United States Posts

I recently returned from a one week impromptu trip to Oahu, Hawaii, and wanted to share my final thoughts. The flight time from Vancouver was around six hours, so it was still a relatively short jaunt. Not as short as flying to the west coast of Mexico mind you, but about the same amount of time as flying to Cancun or the Dominican Republic. The Island During the Lost Legends tour we drove over the entire island in the course of a day. I’d say it takes less than an hour to criss cross the island in any direction, so Oahu is fairly tiny. The eastern side is called the Windward side of the island, and it’s characterized by cliffs and green vegetation. The western side, also called the Leeward side of the island, is a bit dryer and more flat. I had originally planned on renting a car and […]

I’ve always been fascinated with baseball. Back when I was a kid, my dad and step-mom took me to a few Mariners games in Seattle. While prices have changed, back then you could get VIP tickets for around $30. While it’s not as popular in Canada, I do appreciate the game, the stadiums, the hot dogs, the peanuts and the entire atmosphere that goes around with watching a live baseball game. James Earl Jones’ speech in Field Of Dreams regarding baseball is a great one. Throughout all the turmoil in the states, the Great Depression, the multiple recessions, the shanty towns, there was one constant – baseball. It was the game that united people, that gave people hope in bad times, and allowed families to bond in the stadiums and back home during a leisurely game of catch. On a whim, I decided to check when this year’s baseball season […]

I’ve been blogging a fair deal about my upcoming trip to New York City, and how one of the highlights for me is undoubtedly going to be visiting B&H Photo in New York City. B&H is an extremely well known photography store, and it’s been on my list of places to visit for many years now. Thanks to the power of the Internet, Hershel Waldner, Supervisor of the Online Marketing Department for B&H Photo, contacted me and asked if I’d like a private tour of the facilities while I’m there. Obviously, I said yes! So, I’ll be visiting B&H Photo while I’m in town and also getting a full tour of the behind the scenes action at B&H. I’ll be taking some photos and hopefully some video, and I’ll happily post about my experience when it’s all done. As I’ve pointed out before, I’m also going to be picking up […]

When the humidity finally woke me up in the hostel, it was around 11am (I had to ask scary hostel-buddy #1, since I didn’t have a watch anymore at this point). I felt a little hungover, but nothing compared to the morning before back in YVR. I thought about showering, but my I-need-to-get-the-hell-out-of-the-hostel-as-soon-as-possible thought process eventually won. I strolled down the street in New York City, smiling as I walked into Ray’s Pizza, knowing full well I was about to destroy his little toilet in the back-room with my post-hangover blues. I read through my Lonely Planet for a few minutes, trying to decide where I was going to spend my first full day in New York, and eventually settled on Lower Manhattan. I had originally thought I would walk all the way there, but after 20 minutes of walking in the drizzling rain, I realized it would take about […]

Unfortunately, the night before I left for New York City turned out to be a gong show. Mark, Donovan, Chris and myself went out to the bar for a few drinks, but we didn’t stop until around 2am. I figured, no problem right — I still have 4 hours to sleep and pack before leaving for the airport. Needless to say, Friday morning was really rough, and I was completely exhausted and hungover. What made it worse is that our plane was broken. After 30 minutes of waiting past of scheduled boarding time, finally the Harmony Airlines representative comes out and says “due to a minor technical problem, we’re going to be a bit late. We’re having trouble getting a replacement part down here.” I have an active imagination, so at this point I have images of a few hungover forklift drivers laughing their asses off while carting two new […]