USA Iphone Tour

Vista point just south of crescent city

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:45:23 -0400

Vista point just south of crescent city

Assault on Zion

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 02:31:39 -0400

The adventure has resumed and the blog has been revived! I left Aspen yesterday after a whole day of cleaning and packing. I drove 8 hours straight and ended up in cedar city Utah. When I arrived at my first gas pump I felt akin to someone who just ventured out of a bomb shelter. When in the world did gas get so expensive? $4 a gallon? Really? I’m just glad my car runs on hopes and dreams. I got plenty of both lol :-).

Today I woke up and decided I was goon to hike Zion national park. After getting some breakfast and filling my car with oil I was all set as I approached the park my interest began to wane. It seemed very similar to arches national park and I wanted something different from that. I still wanted to hike so I persisted. Once I arrived I was informed that all national parks are free until the 24th of April. Upon hearing his my interest was immediately renewed. I decided that I was going to hike the angels landing trail. As I approached the trail I knew it would be good. How? There were signs stating that people have fallen to their deaths on the trails and urge people that were afraid of heights to turn back. The final warning was for parents to hold on to their children tight.

The signs were spot on. At first the trail seemed tame and over hyped. The first hour was steep but not dangerous. It was also a harsh reminder that snowboarding is not a very good form of cardio. The second and third hour were the trails finest hours. The trail narrows sharply and offers a sturdy, taut chain to guide you through the most treacherous terrain I’ve ever encountered on any hike. The sight of Which is enough to rob most of the courage and turn them away. I pushed through my fear anxiety and crossed the tiny natural bridge to the steep climb. The following ascent made my palms sweat and my breathe quicken as my fear mounted. I remained focus and plotted my path carefully and skin I had reach the summit. The view was an astonishing reward. I was immediately surrounded by views of an unstoppable river, the monstrous sun scorched cliffs that guard and conceal it. They weed the only thing was able to obstruct my endless vision granted by a titans vantage point. As I begin the trek back down the mountain I noticed that my fear had be vanquished.

I strolled down the mountain as if I was unbreakable until my extra water bottle fell off the cliff and splash all over a hiker beneath me. After I made through the roughest part of he trail I begin to feel weak and light headed. Fortunately I had plenty of water in my car. Once I reached I drove away from one of the beat hikes I’ve ever experienced. Tomorrow I have to see a mechanic to check my cars alignment and with any luck break trough the California state line.

I think the snowplow driver was having a bad day and decided...

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:17:50 -0500

I think the snowplow driver was having a bad day and decided someone else should to. It took me 30 minutes to shovel out and baja over the frozen stuff lol.

Delay Of Cake

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:08:29 -0500

I still haven’t got a shot at making that cake since City Market wasn’t able to open this Saturday. They are going to try and reopen after their renovation are completed tomorrow. I’ll be rooting for them so I don’t have to pay the absurd prices at Clark’s Market. Two days ago I got to experience what it’s like to ride a bike with loose handlebars in snowy weather. I’m sure you’re already assuming it’s a nightmare and you’re right for the most part. It was terrifying and exhilarating trying to ride it with limited control and definitely tested my riding capabilities. Yesterday I spent a majority of the day reading my new book “treasure box” by Orson Scott Card.” I’ve never before read a novel so engrossing, intriguing and tragic in the first five pages. It’s probably not too much of a surprise that I’ve already read half of the book.

Today was much more exciting in contrast. I opted to read a few pages of my book while I ate breakfast and that mistake almost made me late for work lol. Once I arrived I found Vicente again and he begun showing me around the building. There’s an amazing underground structure in place and a myriad of hidden entries. My vocabulary in Spanish is severely lacking and Vicente didn’t speak much English at all so we communicated through broken sentences and miming. At the end of the day we both learned quite a few more words in our opposing languages. The majority of the day was spent cleaning restrooms and tending to the fire. I really enjoying rekindling the fire. Altogether my first day was a gleaming success with no horrible mistakes or disasters. I really need to work on my Spanish though. I’ve already listened to the second lesson of Pimsleurs audio tape and I’m so glad I had the foresight to listen to the first Lesson last night. Every word I learn is like an additional life raft or extra life if you’re the gaming type :-) Today I was working in the lobby and tomorrow I’ll be charged with cleaning the guest rooms. It should be interesting. I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

Hiking, cakes and Salisbury Steak

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 02:27:02 -0500

I’m really tired so I’m going to try and keep this post short. I know I’ve said that in the past and still rambled on for quite a bit lol. Yesterday I went for a lovely hike up Smuggler’s mountain. It was a nice wide paved road all the way up to the top which provided a strenuous workout without being too treacherous. The scenic overlooks were amazing and i’ll definitely be returning to that site again with my good camera. Hopefully next time I’ll be able to capture the sunset. I did take some pretty good shots and a cool panoramic video on the iphone which I’ll post later. The best part of the entire hike was watching them start the snow makers on Ajax mountain. Season is about to start which means I’ll be able to snowboard soon. That singular thought had me grinning like a loon the whole way up the mountain.

Today was a much more relaxing day. I finally got a haircut from the local barber and it turned out really nice. I signed up for a library card but was absolutely famished so I didn’t check out any books today. I’ll probably go back there in the next couple days to get some books to read and check out pimpsleur Spanish lessons as to better communicate with my new co-workers. After I had regained my vim and vigor I headed to the store to get some water. Once I got there I ended up in the cookie aisle and realized it’s been almost two months since I’ve eaten any cookies or sweet treats. I decided that it’s time to add a little junk food into my diet and evaluated my options. The cake mixes are the cheapest choice and most gratifying since I’ll actually be able to say I’ve baked something :-). I’m going to refrain from buying and baking a cake until my room mate vacates the apartment. I’m almost positive that he will either eat or defile my delightful creation. It will be a celebration of my accomplishment and his departure haha.

I was able to make Salisbury steak tonight with my mother’s excellent guidance. How did it turn out? Outstanding! I ate so much of it that I gave myself a stomach ache lol. I didn’t have any bread crumbs but I didn’t notice their absence and the mash potatoes were a little mushy. It was still a great meal though. I start work on Sunday at 7 AM so I’m going to try and catch up on some sleep in the next few days which means I might be boring for a bit :-). I’ll try to do some short posts even if all I do is sleep all day. Good night everyone.

Photo

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:13:00 -0500

Photo

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:12:31 -0500

Photo

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:11:14 -0500

Sunday House Keeper

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 02:07:52 -0500

I woke up again very early and agitated by my failure to catch up on sleep even though I had nothing remarkably important to accomplish. I was delighted by the sight of the snow this morning. It fell intrepidly even though the day remain mostly bright and sunny. I was eager to be enveloped in it again so I rushed out the door to start my day. The first stop was the barber shop so I could trim this mane growing wildly on top of my head. The closest and cheaper barber shop in town was closed today again without explanation. Next on the list was to check in with the Little Neil to see if they could tell me when I could expect to start working. I arrived there but was unable to find anyone in HR so I decided to take a hike up the snow covered mountain behind their facilities. The hike up the mountain was steep, strenuous, and slick but aptly rewarding. The landscape looks as if it had been pulled straight from a dream world with clouds mingling and lingering on the mountain peaks. The sun glowing timidly behind the darken clouds and snow covering every flat surface in view. When I made my way back to the Nell, I checked to see if the ladies from HR had returned yet. They were once again absent so I walked to the thrift store again.

I managed to find a great plastic spatula and a pasta scooper. I was thrilled when I found out that my new rigid spatula and pasta ladle would only set me back eighty cents. As I was heading back to the apartments to drop off my amazing cooking instruments and eat lunch I received a call from Joanna. She told me that I would be starting work this Sunday at 7 Am and would need to be fitted for a uniform sometime before then. I told her I would meet her in an hour :-). When I arrived I was introduced to all the house keeping employees and each one was very kind and pleasant. I didn’t anticipate how frequently they communicated in spanish though. It’s apparent that I’ll have to learn a bit of spanish if I want to be included in any idle conversations. With any luck I’ll become bilingual by the end of the winter and that’s never a bad thing to put on a resume :-). Tomorrow I’m going to attempt to sleep in yet again since I’m going to be working the early morning shift all next week. I’m also going to try my best to get a haircut again tomorrow so i can look my best this Sunday.

At the park about five minutes from the apartments

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:14:13 -0500

At the park about five minutes from the apartments

Additional Postage Required

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 03:02:44 -0400

I haven’t had time to post anything for awhile. Nothing very interesting has happened in the past few days I’m just been busy with little stuff. Today I was to wake up promptly at 7:15 to remove everything from the floor so the carpet cleaners could do their job. I finished this task at about 8:20 and decided to lay down in my car for a little bit since there’s still a bed in there. Sleep was a luxury that I was not awarded over the last few days and I could no longer contest with my drowsiness. When I regained consciousness three hours had passed and it was now 11:30. Once I was awake and ready to rejoin the world of the living I headed towards radio again. I talked to a few gorgeous women and then headed to the Apple store to browse their inventory and chat with the techs about the latest technology. Once I had finished admiring the new apple products I was on my way to the thrift store again hunting for a can opener. I didn’t find a car opener but I did get two nice plates and some measuring cups for two dollars. I made it back to the house right as the cleaners where finishing up so I pulled the laptop out and starting researching the components and pricing of the new performance laptops. It’s amazing what you can get for about 900 dollars these days and I’d be lying if I said I was tempted to upgrade to a new HP envy, Asus or Dell xps :-). I had to make a short trip to the store to get some Parmesan cheese for my chicken parm dinner. It was absolutely delightful and is now well hidden from my room mate would likes to eat and season dishes from the Tupperware container. He doesn’t find it nearly has appalling or disgusting as i do. Tomorrow I’m going to do my first snowboarding leg work out comprising of lots of jumping, sprinting and lunges. Hopefully I’ll still have enough energy to take some good pictures of the sunset. They are predicting snow for most of next week so I won’t be able to get summer shots for much longer. I’d gladly compromise for a chance to play in the snow as soon as possible though :-). Sleep well and good night everyone.

Waiting Unabated

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:19:51 -0400

Super short summary time because I’m exhausted lol. I went into the Little Neil to sign my new hire paperwork. Once I had finished I thought I would be given a start date. This assumption proved incorrect and Joanna told me would call me soon to inform me of my true start date. Once I left the Neil, I talked to Travis at radio snowboard shop. Then I grabbed some money and headed to buy some groceries and pay my rent. I had to buy extra groceries since our local city market is still close and isn’t scheduled to reopen until two weeks from now. Once I got back to the apartment I worked out for a bit then chatted with this guy named Rich that I met at Radio a few days ago. He showed me around the city and then showed the me secret stash. The Aspen thrift store disposables. There’s a lot of nice things that people are throwing away and most of the time you don’t even have to dive in the dumpster to get to them lol. I bailed on Rich at about 6:15 and started getting ready to make dinner. I feels so good to say that it was absolutely Delicious! I made Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo and I gorged myself on it haha. At the end of the night I called my parents to check in and tell them that I definitely have a job now. Then I mentioned trying out a program called Skype to my dad. He had heard of it before and was very excited to try it out. It’s an amazing program and makes talking to my family so much better. I hope to try it out again soon :-). There’s nothing major on the books tomorrow so it might be a little boring. Hopefully I’ll get to catch up on some lost sleep though. Good night everyone!

A better smile

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:01:31 -0400

A better smile

So ready!

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:00:53 -0400

So ready!

Tangible Triumph

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:02:00 -0400

The ski swap was a great success. I ended getting a ton of gear for very cheap. I found Travis at the back end of the building and he told me he had found a perfect all mountain board for me. He also had some bindings that would fit me perfectly but they had some pink accents on them. After I had surveyed them, I informed him that I wasn’t bothered by it and he promised to sell me the bindings and the board for the dirt cheap price of two hundred dollars. He wanted to set all these items aside so that he could give me a better deal and not have to pay the proceeds to the facilities. I would have to meet him back at radio to pick the items up. I left the ski swap with an excellent jacket from last year, an amazing pair of ski pants, a very nice helmet, and a great pair of gloves for two hundred and fifty dollars.

Travis told me to meet him back at his shop at 3 o clock so I could get my board and he could fit me for a good pair of snowboarding boots. After trying on about five different pairs of boots I found a pair that was extremely comfortable but of course they were the most expensive pair. Travis assured me that the boots are the most important piece of equipment and if I planned on boarding a lot this season I’m going to need a pair that’s very durable. I reluctantly agreed and so they began to secure the bindings to the board and adjust them for optimum ride quality. While I observed them performing this task I received a call from Joanna from the Little Neil inquiring why I haven’t signed the new hire papers yet. I informed her that I had been contacting HR often so I could do just that. She told me that I need to come in on Monday and get those forms filled out. I thanked her graciously and returned to radio. After they imparted some final advice and some cash was tended they finally handed me the board.

I cannot recall the last time I felt so happy and pleased with what I had accomplished. As I held my board on the walk home I was awash in the tides of my emotions, absolutely radiating jubilation. I reminisced about all the obstacles I had surmounted on my journey, how intimidating it seemed in the beginning, how the endeavor has changed me. I’m not longer afraid of the future, in contrast I relish each new challenge that it brings. Next week it delivers a place of employment unlike any I’ve ever known and in three weeks an inconceivable mountain of snow.The allure of this has proliferated anticipation throughout every cell in my body. Happy Halloween everyone! I’m feeling a little disconnected and isolated on this day since I’ve not made any strong connections with anyone and I can’t visit the people with whom I have. This gives me more incentive to meet new people and be grateful for the amazing ones that I already met.

Background check job double check

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 02:28:55 -0400

I don’t have time to write too much tonight because I’ve got to wake up early for the ski swap tomorrow. Unsurprisingly my background check cleared today with no flags or cause for concern. Jill told me that I will be contacted very soon to finish up my paper work and begin training. I also found out that on my slowest days I can walk to work in four minutes. My car is literally going to be left out in the cold this winter lol. I visited the local snowboard shop called radio and got some great tips for selecting gear. I’m going to use this knowledge to make some well informed purchased at the ski swap tomorrow morning. The ski swap is where the vendors bring the items they couldn’t sell last year and sell them at this venue at a deep discount. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to get a board, bindings and a nice set of boots. I made some chicken rice tonight for dinner with some white rice, chicken breast and mushroom soup. The good news is I know exacted what I did wrong in preparing this meal but the bad news is it wasn’t very good and gave me indigestion haha. It’s a good thing I’m a fast learner because I don’t know how much longer my stomach can withstand my mediocre dishes. Good night all, wish me luck tomorrow!

Better Runner than Cook

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 02:32:28 -0400

I wish I had more zany adventures to write about today but unfortunately it was a pretty tame day for me. I lacked the proclivity to accomplish anything major so I laid around the apartment watching tv shows on netflix for a while. Eventually I mustered up the energy to clean the apartment a little bit. How can someone leave a glass of disgustingness on the table until molds grows in it and not pour it out? I couldn’t so I ended up cleaning all the dishes by hand since our dishwasher is a German model named the Benjamin.

Once I finished that up I cleaned out the rest of the clothes I had left in my car and retrieved my running shoes. It was about 37 degrees but didn’t feel too cold so I decided to run to my PO box wearing a shirt and shorts. This confounded all the people I ran past but made me feel rejuvenated. It was a fantastic 1.5 mile run and every time I exhaled I could see my breathe which made me feel like a unstoppable fire breathing beast lol. Once I got back to the apartment I got ready to head to the store and buy some supplies for supper. After a few brief calls to the master chef aka my mom I was able to procure my ingredients and start cooking. The finished product wasn’t up the the exquisite culinary stardards set by my mom and grandmother but it was still much better than the fast food I had been ingesting for the past three weeks. Needless to say I was absoluetely 100% contently stuffed tonight :-). I know what mistakes I made and am confidant that with practice I’ll be able to make some delectable dishes.

Tomorrow I’m going to call or walk to the Little Neil to inquire about the status of my background check. I’m anxious to start working so I can start meeting new people to explore Aspen with. It shouldn’t be too much longer now and then I’ll be able to write some really good stories haha. For now I’m going to conjure up some good dreams. Good Night All!

I hope you guys like this video of me being goofy. I took it at...

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 02:02:28 -0400

I hope you guys like this video of me being goofy. I took it at the firehole lake in yellowstone national park and wanted to add some personality to it after my last few videos were bland and uninspired. I think I added just the right amount of Benjamin to it lol. I’ve got a few more videos that I’ll add later.

The intermission

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:01:50 -0400

My first thought of the day was: where’s my beard? Then once I went to wash my face I wondered who this baby faced stranger was and why he was starring at me lol. Once I was dressed and ready I went to go excavate my car since it was buried in snow and ice. My first goal was to head to the post office to setup a PO Box to appease my bill collectors (I’m not in debt I just like the way this sounds). On the way there I got my very first brief experience of driving on ice. It was a nice sunny day so the ice and snow was all beginning to melt.

The next stop was walmart to get some new house supplies such as towels, tupperware, tumblers, etc. I also needed a pair of shoes for work but wasn’t pleased with their selection so I headed to Target. Once there I strolled through their great selection of cookware but still didn’t find any shoes that fit the criteria that I was given. I did purchase some wd40 to unstick my frozen driver side lock. There’s no way to make unlocking your car from the passenger side look cool haha. I headed back to walmart to get a pair of cheap shoes that best suited the description. I told the cashier that they were the nicest pair of shoes I’ve purchased in a long time because they were my new job shoes. Everyone near by laughed at my antics and one lady even gave me five dollars. She said it was my first tip. I tried to dissuade her from giving it to me but she was adamant. That’s the easiest five bucks I’ve ever made lol.

I decided to head home before it got too dark in case there was any ice left on the roads of Aspen. Once I got there I lounged around for a bit and chatted with my brother. After that I completed an online change of address form so I can finally get my netflix movies again. It’s good to have priority right :-). I also did a ton of research on snowboarding and it’s corresponding gear. I have to make sure I’m ready to get a board at the next ski swap on the 30th. Now it’s time for bed and I’ve got a very uneventful day planned tomorrow. I hope I get called into the Little Neil to finish up my paper work so I can start working soon. If that falls through at least I’ll still be waking up in one of the most amazing ski towns in the USA.

Linksauce!

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:57:33 -0400

I finally got around to adding a few new links to the website. Your clickable options on this site have expanded by two. You can now see all the pictures I’ve taken by following the gallery link. Also you can finally email me. I know, what took so long right? I’ve been too busy surviving near death experiences and adventuring I guess lol. The email link should work on everyone’s computer. If you don’t have an email program setup it will open the wizard but if you close that it should still open a blank email message with my email address filled in. Please feel free to comment on anything, give suggestions, or just harass me :-).