Alamogordo , NM

Hey I have been super lazy about keeping up on this so I am gonna try to do better. I went to New Mexico last week, and it was so lame. Not only did I have to fly into El Paso ( Jake is under the impression that everyone who lives in Texas rides horses all the time, to work, to school, to Wal-Mart, he thinks they have no cars), then I had to drive 2 hours into the depths of New Mexico desert to a town named Alamogordo, ( it means fat cottonwood) and there was not a whole lot there, I went to see a "Space Museum" and I use the word Museum very loosly, since it was more like NASA's junk yard than anything else, it was really sad. That is about it, I am off to Miami so it will be nice to go to a big city for a change.

PS. Go Cardinals, they are in first place and I couldn't be happier

Movies: "Get Smart" - was a huge dissapointment, I loved the TV show as a kid, ( Sara didn't even know that it was a classic TV show, I know seriously) but it was just so bad, not worth the rental. * 1 star

"The Visitor"- really good, worth renting. **** 4 Stars

Music: "Oasis" ( Dig Out Your Soul) has a new album that really is pretty good, I am a huge fan so take this at face value, but I really like a bunch of tracks on it( Falling Down, The Shock of Lightning) . Check it out, also we are going to see them in December, so I can't wait for that.
**** 4 stars

Also if you have'nt heard the "Flobots" go check them out asap, they are sooo good. ***** 5 Star

Halloween Pics of the Kids

Here are the kids on Halloween. Jake was Jango Fett, and Lily was a Pink Leopard. It was great times, we decorated the house super scary and Jake got all kinds of great candy.

Mike Rowe

Well just as I turned off my laptop in Klmamath Falls, thinking of what to do next since my plane was delayed, I hear a voice that I could recognize anywhere. That's right, Mike Rowe, from such shows as Dirty Jobs, Narrator for countless Discovery channel programs, was walking into the little airport. Now remember I am stuck in the middle of Oregon in a tiny airport about to board a prop plane with 12 other people and 1 of those people is Mr. Rowe. Now I have to admit I have a little man crush on him, I always used to tell Sara that it would be so cool to meet him and hang out with him.

Well he was as nice as could be. I went over told him that my wife loves him, ( which is true) and that my mom really liked him too. He said that he gets that alot. Then we talked for a bit, about Oregon, he was there goose hunting, on his way home to San Fransisco, and it just so happened that we sat next to each other on the plane, is was really cool, he was so nice I think that my crush got a little bigger.

Oregon

Well I am stuck in the worlds smallest airport, there are no gates, there is a room that is technically baggage claim, and a rental car fleet of about 6 cars. I am flying from here, Klamath Falls, to San Fransisco, and then onto Denver, but apparently there is " weather" and we cannot take off. I really won't complain, since the only planes that fly out of here are F-15's and propeller commercial planes, so i will gladly wait for better weather so my prop plane can make it.

I worked at the Air Force Base here, and unlike in Tennessee, the guy's here didn't let me hang out in a F-15, something about a security concern having a civilian at the controls of a 45 million dollar jet loaded with munitions. But I got to see a few of the F-15's that had " Cracked". Apparently about 1 year ago a F-15 broke in half and the pilot ejected out safely but there was a mandatory shut down of all F-15's in the entire world, well 8 were found out to have these "cracks" in the whole world, and 4 of the 8 were here in Oregon, and I saw 2 of them in a hangar that were in about 10 million pieces that they were trying to fix and put back together.

I guess that there was a forest fire sort of nearby so my stay here was very smoky and hazy, which has kind of a bummer.

That is about all for now, no real crazy adventures or interesting town folk, maybe there was but I was just so tired that I probably missed it.

The Phoenix Trip

So we got back from PHX on Sunday. Had a great time, I love it there. Not only do my brother and new sister in law live there, but it is where I grew up, have great friends ( they probably think that I am a horrible friend since I never see them), and it is a place full of memories.

I worked a little bit on Friday, so that kinda sucked but then the rest of the weekend was so fun. Sara flew in on Friday afternoon, and man is it really great to finally do some traveling with my wife, that was so nice.

The wedding went great, a very small ceremony for friends and family, great food ( there were these shrimp appetizers that were so freaking good), and just an overall great visit, although I could have spent about a week, not just a few days.

I am in Oregon now so we will see how this trip goes and I will fill you in. I am just really tired lately maybe it is this flurry of travel as of late but man I need a vacation, a real one with sandy beaches and margaritas, I guess I can dream, instead I am in Klamath Falls, Oregon staying in a hotel that shares a parking lot with a Sizzler, I didn't even know Sizzler still exsisted but they still do, hoping that my next trip is to a city more civilized, but with my luck it will probably be in a desert somewhere.

Phoenix

I am going to be in phoenix next week for work and a wedding, o yeah. So I will give you all the details when I get back.

You Will be A-MAIZE-D!!!!!

Sorry for the corn joke but I just drove 1 hour into the depths of South Dakota on my way to the Corn Palace ( it is a little hard to see but i am in that picture on the bottom left in the brown shirt), and every 10 miles or so there were these signs advertising the Palace and they were all bad corn jokes(We are all Ears, that was my second favorite). So after all the hype the Corn Palace was actually pretty lame, it is really only like a few murals ( all made of corn) slapped to the side of this building. Maybe there were untold treasures of super corn coolness inside, maybe inside is where all the great Corn Palace corn is hidden, but it was closed, apparently it is not peak tourist time in SD, but you could of fooled me there are people everywhere ( I maybe saw 25 people in the whole town).

Who comes up with these places?? I just don't get it, I guess the better question is who goes to these places ( besides me of course, a side note I had all the guys at work looking at the Corn Palace Live Web Cam when I was there, they all had a good laugh as I was live from the Corn Palace). I drove past the worlds largest Steer head sculpture, no joke, it was huge. I just don't get how one day a guy or girl wakes up and says, " I am going to build the world's one and only Corn Palace, or Steer Head, it just bottles the mind. Bottles the mind , that was so funny, it is from Blades of Glory, with Will Ferrell and it is super funny check it out.

On a final thought, South Dakota is barren, like a 95 year old Nun barren, there is nothing here, no people, no trees, no hills, no mountains, nothing, except for a Steer Head sculpture and a building covered in Corn.

P.S. apparently the Holiday Inn serves breakfast and according to the nice front desk lady there will be " eggs and such, and some kind of meat, so you definitely want to be here for that." It was so classic, heaven forbid I miss the meat.

Back Tracking Part 2

I took a few pics when I went to Philly. I think that was 3 cities ago but I lost track after the first couple of trips. In Philly I took a really cool tour of Independence Hall and went to see the Liberty Bell.

I was glad I went, just as I am with all the places that I go and get to see. The traveling and being gone from my family really sucks, but seeing this great country and all the interesting and crazy things there are to see has really been a great opportunity for me that I don' think many people will have, so as in all things in life you have to take the good with the bad.

I am getting on a plane to go to Mitchell, SD and you better believe that I am going to visit the world famous and world's only Corn Palace, as always I will give you all the great details.

Back Tracking

I thought that I should give a little background as to why I am traveling so much. Well I work for a company that makes Laser Engraving Systems. My main job is, when a customer buys a laser from us they send me out to visit the customer and get their laser all set up and train them on how to use it to best meet their needs, so that is where all the travel comes in.

I have been to 5 different cities in 7 weeks, and I am mainly gone about 2 or 3 days a week. Here are the lovely cities I have been to.

Charleston, SC ( great place to visit, I highly recommend it)

Philadelphia, PA ( pics to come soon, also a great place to visit)

Cleveland, OH

Chicago, IL ( my favorite city in America)

Knoxville, TN ( not the coolest place in the world)

Knoxville , September 30th

Went to Knoxville Tennessee this week and came away with a few thoughts.

First, all I heard on the way there was that I had to see the " Great Smoky Mountains". I was unimpressed, they are not mountains they are more like a few rolling hills. It got me thinking though, every persons perspective is so different yet so important, that one man's Great Smoky Mountains can be another man's Mount Everest. Everyone I talked to in Knoxville was so proud of their mighty mountains, one guy I talked to went on and on for 10 mins about how great they were until I told him that I was from Denver, and he having been to Denver and seen the Rocky Mountains he quickly changed to another subject. It was just funny.

Second, I never knew that sungalsses came in camo.

Third, I got to spend about a half hour hanging out in a KC-135. I did some work for the Tennesse Air National Guard and after I was done the Master Seargent gave me a tour of their hangars and then gave me a unprecidented tour inside the aircraft. I sat in the cockpit and got to see how the giant arieal gas station worked. In case you don't know the KC-135 is a mid-air refueling airplne that's primary job is to fly and refule shorter range aircraft in the air so that they can extend their range without having to land to refuel. It was super cool and I am so glad that I got the chance to see it.

That's all for this week, I will be in the middle of nowhere South Dakota next week so I am sure to have some interesting things from there.

Later

Worst Idea Ever

Think of the Cows

That was the worst idea I have ever heard. Nuff said.