Music is my king-sized bed . . .

I can’t think of a better way to get over the pain of watching a national championship bid slip down the drain over the weekend than to hit up an awesome concert in a classic venue on a snowy Monday night. I’m off to Cleveland in a few hours to see Jack’s Mannequin, an amazing piano rock band that I was recently introduced to, performing live at a sold out Grog Shop.



Jack’s Mannequin is fronted by Andrew McMahon, formerly of Something Corporate, and recently released their second album, The Glass Passenger. More info HERE.

I’ll post some pictures from the show later this week. Hope everyone is having a good one.

Where I've Been

With a number of fun trips coming up in the next few months, I thought it'd be fun to try to figure out exactly where I've already gone. Using this fun site, I generated a map showing how many of the 50 states that I've seen, followed by a (sparse) map revealing what countries I've visited. The most fun, of course, will be in updating this for myself over time. Anyway, here's the state map:



And here's the world map:

In Which I Try Not To Jinx My Favorite Team

Reading a friend’s recent blog post about her pumpkin salsa soup, I recalled that I had intended to post a picture of my own wanton pumpkin slaughtering:

These inspiring creations took shape mere hours before the Penn State football team took down the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road, seizing control, perhaps, of the easiest path to the MNC remaining to any undefeated team. It was apparent early on that this team had a chance to be special, and now the potential exists for them to be truly historical. Without venturing too far down the road towards Jinxdom by discussing future plans, I do want to post some pictures from my road trip to Purdue. The first picture is of my dad and I in front of Ross-Ade Stadium, the second is "The Boilermaker," a massive bronze statue standing near the Purdue athletic facilities, and the final shot is from inside the stadium.

My next chance to see the Nittany Lions in person will be November 22, when I’ll be road-tripping to State College to tailgate with some friends and watch PSU take on Michigan State. Go State!

Happy Halloween!

Donning the appropriate costumes, my friends and I were off to see the Wizard last weekend for Halloween:

Although we never found the man behind the curtain, we had a great time, shared some drinks, and saw some very entertaining costumes. I’d love to hear what everyone else did for Halloween, whether you dressed up and went out, hung around the neighborhood to hand out candy, or just ignored the holiday completely!

The Wizard Awaits . . .

Things I Am Not:

1) Dead
2) Missing
3) Giving up on blogging.

I have, however, been ridiculously busy. My past two months have featured a brutal work schedule in September and a bulging social schedule in October, leaving me precious little time to goof around on here. I do, however, have some stuff that I’m hoping to throw up here en route to posting regularly again. If you’re still around, awesome. If not, I’ll probably drag you back kicking and screaming by badgering you to check the site out because I’m so totally gonna update regularly this time, seriously though, I totally am, and, like, I mean it for sure this time, etc etc etc.

Anyway, by way of previewing coming attractions, over the past several weekends I have: traveled to Indiana to catch Penn State on the road against Purdue with my dad; camped and hiked through Hocking Hill State Park, near Columbus, Ohio; carved Halloween pumpkins and watched Penn State potentially seize the fast track to the MNC game; ventured, once again, into the Canadian wilderness for the annual fishing trip; purchased a new vehicle; and, on a less ambitious note, learned to shred on Guitar Hero. My every intention is to post some pictures and stories from each of these things as time allows, so kick back, refresh your browser now and then, and prepare to be amazed . . . eventually.

As for this coming weekend, the novelty of Halloween falling on a Friday inspired me to get a few friends together to dress up and go out. The Wizard of Oz-themed cast of characters will feature my best friends, Joel and Allison, as the brainless scarecrow and a flirty but cowardly lion, myself as the heartless man of tin, and my girlfriend, Sarah, resplendent but slightly scandalous as Dorothy. We are, of course, off to see the Wizard, but we’ll be checking in at a few downtown clubs first!

And now, by request, here’s a long overdue Friday Weekly Top Ten:

1) Stuart and the Ave. - Green Day
2) Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man - Concrete Blonde
3) Dudley - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4) Teenagers - My Chemical Romance
5) Swim - Jack’s Mannequin
6) Thirty One Today - Aimee Mann
7) Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
8) If U C Jordan - Something Corporate
9) Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
10) Phenomena - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Brad and Jeff Strike Again

In the aftermath of the collapse of Wall Arch in Arches National Park a mere 3 months after our visit, my friend Brad and I widened our swath of destruction to include an even more iconic symbol of the southwest, the Grand Canyon. The breach of an earthen dam over the weekend caused water to flood Supai and Cataract Canyons, forcing rescuers to evacuate several stranded tourists. You can read about the flood here.

The Grand Canyon was somewhat difficult to enjoy on our trip because the snow, fog and rain severely restricted the view to the canyon floor. The wet conditions also transformed the canyon trails into a sloppy, muddy mess, preventing us from doing much hiking. That said, I now have a list of things I’d like to return to do someday: whitewater raft a section of the river, drive the primitive dirt road to Toroweap for a glimpse of the most famous view of the Grand Canyon, and hike to the bottom for a swim beneath stunning Havasu Falls:

Wall Arch Collapses

On May 22, 2008, I took this picture of Wall Arch at Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah:



Less than three months later, Wall Arch is no more:

Wall Arch, located along the popular Devils Garden Trail at Arches National Park collapsed sometime during the night of August 4, 2008. Rock has continued to fall from the arms of the remaining portion of the arch necessitating the closure of the Devils Garden Trail just beyond Landscape Arch.

Pretty amazing. Prior to the collapse, it was the 12th largest natural rock arch in the park.

Weekly Top Ten

I thought it might be a fun Friday topic to post the ten songs I played the most on my iPod this week. I'd love to hear what anyone who reads this is listening to, so please drop a comment if you've heard anything amazing lately.

1) The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
2) Unless It’s Kicks - Okkervil River
3) Something Is Not Right With Me - Cold War Kids
4) Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex - CSS
5) Plus Ones - Okkervil River
6) Sequestered in Memphis - The Hold Steady
7) In the New Year - The Walkmen
8) White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
9) Becky - Be your own pet
10) 66 - Afghan Whigs

Aboard, About, A Boat . . .

May, 2006. Two guys, a ream of blueprints, several sheets of poster board, and a dream of someday sinking to the bottom of Lake Erie in a boat built with our own hands. Yup, it’s time for the boat post.

A joint endeavor combining my legendary woodworking skills* and my good friend Matt’s experience with fiberglass, woodworking and motors, our little boatbuilding project has progressed slowly over the past two years. We purchased the plans from Glen-L in the winter of 2006 and then began work in May. We had originally intended to build a jet boat using the impeller from a used jet ski, but recently decided to modify the design to that of a traditional outboard runabout. The following pictures and descriptions recount the work done so far. From here on, I’ll try to update periodically whenever we make significant progress.

We started working in my dining room with a full set of blueprints.

The drawings on the prints had to converted into full size patterns by carefully tracing each piece onto poster board and then cutting them out.

The full size patterns were then traced onto marine grade plywood, after which we began cutting out the shapes that would form the hull of the boat.

Here’s a finished piece of the hull, followed by the completed transom.

The pieces then needed to be beveled and sanded and shaped.

Once properly shaped, we used epoxy and butt blocks to attach the long planks of the hull together full length.

This picture shows pieces that make up the outer form of the hull and transom; basically, the shell of the boat.

After that, we began stitching the various forms together. You can learn a bit more about the "stitch and glue" technique of boatbuilding by clicking HERE.

In May, 2007, the boat began to take shape.

This picture displays the hull and gives an idea of the eventual length and beam of the boat.

And that’s about where things stand today. More updates to follow!



* After my college roommate and I finished building a bunk bed out of 2 x 4's by hand in college, he gratefully bestowed upon me the title of "Lackee" in recognition of my helpful contributions to the project.

Trip Recap: Utah and Arizona, May, 2008

"The Utah deserts and plateaus and canyons are not a country of big returns, but a country of spiritual healing, incomparable for contemplation, meditation, solitude, quiet, awe, peace of mind and body. We were born of wilderness, and we respond to it more than we sometimes realize."

- Wallace Stegner, Wilderness at the Edge, 1990

This past May, my friend Brad and I traveled through Nevada, southern Utah, and northern Arizona. We visited 11 National Parks, Monuments or Conservation Areas, 2 state parks, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, and the Navajo Indian Reservation. We hiked about 56 miles during the trip, which might be unimpressive compared to what a certain percentage of the population would do, but almost certainly exceeds the average traveler’s efforts in those parks. We didn't just pop in and out of the car, anyway. This total included most of the signature trails in those parks - for example, we hiked to the top of Zion NP (the Angel's Landing trail, a hellish ascent) and to the very bottom of Bryce Canyon NP (the 8 mile Fairyland Loop, weaving and winding through sandstone hoodoos to reach the canyon floor). We hiked a slot canyon at Capital Reef NP and another in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We also hit pretty much every single natural rock arch in Arches NP. In other words, we hiked a LOT.

After arriving in Las Vegas and snagging a 4WD Nissan Xterra at the rental agency, we headed to our first stop, Zion National Park. We had intended to do the famous Zion Narrows hike (a spectacular slot canyon hike through a river between towering canyon walls), but a late snow melt this spring forced the park to close off the river to hikers. We ended up doing the Emerald Pools Trail and the trail to the top of the Watchman instead, and then hiked Angel’s Landing and Hidden Canyon on the second day.

We used the time that we had budgeted for the Narrows to visit a unique local state park - Coral Pink Sand Dunes - and climb to the top of a 110 foot tall sand dune, one of many dunes wedged into a narrow "wind tunnel" formed by two sheltering mountain ranges.

After extracting the sand from our eyes, we continued on to Bryce Canyon, arriving just in time for sunset over the famous hoodoos. We camped overnight, woke early, and spent the bulk of the following day hiking the Fairyland Loop through the various rock formations and hoodoos that Bryce is renowned for.


After taking dozens of pictures of the most famous Bryce feature - the vast, spiraled Amphitheater - we decided to make a spontaneous visit to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Grand Staircase-Escalante was spectacular. It's an enormous (second biggest chunk of public land in the country) and VERY remote (the last place in the continental US to have been mapped) piece of land that essentially dominates the entire span of southern Utah. It's run by the Bureau of Land Management rather than the National Parks Service, so luxuries such as Rangers or roads or people or facilities are essentially nonexistent; you just kick it into 4WD and take a dirt/rock road to where the trails begin. Needless to say, it was awesome. The Xterra performed admirably, and we had no problem finding the entrance to our chosen hike, the Willis Creek Narrows, a deep, twisting and swirling ribbon cut through the yellow and black sedimentary rock of the canyon walls.

The next morning took us along scenic Highway 12 to Capital Reef NP, a spectacular park filled with slot canyons and beautiful, towering rock features.



From there we swung by Lake Powell, breezed through Natural Bridges National Monument for a look at the three famous (but somewhat underwhelming) rock bridges, and proceeded to Canyonlands NP, one of the most rugged parks in the parks system.



Two-thirds of Canyonlands is relatively inaccessible (4WD only, and rough trails at that), so we spent our limited time touring the portion of the park known as Island In The Sky, a giant "island" mesa towering above the two converging canyons formed by the approach and confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.


A future trip to raft one of those rivers and explore this amazing park further is definitely on my list. We also breezed through a state park, Dead Horse Point, for another look at the winding Colorado River on our way out of Canyonlands.


It rained that whole day, which was actually sort of cool - they only get about 9 inches of rain a year, so not many people are around to see it when it falls. Up through this point in the trip, the temperature had exceeded 90 almost every day, so the colder temperatures were quite refreshing (and foreshadowed what would eventually greet us at the Grand Canyon a few days later).

Following our day in Canyonlands, we traveled to nearby Moab, where we bought some souvenirs and explored the town for an evening. We spent the following day hiking through Arches NP. We started off with Delicate Arch, the park’s signature feature (it’s depicted on the Utah license plates), and managed to arrive at a time when we were the only people there - not an insignificant achievement, given the vast number of people who venture up the long, steep trail to see it.

Although we passed two busloads of tourists coming down as we were on our way up, and two more busloads on our way back down, we somehow had the arch to ourselves for an hour or so in between. Exploring and photographing the area around Delicate Arch without a million people walking around and mucking things up was a major highlight of the day. We eventually managed to hike to nearly every named arch in the park throughout the course of the afternoon.

After Arches, we spent the following day driving through the Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley, two stunning drives that have formed the standard "wild west" backdrops for old movies and car commercials for decades, en route to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We reached the Canyon in early afternoon to be greeted by . . . a huge snowstorm. Seriously, snow falling like crazy. Given my lifelong love of snow, I was probably the happiest person in the park. We were moderately well prepared (snow is rare in May at the Grand Canyon, but not unheard of), so we just threw on some extra layers and enjoyed seeing the park in a way that many people don't. Sleeping in the tent was frigid, but we started a nice fire, cooked dinner and breakfast over the firepit, and tried to stay moving. We didn't hike all that much, as the snow and fog largely obscured the view into the canyon, but managed to steal occasional glimpses of the canyon floor and Colorado River during breaks in the weather.

We drove back to Vegas that afternoon and spent an evening at the casinos before driving down for a quick look at Hoover Dam the following morning, our last. The traffic across the bridge was terrible, so we ended up taking a helicopter ride over the dam instead of driving over it, an incredible experience (and spectacular view).

Finally, we spent the rest of the afternoon at Red Rocks Natural Conservation Area, a popular rock-climbing park on the outskirts of Vegas, before pulling into the airport and heading for home. It was a fantastic trip, and I look forward to visiting many of those areas again soon.

Random Goal Update: 50 Books in 2008

One of my random goals for 2008 was to read 50 books during the calender year. If you check out my Shelfari shelf, everything I’ve read so far in 2008 has been placed on the ""I'm reading now"" shelf for tracking. I’m at exactly 25 books, 7 months into the year, so I’ve got some catching up to do. Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions?

Driving Above the Cloud Line

I seem to choose many of the destinations that end up on my "places to visit" list on the basis of a specific site, structure, feature or activity, rather than because I long to see the area as a whole. For example, I’m sure there are fascinating things to do in Zambia and Zimbabwe, but I really just want to see Victoria Falls. Similarly, I would happily exclude India from my travel plans if not for the existence of the Taj Mahal. Such was the case when I recently heard about the Millau Viaduct in France. The tallest vehicular bridge in the world (at least for now), it is without a doubt one of the most stunning structures I’ve ever seen. Although France has never been high on my list, I absolutely must drive over this bridge someday.

In Which I Begin

I’ve talked about doing a blog for quite awhile and, for no particular reason, I’ve decided to launch today. I’m primarily going to use this as a place to chronicle some of my trips and adventures, share some pictures, occasionally pass on funny, random stories, and narrate the wild exploits of my life (and those of my little dog, too). My goal is to update this thing regularly for at least a year. And since I’d like to provide a bit more info but have no particular urge to structure paragraphs and create smooth transitions at the moment, here’s a Q&A.

Do I think anyone will read this? Nope. Maybe. I don't know.

Does that bother me? Superficially, no. Deep down inside . . . not really. But it would be fun if people did.

What exactly are they going to miss out on? In addition to my unparalleled brilliance and cunning wit, there will be pretty pictures.

What kinds of things will I write about?

Here’s a list. (I love lists.)

1. Travel. Past vacations, potential future trips, places I’d like to go. I may even go back several years and post stuff about vacations I took a long time ago, if only to fill in the gaps now and then.
2. My dog, Wicket. Get used to it.
3. Books. ‘Cause I love them.
4. Music. ‘Cause I love it.
5. Photography. ‘Cause I want to be a photographer when I grow up and get bored being a lawyer.
6. Sports. No analysis or detailed rantings or anything like that. Just occasional Yay!s and Boooo!!s concerning the teams that I follow.
7. My boat. Part of the purpose of this blog is to chronicle the progress of a boatbuilding project that a friend and I started about two years ago. We’re building an 11' outboard runabout from wood based on plans purchased from http://www.glen-l.com./ Pictures of a vaguely boat-shaped nature to follow.
8. The little things that I do now and then to try to protect the environment. My hope is that sharing them will encourage me to keep looking for new ways to help.
9. My list of goals in life, at least insofar as I’m willing to share them. Yup, there’s an actual list. It’s super cool.
10. The aurora borealis. No particular reason, it just always seems to come up.

Am I referring to the boat that hasn't been touched since last fall? No comment.

So, what things will I NOT be discussing?

1. TV. I just don’t care much.
2. Politics. Again, not interested.
3. Current events. I try to stay blissfully out of touch.
4. Children.
5. More stuff that I can’t think of right now. You’ll know it when you don’t see it.
6. Cows.

What’s with the blog name?

Alice laughed: "There’s no use trying," she said; "one can’t believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven’t had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

– Alice in Wonderland