Archive for June, 2008
Go Time
Jun 13th
Hey Team,
I’m feeling a little better today. Is it weird that I feel REALLY bad for getting sick? Like I’m kind of letting you all down by not being as productive as I could be?
Regardless, I’m still nowhere near 100% and this has definitely thrown off my “schedule” but I think I’m ready to move on today and head towards some kiteboarding back in SC (in the hopes that I’ll be nearer 100% by the time I get there).
AND I still have to edit the footage from sailing. I tried a couple times over the last few days while I’ve just been laying around but if your head is already spinning and you suddenly find yourself watching tons of raw footage shot on a rocking boat it’s tough to stay focused. Here goes nothing.
Okay, less talk, more action!
Let’s do this.
Brett.
AKPC_IDS += "322,";Bucket List?!
Jun 11th
Hey Team,
I’m too young to die. I better not be this sick because people keep calling this a bucket list! So help me if I just keep getting sicker and sicker until the last thing gets crossed off the list then know this: I will not hesitate to add a LOT more things to the list.
Ugh! The last thing in the world I want to do right now is write. I want nothing more than to curl up in a little ball in the dark and be unconscious until this all blows over. But this stupid cough and the alternating between sweating and shivering is NOT making that an easy proposition.
Plus, I keep having to go back and reread these stupid sentences because I can’t hang onto a train of thought to save my life and proper grammar keeps flinging itself out the window. (Even more so than usual.) Now that I think about it I don’t even have anything useful and/or interesting to say. I’m just babbling like and idiot in print. (Is it still called “in print” if it’s never actually printed out?)
My plan was to head up to Lowell last night and then to Scranton tomorrow but More >
Metal Underpants and Nostalgia
Jun 10th
Hey Team,
Today was the last day in New York for a while and I decided it was finally time to check out the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love museums but on this adventure I tend to avoid touristy stuff (as much out of budget concerns as a desire to see all the stuff that most people don’t get the opportunity to) so it’s always kind of a special treat to get to partake. Sometimes it’s an EXTRA special treat.
One of the new exhibits at the Met this month was a show on Super Heroes and their influence on fashion design! They even had original costumes from several movies (1978 Superman, The Dark Knight, Linda Carter’s Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Catwoman…it was some really cool stuff)! I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, those look even less comfortable in real life.”
I’d love to try one of those costumes on just to see how irritating it would be to try to film a movie in one. (Hmm…someone write that down for Amtrekker 2.0.) Can you even imagine stumbling to the craft services table wearing the Iron Man costume and trying to shove a blueberry muffin through that face hole? Or WORSE, imagine More >
I Sailed. I’m a Sailor. I Can Sail Things. (No Big Deal)
Jun 9th
Hey Team,
This week has been absolutely insane. This is the first moment I’ve had to sit down and write and not feel like I have to knock things out and get on to my next activity. INSTEAD, I get to sit tight, feel clean for the first time in a month and toss things around in my own head a bit.
People tell me all that time that life is about the journey not the destination. No place does that seem more true than sailing.
Thanks to the guys over at the Atlantic Yachting Association I spent the last two days going through a course to get my Basic Keel Boating certification. It was an undeniably awesome experience and for a guy that used to live on a boat on the Pacific Ocean (and still never managed to learn to sail…let’s not dwell on that) it was such a bizarre scene to be sailing a boat between skyscrapers on the Hudson River.
Both days started off with VERY light wind and were actually pretty far down the road on their way to Dulltown. That’s when it really hit home that in some cases it’s probably not worth trying to get anywhere while you’re sailing. More >
Boring Ol’ News, Exciting New Fun
Jun 7th
Hey Team,
Today was a crazy busy day and I’m a little too exhausted to go into much detail. (I have to wake up early and it’s almost early already.) But I have to get the news out there.
I went sailing on the Hudson River today! And to be perfectly honest, once lunchtime came around I was starting to think, “Oh man, I thought sailing was going to be SO much more fun…”
But after lunch the wind started to pick up and things got WAY more interesting. I LOVED it! I seriously can’t wait until tomorrow. And the great thing is it turns out the guys at the Atlantic Yacht Association actually set me up in a full on beginner’s course that comes with some sort of certification on completion.
More on sailing tomorrow.
After that I got a chance to catch up with a couple of the Totally Rad Show guys for a slice of pizza before I had to hightail it back across the city to cleanup before heading back across the town AGAIN to record an audio podcast with the “Dead Air” guys!
Turns out every step of the way on my busy day was a blast!
(Sadly that means I don’t have it More >
#19 Help Out on a Plantation! [podcast]
Jun 6th
Hey Team,
I really thought this one was going to get posted on time for once but I ended up having to REedit the whole thing. But who cares, right?! Cause here it is live and in living color (minus the Wayans )!
“Amtrekker travels to the Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston to see if he can find a way to help out. You decide whether or not he actually manages to be helpful.”
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%3D11", 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();And here’s the YouTube link!
Thanks, Team!
I’m done.
Brett.
If you enjoy the podcasts…why not donate?
Don’t let me stop you.
AKPC_IDS += "316,";
Stuff to Gawk At
Jun 4th
Hey Team,
The podcast is compressing but it wont be done before I take off for the live Diggnation taping so it’ll make it up tomorrow morning.
In other news: I realize this is supposed to be cute and cool and make me want to buy watermelons but does this remind anyone else of “Hannibal?” How come 1) This little dude is so happy after having his head bashed in and 2) No one is stopping him from selling off little pieces of his friends whom I can only assume he has murdered?
AND I was so terrified of getting a ticket that you’ll never believe how many shots I had to take before I could get a picture of this sign that wasn’t blurry. New York in a nutshell I guess.
I’ll be here in the “Big Apple” (Do people still call it that?) for the rest of the week thanks to the Atlantic Yachting Association and their incredible offer to teach me to sail this weekend. So if you’re around let me know!
Okay, gotta go!
I’m done.
Brett.
Buy me a slice of watermelon?
Don’t let me stop you.
AKPC_IDS += "315,";
Wait…What Month Is It?
Jun 3rd
Hey Team,
Ten o’clock last night found me hanging around in a rose garden as I was passing through Raleigh. More importantly it found me staring off into space when suddenly I saw an ash floating through the air.
“That’s strange,” I thought as I starting scanning the terrain for an out of place campfire.
Then the ash magically reappeared…and this time it brought friends. My first thought?
“SON OF A–!!!”
That’s right. I just saw fireflies for the second time ever in my life. It should have been exciting but for some reason I took it as a personal insult and got WAY too worked up about it.
Last year (geez that hurts to say) when I was traveling the east coast I was warned that fireflies are only around during the summer to fall seasons and as a result I started to panic come September and went out of my way to travel halfway across the country to a spot where I KNEW there were still a few straggling fireflies hanging around.
Why panic about catching a firefly? Because I didn’t want to have to wait until fireflies reappeared the following summer just to cross that one last objective off my list and go home.
Boy More >
