore and at times felt more tiring than the hike up the mountain. There was actually a brief time when the snow was actually up to my chest. Manny had a similar problem about 50 feet from me. We eventually dug ourselves out of the snow and made it back to the nearest lift. By now it was 12:30 and the run was entered into my run book as the longest, most exhausting run I have ever taken. Anyway, the rest of the day was just as fun, although not as strenuous. Tomorrow I think I will spend some time in the park.
[2/14/2003 10:00:00PM | Peter Gallo]
Day 1
What a day I had today. I spent the entire day on the fresh powder. Last night we got 2 - 4 fresh inches and it was so awesome. It was like the snowboard was a warm knife and the mountain was butter. Actually, change that, butter is stupid... lets say the mountain was ice cream, vanilla, and the snowboard was still a hot knife. Well you get the point.... It sliced so smoothly over the mountain.....
Anyways, the terrain we rode today was extremely challenging, especially since we spent a lot of time in the double black diamond bowls in the back country. Man I'm so exhausted. But the thrill of the dangerous terrain was worth the trip. Even the resort knows how much danger rocks. They had plenty of signs along the back country bowls that read, "DANGER, ROCKS!"
It's still snowing so tomorrow is gearing up to be as promising as today.
Let me ask you this, what does it mean when a flight is "in range?" I ask because as I type this, I am sitting in the Denver airport directly across from the screens that tell the status of all of the flights coming into the airport. Now I understand what On Time means and there are like 50 flights that say that. I also understand when it says Arrived and I estimate that there are like 30 flights with that status. Additionally there are about 30 flights that say delayed and they have an estimated time next to them. But then there is 1 flight, Frontier Flight #612 from Albuquerque as a matter of fact that simply says "In Range." Hmmmm Its 6:20pm now and the flight is supposed to land at 6:30 so I guess I will just sit here and wait to see how this flight turns out.
Not that I really care, but I am waiting for Manny to arrive so I have nothing better to do than stare at this screen. It sure beats walking around the airport with my luggage, including my snowboard bag which is rather large.
Say, did they just page Mr. Larry Bird? If so, he has to pick up a white curtousy phone.
So this is my 1st time in Denver, or Colorado for that matter and so far all I have seen is the airport. It's rather large, larger than any we have back home and its in the middle of nowhere. Which is interesting because I thought Denver was a city. I guess calling this the Denver airport is a stretch as it dosen't appear to actually be in Denver. I guess I am just used to airports being where they say the are. I mean, hell, New York City has 2 airports right smack in the city.
So my flight was interesting. I took Spirit airlines for the first time. It was ok except the plane was kind of old looking and the seats were really cramped and the flight staff would rather hang out in the back of the plane than provide service. On second thought, I guess it wasn't really that ok. The 1st leg of my trip was from Laguardia Airport to Detroit. I was a little worried when as we were leaving New York the pilot came on the speakers to announce the info about the flight and he concluded it by saying "... as always, please be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times." All things considered, that leg of the trip was not bad. The woman next to me didn't say a word and I liked it that way. But that wasn't what the cards had in store for the second, longer, leg of the trip.
After we landed in Detroit some people got off, including the aformentioned lady, and new people got on. This time I got stuck next to some fat smelly guy who wanted to be friends. As we are pushing back from the gate he decided to tell me that his friend is a Pilot and he gets to fly for free. I told him that he had a great deal and couldn't complain. To this he remarked that he still could complain because he is an ass. The rest of the flight was spent proving to me how much of an ass he was. Assman then goes on to tell me that most of Spirit's fleet is made up of re-conditioned airplanes from an Arizona aircraft junkyard. Gee thanks, I really didn't need to know that info. Especially as we are hurling 800 Miles Per Hour at 30,000 feet.
After we were airborn, the pilot gets on the speakers and informs us that "... according to our wiz bang computer up here we should be in Denver in approximately 2 hours and 54 minutes..." to which the woman across the asile complained to the stewardess that the flight time estimate was too long. As if the "wiz bang" computer could be wrong. Besides what was the stewardess going to do about it. Call the pilot and tell him to speed things up for this lady.
By the way, the flight from Albuquerque just landed.
So as we are flying we hit some turbulance. Assman next to me turns to me and says, "Arizona junkyard." Then he begins this evil laughter. This time I decide its time to put on some headphones and pretend I'm listening to music. That works for a little while except for when we cross the Missouri River and Assman has to point it out to me.
About 2 hours into the trip, Assman needs to go to the lavatory. He decides to go to the one in the front of the plane. After 10 minutes elapses he passes by, this time going to the one in the rear of the plane. Apparently the one in the front has been occupied by someone for a while and he got tired of waiting.. As he passes by he decides to tell me that someone must have died in the front bathroom. This causes the woman in the row behind me to scream, "Oh My God!" I guess I should have explained that she was afraid of flying and that his little joke didn't help much. Of course after seeing her reaction to his news he goes on to tell her the "Arizona Junkyard" story. He sure has no problem living up to his Assman reputation. I won't even bother going into the entire pretzel incident.......
After his visit to the lavatory he decides to explain to me his thoery on how Lacross players are really good athletes but he still thinks water polo players are more athletic. (Seriously, I can't make this shit up.) The conversation then turns to how he would like to see more soccer in Division one College and less Baseball. Wow, how American. Now before you accuse me of leading this guy into conversation, I must tell you that I don't think I said anything to him the whole trip except to nod and agree to whatever he was saying.
Finally it came time to land. "This is your captain speaking, on behalf of Spirit airlines, Myself and the rest of the crew, my x-wife, my future wife, my kids and the Ohama Mutual Mortgage Company, I would like to thank you for flying with us today." After waiting for 26 rows of people to get off, I was finally rid of Assman forever. Oh so I hope. Which leads me to this bench and my wasting of time.
By the way, if you are waiting for United flight #6880 from Wichita, it is now listed as cancelled.
They just paged Mr. Bird again.
In other news... What's the deal with this Iraq crap. Here is my take on the situation. Bush says that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that they have to show them to us. Saddam says they don't have them so they can't show them to us. Bush says that if you don't show them to us we will go to war. Let me ask you this... What good will that do? I suppose if we go to war and Saddam has the weapons he claims to not have, he will use them on us and we will get to see them. Hmmm I guess its one way to get what we want. But that point aside, why should Saddam even bother to show us his weapons. Do we show other countries ours? And what about our war with Bin Laden..... what even happened to that. We couldn't find him so we decide to fight someone else to distract the Americans to the fact that he is still at large. And how about this Korea thing. Dude, they HAVE the weapons and seem to be becomming more and more of a threat. but that also need to be ignored that for now because Bush Jr wants to fight a battle for his daddy.
Wow I must be getting old to be caring about and discussing politics. I apologize for that brief mental lapse. I now return you to your regularly scheduled web surfing already in progress.
Lets say you have a 3/4 inch pipe that runs from the street into your house. Lets also say that at the end of this pipe you have a shower head. Now assume you are in the shower singing or perhaps cleaning out your nostrals. You might even be contemplating life or planning out your day. In any event, you are relaxing in the soothing warm stream of a substance we call H 2 0. Now, lets say that somewhere between the street and the shower an evil monster taps into this lifeline of goodness with something that resembles a washing mashine and that beast decides that while you are cleaning yourself so nicely, they need to clean one or more of their tattered pieces of clothing. Well, naturally the liquid will take the shortest path and all but re-direct itself to the big white spinning device leaving you with a cold trickle of what once was heaven.
Moral of the story....
1. This one goes without saying -> Never put your cat into the waching machine or dryer
2. Aparently this one does not -> When someone is in the shower, please be considerate and don't start your laundry until they are out.
The preceeding public service announcement has been brought to you today compliments of one of my roomates Sunday night and then another one of them this morning. Thanks guys!
In other exciting news, another one of my friends has seen the light! Thats right, yesterday Leo bought his 1st snowboard! My hunch is that Brett is next. (Come on Brett, you know you wanna do it!) I cant wait to take Leo out on the new setup, which by the way is a Salomon Forecast 159 with Vans boots and snow jam bindings. Note to the following foolish skiers ->Dave and Steve.... Get off your lazy asses and try it already! You won't regret it! I gurantee it!
Finally, I would like to wish everyone a happy belated Candlemas day. Candlemas day, for those who don't know it, was yesterday, Feb 2nd. (It's also 40 days after Christmas and marks the half way point in the winter season.) Tradition has it that if a borrowing animal sees his shadow on Candlemas day there will be 6 more weeks of winter. This borrowing animal has generally been a groundhog, and hence the day has been more widely known as Groundhog's Day. Yesterday Phil the groundhog saw his shadow so bring on another 6 weeks of winder! Sweet! For more on the history of Candlemas Day click here. To learn more about Groundhog's Day Click here. I bet you didn't expect to learn anything useful when you clicked on my website today.......
Wednesday we woke up bright and early and went snowboarding at The Canyons. (www.thecanyons.com) This was our second time at this resort as we stayed here last winter just prior to the Olympics. As always, the snow and terrain was excellent. I wish we had snow and mountains like that here. I suppose I could always move to Utah, but then I'd have to convert to Mormonism. After tearing up the acres and acres of snow, we spent the last hour and a half in the terrain park. According to Transworld Snowboarding magazine, The Canyon's terrain park is among the top 10 in the country and #1 in Utah. I don't exactly know how they came up with that. Don't get me wrong, the park was good, but I have to say honestly that Mountain Creek's is better. I would have guessed that Mountain Creek would, by that logic, be in the top 9. But it wasn't. Oh well, what do I know. Click here for complete listings of the top 10 parks and pipes.
Time to plan my next trip.
Monday I went to JFK airport, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It only took 1 hour to get there and this was in rush hour traffic. Then as I was walking through the terminal with my snowboard, I wondered to myself..... Is this how the pros travel.... anyways when I got to the ticket counter the guy checking in my luggage started to talk to me about snowboarding and then asked if I was a pro. I should have said yes. That would have been cool. But instead I settled for a "not yet..."
Next I boarded the plane. I was a little worried about the flight because I was flying a small airline that I have never flown before. But it was 75% cheaper than all the other flights I found so I settled for Jet Blue.(www.jetblue.com) And get this.... Jet Blue Rocks. It is the coolest airline I have ever flown. Aside from being inexpensive, all of their planes are brand new. All the seats are Leather and roomie. And the best luxtury is that at every seat there is a direct TV monitor with like 20 channels that you can watch for FREE. So I spent the flight watching NBC's monday night lineup. (I was a little disapointed that Conan was a repeat....) Another neat channel that the TVs had was a live feed from a GPS. It showed exactly where in the country the plane was, what our altitude and speed were, and the direction we were traveling. It ended up giving me a quick geography lesson. Who knew that I'd be flying through Missouri. The terminal was just as cool as they had monitors showing where all of the Jet Blue flights were at any given moment.
Anyways today I decided to try riding a new stance. For you non-snowboarder losers out there, a stance is simply the way you stand on the board. (For more info on stance click here. When I first started riding, I rode 30 degrees on my front foot (left foot because I ride regular) and 15 degrees on my back foot. As I got better I changed it to 21 Front and 0 rear. Today I tried out two different stances and I setteled for 21 Front and negative 12 rear. I think it feels more comfortable and it was allowing me to try some new shit out. It also greatly inproved my switch riding. By the end of the day I found myself riding switch down a black diamond mogule trail with ease.... I was stoked. Anyway, if you didn't understand any of that then I guess it was not meant for you.
Tomorrow we are going to ride some glades and more powder and then its time to catch the red-eye flight back home.
See you soon.
Naturally Yesterday's snow REQUIRED today's trip to Mountain Creek to take in some snowboarding. I brought a couple of the "boyz" from "da hood" up for their 1st snowboarding experiences and we all had a good time. The conditions couldn't have been better. Mountain Creek got over a foot of fresh snow yesterday so the trails were very well covered. Especially since they have been making snow all week. (see my links page to find a link that shows you how they make "artifical" snow. It's pretty interesting.) Although it was a bit crowded at the lifts the slopes were not too bad. In all it was a great day.
Speaking of Christmas, I received a lot of neat presents from my friends and family and I spent the entire day among them (my friends and family not the presents...) I could go on, but after a long day on the mountain I really need to get some sleep. Pleasent dreams.......
Here is another curious thing. In order to give me these 2 new channels, they are moving 42, thats right FORTY-TWO, channels around.... Just when I finally started memorizing the cable channel lineup, they are changing it again. Whats the point? What difference does it make to the cable company if MTV2 is on channel 42 or 55? Go figure....
It all started Sophmore year in college when my then roomate Bob McKenna convinced me to try skiing. So during christmas break I went up to Vernon Valley with Bob and Mark Vido and I put on Skis for the 1st time. That would have been December 1992. The next year I bought my own set of Fischer Skis and I joined the Ski Team. I joined the team basically so I could get free lessons and a discount on a season pass to Vernon Valley. I advanced in skiing through my senior year in which I became the captain of the ski team. After that season I decided to try something different. So in February of 1996 I first stepped on a snowboard. I enjoied it immediately, not because of how cool it was, but because if the challenge it gave me. I enjoied how each and every time I went snowboarding I would learn something new and I could walk away from the mountain feeling like I've gotten better and that I've accomplished something. That is the very thing that was missing with skiing and why I needed to try something new.
On December 30, 1997 I purchased my 1st snowboard, a Rusty 156, for $687.94. This board was great and it taught me everything I needed to learn. For 4 years I rode this board and never once did it give me any problems. Then in January of 2002 I decided it was time to upgrade to a new board, one that would allow me to go on to the next level. So on Jan 16, 2002 I purchased my 2nd snowboard, a K2 Zeppelin 154, for $741.99. Immediatly I found myself getting better, what a difference this new board and boot combo made. I am now in my 2nd season on this board and I still feel like I'm growing. This season I plan to tackle the half-pipe and rails once and for all. At the end of last season I started playing in the pipe and with some jumps and I had a blast. I can't wait to see what this season has in store..... (end flashback mode)
Anyways, the whole point of this was that I was reminising on how I had skiied for 4 years and I am now going into my 7th year on my snowboard. My skis bored me after only 4 years whereas I keep finding new things to learn and new challenges to overcome on my snowboard. That is why snowboarding rocks so much, and perhaps why I enjoy it as much as I do.
If you haven't tried it, do it! I will teach you if you like as long as you agree to "Gallo's 3 trip rule." Basically it states that you must try it 3 times within a relatively short period of time (say 4 to 6 weeks) before you can decided that you don't like it. I guarantee that you will be hooked though. I base my 3 trip rule on the following observation: The 1st day everything is new and your balance is off and you fall alot. The 2nd day you gain your balance and you get the feeling of wow, I may actually be able to do this. The 3rd day you spend more time on the board and less time on your butt. You even get started on some carving if you are up to it, It's this trip that you say, damn snowboarding rocks. Trust me!
In other news, I managed to make it out to Hunter mountain last week. They recieved over 12 inches of new snow the night before so the conditions were excellent. It was the 1st day that the half pipe and terrain park were open so we got to play around in it under ideal conditions. If the weather keeps up the way it has been the last few weeks, this will turn out to be one of the best snowboard seasons ever.
I still haven't started Christmas shopping yet, nothing like procrastinating huh. Hey, there are still 10 days left.... plenty of time......
I would like to take this moment to tell anyone out there that does not snowboard that YOU SUCK. You don't know what you are missing, It's so awesome. Skiiers, you should all try it, I guarantee that you will not go back to your two lousy planks.. Anyone who wants lessons, let me know and I will teach you. One of these days I will post an excellent snowboard article I read in Vermont. It sums it up nicely. But not now. (Its a hook to keep you coming back for more......)
Until next time.... Rock on!
My roomate just walked by and he recognized the blogger window and told me that I shouldn't be typing because the drugs will make my post make no sense. Good old brian, always looking out for me. Thanks bro, but I'm on to you. You just want people to read your site and not mine. How rude! I bet you were even expecting a plug and a link to your site. Well It's not gonna happen. I would have to be pretty drugged up to even mention www.briandickens.net or make a link to it.
In other news, I finally finished Dahl's wedding video. I had to pull an all nighter to do it, but its done. Not that you care (unless you are a Dahl, then you probably care.) That takes care of one of my procrastinations...... Too bad I haven't started on the others. It would have been nice to know Italian yesterday as I met a very nice Italian girl and I was trying to understand her.
Hey, its almost midnite - time to take more drugs!!!!!! Woo Hoo.
In other news, I think I have a disease that has no name. We should call it Gallos Disease. The symptoms are pretty easy to spot. Lets say that you need 1 thing at the store and this 1 thing will cost you about $10.00. Then lets say that you go to the store to buy the 1 thing and you end up leaving the store with more than $200.00 worth of things that you didn't need. Then you have Gallos Disease. There is no cure for this disease. I suppose you could go to the store and only bring 10.00, but thats cheating.
Speaking of diseases that run in my house if you feel the need to believe everything you read about nature and the Earth and you spend $300.00 to ground your mattress to the earth 2 stories down, then you have GeoffreyScottStuart disease. Here is the medication needed to treat GeoffreyScottStuart disease -> EarthTether
I know that this is a problem of mine. I even bought a book to learn how to stop procrastinating. But it didn't help.... I am procrastinating so much that I haven't even opened it up. Here is a partial list of things I have been meaning to do that I just can't seem to get around starting:
1. Edit the Dahl's wedding video (due in less than 1 month)
2. Learn how to use AfterEffects peoperly (I spent enough money on the software and the books, all I really need is time)
3. Sign up for fall night classes (they start next week)
4. Build a wall in the front yard (On my list for 3 years now)
5. redesign my basement (kind of started it, I bought a new couch and a table, so thats a start rite???)
6. Learn Italian (I still have 4 years before I expect to need it, so I guess I am allowed to procrastinate)
7. Become financially independant before the age of 35 (I have over 5 years to worry about this, but I suppose I should have started this already....)
8. Finish my kitchen (If you have seen it you would probably say it is done, but I know the few remaining things that I still need to do.)
9. go back on my diet (I stopped it for the summer, but now the summer is over.. .so what's my excuse this week???)
10. Close Kevin's Pool (I told him I would be over in 5 mins, this was before I started eating lunch and doing this shit.... sorry Kevin.... I'm on my way)
Speaking of infomercials..... Here are some of my personal observations:
The Craftsman bits that you use to take out stripped screws really rock!
Oxy clean really cleans the carpet, except when you clean a dirty spot from the carpet, that sopt becomes so clean that you end up with a clean spot on a dirty carpet..... (which is just as bad)
The Dremel is not as exciting as they make it out to be.
Proactive clears up acne, but who wants to go through the daily cleaning ritual.....
We won't even mention the ab-tronic thingie... that was just money flushed right into the toilet. (It scares me)
Robert Kiyosaki's books are pretty good and inspiring.
The time life 80s collection rocks.
Restore 4, well who knows, that one is still on order.
Oh well, its 11pm; time to watch some tv.