Author: ryan

Courtesy of Dave Barry, I laughed out loud when I watched this video.

171 days to Antarctica…

Just when you start to think that LA isn’t really that bizarre of a place to live, someone hits a horse (yes, a horse) on the freeway in the middle of Burbank and turns a fifteen minute commute into an hour and a half commute.

…or I could fill one of the last available berths on this year’s Cheeseman trip and visit Antarctica this winter. Between his ability to respond to e-mail faster than any human being I’ve ever met, and his talent for saying just the right thing at the wrong time (“Actually we do have a room that opened up due to cancellation, but it’s the smallest and cheapest one on the ship”) Doug Cheeseman may have just succeeded in luring me away from a from a very comfortable life and a cushy job.

…and now I’ve booked a spot. If anyone wants me to bring them back a penguin…

Disaster! Cheeseman’s isn’t doing a trip in 2004-2005, so I’ll either need to hold off for a year or else find another group to go with…

I’ve spent the past four hours online browsing trips to Antarctica. Since the February 1984 issue of Ranger Rick it’s been the place I’ve most wanted to visit in this world, but the costs are extraordinarily prohibitive. I’ve always said that I’d go “some day” when I could afford it — tonight’s epiphany was that I’ve gotten to the point where this dream is no longer impossible, so “some day” is now the winter of 2004-2005. Yeah, it’s still extraordinarily expensive, but I’d rather die broke having lived my life than rich but unfulfilled.

If anyone browsing this site has ever been to Antarctica (hello Greg) or knows anyone who has been then I’d appreciate any tips about what the best way to see that part of the world is — the message board works, or you can e-mail me (ryan.holliday@gmail.com if you don’t know my regular e-mail address). After lots of browsing the best option I’ve found looks like Cheeseman’s Antarctic Tour. They aren’t cheap, but they offer more time in Antarctica and seem geared towards people who want to get the most out of their trip rather than take it easy and relax on board. It would be nice to keep costs down, but at the same time this is probably a once in a lifetime thing, so there’s no point cutting costs if it means less time exploring.

Now that I’ve realized that this trip is not only possible, but that I’ve actually made up my mind to go, I’ve been driving JB crazy talking about it. Sleep is suddenly hard to come by…

It was a year ago this weekend that Jason and I went backpacking in the Sierras and I decided to quit my job with Accenture. I didn’t really have any doubts at the time as to whether it was a good decision or not, but a trip to Alaska, another trip with family and friends to the Galapagos Islands, and a new life as an independent contractor have since proven what a huge turning point that weekend was for me. If anyone else is debating whether it’s better to be comfortable or to try something new, based on my own experiences I’d have to wholeheartedly urge you to go for it.

It just occurred to me that by posting the previous story I will become a target for web searches on “naked hairy ass”. God help me.

Lest people stop checking the site since there aren’t any updates, here’s a story from a couple of days ago that probably shouldn’t be repeated, much less put on a web site.

Last week I had finished my workout and was getting changed when an old Italian man came strolling by in all of his glory. Seeing as we were in the locker room it didn’t really phase me, but as time went on this man simply refused to put on any clothing. He was walking back and forth through the locker room, and you couldn’t help but notice that the guy was hairy as a gorilla — back hair, front hair, everywhere hair. Finally he stopped roaming around, only to plop himself in front of a mirror where he proceeded to blow dry the hair on his ass. I have never really felt that there was a need for all of the laser hair removal and other clinics out there, but at that moment I would have gladly paid this man to go to one. The moral of this story: if you see a naked, hairy person reaching for a blow dryer, get away fast. Definitely do not look back.

The Helicopter Game used to be my favorite mindless diversion on the web, but Defend Your Castle has now taken the top spot. Be sure your computer volume is on while playing — the “splat” noises are particularly gratifying.

An awesome although ridiculously full weekend:

• The insomnia continues, so after an hour nap and two hours of lying in bed I took off at midnight Friday for San Francisco via Highway One. Stopped near Hearst Castle at 4:00 AM and fell asleep.
• Woke up at 6:00 and within ten minutes found a huge group of elephant seals. The secret to elephant seals is apparently to catch them early — when I’ve seen them at mid-morning in Ano Nuevo they barely move, but from sunrise until almost 8:00 AM this group was bellowing and fighting. Got a few photos that should be nice.
• Continued moseying along the coast, eventually stopping in Monterey to search for sea otters (saw one) and chowder in a bread bowl (ate one).
• Got back to Concord, unloaded some old clothes to Goodwill, some old books to various used book stores, some hair at Supercuts, then scanned in more of the Galapagos photos. Nap time followed.
• Took off with the Goob, Jenn, the Tall Guy and Dave for Sam Woo’s and then a rather painful three hours watching the Hulk at the Metreon. The only highlights of that movie were Lou Ferrigno’s cameo and Jennifer Connelly’s close-ups.
• Finished scanning in photos today, watched a bit of the USA Track and Field Championships on TV (Jorge and Goucher qualify in the 5000, Lincoln takes second in the steeple, Teter qualifies in the 800, woohoo!), and now I’m cruising back home.

It’s all good.

As a public service, I’d like to warn people against giving their money away to movie theatres in order to see The Hulk. If a movie theatre should try to take your money in exchange for a ticket to this movie, grab your money from them and run away as if you were being chased by packs of rabid pit bulls. Do not look back.

Not a lot worth recording in a web log lately. The running is going well, insomnia has struck again, and hopefully I’ll get the remainder of the Galapagos photos scanned in this weekend. Since my life is fairly dull to read about, here are a couple of links to someone who’s life has been pretty exciting recently:

• Gabe Jennings feature from Track and Field News
• Gabe Jennings feature from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Also, on a very random note, www.powergenitalia.com is not what you would expect.

I think when a person’s car alarm goes off more than three times in a night that it should be OK to blow the vehicle up.

Someone’s car alarm is now going off for the sixth time in the past hour and a half. Rather than trying to sleep only to be woken up every fifteen minutes I’ve been updating the software page with new photo gallery code. The new code still isn’t very user friendly, but it’s getting better — the current version will automatically determine image width and height when generating the required XML files. I may also add some logic to simplify the properties file, as that seems to be a source of confusion for people. While the code is still meant primarily for those who understand Java, if you do use it and would like to see it changed in any way let me know and I’ll see if I can get around to updating it.