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, beer, surfing, trapshooting, and the geopolitics of oil. I currently live in Arlington, Virginia and work in Washington, DC. Read more about me here, check out my photo album, or send me an e-mail.

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    This is my shotgun. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

    Yeah, I told you I was hooked on this new hobby, didn’t I? A couple of weeks ago I picked up my new shotgun, a 12 gauge Beretta 3901 Target RL. The best thing about purchasing a firearm in Virginia is that you can take it home that very day, unlike in California, [...]

    Great Falls Park

    Beautiful weather this weekend, so hiking around Great Falls Park in Northern Virginia sounded like a good idea. I had never even heard of this place until a few years ago when a dude from Texas mentioned it.

    I would like to be a park ranger and walk around with a snake in an adorable [...]

    Fired up, ready to go

    The night before election day, myself and several friends attended Obama’s final rally in Manassas, VA. With all the traffic on 66, it took us about 2.5 hours to get from Arlington to Manassas (around 30 miles). We ended up parking in some random neighborhood and followed the mass of people heading towards [...]

    The Obama campaign’s shock and awe style GOTV in Northern Virginia

    I realize the election was over a month ago, but I had to do a quick post on my experience with the Obama campaign in Northern Virginia.
    When I moved across the river to Arlington, I finally decided to stop absentee voting in California and register to vote in Virginia, which was up for grabs in [...]

    Goodbye, Virgil Goode

    Another idiot thrown out of office. Although Congressman Goode (R-VA) has so far refused to concede, his opponent, Democrat Tom Perriello, declared victory, citing his lead of 745 votes.
    Good riddance. Goode is the idiot who lashed out at Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) several years ago when Ellison announced he would use the Koran, [...]

    Airplanes!

    Drove down to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center today. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum doesn’t have enough room at its location on the National Mall, so they built the Udvar-Hazy annex near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia to display more of their collection. It opened in December 2003, but I hadn’t [...]