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C'mon Greyhound...

2009-12-22T21:45:45Z

This is the bus we took from Cancun to Merida - the ADO Platino bus. Freaking awesomely comfortable and not that much more money than regular. Why can't Greyhound do this? I'd ride buses way more if they did!

Yucatan, if you think Yucatan!

2009-12-17T18:36:07Z

Hello from Southern Mexico!

The trip has been pretty brilliant so far, despite starting it out with a pretty bad cold. (Thanks a lot Portland). We flew into Cancun, got screwed on a cab to the ferry dock (eh, it happens to the best of us) and hopped the ferry to Isla Mujeres. This turned out to be a great choice. Isla Mujeres is this little island surrounded by white sand beaches and turquoise blue waters. Fucking gorgeous, and it´s far enough from Cancun that it seems most of the hordes of frat guys and fat golfers never make it. We had a little difficulty finding our hotel but once we did - holy cow it was AWESOME. It was called Cabanas La Meria Del Mar and was right smack at the top of playa norte, and endless white sand beach with water that very, very gradually got deeper so could just sit out there with a beer floating around. The weather was perfect. Mid-80´s during the day, beaming sun, a few clouds, 70´s at night. There were a couple of cool beach bars. There are kinda two main population centers, the turista place in the north and the locals area in the south.

The second day we rented one of those four-poster bed things that you see in the high-end travel mags with the yuppies sitting on them and they have the white sheets for walls. We sat on it all day - cost? Seven dollars for ten AM to six PM. Pina coladas $3.

The next day we went snorkelling, which was great. It was drift snorkelling, hop in and float down along the coral reef. Maybe not as insanely colorful as Thailand snorkeling but really cool fish anyway. M saw a barracuda! I followed a squid around for a while, I thought that was really cool! After snorkelling we got lunch - amazing ceviche of the tenderest octopus, shrimp and conch, followed by a whole grilled lobster tail that was like $10, local and awesome. We then rented bikes and rode all the way to the bottom of the island to check out the mayan ruins. It was a great bike ride, complete with oceanside rides all the way down and back. We rode through the locals area, got beers at drive-through ¨mini-super¨s (mini-super = convenience store) and stood at the farthest southern point on the rocks over the crashing surf that the Spaniards landed on. It was like 270 degree view of nothing but sea. Amazing!

Next day, (yesterday - Wednesday) we caught the ferry back to Cancun and hopped the most luxurious bus I have ever been on in my life to the city of Merida on the gulf side of the Yucatan. When you got on a lady gave you a soda, mints, sleeping eye mask, hand sanitizer and headphones. They had massive wide seats with blankets and pillows and entertainment consoles. The seats went practially flat and I snoozed away a good part of the four hour journey (this was good as I was pretty hungover :) M watched Michael Jackson concert footage. We pulled into Merida after dark. Merida is a city of around a million. The outskirts looked a little rough, but that´s often the case with outskirts of everywhere. The main city is freakin´ awesome. We checked out one of the historical tourist hotels and the musty windowless rooms were not super impressive although the building was stunning. We hiked it to another place a bit out of the center and found the most amazing hotel called Hotel Mexilia. I think it´s run by some gay Mexican guys and an American. The building is from the 1800s and has a central courtyard and all these areas connected with a labrynth of suspended catwalks! Then, the entire thing is FULL of huge tropical trees and palms and plants. It´s a 3-D maze of decks, balconies, etc. Amazing! I really can´t describe it. The room is awesome and the staff is great. The people here dress really nice and huge groups of families, students, etc seem to run around all night long! Today we´re going to art museums and maybe to the big market. I´m going to tray to track down some of the famous ¨cochinitas¨ or roasted pork that this area is famous for. Been taking a lot of pics but they´re all in RAW format so I will upload them when I get back.

Hope everyone there is well!

Miss you Dan

2009-11-17T16:06:20Z

Dan was killed two years ago yesterday. I'll always think of him as a great, intelligent, cheeky, whimsical, fun man who really loved life. I am better for having known him.

I will post a pic later on from home. Rest In Peace, Dan.

Halloween costumes

2009-11-07T18:15:20Z

As promised - pictures of our Halloween costumes! We were the two lead characters in the movie "Eagle vs. Shark" starring Jemaine Clement from Flight of The Conchords. It's a cute indie flick about outcasts in New Zealand...

The real characters:

And us!

Today: off to work on the Corvallis house.

Tomorrow: DEVO in Seattle!

Gah!

2009-11-03T01:14:07Z

Where am I gonna have my 40th b-day party?!

!@#$%^&*

dangrmous @ 2009-10-31T04:54:00

2009-10-31T11:55:45Z

You can't know how much I miss my parents

Look, I can Facebook on my LJ

2009-10-16T21:57:52Z

..but in the first person.

I just ate lunch at Giovanni's in downtown Beaverton. Absolutely fucking disgusting. Never again.

I can haz go home now?

Getting my dubstep on thanks to Silphers mix.

Want

2009-10-16T18:33:13Z

Someone give me about $5,000 to spend here please -> http://www.synthtech.com/

OK since I can't have that, I'm going to go try to find some Korean food.

TGIF!

Relaxed

2009-10-03T11:31:35Z

I'm going to be 40 soon

The Roots

Well daaamn that was a fun 1st Thursday

2009-08-07T06:42:03Z

Got off the train after a kinda shite day at the orifice... rode my bike down to Ping (in the old Hung Far Low space) and got some freakin' awesome food - that place is on. They are doing something really new and fresh here. Making food with a great complexity and depth of flavor. This town needed it. It's sort of pan-Asian, but not in the hotel bistro sense of the word. You can tell Andy Ricker (of Pok Pok fame) has been spending some time and effort to go overseas and really seek out the best spices and ingredients, and puts them together in a working, creative way. I got the spicy mama noodles, which is basically Thai instant ramen doctored up, with handmade peppery pork meatballs, prawns, a type of bok choy, tamarind, fish sauce, lime, a poached egg, and cilantro... freakin' awesome. After Ping I tried to locate Humper at PNCA, to no avail. Checked out the student art, which is always fun times. Some genius, some so-so stuff. Went by Blue Sky (a photo gallery I always like to stop by) and was more impressed by their drawers, where you can pull out a drawer and see any of PDX's best (?) photogs prints. Neat stuff in there. The main exhibit was a lot of Israeli/Palestinian conflict pictures in one room, and in the main room photos of pudgy hindu men at the beach. Hmmm, they were nice photos, not sure if I'd plunk down $2500 for a huge image of a potbellied Punjabi splashing around, but hey - what do I know about art? Then it was off to the Everett Lofts, where there's esentially a skater-run gallery every 15 feet. Literally. Mixed bag there, not super impressed. Off to Stumptown where Dave Neevil killed it with photos, paintings, and sculpture. They guy is very prolific! Then off to Valentine's for beers and chats w/a whole mess of people I wound up knowing :)

Then I took the surprisingly crowded MAX to 60th, mere blocks from my house (did I mention I love having the train right there?)

Off to bed. Zzzz....
"

Latest roll of Holga stuff

2009-06-10T01:59:48Z

Portland and Wenatchee, WA. Fuji Velvia 100, cross-processed.

Flickr

2009-06-03T05:02:04Z

I hit 3,000 views on Flickr. Yay?

Rest In Peace, Joe Bailey

2009-05-29T18:08:22Z

I just found out that my old high school / college friend Joe Bailey died yesterday in Bend, Oregon. He was epileptic and apparently had a seizure and aspirated something. He was my age, had a wife and kids. Very sad. You will be missed, Joe. You were a really great guy. I can't beleive I was just drinking beers with you at Kennedy School a month ago. Glad I got to see you one last time.

Something else I forgot to mention is that last Saturday was the one year anniversary of my father's passing. Rest In Peace, Don Unger. I love you and miss you.

I had a wonderful bike ride in this morning. Sunshine and blue skies, T-shirt and shorts! How awesome is that :)

The Subie needed to go to the doctor this morning, so I had to drop it off at SE Burnside and 7th and then ride my bike over the B-side bridge to catch the MAX train. All the bums on Burnside were waking up. Time to go make some ca$h for some 40's of Steel Reserve! Up and at 'em!

Might head down to Ringler's Annex after work, we'll see...

Sasquatch 2009

2009-05-25T03:17:53Z

Since M's friend was able to get us in for free, and we had a place to stay in Wenatchee, we decided to head up and check out Sasquatch. We only went yesterday, and had a nice time despite the heat. Lots of great bands and comedy! Here are some pics:

G + M

King Khan and The Shrines fucking rocked it! They did old school James Brown sounding garage funk. Super cool.

The sax player from King Khan doing "the tuck" (hi catstab!) Note guitar player trying desperately not to look...

More King Khan - the cheerleader did not have undies on and apparently the front row got to see lots of cooter.

Looking for a miracle, maaaan...

Mark Kozelek from Sun Kil Moon. Abso-freaking-lutely incredible live. The only festival band I've ever gotten choked up at.

The Decemberists

My friend Chris Funk, who plays guitar and stuff for The Decemberists. Hi Chris!

Karen O from Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Doves

The main stage

...and finally bro-tastic nap time. By about four o'clock, the combination of $9 cans of Coors Light, hot sun, punching each other in the arm, and secretly wishing Creed was playing/secretly wishing they could make out with other bros, tired out even the most hardcore bro, and it was nap time. Everywhere you looked there were passed out bros with backwards baseball caps. They were practically in piles. Someone's going to have an ouchy sunburn tomorrow! Bro!

The end.

My mother has been gone for 2 years

2009-05-02T09:30:20Z

I love you and I miss you, Susan.

The pilot episode of my new travel show is finished!!

2009-03-12T22:33:56Z

It's called "Hey Look, I'm In The Middle Of Nowhere In Vietnam"

Patriotic videos from Vietnam

2009-03-12T18:29:41Z

I shot this in my hotel in Hanoi while I was sick...

Yay Valetine's Day plans in the bag

2009-01-17T21:38:21Z

We are flying to Vancouver BC for the weekend and staying in one of them newfangled modern-design-boutique type hotels! Woo! It's gonna be fun, and it actually wasn't that brutal on the bank!

It's so sunny out. I really should go snap some photos with the Holga.

We are buying a new sink fixture today. Old one hating it.

OK stuff to do. What's going on tonight?

New snowboard!

2009-01-08T17:35:33Z

After riding my great Liquid Jim Moran 158 for the last 13 years (I know, looong time) I went out yesterday and bought myself a new snowboard! Last week I got some *very* spiffy new Burton boots. I got a 2009 Gnu Carbon High Beam model with "Magnetraction" (the sides are slightly scalloped for better traction on ice/hard stuff). The graphics are heinously fugly but I don't care about that stuff. Here it be:

In other news tonight I am going down to Quality Photo to check out a four person group show. Does anyone know if it's First Thursday today even though the real first of the month was new years day? I'll probably get beers later. Maybe not.

Tam's birthday on Friday, should be fun. I got her a coooool present.

New camera / Christmas cactus

2008-12-30T18:26:08Z

My new point-and-shoot camera arrived! It's a Canon SD880 IS. I had the 870 and it got lost by someone else. Whoops! I bought a Samsung NV24HD and it sucked arse so I sent it back and got the Canon. The Canon rulez.

The Christmas cactus at my desk is blooming. This is the first time it's done this, as this is the first time I've had a bunch of windows.

Pictures!

I drove to the Gustav's in Clackamas tonight...

2008-12-21T07:43:07Z

Man, I have never ever seen so much snow on I-205!! It was solid white, rail to rail! Amazing. The driving was pretty slow and white-knuckle but we made it there and back.

Staying in tonight. I wonder how deep it's gonna be tomorrow AM?

Back early

2008-12-10T00:33:24Z

Due to getting sick repeatedly getting sick (the last time with the flu, which I am still fighting) I decided to head back to the States early. I was tired of lying around hotel rooms alone and miserable. Fuck it. Also, Glenn could not meet me as planned due to those stupid A-hole protesters in Bangkok.

I did get to see some of the major things I really wanted to, like Halong Bay, Angkor, and the floating villages on the tonlé sap lake, the biggest lake in Asia.

In Vietnam I met up with some friends-of-friends who were nice enough to take me out to some cool "locals" spots in Hanoi. We ate at this place where basically 1/2 of the restaurant was out on the sidewalk. They had low plasic stools you sat on. They brought out this cast iron griddle thing, and stuck a puck of white Sterno type stuff under it and lit it. They then brought out a plate of raw chicken and beef and veggies, and you grilled them and dipped them in this tasty sauce of salt, sugar, lime juice and chili. It was tasty! I was drinking a lot of beer too. After that we went to a place called Le Pub in the old quarter. I got sick the next morning and was kinda laid out for a couple of days. I went to Halong Bay a couple of days later, which was amazing. The bay has over 2,000 of these limestone islands in it and you cruise along in a boat between them. There are also fishermen who live out there in floating platform houses. Also some amazing caves to climb through. They look like a movie set, it's nuts.

I headed to Siem Reap, Cambodia after that. That place is a trip. It's got full-on little tourist strip, all these massive hotels. Everywhere else, it's dirt-poor. Everyone's trying to get you to buy something from them hahaha.

The Cambodian people are so very nice and funny. Really great to hang out with. My driver/guide Jim was great. I need to email him. I did all the usual stuff, checked out Angkor, climbed up the one temple where you watch the sunset. It was amazing. Had the best meal of trip possibly at a little shack near Angkor. The local curry is called "amok" and I got the amok with fish - awesome! My hotel was great there too - $10 a night, perfectly clean, with an awesome salt-water pool and poolside restaurant / bar. Small quant place but extremely comfortable for budget. Sadly the next day I ended up getting really sick. I had been sneezing all day at Angkor and when I woke up I had a full-on cold/flu. My throat was on fire, I felt like I wieghed 1000 pounds. I laid around a lot for the next few days and finally decided to call the rest of the trip, as this was the second time I'd gotten really sick, and I was alone since Glenn couldn't make it. My driver did manage to roust my sorry ass to go check out the floating villages on the tonle sap lake. This lake is the biggest lake in Asia. It's so big that when you go out on it, it looks like you're on the ocean. You can't see anything but water as far as the eye can see. It's surreal. The boat we got hooked up with was super rickety and was piloted by two of the more hating it Cambodian kids I'd seen. They must have been in their 20's. One kid was a human skeleton. He had a peculiar way of walking where his arms would just swing and his shoulders drooped a lot. I don't know what was wrong with him. I had never seen someone so skinny walking around. He was adept at driving the boat, though. The other kid had more meat on his bones, but had one badly fucked up leg. It was as though it had broken near the hip, and never healed. It was like there was an extra joint, but with no support. So he could not put weight on it without sort of holding it in place with one hand. His foot was bare and kind of dragged. It was sad. They still kept a good look on their faces despite such hardship. I am even more greatful for my very, very privileged life in America.

I headed back to the States on Friday. I was so sick, flying was lame but I was hell bent on going home. The Saigon airport sucks ass I fucking hate that place. The Tokyo Narita airport is the bestest airport evar. They have showers and day rooms you can rent. I got a day room for 2 hours and totally crashed out. It was great. The McDonald's in Narita has a little sink in the seating area where you can wash the french fry juice off your hands. I bought some smoked squid which I was able to get back here with no problem.

I am happy to be back here. I love Portland, the winter, the dark, the food, my house, my Michelle, the cat, my fish, my guitar and bass :D

Pictures soon!

Where you from? When you come back you buy my drink...

2008-12-03T14:30:07Z

I want to be one of those cool backpacker guys with my cool scarf. I don't exactly which scarf you are supposed to have. Some Cambodian silk seems to be OK, or one of those cool Palestinian scarves. Those are awesome. Except that you are not Palestinian. You are from fucking Denmark. Either way, if you have shorts, Tevas, a backpack, and a high-end DSLR, and you have a cool scarf wrapped around your neck, you're a cool backpacker guy!

Hehe... OK I do go on. Day 2 in Siem Reap rocks. I like this place a hell of a lot better than Vietnam. Just saying. I'm burnt to a crisp from being at Angkor all day with no sunscreen. My driver "Jim" is a nice fellow. If I'm not careful we might end up being e-mail friends.

What else? My hotel is $10 a night, awesome building, salt water swimming pool with a waterfall and restaurant/bar next to the pool. Yeah!

Best meal on this whole trip so far - "amok with fish" at a tiny stall by Angkor. Relatives of my guide. Amok is a type of coconut curry. It had slices of some small white fish. Excellent!!

OK I need beer and or bed!

Sea Legs

2008-12-02T07:18:57Z

Greetings from day five of Asia Aventure Number Five!

Things are going pretty well overall. I had a down couple of days (like, what the fuck am I doing back in SE Asia) due to some illness... not the barfy poopy kind but more like some stomach discomfort + general malaise. I finally did what all backpackers do and walked down to the local pharmacy and bought a bunch of Cipro and started taking those this morning. I'm drinking a beer in the airport right now, so there must be something to it?

So far I have:

Gone to Halong Bay. Awesome. Stunning. Why didn't I book the overnight boat??
Got too drunk with some Aussies and some friend-of-friend locals.
Eaten pretty decent food.
Seen the water puppets.
Checked out Pagodas and temples.
Watched Vietnamese soap operas on the plasma TV in bed while drinking my excellent coffee in the morning. They are subtitled in English for reason.

They sell this stuff here (over the counter) that is like Alka-Seltzer only it's a mix of acetomenophin and Codiene, and gets you kinda fucked up. I wish I could bring a couple of boxes back.

Vietnam reminds me Thailand, only dirtier and pushier. Thailand seems to have better food.

I am off to Cambodia now. I have no plans at all after that. Fly back to somewhere in Vietnam, hopefully with a beach. I have yet to get my beach on. How is that I keep going to beachy countries and not ending up at the beach? I'll work it out.

The weather up in Hanoi is awesome. 70 degrees and sunny. Some of the locals have expressed concern with me walking around in a T-shirt and jeans. :D

There are 9,182,793,207,208 tourists in Vietnam. Luckily, it's not hard to figure out where they are located, because they cleverly wear T-shirts and hats that say "VIETNAM" on them. Thank goodness!

Cross-processing is fun!

2008-11-27T04:39:25Z

Some shots from the Holga, around the Rose City Park neighborhood. Fuji Velvia 100 cross-processed.