Ok so I never really use my blog to discuss my political views. Ussually it is pretty light hearted and fun. However our country is at a very important time so here I go---
We currently produce 3% of the worlds oil and consume 25%. The republicans are rallying for offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska (hence Palin being brought in?!?) even if we do this we cannot hope to produce more then 5% of the world’s oil. America is rich in resources but not oil. Even if we do start off shore drilling etc… it would be 10 years worth of work to get the infrastructure in place.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to this problem and peoples lifestyles may have to change. It seems to me that no one wants to deal with this, especially in a country so energy dependent. The republicans are saying drill drill drill and the democrats are screaming renewable energy. One of these solutions is the same old song and dance the other is incredibly idealistic. Honestly, in five years when we are still working on the solution to this problem what will lower class people do to heat their homes? How will people deal with higher gas prices. How much more will it cost to ship our food and goods? These are the questions we need answered. Either solution causes long term pains and new infrastructure. How do you help people adjust is what I want to know.
So vacation was amazing! Liz and I started off by visiting Nashville, Tennessee.
We stayed in a hostile there in an airstream which fulfilled a life long dream
At the hostile we met lots of cool people from all over the world. It seemed to be the meeting place of the international beer pong championship, as the beer pong would start in the morning and end around midnight. I have never witnessed such fierce beer pong competition in my life. The techniques and strategy utilized was mind blowing, watch out for those London chaps they are sneaky devils.
The highlight to Nashville was easily the fourth of July celebration. I have never seen fireworks like this. At the end of the show we actually got pelted by shrapnel!!!
The next day we made the trip to Atlanta Georgia to see Tom Waits play. The show was at Fox Theater, which is an amazing venue! The interior gives the impression that you are in a castle setting watching an outdoor show. The ceiling even twinkles with stars! Tom Waits was a great concert, I am not a devoute Tom Waits fan like Liz but I truly enjoyed his energy and stage performance. He truly is a pirate cowboy .
The next day we decided to voyage to Asheville North Carolina. On the way we got some of the most amazing peaches ever!
Asheville is a great town, it is liberal like Madison but with a Ski Town feel of Colorado. On top of this is the fact that it is in the south which makes it have a liad back feel. Also EVERYONE MOUNTAIN BIKED!!!
We decided to camp out and got some great advice to stay in the Pisgah national forest, which is home to some great mountain bike trails.
Liz tried Mountain biking for the first time there and had a great time. We also had a crazy run in, a lady and her husband where out riding cruiser bikes on some pretty technical MTB trails. I saw them come by and kind of cringed thinking that they may not be making the best judgment. Sure enough 5 minutes later the lady who we saw come running up to us very flustered, come to find out her husband had fallen off his bike off a bridge and broken his ankle. Liz went and got help as I assisted the lady and her husband. Once the ambulance got there they bush wacked a four wheeler path so they could get the man out. Crazy!
We spent a few days in Asheville then returned home. Liz had a big list of firsts on this trip- first time sleeping in an Airstream, first time to see Tom Waits, First time she ate Gator Tail, First time we ate frog, first time mountain bike, I think there where more but I don’t recall. All in all a successful road trip.
Tomorrow I leave for vacation. It has been a long long time since I took a vacation. No traveling to New York for work is not a vacation! This vacation kind of happened sporadically, as the best ones always do. Liz had mentioned one day that she would love to see Tom Waits. I enjoy Tom Waits’ music and said I would be down with that. She was rather hesitant and stated that she was not sure she would be able to get tickets. I kind of brushed it off as probably not going to happen.
The next day I get a call. “I got tickets to see Tom Waits in Atlanta Georgia.” Well I said I would go if you got tickets so Atlanta it is.
So tomorrow Liz and I will be rising bright and early to voyage south. We will be spending July 3rd and 4th in Nashville TN. Then Atlanta for the concert on the 5th. Our final days of vacation will be spent in the wonderful city of Asheville NC amongst the beautiful Appalachian mountains.
I have been desk shopping for quite some time now. As an web developer a desk is a place of creativity, inspiration, learning, success, failure, and comfort. With this in mind I set out to build my work space of choice. Thanks to Justins transportation and the designers at Ikea I have my desk of choice.
So whats on the desk is just important.
I have some books of choice:
The Principles of Beautiful Design
The Zen of CSS Design
Transcending CSS
Don’t Make Me Think
DOM Scripting
Bulletproof Web Design
Head Rush Ajax
Canson Basic Sketch Book
Then the tech:
15” 2.4 GHZ Mac Book Pro
Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet
Panasonic Luminix Digital Camera
Just for fun in those moments of failure I have some Legos courtesy of Liz . Nothing brightens the day quite like some blocky joy!
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