The Adventures 2011 Friday December 30, 2011

Oh hello there. You probably thought I had forgotten about playing another edition of The Adventures. I know, I know, I’ve been out of it for a while

So without further delay, welcome to the sixth edition of The Adventures Post! As with the past 6 years, The Adventures Post is where I lists the cities I’ve spent one or more nights in over the past year. The idea is completely stolen borrowed from kottke.org and has been a bit of a staple on the old c.t.overdrive.

And yes, I understand that flaunting the cities I’ve traveled to is a bit egotistical, as I know travel is something of a luxury for many. But it’s also a good way to look at the year in retrospective. And for once, my Adventures are actually quite lame this year, which only goes to show the ebb and flow of travel.

• Calgary, AB
• Arlington, VA/Washington, DC
• Topsail, NC
• Raliegh, NC
• Arlington, VA/Washington, DC
• Ottawa, ON
• Back to Arlington, VA
• Calgary, AB

Needless to say, although relatively quiet on the adventures front, 2011 was an interesting year. In our new adopted second home, we survived Thundersnow, A mini-snowpocalypse, an Earthquake, and a Hurricane. We also had the pleasure of being in Washington when the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed broke, saw the Egyptian, Tunsian and Lybian revolutions unfold, watched three congressional dramas push the US to the brink, watched Anthony Weiner torpedoed his career by tweeting his weiner and witnessed the Occupy Wall Street movement explode right in our own backyard. It’s been an incredible year and easily one that I’ll never forget.

But 2012 calls kids and more changes are in store for the overdrives… onwards and upwards.

Categories: The-Adventures, the-dc, The Inane, The Political World, The World

The Adventures 2010 Monday January 3, 2011

The end of a year and it’s time for another round of my favorite blog game in the world.

Welcome to the fifth edition of The Adventures Post! As always, The Adventures Post is where I lists the cities I’ve spent one or more nights in over the past year. The idea is completely stolen borrowed from kottke.org and has been a bit of a staple on the old c.t.overdrive.

Yes, I understand that flaunting the cities I’ve traveled to is a bit egotistical, as I know travel is something of a luxury for many. But it’s also a good way to look at the year in retrospective… ness.

So unlike previous years, I’m going to double up on the listing. Instead of just listing the cities, I’m going to list the cities in the order that I spent time in, just to kinda give a bit of an understanding at how stupid the months of March, October/November/December were for travel.

• Calgary, AB *
• Arlington, VA/Washington, DC (Finally seeing my wife after three months of marriage and two and half months living apart)
• Austin, TX * (SXSW Number 4)
• Calgary, AB *
• Billings, MT (The Start of the Big Calgary to DC road trip in a U-Haul)
• Rapid City, SD
• La Crosse, WI (Home of Great Beards)
• South Bend, IA (Home of The Notre Dame Fighting Irish)
• Morganstown, WV (Home of The University of West Virginia)
• Arlington, VA *
• Colonial Beach, VA *
• Arlington, VA *
• Boston, MA *
• Arlington, VA *
• Ft. Saskatchewan, AB *
• Calgary, AB
• Ft. Saskatchewan, AB
• Calgary, AB
• Arlington, VA *
• Calgary, AB (Finally home for Christmas)

Needless to say, 2010 was fantastic for my airmiles account, but painful for my bank account.

As always, I’d love to see other’s Year In Cities in the comments.

Categories: The-Adventures, The-Personnal,

The SXSW Luddite Monday March 16, 2009

I have officially become the walking talking mascot for Luddites in SXSW and subsequently how not to do SXSW.

So let me preface, before coming here I knew I wouldn’t have a camera (mine met an fateful death at SXSW 08) and I knew I wouldn’t have a mobile connection. (I use Virgin mobile and because they piggy back off carrier they do not have coverage in America). I also knew that I would be the only user in Austin without an iPhone or iTouch or a MacBook or a sick combination of all three …

But I didn’t think I would have to call out an emergency repair on my laptop.

See it turns out that my laptop charger burnt its self out somewhere between the last panel and the evening time. So now, I have 2:51minutes 1:32 minutes of precious battery life for a three day tech conference.

So armed with the local phone book, a pad and paper and a hotel phone – I am now on a quest to save my SXSW experience.

Wish the King of the F#$king Luddites luck.

Categories: SXSW-2009, The-Adventures, The Humourous, The Inane

Rain City U.S.A Tuesday January 6, 2009

So while, I’ve only just started to filter through all the Facebook messages and finally trying to wrap my head around getting back into the swing of things. I thought I would get the mojo running by posting one or two photos from our second trip to Rain City USA (or the Emerald City or the old home of the Supersonics)

This beauty of a photo comes courtesy of the Alaskan Hwy and the area between the QWEST Field and the beginning of the Pier/Pike Place/Tourist Trap.

Nothing screams get the f#$% outta the way then a business man losing his documents.

And this my friends is why America’s Whole Foods is fantastic. An entire shelf of microbrews of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic kind. Including the incredible Guinness near-beer Kaliber.

and of course who wouldn’t want to hit up the World Famous Monorail. Yes the Monorail. MONORAIL! MONORAIL!

If you’d rather read something a bit more interesting there is also Glutastic’s take on Seattle or you can check out another outta retirement review for Music-Critic.ca – my review of Flight of the Concords record.

Random Thoughts will return in epic form on Friday.

Categories: The-Adventures, The-Southern-Neighbours,

The Adventures 2008 Monday December 29, 2008

Sorry for not posting recently, but I was on a bit of a small hiatus for the past two days. And I’ll place all the blame for this minor hiatus solely on the shoulders of Max Brook’s World War Z and Ratchet and Clank for the PSP. Two excellent, excellent time wasters…

And with that I bring you The Adventures List for 2008 … or the c.t.overdrive year in cities (which I stayed a night in). Again, just like last year’s list a good old Astrix decrees multiple nights.

• Calgary, AB *
• Austin, TX *
• Gull Lake, AB
• Lethbridge, AB
• Great Falls, MT
• Puerto Vallarta, Mexico *
• Sayluita, Mexico
• Seattle, WA * (Sept & Dec)

Not nearly as odd as 2007 or as random as 2006, but still a pretty solid year of cities and places.

So that was all the little cities I visited this year. A fairly North American centric list of cities this year, with no trip to Europe. But it appears there is a strong, strong tie to Seattle.

Anyways, so now that I’ve bored you with that list, here’s a clip of Joe Strummer talking about The Pogues’ If I should Fall From Grace.

I have no idea why I add that clip in … Maybe it’s because, it’s a New Year. Maybe because it’s time to reflect and a time to look at the past, before stepping into the future. Or maybe I just happen to blaring The Pogues at 8:00am.

Categories: The-Adventures, The-Personnal, The Past