Apr 18, 2017 - A Life You Will Remember

During my cross country road trip, I saw a couple of my old childhood friends. I don't have many friends, but the ones I have and actually care about, I tend to make an effort to keep in touch with them. Anyways, these two guys both had little babies - one a one-year-old and the other a three-month-old. This made me stop for a bit and question where I am and where I'm going. I want to have a wife and family too. The whole teach English in Chile thing, I don't see a long-term career in that, it's still along the lines of do what you want to...

Apr 14, 2017 - What A Beautiful Country

Wow, what an amazing trip. Hitting the road, driving through new parts of the country, seeing places I'd never seen before, and doing new things was exciting. Doing a cross country road trip was one of the things on my bucket list, so I'm glad I did it. What did I learn? I've mentioned this before, but the first few months I was in Colombia, I was absolutely in love with the people, the landscape, the "new". I was also in love with leaving the U.S., getting away from a lot of the materialistic BS, and living a more simple life. I remember...

Apr 9, 2017 - Return to San Diego

I made it back to San Diego. It was great relaxing for a week in San Rafael with my aunt and grandma. It consisted mostly of playing backgammon, eating seeds, have lots of yummy foods, doing housework, and relaxing. Just what I needed. The plan to get back to southern California was supposed to be an idyllic drove down Highway 1...all the way back. This was one of my bucket list things and it started off great. After passing the Golden Gate bridge from Marin county, I turned right on Highway 1 and the fun began. The views were amazing, all...

Apr 1, 2017 - Back in California

My friend and I started making our last push west, slowly heading back to California. We were planning to see Yellowstone before leaving Wyoming, but instead went through the Grand Tetons instead. The drive was nice and the mountains were picturesque. When I saw the purple, snow-covered mountains, the first thing I thought of was yogurt: "Yogurt, I hate Yogurt! Even with strawberries!" Sorry, not for that, but for a different reason. I think there is some yogurt bottle that has a picture of these purple, snow-covered mountains on it....

Mar 28, 2017 - Fun Day

This was the most exciting day of the trip so far. It started off in Rapid City, South Dakota, with me picking up a friend who is going to join me for a few days. The first thing we did was go visit Mt. Rushmore. Wow, the statues are amazing. They're so big and detailed. South Dakota is really beautiful, the rolling hills shining in the sunlight really are golden. After that, we left South Dakota and entered into Wyoming. Wow, I love this state. It's even more beautiful than South Dakota with the mountains and all the different colors. And...

Mar 24, 2017 - Heading West

The next morning, I had my most ambitious drive -- New York to Ohio. This was 640 miles and I estimated it would take 12 hours. I left Manhattan about 9:30am, with the temperature in the mid-30s. First stop, New Jersey -- meh, pretty boring. It lacked the electricity of New York. Once I entered Pennsylvania, my mood immediately brightened. There was snow all over the hillside and it was gorgeous. I made a small detour to go through Pittsburgh and it felt great. The first time I saw the word "Pittsburgh" on a highway sign, a big smile broke...

Mar 23, 2017 - New York, New York

I spent a few days in North Carolina with family and relaxed a bit. It was nice to not drive for a while. My cousin's young son was there, so I got to play with him. I love kids. I visited my grandma's grave too. She spent her last couple years in North Carolina with my aunt, who is a nurse. We all loved her a lot. The drive into North Carolina was really pretty. Part of this cross-country trip is to get a feel for the next place I want to live, and I got a good feeling about NC. It's pretty, the people seem friendly, and the weather is...

Mar 18, 2017 - Know Thine Own Country

After spending a year exploring the different parts of Colombia, I learned how fun and relatively easy it is to explore new places. I also discovered that I had a much stronger yearning to know my own country. It's so big and has so many nice things to see. All you have to do is hop in your car and you can drive to pretty much anywhere. So, I decided to do a road trip. I love cars and I love driving. Once I got my latest car, I realized that I REALLY love driving, especially in a fun car. The usual barometer for me is driving from San Diego...

Mar 4, 2017 - A Duck Named Puddles

Snowboarding looks like such a fun sport. You go sliding down a mountain filled with snow, zipping through the wind, doing tricks, meeting snow bunnies. This is always what pops to mind when someone says "let's go snowboarding!". I get excited and jump on the opportunity. I'm not quite there yet, so it's still more frustrating than fun at times. I went snowboarding for the first time in two years last weekend. It was a lot of fun! I have my own gear and was excited to use it again. One thing I love about California and the U.S. is all the...

Feb 26, 2017 - Moving Out

I bought my first and current house in February 2010. The first four things I bought were a big-screen TV, a bed, a laundry/dryer combo, and a Total Gym -- sleeping, entertainment, exercise, and cleaning covered. I eventually bought pots/pans too, so eating was taken care of as well. I fixed up the place and over the years made it my own. Pride of ownership is definitely real. Many projects and crises later and my house and I have a definite bond. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. It's nice to have your own place and do whatever you...

Feb 17, 2017 - Lessons Learned -- Perception vs. Reality

A lot of times you have an idea of something or someplace that when you actually get to experience or see it up close is completely different than what you thought it would be like. Or you may be infatuated with someone who you think is perfect, but when you spend time with them and actually see who they really are, you realize they aren't as great as you thought they were. Perception and reality very rarely align perfectly. A lot of times you are underwhelmed or disappointed and other times you are happily surprised. While other times...

Feb 9, 2017 - Deh, running's fun?

I did two years of cross country in high school and hated most of it. I didn't like running, it was boring, and the competition part of it wasn't fun for me either. I don't know why my friends and I joined it, since our motto was always "deh, running sucks!". Instead of doing the practice runs with the team, we would hide out behind an apartment complex and throw pinecones at each other. And we'd also terrorize a guy named Jimbo. Poor guy. This is 9th grade, mind you, and no one seemed to care, since we weren't any good anyways. Exercise is...