Thirty-one Days

Without Warning

2007-07-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

I know that I've been a deserter this week and I apologize. Since returning from my dad's I've been running around in preparation to pack my apartment and move. It wasn't my intention to stop posting but I have been exhausted and frustrated until last night. Last night Matt Barron and I packed about 90% of my stuff and I feel a lot better about the move now.

For some reason I had this idea that it was going to take several days of work to box everything. Now that a majority of the work is complete I've been watching Matt play Resident Evil 4 for the Wii and absolutely destroy some zombies.

I do not have any plans for tomorrow and I'll be making a massive update and afterwards I'll make a special post that will list each of the new posts with a ton of pictures. I have drafted posts of my Saturday night in NYC, all of my San Francisco/Livermore trip with some special guests, and my time at home with a special look at myself and the awful things I do. Stick with me and I promise it will be worth it.

Thanks,
The MGT

Friday night in the Apple

2007-07-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

Kelli and I woke up casually on Friday morning and began our three and a half hour drive to Hartdale, NY. The cost of parking in the city is astounding but the though of having to drive through Brooklyn seemed utterly ridiculous. Instead of driving be caught a train and our aunt and cousin were kind enough to deal with our speedy departure.

The train to Grand Central was only 35 to 45 minutes and once there we were only five or six blocks from where Brad Benson works, thanks to his navigation skills. I've known Brad for roughly five years from our humble beginnings as Pathfinders, where we didn't socialize, to our whirlwind summers as FPCs. When you call a co-worker distressed at 2am about a missing friend, you begin to realize that the bond runs deep. The following year Brad and I were elected into positions in Pathfinders that commanded about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield. The only reason I kept my head straight the entire year was because of Brad and his much needed "outings" that typically required Advil, water, and sleep, afterwards.

The 13th floor of the News Corp building is home to several different entities. Friday evening, Kelli and I found Brad in his natural habitat. Brad works for Myspace.com and as everyone began to trickle out of the office, Brad diligently clung to his desk to ensure his clients satisfaction. He got up only once to use the restroom and made Kelli finish his reports.

The floor is shared with IGN.com and as soon as we arrived they started recruiting for Happy Hour. Interestingly enough, they do their Happy Hour at work and even have an official folding table for party games and a laminated board that contained the five rules of how they "get down." There were low numbers that Friday for the festivities so we stuck to playing some Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360, which was short lived but fun.

After dropping off our backpacks at Brad's apartment, we headed out to an area called Park Slopes for dinner. We met up with Camille at a fusion restaurant called Two Boots, which mixes Cajun and Italian food for tasty results. I had mentioned a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater called Gutbucket (15 comics get five minutes on stage) at dinner and Brad decided that was the plan for the evening. The show starts at midnight so we had a bit of downtime.

We got to the theater before midnight and since the current show was running long we decided to go to a place called the Trailer bar, which looks exactly as it sounds. They even had a mobile home/trailer in the back that was their kitchen! The atmosphere was great but I was worried about my upcoming performance and I even wrote down the entire set on the back of a pack of Trident gum.

I had three main jokes:

Getting engaged,
Male insecurities,
and Traveling.

As we trekked back to the theater I was getting ready, I was pumped, I can do this finally, I didn't read the instructions on how Gutbucket worked. What?!

Comedians need to show up 30 minutes early to put their names in the "bucket." Even though I didn't get to perform, we did see some good young comedians and a few that just made me cringe with disappointment. Ultimately, I was disappointed with myself since I was ready to go and in my excitement I didn't stop to read the instructions throughly.

Gutbucket happens once a month and I'll be back.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

2007-07-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

I returned to HIA this morning around 10am and Kelli picked me up. I'm amazed how lethargic I am after sleeping the entire way back from the west coast. It was tough to leave sunny northern California and return to an overcast and windy Pennsylvania.

Before I left last night my father called and had a surprise for me, which required me to drive out to Boyertown, PA this evening. I'm getting ready to leave now but I'll be making my NYC and CA posts this weekend. I can't even begin to put into words how much fun the past week has been and I'm excited to show everyone. Hang tight because the pictures are amazing and they'll be available tomorrow.

Alcatraz is amazing and yet

2007-07-18T16:20:00.001-07:00

Alcatraz is amazing and yet it seems too small to be a maximum security prison. I have 200+ pictures to post and I'm sorry I haven't done so yet.

I'm on my way to

2007-07-18T15:01:00.001-07:00

I'm on my way to Alcatraz right now. The fog cleared enough so we were able to see the Golden Gate bridge.

Wine Country

2007-07-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

I apologize for all of the mobile posts lately but I haven't been able to make it to a computer to upload pictures and make a formal post. I wanted to highlight the past four days but I won't go into details as the 200+ pictures that I have will speak for themselves.

Sunday was my busiest travel day yet. I went to sleep at 5am only to wake up at 8am and gather my belongings and make sure Kelli was awake. Brad brought us to the train station in Grand Central and we headed back to Hartsdale, NY to see Linette, Aimee, and Joe for a bit. Around noon, Kelli and I got back on the road and headed home to Hershey.

The return trip was uneventful except for my car emptying the A/C drain into the front passenger seat foot-well every time I turned the steering wheel.

I regroup at home and consolidated luggage in preparation for an evening flight to San Francisco except that I remembered that I was flying out of Harrisburg Intl. Airport (HIA). HIA seriously has about 10 gates and isn't even located in Harrisburg, which I still feel is false advertising. My flight to O'Hare (yes! I love that place) was delayed so I would miss my connecting flight by 15 minutes.

Would they hold the flight for me? No. Would I be able to make it to the west coast that evening? Of course not. What did they do to accommodate me? Moved me to the first flight the next day on Delta.

So again I returned to HIA at 5am only to get moved into a new line when I reached the security check point; the random full security screening. After having one of the TSA girls marvel over my first and middle name, Sean Paul, they finally let me go but not before they unearthed everything in my luggage. It doesn't really bother me and it is there job, so just don't complain because it happens to everyone.

I made it to the west coast around 10:45am Pacific time and was greeted by Mr. Barron and Kim at the airport. We drove back to Livermore, CA and spent the day there around the town and Mr. Barron's place of work: Laurence Livermore National Labs (LLNL). This place is like a college campus and just beautiful. They have bikes around the site so you can ride between buildings.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we road the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains into San Francisco. Again you're going to have to wait for the pictures but it did involve trips to China Town, a cable car ride, Pier 39 - 41, and the Asian Art Museum.

Today my friend Craig Bauer is flying from LA up to San Francisco to go on a wine tour with the Barron's, Kim, and me. I've known Craig since high school and I really only see him at New Years as we've established an annual tradition of going to Old Town Alexandra for the fireworks. Livermore, CA has roughly a dozen wineries in the area so I'll have a full update tomorrow with pictures. (I upgraded my Flickr account to accommodate all of my shots.)

We just had Dungeness crab

2007-07-17T19:17:00.001-07:00

We just had Dungeness crab at Pier 41 where they crack, steam, and serve you right on the street corner. It was delicious!

I'm in San Francisco today

2007-07-17T16:13:00.001-07:00

I'm in San Francisco today for my 27th birthday! I'm site seeing w/ the Barrons and Kim in the Bay Area.

Going to see the new

2007-07-16T20:08:00.001-07:00

Going to see the new Harry Potter movie with Kim and her parents. Hopefully I'll post the NYC pictures tonight.

I was "randomly" screened by

2007-07-16T05:31:00.001-07:00

I was "randomly" screened by TSA in Harrisburg. They went through all of my luggage and patted me down. The young woman joked w/ me about my name

In Hot-lanta I was heading

2007-07-16T05:17:00.001-07:00

In Hot-lanta I was heading to my gate when a fight broke out between a man and a woman about the womans keys right behind me on the escalator!

I was grounded in Harrisburg

2007-07-16T05:14:00.000-07:00

I was grounded in Harrisburg last night because I would have missed my connection at O'Hare. I'm now in Hot-lanta getting ready to board to CA.

After going through security has

2007-07-15T16:11:00.001-07:00

After going through security has Harrisburg Intl. airport, I found that my flight was delayed. After all the travel today I might be grounded.

This has been the most

2007-07-15T15:05:00.001-07:00

This has been the most travel intensive day so far. Grand Central to Hartsdale, Hartsdale driving to Hershey, and now my flight is delayed at HIA

Friday night in the city

2007-07-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Kelli and I had some interesting directions from Google Maps but we still made it to Hartdale, NY. We had a few seconds to talk to our aunt Linette and cousin Aimee before running to the station to head to Grand Central station. We met Brad at the News Corp building on the Avenue of the Americas. Brad works for Myspace.com as an account manager and we had a chance to meet a few of his co-workers. It's amazing because I didn't imagine the inner-workings of Myspace to be a few rows of cubicles with a lot of the 7-11 Simpson's paraphernalia. They share the office space with IGN.com, who came over and asked us if we'd like to join them for happy hour. We joined them for some libations and Guitar Hero II. I played "Monkey Wrench" by the Foo Fighters and I actually did a pretty good job. I heard some "wows" and "damns" coming from behind me, which is impressive because I typically stink at Guitar Hero and Alex and Reuter can verify this fact.

Afterwards, we headed back to Brad's place and played some Mario Kart 64 on the Wii. We were all pretty hungry so we walked to a placed called Two Boots and met up with Camille, which I posted about yesterday. I'm learning that my phone has some problems with posting pictures to the (b)log but I can send 160 character text messages.

I mentioned that we went to Gutbucket last night at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre because I wanted to perform but we didn't realize the rules of the show and we got there a bit late so I didn't get a chance to get up behind the mic. I was a bit upset because I had been preparing for this event and this venue would have been a great experience. They do this once a month so I'll be back in either August or September to give it a shot. There was a kid who got behind the mic for the first time and while he looked at bit nervous he still had a decent 5 minute set.

It was almost 3am when the show let out because they started late and also had 15 comics. We headed back home for some late night Mario Kart. Today we're getting ready for an Improv Everywhere event for redheads only followed by some house parties tonight.

We went to the Upright

2007-07-14T00:28:00.001-07:00

We went to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre to a open mic stand up show called Gutbucket. I was prepared to perform but we got there too late.

Brad, Kel, Camille and I

2007-07-13T19:33:00.001-07:00

Brad, Kel, Camille and I had dinner at Two Boots, which fuses Cajan and Italian food. We're now off to a place called Trailer Park.

Second leg of the trip - GO!

2007-07-12T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm currently packing for not one but two trips. I will be leaving in an hour to heading home to Hershey, PA and then we're driving to Hartsdale, NY to catch a train into New York City. From there we'll be meeting Brad at Myspace's headquarters in NYC.

I'm not sure what to expect this weekend since the last time I was in NYC with Brad we were out until the wee-hours of the morning. It was a blast and I'm excited to share this side of NYC with my sister, Kelli.

Brad, Kelli, and I will be participating in a secret mission for Improv Everywhere.
I'm going to do some mobile picture (b)logging this weekend, so you'll be receiving shorter posts but hopefully they'll be more frequent.

I've had an obscene amount of errands to do today and I always wait until the last minute to do them before I leave for a trip. I had roughly 20 items that needed to be addressed which prevented me from making a trip into Oakland to have dinner with Kenzie and Alex. (Sorry guys)

Alex and I were talking on Tuesday about music and how one of his paramedic partners is a Swedish rock god and goes on tour for a few months out of the year. I mentioned the band I used to be in my sophomore year at Pitt and how we recorded a demo. I had no clue what happened to the demo nor did I really care until my conversation with Alex sparked my interest. Well, I found the mp3's and I listened to them last night. I'm not sure if I even want to make these public. I'm not sure if they're bad or just horrid but I feel (and look) like Barbara Streisand because I don't like the sound of my voice when I sing. Maybe I'll be bold and post one song when I return to Pittsburgh in about ten days.

Then again, maybe I'll get bold and do this tomorrow evening.

O'Hare airport stories

2007-07-11T23:56:00.000-07:00

I had connecting flights at O'Hare International Airport on both my initial and return trip to and from Arizona. This was my first time in Illinois, IL, and the only reason I have ever been jealous of this state was because Sufjan Stevens wrote an album about IL and not PA. Well, at least not yet.

I don't know that I got off on the right foot with IL. On my first arrival I saw two young girls, ages roughly 2 and 4, waiting with their mother at my gate. The 4 year old hit her sister in the face with a bag of chips and the 2 year old responded by spitting in her sisters face. Yes, I know they may not have been from IL, and could be passing through. Like I mentioned, we just didn't get off on the right foot.

On my return flight it was a bit different. Instead of rambunctiously retaliating kids, I was presented with a worse problem: loud adults. Now, I'll be 27 in six days but I honestly don't consider myself an adult. Why? I do no have a good answer for you except that I do not handle myself in the same manner as the people on my flight, who were adults.

We boarded on time and everyone was seated quickly. The captain even announced the possibility of an earlier departure, which was 10 minutes ahead of our itinerary. I know, big deal, but I was gross from the red-eye the night before and just wanted a shower, so 10 minutes was a big deal to me. The craft taxied away from the gate and we waited while a final check of the equipment began. A few minutes later the Cap'n announced that we had some computer trouble with one of the computer that was receiving an error message. We were then presented with two options, which didn't matter because it's not like we had a say in what happened, there was no democratic vote, and the floor was certainly never open for discussion.

1. "We restart the plane." - This made me laugh because I can just picture the pilot pushing Ctrl+Alt+Delete in order to restart the vessel. I'd like to insert a "Blue Screen of Death" comment but I know we were all thinking it.

2. "We taxi back to the gate and have new computer installed, which will take about 90 minutes."

The groans following the second option were deafening and yet everyone, sans Sean, cheered when the announcement was made to correct the problem by shutting the plane down like a Windows PC. The plane systematically began to shut down until finally the cabin lights went out. A few minutes later, everything began to come back "online" but much to our chagrin, it didn't work, much like restarting Windows. Go figure.

Again more groans from the peanut gallery as we traveled back to the gate for repairs. One gentlemen that was shaped like an upside-down bell pepper began to vocally announce that he had been traveling for 48 hours and this was an outrage. Now I know that he probably had a rough time at Comic-Con 2007 this year, trying to convince the ladies that he was in fact the "Master of the Universe." I wanted to drag this jerk out onto the run-way and package him in a box that's marked, "KICK until Broken," and then store him in the cargo hold with the hopes of hitting turbulence. He just would let this delay go, and every time the topic was discussed, he raised his voice.

I know flight delays are a pain and I've had many flights delayed myself but it never helps to complain. It's not the flight attendances fault, even though they are in close proximity and easy to abuse. It's not the pilot and co-pilots fault. No one is to blame.

Do you really want to learn a valuable lesson about complaining at 50,000 feet when the pilot realizes that he should have opted for a Mac? Will plummeting to your death get you to shut up? After an hour and half we received news from the pilot that a new computer had been successfully installed and we were ready to leave.

The things I find assuming about airline pilots can be summed up into two words, "Uh" and "Um." Every flight starts out with the following scripted dialog:

"This is your, uh, captain speaking. Uh, um, we're going to go ahead and get started here in a few minutes. We'll be leaving Chicago and uh, um, traveling to, uh, Phoenix. It'll be uh, 3 hour and 20 minute flight. We'll uh, be reaching 40,000 feet today and the temperature in Phoenix is um, 105 degrees. Thank you again for uh, um flying United and we'll be departing in um, a few minutes."

This dialog never changes! Just insert the two cities, flight time, name of the airline, altitude, and/or temperature and there you go. How can they get forget what was coming next? I fly occasionally and yet I can remember this schpeel verbatim.

If I had a doctor start an initial interview for surgery with both of those words, I'd get a second opinion. If I had a greeter at a Wal-Mart address me with both of those words in the same sentence as I entered the store, well, then I hope his performance review and compensation reflects accordingly.

I didn't think I'd be on such a rant today. I'm trying to keep a lot of this clean but maybe some it will be incorporated into later works with an "R" rating.

I'm having lunch with some AcuDose and McKesson people today and then packing up my stuff to head to NYC, followed by CA. I'll be doing some mobile picture blogging from NYC this weekend so I don't have to sit in front of a computer.

Objects in motion

2007-07-11T21:26:00.001-07:00

After having been in constant motion in AZ (and pain) I got used to a certain schedule. I have been extremely exhausted since my return to the 412 and I have failed to keep up with my newly conditioned routine. Please don't confuse exhaustion with laziness, as I prepare for the second leg of my travels this month. I'll be driving home tomorrow night to Hershey, PA where I'll be picking up my sister, Kelli, before I drive up to New York City to see Benson.

I've been promising to make a post about Echo Canyon and indoor climbing so I really need to stop slacking. I also probably have a good second rant about my delay between O'Hare and Pittsburgh on Tuesday morning that might warrant an additional post.

Two days after the Grand Canyon, Chris and I thought it would be fun to go repelling. If you're unfamiliar with the activity allow me to reference a movie that we've all probably seen. Remember in Die Hard when Bruce Willis anchors himself to the building in Nakatomi plaza and jettisons down the side of the building for a short distance? It's nothing like that.

We arrived at Echo Canyon park around 7:20AM and waited about 30 minutes to find a parking spot. People in Arizona wake up extremely early in order to get daily tasks done before the afternoon heat. Even between 7am and 8am, people can get tense if they're unable to carry on with their set plans. Amazingly this joker did not get a ticket. After a good laugh we hiked a few hundred feet to the repelling site.

As Chris prepared the anchor, I stood around like a zilch, he explained to me the process of always backing up your anchor in case it fails at one point. After using the phrase "back up" the following conversation ensued:

Sean - "I get it. It's sort of like when you back stuff up on the computer, so you have a redundant storage, right?!"
Chris - "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The area in Echo Canyon park where we repelled is also where the local fire department trains, so the one anchor is actually drilled into the rock and then set with concrete. This made me feel pretty comfortable about the activity as our second anchor was a small tree. After setting the anchor you obviously need to thread the anchor with your line, followed by yelling "ROPE!" and tossing the line into the abyss. Think of this guttural yell as the equivalent of yelling "FORE" in golf.

After donning his harness, Chris checked his gear and made the first descent. Now you'll notice that the line is being run through Chris's right hand and this allows him to control the speed of his descent. The further away from your body that the line is held, the faster you'll go.

"But if you fall too fast won't you hurt yourself?"

That is correct concerned parent but you'll notice that Chris has his left hand on the belay device. The belay acts as the emergency brake and prevents you from falling too rapidly. By keeping one hand on the line and another on the belay device, you are hopefully ensuring a safe experience.

Now it was time for me to give it the ol' college try! I did three successful descents that morning and felt very comfortable with the process by the time we were done. I should also mention that after the first descent, I had a chance to see Chris do some bouldering. Bouldering is where you obviously climb a boulder along a set path and keep constant friction between yourself and the rock face. Chris has been doing this for a while and it's disgusting to see him solve boulder problems because he start each problem by only using his hands. I give him a lot of credit because they're extremely difficult.

After packing up at Echo Canyon, we decided to go over to AZ on the Rocks for some indoor climbing. Chris had a chance to do some more boulder problems as I relaxed on a bench. Chris had me do some beginners climbing paths that I completed successfully until he found my ultimate challenge; Zelda. The reason behind this match is that Chris and I enjoy video games, especially the Legend of Zelda series that Nintendo pumps out when they need to push units. I decided to give it a shot but I only made it 2/3 of the way up before my arms just blew out. I even tried a dyno to push myself to the top but to no avail.

This wall actually represents my feelings and success rate when playing the Zelda video games. I typically get close to the end of the game, get frustrated, and then come back to finish the game after holding a grudge for a year.

I gave it a valiant effort and upon reaching the bottom, I was just exhausted.

Thanks to Glenn for making this post happen. I was simply going to write that I was "taking the day off" again. After seeing his jerk comment, I decided to write this post. Your comments really do keep me involved, even if they are critical of my poor performance.

I'm back in Pittsburgh and exhausted.

2007-07-10T22:35:00.001-07:00

I'm back in Pittsburgh and exhausted. I'm sorry for not posting today but I'll have a full write up tomorrow. Plus a day in the airport isn't fun.

The Grand Canyon Photographs

2007-07-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Before we started our trip to the Grand Canyon, Chris has a ritual of stopping at a Quick Stop convenience store to pick up an iced-coffee. They have an extremely elaborate mixing station for all of their fountain drinks.

Here is a flattering shot of me at the top of the rim that Chris took before the hike began. It was at the summit that I saw some friends that could have helped me out a few hours later. Chris isn't very forgiving about using a mule to travel through the canyon, and I could see why a few minutes later. This was literally every where and the smell was awful.

There were a couple of breathtaking views on our way down the South Kaibab trail. The O'Neal Butte and the Skeleton Point lookouts were beautiful. Here are two great pictures, one of Kenny and one of myself. There was a definite City Slickers scene on our way down the trail. I thought I was going to finish strong but this guy has been quoted saying, "Nevermore."

Here is the beginning of my end. It was around this time that I stopped taking photographs and started to concentrate on the hike, though a few friends did get my attention.

When we got to Indian Gardens these little guys were very friendly and one even "sniffed" my ear as I laid on a bench.

On the way back we stopped at a rest area that signified three miles left in our ascent. I'm exhausted at this point. These last three miles were rough and we even encountered some unfriendly wildlife that challenged Chris and Kenny. A few well thrown stones that caused enough commotion scared them off.

I will conclude tomorrow with the repelling at Echo Canyon and indoor climbing at AZ on the Rocks. Right now, I have a red eye to catch.

Summer time recipe

2007-07-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

Phoenix, Az is hot. It has been over 100 degrees since I got here last Wednesday so Chris and I decided to make a light and refreshing dinner that you can make at home.

You'll need the following ingredients:

Corn
Pineapple
Jalapeno peppers
Red Onion
Lime
Cilantro
Red bell pepper
Poblano pepper
Swordfish
Salt
Pepper

Notice that I didn't put a recommended amount or quantity for each ingredient. A big part of cooking that I've learned from my Nonni, Chris, and Alex, is that you need to "feel" out what amount is right for you. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to food so you need to personalize the dish to your liking. The total cost of the groceries was roughly $30, so not bad for a summer feast.

With the ingredients above we'll be making a seared Swordfish fillet, with a fruit and vegetable salsa, and a saute of onions, peppers, and corn.

Let's begin with the salsa first. Take the cilantro and pull the leaves from the stem. You're going to need to finely dice the cilantro. The best rule that I've learned with "finely" dicing something is that if you think you are finished, continue to dice at least two more times.

The red peppers, part of the red onion, jalapeno pepper, and the pineapple will need to be cut into small cubes. The smaller the better. If you're looking for some guidance, take a look at the red peppers that I cut and you can use them as a reference. If you're worried about the jalapeno peppers because you don't like spicy food, remember the "hot" part of any pepper are the seeds and the white ribbing on the inside of the pepper. You'll need to remove both of them from both your red and jalapeno pepper for this recipe, so no worries.

You are going to the combine the pineapple, onions, jalapeno, and cilantro into a bowl and squeeze half of a lime into the bowl. Chris and I squeezed two full limes into the salsa because we both like lime and citrus is always a good choice to combine with seafood. Finally, add the red peppers into the bowl, which will drastically change the color of the salsa and wake it up. Mix everything together. The interesting thing about the salsa is that the longer it sits the better it will taste. It's something you can do the night before and then bring it out of the frig right before you serve it.

For the saute, you'll need to dice the poblano pepper to the s ze of a single piece of corn or niblet. Speaking of the corn, you'll need to either buy corn on the cob and then separate it or you can buy a can of corn nibs. If it's fresh and in season, corn on the cob just works better. You'll just need to do a bit of work on your own. Take some of the red onion that you didn't use from the salsa and cut them into slivers that look like little crescent moons.

You now have everything ready for the saute! Warm a pan and then add a bit of oil and then add the onions. Stir them until they get a nice color. You can salt and pepper for each of the three ingredients as needed. Next add in the poblano peppers and give them a new minutes before you finally add the corn. The corn cooks the quickest of the three pieces of the saute, hence the reason for adding them last. If you finish the saute but still need some time with the rest of the meal, you can turn the heat off or set the burner to a low temperature.

I have to say that I wasn't a huge fan of swordfish before we started but last night changed my mind. We purchased a pound of fish from Wholefoods and cut them into two decent sized fillets. Swordfish is a thick fish and you'll want to cook through the entire piece, which is a simple but interesting task.

First, warm a pan and then add some oil, also set the oven to 400 degrees. The worst part about meat in a pan is that it has the tenancy to stick, which is annoying and makes clean up a pain. The oil will help prevent that but you don't want to burn it all up in the pan. To assist in the anti-stick you will want to put salt and pepper on each side of the fillet before you place it in the oil, which will help draw the moisture out of the fish. Add the fillets to the pan and allow them to begin to brown.

When you have had a chance to sear both sides pretty well, you are going to take the entire pan that the fish is in and place it in the oven. You heard me right, the entire pan will go into the oven. Don't worry, we won't mess up your All Clad. Give it a few moments and then continue to sear the fish on the oven burner and scoop the oil on top of the fillet. You don't want to over cook the fish otherwise it will be flaky, which might take some trail and error on your part.

Arrangement of a dish is always important. Check out our final dish.

Chris was very happy with the dish. It was light, refreshing, and very healthy. The lime combined with the Swordfish as a great combination and the saute was crisp and firm. The swordfish was unbelievable because it was so tender that you didn't need a knife.

Give the recipe a shot and let me know how it turns out for you. I will be making a huge update tomorrow with pictures of the Grand Canyon, Echo Canyon park, and some indoor climbing. Check back tomorrow for the Phoenix, Arizona trip wrap-up.

Learning a new dance move

2007-07-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

After Chris's first Grand Canyon trip he drove to Flag Staff, AZ and stopped at a convenience store. Flag Staff is an hour and a half away from the canyon and yet the clerk at the store asked him, "did you hike at the Grand Canyon today?"

Chris was a bit stocked and asked her how did she know?

"You're doing the Grand Canyon shuffle."

I began my new dance new around 1pm yesterday and I'm only now just starting to shake it off. Both of my calves are stiff and I'm walking around like I've been doing physical therapy exercises all day. Chris really seems to enjoy watching my "GC shuffle" as we've been calling it. It's always interesting to find that you have muscles in certain places after pushing them to the limit. I was under the impression that I had totally annihilated my legs with countless slices of pizza and subs and sugary breakfast cereal. Those muscles are back now and they're upset. They want permanent resident and I'm happy to oblige.

Chris has been really kind throughout the entire struggle and even offered to purchase me a walker.

Yesterday was a rest and recuperation day. We hung around and watched TV and some movies. I, self medicated with a lot of ibuprofen, water, and stretching. After you've drank too much they usually say it's better to start drinking alcohol when you wake up to alleviate the hangover, and that's how the Bloody Mary was born! We decided that maybe the same logic would apply to my condition. If your muscles are tight and shaky, you should continue to work out and loosen those target areas up, right?

How about a bike ride to the In and Out Burger across the street? "That sounds good!" What would you say to walking to get some pizza for dinner? "Uh, it's getting dark outside. Can we drive instead?" How about walking to get some gelato? "Did it just start raining? We should probably drive again."

So, I started strong but quickly got lazy.

We did go to a pizza place named Grimaldi's. They do coal brick oven pizzas and they make them true to the vision of Patsy Grimaldi who opened one of the original pizza restaurants in New York City. The current Grimaldi's restaurant even took a water sample from NYC and had it replicated so they could use it in their dough. They also make their own cheese and sauce in house. The coal brick oven cooks faster so your pizza is on the table in no time and it was delicious. We did a tasting of their regular with ricotta cheese, a white with garlic and sausage, and a pesto. I definitely think the pesto was the winner hands down but Chris still stands by the regular with ricotta.

Today we did some repelling at Echo Canyon and indoor climbing at a place called AZ on the rocks and I'll have the full details tomorrow. Plus, I might have an extra special recipe for a summer dinner dish. That's right Alex! We did some cooking and the results were amazing!

The Grand Canyon

2007-07-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

Flying into Phoenix the sun had just set and all the city lights had just come into view as I sat in my window seat of a Boeing 737. Phoenix is massive and the lights of the city against a black canvased night reinforced this fact. To my surprise I was able to see at least six different fire-works displays, one of the hitting its finale as we landed.

I met up with Chris coming out of the terminal and we immediately headed for the closest movie theater. Why? Transformers. It was very entertaining though it wasn't a cinematic masterpiece, but let's face it, the entire movie was based off of a 1980's toy franchise that has seen several iterations since the original. Michael Bay did take a bit of an artistic license with the film but he's forgiven because he can definitely string together some amazing explosions.

We headed back to Chris's place and no sooner did I bring my luggage in did we start dressing for the canyon. We packed our necessary supplies and left Chris's apartment at 2:30AM to go pick up his friend Kenny whom would be joining us. Chris has a tradition of stopping at one particular convenience store before he makes the three hour drive and when I finally post the pictures you'll get a chance to see the most elaborate soda fountain at a gas station ever. They even has a mixology chart to walk you through recommended selections of combining Coke, coffee, and different types of flavor shots.

We met up with Kenny and headed out with our 32oz's of caffeine already taking a dent. The Grand Canyon is three hours north of Phoenix and if you're driving there after dusk, or 3am, the only light is from the occasional passing vehicle. It's completely barren with no signs of life.

We started the trip at 1000 feet of elevation and when we reached the canyon we had gained 6000 feet. We parked the car and began getting ready. Backpacks. SPF 50. Food. Water. Hiking boots. Hats. Pre-hike bathroom break. We made sure we had taken care of everything before we got on the shuttle to the start of the South Kaibab trail.

I mentioned this before but the Grand Canyon is backwards in terms of hiking. In many hiking situations if you don't reach the top it's not a problem because you can just walk back down the mountain. The distance you hike down the canyon is the exact same distance that you'll be hiking back up, there are no short cuts. The only other way of getting out of the canyon is to take a medical evacuation helicopter that costs $3000. We actually did see this helicopter roughly three times during our trip.

As we started down the South Kaibab trail it was an interesting start. Chris explained that there are only two trails that are professionally maintained, the South Kaibab and the Bright Angel. The two trails comprised our descent and our ascent and were both 4.5 miles. The steps of the trail range from gentle switchbacks, which are the zig-zagging trails, to relatively steep switchbacks. I was feeling good until we finished the third mile and my legs were a little shaky.

The interesting thing about hiking is that your feet will slip around inside of your boots. Something that I didn't learn until yesterday. This is what causes blisters on your feet and if not addressed immediately it can causes great discomfort. I found this out first hand.

When we got to the start of the Tonto Trail, I was optimistic despite my wobbly knees. By the end of the Tonto Trail, roughly four miles later, I was a whiny pain in the butt. The blisters that I collected on the way down began to show themselves and made the hike rough. I stopped taking pictures at this point during the hike and concentrated on making it to the Indian Gardens resting area. Chris and Kenny watched as I started to fall further and further behind and they would only get a short distance before they stopped and waited for me to catch up.

Chris and Kenny insisted that I lead the group so they could keep an eye on me as my footing started to slip more and more. I'm not embarrassed to say this but I was a mess by the time we made it to Indian Garden. I felt like I was wearing cement shoes and my left calf had completely tightened up.

When we got to Indian Garden, Chris and Kenny both make sure that I got plenty to drink and eat, which they did the entire trip, and then let me sleep for about 45 minutes. When I laid down on the bench to rest, no sooner did I lay my head down did I feel a "sniffing" sound in my ear, which reminded me of a dog. It was a squirrel.

There isn't much that I can say about the 4.5 miles back up the Bright Angel trail except that Chris and Kenny pushed me mentally the entire time and I can't thank them enough. There were times that I wanted the med. helicopter to come for me. I crept a long at a George A. Romero's zombie pace. It was tough and brutal but Chris and Kenny were saints and cheered me on. The last three miles really got to me and I just wanted to collapse but Chris reminded me, "there's no other way out dude."

Finally, Happy Birthday to my Mom. You're the best and I'm sorry that I'm not celebrating with you. I will see you soon and I love you.

Off the Radar

2007-07-06T13:10:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry about not posting yesterday. I sent a post via my mobile phone last night at 8:30pm, Pacific Time. It's 1:15pm this morning and I awoke to check the site and find that the update wasn't accepted. That was disappointing and Brian Decima reminded me that I need to get my stuff together.

I will sum up the trip to the Grand Canyon in one word: brutal. We hiked roughly 13 miles in 10 hours. We started at the top of the canyon at the South Kaibob trail and hiked 4.5 miles to the Tonto Trail West. The Tonto trail traced one of the rims and was roughly 4 miles to get to the rest stop at Indian Gardens. During the Tonto trail is where I hit the wall.

When we finally got to the Indian Gardens rest stop my feet were like hamburger and just destroyed. As Chris kept telling me there is really only way out of the Canyon, climb back out. In most hiking experiences you climb up a mountain and then hike back down but this is the opposite of the Grand Canyon. Once you're down the only way to go is up.

The ascent was extremely tough for me there were a lot of point where I didn't think I'd make it. It was a slow 4.5 miles back up to the top but I made it with an enourmous amount of coaching from Chris and his friend Kenny. I wouldn't have been able to do this without their patience.

I'm now currently relaxing, stretching, hydrating, and watching some movies. I'll post this evening when Chris, who shows no sign of fatigue, goes for a 2 miles run tonight. I also need to gather my thoughts from a rough day.

Look for another post this evening.

Handshakes, Hugs, and Happy Hour

2007-07-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last night couldn't have gone better. I had an opportunity to see all of my close friends from work and begin to relax. I love the tradition of happy hour.

Thank you to everyone who came out and now I'm going to do some name dropping before we get to the pictures. Thank you and I wish the best to Brian, James, Rob, J-Con, Jim, Anthony, Brian G., Mike, Mike, Brandon, Marcie, Matt, Tony, Mike, Adam, also Sarah and Jordan, and everyone else that I'm forgetting right now. You guys have been like family and all of you made each day a lot of fun instead of making it feel like work. Thank you.

So before I begin to dab my eyes let's talk about the evening. It all started out with Brian making some new friends at the bar. I engaged in a "death grip" with McNamera, which wazs his way of saying "goodbye." His head is so shiny that you could see Brian in the reflection!

I had a good time with Marcie, my two enablers Adam and Mike, Anthony "Death" Lamorte, James and Jordan, Amy (it's her last day this Friday), and even Ian Buggs stopped by!

Here's the picture of the entire AcuDose team! Brian ended the evening with a new hair style before going home. Jim and I closed out the evening with him letting me know that I would be missed. It was bitter sweet.

I have some other pictures from last night and I'll post then when I get a bit more time. My Flickr account is taking a beating since all of these pictures are "raw" and straight from my camera.

I'm getting ready to drive down to Oakland, drop off my car, hang out with Kenzie, Alex, Matt R., and Barron. Next time I post it will be from either the airport or Phoenix, Arizona. I set up my mobile (b)log so I can post from my phone if I can't get behind a computer.

Happy Forth of July everyone!

These things let me know that you care

2007-07-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Arriving at work yesterday I was greeted with some significant changes to my cubicle. I didn't notice at first and began to unpack my laptop. It wasn't until I noticed others looking at me that I knew I had been PUNK'D. My only response was to make a stupid face. I've seen cubicle pranks before and I've even participated in my fair share but I've never been at the receiving end of the joke. It felt pretty good.

There are two things that I wanted to highlight in my cube because they probably needs some type of an explanation. If you caught these geeky wall hangings they both originally started with Jon Conley. Jon and I were the maintenance developers for AcuDose over the past year and Jon has also recently left McKesson in the past two months.

The first pictures is of David Hasselhoff but you'll notice he is quoting Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek. Our team started using the word "Khan!" instead of expletives because yelling usually turns into an HR moment. If someone had a PC crash, server reboot, and/or compilation problem, you would hear this word screamed from their cube.

The second picture is of Princess Leia and R2-D2. This holds a special place in my heart because I'm a Star Wars fan. The idea of AcuDose saving the rebel alliance from the Empire makes me laugh.

I'm fly to Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow evening to see my friend Chris Wolf. Before I leave I get to hang out with Alex, Kenzie, Matt Reuter, and Barron for a bit tomorrow. They have all been kind enough to offer me a ride to the airport. I'm kind of curious how security will be in the airport tomorrow in light of recent news. I'm starting to think that airports are the new prisons, specifically in reference to "giving your shoes" to someone.

Now if you will all excuse me, I have a farewell happy hour to attend.

Convienence? Conscience? Maybe.

2007-07-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

A significant portion of yesterday was devoted to sitting in a car. The day began with brunch at a restaurant in Shirlington, VA with Kim and my friend Joey and his fiance Katye. They recently started a business named The Happy Couple, which does wedding photography. Joey is a good friend from High School and so when he offered his services to Kim and me I was a bit hesitant because he was on the guest list. Do you really want your friend working at your wedding? After stressing my concerns to Joey, he quickly assured me that we had, "never been friends."

As I was leaving Kim's apartment I began to notice a series of odd "conveniences" in the basement level of her building. I know that DC is tight on space and the cost of living is considerably high but I've never seen single businesses pull double duty like the ones located in Kim's building.

First they have a movie rental store that double as a jewelry store, which has the aesthetic appeal of an elderly woman's basement after the Johnstown Flood. Typically when I rent movies my biggest concern is whether or not the film is in stock instead of how I plan to accessorize.

Next we have the dry cleaners which doubles as the entire buildings point of contact for all FedEx and UPS packages. The hours are a bit obscure but he's a nice guy who unfortunately refused a picture with me.

Finally, there is a hair salon in the basement that offers a pretty unique service, which is great if you're the Williams sisters or Anna Kournikova.

A few months ago while driving to Pittsburgh from Hershey, I stopped at the Sunoco gas station at the Midway service plaza heading west on the PA disaster. I hate driving the turnpike though I've logged an enormous amount of hours on this miserable stretch of road for the past eight years and I've only managed one speeding ticket. As I was refueling, I climbed into the front passenger seat of my car to get a Snapple when my keys slipped from my pocket and onto the seat. I closed the door only to find that my car auto-locks after a few seconds.

Thankfully I have AAA and I made the necessary phone call. Realizing that I was still occupying a gas pump I went into the Sunoco to let the people there know my situation (and buy more Snapple). This is when I met Luke.

He was a relaxed "Dude" (NSFW) and I believe his response was, "it's totally cool dude! Don't worry about it." His response elicited the same reaction that I had the first time I watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High! As I was waiting for AAA he even came out to check on me.

Ever since that day, every time that I drive home from VA or Hershey, I subconsciously make it a point to stop here to buy a Snapple (it's also half way between both destinations). The odd conscience is that since my original act of stupidity Luke has been there every time I stop! This guy is either a workaholic or I travel a lot. Regardless, he remembers me each time I stop in and I'm greeted with welcomed Spicoli-ish "hello" after two hours of driving.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to get a picture with Luke after the purchase of my Snapple.

If you're traveling on the PA-I76 heading west and need to stretch your legs; stop in and say "hello" to Luke.

A quick note to consider:
You'll notice that there is a "Friends" tab on the right side of the page. If you are a family member or friend and you have a personal website that you would like me to list, please drop me a comment with the appropriate information. You'll notice that I mentioned Joey, Katye and their business The Happy Couple wedding photography and now a link resides on the right side of the page.

You'll also notice my friends Lola and Steven are listed on the right side as well. They usually serve up some WWW randomness, so be sure to check them out.

Another note to consider:
I really love Snapple.

Introduction

2007-07-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

A lot of people go through transitory stages in their life and accomplish significant milestones within a short amount of time. I can't remember a time in my life where I have had so many of these milestones crammed into a single thirty-one days. I created this as a travel log that will hopefully be interesting for my family and friends to join me during my travels.

So, how does this work?
During the month of July, I will be keeping an accurate travel log of all of my trips and interesting stories. I will be creating an entry each day that I have internet access. If I'm unable to get to a computer for reasons out of my control then I will double post the following day or make a quick entry from my mobile phone.

Where are you going? or They seriously let you on a plane?
I'll be visiting Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyons in Arizona. New York City. San Francisco and Livermore California. Hershey, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I will ultimately be leaving the Keystone state and relocating to Alexandria, Virginia on the thirty first day.

Why are you doing this?
I thought it would be an interesting challenge to take one month out of my life and record everything with written entries and pictures that will be posted on my Flickr account. Sometimes I'll spotlight my current trip, friends and family, maybe reminisce a bit, or even talk about upcoming travel plans.

Grammar Police!
Shut up Jason Woods! If something is spelled incorrectly or doesn't make sense please let me know. This will be the interactive part of this journal. Consider this a work in progress for the month of July with the final product being a complete travel log for all thirty-one days.

"Are there going to be pictures of peoples butts?" - a question from my Mom.
No mom. There will not be any pictures of peoples butts but thank you for your concern. (What does this say about me as a person?)

Hopefully you will bookmark this site, set it as your homepage, or even interact with me during the month of July as I begin a significant transition in my life.

Thank you,
Sean Paul Ellis