Archive for January, 2008
Salt Lake Pretty [updated with pictures]
Jan 31st
Hey Team,
I know why hell is so hot. Salt Lake City is using up all the freakin’ cold! Wow. Just…wow. When Taylor wrote to the site and said come on over to Salt Lake City and my friends will teach you some survival skills she was careful to add that it was cold. She also said, “But that’s what hats and coats are for!”
What she did NOT say was that she meant, “Bring at least four hats and eight VERY warm coats otherwise pieces of you may start falling off shortly after freezing solid and cracking like the liberty bell. I had to stop at every coffee shop I walked past today just to use their bathroom so I could check on things.
Half the time I couldn’t tell if my phone was vibrating or I was just shivering uncontrollably.
I’d also like to add that, although my couch surfing host, Peter, disagrees and insists it’s god’s gift to urban planning, there’s definitely something wrong with the street naming they’ve got going on here. Anytime you can tell someone to meet you at the corner of 200 and 200 and be talking about not one…not two, but FOUR different intersections, it’s time More >
Day in the Life – Traveling to SLC [podcast]
Jan 30th
HA! Made it!
With time to spare even. If the train hadn’t been late in Reno I couldn’t have done it. Way to be quasi-lame Amtrak!
Enjoy my day.
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%3D27", 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", "9.0.0", false, this.flashvars, this.params , this.attr ); } } WT1_1.start();[update] Here’s the youtube link for the podcast.
OH! It’s here!
Later.
Brett.
If you like seeing videos of me sitting around bored out of my mind then maybe you’ll want to make a donation!
Seriously.
AKPC_IDS += "190,";
Nature’s Plot to Make Me Look Stupid
Jan 30th
Hey Team,
I fully expected to be on a long miserable bus ride to Salt Lake City right now. Unfortunately Greyhound and nature had other ideas. Apparently the roads to SLC are closed due to snow right now so I have to wait until morning to catch a train instead.
This is especially good news since this is the first week I’ve said, “Every Wednesday 6pm PST blah blah blah.” (Sometimes sarcasm just doesn’t come off the way you want it to in the interwebs.)
So here I am. Sitting. Waiting. More importantly, I have no videos ready to upload tomorrow and no startlingly interesting footage to cut up and show off. On the other hand this is almost exactly the kind of thing I was hoping having a timeslot would force me into, although to a much more stressful degree.
So basically I have T-Minus 16 hours to show you people a slice of the Amtrekker life and upload it despite the extremely spotty connections I tend to get on trains. Wish me luck!
Either way I’m excited by the prospect of showing off something other than me falling on my face for the first time in weeks!
Okay, onward and upward.
I’m done.
Brett.
If you like seeing me squirm, what ever you More >
#41 Sandboarding! [podcast]
Jan 28th
Hey Team,
I suppose the smart thing to do (if I were willing to cheat you people), especially in light of my last post promising to have a new video up every Wednesday at 6pm PST, would have been to hold onto this video for just a couple more days. But then you would have been gyped one whole video I haven’t even thought about making yet! (Yikes!)
PLUS, who could, in good conscience, hold back this kind of excitement and adventure from an eager group of people? So with out further ado…no wait, just a little more ado.
Sandboarding was awesome! I just want to take a second to thank everyone that made it happen…Cody, Rebecca, Erica, Saadia and Nate!
Okay, no more ado…I promise.
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%3D28", 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(); More >A New Day’s Resolution
Jan 26th
Hey Team,
Why wait for another new year to make a resolution? In that spirit here’s my New Day’s Resolution:
In an effort to bring a little more consistency to the Amtrekker site, from now on new video content will be posted every Wednesday by 6pm PST. (Yes, I am going to regret saying that as soon as I hit the send button…but as long as type fast enough I wont regret it until AFTER I hit that button and by then it will be too late! MuhHAHAHA!)
I’ll be able to post the Sandboarding video before Wednesday so I’ll have to come up with another one for “Video Content Wednesday” (That’s a terrible name, someone please hurt me if I ever call it that again.
The idea here is to give you guys a better idea of what my life is like and still give me a chance to not be strapped to Charley editing video 24/7 while maintaining a deadline and thus (yeah, I used the word thus…so what?) a little urgency in the work.
This doesn’t preclude a second video in the week if something exciting happens. Rather, no matter what, you guys get a new video on Wednesday, if I cross More >
Everybody’s Creepy…Sometimes
Jan 25th
Hey Team,
Looks like it’s time to bail on Vegas. I made a couple of good connections that will probably bare fruit as far as being part of a stage illusion goes but the wheels of networking turn slowly in this city and I’m starting to get antsy.
I have to take care of two quick things back in Southern California and then it’s time to hit the road for realsies. So riddle me this good viewers, “Where to next?”
Take a good look at that list running down the left hand side of the site and let me know what you think you can help with lickety-split. If you say come to Iowa and do some crop circling then by gum I’ll start making my way towards Iowa.
Sorry for the lack of posts the last two days I was stumbling through some video work. That should be up soon. But for now I’ll leave you with the other Vegas story I teased since so many people asked for the details:
There’s a little dive of a casino in Downtown Las Vegas, not only off the strip but off any visibly beaten path. I mentioned the name to a woman working the More >
No Cab Fare
Jan 23rd
Hey Team,
I think I was kind of burnt out on this strange excuse for a city before I even got here. It’s hard to stay upbeat in a city where half the population thrives on cheating the other half. (Which is strange because normally I LOVE those stories.) Since I’ve been here I’ve had a good time with my couch surfing hosts but I’ve been threatened by an old man in a dive bar and I’m pretty sure that last night I met one of the world’s worst con men.
That last part was actually kind of cool now that I think about it. For some reason I’ve been completely fascinated by con men for most of my life. I’ve LITERALLY read every single non-fiction book published in the English language about con men. (I think if it weren’t for my overdeveloped conscience and sense of social responsibility the con man world would have a new king.) And I hope I see that guy again so I can interview him…assuming he doesn’t try to punch me in the face and run when I turn the camera on.
I was walking down the street, minding my own business (which I’ll admit is kind More >
Paging Mr. Copperfield
Jan 22nd
Hey Team,
People write in fairly regularly with offers of help to cross things off the list. So for many of the objectives it’s just a matter of when and how I make it to the various regions in “these United States.” However, there are a select few that NO ONE ever writes in about. Naturally that’s a little worrying so I decided I wanted to get a jump on one or two of those oft ignored goals.
One in particular (that I’m very excited about but still have no line on accomplishing) is: #24 Be part of a stage illusion. So where would my best odds at finagling my way into a stage illusion be?
I’m thinking Las Vegas.
I pulled into Sin City last night without much of a plan beyond, “Hey, there’s a crap ton of magicians in this wacky little dessert town! How can I lose?”
It’s kind of exciting though. It’s like going back to my roots. This adventure is CONSTANTLY evolving so I’ve kind of strayed from the “old days” when I would just roll into a town only knowing that under PERFECT conditions I might be able to cross something off the list.
The first item to get crossed More >