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Rolling on the river

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:09:06 -0500

Two weekends ago, I went for a 3 day trip down the Delaware river with my friends Aaron and Kristy. We had been planning it for a long time, and were very excited to have it come together.
The trip started with me taking my blow up raft out to Princeton, where Aaron and Kristy live. Everyone on the subway and Jersey Transit looked at me like I was crazy, because I was carting around the raft in a giant wheeled suitcase with oars sticking out and plastic bags lashed to the sides.
When I arrived in Princeton, Aaron picked me up in their car, and we went and got kristy and then drove the car to the take out spot. from there, we caught a ride with Kristy's father to our put in spot, 40 miles upstream.
We blew up the boat, loaded our equipment in, and set off down the river.
For the next 3 days, we spent out time paddling along, swimming in the river, jumping off of railroad trestles, taking advantage to all the rope swings hung out of trees along the banks, smoking from our corncob pipe, cooking meals over campfires and camping along the banks and one night on a little island midstream. It was so great to get out of the city and see some nature, and continued my suspicions that for all it's bad press, New Jersey has some very beautiful spots.
Below are some photographs I took on the trip.

gettin' fame

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:06:09 -0500

Look who's on the front page of Gothamist, the most widely read blog in New York City? Click here to find out.

That's my friend Nick's photo, by the way.

Canoeing in Maine

Sat, 31 May 2008 14:12:17 -0500

So last weekend I went up to Maine to go canoeing with Peter, his brother Dave, and some friends of theirs from Maine. It was my second sojourn into New England, and it was very enjoyable. We had perfect luck in getting there when it was just warm enough to be pleasant, but before the terrible biting black flies hatched out and swarmed over our poor bodies.
Here are some photos.

West coast visit

Tue, 20 May 2008 14:14:50 -0500

Hey there. I just returned from nearly 3 weeks on the west coast. some would say it was silly to leave nyc during may, the nicest month weather-wise, but I had a very good time visiting Albuquerque, Utah, SF and Nevada. On my trip I did many things, including slot canyon exploring, camping out in the desert, hitchhiking across half of Utah, bike riding in Reno and SF, Sailing on the San Francisco Bay, visiting many friends in SF, attending my stepsister's college graduation, and hanging out with friends and family in Reno.
Below are some photos of exploring slot canyons that I took when my friend Peter and I were in Escalante National Park and Capitol Reef National Park. I'll post more photos from the rest of the trip later.

Photos from my recent bike trip

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:49:38 -0500

Last weekend, my good friend Aaron and I rode our bikes from Chester Springs, PA through the pine barrens of New Jersey, all the way to the Jersey Shore.
No, we didn't encounter the jersey devil.

Snow camping

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:55:37 -0500

Last weekend I went snowcamping for the first time. I went up to Vermont with my friend Peter, his novia Gabriela, his brother Dave, and their friend Sam. We went to the Mad River Valley near Mt. Abrams. It was a 45 minute hike in accompanied by moonlight, and it reminded me of when we used to snowboard the chutes of Mt. Rose on full moon midnights.
The next day we went on a 5 mile hike to the summit of Mt. Abrams. Near the top, all the trees were encased in blocks of ice. Then we came down and had a campfire in the snow.
Snow camping was really fun, but more serious then regular camping. I brought just barely enough clothes, and the shoes I borrowed weren't sturdy enough to be soaked all day. Also, the first night my feet were cold as hell, but the second night I wrapped my poofy jacket around the bottom of my sleeping bag, and slept just fine.

Here are some photos.

peter and gabriela

Dave and Sam

our campsite

icy trees

the sky

branch encased in ice

ice tree

treetops

the view

our campfire

the hole the campfire melted in the snow

Blogging

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:25:46 -0500

Try as I might, I can't get much energy to write in this when I'm not traveling. My life here in New York is enjoyable and relatively fulfilling, but it doesn't feel as dynamic as when I'm out actually doing something. My friend Nick said that he has the same sentiment, and that he mostly just puts up photos he's taken instead of writing stuff. I think i'm going to do that for a while.

Here's what I look like these days.

I like this photo, took it while urban exploring.

saw this barber shop in the bronx, but didn't stop in. Probably coulda used a cut, too.

Here's the cat who lives at my house. He's quite a character.

birthday

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 22:47:26 -0500

Today was my birthday. I Had a nice day, including going out to Indian food with Brian, Lea and Peter, watching some movies, and going to an organizational event for protesting the RNC this year in Minneapolis/St Paul.
I got glasses. I only use them for looking at computers, reading and watching movies. When I first got them they made my head hurt during the readjustment phase, now I'm used to it. Someday I'll get the eye surgery, but for now it's nice to have them, I'm not squinting as much.
here's a mediocre photo of me with my new glasses.

Bucket Fever

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:12:24 -0500

My friend Brian Palmer and I re-edited this trailer for the movie The Bucket List. Hope you like it.

Other then that, working a bunch, hanging out with friends, trying to figure out when I can get out of here to do a bit of galavanting around these United States.

The New Year

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:19:55 -0500

It's January 2nd. It's sunny today here in Brooklyn, but the forecast says snow.
It was a good holiday season. Though I didn't return to the west coast for the holidays, I did have a bunch of visitors here, which was nice. here are some photos of all my friends who came to visit.

Andoni came to visit from Boise on his way home to Spain.

Chris McClendon was here visiting his girlfriend and her family.

Cousin Mikey came down from Ithaca with his dog Popcorn. In this photo he's walking in Manhattan with his new ladyfriend Julie.

Andrew and Etta flew out from Portland for New Years eve. They love their Blackberries.

Here's Andrew drinking beer on the Staten Island Ferry.

Simon stayed at my house two nights as well. We played a game of ultimate frisbee with some friends of his who live here. I'm still sore.

So as you can see, I wasn't lonely this holiday.

still computerless

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:55:12 -0500

It's been over a month now, not having my computer. At first I felt a little disconnected, and then I found myself feeling pretty happy about having tons of time to spend reading books instead of reading blogs. Now i'm really missing just being able to listen to all of my music whenever I want to (my ipod broke a bit back as well, still haven't replaced it), and to watch movies.
Nn bother though, I should get my laptop back in a week from today.
So since I went back to Reno (flying through SF) for Thanksgiving, I've decided to stay here for the Christian holiday. I'm gonna have a traditional New York Jewish Christmas, which means I'll get chinese food and then go to the movies. Also Andrew and Etta arrive on Xmas day, so I'll have company.
I've been here about 4 months now. A few months ago my friend Brian and I agreed that it didn't feel real that we lived here, now it's truly sunken in, but that's tempered by the cold turn in the weather. I've tried not to be a bellyacher, but it's a bit of a bummer not to be able to ride bikes because of snow and ice. I mean, I'm still riding, but just for transportation, not for fun and exploring.
below are some photos I took, mostly from Thanksgiving.

Technology ruins my day

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:52:43 -0500

so 4 days ago now, the hard drive on my beloved laptop computer kicked the bucked. it went out not with a whimper but with a grinding, crackling noise, a sound dreaded by any computer user, and especially by anyone foolish enough not to back up their data on a regular basis. embarrassingly enough, I had not backed up my document file, well, never really, meaning that I potentially lost 2 years worth of writing, short stories, research for that book i was working on, journal entries, ect. On top of that, i lost half a years worth of photos, and 2 short films i shot recently that were nearing completion. Oh, the horror.
Now there is one chance for my data on that wretched drive: Tekserve, a local Apple computer specialist, offers a data recovery service. for 650 bucks, they will pull the hard drive apart, remount the disks and plates, and see how much of your data they can recover. Boasting a 75% success rate, it's a fairly appealing option, exceot for the painful 650 dollar price range. 650 bucks is rent for a month, a round trip plane ticket to south america, a new bicycle, a new digital video camera, or just a whole lot of food. And since my internship has not arrived at the point where we can pitch out project and secure funding to pay me, I'm still out here jobless.
In the end, i'll probably pony up the money and see if they can dredge anything up. If not, then at least i'll have tried. I spoke to Andrew on the phone yesterday, and he spoke about the aftermath of his great server crash of 2000. He said that while he felt fairly zen about all of that information disappearing, that for months after he would continually realize things that he had lost. That is already beginning to happen to me, and it's a funny feeling, leaving me to feel the tiniest bit empty inside. Nah, not really, it's just stuff, but let this be a lesson to whoever reads this, Backup your computer now, while you still have the chance.

Fall in New York

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:02:26 -0500

Things are going well here. Been riding my bike a lot, working a bit at my internship and hoping that it will turn into a paying gig soon, and my father recently came to visit.

here are some photos

On Halloween, Aaron, Kristy, Peter and I filmed two short movies. look for them soon on here!

Back in NY, with photos from norcal

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:03:39 -0500

I'm back in New York, enjoying some delayed warmth during this slow to start fall (good old global warming). My trip to California for the Bicycle Film Festival and then up to Northern California was good fun, and I got some good photos of it. here they are.

Bicycle Film Festival in San Francisco

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:23:38 -0500

So yesterday morning, a short 6 weeks after moving away from here, i flew back to San Francisco to attend the screening of my short movie in the Bicycle Film Festival. Interestingly enough, the return turned into a business trip of sorts, because i've been working for the BFF for the last 3 weeks. While in New York, i was busy doing administrative and promotional work, and now that i'm here i'm doing more promotions, as well as a bunch of other misc. tasks.
on being back in SF: i must admit, it's weird. the weather is perfect of course, and everything is familar. I run into people, and they don't even know i've moved away. and it's true, i love this city, and the time i spent here. but i'll be glad to get back to New York to continue working on building the new life i have out there. For now it's my great old friends, and scrambling to try and make this festival a successful one.