nairb codex

A few weekends ago I flew up to Anchorage to visit my brother. I always enjoy visiting him because we have such a good relationship.

While there, we decided to go to Alyeska, both Saturday and Sunday for some snowboarding (Aaron skied). Saturday the weather was reasonable, although the mountain was pretty crowded. Sunday was a different story. Being that it was the Super Bowl and the fact that it made for a desolate and chilly day. Adria joined us on Sunday, so it was actually a family affair. The temp was right around 0F with windchills around -20F. To give you an idea of what snowboarding in this type of weather is like, imagine this: you have zero desire to stop on the mountain (for any reason), you can’t sit still on the lift because doing so you’d probably freeze solid (why Alyeska doesn’t have covered, a.k.a. bubble,  lifts baffles me), talking or taking pictures is pretty much out of the question (except in the lodge), and any amount of skin exposed is destined to become numb (and red). That was probably the coldest conditions I’ve ever snowboarded in, and I’d think twice about doing it again.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad I got a chance to go boarding at Alyeska. According to Forbes, Alyeska is the 4th snowiest resort in the world. The snow was really nice, especially since it had snowed about a foot total in the days prior.

One thing that would make Alyeska infinitely better would be to upgrade their chair lifts. All of them should have a bubble and even better yet would be seat warmers. It’d also be nice if all lifts had the safety bar with foot rests so you can rest your board (or skis) as you ride up. The inside of my left leg was particularly sore from riding the lifts all day and having my board dangle below me. I guess that creates a lot more stress on your leg than you’d imagine.

The drive to Girdwood (where Alyeska is) is quite nice. The mountain is located near an inlet. On your way to Alyeska, you can see the water flowing in to the inlet. With all the snow & ice, doesn’t look like anything all that exciting. On the way home, most of the water has already flown out of the inlet, so you get huge chuunks of snow/ice mixed with mud that kinda l0oks like cracked earth in the desert, but on a much larger scale.

While on the mountain, we had a great view of the inlet and surrounding mountains. Because of terrain, clouds tend to hang low above the inlet around the peaks in the area. So I think technically when we were at Alyeska, we were above the clouds (and almost in the clouds on Sunday).

After getting in quite a bit of physical activity Saturday & Sunday, it was decided that we start playing video games, Onimusha: Warlords. Although it took almost all day, we were able to beat the entire game (with a little help from an online guide). That was a lot of fun, as I haven’t beaten a game from start to finish in quite some time.

I can’t imagine I’ll be going back to AK anytime soon, or ever for that matter. Aaron & Adria are moving back to MN in May, so the motivation to go back is pretty much gone.

Hofbräuhaus

On the last day of August, I flew to Vegas for the day to go to my friend Svihla’s wedding. Svihla and I worked together in Germany. I’ve always really enjoyed going out for drinks with him and his stammtisch group. This year, Svihla brought his wife-to-be over to get married in Vegas. The ceremony was short, sweet, and performed by a German woman who worked at that chapel. He has requested that I wear my lederhosen as he and his wife would also be wearing tracht. Although I love wearing my lederhosen, this posed somewhat of a situation. As I was onlly going for the day it would have been easiest just to wear lederhosen the entire time, but obviously everyone will stare. I ended up wearing jeans to Vegas with my lederhosen in a small bag. I changed just before the wedding and ended up wearing my lederhosen home on the plane. Read the rest of this entry »

Me in Palm Springs

This past weekend Reiko and I went to Palm Springs for the Salsa Mambo Festival. Prior to going to Palm Springs, I wondered why people go there because it’s in the middle of the desert. Now that I’ve been there, I’m still wondering why people go there. It’s ridiculously hot (it was 105F during the day and 90F at night), it’s tiny (~45,000 people in town / ~415,000 in the metro area) with not much more than some shopping and a few restaurants (mostly chains and fast food), and it’s hot (I know I said that already, but it was *really* hot for me). That being said, we had a great weekend, heat and nothingness aside.

We had the good fortune of taking classes with quite a few pretty famous instructors/dancers, including Edie the Salsa FREAK, Jorge Elizondo (the Bachata King), Josie Neglia, & David Nieto (2008 Mayan World Salsa Competition Champion). We also got to see performances by many professional dancers, including Liz Lira and Cristian Oviedo, as well as some of the previously mentioned instructors. One of my favorite performances was the Victor & Gaby performance combining salsa and quebradita (the bouncy one to fast Mexican polka) and all of the Paso de Oro performances (some of those kids were absolutely amazing!).

Final thoughts on the weekend, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but after 3 days of workshops and some evening dancing, my body is pretty drained. A big part of it was the fact that we were forced to eat differently, both schedule and menu. We’ve already registered for the next festival in Palm Springs over New Year’s and are already planning how we can accommodate the workshop schedule and lack of food choice.

Although I’ve been twice before, this time was different. This time I went to gamble. I took a road trip Friday night with my special lady to Sin City. We had a luxury suite over looking The Strip in The Palazzo, 26th floor. Really nice room, sunken living room, 3 flat screens, spa shower and separate tub, pretty much pimp across the board. Of course after checking in we went down to test our luck a little. Reiko introduced me to the world of Craps. I’d seen it on TV and in movies, but didn’t really know anything about it other than 7 & 11. I have to admit it was a bit overwhelming at first, but it turns out it’s really easy. We played some Black Jack and Roulette, with a little success, but less exciting than Craps. After a few hours and a couple bills up, we decided to call it a night.

We started our day off with a delicious yogurt parfait and a breakfast shake at Solaro. We attempted visiting the pool, but we could feel our skin melting off as it was hellishly hot. Instead we decided to hit up The Shoppes between The Palazzo and The Venetian. We made reservations for dinner at Delmonico Steakhouse and a spa treatment at the Canyon Ranch Spa. I got the Deluxe Conditioning Body Scrub using the Mango Sugar Glo. Reiko got the Seventh Heaven body treatment. I think we were both really satisfied with what we got. I can also see us going to the spa more frequently. After the spa, we had dinner at Emeril’s restaurant. My best friend Stoyan also works there, though he was in Jamaica at the time. We had a Sherry-based onion soup, the Kobe beef with arugula salad, and a side of asparagus. The steak and salad were amazing, the soup was weird and not at all what I expected, and the asparagus was mediocre at best. Because it was a red wine soup, it didn’t taste like the French Onion Soup I was expecting. I did eat most of it, but I would have preferred a good French Onion Soup. We gambled a bit more after dinner and called it a night.

We started our day off the same as we did Saturday morning, with a delicious yogurt parfait and a different breakfast shake at Solaro. We spent the morning gambling a bit, me primarily at the Craps tables and Reiko at the Black Jack tables. Neither of us were on, so we decided to head home. On our way home, we stopped in Primm at the outlet to see if they had anything good. I’m glad we stopped, as I’m now the proud owner of my very own chef’s apron. Reiko got a matching one as well, so now we look like professionals (ha!) when we’re in the kitchen.

Prior to this trip, I never really had any interest in gambling. I can now see the appeal and am looking forward to the next time Reiko and I can go back. Hopefully we get a chance to see one of the shows too.

For my brother’s birthday this year, I thought I’d pay him a visit in his new home up in Chugiak, Alaska. I arrived late Thursday night, but much to my surprise, it doesn’t really get dark there. It was something like 7 or 8pm in LA, kinda dark, but not middle of the night dark. It’s always great seeing my brother.

Friday we drove to Whittier. What’s cool about Whittier is that to get there, you have to drive through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, the second longest highway tunnel (13,300ft/4,050m) and longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America. It’s only one lane, with railroad tracks down the center. How it works is the tunnel goes one way on the top of the hour; on the half the tunnel goes the other way. Sometimes throughout the day, the train runs as well. We had to wait on both sides before being able to go through, but I made a pretty cool video in the sped up fashion as we went through the tunnel. We stopped off on the side of the road to shoot some pictures of the glacial stream before heading home.

Saturday we were pretty lazy and played a new game, No More Heroes, I brought with me for the Wii most of the day. In the evening, we went over to Aaron’s friend Colin’s place for a barbecue. Some of Colin’s friends showed up with their kids as well, so we had a mini party. Around 10pm we could see Denali through the trees off Colin’s back deck, with a nice orange glow coming from the setting sun.

Since I had a late flight out of Anchorage, Adria, Aaron, and I decided to take a short trip to Hatcher Pass, an old mining town. Aaron thinks it’s where the MythBusters did their cabin fever test. I’m pretty sure he’s right. There was still snow covering the path leading up to the shacks from the parking lot, so we didn’t hike up there. It was very beautiful and serene though. On our way back, we stopped off to snap some shots of the stream running along the road. When we got there, we saw a gold miner packing up his stuff to go find a new spot.

So I realized 3 days wasn’t enough time to spend up there. After living in big cities for quite awhile, it’s almost overwhelming how scenic and open it is up there. I think my lungs really enjoyed a break from the shitty air I breathe in daily in LA. I hope the next time I go I can bring Reiko with me so she can see one of America’s last frontiers.

I went down to visit my friend Alberto for the Mother’s Day weekend. His parents live in Tijuana and I was invited to spend Mother’s Day with his family. This was very interesting to me as a typical Mexican Mother’s Day is quite a bit different than in the States. First off, Mexican Mother’s Day is on Saturday instead of Sunday. Alberto and I drove down to Tijuana in the morning to go with his family to brunch. Brunch seems to be a pretty popular thing in Tijuana as I think Alberto’s parents go to brunch every weekend. We had a rather large group, (me, Alberto, his brother, his brother’s wife, his parents, and his sister’s 2 daughters) so it took a little while to get seated. The food was good, but what made the meal interesting was the fact that Alberto’s mother spoke to me the whole time in Spanish while Alberto translated the things I didn’t understand.

Alberto’s parents live in the penthouse suite in gated community in a somewhat secluded area of Tijuana. It’s 3 stories with 5 balconies, the largest being more than double the size of 2 of the smaller ones. The architecture is a little different as the original owner was Iranian and the entire building is Iranian style, including naked murals on the walls, a circular glass tea room, and miscellaneous Iranian style furniture (the penthouse was purchased furnished). Taking advantage of the nice weather, a lot of time was spent on the big balcony overlooking the ocean.

In the late afternoon, I drove Alberto, his parents, and his 2 nieces (yes, my car was packed) to Rosarito to visit Alberto’s sister and brother-in-law. They own a photo store there. Alberto’s sister’s husband is from Bulgaria, so we had some nice conversations about Bulgaria. It was nice talking about old memories and some of the small details I had forgotten about Bulgaria. On our way back to Tijuana, we stopped at the grocery store in order to get supplies for dinner. I saw a luchador trying to promote a sports drink. That was funny to me.

Dinner was grilled carne asada and beans and rice and tons of other homemade foods. Needless to say it was delicious! In the evening we went to a club in town. It was a pretty sweet club, very modern. The walls had fiber optic lighting behind semi-transparent white curtains, so the club would glow depending on how the lights were set. They also release a few hundred balloon animal balloons and a few really large ones. This was fun for a couple minutes, then it just got annoying as the balloons were everywhere.

The drive home was an experience. The Tijuana border is a bit nuts with cars everywhere. If you leave even an inch of space between you and the car in front of you, someone will squeeze in there. There are also people walking in and out of the rows of cars selling random shit, including but not limited to dolls, clothing, statues, trinkets, food, drinks, espresso, benches, trading cards, and world maps. I wasn’t kidding when I said random shit. All in all it was a very nice trip and am looking forward to going back. Alberto’s mother told me I’m welcome anytime. At the end of my trip I was a little sad, only because I would have liked to spend Mother’s Day with my own mother. Miss you mom!

I arrived in Germany Friday, February 22, in the afternoon after one of the craziest things happened. On my way to check-in for my flight, I realized I left my passport at home. Awesome! So I first checked with one of the agents before attempting to haul ass home to get it. Being on the arrival level, there aren’t many taxis to choose from as most take off as soon as they drop off. I found a guy, quickly explained my emergency situation, and he said he would help. Nice! It turns out, the guy never went over the speed limit, had to stop to get some gas on the way to my house, and generally stayed in the middle of three lanes where there’s the most traffic. As my heart nearly beat out of my chest the entire time, I somehow managed to make my flight AND my luggage arrived on time.

So the first and last evenings were spent in Munich, though completely uneventful as I was tired both of those nights. The rest of the trip was spent in St Anton am Arlberg, Austria. The highlight of the trip was the moonlight skiing I did with a few mates. We left our flat about 11pm Sunday night, took a taxi to St Christoph (the next village over and part of the St Anton ski area), hiked an hour and a half up the mountain (about 500 vertical meters), hung out on top for about 45 minutes playing on and around the ski lift, then went down, all with only moonlight lighting the way. We got home around 2am, and it was well worth. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve done in my life.

The rest of the week saw warmer and warmer weather, making for less than ideal conditions. There were many avalanches (mostly on the sides where no one goes) with one very close to where we were. I arrived at the scene just after it happened and a helicopter was just dropping off poles and dogs so that the ski patrol could start looking for people. We didn’t hear anything about anyone getting caught under the snow, but it was still close and very real. The rest of the week was spent boarding as much as the weather permitted, two trips to the sauna, and many trips to Platzl, our watering hole of choice in St Anton.

My trip home can only be described as hellish. I left to catch the train to the airport at about 6:30am. I caught my train and arrived at the airport about 7:30am, only to find out my flight to Amsterdam was canceled. They had already re-routed my by the time I got to the front of the line, Munich to Paris, Paris to New York, New York to Los Angeles. Just about the most undesirable itinerary possible, plus I was switched from Northwest to Air France/Delta (first indicator my bag would be delayed). I waited around in the Munich airport for an hour or so as my new flight was a little later. I was struggling with not passing out since I hadn’t had good sleep the previous two nights. When I arrived in Paris, I found out that my next flight was already boarded and they were just waiting for the few of us on the first flight to haul ass so the flight could leave. That was the second indicator my bag would be delayed. Luckily the Air France flight to New York came with personal TVs, unlike most US carriers. This only slightly eased the trouble that the day was turning out to be. After arriving in New York, I only wished the day was over because I was completely exhausted and had 0 desire to be on a plane. When I finally arrived in LA, my bag was of course nowhere to be found. Better yet, it wasn’t even in the system, so they had no idea where it was. After waiting a day, they still had no idea where it was. Finally they found it and it was delivered to me Tuesday morning, thankfully. My suitcase was badly damaged this journey, so I’ve already filled out all the paperwork for them to see if they will repair it (pretty much impossible, but I know they have to tell me that). Looking forward to getting a new bag of “comparable value”. We’ll see what the new bag I get is actually like as they don’t offer the same brand.

Knowing how much my girlfriend loves Hawai’i and the fact that I have never been there, plus I’m heading off to Germany & Austria to go snowboarding, I decided it would be a nice Valentine’s Day surprise to take her to Waikiki for the long weekend. Needless to say, she loved the surprise and we had a great time together. I have to admit, making her happy really makes me happy.

As I was a Hawai’ian virgin, Reiko did her best to show me as much as possible, and I have to say she did an excellent job. We went swimming on the North Shore, saw Honu, both sun basking on the beach and swimming in the water, saw sea cucumbers that look like black turds, briefly went bodyboarding (a first for me), went snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, where we saw a 3-foot long octopus and tons of colorful fish. We also went to Pearl Harbor, which I found to be a lot less interesting than I originally thought. In the museum, I did learn a lot about the events that occurred there, but the actual sunken battleship was difficult to see and rather uninteresting. I think one of my favorite things we did was visit the Dole Pineapple Plantation. First off, I love plants and there was no shortage of exotic plants here. I also learned a lot, such as the fact it takes 15-20 months for a pineapple to become ripe. Damn that’s a long time and I’m sure I’ll enjoy my pineapple all that much more the next time I eat one. The pineapple we had onsite was awesome, sweet and juicy, absolutely delicious.

As Reiko and I are addicted to massages, she insisted that we get a Lomi Lomi massage. The massage was good, but I guess I couldn’t tell the difference between a regular relaxation massage. I also think the place we went to was a little ghetto. The next time we go, I think I’ll do some research to try and find a better place.

On our final evening, we went to one of the beachside hotels to watch a traditional fire dancer and some hula dancers. It was really nice to relax and watch the show together.

All in all it was a great trip and I can’t wait to go back later this year. On our next trip, Reiko and I are planning to visit some of the other islands.

So first off, let me just say that I ripped off the title of my blog from my friend Brad. Thanks buddy!

I’ve been back just over 24 hours and all I can think about is being in Munich. Not only does Oktoberfest kick ass, but seeing all my friends and being able to spend time with them truly makes me happy. Every time I visit Munich since I’ve lived there, it just makes me want to move back. The quality of life is infinitely better than what the States has to offer. The friends I’ve made there are some of my closest friends in all the world.

Note the virgin White Russian in Martin

This time around I got to see a lot of friends I don’t normally get to see when I visit you Munich. That was a definite added bonus. I was especially happy to see Michelle, whom I haven’t seen since before I moved back to the States since she went back to Taiwan (more than two years ago). I also had the pleasure of meeting her baby boy Martin. Such a cute and cool kid. Fun to play with and very smart for only being 15 months old. We taught him how to cheers, and shortly thereafter he wanted to clank glasses every time he took a drink of his virgin White Russian. Read the rest of this entry »

So I hopped on a plane and flew to Chicago for the weekend to meet up with some old grad school friends. E is one of my closest friends in the world and my former roommate in Germany and Ranger would probably die if he were to stop talking at any given moment, but we love him nonetheless.

Chicago Waterfront

As both E and I didn’t get to Jimmy’s place until after 11pm, there wasn’t much time before we had to go out. We each ate 2 pieces of arguably one of Chicago’s best deep dish pizza joints (it was very good). This actually proved to be a bad move as those 2 slices of pizza thoroughly filled us up. We went to a near Jimmy’s place briefly before deciding to head over to Bucktown. Cool place, talked with some of the people, and by the time we were about to leave, the place was packed to the gills. We got home around 4am as some bars in Chicago close at 4am. Read the rest of this entry »