Motorcycles are awesome to ride in the summer months.
Action Plan:
Take time off during the summer months and plot a course across the country that involves stops in different cities where bands are playing. Do it all on a motorcycle. I’m envisioning maybe a week or two, or if we stick to the southeast maybe just odd weekends here or there.
Who’s with me? Anyone want to ride on the back of my bike (boobs required)?
I spent the weekend snowboarding (or trying to) in Snowshoe, WV. It’s about a 6 hour drive from Raleigh. I went up with Pete and Kenneth.
We randomly managed to run into Kurt and Lauren as well. I took a snowboarding class with Kurt. Lauren took a ski class. Kurt Lauren and I spent Sat and Sun going down all the green trails!
I hurt everywhere. I also hit my head pretty damn hard. Yeah, should have remembered that helmet. Towards the end of the second day I was starting to get it, but I was also too tired to make my turns fast enough.
The new year is upon us. It has descended without warning. Well, ok, maybe I knew it was coming.
What has the new year brought? Realizations, random thoughts:
I’ve been drinking too much and would really love to stop waking up hungover.
I am not really that great of a person when drunk.
I’ve lived in a house for 4 years or more without making it my home.
When it’s cold outside and you have high performance summer tires you spin them often.
Changing disc brakes is ridiculously easy.
Nothing motivates a person quite like an internal aspiration made suddenly real by external scrutiny (or even the possibility of it).
So what does all of this really mean?
I changed the brakes on the Jeep, but before doing so I had to drive the Z around in the cold.
I’ve been drunk, and an asshole, a lot lately.
I’m buying a bedroom set and a new bed to make my room more livable and less like a college dorm room.
I’ve strongly considered finally hanging my degree on the wall and cleaning / organizing my room. What do you mean “separate piles” isn’t an organizational scheme?
How is it that 4 years or more go by and things have remained largely unchanged? The only things that have been new in my life are vehicles. We’ll see how the rest of the year goes. It promises to be eventful.
After a night out for Drinksgiving, I wound up at Brendan’s house because I was unable to drive home. Woo for passing out on a futon.
In the morning I woke up and realized that video games are awesome. I tooled around on Brendan’s PS3 hooked up to a big ass HD TV and had a bunch of fun playing the demo for Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time.
It had some really cool game play features, like creating a snapshot of your past self to help you solve puzzles. Your past self could go off somewhere else to push a button that opens a door while your current self went through the door.
All of this got me thinking… I don’t own a nice TV, and I don’t own a video game system. I *could* buy a big ass HD TV as well as a PS3, and I’d be moving into the modern world. If I could get my computer hooked up to it, it would be even better.
It’s either that, or I’m just buying myself a 30″ LCD for my computer.
Yesterday, November 22nd, Shapess, Sarah, and I went shooting at PDHSC again.
I fired 50 rnds of the 9mm federal fmj, and 50 rounds of Magtech i think? I don’t remember the exact brand. I felt a little more accurate with the Magtech.
They let us shoot in Range 2 because the place was crowded. This means I got to knock down the row of steel plates! This was fricking awesome. At one point I went through and mowed down almost the entire row of 10. w00t. pling pling pling
The highlight of the day was that Sarah got to shoot a few magazines. This was entertaining to watch, and somewhat scary at the same time. Luckily everyone made it through the experience with the same number of holes that they started with.
Hopefully Sarah had a fun time and learned a bit about shooting. The guys at PDHSC were very helpful and made sure she got some useful tips along the way. I even learned some things.
Shapess and I shot at the Zombie targets. It was pretty damn awesome, you can check out the pics on Facebook.
I fired another 100 rounds of my Federal 9MM FMJ through the CZP07 duty.
I shot well in the beginning, and middle, but lost accuracy in the end.
At some point in the middle I fired a magazine of 15 Winchester Hollow Points. No difference in accuracy that I noticed, but they made a smaller hole through the paper target.
That puts me up to a total about ~250 rounds fired.
The bulge on the right side frame is still there, but hasn’t gotten any bigger.
I fired 20 rounds through Shapess’ Glock 19. I liked it quite a bit. It has a nice, feel, very accurate, and a bit lighter than the P07.
Comments: The gun really loosened up while shooting, giving a much better feel. The slide release operated smoother, as well as magazine loading. My accuracy really improved after the first 50 rounds. I was able to knock out the bulls eye pretty consistently. Worked on a smoother more consistent trigger pull.
My stance needs work I think.
Here’s a video of my first or second magazine:
Overall a great day shooting. Shapess and I had a blast.
Recently had this song stuck in my head. It seemed relevant to me.
The White Stripes – We’re Going To Be Friends
fall is here, hear the yell
back to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walking blues
climb the fence, book and pens
i can tell that we are gonna be friends
walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we’ve found
then safely walk to school
without a sound
well here we are, no one else
we walked to school all by ourselves
there’s dirt on our uniforms
from chasing all the ants and worms
we clean up and now it’s time to learn
numbers, letters, learn to spell
nouns, and books, and show and tell
at playtime we will throw the ball
back to class, through the hall
teacher marks our height against the wall
and we don’t notice any time pass
we don’t notice anything
we sit side by side in every class
teacher thinks that i sound funny
but she likes the way you sing
tonight i’ll dream while i’m in bed
when sill thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
and when i wake tomorrow i’ll bet
that you and i will walk together again
cause i can tell that we
are going to be friends
It’s been a month since I’ve last posted. That month has contained all sorts of randomness. My schedule and routine is completely thrown off. I’ve been prety busy.
I’ve been stuck on this one problem at work the entire time which is a huge drain on me mentally. I’ve stopped going to the gym and just come home to relax instead.
Here’s a run down on some of the things I’ve been up to, in as close to chronological order as I can muster.
I posted all of the pictures from Networkers in San Francisco. Pete and I were there for the 4th of July weekend. We met beautiful girls, drank intoxicating beverages, and also learned ridiculous amounts about new technology. It was great to go as a CCIE and get extra special treatment. Here are some pictures of Networkers 2009.
Here’s Kenneth and I explaining something to an unruly and uncooperative Cisco Partner:
Kenneth Pete and I
After I got back from Networkers I’m sure I did something worth writing about. I can’t remember what it might have been.
Just two weeks back or so I decided it was finally time to install my CB Radio in the Jeep. I mounted the radio in the cubby to the left of the steering wheel. It’s a pretty slick looking job, and allowed me to listen to the truckers on my way back and forth to the mountains.
Andy, Wes, Rebecca, and I went out to Hurricane Creek. Mile marker 8 on I-40. Just 8 miles from the Tennesee, North Carolina Border. This was one of the most beautiful and scenic trails I’ve taken the Jeep on yet. It was also the longest trail. We clocked in something like 10 or 15 miles of trail. Very cool.
Hurricane Creek Trail
We also managed to get some great YouTube videos of our Jeeping.
It was a two day trip and you can look at all the pictures and videos in the previous links.
After getting back from Jeeping on Sunday night, I worked on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday night Brendan says to me:
Colleen is coming into town and Bringing her friend Kristan. I’m thinking of getting a Condo on the beach for the rest of the week and working from there.
I was undecided until we went out to dinner with Colleen and Kristan on Monday night. On Tuesday Brendan asked me again and I basically said.. “Fuck it, lets go.” Very unlike me to do something spontaneously like that. I need proper motivation. Which I suppose I had
On Tuesday I left work and went straight to Brendan’s house after throwing some things together quickly. I packed in a rush, so forgot to bring swim trunks. Luckily Wings was open til midnight, and had cheap shorts.
Tuesday night was just dinner at Tower 7 and shopping. Notice that we started with the essentials for a beach trip: Corona and Limes.
Shopping!
Wednesday Brendan and I worked from the place, and took our lunch break on the beach. Lots of fun!
Wednesday night was dinner at Dock Street Oyster Bar, followed by a Ghost Tour of Wilmington, follow by Rum Runners.
Dock Street Oyster Bar
Kristan at Rum Runners
Thursday night was Pizza, Rum, and Spades. Brendan taught us how to play spades which was actually a lot of fun. By the time we finished spades it was 1AM, Colleen had passed out, and Brendan was stumbling around. So, obviously, the next step was to go to the bar. Which Brendan and I did. This is what that resulted in at 1:30AM:
Late Night 40
Friday Brendan and I recovered by laying on the beach, walking around, and swimming. We took a walk on the pier with the girls, had a good brunch, and then headed to the Aquarium.
Aquarium - Sea Turtle
Saturday was a Brewery Tour, followed by Better Than Ezra in the rain. They put on a great show, and standing around in the rain wasn’t so bad.
Brewery Tour
Here’s Kristan drying off a bit after the rain:
Kristan Drying Off
Here we are on Sunday. Work starts up again in the morning, but I am heading out of town again on Wednesday to go to Florida until next Tuesday. Lots of beach time for me.
So that’s my update for the past month. Lots of working, lots of playing. Hanging out with beautiful girls at the beach.
If I missed anything in my stories, just add it into the comments.
