Cross-country road trip…reversed!

When I moved out to California two and a half years ago, I drove from upstate NY all the way to California. It was in the middle of winter and I was dodging several winter storms (I almost didn’t make it out of the Northeast). Winter isn’t the best time to drive 3,000 miles, so I just wanted to get it over with. I did the drive in under four days, taking a half-day break in Colorado.

I now have an opportunity to do the same trip, this time in reverse, and with better weather and a little more time. Right now, it’s looking like I’ll be making the voyage the last week of September.

Below, I’ve mapped out a first draft of a potential route. They key stops are marked.

View CA > NY Option #1 in a larger map

Here’s my reasoning for the stops I chose:

1. Salt Lake City, UT — 11h from Santa Clara, CA

If I could make it to Denver in one day, I probably would, but 18 hours of straight driving is a bit too much. So Salt Lake City looks like a good place to stop. I actually stopped here on my way out to California. It was beautiful in the Winter. I’d like to see how it looks in the early Fall as well. Stopping in SLC will also set me up with a nice arrival time in the Denver area…

2. Denver, CO — 7h30m from SLC

Yeah, I stopped here my last cross-country drive as well, but I like Colorado. Also, my brother lives here, so it’s a necessary stop. On top of that, I can’t think of a better way to say goodbye to some of my favorite beers, those brewed by the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins CO, than by visiting the actual brewery for a complementary 1554 and/or seasonal brew. Unfortunately for me, they don’t distribute anywhere east of Chicago Speaking of Chicago…

3. Chicago — 14h30m from Denver

This would be my longest day of driving, but there really isn’t much between Denver and Chicago anyway. I’d like to spend at least a full day in Chicago. It’s been over three years since I’ve been there and I’m long overdue. Plus it’s the only remaining city I have left on the “Cities I need to visit in 2009″ list that I made at the beginning of the year. I also know people in Chicago, so I guess I should say hi.

4. New York, NY — 12h30m from Chicago

My new home! I’ll leave myself the option to take a detour during this stretch and stop in my hometown of Fulton, NY if needed, but it actually looks like my parents will be in NYC the same weekend that I’m arriving, so I might not have a reason to.

So that’s my first draft of the road trip schedule. I’ll probably revise it several times before I go. Do I have it all wrong? Have any other recommendations?

Posted in Beer, life, travel | 6 Comments »

Oh yeah, I went to Austin and it was awesome

I went to Austin a few weeks ago. A good friend of mine from high school works for Samsung there and he’s been telling me for three years how fun Austin is. I decided it was about time to see if he was telling the truth.

And the verdict is in! Austin is awesome! So much good food! I’m feeling lazy right now, so I’ll just let some pictures do the explaining:

Texas Capitol

Ate at this Mexican place my first night there. Tasty stuff.

Played some BYOB mini golf at Peter Pan Mini-Golf. I don’t think the place had been updated since the 1970′s. I think there was lead paint peeling off the statues. Didn’t matter, it was BYOB!

Proof.

Ate at the Salt Lick BBQ. All you can eat BBQ. Bring some more beer as well as an appetite.

Proof.

Picture of 6th street.

Oh, and I can’t forget about the Alamo Draft House. Go to a movie and have food and drink brought to your seat while you watch!

Posted in Beer, Cool | 1 Comment »

Big Changes

It’s been a pretty big month for me. In the rare case that there is someone out there that reads this blog that I don’t see almost every day, I thought I would recap what’s been going on.

1. From New House 6/2008

   I moved from San Jose to Santa Clara. No longer am I living in a small two bedroom apartment in a mid 70′s architecture complex with crappy management. I now live in a spacious four bedroom modern house with a surprisingly accommodating landlord. Biggest plus: my drum set now lives in a garage instead of a living room. Woo. How about pictures from when I first moved in? How about a house warming party in the near future?

2. I’m starting a new job on Monday. Same company. Different building. Different team. Different things to do. I’m pretty pumped. I’m hoping to be doing some fun stuff and meeting a lot of new people in the new role. Of course, I’ll be certain to stay in very close contact with everyone from my old team. Not only because they are my friends, but also because they are the only people linking to my website and giving me PageRank.

And in unrelated news…as I was just about to leave work yesterday evening, I get a phone call from an old high school friend from good ol’ Fulton, NY. He tells me that he just rode his motorcycle across the country as is currently just down the road from me. It was a pleasant surprise. Beers consumed that evening: New Belgium’s seasonal Skinny Dip and Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown.

Posted in Beer, Cool | 6 Comments »

New “Beer” category

I’ve found myself blogging about beer a lot.  I wouldn’t even consider myself to be that much of a beer connoisseur, but I do know my way around the craft brew aisle of a Bevmo store.

Plus I’ve actually received some comments (ok, one comment) from fellow beer fans (fan) that happened to enjoy (accidentally find) my blog.

Alas, a good enough reason to create a new category.

Not that anyone really cares.

Posted in Beer | 2 Comments »

Earth Hour, how I spent mine…

I figured since Google considered Earth Hour important enough change their famously consistent home page for a day, that I could at least participate in this demonstration. So at approximately 8:09pm I turned off all the lights, poured myself a tall glass of Barney Flat’s Oatmeal Stout, put on my Audio-Technica headphones, and listened to The Mars Volta‘s new album, The Bedlam in Goliath, for the first time. The beer was good, the album was even better.

The Bedlam in Goliath has been out for about two months now, but I just got around to listening to it. I usually “obtain” Mars Volta albums long before their releases, but after two sub-par releases, this one drifted a bit off my radar. I wish I had listened to it earlier.

This is the first release featuring acclaimed drummer, Thomas Pridgen. His influence is immediately obvious. Unlike all of Mars Volta’s previous releases, this one kicks you right in the face at 00:01 of track 1. No extended intro, no buildup. In fact, in this album they didn’t include any of the overly extended random noise that annoyed me in previous releases. Just straight up energy all the way through. It’s hard to describe something like this in words, so I encourage you to give this album a listen.

Would I consider this album better than De-Loused in the Comatorium? Hmm…I don’t know if they ever could top that masterpiece. We’ll see how I feel after a few more listens. But it’s by far their best effort since.

P.S. Here are some tips to help you truly appreciate the depth of this album:

1. Use headphones. Good headphones. Dan Chow would agree with me.
2. Adjust your EQ to either the default “Jazz” setting, or adjust it to focus specifically on the extreme highs and lows.
3. Don’t multi task. Just focus on the music. In fact, turn off the lights…just don’t wait until next year’s Earth Hour.
4. Take the time to separate the instruments in your mind for a bit. There’s a lot going on at once.
5. Drink a tasty beer or two. Because, why not??

Posted in Beer, Cool | 3 Comments »