The Return of the Shredder

Fascinating Sea Ice

2010-03-18T17:45:00.001-04:00

The world is just so cool sometimes.

Interesting Topography

2010-03-18T10:30:00.003-04:00

This is so fascinating. Someone tell me more about this.

Learning French

2010-03-16T00:53:00.002-04:00

Today, I learned that listening to chest-thumpingly loud punk rock directly prior to listening to French language lessons results in reduced patience for the pronounciation of French words.

King Lear, Shakespeare

2010-02-12T16:26:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to take a second to say that I'm around the end of Act 3 in King Lear and shit's RAD. Didn't think I'd enjoy it this much, really.

Jay Peak & Smuggler's Notch, Vol. 2

2010-01-25T02:16:00.003-05:00

Jay Peak & Smuggler's Notch, Vol. 1

2010-01-21T02:52:00.005-05:00

Will, serving up a bit of a combo in the glades of Jay Peak this past weekend.

God Damn It, Hair

2010-01-21T02:34:00.006-05:00

The bathtub had been running slow lately, so tonight, at the wonderful hour of 2:30a, I decided to take apart the drain to see what I could do about it. What I found was a fist-sized wet clump of hair. What. The. F-ck. I'm sure it was just a few more hairs away from sentience. I wish I took a picture, but you're going to have to use your imagination to picture a soaking wet, fist-sized, 6-oz. micro-Medusa. I threw that thing away as quickly as I could.

It reminded me of EXTE, a Japanese horror film I watched a few years ago about a sentient mass of midnight-black hair and, in typical Japanese fashion, an old, creepy, pervy guy with a hair fetish. I didn't think much of it then, but now, after this experience... goddamn.

Keys

2010-01-12T14:51:00.002-05:00

This is the wad of keys that I walk around with every day. Two short of two dozen.

Another Birthday...

2010-01-07T16:33:00.006-05:00

...another year, and ANOTHER CAMERA!

So, Jack got me a new camera (Canon S90) last month, and I haven't been able to put it down since! It's a point-and-shoot with amazing picture quality, and loads of features! It's a lot of fun to fiddle around with in the Manual mode, and it's allowing me to learn more about photography than I ever have since my Junior High Photography class! I love playing with the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO, lens sensitivity settings, etc; and I love the pictures that it takes! Best of all, it makes me feel like a pro!

Face-Centered Cubic, East New York, Brooklyn

2010-01-05T21:13:00.003-05:00

A Wall, East New York, Brooklyn

2010-01-05T21:05:00.004-05:00

Dirty Car Whoring, or Dirty Whore Car-ing.

2010-01-05T20:49:00.003-05:00

Now that all the road trip stuff is out of the way, I want to say two things:
1. Happy New Year. My resolution is to speak mediocre French in two years.
2. I am absolutely fascinated with my dirty car. Here is some dirty car whoring.

Now, most of this stuff is road salt and sand that is spread on roads to increase traction (especially prevalent north of Montreal and in New Hampshire.) However, this stuff is pretty horrendous for your car, and, barring some unnatural fascination with dirt, should be cleaned from your car immediately. I am stupid, so I don't.

(Not) On the Road (Anymore), Day 7

2010-01-05T20:33:00.006-05:00

Today was supposed to be another riding day, and we got tickets to Smuggler's Notch, but a few things happened to prevent us from riding. A road to Smuggler's Notch, VT was closed because of some emergency service activity. We were turned around and tried to access Smuggler's Notch from VT Route 100 (the path of shred), but it turns out that after Mt. Mansfield, the mountain pass is closed. So we tried our luck at Stowe. Lift tickets were $89 for the day and $71 for half a day.

Let me say this: my addiction to snowboarding is pretty strong. I have never walked away from a ski area without riding before, but these lift ticket prices are so ridiculous that I just had to pass. $71 for four hours of sliding down a hill? Please. Though it does not seem this way, I do have SOME sense. It was a snow day, too. Damn you, Stowe.

So we poked around VT, checked out the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory and hightailed it home to Brooklyn.

Note: I really enjoy driving in the winter.

(Not) On the Road (Anymore), Day 6

2010-01-05T19:31:00.006-05:00

Wood fires: I love them. Bretton Woods, where we spent our last day snowboarding on this trip, has a wood fire pit and several cords of wood sitting near the entrance to the resort. The aroma permeates the base area to the parking lot and is truly delicious. Bretton Woods sits right at the edge of the White Mountains and (I hear) that on a clear day, affords a great view of Mount Washington, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Tiger Uppercut. (Un?)Fortunately, it was snowing so our view of the mountains was all but blocked.

ADD kicking in here: These are the mountains that we passed through on this trip: Catskill Mountains, NY; Adirondack Mountains, NY; Laurentian Mountains, QC, Canada; White Mountains, NH; Mahoosuc Mountains, ME; Green Mountains, VT; and the Hudson Highlands, NY. Most of these are a part of the Appalachian Mountain Range with the exception of the Adirondacks and the Laurentians.

And at night, onwards towards Burlington, VT.

(Not) On the Road (Anymore), Day 5

2010-01-05T19:20:00.002-05:00

Yeah, that is me, in the green. There aren't too many pictures for this day because the camera battery died and we hadn't packed the spare. But, we spent the day at Sunday River, in Maine. I don't have anything special to say about it except that it is a pretty big ski area. Girlfriend drove today, and it was snowing like the dickens. I'm not afraid of sliding a car off the road (I've done it quite a few times [all in preparation for that Alcan 5000]), but when people freak out, it freaks me out. Nevertheless, it was an uneventful drive.

Happy New Year.

(Not) On the Road (Anymore), Day 4

2010-01-05T19:03:00.002-05:00

Wednesday (the 30th of December) was kind of our off day. I had to get up at the crack of dawn to move the car in sub-zero temps, and I couldn't get to sleep after that because I was so cold. After the girl woke up, we popped over to the le quartier chinois for a dim sum breakfast. And then, we hit the road.

As an aside, I wanted to remark that it is surprisingly difficult to get a free internet connection when you're traveling. (Hence the infrequent and delayed updates.) Or maybe I just haven't the resourcefulness.

On the Road, Day 3

2009-12-31T20:00:00.004-05:00

On the Road, Day 3

The French Language -- I don't know it and I have no idea how to pronounce it. It is fortunate that most people speak both French and English in this area of Canada, but sometimes the signage is in only French. Practicalities aside, I enjoy this feeling of alienation: it is almost like walking into another world, fumbling over street names and offering a soft-spoken "Merci" when I can. A few years ago, I tried to teach myself French, telling myself that it was the third most spoken language in the world and that it would be useful, but that never panned out. I resolve to learn enough French to hold an uninteresting conversation in two years.

Does anyone find nature and the natural world ugly? Sure, Nature is a cruel mistress and there are certainly ugly situations (e.g.: freezing to death alone on a mountainside, getting killed and eaten by some predator), but for the most part, I find that natural landscapes elicit this inexplicable but pleasant feeling. I really can't imagine someone looking out from a mountaintop with sunlight streaming through the clouds onto the valley below and saying, "I find this an unpleasant sight." Let me know if you think or know differently.

Speaking of ugly, my car is the ugliest and dirtiest it has ever been. It's amazing. I'm so thrilled.

It was cold today. I mean, real cold. Canada cold. I've never had my knees go numb before. And yet, this morning, there was a guy riding his bicycle through the wind and the slush on the streets of Montreal, sliding around in traffic. You crazy Canadians. I admire you, in a way. But it was too cold to have fun snowboarding at Mont Tremblant. I think we spent most of the day indoors, drinking coffee, eating poutine, trying to beat some life into les frozen limbs.

On the Road, Day 2

2009-12-31T19:59:00.002-05:00

On the Road, Day 2

We woke up to about two inches of snow and slick roads. It would snow another four or five inches through the course of the day, putting us in the enviable (in my opinion) position of being at Whiteface on a powder day. Unfortunately, beneath the fragile layer of fresh snow lay the ever-present East Coast Sheet of Ice. Nevertheless, Whiteface is a fun mountain.

Incredibly, we ran into Soonjae and wifey at Whiteface. The were there for a few days, taking a short vacation around Lake Placid and staying at this bed and breakfast that we wanted to stay at: Winterberry Inn or some such name. Coinciding events are such an interesting thing. We were not able to spend much time with the above-mentioned couple because we had to make our way across the border to Montreal, QC, Canada. Wait at the border crossing: 1.5 hours.

After checking in and eating dinner at a pricey yet mediocre restaurant, I passed the hell out.

On the Road, Day 1

2009-12-27T22:45:00.004-05:00

We were supposed to have been on our way to Hunter Mountain at 7a today. But, since we left our packing for the last minute and had to do laundry, we went to sleep at about 5a. Needless to say, we never made it to Hunter.

Now it is almost 11p and I'm writing this from the Willkommen Hof, in Wilminton, NY. We've driven about 250 miles due north of Brooklyn, NY today. And, just to relive days of my winter driving past, I drove my car straight into a snow-filled ditch, driven wheels first (I thought it was a snow-covered driveway). If I'm good at one thing, it's freaking out the Girlfriend.

Winter Weekends

2009-12-21T01:00:00.010-05:00

I practically live for them. I'm not just saying that, either.

I've spent the last two weekends in Vermont, getting my snowboarding fix at Killington. That would put my total number of days on the snow this winter season at 7. This was a particularly popular weekend at Killington; I ran into many acquaintances, family, and friends. And as far as to why I like winter weekends so much, I'll let pictures do (most of) the talking.

Driving to and from points North used to be a nightmare because of inclement weather, idiotic drivers, and holiday traffic. It is usually especially bad in December and January. But, since I've put a set of snow tires on my car (after sliding into a ditch off the side of a particularly icy mountain road in Vermont), my car eats snow the way Bob Barker eats pieces of sh-t for breakfast.

And just one more thing about winter that I like: Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout: 10% ABV, dark as night, pours like honey, and feels like velvet on your tongue. It is probably my favorite beer in the world. Girlfriend likes hers with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as a chocolate stout float.

Busted. Again.

2009-12-14T16:52:00.001-05:00

Cop Magnet

2009-12-14T15:03:00.000-05:00

I think I look pretty innocent.

Van Gogh, Starry Night Over the Rhone

2009-12-10T20:09:00.002-05:00

This is amazing.

New York City: Bushwick

2009-12-07T13:09:00.003-05:00

I Like This One

2009-12-04T22:05:00.003-05:00

Even if it means that my motorcycle is on the ground. See here and here.