Vacationland

It is officially Fall and I am in a place that I have never been this time of year.  Everyone who is not from California always complains that there are no seasons there.  That is true.  Being a California native for my entire life I have come to know that "seasons" is a nicer way of saying that the weather is dismal and undesirable for about 6 months each year.  I don't say this out of arrogance or malice, it is just science.  No one dies when sleeping outside in the horrible 50 degree lows of California in January yet there are appendages and lives lost each winter in areas that have "seasons."  I'm just saying.

Ok, now that I have pissed off all non-California dwellers let me offer an olive branch with my admission that the North East is absolutely beautiful in the Fall.  The colors, the weather, the general feel are all so unique and majestic that I can almost understand living through death inducing cold.  Almost.

For the next two weeks I will be supporting a group of fellow cyclists riding through Maine and New Hampshire. My office will be a breath taking backdrop of reds, oranges, and shades of other colors that nature decides to create and push to the fore only once a year.  There will be pictures and video to come, but for now I only have my words as we have been prepping the hotel to receive the riders and I have not had a chance to really snap many pictures.  I can include pictures of the hotel, but Hampton Inns don't vary much so, use your imagination.

Just Another Day

Scaring Matt

My Unemployed American Life

Ah Yes, the Outcome...

My day in court ended in a fine show of the California Judicial system.  The judge called up groups of five and in my group of five I was called upon third.  The first two in front of me were appearing for some fairly serious fines and were not very respectful of the judge.  I grinned a little inside, knowing that my infraction was not as bad as driving without insurance or running a red light, and the fact that I said "your honor" and was very polite, if I do say so myself.  I asked the judge if there was a way that I could plead not guilty, but not have to pay the fine since it was more than I could afford.  The way it works is, you pay the fine when you plead not guilty then when it goes to court if you win the case you are refunded the fine.  The judge smiled at me and said, "if you plead guilty I'll waive the fine."  Before he could finish his sentence I sang like a bird.  "Guilty as charged your honor," came out of my mouth so quick I surprised myself.  Sometimes things work out well.  Now if I can find out how to get out of my $60 parking ticket, hmmm...

My Day In Court

Getting a traffic ticket sucks.  This is not a new revelation, I just wanted to go on the record and state that sometimes the law is not fun.  On a balmy day in March of this year I was sitting in traffic when I look in my rear view mirror and I see the bubble gum machine going off behind me.  Traffic was stop and go and I had been in the same lane for miles, so I was confident in the fact that I had not broken a law.  Well, it turns out that I had.  I was just hanging up a phone call when I got pulled over and, in compliance with the newly minted hands free law, I was using my hands-free headset that came with my phone.  Apparently my headset is not in compliance with the hands-free law.  Damn.

So Im here now, waiting to see a judge about my $212 fine.  Court is an interesting place.  You have all the people who broke the law, be it wearing headphones or kidnapping a child, all in one place.  It surely is a motley crew.  Today at the courthouse there is a Halloween party as well.  It's like a little salt on the wound as all the workers are happy, smiling, eating cake, enjoying their freedom while I and my law breaking brethren are shuffled around, waiting in lines, and watching happy civil servants eating cake.

Sitting in the hallway waiting to be let into the courtroom makes for some interesting people watching.  Folks are strategizing their defense, making new friends with those with similar rap sheets.  The contempt and general bad mood of all those who are here is palpable.  No one likes to get a ticket, so it is obvious that no one likes appearing in court because of a ticket.  I have my defense prepared.  Plan A is hoping that the officer doesn't show so that the case is thrown out.  Plan B is my actual legal defense and since I have no legal background other than catching a bit of Law and Order and having seen My Cousin Vinny a few times, I'm really hoping Plan A is a success.  I'm guessing that the guy waiting in the hall next to me who is playing video games with the volume up really loud on his ipod doesn't have a good defense.  Hopefully he is before me and I can wow the judge.  I've got my fingers crossed for Plan A, though.

Uncharted Waters

There are places throughout America, and the world, that when I lay witness to them I am awed by their vast expanse and unmolested beauty. When I am in an area that has yet to be filled with houses, industry, or any other evidence of modern civilization I can't help but think what people one or two hundred years ago first thought as they gazed upon these seemingly never ending tracts of mountains, wispy plains, or any number of nature's wonders. I think to myself that they must have been inspired, awe struck, and quite a bit overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at both the beauty and the loneliness that accompanies such daunting remoteness. I have come to a point where I feel as if I have crested a mountain and in front of me is a great plain, filled with nothingness, but rife with opportunity.



I thought to myself the other day that I have been alive for quarter century. I am half way to being fifty years old as well as half way between 20 and 30 years old. I am now in a state of flux as my mind is constantly playing ping pong with ideas inside of my head. Back and forth, back and forth, batting ideas around until eventually I forget what the hell I was thinking in the first place. Ah yes, so what am I getting at? I have a blank sheet of paper in front of me coupled with a monumental case of writer's block. I have my degree now and I have graduated into one of the worst job markets since the Great Depression. I am faced with a good deal of debt from my world travels so I am swallowing my pride and looking for seasonal work in retail. I am setting myself up for more, but my next step is uncertain. I am an extremely motivated and driven person, but without direction I am forced to bide my time so that I may seek inspiration. A piece of advice that I have heeded in the past is, "do what you love and the money will follow." As of right now no one is throwing money at me to travel and surf the Internet on my couch, but I'm going to keep plugging away.