Long Post into several posts..

Okay, so I haven't updated this in a while but I have lots of pictures and some places to eat and some other goodies like that so I will break this one up. YAY!!!! ANOTHER VIDEO!!!! Okay so this guy is ridiculous. I flew into Albaquerque, NM two Sunday ago and this was our driver on the way to the hotel on Sunday night, AND our driver on the way to the airport the next day. WHILE HE WAS DRIVING THE CAB, he was playing his guitar and singing to us to try and get us to guess what song it was and who sang it. He only put down the guitar on the freeway to drive, but once he got on the off-ramp, he picked it right back up. It was frightening, yet original. He managed to get us to the airport in one piece, thank god. He played Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, Steve Miller Band, Simon and Garfunkel, and one other song I can't remember.

That night my speaker and I were flying to LAX where we would spend the next 4 days driving all around L.A. putting on seminars. Anaheim, Pasadena for two days and then Oxnard. The Anaheim hotel was like 2 blocks from Disneyland. OH GOD how I wanted to go there

after we were done with our seminar. Oh well. Once I saw the $72 dollar ticket price and the amount of time we would have there, it wouldn't be worth it. $72 for a ticket to Disneyland

?!?! That fucking mouse must be laughing all the way to the bank. Whatevies. Since Disneyland was a bust, we decided to head to Hollywood to see the Chinese Rhaman Theatre, and go to Pinks HotDogs. After sitting in traffic for get this...... 3 1/2 hours to go 28 miles, we finally arrived at the hotdog restaurant. Just ridiculous. Dear L.A., figure it out. After I got the Lord of the Rings dog (what else would I get dawg?(dog)) and my speaker got the Woody Allen dog or some shit like that, we went to the famous Chinese Rhaman theatre. As we arrived, it just so happened Mel Gibson was having the premier of his new movie Edge of Darkness going on with a security guarded red carpet with tons of press and other celebrities and what have you. It was quite exciting. We were like paparazzo trying to get a shot of the movie stars we were seeing. Actually, we were bugging several members of the paparazzi to see who was there. Too snoopy (and Charlie Brown). They were all dickheads. Big surprise?? Nope. After that I went across the street where they were filming Jimmy Kimmel Live and heard Silversun Pickups playing. Love that band. After that we went to Pasadena to our Embassy Suites and crashed for the night.

It was Wednesday and we had a cancelled seminar so I took off to go down south to Redondo beach to see my cousin Andrew and hang out with him. He works for the Men's and Women's Olympic National Soccer Team and hooked me up with a tour of the facility where USC football players and pro tennis players were training and the soccer team was having a scrimmage. He also gave me some pretty sick threads to wear when I exercise. Gotta love cousins. After that, Andrew and I went down onto the beach to a bar where Tim Reynolds was playing with his band T3. God that guy is a character. His type of playing is so different from when he is with Dave, but he still plays really great music. After a full day, I drove back home, and put on my seminar for Thursday.

After the seminar on Thursday, we drove to Oxnard, CA. It is about 25 to 30 miles south of Santa Barbara and is a bit more rural than other parts of the greater L.A. area. We stayed at a Residence Inn by Marriott and oh god was it sweet. They gave us rooms with full kitchens and great bathrooms, and at night they had a full buffet along with free booze and any drink you want. To top that, in the morning was the same thing only with breakfast being served. Gotta love those perks. Everything went fin for the week, and I flew home safe and sound.

One thing about that week that I loved was the fact that I got to stay on West Coast time almost the whole week. New Mexico is an hour ahead, but thats not that big of a difference. Here I sit in Ronkonkoma, NY where I am 3 hours ahead of home and it take a few days to acclimate to the time you're in. I am now sick due to lack of sleep, and am pretty spacey in the morning (Kevin Spacey in the morning.... that could be a radio show). Well tonight I will write an entry about the rest of this week and give you a run down of what has happened. So long from Long Island ladies and gents

I figured out I can make my own videos....get ready party people....

I am honestly trying to keep up with this blog (I swear)but its kinda hard. So last time I talked to you I was in Cleveland I believe.....or maybe it was Pittsburgh. Either way, not a lot has happened (watch the video). I put my seminar on in Cleveland and we stayed at a new hotel, a Crowne Plaza. It was nice and I liked it. The staff was nice and full of cute girls, got a free breakfast, had a concierge room where stuffed my pockets full of nutri-grain bars, pretzels and diet cokes and got $10.00 off for dinner at the restaurant. Needless to say, I was impressed and happy. There was a Panera on one side of the hotel and a Chipotle on the other (solid), and my speaker was a good guy. He traveled everywhere in europe and gave me great ideas on some trips I wanna do in the future. One of them is to spend a couple days in Paris, take the Chunnel (tunnel under the channel i believe... if you didn't know that before, just go home) to London on the train and stay there a few days. Expensive as balls, but would be well worth it. Two absolutely amazing cities. For lunch I got Chipotle and it was damn good....not much else to say.....

The video is a good representation of what I do for half my flights. I sit, I wait (if they don't have a boardroom where I can get some snacks and a drink or six), and possibly get something to eat. Airports are horrible for food, unless it's a major hub, like Minneapolis/St. Paul For NWA, for an airline. I guess it's not a place a person specifically goes to eat, so I shouldn't expect that much but it doesn't help the fact that I like to eat healthy and don't want a small snickers from a newsstand or bar food that will make me feel like shit for the rest of the night. Anyways.....

I traveled to Albany, NY, got a Chrysler 300 from National, and drove to the Comfort Inn n Suites. This hotel was recently built (positive), had a free breakfast (positive), and had a good workout room (positive). I worked out, watched King of the Hill (a nightly thing to do) and fell asleep. I woke up in the morning, went down to my site and NONE of my seminar was setup. I usually walk into my seminar room with everything set up and put together my electronics, my table, meet the staff, double check with the onsite coordinator and my speaker and then get a break to do paperwork for an hour or two. Not this time. Somebody fucked up. It was an empty room and I looked everywhere for somebody to help, but nobody was around, so I set it up myself. 72 seats, 24 tables, 3 large tables, 3 buffett tables, and a 8 foot screen for the slide show. My working at the Country Club had payed off. This whole time I was just grabbing stuff back in the kitchen/back hallway and setting it up. I owned that fucking hotel for an hour that day, and the staff for the rest of the day treated me like a god. Everything went fine for the rest of the day and last night Cindy (my speaker) and I went into downtown Boston into the Northside where the Italian District is and went to an amazing Italian restaurant. We also went to Bell in Hand, the second oldest bar in the U.S..... est. 1795 I believe. Right after that we walked through the Holocaust Memorial just across the street from the old bar which I have been to before but it is something I definitely wanted to see again. Boston is truly a great city and I can't wait to come back. In fact, I just got my schedule for March and I come back here like 4 times in the next 2 months so hopefully I can familiarize myself with the city some more.

Right now I am in the Hilton Garden Inn in Waltham, MA (10 miles outside Boston and they mentioned Waltham last night on 30 Rock and I felt so god damn special) and love it. Free breakfast, cookies when you check-in, hot chick at the counter, and comfortable beds. Holla back HGI. The leftovers from last nights pesto linguine I had in downtown is chilling in the fridge in my room, and Im gonna inhale that shit as soon as lunch hits. Hope all is well wherever you may be. Deuces from Waltham, MA suckas....

******SIDE NOTE******

For those of you that noticed that James Blunt is blazing in the background of my video, that was the terminal. I know, sitting in an empty terminal while blasting James Blunt from my computer and dancing would seem like something I would do, I didnt do it unfrotunately. Sorry to disappoint.

******SIDE NOTE ENDED******

Tired

Well, I am not really holding up my promise to keep this thing up to date. Sorry, but lately I have been pooped/poopied/tired/out of it/worn out/spacey from this job. I had a bachelor party last weekend and didn't get much sleep. In fact, in 3 nights I got a maximum of probably 11 to 12 hours total. I am a zombie. Enough bitchin aight?!?!?!

I was in Pittsburgh yesterday and am in Cleveland today. I have a speak whose name is Mike Myers (I expect him to do a Shrek impersonation at any moment) and he is a great guy. He travels alot, likes music, and is really low-maintenance. Needless to say, we get along pretty well. I stayed in a hotel I have visited many times before in Pittsburgh, the Four Points by Sheraton. Its in the middle of nowhere, the staff is awkward/elusive, the rooms aren't clean, and the hotel infrastructure looks like it was put together under quite the budget................ rrrrrrrrrrr......(car ties screeching...awesome huh?)

******SIDE NOTE******

You know when you walk into a hotel, house, or apartment complex and it looks like the budget just simply fell out from under the interior of the building crew?? Caulking jutting out from a crevice here, a slanted doorway way there, molding/trim coming off, or painting just unfinished in a BRAND NEW PLACE..... it's just ridiculous crap that you would think would get fixed in the final inspection (assuming there was one). I just don't really get these places that have that. I understand a budget crisis for a place, but COME ON. If this is a cocky/stuck up thing to be talking about, please inform me because I think it's just ridiculous. I guess I should just be thankful to have a roof over my head, right? This hotel is just a bit of a cheap place for what they charge. I have been to some shitty hotels, and if you're gonna keep your hotel shitty because you know its shitty, good for you and lower the price. If you're gonna have a shitty hotel built and pretend like nothings wrong with the interior and charge a ridiculous amount, then shame my friend.

******SINDE NOTE DONE******

Last week I was in Billings, MT, Seattle, WA, Spokane, WA, Boise, ID, and Portland, OR. I love the PNW tour. I mainly like it because I am close to home and don't have to change time zones. I had an easy (No, not that easy you filthy minded lil....) speaker last week who had a great personality and was fun to be with. Makes work alot easier to wake up to.We stayed in nice hotels, had flights everywhere, and had no troubles along the way. A good week. I got to experience in-depth two cities that I have really come to like. No, I'm not a meth-head, sorry Spokane you're not one of them. I'm talking about Boise, ID (I know, I think i called it a shithole in the past but things change) and Portland, OR. Boise surprisingly has a nice downtown with some nice restaurants and what seems like a decent nightlife. I had a solid burrito at Pollo Loco, walked around some art stores, checked out some small shops and decided I wouldn't mind stopping through there if I were on a road trip. Would I live there?? Nope. A visit would be just fine. Portland..... Oh Jesus. Portland is awesome. What a great city. I spent the weekend there with a bunch of gusy for a bachelor party and we had a blast. Portland has awesome nightlife, great restaurants, cool shops, unique restaurants/convenient stores and is probably the funkiest town I have ever been to. There is always something to do and if I were told to live in Portland, I would be down. It's a great city.

Well tonight I head to Albany. I plan to get some good food, possibly workout, and crash. I travel to Boston after that and have a LONG flight home. Sorry no picture are available for posting, but I couldn't really take any of the bachelor party, and spaced the blog last week...sooo.. NEXT TIME!!! deuces from Cleveland, Oh snoochies...

Kauai to Milwaukee....

Two hours of sleep, a cold shower, cheap soap and shampoo/conditioner, a tiny towel that barely dries my body, wrong seminar set-up, burnt coffee, stale bagels (when available), and elusive hotel staff. I am back to work after a well-rested break. After a long break like that, going back to the routine of getting used to the time change can be a bitch. Two hours of sleep just simply has to happen in order put the mind in a state where it can control its internal clock to the time zone a person is in. It's like breaking a person down and building them back up, sort of like what the armed forces do to their recruits. Only I'm not a recruit and won't be anywhere near the Middle East anytime soon. I put on seminars for teachers.

Okay, I say it a lot, but I will work on updating this blog more and will be specific about the areas I'm in. I am also working on spelling, grammar and punctuation. There's something about being asked, "Do you know the difference between 'your' and 'you're'?" that disturbs me. The last week I was out in December, I was all over the NE and loved it. I have really come to find the Northeast to be an amazing place. The setting reminds of Northwest, but the people are different, and in many ways. There is also so much more history, and interesting things to discover. I mentioned in my previous post that I was about to stay in Portland, ME for the weekend and was looking forward to it. In my travels all over the nation I come across cities that I wouldn't expect to like, but soon find myself saying,"Hmmmm, I could see myself living here." Portland, ME is one of those cities. Great nightlife, restaurants, stores, atmosphere, setting, and location. The weather has a Pacific NW feel but is a little colder and they more snow. I also found it extremely easy to just have a beer and talk to someone. The people were outgoing, friendly and talkative. Over the weekend,m y co-worker and friend Hillary and I traveled all around the city and even north a bit to Freeport, ME which is home of the L.L. Bean flagship store. Needless to say, it's awesome. Freeport is kind of a touristy place with great places to shop, and a funky little colonial town to just walk around. Overall, this weekend was fun. I could go on and on about how much I loved Portland, ME but I will stop there. With luck, I will make a return visit soon enough.

Over my break I made a quick trip to Kauai with the family, and it was the most relaxing time I have had in a while. Even over the 09' summer, I had to worry about "The Duck" and other miscellaneous things and never really fully relaxed with the feeling of,"I have jack-shit to do for a couple days." The trip was awesome, and Kauai is, in my mind, what paradise should feel like. Unfortunately, I had to cut my trip short to come back to the BER grind, and for the next couple months its gonna be a GRIND. Five to six weeks straight out on the road and some tough decision to make coming up for me, but instead of bitching (as little as possible) I'll just get it done.

I got up yesterday around 530 and hopped on an AirTran flight directly to Milwaukee, Wi. No perks on AirTran and I had a middle seat. I don't like middle seat (who does??) but I slept for 2 1/2 hours and the flight went well. (Side Note: Done bitching about flying perks. I don't need to be a stuck up asshole) I like Milwaukee, its a nice city. It has a bit of a depressed economy, but the people are nice and there are some nice areas. I won't be able to enjoy the city to much today because I don't have a car but whatev. I travel to Minneapolis tonight where it is -7 degrees currently, and hope that my Patagonia jacket and snowboarding tights keep me warm. Above are some pictures from Portland, ME and other various cities. Deuces from Milli-walk-ay peeps...

Uneventful snow in the NE...

Well, I ended last week in Portland, ME. I finished up the seminar there, flew home, did laundry, packed up, hung out for a bit, and flew back out early Sunday. Oh look a burrito ====================>

Yea, thats the kind of dribble I like to type to waste your time.

Once my flight took off in Seattle, I soon found myself in Rochester, NY where it was pretty cold out. I got my rental car, drove to my hotel (turned out to be a POS establishment that had upgraded a little with some stuck-o and fake gold leaf on some railing) and crashed for the night. I woke up to find it snowing a bit, and Matisyahus tour bus outside my hotel. I never caught a glimpse of the guy, but it was still cool to see that. After that seminar, I drove to Albany, NY where we were in a Hampton Inn. I got upgraded to a suite with a HUGE flat screen, a massive bathroom, and a granite step in the shower I could sit on. I was spoiled. I worked out and afterwards must have sat on that step in the shower and let the water hit me for like an hour. God I am so awesome. I picked up this burrito (pictured above) from a hole-in-the-wall place down an alley called, Burrito Joes. It was awesome. Cheap, fast, and tasty. After a smooth seminar, it snowed that night as we drove to our next destination, Burlington, VT and made the roads tricky, but we made it fine. I love Burlington. It has a beautiful downtown with great restaurants, shopping, and my personal favorite place, Lake Champlain Chocolates. This place, along with the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, has the best chocolates in the nation. I met up with another PM, Emily, and we had dinner, got some chocolate from Lake Champlain, and got a few drinks. Burlington is really a city everyone should try. Its great. It snowed alot during the seminar the next day, so i took a vote from participants, and they wanted to end early to get back to their houses and families. I collected money, ordered pizza for them, and we ended the seminar early. The next city was Manchester, NH. The drive there, was a bitch. It was 150 miles, around 70 miles less than the 2 previous destinations, but took almost an hour and a half longer. The snow and wind were making it impossible to drive the speed limit. It turned out to be a 4 hour car drive for what should have been only 2 1/2 hours. The seminar there went great. I was fed a whole shitload of food from the conference center kitchen, which never happens, and we packed up, left, and here I am back in Portland, ME where I will be spending the weekend. I look forward to having a lobster roll, going to the flagship store for L.L. Bean, going to Di Millos Seafood, and exploring another portion of the northeast for a couple days. Hope all is well with whoever reads this, and hopefully my blog will be more exciting next time. Maybe I'll make something up. Deuces from Portland, ME homies....

Long Island,NY.... hated it, Hartford, CT...it was aight and Warwick, RI....pretty rad

Well, I am in Warwick, RI which is about 11 miles south of Providence. It is a small town with beautiful coastlines and bays. I really have come to like Rhode Island. Downtown Providence is really amazing, and every small town on the outskirts, Seekonk and Warwick, have been fairly nice. Last night my speaker and I went to a restaurant about 3 miles from our Hilton Garden Inn called The Crows Nest. I had researched restaurants in the area the day before so i could have the traditional Rhode Island "stuffie". (I'm sure there is a joke here, but i got nothing) I had one last time I was Rhode Island and loved it. Supposedly a lot of bars serve it as late night food, and its amazing. The take a quahog shell and stuff it with chopped up seafood and bread. They then deep fry it, and it comes out so damn good. Honestly, its one of the better dishes I have discovered around the country. While searching for a restaurant around our hotel that served stuffies, I stumbled upon The Crows Nest. It's located on the edge of a harbor and serves amazing food. I started with a stuffie, and then had half a lobster roll with a cup of the chowder soup. This meal was amazing. The best part about it was that I didn't have to pay a cent. My speaker picked up the check because he told me that "I had his back the whole week." To which I responded,"Did I pass the initiation to get into your gang??" Honestly though, nice guy and killer meal.

On Tuesday I was in Long Island, NY in the Ronkonkoma Holiday Inn. I have been there before and everyone said that the people from Long Island are dickheads and bitches. I hadn't experience that negative attitude until this visit. What a bunch of pricks. Long Island is a bitch. It has horrible traffic, horrible people, and no places to eat. I only look forward to the hotel concierge food and drink Holiday Inn provides for free. If I were sitting outside that seminar that day and my speaker came out to get me, and all of a sudden smoke started to appear, and the door caught on fire while my presenter and I were outside the room, I would have glanced over for a few seconds and gone back to my paperwork. Okay, maybe that's a little harsh, but the people were unnecessarily rude and ungrateful. Oh well, Long Island got a "Shit Stamp" of approval from me.

The next day we were in Hartford, CT and everything went great. The Crowne Plaza there had a GREAT workout facility with televisions everywhere and any machine you would need for a full workout. The only awkward part about it was when I was working out and nobody was in there, and I was watching the movie "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke. Well, I am watching it in a public place and hadn't seen it before. As I am running, a man walks in and starts running on the treadmill next to me. As soon as he does this, it switches over to a stripper scene in the movie and I'm thinking,"Oh shit this is gonna get awkward." Well Marisa Torme ends up to be topless (which is awesome btw!!!) but i am watching this stripper scene with a complete stranger. Our workout room had just turn into what felt like an actual strip club. It had the feel of watching pornography with a complete stranger. As this happens though, the guy goes,"Hmmmm. Never seen this movie." To which I respond,"I haven't either. Want to change it?" He goes,"Hell no! I love Marisa Torme!!! To see her topless is gold, but for the sake of any kids walking in here, keep the remote close." This guy was like mid-50s and apparently emitting the attitudes I want to at that age. Eventually, some women walked in and we changed to basketball or something. That was one of the funnier situations I have had in a workout room.

Alright peeps, I gotta go but will maybe update tomorrow. Got a long flight home to Seattle and don't arrive till around 1130 or 12. Its gonna be like an 8 to 9 hour travel day which sucks, but the good news is that I put in for an upgrade. It would be awesome if I got it. Well deuces from Warwick, RI friends and frienemies.....

Fishkill, NY and food

I am in Fishkill, NY and tired as hell. After spending more than 4 days in one place, I acclimated to being on one time zone. I didn't fall asleep last night till 3 o'clock, seriously. Well, I had a good break and was in Philadelphia last week, and it was pretty standard. I didn't have a chance to hit up Jim's to get a cheesesteak, and have come to the conclusion that going anywhere else doesn't match up. I am trying to eat reasonably healthy being out on the road. My usual diet usually consists of tons of greens or fruit. Usually for lunch I might get a salad from Panera Bread or Ruby Tuesdays. Dude, Ruby Tuesdays salad bar is never-ending. Its sorta like the movie the Never-ending Story, but in salad version. Imagine Atreyu as a carrot. (I realize that is incredibly dumb, but what do you expect?) Subway is a staple as well. Six inch wheat bread with turkey or ham with pepperjack cheese, lettuce, green peppers, salt and pepper, red wine vinegar, brown spicy mustard, and garden salsa sun chips. After describing that, I am hungry. Some of the hotels BER puts me up in have free bananas and apples at the front desk too, so I usually steal one or two of them for mid day snackaroonies. Sometimes, that's all I have for lunch. It saves money and is fairly light. Unless I know of some awesome place to eat like Jim's or Dinosaur BBQ. I figure unless the food is damn good, why put up the money. I made the mistake of recently going to an expensive thai place in the Philadelphia airport. It was a recommendation I shouldn't have taken. It was sub-par, oily, and put a stain on my pants.... no, I didn't crap my shorts, although that would have been funny.... to other people... well not the person sitting next to me on the five and half hour flight home to Seattle....whatever. Well, I wasn't expecting to give you a blog on my road diet but that's apparently what I just gave you. Above are pictured some of my favorite meals around the country. Buffalo wings from the original Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY, In n Out Burger in California, Oyster Shot from Acme House in New Orleans, Crawfish Etouffee from Baton Rouge, and the other picture is for your enjoyment.