Turn the Page

This will be my last post from the Blue Angel Café as it is my last day in South Lake Tahoe.  Relax, relax…the blog isn’t ending just yet.  I have an emotional – well, as emotional as I get – post that I’ll try to put up tonight or tomorrow.  It has been over a week since I’ve dedicated some serious time to this blog and a lot has been going on…so here we go.

 

Guest Bloggers

I’d like to thank the three guest bloggers who posted last week.  You guys all gave me something to look forward to.  Lunchbox…you wrote an encyclopedia…I wouldn’t have expected anything less.  David…pretty standard output from you.  The Choz…a good story that I’ve been trying to tell for years…somehow you remembered all the details, although the story was riddled with grammatical errors.  Dr. Mike…fuck you…I don’t except your “my computer broke while I was writing” excuse…you are a doctor…I expect more from you.

Uncle Dan

Yes…I am now an uncle.  Bryce was born on March 21^st.  Here he is…

Although I haven't seen him in person, I assume he has hands and they're just covered.  If he has no hands, I will buy him some kickass hooks/claws. 

Ski Trip 2009…The Movie

That’s right…it’s time for me to start work on my second video.  Last week I was in Seattle, Vancouver, and Whistler with 11 other people.

Mathematics:  12 people + technology + booze = lots of pictures and videos.

I’m going to start working on this next week…hopefully I can get something together before May.

 

Trip Recap

The first night of any trip is usually the wildest.  Vancouver was a blast.  I got drunk, started my fake Canadian accent (that I would use throughout the week), lost the first of many rounds of credit card roulette, stole a taxi from some girls, got a hot dog thrown at me, and slept with a man. 

Three of us were up pretty early the next morning and were walking the streets of Vancouver.  Wow…I like Vancouver.  I had to repeat my mantra – they don’t have baseball, they don’t have baseball, they don’t have baseball – over and over to keep myself from signing a lease.  We picked up some porno mags, hopped in Boy Blue (a.k.a. The Fag Mobile…pictures will be posted soon), and drove up to Whistler.

Whistler is great.  The village has a plethora of shops, restaurants, and bars.  The house we rented was right across the street from the village.  Arpi (The Builder) and Christien (His Son) built one hell of a house…even if he didn’t splurge on insulation.  I slept in a room with Barty, Remmi, and The Incomparable Roy Orbison (inside joke).  There were many a night when Remmi and I giggled ourselves to sleep…pretty typical for a couple of men in their late 20’s.

Those are pretty much all the details from my trip that I’m going to dive into right now except for the following events:

On Thursday, while sitting at the bar, Byl turned to me and asked, “Dan, what if I was gay?”  I still have no response to this.  Luckily, he is not the man I slept with.

Canadians love hockey and curling.  They have TSN instead of ESPN.  TSN sucks.

Many of us, sans CG, have become addicted to the song “Poker Face” and its music video.  In fact, Barty, Kilpat, and I had it on repeat for about 20 minutes before going through customs to get back into the ‘States and cued it up in Boy Blue when we returned the car.

Canadians refer to “Macaroni and Cheese” as “Kraft Dinner”.  Fucking hosers.

What do three men do in Seattle when they’re 4 hours early for their flights?  Sunday brunch at the rotating restaurant atop the Space Needle.  No…they don’t have a dress code, but they should…Barty wore sweatpants.

Did we really see Ichiro?  We’re not sure why Ichiro would be in Seattle instead of spring training…but as we pulled into the airport we did see a murdered-out Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Mariners sticker and Mariners’ stadium plates that said “Ichiro”.  When we pulled up beside him we saw, through uber-tinted windows, a tiny Asian man that looked just like Ichiro.

My Alaska Air propeller plane flew about 50 feet from the summit of Mt. Rainier.  I’ll admit…I was terrified.

 

My Last Days in South Lake

I got back in town late on Sunday and had to withdraw from previously-made plans to get drunk.  I felt terrible.  I got about 12 hours of sleep on Sunday night and hit the mountain for the last time on Monday.  A pretty day.

I followed-up skiing with about an hour in the hot tub accompanied by a G2 and a Cuban cigar.  I then tried my best to glue the broken porcelain bear back together.  It looks terrible.  Monday night involved some TV and 11 hours of sleep…and here I am.

 

What Lies Ahead

I am heading up to Reno today to empty my storage unit and pack my car.  Then I’m going out to dinner with some of my former business associates.  We’ll see if the cheap bastards make me pay for my own food or not.

I’ll spend tonight in Reno at Ryan’s house, drive to Provo (I've already been to Salt Lake City and Jim Swarthout owes me some money) tomorrow and get a cheap hotel room, drive to Denver on Thursday to stay with Dale, drive to Des Moines on Friday to stay with Mason, and then stop off in Iowa City to get a buffalo chicken burrito at Atlas before heading to my new home…wow, this is painful to write…my parents’ house.

I’ll try to post along with the way with some highlights from my trip.  I may stretch out my stays in Denver and/or Des Moines depending on how I’m feeling.