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The Land of Infinite Stairs [podcast]
Feb 6th
Hey Team,
By the time I realized today was already Wednesday again I only had about five hours to get stuff captured, edited, compressed and uploaded which, let me just say, would have been ABSOLUTELY impossible if I had done the survival skills podcast. I have almost an hour and a half of video to go through for that one. So things are going to be happening a little out of order in the video world. That being said: Enjoy the walk to the top of the Empire State Building!
Watch as Amtrekker perseveres against terrible odds and finally completes the self proclaimed “toughest objective on the list!”
He talks. He climbs. He sweats profusely.
I don’t have anything else to say about this podcast. I’m just so freaking ecstatic it got crossed off the list!
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player. var WT1_1 = { params : { wmode : "opaque", allowscriptaccess : "always", allownetworking : "all", allowfullscreen : "true"}, flashvars : { file : "http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amtrekker.com%2Findex.php%3Fxspf%3Dtrue%26id%3D26", volume : "80", bufferlength : "5", controlbar : "over", 'logo.hide' : "false", shuffle : "false", playlist : "bottom"}, attr : { id : "WT1", name : "WT1"}, start : function() { swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.amtrekker.com/wp-content/uploads/player.swf", "WT1_1", "437", "522", More >Sweeping the Empire [updated with pictures!]
Feb 6th
Hey Team,
I always thought “Super Tuesday” was a stupid title. But after a few experiences in the last 24 hours I can guarantee that today is, indeed, super. Last week I was at wits end for how I was going to get to walk to the top of the Empire State Building and in fact, for months, I’ve been hailing number 6 as the toughest thing on the list to make happen. (Now I have to pick a new “toughest”)
The stairwells of the Empire State Building are mandated closed by the New York Fire Marshal 364 days a year (365 on leap years) so to walk to the top I was either going to have to enter the annual race to the top or cheat. (Not a fan of cheating.) Turned out entering the race wasn’t an option either. A week ago I emailed Sara Hunninghake and Steve Boland and asked them if I’d be able to volunteer on race day in the hopes that could be translated into me getting to walk to the top.
I think my exact words were something like, “I was wondering if there was anyway I could get involved with the race the NYRR [New More >
Fire!
Feb 4th
Hey Team,
I have some good news and some great news…which do you want to hear first?
Okay, since you don’t seem to have an audible opinion I’m going to go with good news first. Yesterday I had the opportunity to play yet another awesome regional game…and we all know how much I like games! (Well, at least I know how much I like games.)
This one was called Splash and I’m not entirely positive I can explain it with out a diagram but I guess you can’t stop me from trying. Splash is played on a pool table with just the cue ball and the red (#3) ball. The balls start on either end of the table and the first person to go rolls the cue ball at the red ball with his/her hand.
The next player in line has to grab the cue ball and hit the red ball again. This is where it becomes complicated because every time you try to hit the red ball you have to throw the cue ball from whatever side of the table is opposite the side of the table the red ball is on.
If you miss you can retry but if you don’t hit the More >
#22 Be a guest on a talk show BONUS #5 Enter a hotdog eating contest! [podcast]
Jan 10th
Hey Team,
Here’s the Amtrekker cut of the Fox Business News’ “Happy Hour” program! It’s a little too long for youtube to accept so I’ll have to work on an alternative for some of you folks. (ahHA! Here’s a link that might work for some of you peeps.) But for the rest of you normal people…
Enjoy!
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player. var WT2_2 = { params : { wmode : "opaque", allowscriptaccess : "always", allownetworking : "all", allowfullscreen : "true"}, flashvars : { file : "http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amtrekker.com%2Findex.php%3Fxspf%3Dtrue%26id%3D30", volume : "80", bufferlength : "5", controlbar : "over", 'logo.hide' : "false", shuffle : "false", playlist : "bottom"}, attr : { id : "WT2", name : "WT2"}, start : function() { swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.amtrekker.com/wp-content/uploads/player.swf", "WT2_2", "437", "522", "9.0.0", false, this.flashvars, this.params , this.attr ); } } WT2_2.start();I’m done.
Brett.
Entertained people are generous people!
How entertained are you feeling?
AKPC_IDS += "171,";
Hotdog Television Live
Jan 4th
Hey Team,
I just had the halfway-across-the-country trek of a lifetime with a REALLY cool family that I hooked up with via craigslist.org but since I promised more info on the Fox Business folk that story will have to wait until tomorrow.
So let’s just jump right into one of the most epic Amtrekker happenings so far:
You kids know the basics. Paul Porowski wrote me early in the week when he found out I was in New York and then took it upon himself to get me on “Happy Hour,” where he’s the associate producer…y’know, like a true Team Amtrekker champ does.
So once things were locked in and Fox knew where to send the car to pick me up (To which I said, “Wait…what?!”) I went into full bore planning mode; i.e. I sat on my computer all day updating some of the behind the scenes stuff on my site not realizing that I didn’t have any clean clothes.
So naturally, about an hour before the car was supposed to pick me up I smelled my shirt and panicked.
A rushed trip to the Laundromat and a frantic run back to meet the car later I was ready to spread some Totally Rad and tell the More >
Cranberries and Pennsylvanians [video]
Nov 26th
Hey Team,
I made it to Charlottesville, Virginia this morning safe and sound after driving straight through the night with Ryan, a Mansfield, PA resident, suffering from only very minor exhaustion. (And by minor I mean I only slid into unconsciousness against my will when I was sitting down or standing still, never when I was walking. Of course that made for a pretty embarrassing stretch at a local Starbucks. Lucky for Charley, I don’t drool.)
I was planning on writing up a rundown of my holiday layover spent under the care of the Pennsylvania ladies (Up, down, over, under…geez, I’m clever.) but I had a little extra time this morning and managed to finish up the cranberry podcast.
So, I’ll just say I had a great time with all of Jena and Theresa’s family members over the last few days and I’m a little disappointed I had to say goodbye again. Easily the toughest aspect of this adventure is constantly saying goodbye to all the awesome people I meet.
Okay…let’s get right to more of Brett being a sissy and making a fool of himself.
Leave comments, digg the page and podcast and…enjoy!
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player. var WT3_3 More >
Enough Wading Already
Nov 19th
Hey Team,
There’s been a whole lot of wading going on in the last couple days. Most importantly I went wading through a cranberry bog yesterday! Granted, it almost killed me and I’m more than a little surprised I didn’t lose any toes to frostbite but it’s done. And I have to admit it seemed like a much better idea six months ago when it made it on the list and the weather was nice and warm than it did yesterday when I was standing in front of an irrigation canal with my pants around my ankles.
I’ll even admit I may have lost my normally calm and cool composure when I started screaming things like, “NO NOO I CHANGED MY MIND!!!!” and “PLEASE GOD HELP ME GET OUT OF HERE I CAN’T FEEL MY FEET!!!” but all’s well that ends well, right? I can’t wait to get the video up so you guys can see how pathetic I’m capable of being. (Sometimes sarcasm just doesn’t sound right in type.)
Speaking of video, that’s where the rest of the wading comes in, I have a pile of tapes next to me as I type this and it amounts to about five podcasts More >
#9 – Tales from the Wayback Machine. [podcast]
Oct 21st
Hey Team,
Here’s a little something special I put together to combat my frustration that I wasn’t able to turn on my video camera during one of my favorite experiences from the trip. Call it a dramatization. Enjoy!
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player. var WT5_5 = { params : { wmode : "opaque", allowscriptaccess : "always", allownetworking : "all", allowfullscreen : "true"}, flashvars : { file : "http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amtrekker.com%2Findex.php%3Fxspf%3Dtrue%26id%3D44", volume : "80", bufferlength : "5", controlbar : "over", 'logo.hide' : "false", shuffle : "false", playlist : "bottom"}, attr : { id : "WT5", name : "WT5"}, start : function() { swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.amtrekker.com/wp-content/uploads/player.swf", "WT5_5", "437", "522", "9.0.0", false, this.flashvars, this.params , this.attr ); } } WT5_5.start();The last two days have been JAM PACKED with excitement…so expect some of that excitement to leak out via amtrekker.com in the next few days. It’s going to take a lot of work to keep up but I’ll do my best to make sure you guys stay up to date on the “nomadic serendipity.” And yes, I just stole that term from a fellow nomad. (serolynne.livejournal.com)
Okay, I’ve got to try to get some rest.
I’m done.
Brett.
If you liked this podcast, why not buy me a glass More >
