digital playground

Let’s see how I’ve done so far with keeping with my resolutions.

1. 2 posts in 7 days. That’s definitely better than the 1 in the last 4 months of the previous year.
Verdict: Success

2. 7 days into the new year and I’ve been to the gym 4 days. I don’t think there’s much measurable progress quite yet, but I’m putting the effort.
Verdict: Success

3. I haven’t taken a single picture yet.
Verdict: Fail

4. I’m still scripting this thing for WE. In actionscript 2. Haven’t had the opportunity to look up classes or anything for AS3.
Verdict: Fail

5. I’ve booked my flight + hotel to Vancouver, booked the cabin in Tahoe, and am looking into more flights since its cheap! I need places to go and places to crash, people!
Verdict: Success

Decent start to the year. Only one week in and things are going well. We’ll see how long it lasts though.

1. Blog more often and one a more consistent basis. Writing is a good mental exercise that gets lost when you just read.

2. Get in better physical shape. Eating all those food samples at WS didn’t help the belly.

3. Start my picture a day project again and ACTUALLY DO IT EVERY DAY. I started this project awhile back. Lasted a week.

4. Learn actionscript 3. My archnemesis.

5. Travel more. Economy is down. I’m still employed and still getting paid. I have a decent savings. Might as well use all that extra income to explore the world.

Basically, the recurring theme for 2009 will be self-improvement. Happy new year everyone! You’ll be hearing more of me in the new year.

and

Yea yea I know that after Chicago, things really dropped off. I slept even less once we hit the big cities and am still playing catch up on life. I’ve posted all my pictures on my flickr, so you can check there for a more visual representation of what I did after Chicago. In the meantime, I’ll be working my ass off.

Chicago was one crazy whirlwind and it was great. Arrived around noon time and checked into the Best Western in downtown. It was the PERFECT location. It was super cheap and very centrally located. Didn’t drive at all while there.

First stop was Giordano’s for some Chicago style pizza. Recommended by everyone. Definitely did not disappoint. Nor did the beer. Everything was very filling and I got a nice buzz. Actually, I wasn’t sure if it was a buzz from alcohol or lack of sleep.

Next stop was Chicago River to pick up tickets for out river and lake tour. We weren’t able to hop on right away since of was sold out, so we took a later tour. In the mean time, we walked to Millenium park to check out all the art and the giant bean. You’ll see what I’m talking about when I finally upload pix.

After the park, we hopped onto the boat for our tour. The city is absolutely beautiful and the tour showed it off in an appropriate light. The tour was followed by a stop at Garrett’s Popcorn. Highly recommended and did not disappoint. While eating our popcorn, we walked to Sears Tower. Took the elevator to the top and wow. That is a very impressive view.

The grime of the day set in and we decided to head to the hotel to wash up. Everyone freshened up and then headed out to get Chicago hot dogs. Not too bad.

Then started the weirdest night on the town. First was this old person bar where the youngest person had to be at least 20 years older than us. Next was this ghetto club where we would have been the only non-African-Americans had we gotten in. This was followed by the odd metrosexual/gay club.

Finally, at the end of the night, we just ended up in some sports bar and had drinks. Finally called it a night around 4am and headed back to the hotel. A few went to the mcdonalds while the rest went back. Finally knocked out at 5am.

The next day started around 8am. Finally left the hotel around 930 and headed off to check out a couple other places.

I should probably continue with the posts in South Dakota.

So, we had gone to the Crazy Horse Memorial and saw the startings of it. The memorial hasn’t quite been completed, but when complete, will be larger than Mt. Rushmore. It was very impressive in terms of scale. Checked out the memorial, got a souvenier, and that was that.

Next stop, Mt. Rushmore. Arrived there and took pictures of it, got gifts, and watched chipmunks run around. Oh and got a few sprinkles of rain coming down on us, but nothing too bad. Can’t think of any particular noteworthy happenings there.

From there, we drove to the Badlands National Park. I think it was a national park. But anyways, we just drove around there and stopped where ever we liked and took pix. Had a couple close encounters with wildlife, such as the lead ram of a group of sheep staring us down and blocking the road so we couldn’t pass. We drove to a vista point and watched the sun set over the plains and canyons of South Dakota. While the sun was setting, you could also see a thunder storm coming. It was completely epic the show mother nature was putting on. Since it was dark, we just had dinner at a cafe in the park.

From here we drove straight shot to Chicago. I took first shift and drove through South Dakota. My opinion of South Dakota? That state would never freaking end! It took so damn long to drive through that state.

Then I drove through part of Minnesota, where the fog in the middle of the night got as bad as Pacifica fog. Not to mention that whenever we stopped and got out, the air smelled like sewage. Must be all those lakes.

Someone else drove through the rest of minnesota and Wisconsin to finally arrive at Chicago.

That was that day. I went to sleep in Minnesota. A very tiring day that left me loopy.

Just remembered that I should attach this.

Yea I’ve been slacking on the posts. That’s because I’m extremely sleep deprived and exhausted. I’ve kinda gone loopy and don’t feel great. So I’m using the time I would normally use to update this to sleep.

Just a quick update, in Chicago now and heading to Cleveland.

Back to sleep.

I’m writing this at 5PM South Dakota time, not knowing when this will finally go up. Middle America doesn’t have the greatest of reception. Plus, because of the lack of population density and rolling mountains, cell phone reception is very hard to get. Same with wifi.

Now, to recall where I left off on the last post. I think we were leaving to go horseback riding. That was the absolute best experience - hands down! First, we drive into Wyoming (the least densely populated state in the nation as I later learned). Upon arriving to the ranch where we were to ride, we drive offroad on a gravel/dirt road for about 2 miles. Then we arrive at the ranch by 3 of the sweetest ranching dogs ever.

Dennis, the ranch owner and tour guide greets us and just immediately sets us up on out horses. Mine was named Chudwater and I think he was really testing me. We mount up and start to ride off. As we start to ride off, Chudwater decides to take off on his own trail. Had to rein him in and get him back into line. We ride. After awhile, we stop to view the scenery and Chudwater decides to position my foot under another horse’s asshole. While enjoying the scenery, I start feeling pressure on my foot, like some is pressing down on it. Sure enough, this other horse was crapping on my for. So I tap Chudwater on the sides to get him moving. Later on, he keepings try to stray off the trail, but I was able to keep him in check. I think he was just testing me and finally quit messing with me towards the end. To sum it up, it was the time where I finally was able to just sit there and not think about anything. It was very living in the moment. Nothing else concerned me except keeping the horse in line and enjoying the sun and scenery. We didn’t want to leave, but headed off to Cheyenne.

There, we went to this cowboy shop. I soooooo wanted to buy this cowboy hat. But, really now. When the hell am I going to wear that? And, how will I get that on the plane when I don’t want to check in luggage. It wasn’t worth the price. We also went to dinner at a diner there. That place was the greatest heart attack ever. I ended up getting a breaded spicy chicken sandwich that had fried pickles, onion rings, and a mayo-jalapeño spread. Sounds gross right? It was great! But I could only, eat half. Then I chugged a giant beer. Needless to say, I didn’t feel too great that night.

Next, we rolled out and went to Custer, South Dakota, where we spent the night.

Day 5 started with my entirely crusted over. I kinds wish I took a pic. I ended up sleeping under this fan and it basically caused all this crust to form on my eye. Took a bit of scrubbing to get all the crust out of my eye. (I can already here all the ewww, gross comments)

First stop of the day was Crazy Horse Memorial. Before heading out, I stopped by a gas station to get change for hella one’s. Boy, was I sadly disappointed when I got there. This place was actually a memorial.

Now I’m tired and will have to continue another time.

Goodbye Denver. Thanks for the bomb breakfast at snooze. And for the nice warm weather while walking around the 16th street mall area. While I would love to stay a little longer to see your stadiums and that one bridge that looks like something I made in architecture class in college, we must head to Cheyenne, WY for some horseback riding. See you soon! Most likely during winter.