Dad's homemade shirt hanger

I needed something to hang my button shirts in so that I wouldn't have to pay $100 or iron 70 shirts when I got home.

Dad + A couple hangers + the outside packaging box to my black light + tons of tape + 45 minutes =

White Post-Easter

It snowed today in Seattle. Pretty odd to be honest. I don't even remember it snowing this late in the spring in Boston, but that could just be old age getting to me.

I've been busy packing and bartering the things that aren't worth keeping/moving around on Craigslist.

The things I have to sell that are left are:

• XBOX with a bunch of games and dancepads (DDR)
• A ghetto entertainment center sound system (AV Receiver/Amp and 5 speakers) that I put together with equipment over 15 years
• 10 year old VCR + 3 blank VHS tapes
• IKEA shoerack
• 48" black light
• Jack Lalanne Power Juicer
• An old bookshelf
• 3 weak IKEA barstools
• Metal futon frame
• Black office chair with wheels
• Computer desk
  

I've never used Craigslist so much at once before. At one point I had 10 ads up.


These barstools are pretty much the only thing I've ever bought at IKEA that I regret buying. The screws become loose constantly even if nobody is using them. Every couple weeks I found myself using my simple IKEA tool to re-tighten the screws. It was easy but still annoying.

ReloCubes have arrived

They're pretty good size. I'll have to see if I can get all my stufin just one of them.

Lazy Tuesday Face

No Mr. Pibb and red vines but hilarity ensues at Starbucks..

The great big box hunter

As is customary every time I move, I hate having to pay someplace like U-Haul $100+ to get some decent boxes to pack my stuff in. For the last couple of years while I've been moving around Seattle on my own dime, I've been locating people giving away free boxes on craigslist.

So yesterday I drove around town using my blackberry to respond to ads while going to others to pick up boxes. This phone sure came in handy.

I have about 20 or so small to medium size boxes and I'll need to get about 15 more to complete my move.

All I need now are some blankets and a dolly. I'm going to ask my apt office today to see if they have one to borrow.

Change of plans

After fiddling around a bunch with the Star Alliance RTW Mileage Calculator, I came across the realization that I would not be able to make it to Lima, Peru. Apparently the Star Alliance has issues with coverage in South America and this is one of the problems. To get to Lima, I would have had to fly to Toronto, Canada and take Air Canada.

In case you haven't caught on yet, RTW = Round the World.

Lima happens to be one of my must-see locations, and therefore I decided to seriously consider OneWorld. OneWorld happens to be American Airlines (AA) and its partners. This turned out to be good for 2 reasons:

1. I happen to be an AA Gold member this year, so it will help me get better seats on every flight.
2. OneWorld's RTW fare does not count the maximum number of miles you can fly. They happen to calculate by number of total flight segments, and they allow 20 total. This sounds like a lot I know, especially because Star Alliance only allowed 15 destinations, but you have to remember that flying from India to Egypt with a stopover is considered 2 flight segments. So the trick is to only book nonstop flights wherever possible. This is how you get the most bang for the buck.

There is another caveat to OneWorld's calculations: You can only fly 4 segments max in each continent. So whereas before I was planning to check out Vietnam, I've decided I'm not going to anymore, because Thailand, Japan, Korea, and China are more important to me. Vietnam also required a VISA so that helps ease the stress a little bit as well.

I booked Barcelona instead of South Africa, because flights from Cairo to Cape Town were impossible unless I felt like giving up 2 segments and flying halfway around the world for a connection. I also have no problems skipping the crime in South Africa as well.

I have to fly into Hong Kong right now because there were no flights available to Shanghai or Beijing during the late summer, probably due to the Olympics.

I also added Chile because I could. I tried to add Morocco but the flights didn't work out.

So while I haven't booked the final itinerary yet, here's what I've now planned out:
New Zealand
Australia
Thailand
Japan
Korea
China
India
Egypt
Spain
Brazil
Argentina
Chile
Peru
Puerto Rico

I feel a movement coming on

I had to figure out how I was going to move my stuff down to LA. (I've decided to store my stuff in boxes at my parents' house in Downey)

I checked out a couple of local moving companies and they only serve in-state, but one of them recommended that I check out portable storage companies, such as ABF U-Pack. DoortoDoor seems to be a more popular company, but their quote was 60% more so I couldn't take their deal, no matter how cute the girl's voice on the phone was.

After doing some research, I've made a reservation with U-Pack and they will be coming out to my apartment next week to leave 2 of their ReloCube moving containers in the alley between the 2 buildings of my apartment. Then I will have a couple of days to pack the ReloCubes with my stuff and ABF will come back, pick up my cubes, and then take them to their freighting area for shipping to the Los Angeles area.

I feel like this'll be the best deal overall because:
1. Nobody else has to touch my stuff
2. I get several days to pack my stuff
3. It's less $$ than a full service moving company.
4. I am responsible for all the packing, so hopefully nothing will break.
5. Nobody else has to touch my stuff!

When they get to the LA area, I will ask them to bring it to my parents' house and I can unload everything in a day or two. Sounds good right? Yeah, we'll see what happens.

Guys Night

Ever wonder what it feels like to see your boss and your coworker playing Guitar Hero 3?

Here you go:


Isn't this what guys always do during guys night? I thought so.

Runnin' fer the drink

As usual, I'm up at 7am in March for the Henry Weinhard's St. Patrick's Day Dash. 3.5 miles of pure glory. It's for a good cause, except I didn't donate anything.

And yes it was cold out.

I'm a real man

While working out today in the gym, I flipped the channels on the television to distract myself. I was the one in charge of my destiny today, because I was in the gym at noon. If you don't know from experience, there's never anyone in the gym at noon, especially in a gym that is for apartment in the middle of downtown where tenants mostly all have working careers.

So to not digress any further, I ended up watching the Sportfishing channel. I didn't even know there was such a thing. There's a channel for everything now apparently. I wonder if there's a channel for druggies & alcoholics. That sounds like it would be interesting. Oh wait, I guess that would be Entertainment Tonight.

Well watching the guy catch a 50 pound catfish in the middle of a big pond made me kind of jealous and I thought, "fishing sounds like something I want to do while I'm traveling".

So there you have it, I'm going fishing.

I'm off to H&R Block now to take care of some taxes, because I'm lazy and didn't want to do them myself. Hey at least I'm doing them right?

Happy Birthday Leo!

Today is my buddy Leo's birthday.

Leo is an old friend from 7th grade at Brea Junior High School. He and I have been through a lot of stuff together, but we started out as band geeks. Who would have known huh?

So that means I've known him for 18 years now.

Leo is currently a Product Marketing Manager at Belkin International.

This picture properly signifies our relationship. It was taken on New Years Eve 2007 in Hermosa Beach, CA at Cafe Boogaloo.



Happy Birthday Leo!

Oops I did it again

BruteForce has utilized his superior math skills to notify me that I actually only have 14 countries currently on my itinerary (not 15). It's true. I can't count, or I guess I can't spreadsheet.

I'm considering adding Cambodia to my list though. Between Vietnam and Thailand, I might be able to sneak over the border and visit Angkor Wat. If you don't know, Angkor Wat is this unimportant temple in the middle of Southeast Asia. No, actually it happens to be one of the Wonders of the World, dummy.

Oh yeah, I finished taking the Typhoid pills without any side effects, so that was fortunate. That makes me good for all the vaccines I needed for my trip. I technically could use a shot of Hepatitis A part 2 in 6 months though so if I remember to do so I'll try to get that taken care of while I'm on travel. The travel clinic told me even with 1 shot it has a 95% effectiveness though so it's not a crucial issue.

Mmm 2nd avenue rolls

Here's one of the things I'll miss about Seattle when I leave. This place has everything: location, quality, atmosphere, and fair prices. Good old Wasabi Bistro.

It was my #1 choice for medium to late night dining. I have to say "medium" because they only serve 'til 12:30am but that's still a good thing in Seattle (the city that hibernates at 1am) If you know me then you know why I consider this a disappointment.

I have a lot of good and bad memories from here (not from the food) mostly good.

This marks the first official post with my Blackberry.