(Please scroll down to see videos below) Sooo.... skydiving. Definitely something I've wanted to do for awhile, but for various reasons haven't (timing, money, busyness, etc.). Last week I watched the birth of a niece. Why not go skydiving this weekend? The two weeks before I was driving/riding in a car for about 40 hours and traversed ~2300 miles... that was on the weekends. The rest was work and so much else. Which led up to last week. Last week I was on a torrential push to get things done. Here is the quick rundown.... Besides accomplishing various things at work [View Full Entry]

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Jamas arrived on Thursday night. I went to the International Airport and waited for a little over an hour. Jamas' flight was a little late and I waited in a little seated area while mosquitoes swirled around and other friends and family awaited other passengers. Eventually, Jamas ambled out and we headed to the hotel. It was great to to see Jamas and great to have him in India. We only got about five hours of sleep before we had to get up to get ready to go to Delhi. We had a great flight to Delhi on Air India (Indian [View Full Entry]

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"...a stint in India will beat the restlessness out of any living creature;" - Author's Note, Life of Pi It almost beat the restlessness out of me (until I went to Pench National Park). India, in the words of my friend Roberto, is intense. More specifically, Bombay ("Mumbai" since 1995) and Delhi are intense. By the end of my stay in Bombay, I was questioning how much I wanted to travel in the future. I was reading "The Art of Travel" and it mentions how the dreams of travel don't equal the realities of it. And the realities hit me well [View Full Entry]

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LA. Historical. Overdone. Over-promoted. Maybe the most well known city in the world. I wasn't sure what to expect. At one end is the Hollywood-side perception (films, beauty, plastic surgery, fake). Another perception is of a crime-riddled, riot prone danger zone. Yet, one more, is the laid back beach scene -- surfing, volleyball, sunning, leisure. And I could see those aspects in LA. But it seems like any mega-city -- it cannot be easily described or stereotyped. ---- Around 6:30 AM I left cold Michigan for the 80 degree LA -- just missing a massive snowstorm that cance [View Full Entry]

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Well, after some persuasion I've decided to post an entry on Pikeville, KY. I guess if an entry from the remote parts of the world outside the U.S. are worthy of blog entries, why not note remote parts of the U.S.? Pikeville, KY is nestled in the Cumberland Mountains (part of the larger Appalachian Mountain range); it is a good two hour drive from the closest city -- Charleston, WV, and about two and half hours from Lexington, KY. Its main business is coal mining, and with a short drive around you can find coal mines in operation. It was an [View Full Entry]

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It had been a long week at work and I was very much looking forward to a break. One of the first signs I saw at the airport was "Aspen welcomes your mind, body and spirit." Amen. This was my first "traditional" vacation.... I don't count the time off between my first two jobs. This one I actually used "vacation" time to go to some spellbinding locale and knock around for awhile It took two connections (Chicago and Denver) to reach Aspen on Friday, January 18th. It was night when I flew in. The descent towards the airport was rapid... their [View Full Entry]

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Okay... about that surf trip. ;) Shawn and I got up early and headed to Bondi Beach to be picked up (later learned they pick-up at Coogee Beach, as well). After breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, we waited outside Bondi Backpackers (a hostel). After waiting about 15 minutes, a guy came running up and asked if we were going on the surf trip -- we then followed him a few blocks, joined some other people in the van, and off we went. With the trip, they apparently determine which beach to go to each day depending on the waves and the [View Full Entry]

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I arrived last Sunday morning after 24 hours in-transit -- from freezing temperatures to the mid-70s. After checking-in at the hotel, I quickly proceeded to go swimming and jogging along the coast from Coogee Beach toward Bondi. I got about halfway and jogged back. Along the way I passed a few women tanning topless. Lots of children and families around... doesn't look like a big deal here. After that I found out that the hotel did have a room available with an ocean view... so I switched rooms to one on the sixth floor with a straight on view of the [View Full Entry]

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After the full day-trip to Tikal, Luke and I weren't sure that we would be up for hiking up Pacaya to see the volcano and its lava flows. So, for much of the morning on Sunday we kind of loafed around the hotel... we also walked to nearby mall also stopped by a Pizza Hut for an early lunch. Sometime in the early afternoon we began to reconsider the trip up to Pacaya... why not? We were feeling well and rested. So we headed to the lobby to talk to the concierge and/or hotel staff about catching a cab to Pacaya [View Full Entry]

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What do all the guidebooks say about Guatemala? Go straight from the airport to somewhere besides Guatemala City. So, I was a little apprehensive about working in the city. However, I was in zone 10 in a nice hotel with great facilities -- and an amazing breakfast. I arrived late on Sunday night and exited the airport looking for the hotel shuttle. Just before the exit and pouring out into the street was a large crowd of people awaiting arrivals or looking for their ride. After a brief shuttle ride I arrived at The Westin Camino Real. And - wow - [View Full Entry]

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