16 Hours in LA

Are you a tourist or a traveler?

Do you go somewhere and visit sites, or do you immerse yourself in a different culture and truly explore what is out there? On Sunday, I was getting ready to fly from Salt Lake City to Denver and then back to O'Hare. I was ecstatic to be leaving Salt Lake and to get back home to sleep in my own bed. When I got on the plane, I noticed it was extremely hot. I tried to adjust the cooling unit; still no air. It was 102 degrees in Salt Lake on Sunday, and you can imagine it was a little hotter than that on the plane. But it was bearable; it's a dry heat, right?

Anyway... we taxi to takeoff and begin building speed down the runway. It appears we have just hit that point of lift off when the pilot slams on the breaks. I kept waiting to be blindsided by another plane. United allows you to listen to the air traffic communication, so I quickly switch over stations and realize that a warning light had come on in the cockpit. The pilot was taking the plane back to the gate. During the emergency braking, the planes brakes had overheated, so it was going to be another hour before we could take off. We were going to miss our connection in Denver and would most likely miss the last flight of the night from Denver to O’Hare. We got off the plane and I immediately jumped in line to try and get rerouted. The options are: 1) wait out the flight to Denver and hope to get home that night, 2) spend the night in an Salt Lake City airport hotel or 3) fly to Denver and spend the night in a Denver airport hotel. The situation was dismal until I came up with another idea. There was a flight leaving in 40 minutes for Los Angeles. How about they put us on that flight and we try and catch the red-eye home to Chicago that night. After some convincing, I got a first class seat and my buddy got the last seat on the plane. We left our luggage that was on the plane in Salt Lake and headed off to LA.

When we got to LA we checked the board and realized that one of the two red-eyes was cancelled. So we decided to spend the night in LA. My buddy called up a friend of his and we had a place to crash in Hermosa Beach. Although it would me another night on the road, it was an adventure waiting to happen.

We were exhausted by the morning climb so there aren’t any great stories of us meeting movies stars or going out all night. But we did get some In-N-Out Burger, breathed the salty ocean air, and felt the Pacific at our feet.















We had breakfast on the beach, bought new pairs of Rainbow sandals and then it was off to LAX to catch our flight home.
















Life is about the journey not the destination. If we focus too much time on what is at the end of the tunnel and not the ride itself we miss out on so many experiences. Our journey was supposed to take us through a couple airports not the beaches of Southern California. It was a journey I soon won’t forget.

The Summit

Editors Note: The following dialogue is from Sports Night between Jeremy an associate producer, Dana, the producer of the show and Elliot who is a production assistant. This particular dialogue is from my favorite episode, The Quality of Mercy at 29,000 feet. The show is covering two people summiting Mt. Everest.

Jeremy: It's 29, 000 feet.
Elliot: Actually, it's 29, 029 feet.
Dana: But it's that last ten yards that'll kill ya.
Jeremy: How can I best describe this? How many of what kind of thing would we have to lay end to end?
Elliot: Twenty-nine thousand rulers.

Mt. Everest is the tallest summit in the world. It takes months of preparation and training to be able to summit this peak. Hundreds of people have died trying to reach the “top of the world”

My “top of the world” for now at least is Hidden Peak which is the highest point at Snowbird used for skiing. There are actually three other peaks at Snowbird, Mt. Baldy at 11,068 ft. and the East and West America Peaks at 11,400 and 11,500 ft respectively. Last year, I hiked to the top of Hidden Peak to see one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen. My hike was focused on making it to the top in the quickest way possible so I took a major trail. This year, myself and two other guys decided to summit Mt. Baldy.

While Mt. Baldy is only 68 ft. higher than Hidden Peak it provides another challenge as it is about a half a mile away from Hidden Peak. Our trek took us up a difficult trail that included two segments of 200 ft straight climbs. Our total trek was 4 miles and included a 3,000 foot change in elevation.

It took us about two hours and fifteen minutes but yet again, this hike provided a view of one of the most spectacular sunrises that I have ever seen. During the journey I also saw the beautiful wildflowers that were growing. It is amazing that such beautiful life can grow at this altitude and a shame that more people can see this beauty.























I spent some time observing the changing colors of the sky and thought about what a wonderful view I had and how lucky I was to see this site. As I watched sunrise I thought about all the things that I want to accomplish in my life. I realized that the only thing that is holding me back is me. There are so many things out there for us to accomplish but do we truly take the time to set goals, strategize and accomplish what we want or do we make excuses? Do we take life for granted or do we live every day to the fullest?




















This experience, the beauty of the sunrise and the realization that there is so much out there to accomplish has changed me perspective. Life is too short to be angry or bitter and it is too short to take anything for granted. Mostly, I realized that the only thing that hold any of us back from accomplishing our goals and dreams is ourselves.

Some Commentary...

Before I begin, I am not a political person, and I am sorry if my commentary below offends anyone.

I have a few blog entries to post over the next few days about my final days in Salt Lake but today I want to post about one in particular.

On Wednesday night during a rare period of down time I turned on CNN. I spent most of the evening watching Anderson Cooper 360 live from Cyrpus. The subject of the telecast was the crisis in the Middle East. I had heard about the Israeli soldier being kidnapped but to show you how out of touch I am in Salt Lake, I had not realized the extent of the conflict. Working 17 hour days can do that to you. I was captivated and saddened by the coverage. For a long time the middle east has been mired in conflict. This conflict parallels a simulation we engage in at the leadership program I work with.

In our simulation, there are several countries that have a two-fold mission, to fulfill the promises they made during their campaigns and to become a truly united league of nations. Each country has different promises to fulfill after certain years. If they do not carry out these promises they can scandalize another nation to gain what they need. What happens every time is that countries cannot fulfill their promises. They scandalize another nation and what little trust that had developed gets destroyed. I really enjoy the simulation because it is a perfect example of what our world is like now. If one country doesn’t have all the resources they need they attack another country to get what they want.

I think the reason I am so passionate about leadership is my idealistic hope for a better world. A world without war where people are pushed and given the opportunity to do whatever they want. A world where there are no squabbles over land, there is no hunger, poverty, or homelessness. Can you imagine the possibilities in a world like this?

I have an idealistic vision for our future. But besides working with my program, what am I doing to better our world? Not much, which is disheartening. I’ve decided to make a commitment to volunteer and make a contribution to change our future. Margaret Mead stated “Never underestimate the power of a small group of individuals who can change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

I may be overly idealistic, but I envision a world where my children and I don’t have to watch Anderson Cooper, live from Cyprus, broadcasting the atrocities of war, indicating that innocent people have been killed in missile attacks or that we may be on the verge of World War 3. I want a world where children can grow up thinking that anything is possible and they are not limited by their circumstances; that each person can live in peace. Is that too much to ask?

Clouds. Friend or foe?

Editor's Note: Blogger is having problems uploading pictures. Until it gets fixed there will be no photos.

Yesterday, I left SLC and headed to STL for a wedding of one of my fraternity brothers. On the flight from Denver to STL I looked out the window at a fantastic storm taking place over the midwest. As much as I fly, I have never seen a lightning storm. It was unbelievable.

I began to think about the clouds in the sky. From high above they look so fluffy. Would you be able to bounce up and down on a cloud like a trampoline? Or would you just fall through the fluffiness? What would the inside of a cloud be like? Would it slow you down or would you pass right through it?

While there are many great, fun aspects to clouds there is a downside that comes with clouds. Clouds are notorious for blocking the sun and causing precipitation. Two things that aren't so much fun.

So I began to wonder if something that looks so fluffy a friend or foe?