Exploring: Seattle and the Olympic Loop
This travel journal entry details a visit to Seattle and a road trip to Washington state's west coast.
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- Apr 10, 2021
- 4 min
Fear at the Peace Wall in Belfast
This post details my own experience of division at the Peace Wall in Belfast and a brief explainer of Ireland and Northern Ireland disputes.
- Aug 10, 2020
- 14 min
Exploring: Belize and a Guatemala Day Trip
This post details a trip to Belize (San Ignacio, San Pedro, ATM Cave), as well as a day trip to the Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala.
- Jul 14, 2020
- 10 min
Exploring: Four Nights in Paris
“He who contemplates the depths of Paris is seized with vertigo. Nothing is more fantastic. Nothing is more tragic.” -Victor Hugo Stepping off the train from London, my first impression of Paris is that it’s hot… and humid. The air is like an ocean, and we swim through the moisture to our hotel down the road. It takes a half hour, and not figuring out some sort of transportation may have been a mistake. Along the way, we pass through clouds of cigarette smoke, and I think b
- Jul 5, 2020
- 9 min
Exploring: Three Days in London
This travel journal details three days spent exploring London.
- Jun 25, 2020
- 5 min
Getting Back to Hollywood Isn’t So Easy
The time has come to leave Italy. Thick, dark clouds are rolling into Venice as we take off, and that’s not a place I want to be when it rains. It’s been raining in London, where we will change planes, then the journey will continue on to home, Los Angeles. There is sometimes something mystical about aviation, about the change in perspective these giant, heavy “sardine cans” give you as they push their way through the skies. The window seat is always my preferred choice, and
- Jun 22, 2020
- 6 min
Dude, I Ordered a Dell XPS 13” – Unboxing Images and Prelim Setup
This tech post details the trials, tribulations, and also pleasant moments while unboxing and setting up a Dell XPS 13" laptop.
- Jun 20, 2020
- 5 min
WSJwine and Pezzo Wine: a Must-read Before Purchasing
I’m not going to beat around the bush here. Yesterday, we took our second delivery from the WSJwine club, and the whole process has been a real pain. Our first order with the company was a couple years ago. We didn’t get what was advertised (a couple of the dozen bottles were out of stock and swapped out at WSJwine’s choosing), but the wines were mostly okay. The experience was mediocre, so we ignored all of their promo mailers until recently. A few months ago, some of the WS
- Jun 17, 2020
- 7 min
Exploring: Getting Lost (Literally) in Venice, Italy
This travel journal details both the fascination and confusion brought on by one of the world's great cities: Venice, Italy.
- Jun 7, 2020
- 7 min
Exploring: Florence, Italy
“The Creator made Italy from designs by Michael Angelo!”
-Mark Twain, “The Innocents Abroad”* In lieu of a “Welcome” sign, your arrival in Florence is marked by an increase in the amount of graffiti on walls running alongside the train tracks. At home in Los Angeles, dedicated crews remove such tagging in a perpetual game of Whack-a-Mole. Here, though, no one seems to mind, and you have to wonder if the oldest layers of paint date b
- May 31, 2020
- 4 min
Exploring: San Gimignano and Tuscan Wine Tasting
We start the day in Siena with a continental breakfast – the standard, uninspired fare of hardboiled eggs, cold cuts, cheese, bread. Evermore important, though, we get the party started by pounding some machine-made espresso, then we head outside. The van pulls up right on schedule, and we are the second couple in. We stop at two more hotels up the road, then begin the 45 minute trek along winding roads of Tuscany. Eventually, the medieval towers of San Gimignano start to pee
- May 25, 2020
- 5 min
Exploring: Intro to Tuscany / Destination Siena
“Tuscany looks like what all of Italy should look like.”
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (attributed) We stare out the train window as the green, rolling hills glide by, somewhere between Rome and our next destination north, the Tuscan city of Siena. Along the way, we occasionally spot old, crumbling castles perched atop hills in the distance, slowly being claimed by nature. Small villages hug mountain ridges, leaving me to wonder how they en
- May 17, 2020
- 6 min
Exploring: Pompeii and Naples, Italy
This post details a day trip to Naples and Pompeii from Rome, during our summer excursion through Italy.
- May 3, 2020
- 5 min
Exploring: Travel Blog Intro / Rome, Italy
This post details the Rome portion of our summer travels through Italy.
- Feb 14, 2013
- 3 min
Microboards G3 CD / DVD Printer in Review
I work on one of the most-watched shows on TV. This is no small operation. Just like any other big, legitimately successful enterprise, we operate under a budget, but we also try to buy products that are going to be reliable. You know, as it’s said, “You get what you pay for.” But sometimes, what you pay for doesn’t turn out how you’d expect. Enter the Microboards G3 disc printer. The G3 is the second disc printer of the same model that my employer has purchased for the offic
- Nov 7, 2012
- 3 min
Beer Home Brewing – New Lessons and Discoveries
Last night I bottled my second batch of beer, and maaaan was it a challenge. As mentioned in my previous post [(Home)Brewing Some Beer], the Mr. Beer kit is a good way to begin to learn the craft of beer making. The equipment leaves something to be desired, however, as it’s cheap. But as we’ve all heard, “you get what you pay for.” Everything is plastic, which means replacement parts are required at some point. Unfortunately, in my case, the need for a replacement part came m
- Nov 7, 2012
- 4 min
Mac OS X / 10.8 – Initial Thoughts
I just purchased a Mac Mini, and I’d like to share my initial thoughts. I’m pretty stoked about the purchase, as my other desktop computer has gotten too old to run the newest version of Pro Tools audio software. And that old (2005) Dell computer is just cramping my style in general. Comparatively, the Mac Mini is so small and sleek looking, but let’s really get into the review: INITIAL START UP TIME:
I made a leap from OS X 10.6 on my laptop to 10.8 on the Mini. Starting up
- Jun 13, 2012
- 4 min
Visiting Florence (Where’s the Machine?)
The walls that enclose the rail line are covered with graffiti, and the train terminal feels grimy and is filled with a lot of shady-looking characters. Like Naples, we were also warned about this place, Florence – about the pickpockets lurking in the train station, dressed as tourists. And we were warned about the drug pushers that hang out in front of the Santa Maria Novella church, which is the main thoroughfare to walk into town from the train station. Thankfully, no one
- Jun 12, 2012
- 3 min
Siena and the Towers of San Gimignano
Siena is such a confusing place, initially, when arriving by rail. You walk out the front door of the train station, and all you see in the vicinity is a mall, straight ahead. The mall, in this case, is key in getting you where you need to go, as it contains a system of ten – yes, ten – escalators that eventually hoist you to the top of a mountain. Had I done my homework beforehand, or happened to carry a topographical map, I would have known that Siena is one of those mounta
- Feb 19, 2012
- 3 min
Music Top 10s
A work in progress- a “top 10” of really great albums that flew under the radar: Dandy Warhols – “Welcome to the Monkey House”
You may have heard a couple tracks from this 2003 release on the radio and TV. “We Used to be Friends” was the theme song for the show Veronica Mars and “You Were the Last High” had some radio rotation. Other than that, it seems there were no real accolades to speak of, although the album is excellent. It was produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran wh
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