Archive for July, 2008
La Dreamer and Stone Face: A Love Story
Jul 31st
Hey Team,
In another story, in another world, she would have swept gracefully into the scene. But that would be literature. Fiction. This is a true story.
That being said it wouldn’t be fair to say she lumbered either. It was something in between. Let’s try this:
La Dreamer trotted up the bus steps and down the aisle surveying her surroundings. Not with a sense of royalty but with something similar. A sense of entitlement. Her drawn on eyebrows bowed down as her forehead creased in frustration. Most all the seats were taken and with this came a second realization; this was going to be a long ride. A very long ride. Pardon the expression but “comfort was going to take a back seat.”
She chose the only available position, a seat directly behind Stone Face.
Stone Face had already chosen his seat six hours and 300 miles earlier…much to the chagrin of the young man next to him. He’s a big man. Much bigger than the “average person” the designers had arbitrarily calculated around decades earlier when the enormous motor coach was first built. As a result he tended to ooze toward the window seat unbidden. For hours this continued and like any great More >
Charley Update
Jul 30th
Hey Team,
I spent the better part of yesterday on the phone with AppleCare trying to figure out what’s wrong with Charley but according to the Second Law of Broken Mechanics (You’ve all seen this law in action when you take your car in and it wont make THAT noise around the mechanic.) he managed to hold a charge the night before making it impossible to figure out what’s going on.
Personally I think he’s just trying to warn me that if I don’t finish things up soon he’s going on strike. It’s definitely been a long tough road for the little guy and he probably hasn’t felt at home since January’s trip to MacWorld. So, if you want to do something special for him send your get well cards, questions and moral support to charley@amtrekker.com.
I’m on a westbound bus for the next couple days ultimately headed towards Lake Shasta for a weekend retreat so I have to conserve so charge. Which means…
I’m done.
Brett.
AKPC_IDS += "347,";#3 Sleep in a Lighthouse!
Jul 27th
Hey Team,
Charley is having some charging issues this week and it’s making life very difficult when it comes to updating the site so I hope you guys don’t mind the delays in new content. (Because I freaking HATE it!) I’m taking him to the hospital (a.k.a. Apple Store) this afternoon but before I do that I wanted to get an exciting post up.
It seems one of the countries best kept secrets (right up until you read this) is North Western Michigan. I don’t know what the area is like during the wintertime and that always scares me (you all know #4 on the list of things I hate is “cold weather”) but while I was hanging around the Frankfort, Crystal Lake, Pt. Betsie area I was greeted by nothing short of an extra large helping of beautiful.
But to skip to the point (Get it? Oh man…that’s a good one…), my second night in the area brought me to the Point Betsie Lighthouse, where thanks to Jen and Amy, I was given the grand tour of this 150 year old piece of Michigan history (by Jay) before being left to my own devices.
My “devices” in this case seemed to consist mostly of my More >
Frank’s Fort
Jul 24th
Hey Team,
I made it to Frankfort, MI, no joke, named after a guy named Frank that used to own a Fort here on the bay. Apparently everyone used to say, “Hey let’s go meet at Frank’s Fort.” (I was assured I wasn’t being screwed with on this point.)
Regardless, I’ve made it to the next destination, I’ve seen the lighthouse I’m sleeping in tonight and I’ve already met some incredible people. It’s such a great cap to an otherwise crappy week. Right now I’m even less excited about the lighthouse than I am to continue to spend time around people that are eager to share their lives and their town with me.
This is an amazingly diverse town but not in the usual sense of the word. The area may even rival Pigeon Forge, TN and Branson, MO for high levels of weird. Not that same kind of “quirky show and tourist trap” weird that they have in those towns but there does seem to be an awful lot of tourism here.
In this case I keep getting driven around the lake while Andy, the guy who was generous enough to pick me up at the bus station an hour from here and More >
Geocaching Attack!
Jul 22nd
Hey Team,
It’s been a pretty exhausting week. I can’t imagine a worse way to clean up all these geocaches that I’ve missed in my multiple trips across the country than via a series of long bus rides where no one wants to talk unless they’re already talking to themselves followed but stints of wandering through strange cities long enough to get tired but not long enough to make new friends.
But in the positive column it’s nice to see the map fill in with states I don’t have to continue to worry about. The geocaches are definitely coming along and more importantly I’m on my way to Michigan and Indiana now not just to geocache but to head up to the second most photographed lighthouse in America which ALSO happens to be coming up on its 150th anniversary. You can imagine how excited I am just to sleep somewhere where I’m not sitting upright in a disturbingly undersized and uncomfortable seat so it’s doubly awesome that I get to cross another one off the list at the same time in such an epic place!
I better go jump on yet another bus with a painfully few (i.e. no) outlets at my disposal. More >
The Day the Universe Decided to Punish Me
Jul 21st
Hey Team,
Today started out pretty typical. I had a clear-cut goal I wanted to accomplish. I had the means and the wherewithal to make it happen. And I was well rested. Then the universe decided that today was the day I got my comeuppance.
Someone, somewhere, decided now was the time to punish me for some unknown but obviously terrible transgressions that I’ve made in my past.
The plan was to swing through Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware (at least) to clean up some missed geocaches before heading westward for a couple bigger list items. I had laid things out pretty well. (Not to pat myself on the back it’s just that you guys know it’s kind of a big deal when I manage to plan anything at all. So, yeah. I was a little proud.) First stop was Hartford, CT and there was a cache that was less than half a mile from the bus station AND another bus leaving for New Jersey 45 minutes later. Plenty of time to hop off, grab the cache and make it back to head out for the next one.
But my batteries died. And as it turns out there’s no such thing as an open More >
#25 Be in a Movie!
Jul 18th
Enjoyed that? Donations please?
Don’t let me stop you.
AKPC_IDS += "341,";
#29 Drive a race car! [podcast]
Jul 16th
Hey Team,
Sorry the updates have been so few and far between this week. With all the bus rides and the 14 hour days on set for “The Surrogates” (more on that tomorrow) it’s been impossible to find the time to get things posted. BUT, without any further ado…
“Amtrekker travels to the small town of Huron, SD (where he seems to be a really for real celebrity) and drives a race car for the first time!
Autographs and trophies are tossed around like candy.”
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%3D8", 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();Thanks!
I’m done.
Brett.
If you enjoy the podcasts…why not donate?
Don’t let me stop you.
AKPC_IDS += "340,";