Man, I'm gonna need another week at this rate!

As a bit of a Dirty Harry fan, I've always wanted to take a look around SF. Maybe take my rental for a ride down those crazy-assed hills/streets to see if I can catch any hang-time!

Seattle sounds nice, as do the beaches and dozen or so other places I'm gonna have to go!

I'm started to get itchy feet now...

When are you taking the trip? I might be in L.A. in 2 weeks.

Not that soon man. Probably looking at late June/July, possibly a little earlier.

At the moment, it's still a little bit "Pie in the Sky" as it's stil a fresh idea, but I'm gettin' keener by the day with all the ideas and cool places getting suggested.

I think it's just something I've gotta do.

I've never really done much overseas travelling, and I want to do this one on my own. It may well suck being by myself, but at least I won't be over there with someone else and all the time wondering what it would be like to do it alone.

I will do something to kill the system in late june or july so i can go back out there LOL. You will get a chance to see some of the sights and maybe meet up with some of the forum regs. It would be fun to get to know the guys you see on the boards. I only know a handful of them :) And... there are a whole bunch of Chicago guys on the board so i really have no excuse.

I got to go to barcelona for a week for work, i took my girlfriend with me. It was fun to have her there but she got super bored while i was working and it stressed us both out. Days i just wanted to sit on the beach and stare out at the ocean i had to go explore old churches. When the other guys there were headed out to lunch or dinner i had to head back to the hotel. It would have been nice to just be free and do what i wanted. On the other hand.. she's half puerto rican and knows spanish so i couldnt have gotten around as easily without her there.

It seemed like these types of icecream stands were every 20 feet.

Barcelona??? And she was bored??? Jeesh!?!?

New dilemna...

The housing market over here is in a little bit of a lump at the moment... ..so now I have to decide....

House???

or

Trip???

My incling is to go Trip, then House,

but that will sap my cash reserves substantially...

I am thankful to be in the position to be able to decide, though...

Catch 22 (i think). Not having a house means your free to travel. Having the cash means you can afford a house. Having the house might make it so you dont have the cash to travel :).

I got a house a few years ago and i love it most of the time. I spent the first 30 years of my life living in apartments in Chicago and the house was a nice change. Speaking of change... the house pretty much sucks up any extra change i might have. Its always something, lawncare, sump pump, shingles, driveway repair, garage door etc. And dont forget about added utility expense. Its twice as expensive compared to the apartment i had before i moved here even with the discounted pricing in the area i live in now.

Oh.. and be very careful of allowing a woman into your house for lengthy periods of time.. you will soon find yourself watching design shows and you will learn how words like duvet can cost you money and ikea will replace bestbuy or homedepot on your sunday shopping rounds.

If you ever plan to have a great AV system.. do it while you are single. This is the only time in your life that the funds are not earmarked for fancy plates or things that match :). I am learning this the hardway. I finally start to make a decent wage and for some reason part of it belongs to her. I cant wait for the housing market to pick up so i can sell and get a Blu-ray player :).

Yup!

That's a lot of pillows to take on and off the bed every day...

Still very much up in the air at this stage, but I don't think I'll get a better opportunity than this year for either.

Might have to find a way to do both.

Hey all... ...just an update.

As some of you may or may not know, I play drums in a couple of bands here and there. I have recently started hanging out with some really inspirational people in the local music scene that have me seriously considering dropping this game fulltime and leading the life of a working musician. Maybe add that into being part of my trip over there to get to know the scene a little.

Work is going bananas at the moment and 20 minutes ago I thought I was gonna crack. Biggest problem there is that we are about to hit the busiest part of the year. About $2M worth accross 3-4 jobs is about to hit, 3 people going on leave, and I want to hand in my resignation!

I really don't want to leave this company in the lurch; they've been pretty good to me, but add this to everything going on at home (break-up, moving etc.) I fear that if I stay much longer, I might not "make it out alive", so to speak...

If you come up to Seattle, and are not opposed to a nice cold one, or two, or three -- you have to visit the little area called Ballard! Tons of little pubs and bars crawling with young lovelies!

If you ride you could buy an inexpensive motorcycle as there are many deals to be had on bikes due to our sluggish economy.
Then you ride one of the best roads in the country Highway 1. US101 runs from Olympia WA to Mexico and in California there is a coastal section that is the Pacific Coast Highway or Highway 1. [Link: en.wikipedia.org]
this is an incredible ride and you could spend a month on it. The roads north of S.F. are great. The area around Point Reyes national sea shore have great scenery and terrific curves (your on a motorcycle...right?). There is an extensive hostel network along the coast also so inexpensive accommodations are also available.[Link: hiusa.org]
I made this trip every summer for 5 or 6 years for the USGP at Laguna Seca (Great track, the Corkscrew is incredible to stand at the top of).