About

I'm an expat Californian who is obsessed with traveling to strange and exotic destinations in the former Communist Bloc. I also like tacos, surfing, and the geopolitics of oil. Washington, D.C. is currently my home, but I'm looking to break out of this fetid swamp someday. Read more about me here, check out my photo album, or send me an e-mail.

Currently...

Located in:
Click for Washington, District of Columbia Forecast


Reading: Telex From Cuba

Watching: Nothing, really

Listening to: Jack's Mannequin, Rage Against the Machine, Arcade Fire, Gogol Bordello, The Clash

Playing: Soccer and Wiffleball (finally!)

World Tour

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« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »

February 25, 2005

Fixed the blog / London stuff / Travel plans

OK, the blog is fixed. No worries. Still trying to decide if it's going to stay up, though. It's just one of those "Well, I guess this is growing up" things I've been mulling over.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Laura and Liz flew out to London for a bit of R&R. Laura stayed in my humble Bankside abode, and Liz stayed at her friend's incredible flat in Bethnal Green. Someday I am going to have a flat like that and all of you can come visit (and you won't have to sleep on the 10 quid air mattress from Argos, either!)

Anyways, we crammed a lot of sightseeing/activities into the few days that Laura was here. Saw the usual tourist stuff: Imperial War Museum, Parliament Square, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, St. Jame's Palace (where you stand next to the guards with the big furry hats, and feel like an idiot doing it), Harrod's, etc. We also saw the Salvador Dali exhibit (what an odd man he was) and the HMS Belfast (WWII cruiser docked on the Thames). The HMS Belfast was awesome - if any of you Londoners haven't been yet, be sure to check it out. I have been on a lot of navy ships, and I must say that the Belfast is one of my favorites, particularly due to the fact that so much of the ship is available to tour. They even let you wander down to the engine and boiler rooms, which is kind of scary because you are standing on catwalks made of thin sheets of metal welded together.

As for eating, well, we did plenty of that...took Liz and Laura down to Borough Market so they could try the falafel that I've been raving about...went up to Notting Hill to have a pint at Churchill's Arms with my RPSS program friends...ate at some other restaurants (I've always said that as much as I dislike British food, London has some of the best ethnic restaurants I've ever dined in). We also had afternoon tea at the Orangery, another thing in Lindsay's "Things you MUST do while in London" list. All in all, a very good week.

I have a few more destinations for spring break...going to Brussels from March 28-30, and Luxor, Egypt (the REAL Luxor, not that ridiculous hotel in Las Vegas) from April 11-18. Hmmm 84 degrees in Luxor today...sure beats the snow showers in London!

February 24, 2005

My blog is really messed up

I was doing a bit of maintenance and now my Movable Type software is acting quite odd. Eh, not much time to fix this anyways. I think I may just delete my entire blog, anyways, and turn this into a more "professional" site (aka, here is my resume) and also include my photo gallery, with an occasional blog entry from England or anywhere exciting I might be traveling.

February 09, 2005

Random musings, volume 56,901

I finally saw Ocean's 12...I liked it, but then again, how can you not enjoy a movie with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon?

Still trying to figure out where to go for spring break...currently obsessing over Egypt, which I would really like to see (hey, you never know...the pyramids might randomly collapse someday, and damn that would suck). Found a deal online...279 quid for airfare AND 7 nights hotel in Luxor...then I could take an overnight train to Cairo for rather cheap. Thinking of going to Italy for a bit: Rome - Florence - Venice...and probably Brussels, for beer and chocolate. There are so many places I want to go...and thanks to Ryan Air and EasyJet, flying around Europe is amazingly cheap. Can I live in London forever???? Please?

Got some visitors coming out to merry old England...Laura from February 17-22, Liz from February 17-24, my aunt and cousin from February 17-22, and Matt from February 26-March 4. Going to have some fun, yes we are...

Guess that means I need to do some hardcore work this weekend!

Oh, and I finally uploaded all my Paris photos here. It only took me a month...maybe someday I'll upload the London photos.

February 03, 2005

Let's See Europe...and other continents?

My spring break is coming up...March 18 - April 25 (yeah, I know, an incredibly long spring break). I'm trying to figure out where I want to travel. For those of you not at the LSE, the running joke is that it actually stands for "Let's See Europe" and not the London School of Economics.

To give you an idea of where I haven't been, check out this map:

Jan05_visited_world_map.gif

See all that gray? That's where I haven't been...we need to change this. So, I need some suggestions on which countries to visit. I know many of you have done that "backpacking through Europe" thing, so tell me which cities/countries are "must see", and any places you hated.

I've already got one trip planned...I'm going to Budapest, Hungary from March 19-24. That should be awesome.

I'm seriously considering a week in Egypt...or maybe Morocco.

Anyways, give me some suggestions.

Required Reading

Comrades:

Biscuits with Honey
Cindy
Csaba's Flickr
Defined by Location
Dude, Where's the Beach?
EJ Takes Life
fabulous just fabulous
incredibly true misadventures of the gypsy & the jew
Kim's work blog
The Lonely Eater
Monsoon
My Life in Sin City
News to Hughes
Nick
Notes On The Day
The Cincysundevil Made Me Do It
Will’s Title is Too Long
With an "S"

Russia & the former USSR:

The Accidental Russophile
Baku News
Chernobyl and Eastern Europe
Chernobyl Children's Project International
Copydude
English Russia
Goodbye Baby Lenin
Johnson's Russia List
Kaukasus
Notes from Україна
The Oil and The Glory
Registan
Robert Amsterdam
RusEnergy
Russian Oil & Gas
Russian Pipeliners
Scraps of Moscow
Sean's Russia Blog
Siberian Light
Vilhelm Konnander
Vladimir Vladimirovich™
White Sun of the Desert

Energy:

Alexander's Oil and Gas Connections
California Energy Blog
Environmental Economics
The Oil Drum
R-Squared Energy Blog
This Week in Petroleum
The Watt
WSJ Energy Roundup

Washington DC:

DC Blogs
DCist
Metroblogging DC
The Heights they are a changin'
why.i.hate.dc

Politics:

Cato @ Liberty
Democracy in America
Free Exchange
get your war on
Political Cartoons
Wonkette

Sports:

6-4-2
7.62x54r
All Climbing
Baseball Musings
Chronicles of the Lads
Confessions of a Novice Surfer
Daily Bread
Halos Heaven
League of Angels
On Frozen Blog
Pearly Gates
Surfrider Foundation
WannaSurf
Your Daily Donkey

Middle East:

american short-timer
Back to Iraq
The Calm Before the Sand
Dan in the Desert
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone
Michael Yon in Iraq

London:

An American in London
Evening Standard Headlines
Going Underground
Londonist

Travel:

Belly Button Window
blogjam
BootsnAll Travel Network
Gadling
Gridskipper
Knife Tricks
Stuck in Customs

Etc.:

best of craigslist
Daily Puppy
Freakonomics Blog
Google Maps Mania
Google Sightseeing
The Great Taco Hunt
Operation Eden
Passive Aggressive Notes
PostSecret
Waiter Rant
Wellington Grey
Wikipedia

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