So instead of talking about myself, I am going to share a story about my Grandpa – a true American hero. For my whole life I have looked up to my Grandpa and for good reason; he has lived a life that is normally reserved for novels. Successful in life (amazing wife of 64 years, 8 children, 21 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren), business (top life insurance salesman 13 times), athletics (scratch golfer well into his 80′s, starting pitcher for the Gophers, etc.) and served his country in the Pacific in World War 2. I am very close to my Grandpa, and was honored to MC his 60th anniversary party in 2008.

The story I’m about to share is remarkable, and is something I heard for the first time at dinner last night on the 364th day of my 30th year. I am writing it down now if nothing than for my own reference.

When I was younger, Grandpa would tell us grandchildren bedtime stories about his time in the war. He told stories of island hopping in the pacific, using shark teeth as razor blades, almost running out of gas while flying over the pacific ocean and many tales of the lighter side of war. I have fond memories of these stories from my childhood.

As I grew older, Grandpa’s stories became a lot more real. He enrolled in the air force at the age of 17. By 18, he was the anti-aircraft gunner on a B-24 Bomber – one of the most dangerous positions you can hold in the entire war. His unit was stationed in the pacific and he spent time hopping islands like Guam and Okinawa as the US military converged on Japan. He came under fire many times, lost many comrades along the way, and ultimately he persevered.

I knew all of this for some time and learned quite a bit over the past 30 years, to the point that I thought I had heard it all. But the story he told me today beat them all by a longshot.

August 9, 1945. 3 days after the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, the war was still going in the pacific. That day, Grandpa was on a mission that consisted of 48 planes with orders to bomb the harbor in Nagasaki, which was a major base for the Japanese navy. His plane was the lead plane in the formation – the first line of defense.

As they approached the harbor, anti-aircraft guns and Navy ships opened fire on his plane. Naturally, their fire was concentrated on the first plane in the formation, because even if they missed, they had a good chance of hitting the planes behind them. Grandpa was literally the target these guns were aiming for.

Drawing fire from the Japanese Navy and other gun embattlements, their plane was hit several times. Fortunately for Grandpa, he was not among the injured. Unfortunately, the pilot took fire right in the buttocks, in a bloody mess. The co-pilot didn’t fare much better, and he ended up with flak in his neck.

Quick to react, Grandpa left his position to check on the flight crew and didn’t like what he saw. He lifted the pilot from his seat and dressed the wound as best he could on the floor behind the cockpit. Next, he went to the co-pilot, who was naturally picking at the wound in his neck and told him to hold steady and NOT take the shrapnel out of his neck. The co-pilot obliged, but also said that he was incapable of flying the plane. That left Grandpa, 19 years old with no formal flying training, to guide the plane back to Okinawa.

Fortunately, the co-pilot was coherent enough to give instructions, so as Grandpa sat in the pilot seat, he followed the first instructions of “turn right and get the hell out of here.”

Inland Japan was surprisingly pleasant at the time, with no guns shooting at the plane for a few minutes. But the trip wasn’t without incident. August 9th happens to be famous for another incident that occurred in Nagasaki.

Looking forward, Grandpa saw something that few people in the world can claim that they saw. A mushroom cloud that looked like this:

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, so he remarked to the co-pilot “Have you ever seen an atomic bomb?” to which he got a non-response. “Well, look ahead and you’ll see one now.”

With no time to dwell on the sight in front of him, he turned again and headed toward Okinawa. By this time the co-pilot was not doing too well and the color had left his face. It was up to Grandpa and the folks on the other side of the radio to get him in safely.

Miraculously, he was able to fly the plane back to the base with little more than a rough landing. (I asked Grandpa how he knew what to do and he said “for over 30 missions I would watch what the pilots did every moment I had. I knew what to do well enough.”)

When he landed, medical staff and military personnel were waiting for him. The co-pilot survived, but he’s still not sure what happened to the pilot. Grandpa told his story and observations to his superiors, including that he thought he saw an atomic bomb was dropped. “no way” they said – they never heard anything about a second mission to drop an atomic bomb. They had no knowledge of what had happened, and communications had not yet caught up with them.

The next day, he was told that he was right – the bomb was indeed dropped over Nagasaki.

Ironically, three days earlier, after the August 6th bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Grandpa was told that he was going to be sent on a rest and relaxation trip to Australia. Instead, he survived a major incident in world history.

And this wasn’t even his last mission…

The Last Mission

You would think that flying into the face of the atomic bomb would be his last mission, but it was not. Shortly after Japan’s surrender, Grandpa was sent on a mission to see whether the Japanese had truly surrendered. 3 planes flew from Okinawa up the Yangtze river, where many Japanese ships were stationed. They were told to fly above the range of the guns, and then gradually lower altitude to see if they would draw fire from the Japanese ships.

While the Japanese guns followed their every move, no fire came on the planes, so they retreated to the South China Sea on their way back to Okinawa. As they approached the sea, they hit turbulent weather and broke formation. Grandpa’s plane lost contact with the other two planes, and he’s not sure that they ever made it back to the base. Even after the war, 66% of these flight crews were likely dead.

Putting Things Into Perspective

It’s difficult for most people under 40 years old to realize line between life and death that many men walked during their youth in previous generations. One false move and many of us might not be here today. I hear these stories from my Grandpa and I feel equal parts inspired, scared, blessed and optimistic.

My Grandpa is a great man and I am just so happy to have him in my life. You are a real life hero, and I will do my best to make sure your stories live on for many more generations.  I love you Norby.

I only hope that some day I can be as much of an inspiration to future generations. It certainly won’t be through military means, but we can all aspire to leave our marks in many other ways.

Heroes Live Among You OR Why Life is Great is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

Delta Business Class from JFK to PRG
Prague Day 1
Prague Day 2
Vienna Christmas Markets
Amsterdam
Delta Business Class from AMS to MSP

Jeff’s Rule #1 with international travel: Always stay at an American Hotel unless you hear great things about a hotel that is not American. Why the US bias you ask? Well, it’s because American hotels are modern and have conveniences we are used to having every day. European and other hotels don’t seem to put the same emphasis on cleanliness, bedding, etc. that our American hotels do. Also, these hotels usually have really nice lounges in them that have free food and drink that often comes in handy.

We stayed at the Hilton Prague Old Town for our trip and it was a fantastic choice. It had great amenities and an awesome lounge that we used quite often.

With that said, we didn’t spend much of our time in the hotel. Most of our time was spent exploring Prague. The whole city is like a walking museum – with each building more beautiful than the last. I’m not sure the photos do it justice, but they will have to do for now.

Old Town Prague is perfect for walking. You can pretty much see everything by walking within a 1 mile radius. Right outside of our hotel was our first Christmas Market, which would be the first of many christmas markets we would see.

For those of you who have never heard of a Christmas Market before, it is a marketplace in city squares and parks where vendors come to sell various foods and crafts associated with Christmas. Some are as small as 10-15 booths and others have hundreds.

One of my favorite parts of the Prague Christmas Markets was the distinct food. Everything was very unique to Czech Republic and unlike other things that I had seen anywhere else.  From Trdelnik (a doughy pastry cooked over wood fires) to hot mulled wine, there was excellent food and drink to keep us warm in December.

Most of the day was spent walking around, snapping photos, and enjoying the sights. So many of the buildings had murals painted on them and some very ornate carvings in the stonework. Incredible

This guy was my kind of guy. Those hams were all gone by the end of the day!

Here’s what a live Trdlo looks like. After spinning over a wood fire, they roll it in a sugar and spice solution. Despite all of the work involved, it’s actually sort of boring.

The main Christmas Market in Prague was the gathering point for most tourists and locals.

We decided to pay 5 euros to go to the top of a tower to get a better view of the town. This was one of the many good views.

After climbing the tower, we needed to eat more. Here we try what looks like a giant “elephant ear” covered with Garlic, Ketchup and Cheese. It was decent, but sort of boring.

The cheeses in the market looked awesome, but we only had a day, so I refrained from eating them

After a quick nap, we decided to have a night walk around the city. Below is the hot mulled wine station (Medovina) that can be your best friend on a cold December eve.

The main Christmas Market looks even better at night!

The Christmas tree itself had some really cool lights that moved constantly. Photos don’t do it justice, but here is a video I took: Cool Christmas Tree

With all of the markets lit up in red, Prague is really a captivating city at Christmas time.

We ended the night by having some traditional Czech Absynth. Absynth tastes like shit, but it’s fun!

More to come from my December, 2011 trip to Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam!

Christmas Time in Prague – Day 1 is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

Yes, I realize we are still 7 months away from our epic honeymoon in Mauritius and Europe, but I can’t help myself: I am already planning my next trip in 2013 to the Maldives.

This one all comes down to overwater bungalows. Ever since I learned what an overwater bungalow actually was, I have been obsessed with staying in one. This isn’t as easy as you might think, because there are literally only a handful of places in the world where you can stay in an overwater bungalow due to hurricanes, monsoons, etc.

A Bungalow in the Maldives

Obsessive compulsive tendencies lead me to learn that Bora Bora may be a great place to visit for an overwater bungalow.  In fact, Bora Bora probably has the biggest selection of bungalows in the world. Plus, there are many Hilton properties in Bora Bora and it’s a breeze to get there with Delta Skymiles.  For our honeymoon, it was between Mauritius and Bora Bora.

Bora Bora is gorgeous, but it was too easy, too commercial and too well known… to the point that when I described an overwater bungalow to a friend, they said “oh, you mean like what they had in Twilight?” CHANGE OF PLANS. No Twilight and hopefully no Bachelor destination for me. Just unadulterated overwater bliss.  You all know how we arrived at Mauritius, so let’s get on with the story.

All it takes is a picture of the Maldives to realize how awesome it would be to visit. The question for me was: can I visit the Maldives using Delta Skymiles?  After digging around, I learned that this is absolutely possible, via one of two routes:

1. Through Skyteam partner Aeroflot through Moscow
2. Through Malaysia Airlines (codeshare through Skyteam partners) through Kuala Lumpur

Either of these routes would be a treat, and the thought of going through Moscow for a stopover is particularly intriguing. It appears on Expertflyer.com that it’s pretty easy to get there via business class as well.

Eating Underwater

Now if we go to the Maldives, we need to find a place to stay.  It turns out that the 250k Hilton Honors points I currently possess would work quite well at the Conrad Maldives resort.

Two private islands with several overwater bungalows available. I should have enough points in order to bring the cost of the trip close to $0.  But in order to be sure, I am going to sign up for the Hilton Surpass American Express card in order to get enough points to be comfortable. That card also gives Hilton Diamond status, which all but guarantees an upgrade to the best room available.

Will I really be able to use Skymiles and Hhonors points to visit the Maldives?  Absolutely. Will I actually be able to break away from work long enough to do this?  To be continued…

Dreaming of the Maldives is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

This is where we are honeymooning

Yes, I realize that I am way behind on my last trip recap, but I just wanted to bring up a few tips for booking international flights on Delta Skymiles (or any program for that matter).

Amanda and I have decided to go to Mauritius on our honeymoon.  You probably haven’t heard of Mauritius, and that’s OK – I hadn’t heard about it until Amanda told me that she wanted to go there.  From the pictures it looks gorgeous, so I had no problem saying yes!

What I wasn’t sure about was how to get there and if we could afford it.  That actually became much easier when the points guy wrote about his trip to Mauritius this past summer and how he got there on Delta Skymiles.

Last weekend I spent a good 2-3 hours researching the trip and today I spent another 3 hours finalizing the plans and booking it with Delta over the phone.  I thought it would be fun to share the process.  If you want to book an aspirational award trip to an exotic location, follow these steps:

1. Amass some miles with a travel provider. This can be done by earning miles on flights, promotions or credit cards.  Credit cards are the easiest way to earn a lot of miles quickly, because you can only travel so many miles, but if you have reimbursable expenses with your employer, you can get a lot miles in a short period of time.
2. Make sure your credit card has a big signup bonus of 50k to 100k miles/points. I highly recommend getting a branded credit card for your airline of choice and/or getting the Chase Sapphire preferred credit card.
3. Understand the rules of getting “award” tickets on your airline and how much things cost.  Some airlines are very transparent with pricing – they have a single price that is easy to understand.  Delta has 3 levels of award tickets, ranging from low (25k miles domestic in coach) to high (380k miles international in business class).  They are also always trying to screw you out of miles. However, Delta partner airline award redemptions are always at the lowest level – SCORE.
4. Learn the partner airlines that share awards with your airline of choice.  Delta is in the Skyteam alliance – which means I can fly on airlines like Air France, KLM, Korean Air, Kenya Air and many, many more.  American is part of the OneWorld Alliance.  United and Continental are in the Star Alliance.  Each alliance has benefits and drawbacks.
5. Decide on your destination.  This may be the easy part, but there is a lot to consider.  For example, did you know that you can stop over on your way to your destination for as long as you like?  You can literally stay in Paris for nearly a full year before going to your final destination – all on one ticket!
6. Find out if there is space available in coach or business class on each flight.  This is more difficult than you may think, and I had to use expertflyer.com in order to find availability on Air France and Air Mauritius flights.
7. Figure out each segment that you want to fly for your trip and write them down on paper.  Traveling internationally, you can almost never book your entire flight on an airline’s website, because they are all on different inventory systems. With Delta, you can only book these awards on the phone, so it is important to write down each segment on paper.
8. Call your airline to book the flight.  Yes, you have to call them in order to get through to someone.  Tell them exactly what you want: “I need 2 tickets in business class and I am going to read you the flight numbers for you to enter into your system.”  It pays to be explicit, or else you will not get what you want. It took me 2 hours on the phone to book my flight, but it saved me a boatload of money this way (more on this below).
9. Check in on your flight status periodically to make sure nothing has changed. While flight schedules in the US usually don’t change much (until the day of, when everything is delayed), this may not be the case internationally.  Be careful that you don’t get screwed in the process.

I followed these rules and have been able to manufacture the honeymoon of our dreams that involves 6 nights in Mauritius, Oktoberfest in Munich, the Swiss Alps, Italian Alps, Mediterranean coastline and Paris.  2 tickets for 240,000 Delta Skymiles and $500 in taxes.

This may sound like a lot of money/miles to people, and by all means it is – you could get 10 round trip domestic tickets for this price.  But to put things in perspective, this ticket would cost $8,698 EACH if we paid full price.  The street value on 240k skymiles is only $2,400.  By my math, we saved $15,000 by following these rules – (not that we would have actually spent that on a trip).

The only way we could afford to go to Mauritius in first class is through award travel, and the only way I would have known to do this is by reading every travel blog I can get my hands on over the past year.

Reading really pays off.  Maybe it will for you too?  To get started, I recommend these blogs:

• View From The Wing
• One Mile at a Time
• The Points Guy

More to come as the time approaches.

How to Book a Dream Trip to Mauritius on Delta Skymiles is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

Delta Business Class from JFK to PRG
Prague Day 1
Prague Day 2
Vienna Christmas Markets
Amsterdam
Delta Business Class from AMS to MSP

In October my brother told me he wanted to go on a “mileage run” to secure Platinum status.  Needing around 8,000 miles to make the next level, he had the option of flying a few times around the US or making up the miles in a single trip overseas.  Europe was the natural choice, and after some deliberation between locations in Europe, checking schedules and prices, we decided to fly into Prague for 3 nights, with a layover night in Amsterdam.

Since I already secured Platinum status for 2012 back in September, and I have amassed far too many Delta Skymiles than I can possibly spend in the short term, I decided to use my frequent flyer miles to book an award ticket in Business class.  This was my frist time in international business class, but after reading flight reviews from several aspirational travel bloggers, I had a good idea of what to expect.  I also knew the best way to spend my Delta Skypesos and receive a strong value.  I ended up getting my business class ticket for 100k skymiles on a ticket that had a $5,000 face value.  That’s 5 cents per mile, which is a very good value (you’ll have to trust me on that one).

Taking the cue from these travel bloggers, I have decided to document this trip in a format similar to what they use: break up the flights, hotels and cities into multiple posts to showcase each part.  This post focuses just on the flight, and ensuing posts will cover the cities visited.

After a 9 hour layover at New York’s JFK airport, we boarded the flight to Prague for an overnight flight that took off at 7 PM in the US and landed at 9 AM in Prague.  The first thing I noticed when I took my seat was the legroom.  There was significantly more legroom than any domestic flight you’ll see.  This is so that you can lay in your seat overnight (this particular seat was an older version that simply lets you recline at a 45 angle or so, but not lay down fully.  The seat also wasn’t long enough for my 6’2″ frame.

The seats on this plane were also fairly old by modern standards (not complaining, just pointing it out), but had a nice adjustable headrest that could be used to prop your head up before sleepy time.

The seats were definitely better than what you’d get in coach class, but from what I have read, they are not the best that Delta has to offer.  Again, I’m not complaining – just educating.

They also give a nice pillow, sturdy blanket and an amenity kit, which came in handy later in the flight.

After boarding we were given a pre flight drink option of champagne or orange juice.  I chose the Champagne of course.

We were also given a menu of the food options for the flight, and asked to give our order for dinner.

There were a lot of good looking options, but I decided on the beef tenderloin, because I love risotto.

Here is a look at the full menu

The Chilean Cabernet was quite tasty!

And here is what I ordered:

Started off with warm mixed nuts that hit the spot (I was getting hungry at this point)

The Crab and avocado appetizer was OK

The soup was very good

The salad was decent, but the sour cream and dill dressing was not my favorite

The beef tenderloin with risotto and broccoli stems was fantastic!  The risotto had an amazing flavor that was lightly sweet and savory. I have no idea what Gremolata is, but I am on a mission to find out.  The tenderloin was cooked perfectly, and the Bearnaise sauce was great on top of the beef and the broccoli.

I did not need dessert, but how can you turn down a handmade sundae?  I can’t think of a better way to end a sedentary day of travel than with a sundae.  It was as good as it looks.

About 45 minutes before the flight landed (and only 4 hours after dinner), I woke up and was asked if I wanted breakfast.  I wasn’t really hungry, but the description for the Omelet sounded good enough to try.

Good it was NOT.  It was probably one of the worst omelettes I have eaten and was just all around gross.  Fortunately, I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t really miss it.

Landing in Prague was easy, with Customs going very smoothly and baggage claim easy to navigate.

We found out that the best way to get to our hotel was to take a shuttle into the city center for around $6 total (that’s cheap)

Within an hour of landing, we were on our shuttle into the heart of Old Town Prague for the next chapter of our adventure!

4 Nights in Europe – Delta Business Class from JFK to PRG is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

Have you donated yet?  http://mobro.co/jeffsauer

So far I have raised $466 to support Mens Health awareness.  I think I could do better, so please donate!

The Three Deep Brostaches have received $1,091 in donations, which is a good showing overall, but many individuals hardly raised any money.  So they grew out their mustaches in vain.  Not literally of course.

You learn a lot about yourself with a mustache.  I learned that mine grows in on each side of the lip, but there is a big gap in the middle.  How does yours come in?

http://mobro.co/jeffsauer

Mustache Update is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

It has since escalated to links of Tom Selleck, Ron Swanson, a mustache shaped wine opener, and a coffee mug tribute to the mustaches of the world.

All of this mustache attention is particularly funny to me, because I have always been convinced I can’t grow facial hair of any sort, let alone a third eyebrow.

This year I went all in to find the answer this question.  I committed to growing out a mustache in the name of charity by joining Movember.

The premise of Movember is simple: you grow out a mustache in the month of November and accept donations for your trouble.  The donations all go to mens health awareness, particularly cancers affecting men.

Even better, Three Deep is officially on board with employees participating in Movember, and many of the guys are growing out their mustaches as well. So I am learning about myself and raising money for a good cause without violating any presentability code at the office.

Who knows, maybe the mustache is a good look for me?  If you want to donate to the cause and help raise money and awareness for mens health issues, I encourage you to visit my Movember page at:

http://mobro.co/jeffsauer/d

I have fully committed to the cause, and even wore the 6 day beginnings of a stache to my engagement party this weekend. It takes a special woman to put up with the beginnings of a mustache, and if my future bride can put up with my attempt to grow one, she’s definitely a keeper!

You can visit that page to see updates on how my mustache is doing.  It’s already coming in better than I would have thought.

It’s not too late to join – you probably only need a few days to outpace my stache!

Once again, you can donate here: http://mobro.co/jeffsauer/d

The N in November is for Mustaches is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

- Brooks

Back when I was an unhappy fat bastard I never imagined a life resembling the one I live right now.  Over the years I have taken on a wealth of personal and professional responsibility, commitment and development that is downright overwhelming to think about.  In fact, I have so much swimming through my head that I feel compelled to write it all down as therapy.

My personality lends itself to obsessive behavior – I am an autodidact in all senses of the word, and have an extreme sense of commitment that makes me loyal to a fault.  I have a hard time letting go of things when I have worked hard to acquire or nurture them.  Amanda calls me a hoarder for this behavior – I just call it reality.

Over the years, accumulation becomes a juggling act that gets more difficult as more balls are added.  Many balls barely stay in the air, and the act of juggling becomes more and more difficult.

It would be really easy to simply quit some commitments cold turkey or phase certain aspects out of my life, but which ones?  I really enjoy everything that I have added to my life in the past several years.

So rather than complain about being overwhelmed, maybe it’s more healthy to celebrate the balls that I have put in the air.

Relationship – Without getting into too much detail, being in a long distance relationship has a significant impact on priorities and time management

Wedding Planning – I asked Amanda to marry me in March and while our wedding date is still 9 months away, things are bound to start heating up in the near future.  We have already planned to have a small family wedding at Kunde Estate in Sonoma Valley

Three Deep – Among all commitments, this one takes up by far the most time – but is also responsible for almost all of my livelihood.  It is also among the most rewarding things that I do – growing a company from a small start up to a great place to work and a great company.

Freelance Projects – I like to stay fresh as a marketer and web developer, so I will occasionally take on freelance projects that fall into ideal situations (developing sites in WordPress).  I always do a great job, but not always in a timely manner.  This is a ball that usually has the biggest chance of dropping each day.

Gardening – This year I started my first food garden in my yard and it’s been a fun experience.  Next year I would like to take it to another level by installing a retaining wall/garden bed and taking it to the next level.  This will take a lot of up front time (which I enjoy – need an annual house project), and will be therapeutic.

Charcuterie – I already showed you how the sausage is made.  I plan on making much more of it!

MIMA Board – I joined the board of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association this year, and it has been a very valuable experience.  It is my first non-profit board membership, and I have learned a lot from the team.  I am also contributing by managing the website for the annual summit, the main website and the MIMA blog.  I drastically underestimated how much time this would take, but I feel a sense of accomplishment seeing it come together.

Pool N Patio – Not many people know that I also own an online e-commerce business that sells pool equipment online.  It has been a very interesting experience and I wish I could spend more time on making the store better – but for the most part I have neglected things while I work on other ventures.

Bodyguard Careers – This is a website I have worked on with Hucky for the past 7 years.  We do a lot to contribute to the education of people looking to get into the Executive Protection industry and it has been great to see it grow.

Speaking Engagements – Over the past 12 months I have averaged a speaking gig every 1-2 months.  I have presented in front of the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce, MIMA, Project Skyway, Nonprofit talk and many others… as well as client presentations with Silverpop and Google.  This is probably my biggest guilty pleasure.  For some reason, I love public speaking and evangelizing online marketing to anyone who will listen!

Mentorship – I really enjoy providing career mentorship to people who are interested in a career in marketing.  I had to learn everything on my own due to a lack of available resources, so I try to get people on the right career track whenever I can.  This includes employees at Three Deep as well as people outside of the organization.

Social Life – I still try to meet up with as many friends as possible, but I have found that a lot of my social outings have become career motivated in recent years.  I still keep in touch with most high school and college friends, but seeing work and industry friends have become my most frequent social events.

Travel – I spend around 130-150 nights a year in a hotel room or guest bedroom.  I’m a platinum flyer with Delta and Gold with Hilton hotels.  I love seeing the world and don’t want to trade this in until I have kids and need to settle down.  More than anything, this causes me to juggle the most, so I probably won’t be heartbroken when I find myself a silver elite flyer instead of platinum at some point.

Family – At times I feel like I neglect my family, but for the most part I still see everyone at the same rate I always have: 1-2 times a month.   When we do see each other, I try to make sure it’s quality time.

Photography – I began an attempt to organize all of my photos over the years and have made progress, but it’s still slow going.  I would also like to get better at taking advanced photos with my camera (i.e. not

Wine – Wine is awesome.  I love to collect it and drink it.   Heck, we are getting married at a winery!  My favorite winery right now is Wellington in Sonoma, with Ty Caton being a close #2.

Things I have virtually cut out of my life:

Casual Sports Watching – Sports are all but gone from my day to day life.  Other than my season tickets with the Twins and catching ballparks on work trips, I hardly have sports on my TV.  I have even started to DVR Vikings games and watch them on a delay!

Writing – I love writing and it pains me that I don’t do more of it.  I simply have too much brain drain during most weeks to even think about writing something to share with the world.  Most of my writing is started by a thought I have in the shower or in the car – I will get inspired to draft something, run out of time, and have the post sit untouched for months/years.  It doesn’t really seem worth it to post incomplete thoughts, and I’m not sure what my audience even is for complete articles (outside of my sisters awesome encouragement).

Weeknight Socializing – What does that even mean?

Lazy Weekends – Yeah right.  I am up at 6:30 AM most weekends naturally.  I’m getting old dude.

Idleness – Not sure I could sit idle anyway, but I have filled my time with so many commitments that guilt sets in well before I spend any time idly standing by

Television Surfing – DVR baby

This is the life I have chosen – and I like it.  At some point change will come and I very well may long for this exact moment.   Until then, I will continue to seize today while it’s here and become a better juggler.

Professional Juggler is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

It wasn’t until my first visit to DC in 2010 that I got a chance to visit Alexandria, and I soon realized that it was a beautiful town situated just outside of our nations capital.  Even better, a large section of the city known as Old Town is preserved from the original city settlement in the 1700′s.

During my weeklong stay in DC, Amanda and I spent the weekend in Old Town Alexandria at the gorgeous Hotel Monaco.  We booked this hotel using Jetsetter on a whim and we were not disappointed.  It was beautiful and in a perfect location.  Plus, we got a pretty good deal and nice room through the Jetsetter service.

The main reason for choosing Alexandria that weekend was a party that Amanda was invited to attend with her friends Paul and Amy.  It was a surprise party for Amy and she was very surprised!

In addition to the party, we had excellent meals at a Thai restaurant and the best nachos we’ve ever had at a restaurant called Jackson 20.  They were waffle cut fries with BBQ beef, cheese and horseradish sauce.  While it may sound weird, they were fantastic.

We also got to eat at my favorite hole in the wall restaurant, Bilbo Baggins.  Being a LOTR nerd, I had to go there when I visited in 2010.  It was so good that it warranted a return visit in 2011.  With their excellent beer choices and wood fired pizzas, I will probably go back every time I am in Alexandria from this point forward.

Most of the pictures below were taken along the harbor of the Potomac River.  I didn’t bring my camera along for much of the weekend due to laziness and 95 degree temperatures forcing me to pack as lightly as possible.  Still snapped some good photos, though, so enjoy!

A Weekend in Alexandria, VA is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0

During my current sabbatical in Washington, DC, I decided to make time for some of the things that I had neglected the past several months/years.  Things like personal blogging and my website in general.  I also got caught up on reading and started playing around with applications that I had downloaded to my phone and iPad, but don’t use very often.

Sunset on the Lake

This is when I fell in love with the simplicity and elegance of Instagram as a photo sharing service.  While I’m not a professional photographer, I feel like I take very good photos with my Canon Powershot G12 camera.  This is due to my college training from professional mentors.

The problem is that I don’t always have my G12 with me at all times and I need to revert to using my iPhone to snap pictures.  While the iPhone is an excellent camera, it’s not quite good enough to use for prints. As such, I find myself questioning why I should take a photo at all if it’s not the best quality.

This is where Instagram comes in as the savior.  The whole point isn’t to take the best possible photo, but rather to embrace the average quality of these photos and make them feel exceptional by applying filters to make the photos take on a retro-feel.

Instagram even makes Blogging look cool

The way it works is simple: all you need to do is take a picture with your phone and add it to instagram.  From there you apply one of several filters (about 20 total) in order achieve the look you desire for your photo.  From my experience, there are at least 1-2 filters that make just about any photo look great – anything from black and white to sepia to color enhancements.

The app allows you to add a caption for the image and upload it to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.  The whole process takes about 5 minutes to set up the first time, then about 30 seconds to get a photo uploaded after that.

I have been having a lot of fun using Instagram on my trip to DC and plan to use it more moving forward.  I am also investigating WordPress plugins that I can use to automatically add these photos to the blog as well.

Have you tried Instagram?  If so, what do you think?  Enjoy some of my photos from the weekend!

'Merica (American Flag, WW2 Memorial and Washington Monument in same frame)

Grand Finale in Alexandria, VA

The set from my favorite Wesley Snipes movie - Murder at 1600

Instagram Photography – Making iPhone Photos Sexy is a post from: Jeff Sauer Experience v8.0