Archive for April, 2008
Marathon Monday
Apr 21st
Hey Team,
After a fun-filled weekend in Cape Cod it looks like tomorrow will be my last full day in Boston for a long time (unless I decide to head back up for the “Internet Superstar” taping on the 26th). But at least I’ll be going out in style. Tomorrow (the 21st, probably today for most of you) will bring with it some pretty exciting times.
The morning will bring with it a trip to the Garment District (where I bought my Halloween costume for Salem, MA) to complete an ensemble I like to call “Track Star circa 1973.”
Late morning heralds the start of the 112th Boston Marathon and filming for this week’s podcast will begin (complete with “Track Star” garb)!
By 12:30pm some of the elite runners should be wrapping up their 26.2-mile race through Bean-Town. Hopefully this means I’ll get a chance to interview a few of the athletes after they do their thing.
And finally, by early evening I should be working my way around the city to various houses and parties to say goodbye to all the fine Boston friends I’ve made!
I’ll keep you kids in the know via twitter and hopefully the 22nd will bring some great pictures and stories More >
Silly Hat Bachelor Party! [updated with pictures!]
Apr 20th
Hey Team,
Here’s a fun story that should probably start with an apology, so…
I’m sorry. Mostly to all the folks I handed Amtrekker business cards to yesterday (especially since many of these people were REALLY cool). Why the apology, you ask? Because (hopefully) those folks are reading the site today and learning that I helped lie to their faces. (In a fun way?)
I’m still hanging around the North East waiting for the 23rd to roll around so I can check out the Colbert Report and Monday I’ll be in Boston to film a podcast about the marathon. But right now I’m in Cape Cod. And how do you make a spontaneous trip to Cape Cod even MORE fun?
First, grab a group of friends that you would never have even met if you hadn’t decided to leave your home and your job behind in an immature effort to accomplish a nearly completely random list of goals you’ve accumulated. THEN, pick one guy out of that group at random to be the “bachelor” for the weekend!
My Saturday mostly involved walking around quiet seaside towns in “The Cape” wearing silly hats with a spider painted on my cheek (for charity of course) telling folks More >
Fifty Objective Pickup
Apr 17th
Hey Team,
Ever play fifty-two card pickup? You know how there’s always that clump of cards in the middle that are easy to grab but then you spend the next twenty minutes looking for the last few? Yeah. It’s like that…but with two less cards.
I’m a little frustrated this week. I have to be in New York on the 23rd and that’s too soon to bail to another piece of the country but I don’t want to just sit around WAITING for the 23rd to come.
In the plus column the Boston Marathon is this weekend so I might stick around and check that out.
Okay, less talk of frustration more focus on the new and exciting.
There’s an Amtrekker Twitter account now! If you have one too the URL is: http://twitter.com/amtrekker
And if you DON’T have an account you still get to see the updates right here on the site! It’s that new box over on the right hand side of the homepage that says, appropriately enough, “Twitter Updates.”
So what IS Twitter? Good question…I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s kind of web 2.0ish in that it’s a social application but it’s also kind of like blogging 140 characters at a time. So More >
#36 Ride the Fastest Roller Coaster in the Country! [podcast]
Apr 16th
Hey Team,
Here’s the podcast you’ve all been waiting for! Sorry about last week. Won’t happen again. Scout’s honor.
“Amtrekker travels to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ to redeem himself after last October’s failure! Watch as even the weather fails to stops him from reaching his goal!
Precipitation ensues.”
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%3D17", 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();I’ll have to post the youtube version later tonight.
Thanks everyone.
I’m done.
Brett.
How much do you love those podcasts? Enough to click on that little donation button?!
Don’t let me stop you.
AKPC_IDS += "279,";
Days You’re Going to Need Time Off!
Apr 15th
Hey Team,
It looks like tomorrow I’m going to head back towards New York unless something more interesting presents itself. I don’t have to be at the Colbert Report (just watching) until the 23rd so I’m open to travel just about anywhere to cross something off the list. Taxes are done. I’m almost caught up on the site (relatively speaking). The Roller Coaster podcast will be up tomorrow. So on to the exciting news.
I’m making an executive decision. The hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (#50) will happen on the weekend of May 31st. One week after Memorial Day. Anyone that is interested in going just email me. EVERYONE interested is happily invited to take part. I’m leaning towards the Havasu Falls hike but I’m completely open to suggestion.
There’s your news. Run with it. Go ask for time off. Go do some walking practice. Stock up on any equipment you think you’ll need. Wean yourself from technology’s insatiable grasp.
Okay, Less talk, more action. Let’s go, Team.
I’m done.
Brett.
If you’d like to help make sure I get to the Grand Canyon to join you that donation button is just a click away!
Don’t let me stop you.
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AKPC_IDS += "278,"; More >Emotional Roller Coaster [completed objective]
Apr 13th
Hey Team,
Another one gone. Another one gone. Another one bites the dust.
After taking a red eye from San Jose to New York, shunning sleep for almost 48 hours and panicking about missing out on the fastest roller coaster in the country AGAIN…yesterday turned out to be an incredible day.
For a little bit it looked like I was going to have just as much trouble getting to Six Flags Great Adventure as I did last October. I spent an hour wandering around Port Authority in New York (the main bus hub in the city) trying to get someone to acknowledge the existence of a bus route I was able to find online but that didn’t seem to have a place in our reality. Luckily, George and Jessica from Boston had decided to join me in the roller coastering and happened to be driving through New York around that same time.
We got to Six Flags unsure what to expect. All I knew was that I needed to get to the park sometime between 10:30am and 2:00pm and call Angel the PR Manager when I got there.
Angel not only greeted us at the gate with tickets but took us backstage (that’s what we’d call More >
Anti-Social Security
Apr 11th
Hey Team,
What a hectic week. I’m just about to board a plane for New York’s LaGuardia Airport that should get me where I need to be by 6am tomorrow. Leaving me approximately five hours to figure out how to get to that amusement park I couldn’t figure out how to get to within an entire day last October. Wish me luck.
Either way it brings me back to the topic of one of my very first posts here on Amtrekker: airport security.
And now that I have a little more travel experience under my belt it is NO LESS annoying.
Here’s the thing. I’m not a big planner. No big secret there. So when I fly it is usually on very short notice and usually a one-way trip. Both red flags for TSA. So without fail I’m “randomly” chosen for an extra security search. Which means I get to pull all my stuff out of my bag, put it neatly into several bins because all the big electronics (which is the majority of the contents of my bag) have to have their own bins and THEN have someone else go through the ENTIRE contents of my bag anyway.
So now, when I see those More >
Let’s Roller Coaster!
Apr 10th
Hey Team,
So there I was, muscles tensed, poised to leap towards the next adventure, fresh coat of bus grime distributed about my body. But then I got an email. (Which in and of itself isn’t that unusual but hear me out.)
The email was from the Six Flags PR department asking if I could make it to New Jersey by the 12th to ride the fastest roller coaster in the country, Kingda Ka! OF COURSE I can!
But that did put a little wrinkle in my plans. I was on a bus towards Sacramento to meet up with a lady I was going to drive across the country with but after having her meet me at the bus station I realized there was NO way I was going to be able to drive all the way across the country by Saturday. Which means I got to play the part of the great big jerk and cancelled on this poor woman at the very last minute who now has to drive alone with her little dog all the way to St. Louis.
So here I am. In Sacramento. Getting ready to take a buddy pass infused flight across the country tomorrow morning for a More >
