Manshio's Travel Blog

Sweet Home Chicago

2008-10-30T16:57:00.005-05:00

For the first time since February, I was fortunate enough to be in Chicago for the week. The original plan was to be in Chicago to take part in the city's excitement of the Chicago Cubs being in the World Series but you would think by now I should have learned not to plan my life around the Cubs. Instead I watched one of the most bizare World Series ever.

Being in Chicago this week, I realized how much I miss being in the city. I don't think it is anything in particular it is the random nights hanging out with friends that I enjoy the most and it was good to have them around this week. On Tuesday, I went shopping for my Halloween outfit with a few of them. After the shop, it was off to a bar to just sit around, drink some beers, eat some food and catch-up. When you only live in the city 3 days a week, it is hard to do that.

In the next few weeks, I get to spend a little more time in Chicago, so I am looking forward to getting reacquainted with an old friend.

Marathon Diary

2008-10-05T22:02:00.015-05:00

The name marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming "Νενικήκαμεν" (Nenikékamen, 'We have won.') before collapsing and dying.

The marathon was brought into modern day culture in 1896 at the first modern Olympic games held in Greece. The initiators and organizers of the Games were looking for a great, popularizing event recalling the ancient glory of Greece. The original distance of the marathon was 24.85 miles which is roughly the distance from Marathon to Athens. In 1921, the distance of 26.2 miles became standard and has been used since.

The first marathon I remember watching was in Chicago with my mom. We walked down the street from our house to Lake Shore Drive which in the late 80s was part of the course. I don't think I comprehended how far 26.2 miles was but I do remember being amazed at how fast they ran and how cool it was that people were running on Lake Shore Drive.

As a kid I hated running, I prefered spending my time on the baseball diamond where during my high school years, I was routinely pinch run for when I got on base in the late innings. As you can tell, the coaches thought a lot of my speed and running ability.

I took up running in college as those freshman 15 began to expand my waistline. The usual run was through campus, up Pine to Forest Park and back. It was a short distance about 2.5 milest. A usual companinon on those runs was my college roommate Nick Dietz. Dietz and I chatted several times about doing a marathon and I began to think about what it meant to run 26.2 miles. For me, it seemed as if it was the ultimate physical challenge of an individual against themselves. It seemed crazy and the more and more I thought about it, the more and more I wanted that challenge.

I spent 4 years running my Fraternity's leadership program and one of the subjects we talk about is strategic planning. We discuss the analogy that strategic planning is like climbing Mt. Everest. You can't go out and climb Everest without the proper equipment, proper guides, proper training and by setting goals on your way up the climb. I also learned that sometimes for your own safety you have to revise your goal. My goal was to train and finish the Chicago Marathon. I knew along the way I would need to make sacrafices and at times my goal would be questioned because of fatigue, lack of desire and other opportunities that would come up. I knew that if I set this goal, focused and trained properly, I would achieve my goal.

After over 400 miles of training over 4 months, the day had finally come to run 26.2. I was extremly nervous about the marathon and the entire experience. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to run the marathon with 2 of my good college friends, Bif and the aforementioned Dietz. We had set a goal of finishing the marathon in 4 hour 30 minutes and were going to run together for as long as possible.

As we got into the corral I finally realized the enormity of the race. I was in a tight spot with 33,000 other people who had a goal of finishing 26.2 miles. Each person had different reasons for running the race. Some were running for charities, others in the memory of loved ones. Many were like me they wanted to push themselves to the limit.

As I began to run my race, I was amazed at all the fans that had come out to cheer all the runners on. I even had a few fans come out to cheer me on.

The excitement of the spectators made me forget that I was running and before I knew it, I had run 5-6 miles. I had even forgot to drink anything until Dietz, a doctor, advised me that it would probably be a good idea for me to drink some water or Gatorade.

Bif, Dietz and I stuck together for the first 9 miles and then Dietz had to go to the bathroom. Our prearranged plan was that the rest of us would keep going and the other person would just catch up. That was the last time I would see Dietz until after the race.

Bif and I continued to run together but Bif was falling behind. The temperature had risen to close to 80 degrees and we were both feeling the effects. Right before the halfway point, Bif motioned for me to go ahead. That is the last time I would see Bif.

As I crossed the half marathon point, I was feeling good. I was right on pace for a 4:30 marathon and while it was getting hot it wasn't unbearable.

Things were going well until mile 16, I started to get a pain in both of my hips. I had felt a pain like this before but I had never run 11 miles through it. I continued until mile 17 and then I couldn't bear it any more, I had to stop and walk. Eventually, I stretch out my hips and it seemed to work. I was back running again.

Halfway through mile 18, I felt a sharp pain on the inner part of my left knee. Again, I needed to stop. I continued to walk. I decided to start running through the pain and made it about a quarter mile and then I felt the same sharp pain on the inner part of my right knee. I thought to myself, I was breaking down right here on the marathon course. I tried to run to the next aid station deciding to walk through the aid station and then run to the next aid station. Eventually, the pain became too intense to do even that. I modified my strategy and spent a majority of time walking and running a block or two at a time.

Between mile 19 and mile 20 the 4:45 pace group past me. I was demoralized. I had a big 4:30 on my back indicating my pace group and now people whose pace was 15 minutes behind me had caught me.

As I approached mile 20, I went through a range of emotions that I had never felt in such a short period of time. I was mad that I wasn't going to achieve my time goal, I was in pain that I hadn't felt in a long time, I wanted to quit. I knew there were over 6 miles left but I wanted to stop, tuck my tail between my legs and sit down. I had hit the wall.

All of this must have appeared as a miserable scowl on my face because as I approached mile 20, a medic looked me directly in the eye and asked if "I was okay?" I know he was just doing his job but I must have looked awful.

Looking back, I don't think it was my miserable scowl that made the medic ask if I was ok. In 2007, the Chicago Marathon was run in 88 degree heat. Halfway through the race, the heat forced a a cancellation that left many recreational marathoners frustrated. This year they were out for redemption. While the temperature hit 85 this year, the humidity wasn't as bad. Chicago had developed a warning system: Green meant ideal conditions, Yellow meant use caution (the 2008 Chicago Marathon started under a yellow warning), Red meant dangerous conditions, Black meant the event was cancelled. I first noticed at my 20 that the alert condition had changed from yellow to red and now, 6 miles from the finish, I was concerned that the marathon would be cancelled.

I continued to push along running when I could. My brother-in-law, sister and nieces and nephew met me at mile 16 and told me that my parents were in Chinatown. As I approached Chinatown, I mustered my strength and resolved to run through Chinatown. I didn't want my parents to see me look defeated. Unbeknowest to me they had decided to meet me down by the finish line.

As I left Chinatown, I kept pushing towards the finish. The pain in my legs was becoming unbearable. Before I left my house in the morning I decided to bring along two Advils. Now was as good of a time as any to pop a couple of pills. I was hoping the pain would go away.

Around mile 22 my brother-in-law, sister and nieces and nephew surprised me. My brother-in-law who had run a marathon a few years prior asked how I was doing. He knew that I was in pain but he knew I was close. He walked with me for a few blocks and kept encouraging me. My nephew kept telling me that I had to beat 5:17 which was his father's time. That perked me up, I had another goal. After a few more minutes and more encouragement, I continued along with a new determination.

I tried to run and was fine for about 30 seconds, the pain pills had worked but I started to feel a pain in my heart and in my chest. I was scared. The marathon had been my goal for a long time but it wasn't worth dying for. I am not a doctor and Dietz was no where to be found so I stopped. I continued to walk and push forward, there was no pain when I walked. Finally, the course turned north and I knew there was under 3 miles left in the race.

As I walked through the southside, I thought back to the experience. All along the marathon path are thousands of spectators and volunteers cheering you on, helping you to achieve your goal. When you think about all the people that go into making the marathon the event it is, it simply amazing. Each one of these volunteers has a smile on their face, their job is thankless. They deal with angry, ungrateful racers and they keep cheering and they keep making sure people are hydrated. Without these volunteers, the marathon would not be the success it is. Thank you volunteers!

In the home stretch, I had no answer for the pain that would shoot through my heart every time I tried to run. I had no clue if I was on pace to beat 5:17 but I did know that I didn't want to walk through the last turn and the finish line. I would save whatever I had left for that final run. As I decide upon this, the 5 hour pace group past me.

As I approached Roosevelt Rd., the final hill before the final straightaway I broke into a trot. I was feeling ok and I started to run. As I climbed the hill, I heard the unmistakeable voice of my mother yelling for me. She had managed to see me on the other side of the race course. The yelling gave me a little extra motivation. I made the final turn and was ecstatic to see the words "FINISH" straight ahead of me.

At this point, I had no clue when I had started the race but I wanted to finish strong. I kept pushing and pushing and finally crossed. My final time was 5:20:02. I had finished. I had achieved my goal.

For a while on Sunday, I was disappointed with my performance. I had to walk most of last 8 miles, my time was higher than I wanted and I know that I could have done better. Over the last 72 hours, I have had the opportunity to think about my experience and in the end, I am extremly proud of my accomplishment. I compelted my overall goal and when I realized that I wasn't going to achieve all parts of my goal, I revised my goal. There was a time around the 23 mile marker where I could have pushed myself but who knows what the shooting pain in my chest was. The most important thing is that I crossed that finish line and finished the marathon!

Over the last few days I have been asked several times if I would run another marathon. I am not sure yet. I am still trying to process through this marathon. I learned a lot about myself and the kind of person I am over those 5 hours and 20 minutes. For me, the marathon was more than 26.2 miles of running. It was the ultimate physical challenge of me against myself. It was also an emotional rollercoaster that I had never anticipated but in the end, I will always look back on those 26.2 miles and those 5:20:02 and think about what I accomplished and how I accomplished it and I will take those lessons with me for the rest of my life.

I'm Back....

2008-09-21T22:19:00.013-05:00

It has been almost 13 moths since my last blog post. What have I been up to?

I started a new job that keeps me travelling every week but I haven't been fortunate enough to get out and explore when I am travelling for work. Corporate travel is a little different than Fraternity travel.

With the new job, my client is located in Minneapolis so I have been spending most of my time there during the week. While I haven't taken a big vacation since I started the new job, I have been fortunate to take some weekends and visit friends. I have been to Milwaukee, Vancouver, of course "The Lou" and New York City to name a few.

Additionally, I have been training for my first marathon which I am running next week. I was talking to one of my good friends, Schulte, who asked if I was going to be doing a Marathon Diary similar to my Half Marathon Diary from St. Louis in 2007. I hadn't really thought about it since I hadn't written a blog in a while but I thought this would be a good way to get back into blogging.

I am excited about blogging again and look forward to keeping those 2 or 3 loyal readers out there entertained.

Macadmia Nuts?

2007-09-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

Would you buy macadmia nuts from this guy?

This is the mascot of the Mauna Loa macadmia nut factory. Kind of makes you want to buy a bottle of Johnnie Walker instead of macadmia nuts.

A Trip to the Top of the World

2007-09-04T12:17:00.001-05:00

At 29,029 feet Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth as measured by the height of its summit above sea level. Mauna Kea at 13,796 feet is the tallest mountain in the world when measured from base to summit since its base is located on the seafloor approximately 20,000 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Mauna Kea is in the middle of the island of Hawaii, the big island. The summit is accessible by car except there is a stipulation from rental car companies that their cars cannot be taken on the saddle road which is a one lane highway designed 60 years ago during World War 2 to helped connect two training facilities for the army. Since the only way to get to the summit is via the saddle road and rental cars are prohibited, I decided to join a summit and stargazing tour. I went with Hawaii Forest and Trail, which I highly recommend.

My journey started out at their office in Kona and we proceeded to pick up some otherfolks and head down the saddle road.

Our first stop was a tent at the first part of the Mauna Kea road where we had dinner.

After dinner, we began our trip to the summit. There is a Visitor Information Center at 9,000 feet. We stopped here to begin to get acclimated to the altitude. There aren’t many places in the world where you can go from sea level to 14,000 feet in about two hours. After our stop we ascended further up the mountain and started to get above the clouds.

About twenty minutes later we hit our final destination, the summit of Mauna Kea - we had about fifteen minutes up there before witnessing a beautiful sunset.

We were able to stay up there long enough to see a full moon.

We went back down to the Visitor Information Center to do some stargazing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics of the stars but it was cool to see constellations and even Jupiter with a telescope. At 13,796 feet, the sky is so clear and you can see a lot of things.

I may never make it to the top of Everest but this trip to Mauna Kea – was unbelievable.

Flying the Hawaiian Islands

2007-09-03T21:58:00.000-05:00

So how do you navigate a state that encompasses eight islands? Planes. In Hawaii, inter-island travel occurs via plane. For around $50 you can grab a flight to one of the neighboring islands. I booked a cheap flight from Honolulu to Kona where I will spend the next 4 days exploring the big island.

I boarded my Aloha Airlines flight after meeting a new friend in the airport

and got a seat on the left hand side of the plane so I could seat some of the other islands via air. I got some great aerial shots of Oahu, including the Punchbowl

Diamond Head

and Hanamura Bay.

I ended up falling asleep before snapping pics of the other islands. I awoke 20 minutes later at Kona. I was afforded the unique opportunity to deplane via the back door.

After grabbing my bags, I made it to Kona to witness a beautiful sunset.

Hawaii - Oahu Part 2

2007-08-28T02:35:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning we took a trip to the top of Diamond Head. The hike was about 1 mile and featured a change of over 500 feet in elevation but provided beautiful panoramic views of Oahu.

We took it easy the rest of the day, this is vacation and we had a busy day planned for Sunday but our day concluded with a sunset cruise on the Star of Honolulu

This provided some great views of Oahu as well including Diamond Head:

Waikiki Beach:

Pacific Ocean and Sunset:

Sunday morning at 4:45 a.m. I awoke with my nephews for the surfing lesson. Again, unfortunately I don’t have any pictures but it was a great way to spend 2 hours and learn the sport of Hawaii. Our next stop was an Atlantis submarine tour to get to see some of Hawaii’s marine life up close

The submarine was not luxurious

but it did provide some great pictures of man made reefs at the bottom of the ocean. My favorite is this one. It is an old airplane that used to shuttle passengers between islands.

On Sunday night we stopped at a traditional Hawaiian luau. Well, as traditional as a hotel can put on. We headed towards the western side of the island and went to Paradise Cove. The event provided an insight into old Hawaiian games and activities including canoeing

fishing

hula dancing

a firedancer

and of course, a dead pig

My trip to Oahu has been a fascinating trip into paradise and it hasn’t disappointed. Today we are spending the morning in Oahu – and then I am off to the Big Island.

Hawaii - Oahu Part 1

2007-08-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Editor’s Note: Our hero apologizes for not updating his blog every day during this trip. This entry will encompass our hero’s first 5 days on the island of Oahu.

Growing up, I thought of Hawaii as paradise. It was this obscure place in the South Pacific where people went to get married, newlyweds went to celebrate their marriage and surfers dominated the waters. As a single man who had never surfed before – I wasn’t quite sure what I would do in “paradise.” In my first 5 days on Oahu – the island that is home to Honolulu, I found many different adventures to explore.

After a 9 hour flight from Chicago, we arrived in Honolulu. Our hotel was on Waikiki, a beach region east of Honolulu. It provided a beautiful view of downtown Honolulu at sunset.

Our first order of business was to take a walk down to Waikiki beach. Once there we stopped to take a picture in front of a statue of Duke Kahanamoku.

Duke is a local surfing legend here in Oahu, known for his swimming prowess where he won 5 Olympic medals in 3 different Olympics and as a surfer who dominated the beaches of Waikiki. August 24th was also Duke's 116th birthday. Duke fest was rampant on the beaches of Waikiki.

Thursday provided us the opportunity to visit the USS Arizona memorial. This ship was sunk at Pearl Harbror on December 7th, 1941.

It serves as the final resting place for over 1,100 bodies.

As I visited, I could only imagine what happened in this place over 55 years ago and it was very eerie to be standing over the final resting place for so many men.

Our next stop was the punchbowl, which is another graveyard. The most common translation of the Punchbowl's Hawaiian name, "Puowaina," is "Hill of Sacrifice." This translation closely relates to the history of the crater. The first known use was as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods and killed violators of the many taboos. Now, it is the National Cemetery of the Pacific. This memorial has the names of thousands of soldiers who were lost at sea during World War II, Vietnam and Korea.

It is a very peaceful place where the trees leaves are shaped liked halos.

It also provided a beautiful view of Diamond Head.

After such a long day of travel and a full day of activities – we spent the rest of the day at the pool.

Friday morning, my nephews, my mom and I went snorkeling in Hanamura Bay. Unfortunately, I didn’t take my camera so I don’t have any pictures but it was a wonderful place to snorkel even for a beginner.

After our snorkeling adventure we headed towards the North Shore

the island and stopped at the Dole Plantation, home to Dole pineapples

and the world’s largest maze as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records

The soggy conditions did not deter my nephews who completed the maze in 23 minutes, just 16 minutes behind the world record holder. The trip provided us the opportunity to eat a pineapple split, a enormous desert served in a half of a pineapple that featured pineapple whip, chocolate sauce, carmel sauce and crushed pineapples. It also provides us a beautiful sunset on Hawaii’s north shore.

Sunrise at Snowbird

2007-07-25T22:54:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I have posted and I am sorry for that. Work has been awfully busy lately and I just finished up two more weeks in Salt Lake City. For the last two years on the last day I am in Salt Lake I have hiked to the summit of the mountain that I have been staying at. You can read last year's blog entry here: The Summit

This year, I again decided to hike to the summit. Instead of telling a story about my hike - I thought I would just show some pics. Everytime I go up there it is so impressive and breathtaking - no story can do it justice but hopefully the pictures can.

My 2nd Favorite City

2007-07-07T00:59:00.000-05:00

Chicago is home and it is my favorite city but San Francisco is a close second. Usually in the summer when I have to travel for work I like to go and get home so I can enjoy summer at home but last week I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days in San Francisco and it reaffirmed my ranking of the city.

I did a lot for only being there about a day and a half so instead of writing too much I thought I would just post pics:

AT&T Park - home of the San Francisco Giants. The Giants be the Diamondbacks 13-0.
Editor's note: While our hero likes San Francisco - he hates Barry Bonds.

The Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, one of my favorite spots for San Francisco delicacies.

The Japanese Gardens in Golden Gate Park.

World Famous Lombard street. Yes I drove down it as well!

No trip to California is complete without a stop at In and Out Burger. Single meal, animal style.

A few of the bay from Tiburon. Doesn't it just look like a great place to be!

The Bay Bridge from downtown - the Bay Bridge links SF and Oakland.

No trip to San Francisco is complete without a trip to the Golden Gate bridge.

SLC Image of the Day 3

2007-06-05T21:56:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of the Great Salt Lake at sunset about 20 miles west of Salt Lake. I went out there to see a concert and I got this fantastic image.

SLC Image of the Day 2

2007-06-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

The Wasatch National Forest is full of these areas where the snow melts creating beautiful water falls. Sometimes they are hard to find but I thought this was a great shot of one amongst the mountains.

SLC Image of the Day

2007-06-03T11:12:00.000-05:00

I have made my yearly move to my summer home in Snowbird, Utah. Snowbird is about 45 minutes from downtown Salt Lake. I have been advised by some of my friends that my Salt Lake blogs aren't that interesting so I am going to try something new, an image of the day. Well at least I hope that is what it becomes but it may be an image of every couple of days.

The first one is a view from a Boeing 737 on my way into Salt Lake of the Great Salt Lake seen below:

A Roof With A View

2007-05-20T21:17:00.001-05:00

On Friday I was invited to a party on a Wrigleyville rooftop to view the inaugural game between my hometown favorite Chicago Cubs and the cross town rivals, the Chicago White Sox. Here is the kicker, I was invited as a guest of the Salt Lake City Visitors and Conventions Bureau.

As many of you know, I spent about 5 weeks of my summer in Salt Lake for work so this was a nice perk for the many Cubs games I have missed over the years. While I know this is a typical perk in the for-profit world, those of us who work in the non-profit world aren't used to such perks, so it was a welcome treat.

I grew up coming home from school and watching Cubs games on WGN-TV. They would begin at 1:20 and by the time I got home from school around 3:45 I could usually catch the last 3 innings. During these years when the Cubs played day games exclusively, the rooftops were a novelty to those who lived in the buildings across the street from Wrigley. They were not available to rent out our used for corporate parties but now they bring additional revenue to those buildings and the Cubs.

The rooftops are a great time. For a set fee you get all you can eat and drink and a good view of the ballpark. The bathrooms are cleaner and their are huge flat screen TV's if you want to get out of the sun for a little bit.

While I knew the day would involve some business I was looking forward to enjoying a beautiful day outside watching my favorite team. Our party took place on one of the new roofs in right field. Hot Dogs, Italian Sausages, Bratwursts and Italian Beef were had by all accompanied by frosty Bud Lights. The game was not going well for my team until the 7th inning when they turned it on and eventually sent their cross town neighbors home with a loss.

A beautiful day, free food and drink and a Cubs win against a dreaded rival, what more can a guy ask for?

Here are some pics from the rooftop...

Just Say Yes

2007-05-03T20:39:00.000-05:00

It is a typical spring time here in Chicago. People are running, biking, eating outside and just generally enjoying the fact that they are not bundled up and sitting inside watching old TV shows on DVD or attending a friend's theme party.

There is nothing quite like summer in Chicago. If you have never experienced it you are missing out.

There is nothing like a friend's theme party as well. Whether it is a tailgating party or a Kentucky Derby party that some friends of mine hosted last week, there is nothing like getting into the theme of a party.

So Bif and I talked about it and we decided to combine two great things - summer and theme parties and give the summer a theme. This year, the summer of 2007 in Chicago will be: "Just Say Yes."

The time for excuses or working late is over for at the least the next 120 days. Just say yes to getting outside and enjoying the summer. Just say yes to staying up and out a little later with friends. Just say yes to (insert anything fun that you used to do before you were older here.)

Where appropriate, I will try to publish examples of us Chicagoans just saying yes!

An Out of this World Experience

2007-04-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

For me travelling for work is an opportunity to experience something new. I am fortunate enough to have the flexibility to duck out of meetings and see some pretty cool stuff. Last Friday, I got to do some sightseeing for work. I was in Houston for a board meeting and my boss, a former NASA astronuat, was able to arrange a VIP tour of Johnson Space Center (JSC) which was still a buzz after an incident the day before.

Since I was a little boy, I remember watching Star Trek: The Next Generation dreaming of "boldly going where no man has gone before." Unfortunately my time at JSC was limited to looking at life size mock ups of space vehicles and seeing mission control but it still brought me back to being a little boy venturing through space.

During out tour we saw where the astronuats train. They actually build full size mock ups of the space vehicles they will use once in space, complete with their own bathroom,

The shuttle program is stopping at the end of this decade and being replace by new space vehicles. These vehicles will be used to go back to the moon and to and from the space station:

Our next stop was the orignial mission control which was home to two major events in the space program, "Houston, we have a problem" and "That is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." You would imagine that mission control would be high tech, well it was for its day and age in the 60s and 70s. Here is an up close look of a console.

Before we left, I sat in the flight director's chair. For a few brief seconds I imagined the power of the position and the leadership this person has had in many crisis situations. The picture below is a scary thought isn't it?

Our final stop was the current mission control which observes the operations of the International Space station which is a lot more high tech than the old control room.

The International Space Station is fascinating. I can only imagine what it would be like to look out the window of your home and see the Earth rotating around and around.

One day soon, maybe each of us will get to experience this.

Half Marathon Diary

2007-04-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

For the past few years I have had the idea of running the Chicago Marathon. Since I spend so much time in Utah during the summer, with an elevation of 9,000 feet, I felt this was perfect for training. For one reason or another, I have failed in my quest, whether it be an injury or laziness. This year, I decided I would start a little smaller and try and run the St. Louis Half Marathon. I figured that since this was early in the year, April, that if I did well I would consider running the Chicago Marathon. What better way to capture the half-marathon than a diary of my thoughts before, during and after the event.

Sunday April 15

3:15 a.m. I wake up in a sweat frantically searching for my phone which is doubling as an alarm. I am worried that I have slept throught the half-marathon. This paranoia was triggered by my viewing the Seinfeld episode last week where Jerry is hosting the marathon runner who overslept for the previous year's New York City marathon. I could just see this happening to me. I check my alarm on my phone just to make sure it is set. I stay awake for a few minutes and then drift back to sleep.

5:00 a.m. My alarm goes off just as planned and I go into my buddy's spare room so as not to wake anyone. I eat a banana, a granola bar, drink half a gatorade, stretch and read a magazine. I want to be up and ready.

6:15 a.m. My friend Nick drives me to the race. He leaves me with a good luck and don't get hurt and goes back to his apartment to sleep. I search for safety pins for my number and then the bag drop.

6:35 a.m. After waiting 20 minutes, my bag is finally secure and I move towards the course. My goal is to finish under two hours, so I set myself up where the pace runner is holding a sign that says 2 hours. My wardrobe for the day is a long sleeve t-shirt, an undershirt, and a pair of orange Illinois shorts - I need to have some style.

6:45 a.m. I begin to shiver.

6:55 a.m. I lose the feeling in my fingers.

6:58 a.m. I am envious of everyone with a fleece on.

7:00 a.m. The gun sounds signifying the beginning of the race.

7:09 a.m. I finally cross the starting line and in the background Rythym Is A Dancer by Snap blares in the background. Not my choice of music to "get me pumped up" to run 13.1 miles. I would have chosen something like Def Leppard "Do You want to Get Rocked" or AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" but Rythym Is A Dancer It Is.

7:11 a.m. As I pass the post office their is a band dressed in full army fatigues. Correction, there are army members playing musical instruments. This time it is Krypotine by Three Doors Down...can the music get any worse?

7:14 a.m. A few weeks ago I was at the New Balance store here in Chicago picking up a new pair of running shoes. Here is the interchange:

NB Sales Guy: Sizing Me Up "So..um, do you run in races?"

Me: "Well actually I am thinkning of running in the St. Louis Half Marathon in a few weeks."

NB Sales Guy: Convinced that I am not much of a runner "Well, that is a pretty hilly course."

Me: What is this guy talking about, I don't remember hills in St. Louis. "Oh really, that will be interesting."

Well, I am giving a shout out to the New Balance guy because it is at this time that I encountered hill #1. I am used to running on level ground here in Chicago. I curse the hill and then remember that which goes up, must come down. I enjoy the run down the hill.

7:18 a.m. I start to get a cramp in my right side, could it be the banana or granola bar from the morning I doubt it but I am placing blame on a little bundle of joy called a bratzel that I enjoyed at the Cardinals game the night before.

That is right, a brat wrapped in a pretzel. Yesterday it tasted so good, today it hurts so bad.

7:23 a.m. We pass the Eat Rite. I sure could go for a slinger right now.

7:30 a.m. I can't feel my palms now. That doesn't seem good does it?

7:34 a.m. We head towards the Anheuser Busch Brewery to the sound of bagpipes. Is this what happens to every man who enters heaven? The bagpipes play as he enters the eternal bar.

7:35 a.m. Maybe it isn't the eternal bar but purgatory. After we enter the brewery we proceed up a hill that must last a half mile. This is painful

7:45 a.m. Mile marker 4. I am not sure what time I started but am convinced that I am running right around 9 minute miles. I need to keep up this pace to make my goal. As I pass the mile marker, I start to get a sharp pain on the inside of my right knee. This is going to be a fun 9 miles.

7:49 a.m. I can now feel my fingers but not my palms.

7:52 a.m. Another hill, curse these hills...

7:56 a.m. As we head back to the starting area I think about the army band. They better make up for that horrible song heard earlier. Wait a second, I can hear something, it sounds like, yes, yes, it is Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. These soldiers are ok in my book.

8:01 a.m. As we pass mile marker 6 a pain shoots through my left knee and I have lost feeling in my fingers again.

8:08 a.m. I pass the 6.5 mile marker, this is halfway and I figure it has been right around 1 hour, I am going to need to race a little smarter to ensure that I make this 2 hour goal. I head to the right side of the course because our next turn is a right and plot ways to make up seconds.

8:20 a.m. Right around 8 miles I begin to worry what will happen to me at mile 9? It seems that every few mile, I suffer a new ailment. Maybe I will get the feeling back in my fingers.

8:24 a.m. We head down a giant hill which I finally determine is an on ramp to the expressway. Is this a good idea?

8:26 a.m. Okay we went downhill without going up hill, shoot here we go back up hill again. *&$@ hills.

8:30 a.m. Another band is playing, I have low standards for the music of this event but maybe this group will surprise me. I start to make out the lyrics. It is a "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen. You have got to be kidding me.

8:32 a.m. Mile 9 a pain shoots from my back down my left leg. That can be good can it?

8:36 a.m. We make the turn to head back in the direction of downtown and the city. As we turn I notice a chinese restaurant called Hon's Wok and right next to it is a Cat Clinic. Insert joke here.

8:40 a.m. Okay it is time for this band to redeem themselves. What do they have now? It is "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis. I guess this works.

8:45 a.m. I run past Saint Louis University my alma mater and the course takes us right past the Fraternity house that I was a member of. I notice that there is a car parked in front of the house. I then realize it is the only car parked on the street. I guess the guys didn't get the memo about not parking on the street. Later I find out from a friend that there were guys handing out beers to runners by the house. The inner frat guy in me is smiling!

8:54 a.m. A race official is yelling: "Keep going, it is all downhill from here." Whew, what a relief, I speed up a little hoping to make up some time.

9:00 a.m. I am so pissed at the race official, here is another hill that I have to navigate. That was just plain cruel.

9:06 a.m. Here is the final stretch, I begin to sprint. Things are looking good for a 2 hour fininsh.

9:07 a.m. I cross the finish line. I think I broke two hours but I will have to wait for an official result.

9:15 a.m. After grabbigng some water and a gatorade, I see a former fraternity brother and co-worker. After catching up we immediately head for the Michelob Ultra tent. I grab an extra beer for the wait at the bag check

9:40 a.m. I head over to the bag check to get my bag.

9:55 a.m. I am still waiting and I have finished the beer.

10:10 a.m. Still waiting...

10:25 a.m. Still in line, beginning to get frustrated that I have no bag or beer.

10:30 a.m. Chaos begins to ensue as race officials decide to begin to pull out bags and call out numbers and hope that someone will respond and claim the bag. This is not a good idea and I fear for the ensuing riot.

10:35 a.m. I see a friend who just got her bag. She grabs a beer and brings me one as well. Ah, I am happy now.

10:40 a.m. Beer is done and still no bag. Chaos continues.

10:45 a.m. Through a stroke of luck I get my bag.

My buddy Nick comes and picks me up and at his place I check out my race time, 1:58:03, got my goal. For those of you scoring at home that is 1:58:03 to run 13.1 miles and 1:05 to get my bag.

After this experience I have a new respect for those folks that run a marathon. It is a long hard journey but is the ultimate test of man against himself. Will I try the Chicago marathon? We will have to wait and see.

Grandpa Gone Wild

2007-04-04T21:51:00.000-05:00

No ladies this is not an advertisement for sophisticated, good-looking older gentlemen who decide to spend their spring breaks with young college coeds but this is the nickname that my sister has given for our family trip to Washington D.C. to celebrate my father’s 60th birthday.

About a year ago, my mom decided that we should all come together and take a trip to celebrate my father's 60th birthday. So my two sisters, their husbands, and my 4 nieces and 2 nephews are headed to Washington D.C. for a weekend of "Grandpa Gone Wild."

My family is not very wild but it will be an interesting adventure in our nation's capital. It even includes a "Grandpa Gone Wild" t-shirt with the Manshio family symbol on it.

Long Week

2007-03-26T07:46:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I was in my office and my boss walked in. He looked at me and said: “Go home.” I looked at him and said “What?” He replied “You have been traveling all week, go home, get some rest.” I thought about it and realized that during the last 7 days, I had been in five cities (Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale and Washington D.C.), flew on three 6 a.m. flights, which requires a 3 a.m. wake-up call and taken a final exam, the last final exam of my MBA career. It had been a long week and I needed a nap.

Tonight, I find myself in Houston after a relaxing weekend back in Chicago. I am here for one night but I thought about all of this travel and decided at this point in my life I would have it no other way. Life is short, you might as well do and see as much as possible. My body will tell me when I need a break and I will take it but for now we will keep up the hectic schedule and enjoy life, this world and all it has to offer!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

2007-03-19T12:03:00.000-05:00

I Know It's Only Rock 'n Roll But I Like It

2007-03-08T15:19:00.000-06:00

I was in Cleveland the past couple of days for work and had a few free hours so I decided to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I am not a historian of music but I do like certain types of music and have an appreciation of some groups who brought rock and roll to the forefront many years ago.

Unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed but the exhibits were fascinating. The few I was impressed with was a history of rock and roll from Memphis, Detroit, London, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Seattle and how rock evolved and left a mark on those cities. There was an exhibit on music videos, remember when MTV used to play them, and how that changed music's place in society and finally an hour long video that profiled each of the members in the rock and roll hall of fame since its inception in 1986.

So why is Cleveland of all places the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Apparently, Cleveland is taking claim as the birthplace of rock and roll. As is stated on the historical marker, Cleveland was the spot where DJ Alan Freed used the term "rock and roll" to describe the up-tempo black rhythm and blues records he played beginning in 1951, he named a new genre of popular music that appealed to audiences on both sides of 1950s American racial boundaries and dominated American culture for the rest of the 20th century.

I think it is a pretty loose connection to call Cleveland the birthplace of rock and roll but it is a beautiful museum and does a wonderful job of telling the story of the history of rock and roll.

Russia...Final Thoughts

2007-03-01T13:37:00.000-06:00

Whenever you return from a trip people always ask "How was it?" I find that my first answer is "It is good to be home" and then I talk about my experience in Russia which was unlike any other I have ever had.

The idea came to me to visit our friend in Russia because it wasn't a place that I would ever go. Sometimes you need that little push to go out and explore.

On the plane ride home, I was sitting next to an Italian man who worked in Kentucky. He said that he enjoyed the United States but that some of the most exhilarating places he visited were in Europe. He began asking me if I had visited such places as Paris, Rome or Amsterdam and my answer to them all was no. The discussion got me excited to plan my next trip across the pond.

When I got home, I began to think of how lucky I was to be able to travel and to have these experiences. This was triggered by a family emergency.

My grandmother on my father's side had been sick for sometime and the family knew that she only had a matter of time left. The day before I left I was able to spend a couple of hours with her. When I arrived back in Chicago, I was told she had taken a turn for the worse. I went to the hospital and saw her for the last time. She passed the next day.

When I think of my grandmother the first thing that comes to mind is opportunity. My great-grandparents came to the United States from Japan looking for an opportunity for a better life. My grandmother returned to the United States from Japan after he father passed to send money home to her family so that her brothers and sisters could have an opportunity to succeed. After World War II, my grandparents relocated to Chicago in the hopes of providing their children with opportunities that they did not have. My grandmother helped to raise my sisters so that my dad could finish college and law school so he could seize the opportunities available to him. I wouldn't be here if my dad didn't meet my mom in law school.

Each generation hopes that their offspring can have it a little easier than they did. They hope that the next generation gets to experience more and be better off. In my case, they have succeeded.

On the right hand side, under the links category, you will find a link to all of my pics from Russia. Enjoy!

Moscow Day 3

2007-02-20T23:10:00.000-06:00

This was our last day in Moscow so we wanted to see and do as much as possible. No trip to Moscow is complete without a trip to the center of government in Moscow, the Kremlin. After a quick breakfast, this is where we started our day.

The Kremlin is an impressive compound with several churches, government buildings, an armory with the jewels from past czars, and exhibition halls.

Pictures were not allowed in the churches but I have attached several pictures of the outside of the churches and compound below. The Kremlin is very impressive:

The Trinity Tower which is where Napoleon entered in 1812 after defeating the Russian army.

The imposing walls of the Kremlin.

The largest bell in the world, the Tsar Bell which lost an 11 ton section when it fell from a bell tower and shattered in a fire in 1701.

The Cathedral of the Annunciation which was closed on our visit but is the only Russian designed cathedral in the Kremlin compound.

The Cathedral of the Assumption which since the early 14th century has been the most important church in Moscow. At this site princes were crowned and patriarchs have been buried. It is quite a site to walk into a cathedral and see coffins all around.

The Tsar Cannon of the Kremlin which was cast in 1856 and weighs 40 tons.

One of the government buildings on the compound

We went to Red Square on Saturday but went back today to visit St. Basil’s Cathedral. We got to go inside and see the magnificent stain glass and ornate décor. It seems we were able to take some pictures on the first floor but I was yelled at as I tried to take pictures on the upper floors. Here are a couple of shots:

It seems that everywhere you look you see a church. Russians are a very religious people and have many churches built throughout the city of Moscow. This is the view from my friend’s apartment of one of the seven Stalinist-Gothic cathedrals built during the 40s and 50s that outline Moscow’s skyline.

On our way to a stop at the Embassy we walked passed Lubyanka Square which is the former home of the KGB.

After I took the picture, I walked down the street and thought to myself about the horrors that have been committed in that building and then I thought what would the founders of the KGB think if they knew that across the street from the Headquarters they created to ensure the success of the communist movement now resided a Bentley dealership and a Prada store.

We have only a few precious hours left in Moscow before our long day of travel home. It has been quite a trip and I will summarize my thoughts on my return. I thought I would leave you with one last picture of our group of explorers

Moscow Day 2

2007-02-19T14:53:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, we headed to the World War II Museum or the Great Patriotic War, in Russia, Museum.

Like many of the museums in Russia, there are no pictures allowed but it was a fascinating view of the war from the Russian perspective. Russia was invaded by Germany and the war was not going well for Russia but through their persistence won the war. They have created a bunch of life size dioramas that make you feel like you are in the 1940s at the sites of the battles.

Next we moved on to the Tretyakov Gallery and were planning on going home when we decided to stop at Gorky Park. Sometimes the best travel experiences are those that are unplanned and this was one of those.

We weren’t really sure what we would find but it was a true winter wonderland. They ice over the whole park including the walkways and everyone ice skates with the exception of me and the other five guys I was with. As you can imagine it made it difficult for us to navigate the park when everyone else is flying by on skates. Imagine if you were on one end of Lake Shore Drive and decided that you would run across to get to the other side. That is what it was like to navigate Gorky Park.

Travel broadens an individual's horizons. Different cultures have different ways of doing things and there isn't anything wrong about it, it is just different. Participating in these experiences add a different dimension to yourself and to your character. Here are a couple of different experiences that is part of life in Moscow that is different On Sunday night there was a couple of interesting experiences that would never be seen in the United States.

I posted earlier that folks in Moscow throw all rules of the road that we are used to out the window. Not only do cars park and drive on the sidewalks but it appears that horses are now present on sidewalks throughout the Russian Federation.

Finally, growing up in Chicago, I used to run across the street when I needed to get from one side to the other. In Russia that is a big no-no. I was told the first night that the police will arrest you for jaywalking and as you have read, there is no reason to bring attention to one's self. In Moscow they have tunnels every few blocks where you can go cross the street. During the day these aren't bad but at night they are pretty scary if you are alone. Here is a pic of one:

Thankfully I have been travelling in a group and haven't needed to go through these late at night but it is certainly an interesting concept.

Technology Problems

2007-02-19T08:29:00.000-06:00

It has been almost two days since I got a chance to get on the computer. We have had some problems with the internet at my friend's apartment. We are now at the US Embassy while he finishes some work and so I have a chance to get on the computer.

Over the past two days we visited the World War II Museum (The Great Patriotic War in Russia), the Tretyakov Gallery, Gorky Park, the Kremlin and back to St. Basil's again. There are some interesting highlights that I will try to post when I can.

The scariest incident happened to us yesterday. In Russia, anyone of the various security services can ask you for your identification at any time. They only speak Russian so commuication is difficult if you don't speak Russian. We were stopped yesterday in one of the underground tunnels on the way to the World War 2 museum and the police officer asked for our identification. My friend, who works for the embassy, provided his documentation first, no problem. I was next and he held on to my passport for a long time, asking when I arrived, what I was doing here, etc. I was pretty nervous but it ended up ok and I was told by my friend that this was one of the nicer police officers. It is all racial profiling which is the saddest part.

Freedom is one of those things a lot of Americans take for granted, I for one know that I do. That experience made me a lot hapier to be living in the US where these things don't happen.

Hopefully, we can get the technology problems fixed at my buddy's apartment and I can share some of the experiences of the past two days.

Our shuttle leaves at 3 a.m. for the airport and then it is another 16 hour travel day home with a 4 hour alyover in Munich. It has been a wonderful experience and I hope to share some more pics and stories very soon!

Moscow Day 1

2007-02-17T11:01:00.000-06:00

This morning we headed to Isizmailova market, which included a ride on the Moscow subway.

The market had some very interesting items for purchase including:

Street Meat,

Big fur hats,

Dead animals,

Matryoshka dolls and

a woman whose sole job was to stand at the counter of a coffe shop and sell cigarettes. She didn't even walk around she just stood there the entire time.

One of the interesting things about Russia is that you have to pay to go to the bathroom everywhere whether it is in a port-a-potty or a mall:

Next we headed to Red Square and saw the St. Basil's, the Kremlin and Gum, the local department store. I took a bunch of pictures but none of them do them justice until you see the places at night, they are pictured in order.

We are planning on going inside these places tomorrow so be on the look out for that.

Gest Column Part 2

2007-02-17T10:28:00.000-06:00

Rev. Gest will be contributing to the blog through our journey. Here is his second entry:

So, what our hero is trying to say is that the Russian economy includes the world’s oldest profession. Last night, at the pub, I was approached numerous times and it wasn’t simply due to the fact that I have great eyes…it was due to the fact that I may have rubbles.

These “women of the night” were shocked that I was comfortable saying that I wasn’t someone who would pay for, um, phun. But they were nice people—one even had a Master’s degree.

Today involved a lot of train rides and hat buying.

~Rev. John Baxter Gest Jr.

The Buyer's Market

2007-02-17T02:40:00.000-06:00

After establishing ourselves in Moscow it was time to go out, celebrate and enjoy the nightlife of Moscow. I have grown accustomed to going out in Chicago and the routine is similar night after night. The evening starts with some pre partying and then heads out to a bar in a cab or on the “el.” In many cases you see if you can spit game and the night ends in late night food. In Moscow, I found a different story.

First off, the pre partying starts around 10 because nothing really happens in Moscow until after midnight. Secondly, there are no cabs in Moscow, well there are a few but the way Moscow works is with “gypsy cabs.” Basically you stick your thumb out and you barter with the driver to take you and your friends to the nearest metro station to your locale, then you walk from there. There are a lot more "gypsy cabs" than there are people so if someone won't take your rate that you are asking, someone else will.

Luckily we were with a few guys who spoke Russian but it was an interesting experience. Lastly, everything is for sale in Moscow and it is a buyer’s market, I will let you take that for it is. The bar experience in Moscow is much different from any bar experience I have ever experienced.

Finally, there are a couple of other interesting differences. It doesn’t appear that the Russians put salt on the ground to prevent slipping thus making the ground very slippery.

Secondly, it appears that parking on sidewalks and driving on sidewalks is tolerated and even encouraged.

Finally, if the Russians state something you do it. For example, the following site was posted in the bar we went to tonight.

Since we didn’t see it we were visited by some very large bouncers who instructed us that the fine would be enforced.

The club scene is apparently much different from the bar scene and we will head there tomorrow evening. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Isizmailova for some shopping and sightseeing.

The Rev's Travels

2007-02-16T12:24:00.000-06:00

In the last post I stated that we were still waiting for a friend who got stuck in Cleveland. So what happens when you have a car arranged for you to be picked up in Moscow and your flight gets canceled. Here is the Rev's true story:

Gest Column:

Everything looked “all systems go” when I was at home preparing for my trip. The internet showed no relevant airport delays and the fact that I was traveling overseas convinced me that I could leave the mobile phone at home because I would be jumping on my on-time flight and connecting in DC where the snow storm (which dumped over 15 inches at my home the day before) wasn’t causing any havoc.

I arrived at Cleveland-Hopkins early, as suggested, and grabbed a beer (optional, but highly suggested). Things seemed peachy as I approached my gate until I saw that my 2:20 p.m. flight had been pushed back to 5:00 p.m. The biggest issue was that I was to meet our hero and Andy Hughes in Frankfurt to fly together into Moscow. This would not be happening and I needed to get word to the troops.

With no cell phone I was stuck until I recalled that Sigma Chi Headquarters had an ultra secret (more so than the grip I have come to find out) toll free number for staff members. Since I didn’t get my Grand Consul’s Citation or Cross Pen (made in Rhode Island) when I left staff I feel that I can still use this number. And this is where the real INTERNATIONAL aspect of the frat came into play.

I dialed, from Cleveland, Evanston, Illinois. Evanston connected me via a conference call to a Maryland phone number that relays to the embassy in Moscow. The embassy connected that call to our host’s cell phone number as it was after hours. While I talked to our host Doc was on the line, from Moscow, to Andy’s Orlando-based cell phone that he had at O’Hare. Thus, we were all connected. (note: this leaves out the other international aspects of Andy being British, host Tim being born and raised in Papua New Guinea, Doc being a Canindian—born in India and educated in Canada--and Manshio being, well, Manshio).

What happened next? To sum it up a 24 hour door to door trip for me that included 2 Sam Adams at Cleveland-Hopkins, 3 Sam Adams at O’Hare, a flight to Frankfurt that included 5 gin and tonics, 2 glasses of red wine and one glass of port. Next a flight to Moscow that included two Warsteiner’s. (keeping with the international theme, and in the interest of full disclosure, I AM of Irish heritage which makes that consumption understandable).

All this with about 2.5 hours of sleep mixed in has made tonight (8 hours ahead of East Coast US) phun….

~John Baxter Gest, Jr.

Arrival in Moscow

2007-02-16T08:44:00.000-06:00

After an 8 hour flight to Frankfurt, a 2 hour layover, a 3 hour flight to Moscow and a 2 hour car ride from the airport to our host's apartment we have finally made it to Moscow. We landed and headed through passport control which was a nerve racking experience. The guard sits there and examines you, your visa and your passport and doesn't say a word. Since I don't speak a word of Russian, I was really nervous that she was going to ask a question and I wouldn't be able to answer and my Russian experience would end before I even entered the country but everything ended up okay. The Moscow airport reminded me of a big factory, not the kind of airport I am used to.

Our friend who lives in Moscow arranged transportation for us to his apartment. On the way we passed the Russian Parliment, the White House.

We would have been screwed if he hadn't done this for us. We saw a McDonald's and IKEA on the trip in which was like rush hour in Chicago times 50. It must have taken 2 hours to commute 20 miles.

My buddy's appartment is an a huge apartment complex which is duplicated all throughout Moscow.

We were greeted by my friend Doc who had flow in from Toronto. His apartmenmt is huge, it has 2 bedrooms, a huge living room and kitchen and a bar stocked with Guyanese rum, trophies from his last posting. We still have one friend who we are waiting on, he was stuck in D.C. but we are excited to explore the neighborhood and see the sites.

The Russian Adventure

2007-02-15T01:26:00.000-06:00

I spent 9 months of my life traveling from fraternity house to fraternity house so you would figure at the very least I would know how to pack a suitcase for a short weekend trip. I even spent a month of winter schlepping through Colorado and Wyoming which involved packing winter shoes and multiple layers of clothing. When I traveled for 30 days at a time, I took one bag for my clothes and one bag for my laptop and work and did fine. Why then am I taking three bags for a three day trip?

In all fairness, I am lugging one bag of Apple computer products 5,100 miles for my friend who is putting us up. It seems that ordering them and having me transport them over is quicker than Fed Ex to Moscow but I have also packed a ton of clothes. Most of it is the fear of the cold. For all of us Chicagoans it has been miserable here lately. With wind chills at 15 below and the recent snow you would think that I would be prepared to battle the brutal Russian winter but I have no clue what is in store for me besides what I read on the Weather Channel web site which is forecasting mostly cloudy and highs from 12 to 25 Fahrenheit. In my luggage is three sweaters, four oxford shirts, 8 pairs of socks, I figure that I will double up each day, several pairs of jeans, a tweed blazer, a fleece and my overcoat. Not to mention the double pair of gloves I am taking and one of those awkward headband things that don’t really look right but they keep your ears warm.

Besides the fear of the cold, I am nervous and excited about the trip to Moscow. I am excited because it is a part of the world I never dreamed of visiting before and I am excited for the adventure the trip will provide. I am nervous because of the uncertainty the lies with visiting Moscow. I don’t know the language, crime is definitely a problem as on more than one occasion I have been warned to “be very, very careful” and I am not sure what I am going to eat for 4 days. Let’s just call this a nervous excitement!

The journey starts in a few hours at O’Hare where I will meet my friend Andy who is flying up from Orlando and we will board our nine hour flight to Frankfurt. While this flight may seem long, I feel adequately prepared after my experiences last year. In Frankfurt we will meet our friend Johnny and after a three hour layover board a flight for our 88 hour trip to Moscow.

It reminds me a lot of my time in Tokyo last year. I look forward to exploring as much of Moscow as possible!

Skyline Chili

2007-01-28T11:20:00.000-06:00

In my last post I described the joy I get in visiting places that are unique to the locale. One of those site in Cincinnati is Skyline Chili. I was first introduced to "Cincinnati style chili" when I lived with two guys from Cincinnati during my college days. They explained that in Cincinnati there was a huge debate between Goldstar and Skyline but they preferred Skyline as do I.

I love making chili on a cold-winter day. I use my crock pot and throw green and red peppers, onions and some special spices together and voila there is a great warm meal for a cold day. The first time I had "Cincinnati stlye chili" I expected it to be the same but what I found was a unique chili that is not meant to be eaten as a stand alone but is magnificent as a topping or a dip.

Since my Cincinnati friends introduced me to Skyline, every time I am in town I make a stop and either pick up a few cheese coney's or some cans to bring home. This time, I was only able to grab some cans and from my description of Skyline you wouldn't consider chili a liquid but some folks do.

Skyline is one of those regional delicacies that make some of the hassels of travel bearable.

Munich....no just Newport, Kentucky

2007-01-21T13:06:00.000-06:00

As you begin to travel to the same places over and over again you develop favorites. For me, these are places that I have to hit every time I go to a city. It is something unique that I look forward to.

Last week I was in Cincinnati and besides Skyline Chili, which we will talk more about during the next post, my next favorite spot is the Hofbrauhaus.

The Hofbrauhaus has a long, extensive history that dates back to 1589 and in 2003, the first location in the United States was opened in Newport, Kentucky.

While it appeared weird to me that the Hofbrauhaus would open its innaugural United States location in Cincinnati, just doing some research on the "original American boomtown" it seems appropriate. The Hofbrauhaus knew that this bar would take off in the US and so Cincinnati is the most appropriate palce to start the boom.

When you enter the bar and get your first mug of weiss beer,

you are magically transported to Germany circa 1650. The entire atmosphere from the servers and bartender to the German street signs gives you a feel of what it might have felt like to live in Germany. If I never make it to the orignal Munich location, the Hofbrauhaus in Cincinnati is an adequate substitute and is a must visit during trips to Cincinnati.

Paperwork

2007-01-17T20:57:00.000-06:00

The Russia countdown has begun. 29 days from now I will be on a flight to Moscow. In advance of this voyage, I ad to complete some required paperwork. In order to get into Russia you need a visa. My friend, who we are visiting in Russia, has arranged for us to receive a guest of the embassy visa which should expedite our entrance and exist from the Russian Federation.

I figured I would get this done in a timely manner but after reviewing the extensive application which required me to list my last two places of employment and my supervisior's name, include a passport photo, send my passport to Washington and state whether I have "any specialized skills, training or experience related to fire arms and explosives or to nuclear, biological or chemical activities", I was a little overwhelmed.

A process that should have been completed in an hour took me about three weeks (Editor's Note: It took our hero so long to complete the application because of his overwhelming frustration at the poor play of his Billikens and his recent third place finish in the office College Football Bowl Pool, damn UCLA, which depressed our hero.) but finally I have completed the application and anxiously await my visa.

Fenway Park

2007-01-12T18:33:00.000-06:00

This week I was in Boston and found myself with a few hours with nothing planned. A colleague recommended I head over to Fenway Park and see if they have a tour. For $12, I was able to take a tour of the oldest park in baseball and one of the most unique venues to watch a game. My words won't do it justice but the pictures hopefully will.

My favorite site was this billboard of a new Japanese star coming to Boston - Daisuke Matsuzaka or Dice K as he is being nicknamed. He looks a lot better in this picture...

than he does in this picture.

What exactly is he wearing?

For more pics of Fenway click here

The Agony of Defeat

2007-01-09T22:12:00.000-06:00

I saw these Ohio State fans this morning at O'Hare as I was getting ready for a trip to Boston. Tired, shocked and saddened by their team's poor performance, miserable because they sat on a red eye so that they could get back for work today thinking about what could have been and this is what you get:

Guys, I feel your pain, I am a Cub fan, 98 years of futility.....

NYE in KC

2007-01-02T20:46:00.000-06:00

In my opinion, New Years Eve is one of the most overhyped holidays. You have two choices, pay $70 to $100 for an all you can drink package at a crowded bar for a mediocre time. Or you can spend New Years with Ryan Seacrest awkwardly kissing Christina Aguilera who must be thinking to herself, only on New Years Eve could Seacrest get away with this. I don't know anyone who really enjoys New Years Eve but we all pay an absorbitant amount of money to go out and have an okay time.

This year, my friend Tim was getting married on December 30th in Kansas City so my friends all headed out there for the weekend, which was a blast, highlighted by my friend Scott who got really excited to hear Kelly Clarkson.

Sunday, my friend Johnny had two extra tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs game and so I headed out to Arrowhead for an afternoon of football. I am not a big NFL fan preferring the college game but I could tell that a football game at Arrowhead stadium was a different experience as I entered the parking lot and saw a casualty of the tailgate.

After the game we got ready, for another NYE celebration that had been set up but this time it was different and I really had a good time. Our friends in KC including the bride and groom set up a party at a bar that was closed to the public. All of our friends were able to relax, spend some quality time with each other and ring in the New Year, it was a great time.

Billiken Pride

2006-12-25T23:37:00.000-06:00

Now that baseball season has concluded I trun my attention to college basketball and my alma mater, Saint Louis University. The Billikens who have a great basketball tradition have struggled in recent years. You wouldn't think that as the only major basketball team in St. Louis that the Billikens would lack for attention but not having an on-campus arena and poor playoff performances in the past few years have made SLU basketball an after thought in the minds of the residents of St. Louis. As an alum I take great pride in the Billikens. I generally drag Bif to some bar to watch Billiken games. With only 30 games over a four month span, I generally get a little too excited about games. I have been known to listen to games on the internet, curse at my computer and swear very loudly in bars. Being a sports fan who cheers for hopeless teams like the Cubs will do that to you.

In August, SLU unveiled its schedule including a home date with perennial powerhouse North Carolina. I knew I had to be there. A plane ticket and a couple of $9 tickets later I was at the Scottrade Center for its first sell out since my freshman year in 1998.

I had high hopes and felt a sense of pride listening to "When The Saints Come Marching in" and seeing the S-A-I-N-T L-O-U-I-S flags carried out followed by the Billiken players.

The Billikens played a great first half but ultimately, the Tar Heels proved too powerful and the Billikens dropped to 9-3 with a 69-48 defeat. While I wanted a Billiken win for Christmas just being there was a great experience.

Thankschristmasgiving

2006-12-17T20:02:00.000-06:00

I have been told on numerous occassions that you are lucky to go through life with one or two really good friends. Friends know you inside and out, they are willing to do anything for you and always stand by you. I am very lucky because I have a lot of good friends and that point was reinforced this past weekend at Thankschristmasgiving.

Thankschristmasgiving is a holiday inspired by a fraternity brother of mine which is a potluck thanksgiving celebration for the guys. We get together, share a meal and reminisce about the old days, talk about our current lives and dream about our futures.

The past couple of years my friends and I have reuinted many times mostly at weddings. As we get older, our priorities change. Many of my married friends will begin to have children who will rightfully so become their main priority in their life. Some of my friends will decide that their careers are most important and will fall off the map. Other guys will determine that other priorities are most pressing and they will lapse as well. I guess my point is this. Friendship is very valuable besides family, who else do you have?

Every time I see the guys in St. Louis I am reminded of the time where I learned how valuable friendship was. I was sitting outside of an apartment in Richmond, Virginia. I had just started my job as a traveling consultant and was locked out of the apartment that I was staying in. The guys who I was working with had decided to go downtown and leave me stranded. After a few hours a call from a friend of mine came in. They were sitting at a bar on a Friday night just hanging out and calling to see how I was doing. As this was the beginning of my year on the road and this incident happened, I was very depressed. They took the time to talk with me and make me feel better. Friends do that, they call out of the blue when you least expect it but most need it. I was still stranded for a few more hours but I realized the value of friendship. From that point on I made a conscious choice to maintain and further develop my friendships which takes a lot of work.

Life will take my friends and I on wonderful journeys to all parts of the world but each year at Thankschristmasgiving we will once again realize how lucky we are.

Grand Canyon

2006-11-22T18:51:00.000-06:00

Last week I flew home from LA. About a half an hour into the flight the Captain told us that if we looked out the left hand side of the plane we could have a great view of the Grand Canyon.

I have never been to the Grand Canyon in person but seeing it from 37,000 feet truly made me appreciate how big and unique this landmark is. Hope you enjoy the photos and have a good thanksgiving.

Gobble Gobble

October 27th....

2006-11-06T11:39:00.000-06:00

October 27th was one of the saddest days of my life.

It ranks right up there with:

October 14th, 2003
October 3rd, 1998
October 9th, 1989
And who could forget
October 7th, 1984.

I have been a Cub fan all of my life, and for that I blame my mother. She was enthralled with the 1984 Chicago Cubs. She made me turn Sesame Street off that fateful day, October 7th, 1984, to watch the National League East Champion Chicago Cubs. Behind Rick Sutcliffe, they took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning at Jack Murphy Stadium, only to see Leon Durham let a ball roll between his legs and Tony Gwynn, one of the best hitters of all time, double in a couple of runs to give the Padres they lead for good.

While I blame my mother for my love of the Cubs, I must thank my mother for my love of baseball. It has given me so much joy in my life. I was fortunate enough to play in high school and be a varsity starter for two years. The game is a passion of mine, and I believe there is only one way to play the game. You play hard, you run out every ground ball, you slide hard to break up a double play, and you do the little things right. For that, I thank my mother. Without her playing catch with me on a weekly basis, or signing me up for little league, or watching my games from the “skybox” of our 1996 Honda Accord, I would never have known those things and been able to translate them to life.

My mother also taught me growing up that the Cardinals were the divisional rival and, for that, our most hated opponent. My grandfather was a die-hard Cub fan and my uncle’s license plate reads CUB ND 1. The Cubs played baseball during the day (the way it was meant to be played), and they had a certain character about them. The first Cub team I remember may not have been the most polished team or even the best team on the field. But they were a cast of characters that included the Wild Thing, the Hawk, Mad Dog, Ryno, and Gracie. They appeared to enjoy coming to the park day in and day out.

Throughout the years I have endured some of the best and worst the Cubs players including Glenallen Hill, Sammy Sosa, Anthony Young, Nomar Garciaparra and who can forget Gary Gaetti. No matter how bad the Cubs were, I could always take solace in the fact that the dreaded divisional rival, the Cardinals, never won the World Series and couldn’t state they were the best team in baseball. Now, I am screwed.

Next year will mark 99 years since the Cubs won the World Series and it is an awful feeling. You wonder what card you drew in life to deserve this fate. While the prospects for them winning it next year are highly improbable, I just hope that the Cardinals don’t repeat.

What did I just do?

2006-11-01T23:02:00.000-06:00

This morning I got to the office and checked my email. There was an email from Hotwire listing a fare sale by Lufthansa airlines for purchase on November 1st only for $146 each way to Europe. So I click on it and notice that they are advertising a fare of $292 each way to Moscow. One of the guys I worked with my first year out of school works for the US government in Moscow. So we have a free place to stay. A couple of the other guys I worked with and I have been talking about it. I mean when am I ever going to have the chance to go to Moscow. So this evening I booked it. From Feb 16th thru the 20th I am going to Moscow where the average high is 24 Farenheit. Just another day at the office!

Princeton Offense

2006-10-29T19:24:00.000-06:00

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of blogs about our hero's rec league basketball team. While it may not be as exciting as his travels, it will nonetheless hopefully provide some humor.

I have always enjoyed Ivy League basketball. It is a slower pace version of the game that emphasizes defense, fundamentals. It can be electrifying with three pointers and solid offense instead of showboating dunks.

My first exposure to Ivy League Hoops was in 2002 when three teams tied for the conference champion. Since the league doesn’t have a conference tournament, round robin games were played to determine the conference champion who would represent the league in the NCAA tournament.

It became apparent to me last year that our rec league team played similar to an Ivy League Basketball team. We weren’t going to thrill you with highlight reel plays, but at any given time we could have 4 guys on the floor who could hit the three, and we played pretty solid defense.

In 2005, the Princeton Tigers tied a record for fewest points scored in an NCAA Division 1 game since the three point line was instituted in 1986. In a 41-21 loss to Division 1 giant Monmouth, the Tigers shot 9 of 41 for the game and 2 of 20 from the three point line. At one point in the game, they were held scoreless for 15 minutes.

The Beavers had a similar game last week in a 46-22 defeat. At half, the Beavers had scored a measly 6 points. For a time in the second half, it was in doubt whether the Beavers would score in double digits.

As the game progressed and we continued to be awful, I began to think to myself, “What happens if we can’t score in double digits? How embarrassing is it going to be next week when people check out the web site and learn that this team couldn’t even score ten points?” Luckily, the team quickly hit a couple of three’s and we ended with 22 points. But for a while there, I was thinking we were going to be the laughing stock of the league.

As we left the gym, jokes were thrown out about running suicide’s for the next couple of days and morning “shoot-arounds” to make up for our dismal performance. I was glad that this was just a simple rec league game.

The Land of Mickey

2006-10-24T19:49:00.000-05:00

When people go to Orlando, it is usually for a trip to Disney World. Walt sure did create an empire in central Florida. But how many people have actually been to downtown Orlando?

On a recent trip, I was thinking just this. While usually I like to go off the beaten path, this time, downtown Orlando is off the beaten path. I was in Orlando for work, but was able to extend my visit for a day and spend time with Andy, a former co-worker.

I told him that I wanted to go to downtown Orlando and see what the city was really all about.

Downtown Orlando is more of a neighborhood instead of a bustling area of commerce. It was full of little bar areas,

trendy apartments.......

scary trees.......

and cool little restaurants.

If you ever get a chance to get outside of Disneyworld, Florida, I would highly encourage you to get into the city and explore. You never know what you may find.

Glory Days

2006-10-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of blogs about our hero's rec league basketball team. While it may not be as exciting as his travels, it will nonetheless hopefully provide some humor.

It is that time of year again: the beginning of rec league basketball. A time for twenty and thirty something men to relive the glory of their high school (or, for me, grade school) basketball days and act way too serious about a game of hoop.

Rec league basketball is all about the opportunity to Be Like Mike, Magic, Larry Legend, or Kurt Rambis if you so choose. The kids these days may want to be like Kobe, Bron Bron, Melo, or Chris Kaman, but most rec leaguers like to keep it old school. Anyway, while our team, the Beavers, want to imitate its NBA idols, we play more like the Princeton Tigers. We live and die by the three, play sound defense, and will always give that big name Top 25 team a good fight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Our first game was a foreshadowing of the upcoming 2007 NBA All-Star game to be held in Las Vegas. This is a great concept. A bunch of men with massive amounts of disposal income running roughshod around Sin City. Just take a second and imagine the possibilities… but I digress. (Editor’s Note: Since this is a PG blog, we won’t discuss the shenanigans or various crimes that will inevitably take place during this event.)
…
…
…
Okay, back to rec league and opening night. Half of the team was out a little late the previous night, carousing around town, and ignoring the curfew that had been imposed. A few had the shakes, a few fell victim to a White Castle Crave Case the previous evening (which wasn’t completely polished off until game day). One of the team’s elder players celebrated the Cardinals playoff clinching victory a little too hard two days prior and was still feeling the effects. This, along with the poor shooting of our hero Manshio, led to an early 13-2 deficit for our team. The 2 points were scored by our own Moses Malone, which equaled his total from the previous season.

After a brief timeout, the Beavers started playing like themselves. Our Kevin McHale and Craig Ehlo rained threes. The defense was tenacious, led by Robert “Tractor” Taylor and Cherokee Parks, and we went on an unbelievable 26-3 run. At about 6 minutes left in the game, (Editor’s Note: This is an estimate, since the league we play in has no visible clock. One of the referees occasionally calls out the time remaining in the game.) the Beavers were sitting pretty up 28-16. Then we almost ended up like the 1994 Houston Rockets, as we did everything in our power to blow a huge lead in the final minutes.

Turnovers, missed shots, and poor rebounding all contributed to our opponents 11-0 run. With less than a minute in the game, we were winning by one. However, our team showed great determination as the Beaver defense tightened up and shut down the other team. Finally, a clutch free throw in the waning seconds clinched the first win of the season for us.

The next day, I checked the league scoreboard and realized that our 29 points tied for the 2nd lowest in the league. But in Princeton Tiger fashion, this was enough to get our first win of the season. As Beaver JR said after the game, “They don’t paint a picture.” And thank God. While it wasn’t pretty, the W was a great start to the season.

Fortune Cookies

2006-10-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

On June 22, I went to eat lunch at Joy Yee's Noodle Shop down the street from my office. One of the highlights of a meal at a Chinese restaurant is getting a fortune cookie. The fortunes can always make or break my day. For example, just yesterday I got a fortune that read: “Boats and water are in your future.” Well, I am really excited that now that fall is officially here, boats and water are in my future.

On June 22nd, I received the fortune below:

“What an interesting fortune,” I thought to myself. So I wrote the date on the fortune, as well as the date 3 months in advance, and put it on my wall in my office.

Finally, September 22nd arrived. I was to fly to Tampa for a business trip. It was supposed to be a quick trip down in the morning, back in the evening. I flew down, conducted my business, and made it to the airport to catch an earlier flight home. Surely, if anything lucky was to happen, it would occur during the evening in Chicago. I raced to the airport and arrived 15 minutes before the early flight back to Chicago. When I got to the gate, the screen indicated that the flight was delayed due to weather in Chicago. I had put myself on standby before I left the airport that morning, and the gate agent had my boarding pass ready to go. “At least I will get home a little earlier even though the flight is delayed,” I thought. The Tampa airport offers free wireless internet, so I logged on to my laptop and began checking email and investigating what was happening during the weekend. Before I realized it, an hour and a half had gone by, and they were now boarding my flight. At least I was better off than those people who were on the later Chicago flight. We jumped on the flight, and I was excited to be getting home. The pilot came on and told us that we had not been clear to depart yet, but we would taxi to the runway and wait. “Perfect,” I thought. We would be on our way shortly. I began to fall asleep. The time was 5 p.m.

I woke up around 7 p.m. and expected to be in the air. I found myself still on the plane with a bunch of flustered people. People were complaining on their cell phone, businessmen were still able to use their “crackberry’s,” and I was able to use my iPod and write a paper for class. I thought to myself “Two and a half hour flight, hour time change, hour to get home, I should be out around 10 p.m., still two hours left for my luck star to shine.”

An hour later, I was back at the terminal in Tampa. The flight was cancelled. I booked a hotel room for the night (I wasn’t going to sleep in an airport on the day my luck star was supposed to shine) and got the airline to put me on the first flight out in the morning.

I got to the hotel, which was in the middle of nowhere - your classic airport hotel - and checked into the room. My flight was scheduled to leave in 8 hours and I had been up since 3 a.m. I decided to watch the Northwestern/Nevada game and call it a night. I have always cheered for the underdog (hence my love affairs with the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Clippers) and thought the Wildcats would come back for a thrilling victory against the Wolfpack. But alas, they lost, my hopes were dashed, and I was left to think what could have been.

Podcasting...on a whole new level

2006-09-22T15:02:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen something and wonder to yourself, “Who on earth thought this was a good idea?”

Do you remember the Bears/Lions game in 2002 where Marty Mornhingweg, Detroit Lions head coach, decided it was a good idea (after his team won the overtime coin toss) to kick the ball off to the Bears so his team could have the wind at their back?

(Editor’s Note: For all of you who aren’t football fans, pro football is sudden death, so the first team that scores wins the game, thus making kicking off to begin overtime suicide).

Marty, how in the world could you think that was a good idea? The Bears won 20-17 and Mornhingweg was fired at the end of the season for many of his bonehead moves like this one.

How about Saturday night's Notre Dame/Michigan State game. The Irish are down four points and Michigan State has the ball on the 19 yard line featuring a 3 and 4 situation. Realistically, Michigan State needs two first downs to wrap up the game. I am thinking you protect the ball punt it to the Irish and see if the up and down Notre Dame offense can score a touchdown. Bob Davie, former Irish head coach and current ABC announcer announces that this would be a great time for the Spartans to throw a pass. The group of guys I was watching the game with and I thought that was an awful idea. Why throw the ball and risk an interception so deep in her terriotry? Low and behold the Spartans throw a pass, the Irish intercept and score a touchdown giving the Irish a thrilling 40-37 victory. Bob Davie's job is to provide his football insight to America during Sunday night college football but stupid comments like he made will prevent him from ever being a head coach again!

Recently, I was walking through the Indianapolis Airport and I see this:

That is right folks, an iPod vending machine. Now while I salute the Japanese for their inventive vending machines on corners that serve hot or cold coffee (which are great after a long night out or when you are trying to stay up for two straight days), I must question putting a vending machine that distributes iPod’s in an airport.

Now let’s walk through this. Who thought it would be a good idea to put an iPod vending machine in an airport? What market were they going for? Air travelers who notice everyone has an iPod on and they just happen to have $199 in their pocket so they can buy an iPod to look cool (even though they can’t listen to it, because there is no wireless in the Indy airport, so they can’t download songs)?

Are they aiming for the grandparents who are visiting little Jimmy and forgot to get him a gift? They can grab $199 out of their pocket and pick one up for him.

Are they marketing towards the stranded traveler who (through no fault of his own) is left to spend the night on an uncomfortable chair in the airport and is looking for something to pass the time? So instead of getting a hotel room, he goes for the $199 iPod shuffle from the vending machine?

Surprisingly after a bonehead move like Marty Mornhingweg's, you would think that no football team in their right mind would hire him. I googled him and found at that he is employed as the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator. I guess everyone gets a second chance. Hopefully the guy who decided to put an iPod vending machine in the airport will get one.

Whirlwind

2006-09-19T22:19:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, work required me to travel to Toronto for some meetings during the day, while my social calendar had me venturing to Madison, WI for a bachelor party weekend. The following is a running journal of the day:

3 a.m.

The alarm blares signaling the dawn of a new day. I don’t know why I take these 6 a.m. flights, and I curse that fact as I head to the shower.

5 a.m.

I arrive at the airport an hour and a half early for my flight. Even though I am not a coffee drinker, I am now wired. I head to the airport lounge where I read a newspaper, watch some morning news and grab some breakfast, an orange, some juice, and some Natural Harvest granola bars.

6:30 a.m.

Flight departs Chicago bound for Toronto. I immediately shut the shade, turn on the iTunes sleep playlist, and try to catch up on some sleep.

9 a.m.

We land in Toronto, I clear customs and then I jump on a bus to downtown Toronto. We pass the CN Tower...

and the Rogers Center...

and I am dropped off in front a train station. I have about an hour before my meetings so I grab my second breakfast (a bagel and an orange juice) and meet up with an old friend who I haven’t seen in two years.

(Interesting note here: I tried to pay for a couple of things with a $2 Canadian bill. I found this while cleaning up my dresser from a trip to Canada about 12 years ago and figured I would get rid of it this trip. Twice, the people I was with laughed at me for trying to use this bill. Apparently it has been out of circulation for 5 to 10 years. Needless to say, I felt stupid. I feel even more stupid thinking that I could sell these rare, out of circulation $2 bills on eBay. Guess how much a $2 Canadian Bill sells for on eBay? If you guessed $2 you are correct. I thought they were rare?)

4 p.m.

Back at the Toronto airport. Canadian airports are interesting. You check in, clear customs, clear security, and then you hand your checked bag over so that it can be put on your flight. In the last two Canadian airports I have been in, you walk through this nice and big duty free store. Since I wasn’t checking a bag and since the new flight regulations barring liquids on flights, I wasn’t able to pick up a bottle of duty free, but it is an interesting concept.

I head to the airport lounge, fire off some emails, grab some cookies, and then it is off to the gate.

6 p.m.

We land in Chicago, and I head to my house. I picked up my luggage for the weekend and droped off my computer. I needed to head downtown to pick up a rental car and then off to Midway to pick up three guys who were coming in from STL and KC. They are set to arrive at 7:30, but one of them is running late, and I don’t leave my home to pick up the rental car until 7:30.

9 p.m.

I pick up the guys at Midway and we head over to Goose Island for a late dinner. One of our friends pays $8 for a pack of cigarettes only to realize that he can’t smoke at our table. He then spends 20 minutes standing at the bar talking with an old prospector, smoking his cigarettes, and drinking his first red bull vodka of the night.

11:15 p.m.

We finally are on the road out of Chicago. It is about a 150 mile drive to Madison, and no one in the car really expects it to take that long. Complaining ensues followed by a stop to get some red bull, followed by a round of prank calls to our friends to keep ourselves amused.

1:30 p.m.

The day finally comes to a close when we arrive at our hotel in Madison and crash.

For all of those Billy Beane's out there, the final stats on the day:

22 hours, 2 countries, 2 US states, over 1200 miles of travel, 4 Natural Harvest granola bars consumed, 0 speeding tickets.

How To Survive a Red-Eye

2006-08-31T20:51:00.000-05:00

David Letterman’s top 10 list is famous. My top 5 list will not be nearly as funny or creative but here it goes anyway.

Last week on my way home from Vancouver, I took a red-eye from San Francisco. A red-eye can be grueling. You can get about 3 hours (at most) of sleep at 35,000 feet; not the ideal situation for rest. I have done a couple of these flights and have come up with 5 tips to make that red-eye easier.

5) A trip to the airport bar. First of all, you need to convince yourself that you are not an alcoholic for going to an airport bar alone. This shouldn’t be too hard - there are plenty of reasonably normal looking people at the bar by themselves in the airport. You are just trying to have a cocktail or threve to relax for the beginning of the flight.

It is similar to Saturday night when you and your friends were trying to figure out what to do after the bar closed. You had that red bull about an hour ago and are still wired. So you head home, pour yourself a Maker’s on the rocks and watch Sports Center. The next morning you wake up on the couch still in your clothes, half of the Maker’s is left, and you are watching Sports Center for the fifth time. (It’s actually nothing like that, except you want to get enough alcohol in your system that you can pass out in a completely uncomfortable position for an extended period of time.)

4) Pajama pants. I know, I know, you may look funny walking around the airport or the plane in your pajama pants. But you sleep better when you are more comfortable. Just ask my buddy Bif

Bif crashes at my house about once a month, usually after a long night out. The next morning I always find Bif on my couch in his boxers and (hopefully) his undershirt. Why? Because he is comfortable in his boxers and undershirt. This comfort allows Bif to reach his state of hibernation where he sleeps until noon, lounges until 2, and finally leaves at 4 in the afternoon. He feels refreshed, relaxed and ready to tackle the day…or head to the bar and watch his beloved Bengals.

3) Window seat. You are sitting there thinking, “Manshio is an idiot! I would rather have an aisle seat, because I can easily get up to stretch out or head to the restroom.” I may be an idiot, but consider the situation:

Do you remember when you slept alone? (Some of you can refer back to last night.) You did not need to worry about someone else waking you. There may have been the occasional random noise in the dark or the guy breaking into your room in the frat house, but other than that you regularly woke up under your own control. Now think about when there is someone else in bed with you; what happens if they elbow you, snore, toss and turn? They are going to wake you up. That is what it is like having the aisle seat. If the guy in the middle seat or window has to go the bathroom, guess who is getting woken up? Or worse, they try to climb out of their seat, desperately trying not to disturb you. Then you awake with someone’s backside in your waste. God forbid they had Mexican earlier that evening.

2) iPod Sleep Playlist. I got an iPod for Christmas last year, (thanks Mom and Dad) and I bought a Bose Sound dock in June. Each night I play my iPod sleep play list, a collection of Coldplay, Rachael Yamagata and Dave Matthews Band that calms me to sleep every evening. When I listen to these I am out. (Editor’s Note: This play list is a little different than the bedtime play list you have when you are trying to impress the young ladies.)

1) Liquor. We start with liquor and we end with liquor, but this is the best way to survive the red eye. A glass of red wine on top of your previous drinks will knock you out. So what if they guy next to you gives you a hard time about drinking a glass of merlot or shiraz? You will have a nice long nap, while he will be tossing and turning all flight. He’ll screw up his morning presentation (that he spent all day preparing, forcing him to take the red eye) and will be rewarded by one of those special, private conversations with the boss which concludes with him being escorted out of the building by two large security guards. All because he didn’t get some sleep on the red eye.

One word of warning though, you don't want to be hammered on your flight you are just looking for a few drinks to help you relax. There is nothing worse than a guy who is drunk on the red eye.

North of the Border

2006-08-29T21:53:00.000-05:00

In 2002, Saint Louis University awarded me a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business and Finance. Since graduating, I had not done anything international or financial… until today. Work took me to Vancouver, and today I finally felt like I was using my college degree.

I arrived in mid afternoon and took some time to wander around the city, got my money changed into "loonies and toonies", and headed off to Chinatown (which reminded me of my recent trip to Japan)..

The area was bustling with merchants selling their products in their stores and on the sidewalk. This reminded me of Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan.

I stepped into a restaurant that claimed to have the best dumplings and ordered some congee, which is rice porridge. My one mistake was ordering the congee with “assorted meats.” When I asked what “assorted meats” were, I was given an answer that I couldn’t understand. That should have been a clue that this wasn’t a good idea, but I ordered it anyway. Nonetheless, I sifted through the congee but left most of it in the bowl.

After Chinatown, I strolled to Gastown, which is an area near downtown featuring cobbled streets and an historic feel. One of the highlights was a steam clock tower that every 15 minutes whizzes steam and plays the tune of London’s Big Ben.

I walked down to the harbor and saw a seaplane taking off from the water, which was a great site.

Finally, I went to the Vancouver Lookout to see a panoramic view of the city. In hindsight, it probably would have made more sense to view a panoramic view of the city before exploring, but c’est la vie.

Situated 500 feet above Vancouver, I was able to see some of the city’s greatest sites. In the picture below you can see BC Place.

This stadium is home to the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and the future host of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Is it just me, or is something a little off about the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics being inside?

While our neighbors to the north accept both American and Canadian money and speak English, it was good to get out of the U.S. and conduct some “international business.”

The Mountains of Washington

2006-08-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

I had the fortune of traveling to Vancouver this week. I will talk about my travels in Vancouver a little later, but I took one of the most scenic flights I’ve ever had from San Francisco to Vancouver. On take off from San Francisco the pilot asked air traffic control to take us over Oakland and the Golden Gate Bridge which provided some remarkable views. Our flight path took us over northern California, Oregon, the mountains of Washington, and into Vancouver. I thought I would share some pictures below of several mountains: Mt Hood, Mt St. Helens, and Mt. Rainer. I have never been to these places but the fly-by was spectacular.

Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge was constructed in 1937 and at the time was the largest suspension bridge in the world. It is now second to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City

Mt Hood is a dormant volcano located 50 miles east of Portland. It stretches 3,429 meters high and is the largest mountain in Oregon.

Mt. St. Helens is an active volcano 96 miles south of Seattle. It’s most famous eruption was in 1980, which was the most deadly and economically destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the United States.

Mt. Rainer is a volcano 54 miles south of Seattle. It is the highest point in the Cascade Region, reaching 14,411 feet.

A Year After Katrina

2006-08-21T21:33:00.000-05:00

I remember where I was when I found out about Hurricane Katrina. I was in St. Louis visiting friends on a Sunday night when I heard the big storm was coming. I had an early flight the next morning and spent much of the day glued to CNN watching nature unleash its fury. The following days showed the chaos that was happening in New Orleans. Could this really be America?

Last week, I was in New Orleans on business. The first time I was here was June of 2001. I thought of New Orleans as a big party, with great bars, unbelievable food, and a unique culture. I went straight to the French Quarter to get a muffuletta at Central Grocery, the best muffuletta in town and to walk around.

The area was quiet, maybe because it was a Wednesday afternoon, maybe because some people had left and not come back. There were still sights of the damage Katrina had caused, but the city was rebuilding and trying once again to “laissez les bonnes temps roulez.” I think that is what makes America great.

Most of our ancestors came to this country to seek out a better life. There aren’t many countries where you can be born into poverty but, with some hard work and a little luck, become successful. In many countries you are pigeon-holed into a life and a job. In America you can be anything you want. It is encouraged to explore different professions and lifestyles and pick out the one that suits you the best. This is exactly what the people of New Orleans are trying to do: save their city, rebuild, and prosper. I saw the sign below on the New Orleans Superdome when I left New Orleans

Many may remember the horrors of the Superdome as told on nightly news reports. Stories of poor sanitation, unimaginable conditions, rape and murder were told after Katrina had ravaged the city. What for some provides horrible memories of Katrina now stands as a sign of hope for all residents of New Orleans. The Saints are coming back, just another sign of life returning to nomral and a continued reminder that with the same spirit that our ancestors had, these folks will overcome this setback and thrive.

Cell Phones

2006-08-16T15:57:00.000-05:00

Carrie: “Berger broke up with me on a post-it.”
Miranda: “On a post-it?”
Carrie: “Uh-huh, yup, read it and weep my friends”
Samantha: “I’m sorry,
I can’t
Don’t hate me”

I broke my cell phone on Sunday. It happens to everyone at one point or another. Replacing a cell phone is not like replacing a scratched CD or that disc of Season 1 of The West Wing that your friend permanently “borrowed”; the darn things are expensive! But c’est la vie.

It was the perfect time for me to do something stupid like break my phone. With two business trips scheduled for the week, my laptop and cell phone were my only means of keeping up. Not only does it severely complicate work for the week, I also miss out on communicating with my friends and getting the occasional drunk text message. (Editor’s Note: The easy solution would be for our hero Manshio to go buy a new phone. Our hero refused to pay the exorbitant prices from Verizon and purchased a phone off of eBay. It should arrive by the end of the week.)

I began to worry about what I would do without a cell phone on the road. How would I set up meeting times and locations? How would people get in touch with me? Who would I call while sitting in an airport waiting on my delayed flight? Worried, I panicked. I rushed to set up all my meetings in advance before leaving the office. I went through lots of trouble just because I wouldn’t have a cell phone. (Editor’s Note: Actually our hero, Manshio’s dad lent him his phone for his trip on Monday. Thanks Dad!) I began to think, “Have we become too dependent on technology?”

The quote from above is from a Sex and the City episode where Carrie’s boyfriend breaks up with her using a post-it note. We live in an era where, in my opinion, people fear personal communication. Why call someone when I came send them an e-mail or text message? Why take the time to write a note when I can send an e-mail? Why go to class when I can submit my paper using the internet? It almost makes you believe that one day we may live in a world where we don’t talk to anyone.

I love technology and it has made my life easier and our world more productive; but at what cost? People can’t go on vacation without responding to email or taking business calls on their cell phone. We choose to send feedback on email instead of doing it on the phone or, god forbid, face to face. I can’t sit through a wedding or even Sunday mass without someone’s ring tone interrupting.

My new cell phone will be here by the end of the week, and I will once again be wired. But, in the meantime, I am going to enjoy the next few days of being unplugged.

JRDS

2006-08-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

I spent this past weekend in Chicago with the usual crew, as well as one of our good friends who came down from Milwaukee. It was a usual weekend of bars, Cubs game, time spent on the roof, and brunch. In my opinion, it was a classic Chicago weekend.

On our way to brunch, one of my friends casually pointed out that you can usually tell how drunk our friend JR is by his comments/reactions when you first see him. This led several of us to come up with the official JR Drunk Scale. Here it is in all of its unadulterated glory:

Level One - 2 to 3 beers: (Editor’s Note: JR rarely drinks anything other than Budweiser products. In most cases it is a Bud Light or a Bud Select):
JR usually greets you with something inappropriate and/or somewhat confusing:

“Hey Manshio, good to see you, you smell like old mustard.”

This is a random example of a Level One JR line. He may also question your manliness or insult a random family member or yours. When you receive one of these witty insults, you should know in your heart that JR is truly excited to see you.

Level Two - 5 to 6 beers: JR starts talking about our rec league basketball team, while continuing his puzzling insults (a staple continued throughout the remainder of the JR Drunk Scale):

“I really like how the team is shaping up this year. With me at shooting guard and you playing out of position running the point, I really think we will surprise some teams. Did I mention your mom’s a hobo?”

JR, the leading scorer on our winter basketball team, is very passionate about rec league basketball. After fouling out of one game last year, he yelled from the bench at an opposing player shooting a free throw:

“Hey number 1, I am going to punch you in the middle of the chest.”

Did I mention he is very passionate about rec league basketball?

Level Three - 8 to 9 beers: JR starts professing his love for you:

“Manshio, I really love hanging out with you and Bif and playing basketball. But god, you’re a tool.”

JR is beginning to get emotional but is keeping it in check until he hits Level Four.

Level Four - 11 to 12 beers: JR sees you, immediately gives you a hug, and professes a deeper love for you:

Manshio: Hey JR how are you doing?
JR: (gives you a big bear hug and won’t let go) Manshio, I love you, it is so good to see you!
Manshio: Good to see you too, JR
JR: (still hugging): I really love you.
Manshio: I know JR, I know. Do you need another beer?
JR: (still hugging) Oh, yeah sounds good, make it one of those tasty Bud Selects! (JR finally let’s go, so you can grab him a beer. Then he starts hugging someone else.)

Level Five – 12+ beers: JR, a late night food connoisseur, is undoubtedly preparing for an extravagant feast somewhere.

JR: I am hungry. Let’s get some late night food.
Manshio: Where do you want to go?
JR: So many choices. I wish there was a Del Taco in Chicago. God I love Del Taco. It’s the greatest food on the planet, right up there with the Southwestern Steak Wrap from Brownstone. Let’s see – there’s McDonald's. I once downed 40 chicken nuggets, two double cheeseburgers and a super size fry there. Or my new favorite, Popeye's! Last week I had an order of fries and 5 drumsticks. I love meet on the bone.
Manshio (astonished): How about Burrito House?
JR: Screw that place. I haven’t been able to stomach it since the night I ate a burrito, two chicken quesadillas, and a large fry.
Manshio: Well, there’s this late night Sushi place up the…
JR: Sushi’s for pansies!
Manshio: (slightly scared) Popeye’s?
JR: I love how you think, Manshio!
Manshio: All right JR, all right, how about a beer for the road?
JR: Bud Select

If you know JR, then you are already well acclimated to the stages. If you have yet to meet him however, you are now well prepared to handle the progression of a night out with JR.

A Groomsmen's Journal

2006-08-07T14:04:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of being a groomsman in my friend Brendan's wedding. This is the second time I have had the opportunity to be a groomsman. It is a very special honor to be asked to be a part of a wedding, and I know it is very special to the couple for you to stand up in their wedding. But, while in the bride and groom's eyes you are a very significant part, in reality most other people don’t care about your presence.

Almost everyone knows the story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox. On the brink of elimination to the hated Yankees once again, the Red Sox stage a miracle comeback and then sweep the Cardinals (my favorite part of the story) to win their first world championship in 86 years. What propelled the Red Sox to victory?

Was it Curt Schilling and his bloody sock? Was it David Ortiz's late inning heroics? Or was it Dave Roberts' stolen base and the play of career journeyman Mark Bellhorn?

Needless to say all of these factors contributed to the Red Sox miracle comeback and their first world championship.

Major League Baseball roster's are limited to 25 players, with 8 starting position players, 5 starting pitchers and 6-7 relief pitchers, it is impossible to have a backup at every position. You need to have utility players, guys who can do it all as part of your team. Groomsmen are to a wedding as utility players are to a major league baseball team. While they receive little or no glory, they are an essential component to ensure that a wedding goes off without a hitch.

Utility players show up at the game not sure what is in store for them for the coming day. My fellow groomsmen and I arrived at the church about an hour before the ceremony already in full tuxedo. With nothing to do, we took a seat on the bench and waited for our first assignment. We watched the ushers walking people down the aisle; we saw the groom greeting family and friends; we witnessed the altar servers preparing the church for the wedding. The game was unfolding before us; we were just waiting for our time to shine.

Shortly before the wedding started, the groom called us over and matched us up with the bridesmaids. We were getting ready to get in the game for our one moment in the spotlight. Editor's Note: Let's be honest: our hero Manshio should realize that the attention is on the bridesmaid not the groomsman. I proceeded down the aisle, bridesmaid in tow, smiling for pictures, nervous about potentially stumbling and falling, and trying not to screw up since I was finally in the game.

During the rest of the day, I stood with the other groomsmen at the altar during the vows, processed out, was introduced at the reception, drank a B-to-the-E, those things are tasty, and sat at the head table. But this was a game where the team's stars shined. The utility players were there for support, but the bride and groom stole the show (as well they should). My fellow utility players and I were content with our supporting role.

The 2004 Red Sox wouldn't have made history had utility players like Dave Roberts and Mark Bellhorn not been there to support future Hall of Famers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. A wedding wouldn't be the same if there weren't groomsmen and bridesmaids to stand up for their friends and family. But a wedding is not a time when the utility players should be the center of attention. It is a time for the stars to be brilliant and the utility players to have a front row seat to watch their friends take this first step of life together.

Free Beer

2006-08-02T17:40:00.000-05:00

Few words in the English language draw as positive a response from young adults ages 16-30 as these two words.

This weekend I was in Denver for a former co-workers wedding. After a lovely lunch with some friends, we had about 3 and a half hours before we needed to be at the wedding. Normally, during a long break before a wedding, my friends and I decide to head right for the nearest bar. We usually spend our afternoons catching up, drinking way too much, and preparing for the evenings festivities. This is okay when you are in a city that you’ve spent a lot of time in or know well. But when you are in a new place, you sometimes get the urge to experience all a city has to offer.

On this wedding day, we decided to push the limits of heading to the “nearest bar”. Ft. Collins, Colorado is home to the New Belgium Brewery. They are most famous for their Fat Tire, but they have a myriad of different beers they brew. Ft. Collins is also a two hour round trip from Denver. Allocating 30 minutes to get ready, that gave us about an hour to sit and enjoy the beer.

We arrived at New Belgium and went into their bar area. Most breweries require you to take a hour long tour before they give you a couple 8 oz. cups of beer. New Belgium doesn’t. All they require is that you find a seat at the bar or a table. This proved somewhat of a challenge. After a 20 minute wait we finally got one seat by the bar, and the 4 of us huddled around and picked the beers that we wanted to try.

Some were good, some were extra bitter, some were way too sweet. But it was great to try different beers, especially beers that, with the exception of Fat Tire, aren’t currently available in Illinois.

After we chugged down our beers, we headed back to Denver where we had about 15 minutes to get ready and enjoy our friend’s wedding. All in all, it was a lot of fun and a great spin on the typical bar scene before a wedding!

16 Hours in LA

2006-07-31T09:35:00.000-05:00

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

2006-07-27T11:21:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-07-24T23:01:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-07-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

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?

Up or Down?

2006-06-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had an experience that is just plain stupid to everyone except for those who are directly involved? I’m talking about a truly idiotic event. Something like running around a college campus in adult diapers, or swimming in a fountain in nothing but a Speedo (two sizes too small) in mid-February. It typically involves an equal mix of creativity, peer pressure, and alcohol. It is one of those moments that you can't plan for, can never duplicate, but serves as a memory and bonding experience for a lifetime.

This weekend, I enjoyed some time in Chicago at a wedding with a fraternity brother of mine. I have spoken about this before in other posts but I have a great group of college friends. We are all very close, care a lot about each other, and when we get together, we cause a little (and occasionally a lot of) trouble.

On Saturday night after the wedding, I was hanging out in the hotel lobby finishing up some beers and enjoying everyone's company. After a while, I went upstairs to see some other folks. I was in my friend Andrew's room hanging out with his girlfriend Becky and our friends Erin and Megan when he came up to grab a piece of pizza. He stopped in, chatted for a few minutes, and then departed. I decided that I would follow him to “make sure he stayed out of trouble”. In actuality, Andrew was fine. I just needed an excuse to see what folks were up to. I headed out of the room and could hear a bunch of people talking through the elevator shaft. I assumed they were being very loud on the first floor in the lobby. I jumped in the elevator and proceeded to the lobby, but they were nowhere to be found. However, I could still hear them. Confused, I rode up to the 7th floor, thinking they may be there. On my way, I could hear them the entire way through the elevator - I thought I was getting closer. Once again when I got to 7, there was no sign of my friends. The empty elevator departed, and I pushed the “down” button again deciding to search all the floors. Much to my surprise, when the next elevator arrived, there they were sitting in chairs on the elevator, beers in hand.

Over the next 45 minutes I sat in the elevator drinking beers, bouncing from floor to floor, catching up, and having a great time. One of the highlights of the experience was having the elevator summoned to the ground floor by a large security officer doused in miserable smelling spray-on deodorant. As the door opened, he looked in, saw us, and just stood there. I don’t think he had ever seen something quite so moronic in his life. He tried to say something, most likely to tell us to stop and go to bed, but he was so bewildered that the door closed and we were off to another destination.

Another entertaining point occurred when the elevator was once again called to the ground floor. When the doors opened, a couple (who apparently had a long evening) started to enter the elevator. They stopped dead in their tracks, utterly astonished (and possibly a little scared) by what they saw. There was plenty of room, and we offered to take them to the floor of their choice, but they quickly declined and jumped in the next elevator. The night was getting late, the morning was fastly approaching, and the beers were becoming scarce. We decided to call it a night, but what a memorable experience to cap a fantastic day.

One of those days

2006-06-12T01:18:00.000-05:00

Ever had one of those days where nothing seems to go right? It all starts off good. You head to work ready to conquer another day when you realize that you are wearing a brown belt with charcoal slacks. No biggie. You have a hot date tonight and there is plenty of time to change before it. Then, the hot date calls and cancels because "something suddenly came up." It's okay, your beloved Cubs are playing the Cardinals at Wrigley Field that night and you really didn't want to take her to the game anyway. So now you abd your buddy go the game and all is right in the world as the Cubs enter the 9th inning with a commanding 5-1 lead but this is the Cubs and you are having a bad day so you watch as the Cubs find a new way to lose a baseball game. You decide it is time to go home, crawl under the covers and give it a try tomorrow.

Every time I come to Salt Lake on my drive up to Snowbird there is a sign that intrigues me. It says I-15 North Salt Lake City and I-15 South Las Vegas.

Whenever I see this sign, I think of what Elwood Blues would do.

Elwoood: It's 420 miles to Vegas, we got a full tanks of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake: Hit it.

Today I almost did it. I figured all of my troubles would be solved with a $100 bet on my lucky #13 at the roulette table. The ball would roll around and land on 13 and I would be $3600 richer. My luck would turn around. Next I would put the $3600 on 17 and low and behold I win again. Now I was $129,000 richer.

Then I woke up. I realized it would never happen, accepted that mama said "there will be days like this" and realized that tomorrow is a new day.

"Walking in Memphis"

2006-06-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

The Marc Cohn song "Walking in Memphis" is a story about a journey that culminates with a baptism in the world of the Memphis Blues. Our walking in Memphis journey involved us being baptized into the world of a one-of-a-kind divine disco experience known simply as: Raiford’s. A slightly different story, to say the least.

Our friend Brian, pointed us in the direction of Raiford's a bar he heard about from a friend. Brian told me the bar had two distinctive characteristics: the statement "We Do Not Discriminate" and a rainbow. I was a little confused as to where Brian was taking us but I am always one for an adventure. We walked off of Beale St. and pretty soon we realized we were lost.

After a brief stop at a BP to pick up some beverages:

40's in hand, we continued our trek through some of Memphis' best neighborhoods and finally ended up at Raiford's.

I had never been to a place quite like this...

It also had a drum set that our buddy Nick enjoyed playing...

After a few hours, we were "Raiford-out", we headed to Denny's for some late night grub. Before eating, Nick decided to relive his old Schneithorst days and wait on a few tables again.

While we may have missed out on some of the Memphis blues scene, this will be a night we won't soon forget (at least the parts we can remember.)

Home Sweet Home

2006-06-01T23:35:00.000-05:00

Nothing beats a sunset on the roof

Sunset over Salt Lake

2006-06-01T00:41:00.000-05:00

One of the joys of working with Horizons is taking a group to Hidden Peak, elevation, 11,000 feet and watching sunset over Salt Lake. Our tram had to depart at 8:30 p.m. to go back to the lodge and sunset was not until 8:45 p.m. but I still got some pretty spectacular pictures.

Only 24 more nights in Salt Lake this year :)

Eli's Coming

2006-05-27T23:40:00.000-05:00

The following is dialogue from an episode of one of my favorite TV shows, Sports Night. If you have never seen it, go out and rent it or buy it, it is worth it! Editor's Note: Dan and Casey are the two main characters in the show, they are sports anchors.

Dan Rydell: Eli's Coming.

Casey McCall: Eli?

Dan Rydell: From the Three Dog Night song.

Casey McCall: Yes?

Dan Rydell: Eli is something bad, a darkness.

Casey McCall: "Eli's coming. Hide your heart, girl." Eli is a inveterate womanizer. I think you're getting the song wrong.

Dan Rydell: I know I'm getting the song wrong. But, when I first heard it, that's what I thought it meant. Things stick with you that way.

"Eli" came to Snowbird this weekend. In my last post, I talked about how the warm temperatures was forcing the snow to melt and create beautiful waterfalls up and down the mountain. What a difference 24 hours makes.

When I woke up this morning, you could tell that something was up, "Eli" was coming.

"Eli" provided a consistent rolling fog, highs in the low 40's and accumulation of 4 inches.

While I am not a woman and in no way do I know what goes on in a woman's brain, nor am I an "inveterate womanizer" from my experience, when women discover that they are seeing an "Eli" most find a way to get back at them, to give them a taste of their own medicine. The weather did that to "Eli" this evening providing a beautiful view of the mountain.

Where does 586 inches of snow go?

2006-05-26T15:31:00.000-05:00

Snowbird's primary function is a ski resort. This winter 586 inches of snow fell upon this resort located in the Wasatch Mountains. When I come out in May there is usually a lot of snow left on the mountain and the temperature is in the mid 50's. When I arrived in Salt Lake City, referred to as "The Valley" by those up at Snowbird on Wednesday, the temperature was a steamy 90 degrees. Up at Snowbird, elevation 8000 ft it was a little cooler but temperatures were in the mid 70's. The past few days the temperature has been consistent.

What does all this information mean? It means the snow is melting rapidly and causing rushing waterfalls down into the valley On my drive up this morning, I took some pictures. I think these photos not only show how intense the melt off is but also shows the beauty and tranquility of nature.

"So what exactly would you say you do for a living?"

2006-05-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

New Person: So what do you do for a living?

Me: I work for my fraternity.

New Person: (Chuckling) So you are the head keg tapper or something?

Me: No, I run a leadership program teaching chacracter based leadership and values.

New Person: I remember going to the fraternity houses in college they always threw the best parties.

Me: Great, what boring job do you do for a living?

This conversation happens a lot and it is difficult for me to explain to people what I do for a living. The program I work with, Horizons, quite simply teaches character and values based leadership. Each of us have values that have been instilled in us by our parents and through other experiences we have had but college aged men and women are increasingly facing situations which compromise their values and Horizons serves as an opportunity to revisit these values.

Over the next two months, I will spend 31 days in Salt Lake City. Every American dreams of having a summer home, the Lodge at Snowbird serves as that for me and it is a beautiful setting.

The past few weeks have been kind of a bummer for me, just a lot of stuff going on. When I am around people it makes things better but today I was by myself the entire day, just me and my mind, I tend to be very hard on myself and dwell on things. As life goes on we don't take enough time for ourselves. While it sucks to be down this time helps me refocus and provide direction.

Is my golf game like a night out?

2006-05-15T12:24:00.000-05:00

As I reflect on my golf game, I draw striking parallels to a night out at the bar.

When you first hit the bar you, or maybe it is just me, are too nervous to go up to women you don't know and talk to them but once you are about three beers deep, the buzz kicks in and you find yourself striking up conversation.

I will chalk hole 1 and 2 up to some "stage fright." I got out of the cart, took a few practice swings under the watchful eye of those in my group as well as the starter, who wanted to make sure we "teed off ok" and promptly hit the ball 30 yards into a ditch. I kept thinking to myself, I went up to that cute woman, stumbled through a few pick-up lines and next thing you know you are back with your friends and begin to nurse your bruised ego back to health. Another beer helps you take care of that.

I was feeling good after shooting a 5 on hole 4 and a 5 on hole 5. This is the stage of your night where you get back up and find another attractive lady. This time it goes much better, you find something in common, you both know someone, she even likes the dreadful Cubs, you buy her another beer, exchange phone numbers and think to yourself, "Wow, that went over remarkably well!" This is how I felt as I entered the back 9.

When I started hole 10 I was on beer 6. At the end of hole 10 I was finishing 7. For our group, hole 10 was the point of the night where one of your friends decides to buy a shot and 2 shots later, we all know that once he buys a shot, you have to buy him one back, you are in trouble. I had reached that point of the night.

I thought to myself, only 7 more holes to go, how bad can I shoot. I followed up the 10 on the 10th hole with a 9 on 11, an 7 on 12, a 8 on 13, and another 7 on 14, I gave myself a few mulligans on 14, so it was probably an 11 but who is counting at this point. By the time I hit hole 15, the end of the night was in sight but this is the point of the night every guy refers to as "crunch time." Editor's note: Every guy may not refer to it as crunch time but it sounds good here!

During that night at the bar, we have stumbled with the ladies from hole 10 through 15. Those shots didn't help us any. Soon you are talking with women who like to spend Saturday afternoon at the art gallery, they love the White Sox or only go to Wrigley for the summer party and when she asks for your phone number you keep giving her numbers with the area code of 630 stating that you live far away in Aurora. You start panicking, these last three holes will determine how you remember the night, you readjust your blazer and get ready for crunch time!

As you start hole 16, that buddy of yours brings you another shot, for the golf game we will call it a par 5 and again you reciprocate and now you have shot a 12 on hole 16, embarassed yourself with some nice looking and nice acting woman because you are "sloppy drunk" and have had to go to the bathroom because you are feeling ill. The low point has now hit, hole 17.

You decide to take one off to recover, your buddy brings you a water and a red bull vodka. He must have forgotten beer before liquor is what got you in this mess in the first place. He pulls you aside and tells you that you have one last hole to recover, can you find a special lady for the night?

Your gear up for hole 18, and you hit a good drive off of the tee. Things are looking good, she loves West Wing, thinks the LA Clippers are playing amazing and are just what she needs to watch pro basketball again and she and her friends are looking to make their way up the street to Tai's til 4, or 5 on the weekends. Your buddies are excited for you, they think you have a chance....

Then she introduces you to her boyfriend, you walk out of the bar with your tail tucked between your legs, head for Jack In the Box and pass out next to a taco sitting in ranch sauce watching an episode of Sports Night.

You wake up the next day wondering what happened and realizing that if you would have just kept yourself "three beers deep" you would have saved yourself a whole lot of money and embarassement.

Yup, my golf game is like a night out at the bar!

"You can find me in St.Louie"

2006-05-14T21:04:00.000-05:00

I spent four years in St. Louis in college and during my time there I developed some favorite places to eat and drink. Whenever I visit I try and make a point to indulge and visit these places.

Friday night took us to one of my favorite bars, the Tap Room home of Schlafly beers. Schlafly beers became a favorite of my friends and I during a party sophomore year where they helped sponsor a philanthropy event, we were even graced with the presence of the Schlafly's themselves. Editors Note: If anyone can figure out how to get Schlafly to start selling their beer in Chicgo let me know.

I am very lucky because I have great group of friends from college and we are all still very close. Whenever we have the opportunity to see each other it is like old times and we pick up right where we left off.

Unfortunately, the night didn't yield many pictures but there are plenty coming :)

The Wonders of Illinois

2006-05-09T16:28:00.000-05:00

St. Louis was the destination this weekend for my buddy Brendan's bachelor party. I decided to ride down with my friend Bif.

I know what you are thinking, you have a friend named Bif? Indeed I do and I have had the following conversation many times before:

Friend: "You have a friend named Bif?"

Me: "Yeah, he is a neat guy."

Friend: "Bif? Like from the Back to the Future movies. 'Hello, anybody home? Think McFly. Think.'"

Me: "Yes, except his last name is Bifro, so he shortens it to Bif."

Friend: "I love Back to the Future. Remember that time where Bif and Marty are talking and Bif says: 'Why don't you make like a tree and get out of here' and Marty says 'Make like a tree and leave Bif.'"

Me: Yes, yes, alright. How bad are the Cubs these days?

Our Bif isn't an old miser and he was not a high school bully but he is a great guy and would be a good person to spend 10 plus hours with through Illinois.

Having a positive "road trip" experience with my sister last weekend I called Bif early in the week to discuss what fun things we would do on the trip to STL.

We discovered many hotspots and planned to stop at two:

1) The Lincoln Watermelon Monument, Lincoln, IL.
2) The World's Largest Bottle of Catsup, Collinsville, IL

Illinois is the "Land of Lincoln" so there are many "Lincoln" monuments. What drew us to this destination is that it was refered to on Roadside America.com, as "the dumbest thing we've seen" and it did not disappoint.

The story behind the watermelon begins in the early 1850s when Abraham Lincoln was having a city named in his honor. Lincoln was asked to christen the town and he used the juice of a watermelon. Must not have been able to find a bottle of champagne.

On our way back to the highway we saw this sign that had apparently been erected by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.

How can any place that has a statue of a watermelon not be a great palce to live?

The next stop was the world's largest ketchup bottle in Collinsville. Doing some research early in the week I found out that there is a song about this attraction and that the bottle is actually a painted water tower.

Makes you wonder how many tomatoes would it take to make enough ketchup to fill this bottle up.

Our Illinois sightseeing completed, Bif and I jumped back in the car and a few minutes later we saw the arch and our St. Louis weekend began.

Claire bear's Day

2006-05-07T00:18:00.000-05:00

The reason for my trip to Peoria was to witness my Goddaughter and niece's first communion. Claire or Claire bear as I like to call her was very excited for her day. After breakfast and getting ready we took some pictures before heading to the church. This one below is my favorite.

After the ceremony, we headed off to lunch at the Peoria Country Club including a lovely cake to celebrate Claire bear's day.

We spent some more time visiting but alas it was time to come home. On the way home, my sister Cathy and I continued our road trip. We had a great talk about some of her past experiences growing up as a kid, her college experiences and about her kids. I really enjoyed it and I realized that the most important things in life are love and family. Even if you have no money or material possessions if you have family and you have love your are complete. While it was Claire bear's day, I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my sisters. I really am lucky to have such great siblings.

A Road Trip with Sis

2006-05-05T10:34:00.000-05:00

I have two sisters, well really they are half sisters from my dad's previous marriage but we have always considered ourselves brother and sister, eliminating the half. Unfortunately, we have never lived under the same roof. I wish I would have had the experiences of long road trips, fighting over the bathroom, shairng each other's clothes, etc. While they may have seemed annoying during the times they were occuring, I just think it would have been fun to grow up with siblings.

This week is my niece and goddaughter Claire's first communion. My sister is heading down on Friday and asked if I wanted to go, so I jumped at the opportunity to have a road trip with my sister.

My sister, Cathy, picked me up in the minivan after work and we took off. The destination is Peoria 167 miles away.

So what are the essentials to a road trip? Food? CD's? Conversation? We had them all.

Besides my sister talking on her cell phone for a while....

.... which led to some scary driving through central Illinois....

.... the trip was wonderful. I really enjoy the time I get to spend with my sisters. I learn so much from them. The road trip was a blast and we arrived in Peoria late Friday night. My other sister Michelle greeted us with some goodies and after some visitng we all hit the hay in preparation for Claire's big day tommorrow

Palm Springs, part 2

2006-04-30T12:21:00.000-05:00

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."

I have a wonderful job where I get to travel to some really neat places. The problem is, most of the time, I never make it out of the hotel room to truly experience a city.

I was in Palm Springs for a total of 55 hours. I spent 12 hours on planes getting to Palm Springs, 8 hours in airports waiting for connecting flights, 12 hours sleeping, 7 hours at dinners or receptions, 4 hours at bars unwinding from long work days and about 12 hours in meetings. It doesn't give you much time to experience anything else.

The quote above, from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, pretty much sums up my thoughts on Palm Springs. It is a beautiful place but more geared towards an older crowd. While I would call it a sleepy, "snowbird", desert community now, one day it was a hot spot for those looking for some time away for the limelight and glitz of LA.

This trip though made me realize that as I grow older, I definetly want a place to retire to during the winter that is warm. This is the view from my hotel room and while I am not much of a golfer, what a beautiful site in the morning.

Palm Springs, part 1

2006-04-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Palm Springs yesterday and it is quite lovely. Many of you know that I have an obsession with flying. Yesterday, I had a great seat on my Boeing 757 from Chicago to LA, 9A. 9A is in the exit row on a 757 and it is also where you get onto the plane. Look at this leg room I had.

In LA, I had to switch planes to a little prop jet that took me over to Palm Springs. It is so funny to be on a plane that still has propellers.

On the approach to Palm Springs I was filled with excitement having just spent a weekend in the "New Palm Springs." I had high expectations for my Palm Springs experience. On the flight in I got some great aerial shots and realized that Palm Springs is full of golf courses.

For our meeting, we are staying at the Marriott Rancho Mirage, which is a lovely resort. Many of the rooms are right on a golf course. While I am an awful golfer, I can appreciate the beauty of a golf course.

One of the main differences between Palm Springs and the "New Palm Springs" is actual palm trees.

Subscribe to my blog!!!

2006-04-25T12:43:00.000-05:00

I have found a way that you can subscribe to my blog so that if there are every updates, you will receive an e-mail and then you can click to the blog since I know you are all interested in my travels.

Here is how you do it. Go to www.feedblitz.com

It takes only a few seconds to set yourself up - and then you'll see! So grab the feed URL for your Blog and let's go!

1) Register for the service (all you give is a valid email address and a password)
2) Click the link in the email sent to the address to confirm your registration.
3) Log on!
4) Select "New Subscription" from the menu on the right.
5) Enter the URL of your feed XML: manshioweek.blogspot.com
6) Submit the form - that's it!
7) Shortly after midnight, eastern US time, you will get an email of your blog postings for the day (if any)

Feel free to pass this along

11 Hours in D.C.

2006-04-25T00:15:00.000-05:00

I departed my home at 6 a.m. to catch an 8 a.m. flight to Washington D.C. today where I would be attending a reception for work. Since hotel rates were outrageous, I decided to come in this morning, arriving at 11 a.m. eastern time and depart this evening at 10 p.m. eastern time. It was a quick trip but I wanted to know how much could you see in DC in a short time.

Our reception started at 5:30 so I figured, I had about 4 hours, 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. I wanted to make sure I was at the reception early to do my job.

My flight arrived on time at Reagan National Airport. This is probably one of my favorite airports and I make sure to have a window seat when flying in here. From the runway you can see the Washington Monument and the capital building.

I jumped on the blue metro line at Reagan and headed for the Pentagon. I got a couple of quick shots but they don’t do the building justice. It is hard to capture the essence of this enormous 5 sided structure from ground level.

Next it was off to the yellow line to the Smithsonian area. Here I was able to get up-close shots of the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, the World War II Memorial, a far off shot of the Jefferson Memorial and 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (pictured below in order).

It was getting to be about lunch time, so I headed off to Chinatown hoping to pick up something unique.

I ended up at Five Brothers which is a burger joint, which has been featured many times prominently for its cheap eats and good value. A heart-stopping cheeseburger, fries and root beer later, I figured it was time to head to work.

I arrived at DuPont circle about 2 hours early. It was such a beautiful day, so I sat by the fountain for a couple of hours and was just quiet and contemplative. It is the middle of a very busy and trying week it was nice to sit, be quiet and think.

I finally arrived back home at midnight. There is a busy day in the office tomorrow before flying to the Old Palm Springs, Palm Springs on Wednesday morning.

What makes Omaha the "New Palm Springs?"

2006-04-22T22:29:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to explore the “New Palm Springs.” I have been to Omaha many times before but during this trip I decided to look at it not as Omaha but as the “New Palm Springs” I noticed I had a different perspective.

So my friend Nick Dietz and I set out to explore the “New Palm Springs” and what a wonderful experience it was, I hope I can do it justice here.

Brendan, Mary, Meghann, Nick and I set out for breakfast at a hot spot, Wheatfield’s. Look at this cinnamon roll, an indication of the type and quality of food served in the “New Palm Springs.”

After a brief hiatus to take Brendan and Mary to the airport and allow Meghann the opportunity to study Nick and I drove around. Here are a few of the sites we observed.

Tricycles and pick-up trucks are a staple of the “New Palm Springs.”

We saw a picture yesterday of Nick and Brendan emulating the look of the new Palm Springs but fashion also reins supreme, look closely at those blue pants.

The highlight of my day was a trip to Rosenblatt Staidum home of the College World Series for a triple A baseball game. It was a boring game so I made friends with the mascots and took some pictures with them.

What a day, in my humble opinion, the "New Palm Springs" lives up to its billing. I am excited to go to the "Old Palm Springs", Palm Springs, later this week. Off to DC tomorrow but first I leave you with one last picture that I think sums up the "New Palm Springs."

"An Evening in the New Palm Springs"

2006-04-21T16:45:00.000-05:00

Today, after a very rough morning, I arrived in Omaha, Nebraska, dubbed by my good pal Jon Ramsey as the "New Palm Springs." I met my friends Brendan McKelvey and Mary Feise (soon to be McKelvey) and the Dietz's, Nick and Meghann for some lunch and cocktails while enjoying a beautiful afternoon in Omaha.

The highlight of our evening was the wedding of our friends, Scott Lauer and Katie Kalhorn. After a lovely ceremony, we all attended the reception. At the reception, this man, Russell, introduced me to one of the staple cocktails of the "New Palm Springs", vodka/Squirts.

Squirt, is a lemon lime drink popularized in the late 80s early 90s. It is a staple at all the hip lounges and countRy clubs in Omaha for its ability to refresh the palate without being overly tart.

At the reception, held at the "New Palm Springs" Botanical Gardens, many of the attendees looked like my friend Nick "Mav" Dietz. "Mav" orignially from Cincinnati but now a two year resident of the "New Palm Springs" has found a new image.

Mav is the "New Palm Springs." Characterized by those big glasses, moppy hair and a general look of disbelief residents of the new Palm Springs are concerned with their image, making sure to only attend hip lounges off of Dodge St and the Cornhuskers. After seeing many of these residents during the wedding, my friend Brendan McKelvey decided to go for the same look, he will be bringing it back to St. Louis

After the reception was over we stopped at one of the "New Palm Springs" hotspots, King Kong. If you look closely, you can see neon palm trees in the windows.

It was a great night and I am looking forward to frolicking around the "New Palm Springs" on Saturday.

All Good Things Must Come to an End....

2006-04-04T12:50:00.000-05:00

My trip to Japan is over and I am both happy and sad. I am happy to be back in "the States" where I can read a menu, see trash on the ground constantly and find paper towels in the bathroom but most importantly I am happy to be back where my friends are. I am sad because I don't have the sense of adventure each day that my Japan experience provided me.

A lot of people have asked me about my trip. After reflecting on it for a while the most important thing this trip taught me was to experience the experience.

My first year out of college, I traveled the US and spent many days in cities that I would have never explored had it not been for my job. There were cities and places I loved and there were places I hate and hope never to go back to again but without venturing out and experiencing it I would have missed out on many experiences that have made me the person I am today.

While my Eyewitness Japan guide helped, the experiences that made my trip were those not found in the travel guide. 48 straight hours awake exploring the real Tokyo, dinner in a random alley restaurant in Osaka that was one of the best meals I have ever eaten and an early morning trip to Osaka Castle to take pictures of the beautiful plum bossoms at sunrise.

There were some comments encourgaing me to keep up the blog. While I love Chicago and have some random adventures that I am sure you would all enjoy reading, I have chosen to update the blog on my travels. Check in each month and see where work and personal travel takes Manshio.

April provides trips to Omaha (the new Palm Springs) (April 21-23), D.C. (April 24) and the old Palm Springs, Palm Springs (April 26-28).

I want to thank each and everyone of you whoc viewed my blog and kept up with my travels. Your comments kept me going eager to seek out new adventures.

I leave you with one of my favorite pictures of Tokyo. In my opinion, truly a world class city!

C'mon ride the train, it's a choo, choo train

2006-03-29T12:25:00.000-06:00

What is a subway like in Japan? How about the bullet train?

Japan is know for its "subway pushers" who push people into the subway train during the rush hour to fit the maximum amount of people into a train car. They are also known for their bullet trains that can travel in excess of 100 mph from station to station cutting travel times down. Knowing this, did you ever wonder what one is like?

Below is a picture of the bullet train flying by us in Nagoya as we awaited our train to Tokyo.

This is a close up view of the train.

These trains are incredible. When you are standing on the platform, they whiz by and almost push you aside by their force.

These are some pictures of the Japanese countryside as we passed on the bullet train.

This is the inside of the bullet train.

How about the Japanese subway? While I am an expert on the "el", the Tokyo subway was something new for me. The train is configured for standing, with the seats on the side of the train and many triangles to hold while you stand.

Another interesting part of the subway is finding your way on the train, with most things in Japanese, how do you figure out where you are going? This handy map is posted above each of the doors of the train. You will notice the green arrow which points in the direction you are travelling. There is a light above each of the stops that indicates which stop is next. It is very convenient for those of us who don't speak the language.

Finally, I thought I would end by giving a "shout out" to my friend Allison who is part of the now infamous 48 straight hours awake in Tokyo. This picture was taken in the middle of the day on Saturday, after some shopping! Those two days were quite possibly my favorite of the trip!

Japanese Idiosyncrasies

2006-03-28T16:13:00.000-06:00

Idiosyncracy - A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group

After having a few days to reflect on my experience I found that there were a few idiosyncracies that I would enjoy sharing with you all on my experience in Japan.

1) No trash but where are the trash cans?

In Japan, everything is very clean yet there are not any trash cans. This seems kind of funny for a society that has vending machines on every corner and where people are constantly smoking and on the go. It was not uncommon for us to walk with our trash for blocks or even a mile before seeing one of these sacred objects below:

2) Don't bring your germs near me.

It seems like this entire post is going to be about the health of the Japanese. These were another two common sights in Japan, hand dryers and the surgical mask:

After a few days, my classmates and I decided that these masks not only prevented the spread of diseases but were fashinonable as well and picked some up.

3. A Japanese work ethic and party ethic.

We all know that the Japanese are known for their dedicated work ethic. Anyone who knew me as a college student knows that I mirrored that in my daily life. It is not uncommon for many Japanese to work 13 hour days and then jump on the subway for 2 hours to get home, this is after their 2 hour morning commute. Many people do this, except this guy. We found our friend here passing out on a Saturday night clearly intoxicated, dressed in a suit with his briefcase on the ground. He probably fell asleep there and when he woke a few short hours later, headed to the office. It may be funny but when you think about it, it is very sad.

I still have more fun stuff to post...stay tuned!

70 Hours in Japan Part 2.

2006-03-27T00:11:00.000-06:00

I returned to Chicago today and am currently blogging from my couch. It was a remarkable trip but I still have a few posts about my Japan experience so please check in with the blog.

When we last left the tales of our hero Manshio he had just been up for 24 straight hours in Tokyo. On Saturday he and several friends headed to several Tokyo districts including Akihabara which is the electronics district. Here I found 12 batteries for $4, I also got a free flashlight, what a deal!

Our next stop was Ginza the heart of the upscale Tokyo shopping district. Look at this beer advertisement, huge, man, huge!

The shopping continued but a few of us decided to break off and head to the Meiji Shrine which is the most important shrine in Tokyo. Named for the first modern emperor of Japan, he ruled from 1868 to 1912 .

We made a stop by the stadium used for the 1964 summer olympics in Tokyo:

For the last night the group decided to go out in Shinjuku. If you remember in a previous post, I called Tokyo Manhatan on steroids. This is an example of what I mean, look at all the lights and the hustle and bustle of the city. This is around 11 p.m. and is going on in multiple districts in Tokyo.

This is a picture of the Tokyo Tower, modeled after the Eiffel tower in Paris, this is a view on Saturday night after a long night out.

There is still more to come, so check back in...

70 Hours in Tokyo

2006-03-24T18:43:00.000-06:00

We arrived in Tokyo at 7 p.m. on Thursday night. In my opinion, Tokyo is like Manhattan on steroids. The lights are bright, the buildings are big and the city is full of life and amazing. Everywhere you go, even at 5 in the morning there are Japanese businessmen roaming around the town in suits. I wonder if they ever go home.

Today we started the day with a few meetings: Hitachi, Ministry of Economy and Trade and Fujitsu. After the meeting, I took a few pictures of cherry blossoms from across the government building.

After the cherry blossoms, we had a reception with the government folks which was a blast.

Afterwards, we hit up a karaoke bar. Karaoke is different in Japan where you rent a room and sing only for the people you are with. After a few rounds of Def Leopard and in honor of my good friend Brendan McKelvey, Jumping Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones that part of the evening came to an end.

I did find a great song for my roommate Brad Nihls and my good friends Steve Davidson and Sarah Nelson by Rachel Yamagata. While I didn’t sing the song, I did take a picture of it to prove that Rachel made the karaoke list.

After karaoke, we headed to the Rapongi district. Rapongi is an area where there are many bars and clubs. For all of you Chicagoans, think Viagra triangle.

After a few hours and as the morning approached we decided to hit up Tsukiji Fish Market. The fish market is open from 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. and is the center of fish sales for various restaurants throughout Tokyo. It was truly a unique experience and I have attached some pictures below. The folks I was with, Allison and Nancy have decided that with only 70 hours in Tokyo we need to make the most of it so we have decided that we can catch up on sleep on the flight home. We are now on hour 28 awake and I hope to provide you with some more pictures and updates from my Tokyo adventure tomorrow.

Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car

2006-03-23T16:29:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, we left Osaka and headed for Nagoya to visit a few companies including Toyota. If you remember and really how could you forget, I had a sweet 1990 Honda Civic Hatchback in college. (Editor's Note: I would try and find a picture to post but I am working on the hotel's computer in the business center and while the keyboard is in English, the characters on the internet screen I am working on are all in Japanese which makes searching for anything a little difficult.)

At the Toyota plant I was searching to find a new car to replace the hacthback and found this car. I figured that now that I am a little older I needed a bigger car but it needed to remain fuel efficient and I think this car fits the bill:

After the Toyota visit, we took the bullet train to Tokyo which was quite an experience. I have some pictures below:

Upon arrival in Tokyo, our taxi drove us by the Tokyo Tower which is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris:

This morning we woke up to discover beautiful Japanese gardens below our hotel room:

Finally between Osaka and Nagoya we stopped by a traditional Japanese oasis. I saw this picture and immeadiately thought of my friend the Corn Dog conniseur Brian Parsons:

Today's trip includes visits to Hatachi, the government and Fujitsu and hopefully some sightseeing inbetween.

My New Family

2006-03-22T08:09:00.000-06:00

I know there was a pool to figure out how long it would take Manshio to find a girl, get married and settle in Japan. I suspect Brian Parsons had the 92 hour point, he is a lucky guy and I am here to inform everyone that he won the pool. (Editor's Note: Brian started the pool to make up for his losses last week in Vegas during the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament.)

My new wife is pictured below. In such a short time span, I have adopted her daughter as well. Mom, I apologize for not calling home.

The pictures above are actually of robots that we saw this afternoon at Osaka University. The look real, they feel real and they move like real humans. (Editor's note: I am really not married nor do I have an adopted child)

Today was a day of company visits. The first was at a pharmecutical company, Takeda, which was a plant tool and an unbelievable experience.

For the second part of the day we went to Osaka University and were given the opportunity to see some "research and development" on robots. You cannot believe how far the advances on robotic technology have come. They are able to kick a soccer ball, follow the movement of objects with their eyes and run on a treadmill. These things were amazing and in ten years they will be running around our homes.

Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., we are headed to Nagoya, central Japan to visit a couple of companies including Toyota. We will take a bus 3 hours from Osaka, including a stop at a Japanese "oasis" and then after the visits, the bullet train to Tokyo.

I may not have a post tomorrow, for us in the east it is Thursday, with all the travel so look for a post on Friday which is Thursday night back home.

I thought I would leave you with my new favorite newspaper headline:

Don't ever doubt Team Japan!!!

SUMO, SUMO, SUMO

2006-03-21T15:58:00.000-06:00

First off, I have a post about Kyoto which is where we spent our day on Monday I would encourage you to read it and view one of my favorite pictures of me. It is after "The Japanese toilet" post.

Second, Japan won the World Baseball Classic. While it is on the front page of the paper we got there hasn't been much fanfare about it in the streets or outside. Maybe it just depends on where you are at.

Today’s activity for the day was a SUMO match. We had the morning free and so a group of us decided to visit Osaka Castle. This castle is able to be viewed from our hotel room. My roommate Greg, arranged for a group of us to have a tour of the outside grounds and we were fortunate to see the plum trees that were in bloom which was really neat.

Osaka Castle was rebuilt in 1931 and is basically a museum which provides spectacular daytime views of Osaka.

The afternoon was dedicated to sumo. Sumo doesn’t happen all the time this is a special time of year where a sumo tournament is held in Osaka.

We were able to watch several matches and I have posted some pictures below. One of my favorite parts of the match was the advertisements. People would walk around the ring holding banners that represented an advertisement for a product. While I was unable to read them, I thought to myself you are always going to find sponsorship somewhere!

Tomorrow we have several meetings with companies which will be interesting to see how Japanese business works!

The Japanese Toilet

2006-03-20T05:02:00.000-06:00

In the past 36 hours of being in Japan I have had many encounters with Japanese toilets which are far different from those we find in America. The first of which is the toilet in our hotel room. Not only does this toilet have a seat warmer but a bidet and a spray. The spray is a little more powerful than the bidet. I will let your minds wander here a little bit.

On our trip to Kyoto today as we were driving down the street we saw public restrooms. Unfortunately, this could never happen in the United States but it is an unbeliveable idea and I think it is fascinating that they have these in Japan.

The final difference that I have noticed for now is the "eastern" style of toilet that they have in some restuarnats. This is one of the most extreme differences that I have noticed between east and west. I find that these differences are very unique and provide insight into a differenct culture. While they may take a little getting used to they are as foreign to us as tipping is to the Japanese.

Kyoto

2006-03-20T04:52:00.000-06:00

On Monday we spent the entire day in Kyoto. Kyoto was the capital of Japan until the mid 1850s. It houses over 1500 temples. We visited 4 sites Nijo Castle, Kinkaku-ji: the Golden Pavilion, Sanjusangen-do Temple, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, as well as did some shopping. One of the highlights of my day was getting my picture taking with a couple of geisha's outside of Kiyomizu-dera temple.

Nijo Castle is best known for one of the most ornate interniors and the so-called nightingale floors that creak to alert those in the temple when intruders are present. Pictures nor shoes were not allowed in the temple but here is my favorite outside shots.

At the temple, some of Japan's famous cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom. Here is a picture:

Our next stop was the Kinkaku-ji: the Golden Pavilion. The Golden Pavilion was built in the late 1300s. The temple was originally a retirement villa. It was destroyed by arson from a monk who was tired of studying. He burned the pavilion down and tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the neck and in the stomach at the same time. He was unsuccessful. The pavilion was destroyed, his mother carried the burden of his deed and killed herself. The head monk carried the burden of this unfortunate incident and had to go around Japan and apologize and raise money to rebuild the temple.

Our third stop was Sanjusangen-do Temple and it dates to 1164. This temple features 1,001 nearly identical Kannon (goddess of mercy) images.

The temple provided a beautiful aerial shots of Kyoto.

After our two hour bus ride back to Osaka we hit up one of the two downtowns, Kita-ku, the northern ward to see the Floating Garden Observatory which provides views from 576 ft above ground of Osaka.

It was a full day of history and Japanese culture!

The First Night

2006-03-19T15:46:00.000-06:00

When we arrived at the New Otani Hotel we checked into our rooms and our fist challenge was how to turn on the light in the room because there are no light switches. Greg, my roommate and I struggled for several minutes before we figured out that we had to put the key on this panel. If you take the key off of the panel, within 10 seconds the lights go off and the electrical outlets refuse to work.

Outside of our window is Osaka Castle. This castle dates to 1586. We plan to explore it on Tuesday morning.

We set out to get some dinner. Our hotel is located in the business direct so many things were closed. We did find a traditional Japanese vending machine which serves not only cold soda but hot coffee... in a can!

We finally found a restaurant that was open. While they were leading us to our table, they had us take off our shoes and place them in a cubby holder. As we all know Japanese people are a little shorter and you can usually fit two pairs of shoes into one holder. Since I wear a size 13 shoes, I had a little trouble with that.

The meal was great but after a grueling day, we hit the hay early and by 10 p.m., we were asleep ready for a big day on Monday in Kyoto!

The Journey

2006-03-18T07:58:00.000-06:00

They say that half the fun is getting there. This phrase, I am sure, was dubbed on many long car rides across the United States. My "fun" is a 14 hour and 8 minute direct flight from Chicago O'Hare to Osaka. What does one do for 14 hours and 8 minutes?

Books? 6 of them, Check.

Magazines? 1 of them, check.

iPod including hit song It's All About the Money but 2 Many Stylez? Check.

Sudoku books? 2 of them, check

I stayed up most of Friday night in the hopes of sleeping on the plane but soon realized that we were flying west and due to arrive at 5:15 p.m. in Japan. As you fly west, it never gets dark out because as you keep flying it starts to be the beginning of the next day past the international date line. Most everyone pulled down their shades in the cabin but I was too wired to sleep anyway.

I tried to watch the move Prime with Uma Thurman about three times but as we reached certain milestones, like crossing the international date line and the bering strait, I had to go to a window to see them.

We finally landed, earlier at Kansai International Airport in Osaka. The airport is built on an island about 2 miles long and is apparently sinking. There is some sort of "fluid" pumped to push the island up. Just the thing you want to hear about the airpory you are landing at after 14 hours in the air. The landing was smooth. I changed my dollars to yen and on the way to the hotel we saw a beautiful Japanese sunset.

History

2006-02-28T08:28:00.000-06:00

I won't be able to do the history of Manshio Days justice but from my recollection it all began in August of 2001. Donnie Lou (D.L.) Dwyer came up with the concept for Manshio Days and e-mailed it out to the entire Gamma Phi Beta chapter. I found out about it second hand and hoped that this was just another one of D.L.'s crazy ideas that would never happen. The plan was for a fight night at the fraternity house and a celebration of me, Manshio. First came the date of the event, then the annoucning of various fights to take place and when D.L. got "2 Many Styles" to commit featuring their hit single "It's All About the Money Now" I knew that this idea was going to happen. The night was a memorable one and with the exception of one of my roommates, Jeff Shafer, dislocating his shoulder, was perfect. Soon talk arose in chapter that Monday of Manshio Days 2, "The Sequel."

There have been many tales of "The Days" and there was even a video produced, I have a copy with some special features on it, but since I moved to Chicago talk of a sequel has fizzled. Until this year.

As an MBA student at DePaul University I was given the opportunity for a one-week study abroad to Japan which will occur March 18-26. While in Tokyo, I will be celebrating the 4 year anniversary of Manshio Days and trading in Manshio Yen for real Yen.

I wanted to post a blog so that people could see pictures and read happenings of my trip to Japan. This morning, I ran the idea past Chris "Louie" Richie, a co-worker and famed Manshio Days guru and historian and he stated that since I was going for a week, I should name the blog: Manshio week. (Editor's Note: Richie is currently working to produce Manshio Days: The E! True Hollywood Story)

So the blog has become reality and while I don't think it will be to funny, thanks Bif for always reminding me of my feeble attempts at humor, I hope it is informative and shows you all a little bit of my culture and heritage.

Keep checking back for pre-trip postings and additions to the famed Manshio Days 1 story.