A Man Hasn't Technically Flown Until He Lands

A New Way To Travel

2011-11-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I blogged, that I didn't remember at first how to get to this screen where I am now recording my thoughts. But now I'm here. I guess blogging is kinda like riding a bike: you never forget, you're butt starts to hurt if you do it too long, and it's kinda embarrassing if you're old.

One of the bigger reasons I haven't done this in a while is I've been a little busier getting some arrangements made for a hitchin' ceremony. That's right, Miss Brown and I are getting married. Forever, better or worse, all that stuff. The long-time bachelor finally found someone who made him want to give it all up. All of it. All the weeks of unwashed clothes, all the piles of dirty dishes, all the inches of beard, all meals alone. All for a lifetime of companionship with a beautiful, funny, intelligent lady. OK, maybe I'm getting the better deal here. (Except for the awesomely long beard part.)

Kelsey flew out to visit in August after her summer term. I had waiting for her a one-way plane ticket to San Francisco, the location of our first date two years earlier. Of course, I didn't tell her it was only one-way since the trip back was a surprise. She flew into LAX Friday night, and we hopped on a plane early the next morning bound for SF. Friday we spent doing our normal eating, walking, arguing (hey, it's what we do, don't judge), and enjoying a beautiful day in the city.

When I told Kelsey Saturday night that we shouldn't stay out too late since we had to be up earlier the next morning, I think she had about had enough of me. Probably even more so the next morning, when I hailed us a cab for a sketchy part of Oakland...

But that's where the trains leave from, so there we went. We had talked before about liking the idea of a train trip, so I thought that would be a special way to propose. Plus the fact that the train ran from our oft-visited adopted city of San Francisco down to Los Angeles. And it ran through many of the sites of other dates of ours: the Central Valley and hills of San Luis Obispo (our road to Big Sur), Santa Barabara (New Year's Eve and hiking / Zac Brown Band).

It was hard keeping it a secret the first five or six hours of the train ride. I had the ring stashed in my bag, but didn't want to leave it when we went to the dining cars for our meals. So I had to slyly send Kelsey ahead and move it to a pocket after she left our sleeper car. After the wine tasting event about halfway through the trip, I figured was a perfect time. So while Kelsey freshened up when we got back to our sleeper, I grabbed the ring and a letter I had written her and stashed them in the car.

Unfortunately, the train schedule that day had the attendants coming around getting dinner reservations directly after that as dinner was being served very early. Since I didn't want to be interrupted in the middle, I had to wait for the attendant to come around. We declined the early dinner which gave me my chance. Wittily, I steered the conversation towards my proposal plans. I presented Kelsey the letter I had written, which was an answer to a letter she had mailed me many months prior. When she was done reading the letter, I got down on a knee and asked for hand in marriage, ring in hand. I'm not sure it's clear in either of our minds whether she actually said yes or not. She seemed to be a bit overwhelmed with the moment. But, we've been operating under the assumption that she did answer in the affirmative thereafter, so I think it's safe to say we reached an agreement. And I, for one, am very glad we did.

The date is set for March 11 of next year, and it's probably safe to say I don't deserve her. But then, none of us really deserves each other ever. Relationships are very little about what each one deserves, and much more about what each is willing to give, deserved or not. Really, if one were to look at the definitions of give and deserve closely, it might be concluded that those two words rarely are both applicable to any one situation. To give is to offer freely, without any sense of obligation. I know I will surely fail at times for my part, but I think the difference in those two words is what makes marriage unique among all other contracts. Contracts are generally supplying what is deserved from criteria that were met. Marriage, and love in general, is about giving what can not be (or before it is) deserved.

train time

breakfast time

club car time

fiance time

All the pics.

Play Ball!

2011-06-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Before getting into the subject of this post, we're going to handle a little AMHTFUHL business first. I'd just to like say that if my last post seemed harsh towards Aunt Sarah, and possibly Peri, it probably only seemed that way because I'm a big jerk. I had planned to write something heartfelt and sincere to close it out, but, in my defense... I didn't. Oh, right, I guess that's not really much of a defense of all. So sorry for that Paul women; it was really fun and a great party put on in large part by Sarah & Co. I always enjoy being in the company of you all and am proud and blessed to be able to call you family. OK, business meeting over, back to the biting sarcasm that you all come here for.

Before we all headed south for Ella's part-tay, we headed to Tip-Wa (yeah I still call it that) and Bunker Hill for a sweltering morning at the ballpark. It was my first time at one of Riley's teeball (which is kind of a misnomer now) games as well as my first time seeing Taylor go yard (oh yeah). I took a bunch of pics at Riley's game with my new telephoto lens (which I have named The Bees Knees) which was a lot of fun. I didn't get quite so many at Taylor's because a) I was wilting in the mid-day heat (I had to sit under the pavilion for the last few innings unless Taylor was batting) b) the sight lines at BHLL are not great and c) they wouldn't let me on the field like they did during Riley's. In any case, I got some good ones, and I might have even got some great ones if I had a) a faster camera and b) the ability to focus correctly.

anyone else worried that they're looking different

directions? also need to work on Riley's footwork

making sure we didn't miss anything; he's so helpful

Taylor trots

awaiting the throw; better footwork than Riley at first

I thought it was kinda funny that these next couple reminded me of each other. I guess the game (and kids) never change.

Taylor goes yard and Riley pops it over the pitcher's

mound (that's like going yard in teeball since all the

fielders are on the infield grass)

getting and waiting for dad-fives

More pics from Riley's and Taylor's games. Great job, dudes.

This Is Worse Than The Minivan, Sarah

2011-06-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Yes, you are officially old when you are the parent of a high school graduate. But what a great graduate, my cousin, Ella Rae Paul. Congratulations Ella on a stellar high school era, but perhaps more impressively, living 18 years in the same house as your mother, and 15 with your sister. At least there's Tom. Thank God for Tom.

Best of luck next year at Butler. I'm sorry that goofy looking basketball player who all the girls thought was dreamy is already gone. I know you'll do great anyway.

happpy grad

MHS Class of 2011

Some other highlights of the trip to Martinsville, in no particular order: the sweat on the back of my neck; Peri's directions back to the house after graduation, Riley puking in the hotel pool; bikini search at Wal-Mart; the sweat in my armpits; and 30 pounds of cheeseball.

More pics.

Reunions

2011-05-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Kelsey and I met in San Francisco for a long weekend to celebrate the end of her semester, finals week and everything. It was also our first trip back to San Francisco since our first date. This trip was different from the first in nearly every way. Well every way but fun, food, and more fun. Our first time was spent mostly in Golden Gate Park enjoying music, but this time we got around to a lot more of the city and were able to dive much further into the culinary offerings that abound. Favorites include meatballs at Tomasso's (even better than I remembered), Vietnamese coffee ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe's, and everything at Tornoado Bar. I'm sure Kelsey's favorites are much different than mine, so she'll have to leave those in the comments. (But definitely hitting Red's next time.)

meatballs and more meatballs at Tomasso's

cured meats - and more meatballs! - at Molinari's

We also took in a Sunday afternoon game at AT&T Park, which is one of my top baseball park experiences so far. The weather was great all weekend, but especially nice during the game, and that park is really a gem (Jem?). McCovey Cove, the brick wall, and all the weirdo San Franciscans made it just a really unique experience. Plus the garlic fries were actually good. Oh,... and The Beard. Kelsey added another team to her long list of supportees, thanks mostly to the crazed antics of one Brian Wilson. Kudos. Well done, sir. And though I remain a steadfast follower of the birds on the bat, I gotta say, I get it. I'd go back.

game time

McCovey Cove

We also got to meet up (and I just plain meet) Kelsey's friend she met during her island years, Bianca. She was very nice, and I very much enjoyed the time we spent together. I could tell the two girls were fond of each other, though the words escape me to define precisely what I saw from them. At times they seemed to be of one mind... and me of an other entirely.

they deny it, but i know they coordinated outfits

I can't wait to go back again (soon?). After all Kelsey still hasn't got her dim sum (even though I offered about 40 times as we passed a place). She did, however, manage to get her filled sesame pastry (even though she pronounced it wrong) at one of the dirtiest food establishments I've ever been in - a pigeon flew in and hung out for a while, not discouraged by any of the staff - from a lady I'm pretty sure was blind (didn't stop her from yelling words I did not understand at people in a room we were not in). So there was that.

holding likely violations of the health code

well... almost

So, to recap: great trip. Pics.

Myles To Go Before I Sleep

2011-04-24T15:17:00.001-07:00

I was back in Walton last weekend to meet the 20 pounds of fat in a 10 pound bag that is my new nephew Myles. Seriously his eyes look like they're ready to pop out of their sockets due to the intense pressure by his chubby cheeks. Chubby, chubby cheeks.

Of course my cheeks are probably a little chubby now too since the other thing I did that weekend was eat. B & K, Sycamore, Bruno's, Haps, huge early Easter feast. I'm getting full again just typing this out. I gotta go take a nap...

More pics.

On Shifts, Lupulin Threshold and Decadal

2011-04-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late in posting this, but I'm not going to just let it past since you all have been begging to hear about it. Well that and I don't want to miss a chance to remind Erik that he is really, really super old. So, Erik, listen up... You're really, really super old.

Erik decided to cash in his "I'm turning 30" chip in for a weekend in Santa Rosa for the release of Pliny The Younger, or P The Y as it is affectionately known. P The Y is an uber rare, triple IPA and also happens to be the world's perfect beverage. Unfortunately it is only brewed once a year in limited quantities. Last year Jeff and I did a 15-hour road trip to bring some back to the southland, but due to some greedy jerks selling it on electronic bay.com last year, it was only being made for serving at the brewery bistro this year (no takeaways). On the bright side, we didn't have to drive the 15 hours all in one day, and we got to spend a beautiful weekend in NorCal making fun of how old Erik is.

We did still want to make it there for the opening, so we still left insanely early Friday morning anyway. But it was worth it to be there for the first serving of the world's best beer (and they're not kidding Buddy The Elf). Saturday we went into San Francisco during the day for sandwiches and chocolates before heading back to Russian River for afternoon and dinner.

P The Y release is becoming one of my favorite weekends of the year, and February can't come again soon enough. Hope to see you all there next year. Imagine how old Erik will be then.

a beautiful thing

Molinari Special's by the Golden Gate

Erik doing what Erik does on road trips;
don't wake up the old man - it's his birthday

More pics.

A Yabba Dabba Doo Time

2011-04-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

A gay old time indeed. Apart from that first night when Kelsey burned her hand on the skillet, and I thought we would have to go to the hospital. But the rest of the time was total bliss... OK, maybe when the wind kicked up to 60 mph whipping the tent around and making it bitter cold. But really, other than those two times... Well there was that time when that tarantula crawled inside my pants... All right, so that last one never happened. And the first two weren't all that bad anyway. It was a really, really great time.

Kelsey and I went out to Joshua Tree for a couple nights of camping the last weekend of her spring break. It's a wonderful place, so unique... well, because of the Joshua Trees and all. Perhaps not creatively named, but unique nonetheless. It's east of LA in the high desert and famous for rock climbing, Joshua Trees (duh), and rock stars staying in sleazy motels and doing all sorts of drugs. Also it can get really really cold, really really hot, or really really windy. Though Kelsey may tell you it got really really cold, that was not the one (of three) extremity it reached. It did get windy, but only for about 15% of the time we were there. And mostly at night. Which isn't so bad, but it's hard to sleep when your tent is doing this:

Thankfully the second night was dead calm and the sleeping was easy. And though Kelsey did burn her hand, it was for a good cause: my dinner. I'm sure the potatoes would have tasted just as good with or without seared human skin, but I digress. The new cast iron cookware was the bomb, as the kids say, or "le bomb," as the French kids say. So thanks to the parents Brown for those.

Other than eating, we drove around seeing the sights (tried out the 4-wheel, yee haw!), scrambled around on the rocks, took a couple very cool hikes (to some abandoned mines and the best sounding mountain I ever heard of), and enjoyed the scenery and diversity the national park has to offer. Can't wait to do it again!

Bedrock

Desert Queen Mines

meat and potatoes

hike up Ryan Mtn.

Ryan Mtn. hike log

Kelsey at Arch Rock

night falls at Belle Camp

The rest of the pics.

Breakin' Away

2011-03-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Kelsey came out for her spring break a week ago, and even the fact that we are collectively about two decades from our prime SB years couldn't stop us from having a good time. And I'm almost recovered. Most of those years are mine, you know. But the springtime of youth is replaced by the wisdom of age, giving me, among other things, the knowledge of the best places to eat: Rinaldi's, Boogaloo Cafe, South Bay Deli, Fleming's, the list goes on (though Second City was a little disappointing this time).

We kept it low key throughout the week (not all of us were on vacation) but managed to get out both weekends, Wabash baseball and a drive-in the first weekend followed by camping the next. Here's some of the fun, in pictorial form.

Wabash @ Redlands

driving in the San Bernardinos

at the drive-in!

More pics.

Another Year Older...

2011-03-09T20:53:00.001-08:00

...and deeper in debt. Isn't that how the song gos? Well I did just buy a new motor carriage, so maybe they're right.

So the weekend I went home for Ella's big swim also just happened to be my birthday. You all, no doubt, have just seen my magnanimous gesture of supporting my little cousin for what it really was, my desperate need for attention, presents, and cake. So sue me.

It was decided that the party's theme would be "my favorite things." So naturally we had Bruno's, Happy Burger fried chicken, and chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. As the kids are prone to say now: winning. It was great to be home to celebrate with Kelsey and all my family. Thanks everyone.

great cake, kels!

A few more pics.

Chlorine: The Smell Of Victory

2011-02-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Little cousin Ella is a senior this year, and also happens to be an awesome swimmer. Since I tried to impersonate an aquatic athlete for a few years, I've always felt we shared a unique bond about the sport. Unfortunately, I've never been able to see her compete until this year. Oh wait... I still haven't seen her compete. More on that later.

I decided this being her last year I would make it to see a meet. It's a winter sport and with the holidays and meets being held generally during the week, there's never a convenient time to head home to see her. All times being equally bad, I decided I'd go to her last home dual meet, a.k.a. Senior Night. This happened to be on a Thursday night, and me being short on vacation, I took an early flight through Phoenix to get there on time.

I knew when I booked the flight that I couldn't afford any delays due to weather or otherwise, but I figured once I was off the ground with my connection out of Phoenix then I was good to go. But 30 minutes into the flight to Indy, the captain came over the PA and said the backup pressurization system malfunctioned, leaving us with only the primary system. So... we had to turn around.

Even worse, we had to turn around, descend, and fly with the landing gear down to burn off enough fuel to land therefore limiting our time in holding. But flying with the gear down also means slow. And loud. Fun. Meanwhile I'm starting to go through the timeline in my mind. Half hour back, change planes quick, OK. I can probably afford a 2-hour hit to my schedule and still make it in time. Particularly with Ella's big race (backstroke) being towards the end.

Unfortunately once over Phoenix, we end up having to air taxi anyway. All said and done, we were in the air about 90 minutes to get right back where we started. To the airline's credit, they did get us moved onto a new plane and off again quickly once we returned. But with a 2 1/2 hour hit to my tight schedule.

And to make matters worse, I went with the cheap rent-a-car place, which is, cheaply, located at the old airport in the opposite direction as the meet. So we land in Indy, I sprint through the airport, call the shuttle, then have to ride in the van the wrong way. Only to have the slowest car counter guy explain all the extra services they offer. No thanks, Carl.

Finally, car keys in hand, I head down the road to Martinsville... Only to arrive not 10 minutes after Ella's last race. Mega Bummer. But at least there was no school the next day, so I got to stick around and have lunch with the Pauls and ride back up to Cass County with Grandma, which was fun.

So sorry I missed you, Ella, but I'm super proud of you anyway. Even for the short time I was around the pool, it was obvious how much all of her teammates and coaches respected and appreciated her. She is a special person, I know. Just wish I could be around more to see. She has also decided to attend Butler next year, a true relief as the other finalist was DePauw. I know you made the right decision, El. Pics! And a GIF!

celebratory kick of the coach

Happy New Year, Everybody

2011-02-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

I know I'm way behind on content rich blog posts, but that's just the way it is right now. So these bare bones posts and pictures will just have to do. These are from Kelsey's visit over New Year's. Unfortunately neither of us felt up to doing anything extraordinary, so we just went ordinary, staying in and watching movies. But that was good enough for me. Did we even make it to midnight?

More pics.

Fun With GIFs!!!!

2011-02-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

In my immature little mind, nothing is funnier than a well-crafted GIF... except for a poorly-crafted GIF. Here's a few from the guys bowling night over Christmas. Not sure if they will embed correctly, so if they aren't animated clicking each picture should work.

From GIFs

The Faces Of Christmas

2011-02-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

Sorting through this year's Christmas photos, I couldn't help but notice how expressive the faces were. I'm sure some of you will probably get made at me, but here you go anyway. I present... The Faces Of Christmas. Love to you all.

Full size and more pictures over here.

Welcome Benjamin

2010-12-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

Headed East yesterday for the Pilgrim's shower for little Benjamin Eugene. That's a fine name if you ask me. Ben was a little early in his a arrival a few weeks ago, but he's doing fine now and doing all those normal baby things (pooping, sleeping, crying, pooping, and pooping). It was a good time, but probably the last time Matt and Beth will have to hang out for 18 years or so. Good luck with that. And I don't change diapers.

Pics.

sleeping: activity 1 of 3

crying: activity 2 of 3

oh yes

from one Eugene to another

carhartts, direct from Indiana (courtesy Miss Brown)

Something I Can Shoot My Eye Out With

2010-12-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sure, I know that titled ended in a preposition, but it seems a little pretentious (actually considering this blog, extremely pretentious... on second thought, I think the word pretentious is a little pretentious) to be to proper in this space. On third thought, this whole paragraph is seeming pretentious. Unfortunately my Backspace key fell off yesterday, so starting over...

Things I want for Christmas. That's what this post is about. Me, me, gimme, gimme.

OK, that's not quite right either.

Due to popular demand - and my apologies on the tardiness of this for those who have been clamoring for days, if not week (yes week... not weeks) - I give you the latest installment of my Christmas List. 2010 Edition. As usual, it will be a mixture of class, whimsy, and idiocy. The same mixture that resides within me. Also, literally the mixture that resides in me as I'm just polishing off a cocktail of Macallan, Grape Kool Aid, and Mr. Clean General Purpose Household Cleaner.

Being the eternal student that I am, books are always on the list. And what better way to simultaneously stir my intellect and indulge my predisposition for being super manly than a book of super manly stories?

Also of interest are Microcosmos and another we should all read, as well as any other book you think I'd like. And since I think it's important to learn about what my special lady likes, my own copy of Twilight.

The time of the horse in the Wild West has passed us by, now something like this would be ideal for traversing the wilderness. Of course, that's a bit rugged for the daily grind, so one would need a nice and sensible commuter, take this Dodge for instance.

priced to sell!

Whilst away in my Rally Fighter coupe for a weekend in the sticks, a nice knife like the Gerber Epic would come in handy. Since rubbing sticks together went the way of the horse, the Soto Pocket Torch starts fires nicely by turning your trusty Bic into a flamethrower. And no better way to keep that cowboy coffee hot after the fire goes out than this classic Stanley thermos.

Being a 21st Century man (the era, not the real estate company), there are many layers to this onion. Even though I may have the appearance of the second coming of Paul Bunyan, I have a refined side as well. Which couldn't be happier than listening to some pops and whizzes on my gold-armed Denon DP-A100.

sexy

Unfortunately large speakers aren't ideal for my current dwelling, so I'd be enjoying the a great tribute album (or anything by Ramblin' Jack Elliot) on a pair of sweet soundalicious cans. (Seriously though, these or these more reasonably priced phones would be awesome.) As you might expect, maintenance costs for such sophisticated hobbies can be a bit taxing on the wallet, so investments on my behalf are welcome as well; Berkshire Hathaway would be my preference and just a couple shares would do fine.

On a serious note though, I enjoy anything unique and fun (toys are always good). In particular, I would really appreciate some clever, quality coasters and refrigerator magnets. I never can get enough sweet tees (like this on on homage.com), but my favorite gifts are usually the things I would never think to put on a list. As always anything Wabash is sweet or any of my other schools for that matter (actually a Martinsville swimming tee would be super nice!). In the end though, the best thing is getting to go home and see all my loved ones... and get sick on ring-a-lings. Can't wait!

Gobble, Gobble

2010-12-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

It had been a number of years since I was able to make it back to Indiana for Thanksgiving. Which is particularly sad because if there were ever a holiday for Lazy Uncle Ryan, this would be it. Thankfully (get it?) I was able to go home this year. And I did get to be lazy (for the most part - taters were mashed and dishes were washed), and I did get to eat a lot of turkey (thanks, Browns).

The trip also included a date to the new Harry Potter (without Woody or Caleb), numerous trips to Haps, and even more vanilla Cokes. Of course the best part was spending time with the people I am most thankful for (for those of you I didn't see last week, now you where you rank). Can't wait to see you all again in a couple weeks.

prepared for a feast

Bruce carves

building the Lego robot family; can't
remember their names

trolly time at Haps

More pics.

The City That Never Sleeps, Indeed

2010-10-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago I met Kelsey and our friends the Meyers in The Big Apple. They say it's the city that never sleeps, and I felt like I didn't either. It was, of course, a busy time with so much to do, but I think most of it was the jet lag and ambitious red eye travel itinerary that did me in. Believe me when I tell you that I was T-I-R-E-D when I got back to LA. And maybe a little grumpy when I was in NY.

But it was worth it because it was a great time with great people in a great place. The weather couldn't have been much more perfect - warm, but not so warm that the subway smelled too bad, blue skies with fluffy white clouds - which made all of the outdoor sightseeing we did even more enjoyable. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan, took the elevator to the observation deck atop 30 Rock, rode a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands, explored Central Park - the greatest park in America - and walked, walked, walked, walked around the city.

Besides walking, the other great thing to do in NYC is eat. And eat we did. We had the best pizza you'll ever find at Grimaldi's (eating ice cream while waiting in line), what some people called the world's best nachos - congratulations! You did it! - overpriced drinks at the hotel lounge, greasy burgers behind a curtain in a fancy schmancy hotel, a 5-star meal at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain, and all the cured meats you could ever need at the famous Carnegie Deli.

What an awesome time we had, and I can't wait to go back again. Thanks to the Meyers for meeting us there, you made it that much more enjoyable. Here's a few pics, but you can see them all here.

world's best pizza at Grimaldi's

Brooklyn Bridge

hotel view

pond in Central Park

top of 30 Rock

Liberty Island

the "Woody Allen" at Carnegie Deli

the 'ol stompin' grounds of Columbia

You Built It...

2010-09-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

...And we came.

This subject deserves a much longer post, but it's late, I'm tired, I've got a lot to do tomorrow, and I've already posted my butt off these past few days. So I'm going to try to sum it up in a few paragraphs. Of course, it deserves a much longer post because it was so awesome.

Labor Day, the last day of a long, long, but fun, fun weekend, we opened up Johnson Field Of Dreams (name is not set in stone yet - which makes me think, hey, does the field need a sign?) with a game of softball. JFOD, naturally, was built by Josh, with a little help from Caleb, on the back lot at Josh and Abrah's house. I don't recall exactly how this idea came about, but I'm guessing it had a lot to do with all Riley wanting to do this summer being play baseball (anyone feel free to recount the real story in the comments).

Monday morning we all gathered up to play a few innings to christen the field before stuffing ourselves silly. It was a beautiful early Fall day, if a little windy. I think everyone had a great time (I know I did), and no one got seriously hurt - though we had a couple close calls. I think this needs to be a regular occurrence now, and I even heard rumors of a football game at Thanksgiving? Big thanks to everyone who put in work and to everyone else for showing up. A perfect way to end a great weekend.

Josh at the bat

pregame

well played

More pics.

Surprise Woody!

2010-09-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

Fall is a great time of year as not only is it the beginning of football season but also the culmination of baseball. While baseball ending isn't good itself, it is an exciting time of year, and there's just a different buzz about fall baseball.

Megan had bought tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley for Sunday, and when she heard that I would be home for Labor Day, she offered the other two tickets to Kelsey and me. Normally I'd be against anything to do with the Cubs, but I figured I could make an exception for my brother. Plus, how bad could a day at the park be anyway?

Now Megan had planned all this as a surprise, but she did finally cave and tell Woody Saturday night. He came strutting home with new Cubs shirt and tickets in hand (along with some P.F. Flyers) and gave us some lip when we all played dumb like we didn't know what was going on.

We took off Sunday morning just before church (no Cornerstone, Kelsey and I are not broken up) and Woody drove us up towards Chicago. I think most of the conversation was between Kelsey and Megan (hard to shut those two up), but I seem to remember something about cow stomachs and milk tankers/trailers (which is it again?).

I was planning on stopping at a Park and Ride outside of downtown and taking the train in but changed my mind on our way to the station. So Woody courageously got back on the freeway and headed further into town. We found parking at an apartment building a couple blocks from the field which wasn't too much trouble other than a 23-move exit when we left and Woody nearly road raging on some pedestrians on the way in (kidding... kinda).

We had time to grab some lunch at a tavern near the stadium, then walked the couple blocks to Sheffield Ave. and the start of the game. The game started out fairly competitive, but then things turned south, way south, for the cubs after the 4th or so. Fortunately we had several other sources of entertainment, not the least of which was Woody's new best friend beside him. I'm not sure all what they talked about, but I'm sure Wood could tell you. Kelsey seemed to enjoy the food, most notably the cotton candy, which seemed to crack Megan up for some reason. Oh you want one more? Ha ha! Actually the only reason I did those was because I had already wanted to make something of the "record setting wave" that occured that day. But when making that the idea to make the cotton candy ones flashed into my brain. And I'm glad it did. I could watch those all day.

nice day for a game

strike up the band

Cubs fans

The game did end up in a blowout (we left in top of the 9th before the Mets scored 5 more runs), but we all had a great time and it was a beautiful day. Thanks to Megan for inviting Kelsey and me. I'd be glad to go back any time. Maybe we should all do a trip to Busch III next summer?

happy birthday, Woody!

More baseball to come next post. And more pics!

Are You Ready For Some Football?!

2010-09-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Though we had a late night Friday, we had to get up early to drive to Cass County for the first Saturday of college football season - and the head-to-head between my Boilers and that team from South Bend. Bruce and Reta generously offered for all the Tuttles / Mallots / Johnsons / Corwins / Bruners to come over and watch the game and eat. And eat. And eat.

Not sure how many actually showed up, but it was quite a few, and there was still entirely too much food. And that's even with Caleb and Chris (and Kelsey) around. Bruce did some grilling, and Reta made a bunch of eats (and desserts), and Kelsey arranged for authentic Spanish cheese dogs, direct from B&K West. Not to mention the largest cooler I've ever seen full of glass-bottled Grape and Orange Crush. Nice touch.

Caleb and Abrah check out the spread

game time (slight interrupted by Riley)

totes!

I love college football season, but I can't really remember when I've been able to sit around with my family and watch some games. I can't really think of a better way to kick off the season than last Saturday. A big thanks to Bruce and Reta for opening up their home to all of us. Next time we just need to make sure Bruce gets in on a game of cornhole. As I understand it, he has a score to settle.

the real game begins

Brown court

Thanks again, Browns, I loved it.

More pics.

Hillbilly Holiday

2010-09-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

I was back in Indiana last weekend for a full slate of Labor Day activities covering nearly the entire state (and parts of another). It all started with a plan to get together with some of my high school pals, and as the preceding weeks went by more and more got penciled into my calendar. I'll devote a post to each event.

I took the red eye Thursday night, meaning I arrived at IND at around 5:30 am. Geesh. Kelsey met me there bright and early to start things off. Perhaps foolishly, with her exhausted from a long week of school and me getting zero sleep on the plane, we were a couple of zombies. Worst part was we had more or less nowhere to go. We had plans in Bloomington that night, but couldn't check into the hotel for some time, and it would be pointless to drive back to Cass County. Kelsey did have a last bit of homework to finish up, so we ended up at a McDonalds just off 465. Free wifi and a McMuffin kept us awake for a while.

It didn't take long for Kels to finish her assignment so we headed down 37 to Bloomington. If I had planned ahead, I'm sure we could have crashed for a bit at The Pauls, but in my defense, I didn't. I kind of had an idea that we could just drive over to Lake Monroe and nap the day away there. The gloomy skies overhead quickly reminded me that I wasn't in southern California anymore and that I should consider the, you know, weather. We drove on anyway (what were our other options?), and things just worked out as the clouds opened up and the sun came out within a couple minutes of laying a blanket down.

We napped for an hour or so then decided we would head into town for an early lunch and try to get another nap that afternoon. Well that was the plan for about 20 minutes when we found out that we could get into the hotel a couple hours early. We promptly discarded lunch for sleep.

Unfortunately the nap didn't really take, so we just decided to get ready for the evening, realizing we would likely fall asleep spontaneously at dinner, dropping our faces into our plates. Jason and Liz met us and Kelsey's parents at the hotel around 4, and we all walked the ped/bike path over to Upland Brewery for dinner.

This was also the location for that night's main event, a benefit concert headlined by none other than Todd Snider. Deeter and his new gal pal, Mendi met the rest of us at dinner and we all proceeded to chow down. While we all chowed, it can not be said that we did so equally. The highlight was Deeter (of course) and Bruce ordering "Inferno Burgers." I dipped a corner of a fry into the habanero sauce, and I all I can say is that I am shocked that meal doesn't come with a waiver form.

After dinner we all walked over to the brewery parking lot where a stage and hay bail seating had been set up. There were a couple good folksy opening acts, The Elly Maze and T.V. Mike & The Scarecrows, and then Todd came out with a bassist and electric man. I've seen Todd many times - only with a band once - but this was something entirely different. They went straight into rock versions of Todd's songs and continued to kill it all night long. It. Was. Awesome. I had so much fun, and seeing all my old buddies just made it that much awesomier. Looking forward to next time.

the gang

todd snider, dan baird, and keith chritopher

More pics.

Update: and if you feel like downloading a great show, do it here.

Fusion

2010-09-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Webster’s Dictionary defines wedding as “the fusing of two metals with a hot torch.” Well you know something? I think you guys are two metals… gold metals.

-Michael Gary Scott

OK, so maybe that was welding, not wedding, but I think that speech is worth repeating nonetheless. And it is pertinent as Kelsey and I did fuse together a weekend of camping with a wedding. In fact, we even took the wedding gift (a camping stove) along on the trip - though we did not use it, I swear, the wrapping paper just got ripped over the course of 600+ miles.

And we did make it back to SoCal in time to clean up and show up at the wedding on time. As usual, we packed more than seems possible into our short time together. It was a very lovely wedding, and a lot of fun with people that we both care for very much. My (our?) only regret is that we were so tired after a long week/weekend of running around that we faded pretty early in the evening. But I was able to talk Kelsey into one dance as the evening wound down.

the happy couple

So, congrats to Mitch and Val, and a big thank you for inviting Kelsey and me to enjoy your day. Best of luck for both of you, always.

my beautiful date

More pics.

Finally

2010-09-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

Kelsey has been begging me to go camping nearly every trip she's made here to California. And in my defense, I've tried just about every time she's made her way here, but for one reason or another things have just never worked out for us in that regard. Well things nearly didn't work out this time either. I went back and forth all week about the logistics of where and when (as we still needed to be back for a wedding on Sunday). As a matter of fact, I had actually decided Thursday night that we would go somewhere in San Bernardino, but then decided with Kelsey's help Friday morning that we would go to San Luis Obispo or Big Sur instead.

Friday morning we got up early threw everything into the truck, grabbed a coffee, and headed north (after we decided we weren't heading east). Quickly after we got on the 405, I recalled what an utter mess it had been recently. So I got off on the 90 W over to Highway 1 and stuck with that all the way. We cruised through Santa Monica to Malibu to Santa Barbara to Santa Maria and finally, San Luis Obispo.

scenic PCH

We stopped at the SLO Taco Bell for lunch and I explained to Kelsey what the various options for campsites were. There was one spot in the hills of SLO. Only problem with that was it was a warm weekend, and it was a 30 minute drive from town. If the sites were full, we'd have to drive back down and make the 90 minute trip to Big Sur and try there. Having already driven 4 hours, I figured our chances of finding a site in Big Sur were slim if we took an hour detour in SLO. We decided to keep on moving north and take our chances with the three campgrounds at Big Sur.

Which was fine by me as that was where I really wanted to go anyway. I had been trying to get up there for camping going on about 3 years now. But the combination of me not planning ahead and those campgrounds being reserved well in advance resulted in it never happening. And it doesn't help that one of the largest campgrounds has been closed for two years due to fire damage.

The drive between SLO and Big Sur is easily one of the most beautiful pieces of roadway in the 48 states. Highway 1 winds up, over, and around a hilly coastline. With the Pacific ever present to the West, the fine sand and rolling yellow hills of Southern California begin to give way to the rocky cliffs and coastal trees of the North. Even more enjoyable than the scenery was being with Kelsey as she witnessed it all for the first time. Around every bend came another "Ooooooh" or "Ahhhhh."

Big Sur coastline - Highway 1

The first two campgrounds we came to are located just off Highway 1 and offer the quintessential Big Sur camp experience. Lush vegetation and trees surround with just a short hike down to the rocky beaches. The first one we came to was full up, but we drove through for a look around anyway. It had a very weird commune sort of vibe to it and very little privacy between the closely-spaced campsites. We figured we were better off elsewhere and drove a couple miles up the road to the next campground, Kirk Creek. Now this campground was what we were looking for, but unfortunately full as well. Located on a bluff a couple hundred feet above the ocean, every one of the 30-some sites has an unobstructed ocean view, as well as a great view of the green hills to the east. This was where we wanted to be.

Unfortunately it was not where we were to be, so we moved along once again. I was fairly certain the last campground would have available sites as there looked to be many unreserved according to the world wide web and the Yelp! reviews were less than impressive (complaints of bugs - which I didn't believe - and a windy road - oh no!). Well the road was a little windy (go figure, a windy road in the wilderness), enough so to make Kelsey a little queasy, but we did find about three empty campsites when we finally made it in. Of course, two of these were "closed" due to bees, and the third was in a very open, hot location. One of the bee sites didn't seem too bad, so we figured we'd give it a try for at least a night. The campground host assured us that if we avoided their "flight path" that we'd probably be fine.

And we were fine; the bees were mainly in a tree nearby, and by the time we got settled, they were more or less inactive for the rest of the night. So we made our dinner and sat around the fire to enjoy the night.

windy road to Ponderosa Campground

the "bee camp"

As we were engaging in said fireside night enjoyment, the couple from the next campsite were passed by with their dog. The four of us (five if you count the dog) ended up talking for a bit, and we invited them to bring their camp chairs over for a bit. Turns out they were really nice and we had a lot in common (really nice being only one commonality). Plus they had a really nice dog, which is all that really mattered to Kelsey.

The next morning we woke up to the morning sun and the sound of chirping... wait,... buzzing... bees. We fixed some breakfast quickly, but as we sit there eating the buzzing got louder, and the other bugs (I'm assuming those of Yelp! fame) started to show up too. With the campsite starting to warm up as well, we figured we should head down to the coastal campgrounds and see if we could luck into a spot, and if we couldn't pack up and head back to SLO.

We drove the 12 miles of turns and hills down to Kirk Creek, and checked all the campsites. According to the campground host, there were a few that opened up that morning, but it seems at 9am we weren't the early birds. So back up to Ponderosa to pack our things and head south. On the way back up, we passed our friends from the night before (Andrew, Brittany, and Rugby) who waved us over. Turns out they had been down to Kirk Creek about 45 minutes before us and claimed one of the open sites. Then they very graciously invited us to share their campsite. Kelsey and I jumped at the offer.

We parted there, they heading down the mountain to unload at the new camp, and we up to pack up our things at the beehive... which we did as quickly as I've ever cleaned camp before. Due in no small part to Kelsey being "over it." Actually she was so motivated I think she carried every heavy item up to the truck while I fiddled with the tent and sleeping bags.

As soon as we got the truck back onto the road to the coast Kelsey's spirits lifted. Mine did too, as we were really excited for oceanside camping. We pulled into the campsite drive in front of Andrew and Brittany and unloaded our things. Kelsey fixed lunch while I set up.

western view from camp

view to the east from camp

"forget the views, I'm just glad to see Rugby again," says Kelsey

After a quick lunch and many "thank yous" to our hosts, we all hiked the path down to the ocean to play. It was a short but pretty hike along a creek canyon leading out to the ocean. Flowers and green leaves lined both sides of the trail, finally dropping us onto the rocky coastline. We spent a couple hours or so climbing around the rocks and taking pictures. All Rugby wanted to do was play in the water. Eventually Andrew and I joined him, wading up to our knees and throwing water over our heads. Rugby must have had a heater tucked under all that fur because that water was COLD! I am not exaggerating when I say that a few seconds in the water at a time was all I could stand. It literally made my bones ache. But at the same time, very refreshing.

the gang playing on the rocks

one of us is enjoying this a little more

ocean trail

When play time was over, we hiked back up the trail to camp and relaxed for the remainder of the day. We sat around talking, taking pictures, and playing with Rugby. With Kelsey's help I finally managed to get some camp potatoes to turn out pretty good. We ate dinner watching the sunset. We even got a visit from a "lost" surfer. It was about 3 minutes into the conversation that he realized we weren't his camp mates, and it wasn't, in fact, his campsite. Then he took a couple grapes and continued on his way. Pretty much everything you could ask for in Big Sur camping. Amazingly, there weren't any clouds or fog to move in all night. I woke up at around 3am to use the bathroom, and the moon was sitting out over the ocean alone, reflecting for miles of the water.

Big Sur Time Lapse 1 from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

a time lapse movie i made at our campsite

Kelsey and I packed up early the next morning, as we had to be in Ventura for a wedding (and would require a considerable amount of cleaning up). We thanked Andrew and Brittany again, and Kelsey said her goodbyes with Rugby. We traveled back down Highway 1, stopping in Cambria for breakfast, and at the Hearst Castle parking lot to unload some trash. We saw the elephant seals lie on the beach lazily, then continued on to the wedding, satisfied with our trip.

Kelsey scared the seal off

I can with all sincerity say that it was worth the wait. Kelsey is no doubt a great camping partner. And I look forward to all of our adventures to come.

camping grade: A+

More pics.

Just Kickin' It

2010-08-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Usually when Kelsey and I get together - whether it be out here in LA or back home again in Indiana (go ahead sing along) or some other place in these here United States - we tend to pack in the fun. Which leaves us both completely wiped out afterward. But this visit by Kelsey was supposed to be all about a relaxing time, just hanging out, being normal and not running around constantly.

I think we tried that for a while, but then Kelsey realized this meant sitting through my movie recommendations (and Shaun Of the Dead is a great movie, by the way) and so we ended up doing a bunch of stuff anyway. Actually the first few nights were pretty relaxed (actually really relaxed for Kelsey but I had to work during the day like a sucker), we just had dinner around town (Kelsey's first trip to Richmond St. for the peanut butter bacon burger - I had a salad) or fixed it ourselves (Kelsey's self).

soooo good

Then at midweek things started to get a little busier. Wednesday night we met up with Kelsey's friend Justin (okay, my friend too) at one of my favorite joints, Father's Office, for beers and the famous Office Burger and fries (the regular non-sweet potato variety for me). I don't know about everyone else (okay maybe I do), but I had a really great time. And Kelsey and I got to try out the LA Metro a little more taking the Big Blue Bus up to Santa Monica.

The next night (Thursday if you're following along) we met up with my friend Justin (okay Kelsey's friend too) and his girlfriend Jillian (okay she's my/our friend as well) for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was, um, interesting hanging out with them as always. Just kidding, I had a lot of fun, it's just the conversation seems to go some awfully odd places when we get together. We tried to make it to a movie at the "sexy theater" but we all were kinda beat and had to be up early the next morning, so that didn't happen. Another time perhaps.

see? doesn't this conversation look interesting?

The reason Kelsey and I had to get up early the next morning was for our camping trip which will be in the next post.

And I do believe I set a personal best for parenthetical insertions in this post. I hope you enjoyed it.

(A few) more pics.

School's Out For Summer!!!

2010-08-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well at least for a week or so anyway. Kelsey had a little time off between the second summer session and the fall semester, and I wanted her to come out and go to a wedding with me, so she was out here for about ten days the week before last. We took it pretty easy the first weekend she was here (I'll post about the second weekend later on), and part of that taking it easy was an afternoon at Bolsa Chica with The Pilgrims and The Mellquists. We did a little bonfiring and some weenie roasting. Matt and Kelsey did a little surfing. A pretty fun time was had by all as one might expect at a beach bonfire. I'm pretty tired so this is all you get tonight. I'll do better next time.

the lineup was filled with hooligans that day

Matt has yet to explain the finger licking

Paddle! Paddle! Paddle!

More pics.

Tuttle Invasion - The Road Map

2010-08-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

Kelsey's comment after my last post got me to thinking that I should probably put up some reference so the rest of you can figure out where all we were going. Since I've been carrying around my GPS lately so I can geotag my photos, I happen to have a log of everywhere we went. This first set of maps is our road trip tracks through Yosemite and Sequoia. The first one shows the whole trip and the following three are the rectangles on the large one zoomed in.

full trip track

day 1 camp and surroundings

day 2 driving

night 2 camp and sequoia

The second set is for all of our adventures around LA and with Dave and Jenny.

around LA

UCLA and Hollywood

Hope this helps!

Tuttle Invasion - Around LA And Another Tuttle!

2010-08-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

We made it safely back to LA late Tuesday night. The rest of the week Woody and Dad spent hanging round town while I worked during the day (though mostly they walked on the beach or napped at my place) then we'd do something in the evening. They'd come and meet me for lunch but wouldn't really eat anything since they'd usually slept in and had a late breakfast (I think Woody cleaned the Blue Butterfly out of Cap'N Crunch). Basically what I'm saying is they were really lazy. But I guess that's what vacation is for and I think LA seemed a little anticlimactic after our road trip. Besides who am I to talk since all I do is sleep when I go back to Walton to visit (as Woody reminded me repeatedly).

Wednesday we had lunch at Rinaldi's (natch), then that night we drove up to Santa Monica and walked around the Promenade and Pier. After we had dinner at El Tarasco (salsa!). Thursday was burgers at Richmond St. for lunch and a drive around the Palos Verdes Peninsula. At one of the vistas, we thought we saw a shark but it turned out to be just the tide covering and uncovering a rock. When we got all the way around the peninsula, we stopped to look down at the Port of Los Angeles, which is immense. Since we were so close to Long Beach, we popped right on down to Roscoe's for a chicken and waffle dinner (except Woody got the chicken and cheese omelette).

boys

Dave had been at UCLA for a conference the latter half of the week, and Jenny was flying in to meet up with him so we picked her up Friday evening from LAX, then jumped on the freeway to grab Dave on the way to a Dodger game. Unfortunately there was no good way to get across town since the 405 had been a complete bumper-to-bumper mess on our way there. I tried the best I could, but we didn't get there until the top of the third or so. The game was fun as usual with just enough of the usual Dodger rowdiness.

it's time for Dodger baseball!

Late the next morning Dad, Woody, and I had some quick coffee then drove back up to Westwood to grab Dave and Jenny for a day of sightseeing. We hit Pink's for an early lunch on our way to Miracle Mile. We stopped at the La Brea Tar Pits then split up for museum-going. Dave and Jenny to LACMA, and we Tuttle men to the Peterson Auto Museum.

decisions, decisions

Dave enjoying his pile of meats

A couple hours there, then I drove us up to Griffith Park and we stopped at the observatory to look out over LA (and get a picture by the Hollywood sign). I took the scenic way home, through Hollywood, and on Sunset to the ocean. I can't remember where or even if we ate dinner (but I'm pretty sure we did). Shortly thereafter, we dropped Dave and Jenny's stuff at their hotel, and took Woody and Dad to catch their return flight at LAX. The McIntoshs had a midday flight Sunday so we hit up The Kettle in Manhattan Beach for a filling brunch before they left.

the gang

I can honestly say I was pretty beat by the time it was all done, but I'd do it over again in a heartbeat. Thanks so much to all of you for visiting. And come again any time. Miss you all as always.

Last of the pics!

Tuttle Invasion - Day 3

2010-08-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

We all managed to get a good night's sleep even after the bear sighting the night before. At least I did. I didn't ask the others. But they seemed awake enough in the morning (the evening drive home would be a whole other story), so I figured it was safe to assume they did too. Hey, I figure. It's what I do.

And it's a good thing they did too, because I was about to wear them out with the most strenuous day of sightseeing yet. After a quick breakfast, we walked over to the Muir Grove trailhead and hit the trail to the big trees. It was about 9am, so it was nice and cool, and early enough that not many people were out and about. This trail is one of my favorite hikes ever. Just a couple miles, but steep enough in some areas to get your heart going a little. About halfway through there's a nice rock outcropping looking over a wooded valley that is nice to take a break at for a few minutes. After that, there is a rocky section, but once you cross over the first creek, a lush, green, ferny foliage blanket covers each side of the trail. There is a log crossing another creek, and then just a few switchbacks opening up into the grove of Sequoias. The grove is fairly hidden, so it's a bit of a surprise encountering the first Sequoia. But after you do, man, it is cool. It's a little secluded and is a much preferable way to see some big trees than the Giant Forest Museum with its sidewalks, and buses, and crowds.

all I could think of was Harry & the Hendersons

Muir Grove

Muir Grove Hike from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

After some spending a half hour or so marveling at and walking around the grove, we hiked back down to camp and packed up our things. Next we decided we wanted to do the guided tour of Crystal Cave. We got tickets and drove down the narrow, windy road 13 miles to the cave parking lot. Then walked another half mile (and 30 stories elevation) down to the cave entrance. It's about a 45 minute guided tour, and one of the nicest parts about it is the cool air, a welcome reprieve from the hot summer waiting for us outside. It gets tight in places and Woody's flashlight died, but we managed to survive the tour (and the horrible comedy attempts by the tour guide).

woody realizes his flashlight is out

woody enjoying the tour

After a dreadful lunch at the Visitors Center (actually I think this was before the tour, but I'm not much for rewrites, more of a stream of consciousness writer, just kind of putting down whatever comes to mind, like how I'm thinking of that time I left my lunchbox outside the cafeteria for something like 3 weeks in third grade, and it was all stinky and moldy, and I think the office had to make an announcement for me to come and get it, and it had these cartoon sharks on it, or was that my art box? I really can't remember but anyway, yeah lunch was probably before the cave tour), we drove over to Moro Rock, and hiked the short, but steep trail up to the top. Actually it was more like a run; I think Woody and Dad need to work on their hike pacing because they were leaving me in their dust. The top of Moro Rock offers a panoramic view of the surround hills and the winding roads of the park. The way down was a lot easier of course, but Woody and Dad thought that maybe they had had enough hiking for the day.

Tuttles at the top. boosh.

crazy trail

Which was fine by me. In any case, the next activity was more car-centric, namely driving through / under Tunnel Log. It's fairly self explanatory from the pictures below. Letting Woody drive was probably a violation of the rental agreement, but I told him not to run into anything and if he thought someone was going to run into him just through it in park real quick so he isn't technically "driving". That works, right? Right?

iconic

The last stop of the day before the long drive back to El Segundo was The Giant Forest Museum. We looked around the museum quickly (it's really only one room, the museum is mostly the trees outside I think), and then strolled down the Big Trees Trail (though even I was tired of walking at this point). We walked about a quarter mile to just about where the trail hits the road and figured we would turn around and head back, but we decided to just cross the road before we did. There was a small crowd gathered around on the other side looking into the woods. We couldn't figure out what everyone was staring at, but then two little girls pointed us to where a mama bear and two cubs were laying around in the brush 15 yards away. We stuck around and saw the three bears head off deeper into the woods with bear management personnel trying to scare them away from the road. Sure glad we didn't turn around earlier.

spot the bears?

After that we started down the road out of the park and into the heat of the flatlands below. We stopped for dinner at the Bakersfield IHOP (actually one of many) right next to Buck Owens' Crystal Palace. We were tired and smelly and sweaty and sore, but I think we all thought it worth it.

More pics.

Tuttle Invasion - Day 2

2010-08-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

When I left off last, we had just bedded down at our June Lake campsite. We got up early the next morning because we had a long day ahead of us, and because, well, it's hard to sleep past sunrise when your shelter is a thin synthetic mesh. So, yeah, up early. Had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and Oreos (Dad refused to eat oatmeal without milk - sheesh, princess), then packed up camp before grabbing some gas (and sweetened teas) just outside Yosemite.

It was a long, winding uphill drive to the park entrance at just below 10,000 feet elevation with views of the valleys and foothills below the whole way up. Just a short trip from the entrance drops into the famed Tuolomnee Meadows. We stopped there for a pit stop and stomped around while the prairie dogs played.

Tuolomnee Meadows

After Tuolomnee, we wound through Tioga Pass, alternated rock outcroppings and forest. The views were so beautiful in every direction that even Woody had a hard time falling asleep during the drive. A couple hours later, we start the slow descent into the floor of Yosemite Valley. Coming around the first bend where it is visible is shocking. Just a jaw-dropping site. Fortunately I was prepared so I didn't run the truck off the road and causing a 2,000 foot drop into a flaming ball of metal. This was the first time I was seeing it from the North side which somehow looks totally different.

Tioga Pass

Yosemite Valley from the north

I was planning on doing a little bit of hiking around the valley, but I couldn't manage to get my gear boxes into the bear extra bear boxes. Which was really odd since I was sure I brought them there before (Jeff reminded me that we had to turn them upside down to get them to fit). So with a truck bed full of food and drinks, we couldn't really take off for anywhere else. Which was fine anyway, because the valley was crammed full of visitors as is the case in summer. We made a few stops on the way out, checking out one of the meadows and searching for climbers on El Cap.

El Cap

Yosemite Valley from the south

It was a short drive out of the park from there, but a long, HOT stretch of road through the rolling hills of Fresno (I think it peaked at 101 - quite a difference from our 40 degree night). Once we hit Fresno, we turned East and headed for Sequoia National Forest where we would be camping that night. The road is steep uphill for a seemingly impossible distance before hitting the park entrance. After following a stubborn RV for about 30 minutes, we finally arrived at the campsite, tired and hungry. We received the obligatory "bear talk" from the Ranger on duty, which I thought was overdone quite a bit more than normal. Out of the Ranger's earshot, I told Dad and Woody they were just trying to scare people, but still to keep things locked up (mostly so I didn't get fined).

Quickly we set up camp and got dinner going. As we're sitting around enjoying the campfire post-meal, two dear gallop through the campground, passing by us no more than 20 yards away. Night falls and I start taking some long exposure shots of the black overhead. About 30 minutes later we start hearing a racket being made by campers up the hill from us. Flashlights shining everywhere, whistles blowing, banging pots and pans like it's New Year's Day. After about 15 minutes of this we realize that the Rangers talk might have been more than just a scare tactic. I was a couple minutes into a 15 minute exposure, but I thought to myself after that shot I would get my flash set up and my camera ready in case anything came near. Dad waited around for a few more minutes, but things seemed to be dying down with the bear alert so he climbed in the tent. Literally just two minutes later, the racket starts and all of a sudden the light beams are much closer. Shining down from the hill above, they illuminate a large black bear, and we watch the silhouette rumble through the campsite next to hours. Pretty exciting. Dad popped his head out of the tent, but it was already gone, lumbering down the hill. Woody and I stayed up a little while longer, but no more signs other than noise from alerted campers, getting further and further away.

wildlife visitors

taken while bear ran by; so close

More pics.

Tuttle Invasion - Day 1

2010-08-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last week was the years-in-the-making trip to LA for Dad and Woody. We had tried it the last couple of years, but things got busy, and it just didn't work out. But this year, they were determined to make it, if only to get away from finishing the porch remodel. Just kidding. Kind of.

They had about a week to spend here in LA, and the only real request from the two was to get out and see some of California. Dad wanted to see the big trees and the Pacific, and Woody was noncommittal on everything. Except he wanted to sleep a lot. Not kidding. They had a late flight in Saturday night, and we hit the road early Sunday morning to head into the Wilderness. Yes, capital "W." Boosh.

It was a pretty ambitious plan I laid out, requiring about 1,000 miles of driving over the three days. But I wanted them to see a lot, and I think we accomplished that. The first day was a long drive up the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas into the Inyo National Forest just outside Yosemite National Park. It was a long, but scenic drive up US 395. We stopped in Lone Pine for some pictures below Mt. Whitney, and for some greasy, cheesy pizza in Lone Pine.

Lone Pine; foothills of the Eastern Sierra

US 395

Eventually we arrived at June Lake, a vomitously beautiful (yes, I nearly threw up it was so pretty) area nestled in the outskirts of Inyo. We set up camp quickly because I wanted to stop by nearby Mono Lake, famous for it's salt-filled protrusions and fly swarms. It was a really interesting place, full of very strange wildlife (according to the Visitors Center), but what I will remember most is the nasty smell.

June Lake

After our stop there, we headed back to camp and beautiful June Lake, where Woody and I went for a dip in the cool (VERY cool) waters. The water was incredibly clear and strangely silky. What a refreshing swim it was once one got used to the temperature. But a few minutes drying in the mountain sun had me warm again.

afternoon swim in June Lake

Then it was back to camp again for steak dinners, and some early evening star gazing. Dad and Woody crashed out pretty early, but I walked down to the lake again for a few night photos. I didn't take too long though, because we had another long day ahead.

More pics.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

2010-07-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

As last year was such a rollicking good time, I couldn't resist going back to Walton again this your for Independence Day. And it seems to work really well in getting all us out-of-towners together at once since it's about halfway from Christmas. Now, spending the 4th in SoCal with beaches and sun and so much to do is great and all, don't get me wrong, but something about north central Indiana just seems so appropriate for the holiday. Backyards, BBQs, room for your own fireworks display... or maybe just the unbearable humidity. Maybe all of them.

And as far as the independent spirit, it's hard to beat a small town parade. Particularly one whose tractors outnumber the population.

John Deere train

johnny goes marching

Little Riley has officially entered the baseball portion of his life. Given more than two seconds of down time, he will without fail suggest someone go pitch to him (he's not real keen on fielding yet). I expect this phase to pass in 35 years or so when his hamstrings tighten up and he's sore for a week after playing a few innings.

keeps the power diamond intact

I actually decided to pitch in (kinda) with all the delicious food this year. It was more of a selfish experiment than an attempt to pitch in, but let's not split hairs. I decided to try grinding my own hamburger. And after learning it takes about 20 minutes per pound to grind the stuff, I think if I ever do it again it will be in limited quantity. Burgers weren't too bad - a little dry and lean - but thankfully we had about 80 pounds of BBQ from Gary.

grindin'

finished product

The men folk decided to up the ante a little from last year fireworks-wise. I'm not sure if it was because we were doing them at the Johnsons out of town or if we had to move them because we bought so many. It's a whole chicken and egg thing. Then again, maybe we just got a little carried away at the store. Whatever the reason it was worth it as it was awesome, even if it went a little late for some people.

the stash

the stash in action

But all the above considered, the best part is being around family and those I love. And it's not even close. Miss you all.

More pics.

And a video of Riley.

Riley Jumps In The Pool - II from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

School's Out

2010-06-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm going to pull a cop out on this one. Here's the thing... I'm way behind on posting, and the subject of this post is the least proximate, chronologically speaking. Can you even mix proximity with chronology? Well, I just did. Unfortunately, it is likely also the most unforgivable for not giving its proper due. But I'm behind on posts and there does not appear to be any let up in activity now that the summer has started (I just made three more tees and there are more after that). And with a camping trip this weekend and heading home for the Fourth after that, yeah, you get my point.

Anyway... Kelsey got to come out here again in May after her semester was over and before the summer session started. As always, we had a great time - got to see a Dodger game, plus Naja's and the beach. No plans too grandiose, just a nice relaxing time together.

yup, read it

Sorry this post is so short, but I needed to post these pics.

Rollin'

2010-06-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I have been talking for some time about riding the Strand in its entirety. The Strand is the bike / ped path along the beach in the South Bay. It winds it's way from Rat Beach in Torrance up through the beach cities, through Venice and Santa Monica, and just into Malibu. Sure, it sounds scenic and leisurely, but all that beauty comes at a price. The path is more than twenty miles long. One way. And while it's not much in the way of up and down, peddling my 30 pound American steel single-speed cruiser is akin to riding uphill constantly. But I admit, the pain was part of the attraction for me. It might not be EPIC like traversing the Grand Canyon, it still made for a pretty great and joint-inflaming June morning.

the route

Matt swung by my apartment and I drove us down to Torrance to meet up with Jeff. We started peddling around 7 or so and rode for the better part of the next 5 hours. I was feeling pretty good at the halfway point, but sore butt, thighs, and knees increased exponentially after the turn.

the takeoff

halfway there

not quite as energetic after the second half

We all made it back with varying degrees of discomfort, but no major issues. Jeff finished it pretty easy what with all his "gears" and all, but he did ride the hills up to his house after so that upped his degree of difficulty.

finished

sweet relief

Easily my favorite part was that the cafe at the end was serving root beer floats that day. All in all it wasn't too awful. I'll probably do it again sometime this summer. But I'll have to figure out a better video setup than what I had this time. Maybe work on that DIY isolation system.

Strand Bike Ride from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

A few more pics.

Pittsburgh - Day 4

2010-06-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

After three days in Pittsburgh (one and a half of them sightseeing) we had seen virtually all of the top ten attractions. The last suggested (by Yelp, etc.) was the aviary, which, strangely*, was suggested by not only a conglomerate** of websites, but also by one Kelsey Brown.

*I write "strangely" because come to find out (halfway through the tour of the aviary) that Kelsey does not, in fact, like birds on any level. I'm assuming she was thinking of some cute cartoon bird, like in Disney's The Rescuers or The Little Mermaid when she suggested this tour.

**That's for you, B. Meyer.

Those considerations aside, after checking out of the hotel and dropping our bags with the bellhop for the day, we traipsed over to said aviary and we (I) enjoyed gazing and interacting (again, I) with the birds.

Other than the large, black, web-footed bird flying into Kelsey, I've got to say my favorit part was the bald eagles. Those dudes are awesome. I got the feeling they were in the enclosure because they were fine with it. Not because they were in any way constrained by powers beyond themselves. Like they could bust out at any time. Even if the aviary somehow managed to acquire a unicorn exhibit, I doubt I would be so impressed. Maybe ligers would top it.

sorry, kelsey, he's just not that into you

afraid of the poop

best. bird. ever.

the (only) brave lora feeder

At the end of the day, Kelsey and I were ready to leave Pitt, even if not each other. I, for one, had a great time witnessing Kimmer and Emily get hitched, getting to know Brian and Stacy better, getting better acquainted with the steel city, and, of course, spending time with my best gal.

headed west again

The rest of the pics.

Pittsburgh - Day 3

2010-06-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

The previous night's activity accomplished that which we had all set out to do in Pittsburgh, namely, marry off one Emily Petrack to one Kimmer Graham. That being done, everything to follow was just gravy. And those who know me can attest that if there's one thing I love, it's gravy. Mmmmmmmm... gravy.

We had breakfast (hotel buffet) with the Meyers, before seeing them to a taxi. Finally free of the excess baggage of other wedding-goers, Kelsey and I were left to begin the tourist checklist for the greater Pittsburgh area. Our only concern was the whole transportation thing, which had shown to be somewhat, um... problematic in days past. Fortunately, many of the suggested points of interest were within walking distance of the hotel.

We both had the idea of seeing the Andy Warhol Museum, so that was the first stop. Appropriately, we walked across the pedestrian path of the Andy Warhol Bridge (the middle of the Three Sisters Bridges) to get there. The museum itself was quit an interesting place. I'm finding it difficult to conjure up the language to best capture it's essence, but I did really enjoy it. The building is actually on a rather small footprint, but there are at least 7 floors of exhibits. Thinking back upon my experience, I'm realizing that the first floor is pretty tame - showing a lot of his iconic pop works - but things get increasingly strange and bizzare as you ascend each flight of stairs - with the upper floors exhibiting his forays into film, and, yes, taxidermy.

in the lobby of the Andy Warhol Museum

From there we strolled the few blocks between the museum and PNC Park. Turns out there wasn't a great deal to see besides a few very uninteresting bars in the bottom floor of commercial buildings. We spent some time lounging about the riverside boardwalk and parks, before crossing back to the downtown side of the river. A game was in sessions, so we got to walk across the closed-to-traffic bridge (The Roberto Clemente?) on the way to find food downtown. I have to admit walking on the closed off bridges never got old for me. Easily one of my favorite things about Pittsburgh.

riverfront parks; looking downtown

Our quest to find food quickly turned into a circuitous walk to the oft-visited Primanti Brothers. This was not our first choice, or even on the list at all really. But for whatever reason, every interesting place our smartphones pointed us to was shuttered or appeared to never exist. This reminded me a lot of my experience in Jacksonville this winter, I wondered if this was a recent development due to the economic downturn (though there did seem to be a considerable effort to improve the downtown area). In any case, we had a quick bite and pint and went back to the hotel to regroup before the evening.

kelsey amusing herself; the bright spot of our dining search

It was decided that we would walk over to the incline around dusk, and then continue on to the Southside for dinner and whatnot. There are two inclines that ferry riders up and down the hillside of Mt. Washington on pairs of tracked vehicles. It's a pretty neat concept, and the cars and stations are a very well-maintained piece of history. Of course, we had to walk over yet another bridge to get there, which was fine by me.

Upon arriving at the unmanned bottom station, we came to learn that exact change was required, of which we were just the tiniest bit short. Not only that, but we didn't even have any bills small enough to be accepted by the change-making machine there. Not to worry, as we passed an outdoor mall and dining center just a couple blocks back. Or so I thought, because as this was a Sunday, the mall and all of the small shops conducive to gum purchasing and change making were closed. Left with no other choice, we stepped into the gift shop of the Pittsburgh Hard Rock Cafe. As you might expect if you've been to a Fill-In-The-Blank Hard Rock Cafe gift shop, it's actually hard to get change there because even the smallest items in there will tend to require all of your larger bills and leave you with very little of that all important change. Sigh. I ended up the proud new owner of an $8 applique patch that I will never sew, pin, or glue onto anything. Actually, Kelsey is the proud owner, I believe. But nevertheless, we did obtain that elusive exact change required for our voyage up the Monongahela Incline, and all of the previous paragraph considered, I've got to say it was probably worth it.

The ride is actually quite a bit longer than I surmised from the bottom (as is often the case), and one is afforded what is likely the best view in the city as the counterweight of the oppositely directed car pulls you uphill. A block up from the top station is an overhanging lookout where tourists like us can congregate for a prime photo op.

approaching top station

After taking full advantage of the lookout opportunties given us, we rode the incline down (should it be a decline from this perspective?). We had hoped to come across a cab at the mall at the bottom in spite of all that we had learned in the previous three days. Our hopes dashed, we enlisted the help of the concierge desk at the hotel nearby. After calling us a cab, the concierge informed us at just how awful was the cab situation in town. No kidding. But we did get a ride to the Southside and had a really good dinner at The Double Wide Grill (after some wait - Kelsey was getting very worried we wouldn't get food) and stopped in Fatheads a few blocks down for a pint before calling it a night. Somehow we lucked into a cab ride back to the hotel without too much wait, and retired to the room exhausted. But not too exhausted to sample the Graham/Petrack commemorative wine.

More pics. You know where.

Pittsburgh - Day 2

2010-06-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last I left you , Kelsey had just ordered the ill-conceived Perogie Pizza. I was, perhaps, the minority opinion in my distaste for this dish, but in all fairness, the girls only liked it once they poured / spilled a half bottle of hot sauce on it. It is my opinion that once you put a half bottle of hot sauce on something, it retains very little of its own essence and becomes just a vessel for the sauce caliente. And by this rationale, I arrive at the conclusion that only my opinion matters. Per usual.

Which brings us to the big day. Well the big day for Emily and Kimmer. My "big day" was actually the baseball game the night before. I kid, I kid. I was very much looking forward to the wedding and had a great time. Mostly.

See the thing about Pittsburgh cab drivers is, they suck. Well, to be more accurate, they suck unless you're giving them a large fare to/from the airport. We got turned down by two different cabs trying to get from the hotel to the wedding. Apparently the cabmen were reluctant to remove their piles of junk from the front passenger seat, insisting that they could only take three (this is not legal by the way, but we didn't have time to file a lawsuit). Mind you these were both Yellow Cab drivers; the much smaller outfit Classy Cab was much more accommodating. So we called Classy Cab and had a ride shortly thereafter.

The wedding was set a beautiful but understated church in a quaint neighborhood eight miles from downtown. It was a very nice ceremony, and things (from my perspective, anyway) seemed to go off without a hitch. Wait, they did get hitched. Let me rephrase... Things seemed to have went without incident.

for better or worse (my money's on on better)

bubble time

The incidents would be for us, after the ceremony. As we out-of-towners had taken a cab out, when people started to depart for the reception, we called for another cab. The once reliable Classy Cab refused our fare based on that we weren't headed back into the city, but to the reception. Yellow Cab agreed, but only after I got an earful on how the person before me had given them an alternate address for the same location (turns out the other party was using the other street - church was on a corner). So wait we did for the 30 minutes Yellow Cab said it would take for the car to arrive. Check that, we waited for 20 minutes at which point Kelsey became impatient and called back the cab company.

patience is a virtue... but not a requirement

Turns out this wasn't a bad thing, as the dispatcher informed us that the cab sent for us had turned around. Apparently another Ryan had called back and said he would be at the Shell Station? Yes, this is what we were told. They promised to send another cab out, and we started the waiting game again. For those of you who don't know, I'll inform you, and for those of you who do, I'll remind you that Brian and my dates are not, how do you say, long on patience. Things were getting tense. Fifteen minutes go by, at which time friends of Kelsey's turn back into the church parking lot, unsuccessful in their attempt to navigate the winding roads of Western PA.

No problem. In exchange for a ride, I was happy to provide directions from my iPhone's GPS feature. I punched in the address for the reception, but, sadly, this bit of technology only made a marginal improvement to the situation. Driving through a light rain through multiple detours and me guessing at directions from the backseat of the minivan unable to see road signs, we eventually arrive at what we think is the Masonic Center, but, perplexingly, no sign of any other wedding attendees, save one couple in a pickup who say this is where their GPS directed them as well.

At this point, I decide it best to kick it old school and look at the directions provided from church to reception hall. Turns out, we were at a Masonic Center... just not the one we're looking for. Reading the directions over, I realize that the correct location is just a short ways from the church, not the eight additional miles away from town as my phone believed. I manage to direct us back along the right path with the other wedding-goers following behind. While everyone else in the van was figuring we would be obscenely late (this is well beyond fashionably late) to the reception, I figured things would be all right. So how surprised were they all to see that just blocks from the destination, the trolley carrying the wedding party peels off the highway and directly in front of us. Perfect. Timing. I knew it all along.

sure, it's funny now

Finally at the reception, we had a grand time, dancing and eating and drinking and reveling through the night. Kimmer and Emily are such a fun couple, and the whole day was a perfect reflection of that. And they provided bus service back to the hotel to boot, so we were quit thankful for that. Although, I'm pretty sad still that Kelsey left our cookie box in our seats (also perhaps her jacket, but I'm personally less sad about that - jackets taste awful).

picture of us (for Mom)

dancing the night away

she's lost that loving feeling

Kimmer and Emily used several of the photos Kelsey and I took
at Christmas for their guestbook; I played it cool with Kelsey
then, but secretly I felt honored

The party went on into the night back at the hotel, though I admit, I did not sustain until the end. Though, Kelsey and I did provide sustenance to those who did by going out on what might be the best pizza run of all time.

best of luck, Grahams

More pics here (again).

Pittsburgh - Day 1

2010-06-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well May came and went. I did a lot of stuff, but haven't been able to finish a single post. But in my defense, you don't write this blog, so shut up. So in an effort to keep this blog somewhat current, I'm starting with the latest May activities, and I'll have to fill in the earlier stuff at a later time as "retro" blog posts.

Last weekend, Kelsey and I met in Pittsburgh for a wedding. We decided to extend our trip a couple days beyond the wedding since we were both taking the time to fly in. We (I) arranged our flights to arrive as close as possible, so we were able to share a cab ride from the airport to our hotel downtown. There we met Kelsey's co-BFF, Stacy, and her husband, Brian, with whom we would be attending the Pirates game later, and generally spending the weekend... once Kelsey and Stacy stopped shrieking and hopping and hugging.

Hungry before the game and preferring not to get gouged by ballpark food prices (even though we would later anyway), we walked over to Primanti Brothers, whose gimmick seems to be "a meal in a sandwich." Ultimately what this means is that they put what would normally be considered "sides" in the between the bread. Interesting, to be sure.

bff's

The ballpark was just a ten minute walk from there, across the river. A very cool thing about Pirates games is that the bridge between downtown and the ballpark is shut down for motorists to allow game-goers to walk across. PNC Park is one of the newer fields in the league and is now ranked annually as one of the best places to experience a MLB game. I'm assuming this is based solely on the aesthetics and features of the park and not the actual play of the Pirates. The best evidence of this being that our $25 tickets were about 15 rows from the field between home and first.

over the river and to the game

the cheap seats

The game was great fun (Braves won handily), highlighted by two Jumbotron appearances: Kelsey and Stacy dancing between innings, and Brian and Stacy on the Kiss Cam. Also some dude may or may not have one a sweet Andy Van Slyke jersey, so that's pretty cool.

jumbotron!

kiss cam!

After the game we met some other wedding goers and Kelsey ordered one of the strangest pizzas I've ever had. Then back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's wedding festivities.

More pics.

Monkeys, Possums, Baseball, Records, and Other Crap

2010-04-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

Lately, my day-to-day life has been largely routine. The addition of regular exercise to my schedule is eating into some of the time that I used to spend on my hobbies and projects. Yes, that still leanves me most of the weekend, but my weekends are often unproductive. Who can say why? But since you're all dying to know, I will share a few little things I've done or that have happened recently.

A couple weeks ago I received my recent Random Crap (aka Bag of Crap, BOC, etc.) order from Woot!. You might recall how awesomely crappy my last Crap was. Or the usefully crappy first crap. Or maybe not. This crap (my third crap) was not nearly as awesome or useful. While my previous craps were consisted largely of second-hand crap, this crap was (almost?) entirely new. So while condition-wise it was less crappy, it was, in the end, crappier crap. [Sigh]... Crap.

crap: blank brown tee, pink Lego brick style iPod speaker,
mini tripod, Jonas Brothers branded PMP case

This was, to my recollection, the only crap I managed to get by non-riddled methods. I got it fair and square in the latest Woot! off. Thanks Growl! Maybe my crappy success has gone to my head, but this is actually not the item I anticipated most during the Woot! off. That honor belongs to the much rumored Glow-In-The-Dark Superfly Monkey With Woot! Cape. Phew. That's a mouthful. Er... a keyboard full? But alas, it was not to be as the Woot! off came and went sans monkeys. But, mere days later the albino idol popped up in the entertaining Woot! Your Own Adventure, and through wise decisions and internet-ty perseverance, I scored a few. "In for three" as the Woot!-ers say. If you missed 'em, they can be had on eBay or the like at a significant mark up (very non-Woot! behavior).

GITDSMWWC hanging out on my desk with
gnome and hula girl (get it? hanging?)

doing what GITDSMWWCs do best on my dresser

Perhaps the growing collection of caped primates are attracting other wildlife to my apartment because as I stepped out of my truck early one evening last week, I was startled by the hissings of a baby possum. I'm sure he was rabies-laden (Myth! Rabies kills three people every year!), but he was kinda awesome-looking nonetheless. Had a real nice look going with that crazy white spikey do.

with my iPhone after i got out of my truck

went into grab my big camera, but he decided to run off

then he changed directions and ran into the pile of crap in my car port

I caught my first baseball game of the year. Erik and I drove out to Irvine to see the first game of a 3-game series with CSU Fullerton. We sat out in the General Admission lawn (parking was more expensive than the game ticket) and saw a back-and-forth battle ending in an Anteaters walk-off homer. Since Emily and Jack were out of town, I also managed to get Erik out to a Pinkie's beer dinner and other bachelor activities.

UCI vs CSUF: earth bleachers

Saturday I jumped in the way back machine and strode in the doors of my local audio purveyor for National Record Store Day. (What? You didn't know?) And, yes, I actually threw done a few bones for actual vinyl. I've been wanting to get some more after Kelsey got me that sweet Tom Petty Live anthology for Christmas. I grabbed The Best Of The Band (by The Band, duh) and Wilco's Sky Blue Sky. Now all I need is an actual record player. Anyone know when that holiday is?

like a real record store, man

fresh wax (is that lingo right?)

Funny thing about this record store is it's on the corner of a street that is only about a half block long in its entirety, but somehow is home to what had to be at least 10 hair-related shops. A salon oasis of sorts. Very odd, but I enjoyed it.

see?!?!?!

I typed this entire blog while watching the Cardinals game with my new MLB.TV subscription. I bought it this weekend and was really pumped until I tried to tune into Saturday's game. Apparently due to national TV contracts all weekend games are blacked out online. Ridiculous. Sure it's right there in the fine print, but who reads that? This bummed me out for a couple days, but I talked myself into it tonight, figuring if I can get 30-40 games this summer it will be money well spent. The streaming quality is much better than last year's postseason, except it stalls completely when I upload pictures to this here blog, so I put all that off until..... now.

Again! Again!

2010-04-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

When I sat down to write this post, the first thing I did was look back at my last post. Funny enough, this post is about nearly the exact same subject. Simply replace Kelsey's winter recess with Kelsey's spring break, and voila! So this could be taken to mean that either a) my whole life revolves around my girlfriend now or b) my girlfriend takes up so much of my time that I rarely get to blog. The answer is actually none of the above. In actuality, I am writing fewer posts in attempt to shrink time. By writing the same number of posts in two months time that used to be polished off in a week, I am projecting the 6-8 weeks between dates to the mere matter of a few days. And this works because, as we all know, my life truly revolves around my blog. Did any of that make sense? No? Good.

With the undeniable similarity if these two trips I thought it only appropriate that we took a do-over jaunt to Santa Barbara. (In truth I only set up our trip there to provide the witty blog intro you read above.) If you recall, the New Year's trip there did not turn out so well, what with me vomiting violently and all. The plan was to take a couple nice hikes I researched that week, then head in to town for dinner and a night on the town. The "night on the town" part being surprise tickets to see Zac Brown Band in concert. My plan was to just happen along the concert after dinner and smoothly pull the tickets out of my pocket, but I ruined all that, naturally, by forgetting the tickets in the hotel room when we left for dinner. Whoops. While unimpressed with my execution of it, I believe she did appreciate the sentiment.

hiking through the flowers

hanging out in Gaviota wind caves

cave with an ocean view

zac brown band

Although I may lack executive skill, the planning of these things should undoubtedly be left to me, as Kelsey's only suggestion during the trip was a side trip to the Old Dutch town of Solvang. It took us 90 minutes and two ice cream cones to recognize it for the tourist trap that it is.

Dutch Town

The remainder of Kelsey's visit seemed to revolve mostly around eating unhealthy foods (probably my fault), but we did take a lot of walks (Kelsey's influence). Among the places we feasted were: world's best donuts at Randy's, the perfect meal at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles, burgers, ice cream sandwiches and friends at Umami Burger, trays of delicious raw fish at Club Sushi, and incredible piles of flapjacks at the Original Pancake House. But best of all, Chef Kelsey cooked a delicious dinner one night, proving that she is an excellent cook and that my oven works.

top chef

Kelsey, please come back any time, as much as you like. Just give me a few hours notice so I can pick up all my dirty laundry.

More pics.

The Real L.A.

2010-02-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

Coming back to LA after Christmas this year, I had a lot more than I left with, good and bad. Bad being that my bag was ten pounds over weight which meant a $90 fee (on top of the normal checking fee), and good being Kelsey came along with me for a visit. Ma and Pa Brown were generous enough to include airfare as part of Kelsey's Christmas gift. So she got to spend a week or so of her winter break out here with me.

Kelsey had been here before, and was less than impressed. Actually, other than a few insulting monikers, the only thing she seemed to remember about L. A. was the awful traffic. Clearly it was up to me to defend the honor of Southern California. In short introduce her to "Ryan's L. A."

An integral part of "Ryan's L. A." is, of course, Ryan's peeps. Justin and Jill met us for dinner one night (though I can't remember where), and then we came back to my place and all played on our iPhones. Come to find out the three of them also do the YMCA while I'm in the bathroom.

i don't know; it's what they do i guess

For New Year's Eve, we met Matt and Beth up in Santa Barbara. I drove us up through Malibu and along the coast, arriving in town a little early to walk around State St. and enjoy the afternoon. We met Matt and Beth at our hotel, just across the street from the beach. We all chatted for a while (I seem to recall everyone was picking on me) then retired the rooms to change in preparation for the evening festivities. The plan was to have dinner at the steakhouse in the resort, then head downtown to ring in the new year. Dinner was an excellent 4-course prix fixe (steak was fantastic, though I won't order the meringue again). The four of us hopped a cab, and the cabbie dropped us at his recommended watering hole, Joe's Cafe. We sidled up to the bar to grab a round. It was there we met the coaches for New Zealand's Under-20 rugby team who proceeded to bug us the rest of the night. Still we had a ball and with much effort found a cab to take us back after midnight.

revelers at joe's cafe, santa barbara

...Which is right when things took a turn for the worse. The stomach flu had raged through my family and Kelsey the week before. I had been lucky enough to avoid during my visit home. Apparently, only just that long as I began vomiting immediately upon arriving back at the hotel. As this thing goes, I continued to vomit for the next 24 hours, including the 2-hour drive back to LA (Kelsey drove admirably if a little nervous). She also sat patiently with me that day as we loafed around my apartment, me just moaning on the couch or dry heaving in the bathroom (sorry, no pics from that day). Some vacation, eh, Kels? And sorry I had to cancel the camping, I'll make it up to you.

But the next morning I was fine again, so we went out for a BIG breakfast at The Ketle (I think I still managed to eat less than Kelsey, evn though I was starving from not eating the previous day) and took a walk around Manhattan Beach. Then I took us for a drive around the becahes and cliffs of Palos Verdes and down to San Pedro to kick around the parks (Pt. Fermin and Korean Bell). Then stopped home to grab some sodas and root beers and up north to one of my favorite spots, Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Park. It's a pretty, green park in the middle of an oil and industrial area, an oasis of sorts, and has a spectacular view of downtown L.A. and the Hollywood Hills. The view that day was spectacularly clear as recent rains had washed away the particulate layer that hovers over the city. We just layed around for a couple hours, talking and goofing off with the cameras. All that goofing off really worked up our appetites, fortunately it was just a short drive to Father's Office 2 from there for the world's best burger (seriously).

manhattan beach pier (and kelsey)

picnicking at hahn srp (downtown in background)

again (hollywood in back)

life-altering burger

From there the days all run together for me, but I do remember seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D (Kelsey's a huge nerd), meeting the work group for lunch at Rinaldi's, dinner at El Tarasco with Gwen, and spending an afternoon walking around Laguna Beach. So, yeah, pretty great visit. Can't wait to do it again in about two weeks.

laguna beach

playing in the sand

As always, more pics.

Home For Christmas

2010-02-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas is easily one of my favorite times of the year. I get to go home and see all my family and some friends. This year was just that much better because I got to visit a special friend (hint, she's a girl, yes!). I know Christmas was about six weeks ago (happy Valentine's Day), and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it, but hey, get off my back. I've been real busy. Besides, don't you all have something better to do? No? OK, read on then...

It was so good to be back home and see all the familiar faces. Actually, because they are growing so fast, a couple faces are only just familiar (and not the same old faces I see every year - I kid, I kid). Rease is changing and growing fast. And she is getting to where she is really developing her own personality (and not a boring newborn that just lays there and sleeps and cries - ay, this post is taking on a harsh tone, oh well, roll with it). She's actually pretty cute and kind of hilarious sometimes. And Riley well, he's just growing into more personality. Gotta love the kid though. Actually, if you're Kelsey, you could love him a little less. Talking about your boyfriend a little more, and not so much of the Riley. Kapeesh?

the kids

The Tuttles weren't the only family around though. We were fortunate to have Ivens (our former foreign exchange student) and the Gomes family in town for a few days. They spent Christmas with us and took part in all the yelling, laughing, eating, pinata breaking, and other traditional Christmas activities. I also spent considerable time at the Browns, who were very generous and welcoming and an all around pleasure to be around. They are, after all, the only ones who help me keep Kelsey in check (not so at the Tuttle home - everyone gangs up on me poor me). Kelsey was also gracious enough to bring me around to meet some of her friends, who all welcomed me very warmly. Thank you.

mealtime with the tuttles and gomes

the browns: bruce, reta, bear

post-christmas haps

christmas pinata

All in all, it was a great time, and I only wish it could last longer. I miss all of you. More photos.

The Aftermath (For Me That Happened To Be Study Hall)

2009-12-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

When last I left you, Kelsey and I had just had brunch at her parents the post-wedding Sunday. I had booked my return flight for Tuesday morning, which left a couple days to visit with the family and do the usual tour of food and soda. We managed to hit the usual spots: Mr. Happy Burger (probably a couple times), Bruno's, and even the last day for B&K (even if it had to be West - right Micah?). Even got a home-cooked meal too (thanks, Ma). Kelsey was game enough to stick around for most of it too. Which was great aside from her coining the phrase "Lazy Uncle Ryan." Not appreciated; you're supposed to be on my side. I don't have much else to say except that it was so great to see you all, as usual, and a special thanks to Kelsey for being brave enough to weather the storm that is the Tuttles. Can't wait to see you all in a little over a week. I'll leave you with some of my favorites pics, and if that doesn't seem like enough, well, you can always stop by here.

trip to the pumpkin patch with the

ever-entertaining Riley

little wallabies

Uncle Ryan

a couple cuties

Plus One

2009-11-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

So a couple posts ago I told you all about my new gal Kelsey and out first date out there in San Francisco. If you recall - and I'm sure you all do as you likely pour over each of my posts to the point that it's committed to memory - that actually wasn't supposed to be our first date. She had done me the great honor of granting me the privledge of being her companion to the wedding of her (and my) friend Betsy. I guess you could say that Betsy and Kelsey were closer than, say, Betsey and I. The best evidence of this fact being that Kelsey was in the wedding and I was, ahem... uninvited. Now I've been to a few weddings in recent history, but this one was quite different because (a) it wasn't for one of my sisters, (b) I wasn't responsible for doing anything - see (a), and (c) I got to go with a gorgeous young woman. I win.

I decided to fly in a night early and try and see some old friends from my days at Lewis Cass. We all met up in Indy at Ise's bar for dinner and drinks. We had such a time talking about who knows what; I just remember I was laughing the whole time. So great to see everyone and very generous of Ise (I don't think any of us paid much, and I personally didn't pay for a thing - thanks, Deet). Definitely something we should start doing more often.

the gang

After crashing with Deeter for the night (thanks again, Deet) I headed up towards Kokomo for the wedding festivities, stopping to take care of a few errands on the way. Last being dropping off my rental car where Kelsey picked me up. We stopped off to drop our things - and by drop our things, I mean drop my bag and somehow try to corrall the unsorted contents of Kelsey's trunk together long enough to get them in the hotel (seriously, you're organized?) - before heading to the rehearsal.

The rehearsal was very smooth and quick (didn't seem to be near as many people talking at once as at the other rehearsals I've been to), but then I just had to sit in the back and keep quiet, so it's possible I slepth through a large portion. Kidding. From there it was on to a very nice rehearsal dinner at the Half Moon (?) Brewery. P.S. I had the brisket. Kelsey's parents made it over after to visit, and it was a lot fun hanging out with them and all the wedding party, family, etc.

rehearsal

Saturday morning I was on my own as Kelsey was off doing whatever it is bridal parties do, so I got to sleep in and catch just a little bit of football before departing for the church. The ceremony was really beautiful and everyone involved performed admirably. I was able steal a few moments with Kelsey (who looked so pretty) after the ceremony before she got whisked away with the rest of the contingency for picture time. It was at this point I should have realized how brisk and windy it was outside and offered up my jacket, but I can be pretty dense. I lose.

kelsey (on the right)

With an hour or so to kill before the reception, the Parents Brown and I found a lounge to watch a little football. Once at the reception I began to see a bunch of friendly faces from days gone by (most of which I even remembered). The food was actually excellent, and everyone seemed to be having a rollicking good time. Including Kelsey, who was officially listed in the wedding program as "Friend of the bride: bridesmaid and life of the party." I'm not making this up. Fortunately, I wasn't required to keep up with her at the reception and was free to take pictures and eat cake. We've all got to play to our strengths, right?

bride and groom

life of the party

Kelsey's parents were so kind and made a huge breakfast for us at their house the next morning. It was all delicious. Then we drove over to my parents where we would spend the larger portion of the next two days. But more on that later. Until then, there are more wedding pics here.

Spoiler Alert

2009-11-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

I have the most difficult time with automated sinks. I don't know what it is about me, but I wave may hands all around and it takes forever* for it to come on. I'll even try different sinks, and look for one that is already wet so I know it's not broken. The most recent time was in the airport last week. Then it came to my mind, "I wonder if I'm a ghost like Bruce Willis in the Sixth Sense?" I decided likely not since I have no trouble with the automated toilets and hand dryers. Something weird about them sinks, though, man.

Strictly Bluegrass? Hardly.

2009-11-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

The title above this text describes not only my musical preferences, but also an insanely entertaining music festival I had the pleasure of attending last month. (Guess I haven't been great at the whole blogging thing lately.) So the name of the thing is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (HSB henceforth) and has been occurring every October in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Man, what a beautiful backdrop for some great music. But first let me set the table with some backstory...

I had actually been planning on going to the music festival for a few months. I had wrangled (or so I thought) some friends into going along, but as these things tend to go, more and more were dropping out as the date neared. This is not at all meant as a judgment upon those losers who decided not to come. Actually I think the last couple got scared away by a late addition to the concert-going group. Just kidding. Kinda.

So as I alluded to in the preceding paragraph, another music-loving soul decided to go just days in advance of the concert kick-off. I had been talking to a young woman in the preceding weeks, an old friend who I had got in touch with. There remains some debate on how the whole thing started, but the important thing is we had kind of hit it off conversationally through various medium. The culmination of our repartee actually came while I was in Australia and was a gracious invite to me to accompany this beautiful young lady to a wedding later in the fall. Naturally I jumped at the chance. Actually... I kind of talked my way out of getting an invite and had to beg my way back in, but that fact is irrelevant. The point is: I got a date. Boosh.

...the downside being that the date was still months away. Well what's a few weeks compared to years of datelessness? In ever-increasing anticipation (at least on my part) of the date, we continued our conversation which led to the two of us discovering many interests we (surprisingly) had in common. Not the least of which is our taste in music. Naturally I brought up my plans to go to HSB. As my compatriots began to drop away, I casually half-jokingly (but perhaps hopefully as well) suggested that this lady might like to join me for the weekend. To my great surprise and delight, she seriously considered for about a day and then just went for it and bought a plane ticket. (Now I have to confess here that knowing her as little as I did, I did at least know she was a strong-spirited, daring person. I thought this might work in my favor helping her embrace the spontaneity of a last-minute trip across the country.)

Now that the scene is set, let's move forward to that first weekend in October. I had arranged my flights so they would arrive and leave just before and after her out and returns, respectively. And though anxiety would have been an understandable reaction (best we could figure it had been 13 years since we had seen each other - more than half her life, yikes), I can honestly say the only nerves I got were the few minutes I was awaiting her to get off her plane. Thankfully (?), her cruel joke to tell me she never made her connection as I waited shattered that state of mind. She is ornery, to be sure.

But no matter what lies were told, she did stroll shortly thereafter through the gate threshold, and we set off for a weekend of music, food, and fun. We hit it off right away (in my opinion, Kelsey, if you'd like to argue feel free - but I moderate all comments). After a short trip on the BART, we were off to Golden Gate Park to catch the opening night's festivities.

BART ride from the airport; first meeting in over a decade

It took us (read: me) a few minutes to get oriented and figure out the best public transit route (I had not found the ever so helpful Google transit yet) to the park, and we ended up getting off the bus a few blocks early, but that just meant a longer walk through the wooded trails into the center of the park. We both quickly realized western-style boots don't make the best hiking shoes. Eventually we made it to the only open stage that night (there would be up to six going at a time on Saturday and Sunday) to see John Prine and Lyle Lovett. As this was the only stage open, there were thousands of people already there filling up the entire lawn. We ended up propping ourselves against some logs on the far hillside.

I can't really remember, but I'm fairly certain we ended up hailing a cab back downtown. Bus room was hard to come by due to the thousands fleeing the park each night. Unfortunately cabs weren't easy to get as well because cabs don't really head that far west often, either. This situation would result in a perfect storm of frigidity for Kelsey the next night. The weather was amazing all weekend, sunny and warm, little wind... except Saturday night. As soon as we left the park that evening the wind picked up, gusting heavily and carrying with it some very cool air. Kelsey also picked this particular day to wear the lightest clothing she did all weekend. Already a naturally cold person, these factors combined to make it a chilly walk for her. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be a long walk as we schlepped it for more than a mile (my estimate - Kelsey will likely tell you it was more like four, but she tends to exaggerate) before finding a cab back into town. But I must admit, she was a real trooper and never complained through all her shivering.

Back to the festival though, it was just incredible. So many great acts to see (John Prine, Hayes Carll, Old Crow Medicine Show, Robert Earl Keen, Old 97s, the man Todd Snider, and so many more we didn't have time to catch) set against the green meadows of Golden Gate Park with the sun shining down. Incredible I tell you. I have always dreamed about going to Telluride, but even considering it's history and cachet, I think HSB would be hard to top (I'll give it a shot though if anyone out there is interested!). On top of all that, I couldn't have had a better companion with whom to make the trip. FYI, Kelsey is pretty much the master at weaving through a crowd of thousands - literally thousands - to find the spot by the stage just big enough for two to stand. I'm serious. This happened multiple times and without fail.

Hayes Carll w/ Wade Braun of Reckless Kelly

Robert Earl Keen, Jr. (Todd came out
to sing on Corpus Chrisite Boy)

Old Crow Medicine Show

Todd w/ Great American Taxi

So Kelsey, had a short list of "must do's" for the weekend in San Francisco. We tried to knock these out Sunday morning before heading over for the last of the music festival. We rode a street trolley up to Fisherman's Wharf, where we got some sourdough and saw the seals. Then we rode the cable car back downtown before catching the cross-town bus to HSB.

seal clap

riding the cable cars, she had to be in the very front

Monday we had a full day, because someone (mistakenly) booked the red eye back to Indianapolis. But I'm glad she did since it gave us that much more time to see the city. My one regret is that we didn't get to go to all the wonderful restaurants in San Francisco. But the main reason we didn't have time is because we were wearing ourselves out at a spectacular music festival so, no biggie. We breakfasted at the delicious Cafe Kuleto. Best potatoes and grapefruit juice (and eggs Benedict I'm told) ever. Ever. I'm serious. You think potatoes are just potatoes, until... Well, yeah. They were good. Then we headed up to Fisherman's Wharf again because I thought a bus tour would be a good way to see a lot of the city in a short time. We ended only taking one of the tours even though we bought the unlimited day pass - because one bus tour is just the right amount of bus tours - but were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito on the loop.

double decker bus across the Golden Gate

We ended up the weekend taking the BART over to Berkeley so I could stop in at Jupiter (for pizza and beers) and whatever the gelato place is named down the street (for gelato, of course - I think I can never remember the name because my the taste sensations are occupying far too much of my brain at the time for me to be able to read).

Jupiter

that gelato place

From there it was back to the airport to end a, not to overstate it, magical weekend. Honestly, it was easily the best first date I've ever had. There is so much I left out because this blog is finite, and the weekend was infinitely fun. Who's in for next year?

More pics here, natch.

One Short Cross-Country Flight, One Spectacular Ending To A Lot Of Hard Work

2009-11-03T22:29:00.000-08:00

I spent last week baking in the Florida sun and combating a sever case of humidity head. The launch of the experimental Ares 1-X rocket was the culmination of the hard work of myself and many other engineers and scientists. Myself and those on my team were fortunate enough to get a gracious invite form our NASA counterparts to come watch the launch. Thanks to some last minute maneuvering from Paul B. (you the man) I was even able to get a couple important guests on site to watch the launch. Ma and Pa made the drive down from Walton to see the big firecracker go.

The first launch window was open for Tuesday morning from 8am to noon. Since we had to get there early to check in and get bussed over to the viewing site, this meant getting up at about 3am. Ugh. But get up we did. And drove into NASA to get checked in. Strangely enough, the nice lady checking us in looked at my Cass Baseball tee and my parent's IDs and said "are you all from Walton." Um, yes, we are. Turns out her niece is a Lady King. (As coincidence would have it, we met some more people at a picnic later with relatives in the area who recognized my Cass football tee. Strange.)

We were actually granted VIP access viewing (the section usually reserved for astronauts' family) which included access to all of the on site museums including the Saturn V building. So before boarding the bus to the viewing site, we kicked around the Visitor's Center where the retired rocket farm is.

rocket farm

"astronaut" at the Visitor's Center with Mom and Dad

Once at the viewing site, we staked a claim on some bleacher space and... waited. Since we were there so early, it was still a couple hours until the launch window even opened. The Vincents (sans rugrat) were actually at the same viewing site, so we were able to do some catching up whilst we passed time til launch.

The Vincents (hopefully you see one some day)

And much time would pass... There was one countdown from the 4-minute hold that ended shortly thereafter. Everything looked good to go - the national anthem was even played - before the countdown was called off due to a cargo ship approaching the splash down area! Soon after noon came without getting another chance for launch. Unfortunately for the Vincents, they would have to leave the next morning so this was their only shot at seeing it go. But we met up again with them for dinner before turning in early so we could do it all again the next day.

Since there would be no check in, we slept in another hour or so (still awful early). Wednesday played out much as Tuesday did, only I spent a significantly larger chunk of time in the Saturn V building escaping the heat and humidity. Mom enjoyed it. Things didn't look good all morning due to weather - but then a window opened up literally minutes before the window closed at noon. The countdown started up from the 4-minute hold, and to my surprise kept going... 10... 9... ... 3... 2... 1... Liftoff!

Ares 1-X liftoff!

The bright cloud of fire ignited under the engine, the rocket began lifting itself from the pad, and then just like that it was well above the pad and speeding up into the air, into and out of a nearby cloud. The Ares 1-X was much, much faster than the two shuttle launches I had seen before. It was surprising to see just how fast this one moved away from the Earth.

Ares 1-X aloft

It was really satisfying to see something that we worked really hard on go off like that. And even more so that family and friends were able to be around for it. I wish you all could have been there. Rest of the pics here.

Tuttles post-launch

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Are Signs

2009-11-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

I have a bunch of new things to post, but first I want to do a couple more about my trip to Australia. Being in a strange place, you tend to notice how even the littlest things are done just a little bit different. I found myself laughing at a lot of the signage around. I think Australians just have a little different tone than Americans, and I think it comes through in all forms of communication. So here is a compilation of some of my favorite signs during my stay.

Nathan actually pointed this one out as we waited on a bus to downtown Sydney one morning. He felt the sign was a bit antagonistic, but I pointed out the sign wasn't actually calling us chickens, rather just preparing us for some facts regarding actual chickens. I think this information would be better presented with some different punctuation.

This one is self-explanatory and probably funny in any language. Although I think there was a missed opportunity here with The Family Jewels located so close to Grab Denim. Ideally the two stores could merge into Grab the Family Jewels. (If anyone is offended, stop reading now. This is not going to be a real high brow post.)

This one wasn't the sign so much (although that is a strange-looking sign) as it is the multitude of identical signs. You'd think this place would look like Times Square with the number of pedestrian caution signs about. I fear it's more likely the result of some ridiculous litigation as Nathan and I were the only two pedestrians about.

Billboards like this were all over Sydney. Very direct, I think. However the medium seems like a poor choice as anyone answering "yes" would likely not be seeing that sign. Though that might explain the traffic.

Bizarre Hair Management. A sign like that just screams "failed business."

A new shop opening up just around the corner from Nathan and Dina. Not even Dina - a native Australian - knew what a "cheeky fun fashion haven" might be. I pray I never have to find out.

There's no way this sign flies in the States. It gets the point across though doesn't it? It's a bit contradictory to me with the obvious pictures but the politically correct "less mobile" in the text. Seen on the city buses in Sydney.

Every sign in Manly was a joke waiting to happen. And I think Nathan made them all.

Judging by what I saw, this bottle of water speaks on behalf of all Australia.

????????

G'Day! G'Day! G'Day!

2009-10-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a long several weeks for me lately, but all have been highly enjoyable. Now that I'm finally getting some down time to look back on all the great memories, I'll try to start recording them here. Right after I got back from my last trip to Florida (previous post), I had just a couple days to pack and get ready for two weeks Down Under.

A couple years ago, my good friends Nathan and Dina moved to Sydney, Australia. It was sad to see them go, but it's pretty easy these days to keep in touch (thanks, Internet!), and I've looked forward to visiting them over / under there ever since they left.

I timed the trip so the first week I was there was during Nathan's spring break. And we set off to a) show me around Sydney and New South Wales and b) prove that a couple late 20-something (aka 30-something) dudes aren't too old for spring break. Wooooo!!!! Unfortunately, as evidenced by us reaching exhaustion by about 9 pm every night, we were only able to accomplish a). Now we know.

Nathan and I walked / cabbed / bused around all of Sydney and greater New South Wales. We saw the Opera House and took a ferry ride to Manly (where copious "manly" jokes were made - repetition is the key to comedy, just ask Nathan). We took in dinner and drinks at the Rugby Juniors League Club with Ian and Tas (Dina's parents). A number of cafes and pubs were sampled (Australian coffee and wine rank far above Australian beer). We walked the awe-inspiring beaches from Bronte to Bondi. We took a day trip to the Blue Mountains. And we did a lot of hanging out with Dina, Haley, and Lana, which were some of my favorite times. Haley, incidentally, likes me a lot more now that she lives 10,000 miles away. But in fairness to me, she likes everyone a lot more now.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge - I'm doing the tour next time

dinner by Tas; wine by Ian

Bondi Beach

Manly Ferry (obviously - we were on it)

To finish up his recess, Nathan and I went for an overnight camp in Jarvis Bay. We were greeted to our campsite by bright red Lorakeets. The wildlife theme would continue throughout our time there as we saw kangaroos, wallabies, dolphins, and (briefly) an echidna. Also there were at least three types of possum that scurried around our feet while we had dinner. They were lucky we didn't drop anything for them as it was perhaps the worst dinner on record. Easily the best part of the camping trip was taking a 3-mile hike down to a secluded beach. Gorgeous to be sure, but there was absolutely no one else there. This is the only time I can recall that my party were the only visitors to a beach. Just incredible.

only our footprints on this beach

one of the rodent visitors to dinner

So the next week, with Nathan back to work, I decided to take a trip up to the Great Barrier Reef to see just what is so, you know, great. With a little guidance from my Australian friends I booked a last minute flight to Cairns and a budget rate hotel. I know now that budget rate means shared bathroom. No biggie. Good news was there weren't any bugs as some people suggested there might be. But the door knobs were strangely high. I booked a spot with a snorkeling outfit and spent the remaining of the first night walking around the small tourist town.

I woke up the next morning to complete disaster. I had left my contacts in their cleaning canister all night without any solution. They were dry, warped, and, I thought, ruined. I had also forgot to pack an extra pair for the trip. I woke up early enough that I still had an hout before the boat left, so I dropped them in some solution just in case they could be revived. By some miracle they were good enough to wear again in about 30 minutes. I went from bummed to elated in less than an hour. So off I went. Good as new.

As it turns out, the reef is poorly named. It should definitely have been named The Awesome Barrier Reef. I've really never done anything like it. The boat took us out about 30 miles from shore and docked near two different reefs. Once I got comfortable with all the gear and surroundings, it was so much fun. Unfortunately this was about the time my camera battery ran out. Oh well, I couldn't really capture how amazing it was anyway.

fishy

human

The next day (my last in Cairns) I took a scenic train tour to a nearby rainforest. Not much more to tell about that than is in the pictures. To get back into town, one can take a tram ride over the top of the rainforest to a shuttle bus station. Cool.

train ride to the rainforest

tram ride high above the rainforest

So after that it was back to Sydney for a couple days for some more time with the Kinkaids. We all went out to the pizza place for dinner one night, and Dina and Nathan and I went out on the town the next two nights. So much fun. And Dina took a day off to give a big assist with souvenir shopping.

I had such an incredible time. Thanks to the Kinkaids for letting me crash with them and showing me such a good time. And to Ian and Tas as well, a thank you. I miss you all a lot, and cannot wait to go again. More pics here.

the gals with their shirts; thank you!

Mulligan

2009-09-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

So it has been brought to my attention that my last post kinda sucked. Particularly so after considering how eventful that trip was. So here is my apology. In blog form.

I think I've mentioned before when we go over to Kennedy (Space Center) it's so impressive just how big everything is. The scale of everything is so far off what I'm used to that it can be a little disorienting. Recall the rocket we were testing is over 300 feet tall. And It was sitting on a 3-story launch platform. Propped up on about 20 feet of posts. Waiting for a million pound crawler to tote the whole stack away. Now recall that the whole thing I just described... was indoors. Housed in what is called the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building). If you've looked at my pictures you've seen the inside and outside... but have you seen the top? We were lucky enough to ride the elevators to the top of the 500 plus foot building and take some team pictures on the roof. How cool is that? The view was pretty good.

Hovik, Paul, Jeff, and me: on the VAB roof!

And while that and the night launch (previous post) were pretty cool, they don't quite measure up to sending your name up into the outer atmosphere. We had a few hours to spare before the testing started up so our man Paul (who was pretty much responsible for getting to see all the cool things we did on our trips there) took us for a climb up into the vehicle. We started at the bottom of the dummy upper stage and worked our way up the ladders all the way into the crew module (top section before the pointy thing on the end) where we all got to sign our names. Inside the actual rocket that will be launched in a matter of weeks. Yeah. Awesome.

Upper stage: that platform is where we climbed in;
then went up a series of ladders to sign our names in the top module.

So here ya go, Mom.

Rockets' Red Glare

2009-09-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

I see it's been some time since my last post, but I have a good excuse. Unfortunately for you, you'll have to wait until the next post to read about it. OK, so pretty much everyone who reads this page already knows what it is, but indulge me for a moment, won't you?

Just before I left for my excuse, I headed out for the last in a series of visits to NASA for an experimental rocket program. It was the last in a series of tests, and this one was for the whole solid-fueled enchilada. Over 300 feet of rocket standing straight up on it's tail. For me this was an extreme departure from the small structures I usually get to work on.

I will spare you all the nerdy detail (check it out here), but once again while I was there I got lucky and was able to see another shuttle launch. Only this one was at night, what is planned to be the last night launch in the shuttle program. Check out the video.

STS-128 Launch from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

I don't have much more to say about this, but here are the rest of the pictures. I've been super busy since my excuse so I'm still collecting blog data from it; you'll have to wait a few more days until the first post. Sorry.

Also on the trip: mating manatees, sweet tour of the museum courtesy of Paul B., and long, long nights.

Meteor Shower: The Only Shower I Was Near All Day

2009-08-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

"Don't you know, yeah, yeah
Don't you know that you are a shooting star,
Don't you know, don't you know.
Don't you know that you are a shooting star
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are"

I could never quite figure out if the lyrics said "shooting star" or "superstar". (Who knew that was Bad Company by the way. Rock on, Nuge.) But then I'd never seen a shooting star before either. Until last week. The Perseids meteor shower came fizzling through last week (the Perseids are caused by debris from the Swift-Tuttle comet's tail entering the atmosphere), and Jeff and I decided we'd find somewhere and watch. Decided about 24 hours prior, over the phone, while I waited in the airport on my way back from Alabama. Yeah, not exactly a well thought out plan. So we set out after work on Tuesday night and pointed the car towards Joshua Tree. It seemed like the best place within a couple hours drive to get a clear sky and open space.

And it was, apart from being a little cloudy. The only complications came from neither Jeff nor I being able to stay alert enough to notice interstate signage and the fact that apparently Joshua Tree closes quite a few campsites for the summer (including the first four we stopped at). Finally we found a spot, paid the fee, and threw our tents down. On the way back from the fee station I happened along a baby tarantula on the road.

baby tarantula

Really, it wasn't a whole lot bigger than all of the huge beetles that are roaming around. But it turned out to be foreshadowing for many other creatures we'd encounter in the next several hours.

It was already dark by the time we made camp, so after we unloaded our tents, we plopped the chairs down and sat back and watched. Well I did, anyway. Jeff's camera hack failed leaving him unable to take long exposure shots, so he entertained himself by trying out some medium exposure shots and doing some "light painting".

jeff light painting; a shooting star can be seen moving
up and to the left out of the middle of the joshua tree

Eventually he settled down - or ran out of energy - and we settled in to watch the meteor shower. It was really pretty cool. Almost as soon as we sat down, we started seeing them. I was able to catch one prbably every 15 or 20 minutes. The sky was a little cloudy so they weren't ultra bright - it can be kind of hard to pick up in my pictures - but the thing that struck me was they are so fast. Most were visible for a second at most, but during that second they would streak almost all the way across your field of view. Really neat.

meteor is seen faintly across the top third of the picture

While we were sitting there, we kept hearing the coyotes howling through the night. Some of them sounded really, really close. Jeff even got a recording on his phone. You'll have to turn your sound up likely to hear it, but I can assure you it was much louder sitting there.

And then as we sat watching the stars, we saw one run through our campsite. Probably the reason the one sounded so close. Around 2AM we called it a night as we planned to get up at six and drive back into work (without bathing and in the same clothes). However, leaving Joshua Tree we ended up taking (not intentionally) some of the wildlife with us. About a third of the way into the drive back, Jeff yells from the passenger seat and I look over to see a white mouse climbing up his pant leg. Jeff scared him away pretty good, but a few minutes after that another (?) one came out for a peek. That was all we saw of them, but I guess Jeff doesn't know for sure whether they're gone or not. Glad we took his car.

beautiful morning leaving camp

I was dragging the next day after only four hours sleep, but I'd do it again. All my pictures are here.

Dorks and Dunks

2009-08-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

About a month ago - yeah, I've been kinda busy - Justin wanted me to help him out with a video project for school. OK, I didn't help much other than stand around and be in a video (say where are those videos Justin?). But anyway I was a little nervous, this being my first modeling gig and all, but it was pretty fun. We went down to Pt. Vicente in San Pedro, and he did whatever he needed for his project. Of course we took our cameras and had a little fun with that too.

the next douglas bubbletrousers?

channeling my inner-bruce lee

hang time

ultimate punch

Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by the Korean Bell. It was a beautiful day, and we started talking to some kids playing basketball. The tallest kid asked if we were there to take some pictures of him and I replied "can you dunk?" Guess what, he could.

Then Justin got the bright idea to climb up on the goalpost(?) to get a different perspective. Somehow this didn't backfire.

Anyway that's about it. I don't remember too much else as I think I had just got back from a long bidness trip and was more or less a zombie. Brains! Hey look! More pictures!

Shake It, Mama

2009-08-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so some of you may have noticed the Polaroid-y quality to some of my blog pictures recently. But then others of you may not know what a Polaroid is (this is a really hip blog so the readership is pretty young). So Polaroid was known for those instant cameras that popped out a picture right after you pressed the shutter button. Part of the fun with the old Polaroids was that the picture came out instantly but it took a few seconds to develop. For whatever reason - I'm not sure if this is true or not, somebody look it up and throw it in the comments - people claimed the picture would develop faster if you shook it. Well I recently got an iPhone (which I like more than I am comfortable admitting) and my man Greyscale Gorrilla wrote up this nifty little app called ShakeItPhoto. It's really great because it has the Polaroid sound effects and the shaking and contrast-y colors and everything. Check out his video to see it in action. So if you have an iPhone go get ShakeItPhoto - you'll love it. And if you're a camera person check in with his blog once in a while. It's cool and he has some really good tips. Shoot if you're into anything creative at all go check out his blog because he's really upbeat and fun and always inspires me to get out there and try things out. Thanks GSG. Here's some more ShakeIt's.

ferris wheel at orange county fair

lunch at rinaldi's

dynamics ninja

jack the boy, not to be confused with sam the boy

screaming woot! monkey with cape keychain

erik

emily and jack the boy

morning in joshua tree

Alabama Song

2009-08-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

Alabama Song just happens to be one of my very favorite Allison Moorer songs. (By the by, did you know Shelby Lynne is her sister? Me neither.) More to the point, Alabama just happened to be the state I was in last weekend. OK, I bought a plane ticket weeks in advance and everything, so I guess I didn't "just happen" to be there. This was actually a long overdue (they moved like two years ago) trip to see my friends Dawson and Jenny. Of course, now it's no longer just Dawson and Jenny, but Dawson, Jenny, and Lila (who just happened* to turn one last weekend).

*And "just happened" is used appropriately in this case since I didn't even receive the courtesy of an invititation to the Lila's birthday party that weekend. Of course all the people that lived locally were extended invites. I suppose the additional costs of child rearing have rendered stamps unaffordable. I'm just saying.

Truth be told, I wasn't even aware there was a party until long after I'd purchased my fare. Not

that the possibility of attending a one year old's birthday party would in any way affect my travel plans. But the real reason I targeted this past weekend of all weekends was that our man Todd Snider was going to be playing a show in town that Friday night. But first let me back up to the beginning and take you through the weekend chronologically. After all, that's how I went through it.

I got in late, late Thursday night. I felt bad making them stay up so late, but it turned out neither Dawson nor Jenny worked Friday so I stopped feeling bad pretty quickly. Even getting in so late, we still managed to stay up for some time catching up.

Friday morning through afternoon was spent making party arrangememnts for Saturday. All after we went for some cheesy browns at the Blue Plate for breakfast. Yum. This also served as my inroduction into the Jenny's party planning-related stress. Now I don't know if this is particular to the milestone birthday it was for or whether this is some hidden (at least from me) aspect of Jenny's personality. I've been to a few parties by Jenny, but never really been around for the planning period. Some partygoers hypothesized it was related to Jenny's new avian hobby of "nesting". But I digress...

garden party cupcakes: much effort was spent on these,
and well worth it - they were too cute to eat!

getting to know Lila

Preparations for the "garden party"continued throughout the remainder of the day with an assist from some friends. Elizabeth came to help Jenny with the food, I helped Dawson with grocery shopping and took pictures, Dawson handled the cutting, and Matt came over to sit on that stool and make weird faces. Matt just happened to be within driving distance visiting family and was able to make it over for the concert Friday night. Which leads us to...

...the concert Friday night. Before the concert we stopped in at my favorite restaurant in town Mad Mushroom. Really good pizza. I also started a new tradition of giving fake names to hostesses to put on the wait list. I bet that night was the first time a Transformer was seated. (Leader of the Autobots, no less.) After pizza and general hilarity, we headed downtown to see the show. It was in a really cool, small club called The Crossroads. And from the very start did not disappoint. The floor was set up with folding chairs with a bar and pool tables towards the back. However, there was a wide staircase at the back of the floor leading up to a smoking balcony with some tables and a second bar. Now, we go there pretty early so there were only a handful of people downstairs. Upstairs was empty, except... a bride and groom - still in formals - atop the two center barstools smoking, doing shots, and making out. Good times.

Rather than venture upstairs, we headed for the four empty chairs nearest the stage. Now, at this point in the story, I'd like to call your attention back to the fact that the floor was set up with some (admittedly flimsy) folding chairs. So off we go in a line: Jenny, Dawson, Me, then Matt bringing up the rear. We sit down one-by-one. Jenny first, then Dawson, Me,... and crash. Matt's folding chair collapses beneath him, sending him butt-first onto the floor, tossing beer over his shoulder. Basically he sat through the chair rather than on it. But everything was OK, apart from perhaps a wounded ego. Matt proceeded to scope out what the thought were strucuturally compromised seats until the opener started waiting for someone else to share his fate. Never happened.

Fortunately for the rest of us, Matt's embarrassment would not end there. After a pretty decent opening act, Todd comes on to do his thing. Typicalyy this is how Todd's concerts go: he'll go through some songs he wants to do that night - maybe some stuff off a new record - then he'll open it up to requests for anything the audience wants to hear. Now, every time I've been to one of Todd's shows with Matt, Matt always yells out a song (typically Devil's Backbone) and Todd invariably plays it, usually as his first request. I don't know what it is about Matt, maybe his big voice or uncanny timing, but he always gets his song played. So this night - I don't know if Matt was antsy or what - but after the third song - the third song - Matt yells out over a quiet room "Play A ****ing Train Song!" Todd, hearing this, looks down briefly at the stage floor, then lifts his head back up and in his lazy drawl says "we're not to the boss-me-around portion of the show, man." And everyone laughs, but probably two songs later, just before Todd opens up for requests he plays, whadda ya know, Play a Train Song. Easily the best song ever written. Thanks, Matt. That was fun.

In addtion to all that, and bringing his dog out for accompaniment on the encore, Todd did the version of Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues with the extra verses that shows the common thread connecting American folk singers of all times.

Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues - Todd Snider from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

If you're still not convinced, check out Todd's song here (from 1994), Dylan's here (1964), and Woody's here (1930-something). (Extra credit if you can find another talkin' blues song. Leave a comment! And if anyone knows how to edit out the other singers from the concert footage let me know.)

Saturday, of course, was the big par-tay. There was food and decorations galore. It was really nice to meet some of the Vincents' friends who all seemed like really decent, fun people. I tried to tough it out with the guys outside, but it just got too hot. No cornhole for me. It all went really well, and everyone had a great time. Nice job, Jenny.

opening presents (with help)

my gift, natch. i think jenny liked it; Lila
seems more interested in that doll.

But no praise from me would be complete without a little burn to accompany it, so let me point out that Jenny made some really cute terracotta dishes of dirt pudding for the garden party. Well in her frugality / frugalness Jenny bought two packages of generic sandwich cookies to go with her one package of Oreos. When I ever so politely pointed this out to her, Jeny gave me some nonsense about not being able to tell the difference. Naturally, I had to call that bluff. So she set me up in a blind taste test between the two. I was a bit confused after tasting the first entrant, but as soon as I bit into the second (the real Oreo) I knew it. Boosh.

Oreo connoisseur

Saturday evening Dawson drove us around historic Huntsville before eating dinner at Mad Mushroom again. I'm sure the staff there is asking where I am every time the Vincents go in now. Then back to Casa Vincent for board games and arguments about which music artists are dead or not.

Sunday morning was time for church (we even made it for early service - wouldn't want to upset the little one's schedule) which I really enjoyed. Aside from the service, my favorite part was how Dawson and Jenny had to wear stickers with numbers on them that matched a similar sticker on Lila so they could be easily found should she get grumpy (she didn't). It was sort of like a reverse valet service.

After church we went back to the Vincents for lunch and for Dawson and Jenny to argue (if you can even call it that) about what we should do with the afternoon finally deciding on going to the lake - which I believe was the original plan. While this might seem like an excellent way to beat the heat, the first step into the lake would correct your thinking. I'm guessing the water was at about 85F, but, hey, that's at least 10 degrees cooler than the air. I chose to sit in the shade... sweating. But Dawson and Lila did get in and have some fun, probably not as much as Shooter (their dog) though.

questionable parenting at the lake

Monday meant it was time to head back. All in all I had a really great time, and even though I miss them dearly, it was good to see that they've found a nice place and some nice people in their new home. It certainly won't be so long before I visit again. But maybe I'll pick a time other than the peak of summer. So hot.

so very hot

More pictures here. Oh, and, Dawson and Jenny... thanks for having me.

until next time, kids

Photoshop Phun

2009-08-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to drop a short post to show off some pictures that have been piling up on my desktop for a while. These were all photoshopped from Justin.

This first one uses a technique called spherical projection, which wraps a landscape photo back around on itself to create a seamless "circular" image. It often has the effect of creating little "planets". The fact that it is based on a mathematical concept makes it just that much cooler. The first place I saw this technique was on one of my favorite photography blogs, Daily Dose Of Imagery. You can see his sphericals at: Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3.

spherical projection: the original picture was a
panorama of the New York City skyline (by Jeff)

The next few are just some merging of different pictures into a composite. Pretty fun.

outside the Andersen's (famous for pea soup)

outside Pinkie's (go there on Tuesdays for brisket!)

brady bunch picture with justin & jill (justin 'shopped

the background colors, or colours for nathan and dina,
or colorways for all the hipsters reading this)

The Fourth Time Is the Charm

2009-07-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

Recently, I spent a long (hot) week of work down at Kennedy Space Center working with NASA on the booster portion of the proposed shuttle replacement system. We (well, most of us - too bad, Jeff) got a nice perk for all of our hard work that week in the form of watching the shuttle launch. Truly an awesome spectacle; I feel very fortunate to have been able to witness that. For nerds like me who watch a computer screen all day long, it can be hard to really wrap my mind grapes on the very scale of the things we are dealing with - not to mention the idea that those very things will be pushed into space by a controlled explosion more or less. These trips to KSC are an excellent reminder of just what an amazing achievment reaching space is.

Even being there on site, it's difficult to put things in perspective as everything around is magnified in size to support these huge vehicles - wrenches, carts, hoists, yes, even... bugs. OK, maybe that's more due to the warm, humid climate, but still. I'm just sayin'. (For those of you that know me, you're probably laughing thinking about: how much I'm sweating in that heat, and how out of control my hair is there. Yes, it's ridiculous, but not quite as bad as in New Mexico, Vincents.)

For instance, take a look at the facility we're looking in. In the picture below, the tip of that needle-looking thing poking out of the bottom-left corner is about 70-some feet or more off the floor. You might notice that the roof of the building is a just a bit further up.

inside the VAB

As I wrote earlier, we did get to see the shuttle launch as well (after 3 scrubs due to weather). Here's a shot just after liftoff:

yep, pretty cool

The engine fire got so bright that I could no longer focus manually at one point and had to switch over to the autofocus. Pictures alone don't do the sight justice. You really need the sound. Fortunately I've got a video (thanks to Shannon for taking this).

STS-127 Shuttle Launch from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

As I said, a long week, but a pretty fun trip. Thanks to all our friends at NASA for their hard work and getting us out to see some really cool stuff. All the pics from this trip here, and a previous trip over here.

post-launch beans and cornbread

Self-Centered

2009-07-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've been telling people for years that they should pay closer attention to me whether it be acting out at inappropriate moments or in the classier written letter form (not that anyone would have the decency to reply - I'm looking at you, Megan Fox). But finally, at long last, I have gathered indisputable proof that I am, in fact, the center of the universe. Don't argue with me people, it's science. Adjust your schedules / behavior accordingly.

Center Of the Universe from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

OK, how did I make that awesome video? Like this. Thankfully Indiana (unlike some states) still has little regard for adolescent head injuries). Special thanks to Mom for spinning me. Now if only someone could get this link to the guy cutting the Little League outfield grass, I bet this day would make a lot more sense to him.

Howl At the Moon, Shoot Out the Light

2009-07-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

I haven't been back to Indiana for the 4th of July in what must be a decade. And as good as the beach cities of Los Angeles' South Bay are on this holiday in particular, I do miss it a little bit. Of course I miss being with my (ever-expanding) family, but I also missed the little things about Indiana and rural, small town life in particular.

It's nice not worrying about where to park, and adding the time to your outing required to actually find the aforementioned parking. It's nice to sit in and enjoy the quiet (and space) afforded by a less congested landscape. It's nice to see a blue sky with white fluffy clouds every day (to be fair you are getting better LA sky); it's even nice to get a little summer rain to cool you off a little. It's nice to unexpectedly see friendly faces you haven't seen in years.

Most of all, though, it's about seeing loved ones and catching up. In the midst of all the baby cooing, we did manage to find time to visit all of the famous Cass County eateries: Mr. Happy Burger (best Cokes on the planet), Sycamore (best soft serve ice cream anywhere - still don't know what those girls were laughing at), Bruno's (originators of Indiana-style pizza), and B&K (birthplace of the unequaled hot dog condiment "Spanish Sauce"). As well as: sit around on Mom's new deck, corhnole, play in a pool that we had absolutely outgrown, and see the spectacle that is the Walton 4th of July Fireworks (even if it was on the 5th). I had a great time with all of you friends and family. Miss and Love you all. See all my pics here.

met Rease the nice for the first time; not a
whole lot of fun yet, but she's pretty cute

played with Riley (and Caleb) in the kiddie pool

Riley swinging in the park

Woody drives the parade route

Josh flips it around along the parade route

everybody (???) hangs in the living room

hope everyone reading this had a happy 4th

Remembrance Of Things Crappy

2009-07-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Remember when it used to be fun to get mail? For most of us this period of our lives coincide with that of virtually no responsibility and, perhaps more to the point, no utilities in our names. You see, what was once a rare exciting event (Hey! The new issue of Boys' Life!) is now a daily occurence filled with credit card offers and Pottery Barn catalogs (thanks, Dawson). As adults, we are filled with a special sadness that comes only with a love turned wrong. That is... Unless...

.
.
.

...we are returned to our innocent, joyous child-like state with the discovery of internet shopping sites like Woot! and SteepAndCheap. And if we order enough junk, we can even be caught by an unexpected package that we had forgetten was on the way. This is precisely what happened to me this evening.

I returned home from work to see a Woot! box sitting outside my door. It only took a few seconds to recall that I had been one of the lucky wooters recemtly to get a bag of crap along with his woot! off lights.

And Woot! you really outdid yourself this time, as it is even crappier than the last. A rundown:

Left column - 3 Yankees dry erase boards (total crap!), 3 more Sansa MP3 players (1 is missing a button - what crap!), woot off! lights (not official crap), 3 international outlet adapters? (but to adapt to what? unclear. but clearly crappy!), iPod dock cable and accessories (iCrap!), a battery (to what? who knows. probably to something crappy.)

Right column - SpongeBob SquarePants backpack (kid crap!), Leatherman wannabe multi-tool (knock-off crap!), blood pressure monitor (crap for a healthier you - or just more aware of the unhealthy you), refurb Microsoft Zune (clunky crap!), not sure, weatherstripping? (unknown crap!), EyeTV tuner, antenna, and software - without required tuner! (literally useless crap!)

And my personal favorite: install CD for Polaroid camcorder (no camcorder), blank (?) CD, and a manual for a Kodak digital picture frame (frame not included). Honestly there were also little bits and chunks of other things as well. I imagine Woot! headquarters having a large crap bin, and come bag of crap time, workers just go over a pull a lever emptying an appropriate bag size of crap into a box. Similar to a soft serve ice cream machine. Thanks again, Woot! It was crap. But I liked it!

Chili Breath

2009-07-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in a while since I only had about 48 hours when I got back form Indiana over the 4th until I traveled on. Doing some work here in Florida now and don't have much time but wanted to post my first experience with Krystal Burger - it's the White Castle of the South! Our team from work stopped at one outside the Orlando Airport because it was late and we were hungry. Surprisingly they actually taste more like a real hamburger than White Castle. (White Castles have this unidentifiable flavor that sits on top the burger flavor that you just can't quite grasp. It's hard to explain, but if you've had them, you already know.)

Krystal Burger

5 cheesy Krystals, chili fries, a corn pup (get it? took
me a minute) , and drink

wrapper boxes decorated with hall of famers
and their hall-worthy stories

But the most unique part about it - and I'm not certain this is typical of Krystal Burger - was that it was like a freezer inside. Literally. There was a family sitting together across the restaurant - well, the parents were sitting, the kids were running in place to keep warm and rubbing their bare arms with their hands. I made a joke that you could probably see your breath, and, well... check it out.

Cold Krystal Burger from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

Sequoia? I Hardly Know Ya!

2009-07-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

I kicked of the summer camping season last weekend with a trip to Sequoia National Forest / Park / Monument. It wasn't a real adventurous trip, a majority of my time was spent sleeping / driving / eating with some short hikes and sweating (even though I was up around 8,000 feet most of the time, temps still managed to climb into the 80s) mixed in.

Being in a National Park, it had all the accompanying nuisances: the RV crowd, bad drivers, overzealous rangers, etc. I ended up doing a few touristy things that didn't turn out to be so bad. First, visited the visitor's center and picked up a 3D View-Master with reels for Sequoia an Yosemite, a nice addition to my desk toys. I actually had to go to the visitor's center to pick up tickets for the guided tour of Crystal Cave. Though I am not much for guided tours, the appeal here was that the cave stays around 50F, so I could escape the heat during the middle of the day. The tour turned out to be really cool, in fact, and really it was a good thing I went. I volunteered to bring up the rear of our group and was more or less responsible for the safety of roughly 40 people. I shudder to think what would have happened to all of them had I not been there. Not to mention the fact that they would have missed my clever The Price Is Right jokes wen the guide asked us all to guess the age of the cave. "One dollar, Bob." Surprisingly those all got a good chuckle out of everyone. I think it even endeared me to the family camped next to me as they came over to hang out a little later that night (I didn't even realize they were on the tour).

bringing up the rear

I took a little stroll up a cut-step trail to Moro Rock. It's a short hike (so the thing was packed) but fairly steep (so I still worked up a sweat - big surprise, I know) and still accessible to just about anyone that can walk (read: crowded). But the view was really incredible. I even drove through Tunnel Log.

Monday morning I spent at Hume Lake beating the heat before the soul crushing drive back to LA. Getting out, but having to deal with the crowds, really has me hankerin' to do some backpacking and get a little more wild. Who's with me? Pics here.

WWII Memorial of CA-99; kind of appropriate as
I read Slaughterhouse-Five this weekend

of course I got to hang out with the big trees

finally getting the hang of these night shots; end up
staying up late though taking 30 min photos!

back to reality; the 405

He's Turned the Corner

2009-06-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

There really is something to that phrase "over the hill". I mention this because on thinking back on Matt's birthday party, I noticed how the older people get the more they really do revert to children in many ways. Infants even. What got this whole train of thought careening down the tracks was that I realized 10pm was pretty early for a birthday part to end. So early bed times led me to notice soft foods, lack of hair (scalp located at least), poor motor skills (automobile- and physiology-wise), diapers, and... well things just snowballed form there. You get the picture. Clearly I'm not the first person to think of this, but I always thought it was a little silly until I gave it some thought.

Matt's party was at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Everyone showed up that evening for the bonfire, but the hardcore group of real friends showed up early that morning. And by that, of course, I mean Matt's surfing buddies. Not me. I was sleeping. But I did show up around lunchtime and Matt and I spent the afternoon playing cornhole, and he even got me out on some waves. It was gnarly, brah. (not really, but I had fun)

The evening was spent, eating, cornholing, and burning a small forest's worth of wood. (Who put Matt in charge of the fire?) Anyway, happy birthday, Matt, good times. (You probably won't read this until the morning, since you're probably in bed already. It's 9:30.)

Pics here, natch.

had to cut the board wax out of my chest hair later

beth told matt he could have cookies before dinner

this didn't suck

OK, That Actually Kinda Makes Sense Now

2009-06-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

I was reading about some movie that was being made recently, and the blurb mentioned that the script is based on a children's graphic novel. Up to that point I had always thought about the term "graphic novel" in a not quite accurate way. I had always associated the "graphic" part with gore or violence. I guess this was because when I first started hearing about them I was young enough to still be reading comic books. And the comics I read were pretty tame. But this new "graphic novel" genre was dark and violent and complex. So it made sense to me at the time that it couldn't be called a "comic book" (it wasn't comical after all), hence the new term "graphic novel". And ever since that time I had always took a less literal meaning to the graphic descriptor. So imagine yourself in this frame of refernce and what would you think when you heard there were graphic novels for children. Some of my thoughts:

"What is this world coming to? Parents are pushing children to read novels? And they are graphic?! Filled with sex and violence?!"

I felt pretty dumb a couple seconds later when I figured out what "graphic novel" meant... only 20 years late. I feel a little better about this world now.

Duane Is In the Building

2009-06-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems Southern California is slowly, ever so slowly, warming to my excellent taste. Matt and I hopped over to Richmond Street Bar & Grill for dinner tonight, and it seems I will no longer need to keep a jar of peanut butter in my glove compartment. After bringing in my own peanut butter for many burgers and fielding many inquiries, the staff has decided to keep their own stock. Not only that, but they are even featuring it as the special many Fridays. While it's not quite the word famous Duane Purvis All-American Burger at the world famous Triple XXX family restaurant, it is the best burger in town. Ironically on the way over tonight Matt said everyone at the Grill likely thought I was a big jerk for bringing my own peanut butter in. Turns out the reason it's available now is some of the staff tried it and loved it. So suck on that, Matt.

peanut butter burger w/ bacon, yum

matt finally had a burger and, you guessed it, it's the
"ham dog", burger + hot dog, he wanted me to post
this for erik