ALL 50 STATES!

CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA -- Well, I have done it. As of April 3, 2012 at 5:39pm Eastern Time, I have been to all 50 United States. Much like my recent foray making it to all seven continents by visiting Antarctica, I have had an abundance of time that has only produced more thoughts, without a whole lot of clarity.

What I have realized is that I could not have achieved either of those goals without the help of many people. For the continents, who is to say I would have gotten to Asia so soon without the help of Greg Steinberger and Diklah Cohen, at the UW Hillel Foundation? Or that I would have had the tenacity to go to Cairo and Alexandria by myself, if it wasn’t for my LSE classmate Eric Harrsch? South America without Jason Harris? Europe without my parents, People to People Student Ambassador Programs, and a teacher unbeknownst to me? Antarctica without Melissa Ardales to inspire me?

For the 50 states, the list is even longer. Countless road trips over the years, while often at my insistence, would still not have happened if not for many friends wanting or at least agreeing to come along. John Engelhart, who was with me in New England – Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. My brother Justin, who covered Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and then later flew up to North Dakota with me. Poppy Davis, who braved a cold and the cold to get over to Montana from Idaho. David Levinson, who was agreeable when I told him that he didn’t have a choice but to accompany me down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras in 2009 – we hit Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi en route to Louisiana. SB, for getting me up to Alaska. And most recently, Mary Grace, who joined me on this final road trip to my last four states.

This trip has been in the making for a long time. Ever since I realized I had an actual ability to pull this off, I have been systematically targeting outlying states. I did Alaska in October 2010, Montana in December 2010, Oregon in July 2011, and North Dakota in September 2011. With that, I reduced my missing states to four, but all in one geographic region: Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. All doable in one relatively short trip. The only question – when to go? Well, as the title of this blog suggests, the goal for the past few years has been to do it before my 25^th birthday, which is in just over two weeks. As it turned out, last Thursday I got word from my boss that he would be taking part of this past Monday, as well as yesterday and today off. There it was – my window. I jumped on flights and tried to figure it out.

After an extremely productive day in San Francisco this past Friday, I had a fun People to People meeting in Claremont Saturday afternoon. From there I headed straight for LAX, and hopped on a crazy three leg/two layover “red-eye.” I flew LAX-LAS, LAS-ORD, and finally ORD-ATL, getting into Atlanta, GA at 10:45am Sunday. Having already been to Georgia years ago, the immediate goal was to get out to Alabama. Lucky for me, Mary Grace, who I met in Argentina and Antarctica in December, lives in Atlanta and was so kind as to host me for a few days. She picked me up at ATL, and we drove over to the Alabama border for a photo stop at my 47^th state! 

April 1, 2012 - Welcome to Alabama! State 47!

However, as has been documented in this blog, a photo stop does not count – something substantial or at least significant needs to be visited or done. As such, we ventured to Cheaha Mountain, the tallest mountain in the state of Alabama at 2,407 feet above sea level. We drove to the top, and then climbed up Bunker Tower at the summit. From there we could see as far as the horizon 25+ miles away. The immediate area surrounding Cheaha State Park is preserved by way of Talladega National Forest – the view from the summit is nothing but rolling hills and a variety of species of trees. A gorgeous day – 80s and sunshine – only complemented the view.

April 1, 2012 - Perfect day at Cheaha Mountain, Alabama.

After a nice lunch overlooking the valley, we turned around and headed back to Atlanta. A couple of hours later we made it to The Varsity, an Atlanta famous establishment that is the Atlanta equivalent of a Chicago Superdawg. A burger place, you park and the servers come to your car window, just like the Chicago comparison. Having just had lunch in Alabama, we opted for the “F.O. – Frozen Orange” dessert, which was very refreshing (and full of sugar) on a warm spring day. Sunday night was Antarctica night at Mary Grace’s house. She invited a bunch of friends over for dinner, and afterwards we watched an Antarctica slideshow she put together, as well as my Antarctica videos and my photos as well. Overall it was a fun night and I think it was rather educational for her friends too. J

Monday morning we went for a 4.5 mile run around the neighborhood, which was very much needed. With the hills and the heat, it was a nice break from the flat trails I run in and around Burbank. After cleaning up, we headed into downtown Atlanta, where we walked through Centennial OlympicPark. Built for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games that were held in Atlanta, the park is the cornerstone of downtown Atlanta, on which many cultural attractions rest. We opted to visit the CNN Center, where we did a behind-the-scenes tour. The tour was rather generic, but as an avid viewer of CNN, I found it to be very interesting. We saw the control room, the enormous CNN newsroom, and then the live sets of CNN and HLN. It was pretty cool seeing Suzanne Malveaux broadcasting live, about 25 feet in front of me, and watching the live feed of the broadcast off to the side at the same time. The studio is massive, and as it is the most recently remodeled of CNN’s studios, it hosts all of the special election coverage. For the primary elections, CNN flies Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, and the rest of the New York and Washington D.C.-based crew into Atlanta to film the special events. Seeing how massive the studio is, it makes a lot of sense. Overall, in addition to CNN and HLN, the Atlanta center also broadcasts CNN International, CNN Espanol, and CNN Radio. Random fact: it is also home to the largest free-standing escalator in the world!

April 2, 2012 - Standing in front of the largest free-standing escalator in the world. CNN Center, Atlanta, GA.

April 2, 2012 - Famous fountains at Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, GA.

Another walk across the famous fountains in Centennial Park, and we were on the road again – next stop South Carolina, my 48^th state! We took another photo at the border, and then headed into Greenville, where Mary Grace did her undergrad. A native South Carolinian, she showed me around downtown and introduced me to a couple of friends living in the area. We had a fun night at a local restaurant/microbrewery and then at a sports bar, where we caught part of the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship game, which Kentucky ultimately won.

April 2, 2012 - Welcome to South Carolina! State 48!

Yesterday morning it was time to say goodbye to Mary Grace. I thanked her for all her help and lovely hosting, and then switched into my rental car at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. Another 45 minutes later, I crossed the border into North Carolina, my 49^th state! After the obligatory mini-tripod timed self portrait off the hood of the car photo, I continued into Asheville, NC. Referred to lovingly by all who have ever been there, it was not hard to see why once I got into town. Asheville is the largest city in western North Carolina, and it is completely surrounded by mountains. An artist colony with a strong hippie vibe, it reminded me of Sedona, AZ, and is nicknamed the San Francisco of the east. As it turned out, one of Mary Grace’s friends I met in Greenville the night before is from Asheville, and he highly recommended a restaurant to visit as soon as I got into town. Thus, as soon as I parked the car I booked it for the Tupelo HoneyCafé on College Street, helped myself to a spot at the kitchen bar, and then proceeded to enjoy the best combination tomato soup and grilled cheese I have ever encountered. A fleshy vegetable broth with some kick enhanced the flavor, and the meal came with a biscuit with homemade jelly and honey. Simply phenomenal, and phenomenally simple.

April 3, 2012 - Welcome to North Carolina! State 49!

April 3, 2012 - Beautiful downtown Asheville, NC. 

April 3, 2012 - Life is good at the Tupelo Honey Cafe, Asheville, NC.

After lunch I walked around downtown for a little while, took some photos, and then decided that my last 30 mins would be best spent taking a few pictures at the grounds of the Biltmore Estate. I took the 10 min drive over to the estate, where to my disappointment I found out that tickets were required just to enter the grounds. At the same time, I noticed some rapidly approaching ominous clouds, and found out that a severe thunderstorm warning was declared for Asheville. I took a couple quick photos at the gate and then booked it out of town. Unfortunately I still got clipped by the storm, which came in fast and furious, but had blue skies ahead of me and after about 20 mins of slow travel due to torrential downpours I cleared the storm for good. Not shortly thereafter I crossed the Blue Mountains I-26 gap into Tennessee.

April 3, 2012 - Welcome to Tennessee!

April 3, 2012 - TN scenic overlook.

April 3, 2012 - Welcome to Virginia! 

Having been to TN a couple of times before (as mentioned above), I did a flyby welcome sign photo, took a couple pictures at a scenic overlook, and generally just made my way through the state. After an hour or so I crossed into Virginia, another state I have visited many times. As I entered the state I hit another round of powerful thunderstorms, and intentionally slowed my pace to try and let them cross the highway ahead of me. I ended up lucking out – I got caught in some heavy rain, but the lightning and hail all passed over the interstate ahead of me by a small margin. A little while later, I made one final turn north, and shortly thereafter entered the East RiverMountain Tunnel. When I got out, the first thing I saw was the welcome sign to West Virgina.

I put on my emergency lights, pulled the car onto the shoulder of the interstate, noted the time, and took a deep breath. 5:39pm. April 3, 2012. All 50 states.

April 3, 2012 - At 5:39pm Eastern Time, I made it to West Virginia, my 50th and final state.

I took a quick picture at the welcome sign holding up a sign I made with a big ‘50’ on it, and you can tell that the smile was about as natural as they come. Setting difficult goals, working your ass off for years, and finding a way to somehow accomplish them is powerful stuff. It produces a great feeling of real happiness, and causes great reflection too. I know a few people who have been to all 50 states. I know even fewer who have been to all seven continents. Most of them are in their 60’s… or 70’s… or 80’s… and of those who are young, most of their parents took them on annual cross-country road trips when they were children. But to do both, intentionally, without being forced into any of it, and without a penny being bankrolled for me, all at the age of 24? Ass-kicking pride, genuine accomplishment, and an enormous gratitude and thanks for all of those who have supported me in making this possible.

To conclude the trip, I drove another hour and a half into Charleston, WV, where I treated myself to a lovely Italian dinner. This morning I returned my rental car and ventured to the state capitol complex, where I found the West Virginia liberty bell replica (each state has one – I have been known to collect photos of these too), took some photos inside the rotunda, and then walked over to the Governor’s Mansion. A three mile walk back along the Kanawha River into downtown, and my trip was complete. I headed to Charleston’s Yeager Airport (CRW), and headed back to California by way of Chicago.

April 4, 2012 - West Virginia State Capitol, Charleston, WV.

All 50 states and all 7 continents, before age 25: check!

Umami, Hash, and more...

LONG BEACH, CA -- It has been an insanely busy and productive couple of weeks since I returned to California from the Wisconsin wedding. From a work standpoint, there hasn't been a single day since I got back that hasn't been 100% productive to the absolute limit, including weekends for that matter. That said, we have been getting a lot of important things done, and sometimes you get into a groove! For the most part I've been in the LA area, although last weekend I spent a night down in Laguna Beach cranking out a ridiculous quantity of production. It feels good to be productive!

March 11, 2012 - Gorgeous view makes working alright on a Sunday in Laguna Beach, CA.

In non-work related news, however, there have been a couple of other interesting developments in the past couple of weeks. First, UmamiCatessen opened up in downtown Los Angeles. UmamiCatessen is a spin off the traditional Umami Burger, featured to some extent in this blog and much more heavily on my facebook and foursquare profiles. UmamiCatessen is a huge (6,000+ sq. ft.) restaurant at 9th and Broadway in Los Angeles, nearly the size of three or four Umami Burger restaurants combined. The reason for this? Well, UmamiCatessen is five restaurants in one! In addition to the newest, eighth Umami Burger location, the Catessen is also home to The Cure (Kosher), Pigg (NOT Kosher), Spring for Coffee (coffee/drinks bar), and & a Donut (a dessert bar).

UmamiCatessen's soft opening was on March 3, the same day as the Wisconsin wedding. However, no doubt I made my visit the first day I was back, the night of the 5th. Needing another trip, I did round two on the 10th. Having now been twice, I have a few observations. 1) Having sampled at least one item from all five restaurants, I can confirm that the other four are very good restaurants, and it is worth trying them. 2) That said, they are simply not as mind-blowing and earth-shattering as a Hatch Burger from Umami. In other words, it is more or less what I expected, but in a good way. I will say that I really enjoyed the ambiance in a larger space and semi-industrial, semi-postmodern feel. There was a wait the entire time, but never for more than 30 mins given the large number of tables. Despite that, the restaurant was always full, even at non-peak hours and during the week. Overall, I'd give UmamiCatessen a solid 4/5, but that Hatch Burger alone is still the best burger on this planet.

March 10, 2012 - The Hatch Burger - it is simply the best. UmamiCatessen, Los Angeles, CA.

 The other news of the past few weeks comes with respect to the Long Beach H3. Hashing, if it has not been properly explained thus far, is running and drinking... yes, together. Collectively known as a drinking club with a running problem, hashers meet up once a week in a predetermined location, and for $5 you get a few hours of running and drinking to places and in quantities that are undetermined prior to the start. From the running standpoint, we really have no idea where we are going. The runs are generally between 3.0 and 7.0 miles in total distance, although there are "beer checks" every 1.0-1.5 miles, where you can find beer, water, and sometimes other beverages too. The checks help to slow down the pack, and it breaks up the distance nicely so that almost anybody can run. In fact, there are usually 10-15 walkers to complement the 60-70 runners as well. Eventually we make it to the "on in," or the end of the run, where there are snacks, more drinks, and a fun party atmosphere. After songs and "down down's," we head to the "on after," usually a restaurant or bar somewhere nearby. That, in a nutshell, is hashing.

As a training and distance runner for over a year and a half now, as has been documented well in this blog, I first heard about hashing in late summer and early fall of 2011. Finally on January 8th I actually woke up early enough on a Sunday to get myself down to Long Beach, where I experienced my first hash run. Ever since I have been hooked, and have made it a point to do whatever possible to make it to hash - so much so that I even flew back from my San Francisco trip a month ago in order to make it in time for hash in the morning.

What is recently new is that the past two weeks, hash runs have switched from Sunday mornings to Thursday nights. As such I have been heading down to Long Beach in the early afternoon to beat traffic, have been working from a boba tea spot near CSLB, and then making my way to the hash around the start time. So far it has worked out great! Yesterday was Chasen's (who introduced me to hash) birthday run, and his 25th hash overall. For me it was my eighth, and I am hoping for a name sometime soon!

March 15, 2012 - Hashing in Signal Hill, CA - about to start!

Well folks, that is about it as far as updates go on my end. The travel circuit is going to be picking up and in a hurry soon, and I am very much looking forward to that, but I will post updates when I actually have them set. Until then, GO BADGERS in this March Madness insanity, GO HAWKS in the push for the playoffs, and have a nice weekend everybody!

Wisconsin Wedding!

MILWAUKEE, WI -- Ahhh, how nice to be back in the good ole state of Wisconsin! For all the time I have spent there, it had been nearly a year and a half since I was last in Wisconsin, and even longer since I had spent any time in Milwaukee. My timing was perfect - I timed a pickup at MKE driving from Chicago to the minute, and made it to the hotel with no issues. Then, about three minutes later, it started snowing. Sure, it snowed in Antarctica, and we were surrounded by snow there, but this was the first real snow I've been in for more than a year.

March 2, 2012 - Got to the hotel and about an hour later everything was covered in snow!

It was gorgeous watching from the hotel. Later, at night, I drove over to the church to meet up with everyone en route to the Friday night dinner, and what is normally a four minute drive took about 20 in the snow. Luckily it stopped snowing shortly thereafter, and in total dropped about 6-7 inches, which is a solid snow but not a blizzard or anything that would have impacted the wedding logistics - lucky timing and just the right amount!

Interestingly, this was my first "real" wedding I have attended of my friends and peers. Turned out I was not alone - the same was true for many of us. As such it was an interesting first experience, given all the weddings you see in popular and religious culture. Mike, the groom, was my roommate in Madison for three years. He and his wife, Beth Ann, have been together for around eight years now, and as such she practically lived with us in Madison as well. In addition to the wedding itself, this was the first time that all of us former roommates at UW got together since graduating over three years ago now, so it was a great mini-reunion of sorts with everyone flying in from out of town too. 

Overall it was great to see everybody after so long, and as is often the case with close friends, we picked up right where we left off and had a blast. The dinner before the big day was nice - it was at an Italian restaurant that eight years prior served as the location for Mike and Beth Ann's first date. The wedding day was nice weather - the light reflected off the snow which made for some good outdoor photos. The church was completely full, the service was short and sweet, and everybody in the wedding party did a good job escorting, holding rings, and walking backwards in formation. 

March 3, 2012 - Just married! Walking down the aisle as husband and wife.

After the wedding service we made our way back to our hotel, which was the location of the reception. The party started around 5pm and went into the early morning hours. A few highlights...

Wedding party takes their seats.

Cutting the cake!

First dance.

Last but certainly not least, some six or more hours later, after a night of fun and endless dancing...

Congratulations Mike!!!

United Center

CHICAGO, IL -- The United Center. Home of the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls, the United Center was built to replace the Chicago Stadium in 1994. With a sellout capacity of more than 22,000 for hockey, it is the largest hockey stadium in the world, and for the past five years the Blackhawks have led the NHL in attendance annually. For the past decade, it has been my home-away-from-home, as we have had season tickets for the Blackhawks. In High School and even UW days, it was not unusual to make it to 20-30 games per season (out of 41 regular season home games). In more recent years, however, my ability to get to home games has been much tougher, living in London and then for the past year, living out in California. This season specifically, my last trip home was for Thanksgiving in November, and during that time the Hawks were ironically playing in LA and Anaheim, among other western cities. Being particularly busy with work recently, this meant I would have the chance to make it to just one home game this year, and that took place on Wednesday night (2/29) at the UC.

February 29, 2012 - Opening faceoff at the United Center. See any empty seats? Didn't think so!

Last weekend, if you look at my previous blog post you notice the Hawks lost both of those games, in LA and Anaheim. They also lost a game before that, so they were on a three-game losing streak in the stretch run here before the playoffs start. In addition, after Wednesday night's game they embarked on a three-game road trip, essentially rending the game a must-win for the Hawks. Against an original six rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the game did not disappoint. Just 59 seconds into the game the Leafs skated out to a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later the Hawks tied it 1-1, but shortly after that the Leafs scored twice more to take the 3-1 lead, despite the Hawks having the better of the play. We stuck with it, and sure enough, with just 30 seconds remaining in the period we scored to make it a 3-2 one goal game at the end of the 1st period. In the second period, the Hawks scored twice to take their own 4-3 lead, and wound up winning the game 5-4 in an electric atmosphere. It was just what the doctor ordered, and the Hawks jumped from the 7th to the 6th seed in the Western Conference.

February 29, 2012 - Hawks win! After the victory, the players salute the UC fans by raising their sticks at Center Ice.

However, despite my excitement at attending a home game and one that the Hawks actually won, I promised a blog comparing the fan experience to that at the Staples Center and Honda Center. As such, I will say that relatively speaking the Staples Center is a better comparison. That said, the United Center is bigger and louder. The food selection is not that special, but it is not bad either. There is no marble in the concourse, but with Chicago winters, that wouldn't be the best idea anyway. The in-game entertainment is not as good as at the Staples Center, but better than Honda Center. Ticket prices are widely varied. They are as cheap as at Honda Center for the worst seats, but more expensive and comparable to the Staples Center for the top-end tickets. The scoreboard is new as of a few seasons ago, and is just slightly below the Staples Center standard. Parking here is expensive - $27 for the lots next to the stadium ($20 in LA and $15 in Anaheim to compare). Additionally, the location is terrible. There are no easily accessible interstates, and the neighborhood is one of the less desirable places in Chicago. That said, the best part of coming to a Hawks game is the fans - we are passionate beyond anything seen in LA, Anaheim, or almost any other city in the NHL really. I said above that it gets loud in the United Center, and it stays that way for hours on end because it is full - all of the games are sellouts. The stadium is rocking, something that the others cannot say. At the end of the day, I give the United Center a B+ grade. The only reason the stadium isn't higher is because the in-game entertainment could be better, and the location is a real sour point. There is, however, a reason why all hockey fans know they must make a trip to the United Center at some point in their lives, and the above is a sampling of the reasons why they do. 

An Introduction; Staples Center & Honda Center

BURBANK, CA -- My stomach is in my throat. I am not sick, but this is definitely not normal. I open my eyes as I wake up. Bang! What was that? I look for my watch. It is 3:01am - not the best time to wake up, and especially having only gone to bed a few hours earlier. Bang! I sit up to face the direction of the noise. At this latitude, despite the hour it is light out, and I am able to see one of my international electrical converters is breaking into pieces. Bang! It just smashed into a wall. I try to get out of bed to make my way over to it. In an instant, I am thrown back into my bed. Well, I guess that settles it - the converter is toast, and I am not going anywhere for awhile.

As I lay back down, my entire body filled with rushing blood alternating from my head to my toes, I started thinking to myself. What have I gotten myself into? Nine hours earlier I was on dry land in the southernmost city in the world. But now? I was just south of Cape Horn, in the heart of the Drake Passage, home to the strongest seas on our planet. There was no turning back. One hundred and twenty people, myself included, were headed to the White Continent: Antarctica. Each swell and each wave brought us closer to our destination. I drifted back to sleep.

...

A few days ago I was thinking of something along the lines of the above as an intro for the book I am writing. Just thought it would be neat to put in here and get people's reactions. Did I manage to get your attention? Thoughts? :)


In other news, it has been a busy week and even busier weekend. In between People to People meetings and Long Beach hashing, I managed to add the Staples Center and Honda Center to my collection of NHL arenas I have visited. Saturday I watched my Chicago Blackhawks take on the L.A. Kings at the former venue, and Sunday they visited the Anaheim Ducks at the latter. Suffice it to say that neither went well for the road team (we lost two of two), but despite that I am glad I went to both of the games. Having been to hundreds (not hyperbole) of Blackhawks games, I have always found it interesting to see how other teams and venues compare.

February 25, 2012 - Just before the start of the Hawks vs. Kings at the Staples Center.

 The Staples Center is what a modern, state-of-the-art arena should be like. It is large but accessible. There are premium options and semi-affordable tickets ($50 gets you in the building) for the casual fan. There are tons of dining choices. It is large (18,000+ for hockey) but has good sight lines. The scoreboard is massive and sleek. The in-game experience is constant - there are promotions and contests during every break in the action. Finally, perhaps the biggest plus side is the setting. The Staples Center is one part of a huge downtown area known as L.A. Live. It is almost entirely pedestrianized and has access to dozens of restaurants and bars, a couple of high-end hotels, the Nokia Theater (home of the Grammy's, the American Idol finale, and many other performances and awards ceremonies), and ESPN L.A., where the late version of SportsCenter is shot. When you contrast the setting with the location of the United Center and Honda Center (surrounded by parking lots and not much else), it is quite impressive. In fact, this was maybe my 10th trip to L.A. Live for one thing or another (Wisconsin pep rallies before the Rose Bowl last year and this year, for example), but my first time inside the Staples Center. Interestingly, L.A. Live was developed nearly a decade after the Staples Center was built. There is no reason Chicago couldn't do something similar, although weather would be a potential constraint for the immediate area. As for the downsides to the Staples Center, there were a few. First, the place wasn't full. It was technically a sellout, but hundreds of season ticket holders didn't show up. Second, the music selection was rather awful. It was very "L.A." and not in a good way. Too much modern soft pop and rap, not enough hard hockey rock. Third, there was no intro before the game started - nothing at all like the insanity at Hawks home games before the start. Overall though, I give the Staples Center a solid B for the experience. Mostly positive, and I had a good time. I would definitely go to a game again.

February 26, 2012 - Pregame skate of the Hawks vs. Ducks, Honda Center

Honda Center, by contrast, is an entirely different feel. It is small by hockey standards (17,000+ capacity), and has a very empty feel to it. Don't get me wrong - it is not empty in an Allstate Arena way. This is very much an individual venue. Heck, the concourse is made up entirely of marble and granite. This makes sense, considering it is in Orange County and all. Plus, the Ducks won the Stanley Cup back in 2007, bringing an infusion of money and homegrown support. As a result, the fans were much more passionate, which is a good thing for the sport (though obviously not as much fun as a fan of the opposing team). Tickets are significantly cheaper ($31 gets you into the building) and the worst seats are better than the worst seats at the Staples Center, given that the building is smaller. The dining selection wasn't anything special, however. The scoreboard was a complete joke, and is something they need to fix during the offseason. The in-game fan experience was also really weak, and a total contrast from the Staples Center. The game was also technically a sellout, and more than that, it was the largest regular season attendance in Ducks franchise history. Despite that, there were still small pockets of empty seats. As far as location, it has tons of parking, which is a plus, and accessible freeways, which is also a plus, but beyond that the only thing nearby is Angel Stadium, where the Anaheim Angels play baseball. There was a short but rather weak introduction to the game. Lastly, one positive note was that their music selection was top-notch. Plenty of Foo Fighters, which is exactly what I want at an NHL arena. Overall I give Honda Center a C+ grade, but only really because of value. If ticket prices are tossed out, this would be somewhere in the C- range. That said, I did have a good experience, and I would consider going again, but in contrast to Staples Center, I don't think I would go if my Hawks weren't involved.

Tomorrow I am headed back to Chicago and I am pretty psyched. I haven't been home since Thanksgiving, and as all of you readers know, I have managed to cover a pretty significant chunk of ground since the last time I was home. Wednesday night I will be at the Hawks home game against Toronto, and in my next post I will give a comparison to the above two for the United Center. Have a good week everybody!

San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Historically one of my favorite cities in the world, San Francisco never fails to impress. The more time I spend here, the more I enjoy it, and my latest trip is no exception.

I came up here Thursday morning for work, and got to accomplish a few goals in doing so. Living in Burbank, I have always wanted to fly in/out of Burbank (Bob Hope) Airport. There are, however, a number of things that make that challenging for me. First off, there are no direct flights to Chicago, so it is usually worth driving over to LAX to get a nonstop flight. Second, it is usually cheaper flying out of LAX too, which makes it doubly worth it. Well, for a short flight up to Oakland, the price isn't that different, and they are obviously nonstop out of BUR. As such, I finally had an opportunity to do this. As it turned out, I picked up my boss and we left his driveway all of 40 minutes before our flight - not kidding. Luckily, living in Burbank, it takes all of seven minutes to get to the airport, and once you do get there, they have a valet parking service from the curb. We dropped off the car, checked in on a kiosk, had no line at security, and walked onto the tarmac and onto our plane. Total time? 20 minutes... we had another 20 minutes before the flight even left. Under an hour later we were in Oakland, and in under two hours we were in downtown San Francisco having lunch and starting our meetings. Quite a fabulous experience, and having done so, I would absolutely consider a more expensive flight out of BUR and even a layover somewhere for a longer flight.

San Francisco itself has been great, as always. We had five meetings on Thursday, all in the city, and all productive and interesting. Overnight I was at the JW Marriott, where I was upgraded to a top floor room overlooking the city (see below). Also notice the amazing weather - no fog, no clouds, and if you look closely you can see the Golden Gate Bridge towards the right of the photo, completely clear. Temperature was in the upper-50's... perfect.

Amazing weather and view from the 20th floor of the JW Marriott San Francisco. GG Bridge on the right.

Friday was Bay Area/Valley day. We had another five meetings in San Bruno and San Mateo, all of which went well. Overall from a business perspective, it was an extremely productive trip, and for me personally it was great to meet many of the people I have been working with for almost a full year now. At the end of the day I dropped my boss off back in Oakland, but I couldn't bring myself to leave this amazing place so quickly!

Instead, I hopped on BART back to San Francisco and got off in the Mission District, kind of a slightly rundown/slightly revitalized punk/music scenic neighborhood. It is just southwest of downtown, but south of Market and before you reach the Twin Peaks foothills. What's to be found here? Some interesting history (this is actually the oldest part of San Francisco, originally inhabited by native Yelamu Indians some 2,000 years ago), music venues, and in my personal case, some good friends and good food! We went for some tapas and sangria at Cha Cha Cha, something I would highly recommend! Later on, we ventured over to the Marina, where I convinced some hesitant and slightly critical San Francisco dwellers to cross over to an LA-based food chain, the one and only Umami Burger. Despite their initial pessimism, the table concurred as to the glorious nature of the Truffle, Hatch, and Port & Stilton Burgers, whereas I went for the special Truffled Poutine Burger, which was incredible (not surprised). In addition, this completes (for now) my mission to get to all seven Umami Burger locations (in order of my visits: Santa Monica, Hollywood, Studio City, Los Feliz, La Brea, Hermosa Beach, and San Francisco). Already looking forward to them opening up #8!

We returned to my friend's place in Haight-Ashbury, a relatively famous district of the city I have visited on numerous occasions, and notable both for its history as well as proximity to Golden Gate Park. I slept in after a late night discussing business, politics, global climate change science, the US Open, school, flag football, hashing, and the cross between respect and hatred that serves as the basis for the Chicago Blackhawks-Vancouver Canucks rivalry. Eventually I went for a three-mile walk across town, eventually winding up at San Francisco City Hall, a gorgeous building that looks more appropriate for a capitol complex than a city hall.

San Francisco City Hall, or a gold-domed secret society capitol complex?

From the complex I hopped on BART across the bay back to Oakland, grabbed a flight back into Burbank, and enjoyed the hilarity that was my five minute drive home down Buena Vista from the airport curb. Once again, a fabulous trip to San Francisco, and many thanks to my partial host Steph and her friends for having me crash!

In other news, I have now hashed six times in and around Long Beach, and am looking forward to being named with them soon! Also, my Blackhawks decided to reattach their heads and have won three straight after a season record nine game puke-fest... we have hope! Finally, for another travel blog, check out "Mini Bear Blogs," by a friend who went on my Antarctica trip in December, and visited in January (Vegas) and a few weeks ago, en route to Colombia, where she currently is indefinitely. Have a fabulous week everyone, and Happy Presidents Day in the US!

2012 Surf City Half Marathon: Rules of the Road

BURBANK, CA -- Success! This past Sunday was my first time at Surf City (Huntington Beach, CA), and my third half marathon overall. There ended up being four of us who met on Saturday at the expo. For those who aren't in the know, a race expo is usually held the day(s) before a run, in the same location as either the start or finish line (or in this case, because the route is an out-and-back, the same place as both the start and finish). The expo is where you pick up your bib - your unique number for the race. The bibs and numbers are usually representative. For example, for this run, I had a yellow bib, which meant I was running the half marathon. Orange bibs were for runners doing the full marathon. Likewise, the numbers correspond to your projected finishing time - obviously this isn't an exact method, since you get to enter it in, but it means that slower runners will generally start further back, while the faster runners will generally start towards the front. My bib number was 8497, which corresponds to faster than average, but certainly not among the fastest half marathon runners, which started in the 5000's (out of 20,000 runners). In addition to the bibs, we got our shirts, for this run a technical long-sleeve shirt. More than all of that, the expo is like any other expo - all of the sponsors and charities have booths where they are selling and/or giving things away. You can try all sorts of energy bars and energy drinks, and I got myself some energy gel, which is useful towards the end of the race when your body starts to run out of readily accessible energy. I trained without it, but it is good to have on race day when your adrenaline gets you running faster than you trained, and thus burning more energy.

After the expo we got some dinner off Main Street in downtown Huntington Beach, an area I had actually never been to before. Overall the town was very nice, and it was certainly aesthetically gorgeous, looking out over the ocean with Catalina Island in the background. We went back to our hotel, prepared our running gear for the next day, and did a little scheming...

We woke up at 5:30am, early but not terrible, got quickly changed, and we were in the car headed to the parking lots by 5:50. Since we were close by from the hotel, we got there by 6:00, just as dawn arrived over the ocean. We sat in the car for a good hour or so - the challenge is more to get a reasonable parking spot than to actually make it on time to the race. Once we had the spot we were no longer in such a hurry, so we relaxed, and eventually made our way over to a shuttle that took us to the start line, right beside where the expo was on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).

On longer runs such as these, there are often pace teams to help you achieve your goals. A volunteer holds up a sign with a time, and they will finish usually within 15 seconds of that time, on either side. In my corral, which was the 8000's bibs, the pace runner that came near us was for 1:58. That was a couple of minutes faster than I intended, but I figured it would be a hassle to go find a 2:00 pace runner, and figured I would stick with the 1:58 girl as long as I could and then I could have a few minutes to pan off if I needed to towards the end.

With that plan of action, I was ready to begin. The route took us northwest along the PCH to start off, away from the sun, so I had no trouble sticking with the 1:58 leader for the start. Now, starting a long race with a ton of runners can be a challenge for a few reasons. First, there is just a sheer enormous mass of people, and even on a road as wide as the PCH, there isn't always enough room at the beginning. Second, and more importantly, there are always runners who are new and simply do not know what they are doing. They start far sooner than they should be, they do a walk-run rotation with an 8000-something bib, etc. Of the 20,000 total runners on Sunday, over 10,000 were running their first half marathon. That is extremely exciting, and I am happy for all of them, but the short summary of the ramble above is that they get in the way because they are going slower than they should be. Running to slow becomes a problem for all those behind you, who now must weave around the slower runners, adding unnecessary distance (all that weaving adds up!) and time to a run.

Water stations are the points of emphasis for the above, and most specifically, the first water station is. The usual temptation for runners who haven't trained properly is to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. The result of this is that by the time you get to the first water station, you are completely exhausted, and even though it is only a couple of miles into the race, everyone wants some water. This creates a bottleneck and corresponding backlog, which can often become quite chaotic. In addition, water gets everywhere at the stations, creating a wet and potentially slick surface, which makes weaving around people both difficult and dangerous too. Want my advice? Even if you don't, you are reading my blog, so I am going to give it anyway. Always skip the first water station. If you have trained properly, you really don't need it. Later on, the water stations will be a little hectic, but not as bad, so just run through this one.

At Surf City, it turns out the second water station isn't even a mile past the first one, so running through it really paid off for me - I managed to keep my solid pace, wasn't even that hot or thirsty yet, and sure enough the second water station was maybe half as bad as the first one. Besides skipping the first water station, when going through all other water stations, always get your water at the very end. The same reason for the first rule is that for the second. Everyone is thirsty approaching a water station, and people will end up clogging up the first couple of tables going for water. If you start in the middle, and wait until the very end to cut over, there is often nobody even there, and you can grab your drink hassle and danger free.

Getting back to this particular run, I was cruising along at a pace faster than training, but it was going well and was keeping up with the pace team. I got to the 6.20 miles mark, which is a 10K, and at the split I had done it in 55:02, beating my old 10K personal record of 55:39 dating back to November 21, 2010. I got to 6.55 miles, the quarter marathon mark (and thus halfway through this race) in 58:11, meaning I would have an extra 1 minute and 49 seconds beyond my target training pace on the back half and I could still break my goal.

A few miles later, we hit "the turn." We reached the end-point of our northwesterly run along the PCH, did a full 180-degree turn, and at about 8.2 miles we were running directly into the sun, on one massive straightaway towards the finish line. Naturally everyone slowed down, and this was where I, along with maybe half of our little group lost our pace leader. That said, I was as far as the 10.0 mile mark and still had an average pace below the 9:09 I needed to hit the 2 hour mark. Unfortunately, I couldn't kick it into another gear - but I kept chugging along knowing that I was definitely in reach of setting my personal record.

At mile 11.74 disaster struck. On a very slight incline, I landed on my right foot, and an instant and spontaneous sensation of pain surged from my second toe all the way up my body to my spine. I had to slow to a walk, and not even a speed walk, but a slow walk contemplating what the heck had just happened. At the time, it was almost a popping sensation that sparked the surge of pain. All I knew was that even if I had to do a walk-run rotation, with under a mile and a half to go, I could still pull off the PR, and that is exactly what I did. I ran slowly, tried to walk quickly, and once I got past 12.5 miles built up a slow jog through the pain. I crossed the finish line at 13.10 miles with an official finish time of 2:04:46, clinching a new personal record by about a full minute, something I am extremely proud of. I set the PR even despite the injury, and I consider it even more impressive when you consider the fact that four months earlier at the Long Beach Half Marathon, I was so hurt I could only do it in 2:35:43. In four months, I beat my running time by 31 minutes, which is simply incredible.

In addition to the above, for finishing we got a medal for Surf City, which was nice, but more than that, I got my Beach Cities Challenge medal for finishing Orange County, Long Beach, and Surf City consecutively! The medal is massive, and it is very nice, incorporating three elements from each of the three other medals. Quite an accomplishment! Furthermore, of the four of us who went together, three of us set PR's, and the fourth person beat her time by a half an hour as well. Great day for all of us!

...Which brings us to today. This morning I went to the podiatrist to try and figure out what the heck happened to me towards the end of that run. I had awful toenail problems at Long Beach, but in the week following, I had three of them taken out to prevent something like this from happening again. I got new shoes, custom orthotics, and throughout training the past few months I have had no problems at all. My training got up to 12 miles, so there wasn't any reason this should have happened. Yet it obviously did.


[Reader discretion: I am going to tell you what happened in detail here. If you don't want to know, hard as it may be, stop reading here until my next post!]

As it turns out, my second toe on my right foot, the one that was the clear source of that popping sensation I described earlier - well, it turns out the toenail detached from the root within the toe at some point during the race, due to blunt trauma. What does that mean? The combination of a long run, with some elevation change, and the fact that my shoe was still too small meant that what was already a weak toenail (it had just come in back in November) simply detached. However, I didn't really notice it at that exact time, because the toenail was stuck within the skin of my toe, and sat on top of an ulcer. On that slight incline at mile 11.74, the angle caused the ulcer to open up, thus the pop I felt, and the toenail came in contact to a nerve, thus the extreme pain. As of today it was still stuck in there, so the podiatrist gave me a couple shots to the bone, took it out, and cleaned out the ulcer. He took out the second toenail on my left foot too for good measure, wrapped me up, and called it a day. As I write this it has been about seven hours and that numbness is entirely gone... ouch!

Well, there is your update for now. Overall a great race, very happy with my time, and love the medals. Not so happy with having to get two more toenails taken out (that's five total for those keeping score at home), and the associated pain that comes with them doing it. It's also a bummer that I have to get new shoes - I really liked these a lot, they are pretty much brand new (got them in November), and they were quite expensive too. Apparently if my foot doesn't swell I can use these, but with the swelling I need another size bigger. In other words, for runs in the 3-5 mile range, these shoes are fine, but once you get to 5+ miles, I need a bigger pair of shoes.

Until next time, have a great rest of your week and then weekend everybody!

13.1? Give me 26.2!

BURBANK, CA -- Maybe it is because I am crazy. Maybe it is because I want a killer workout. Most likely, it is because I want the challenge. There really is no crazy health benefit to running 26.2 miles. The key is to live an active lifestyle, which absolutely can include some running, but more than that, the point is to get outside and move around. But what fun is that without a challenge?

This Sunday, in about 34 hours, I will be running in my third Half Marathon, the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, California. I grew up and didn't especially love running the mile. A couple of times I ran a 5K, and I was convinced I would never run a foot beyond that. Well, in August 2010 for a variety of reasons, those plans changed, and very slowly and painstakingly I got comfortable running 5K's, then doubled that distance and pulled off a 10K. Convinced yet again that I wouldn't go any further, I hurt myself pretty badly about a year ago in a treadmill accident. I was just running a few miles, with the intention of staying in shape in the cold Chicago winter (apparently this year it is mild, but last year, it was pretty bad). In the middle of my max-speed, full-stride, the motor of our old treadmill died, and the belt stopped. In the tenth of a second I had to process this, I managed to brace my upper body for the collision, and managed to prevent any serious damage. That said, I completely tweaked my lower body - you simply cannot go from running full speed to a full stop in a tenth of a second. It is just not possible.

It was tough to move for a few days, and then I stayed away from working out for a few weeks. In March 2011 I moved out here to southern California, and I decided that if I was going to get back on the horse, I needed to go all-out. I signed up for the Orange County Half Marathon, and slowly started running in March, but really kicked it into gear in April, when I ran a whopping 59.3 miles. The half was on May 1, and in the best shape in years, I smoked the trail in 2:05:44.

May 1, 2011 - Happily cruising along in the Orange County, Half Marathon

From there, the injuries began. I managed an okay 10 mile run at the Soldier Field "Finish on the 50" four weeks later, but overall slowed down the pace, and started seeing the podiatrist. They got me orthotics, which helped, but only to an extent. I had awful toenail issues, and then in the fall, having already signed up for the Long Beach Half Marathon, I pulled my achilles tendon. I got myself a brace and ended up walking for 4-5 miles, finishing in an extremely disappointing 2:35:43. What the heck happened? I lost a half an hour on my time, and was in a high level of pain. I had to call it quits.

That run was on October 9th. I didn't run again until November. I had my toes cleaned up, got new shoes and new orthotics, and got to the point where the achilles was healed and the pain was gone. In exchange for the lack of exercise, however, I put on a little weight, and so the challenge was set.

The Orange County and Long Beach Half Marathons are sister races, along with Surf City. Combined, there is the "Beach Cities Challenge." If you run all three consecutively, back-to-back-to-back, you get a special tri-cities medal (as a side note, the final chance to complete the challenge will be Surf City 2013, which means to do it, you will have to start with OC 2012, in May). Well, having done two of the three, I figured I had to do the third, and I had just enough time to get going again. In November I ran 42.8 miles, including a solid 10K Turkey Trot over Thanksgiving. In December that was 27.8 miles, but I considered that to be pretty impressive given the two and a half weeks in Antarctica, where I managed only one run. This January? I shattered my April 2011 record and ran 87.3 miles. I have also been using My Fitness Pal to track food consumption, and it has proved a huge help. In the past two months, I have lost 10 pounds now, and am only another 10 more away from my low since High School.

So... where does that leave us? Sunday is the Surf City Half, and I know I am going to crush my Long Beach time, but I am not entirely sure I will beat my OC time. I will be happy if I finish under 2:15, really happy if I beat my 2:05:44 PR, and my "stretch" goal is a sub-two hour finish, which may or may not be possible, but that is what I am hoping for. In order to do so, I need an average pace of 9:09/mile or better, which I pulled off over nine miles in ideal weather a few weeks ago. For the longer runs, the heat threw me off. Luckily, the weather forecast is ideal, so I do think I have a shot - only time will tell!

Which brings us back to today. This morning an email went out informing readers that the Chicago Marathon, in under 48 hours, had filled up over 30,000 spots, out of only 45,000 available. My original plan was to register after successfully running on Sunday. Well, I didn't want to miss out on my opportunity, and I decided to go for it. Why not? Like the things most enjoyable in life (travel, anybody?), one of the mentalities with which we engage them is that wherein we only get to live once. Let's make the most of it. Challenge yourself, and enjoy the limitless joy of conquering those challenges. October 7th, 2012 - bring it on Chicago. I'll see you in 26.2. 

Antarctica - A Summary

BURBANK, CA -- More than twelve thousand words of blog posts from my Antarctica trip later, and I have realized a few things. Antarctica is a land of extremes. It is one that goes beyond superlatives - frankly, you run out very quickly. Some of the extremes are obvious. Antarctica is the southernmost continent. It is the coldest. It is the only uninhabited continent in the world. Others are equally obvious, but not thought about as frequently. Antarctica is the driest continent in the world - despite the snow we had on our trip, as a continent, it is an enormous desert. Antarctica is the only continent that has been completely war and conflict-free. It is the largest biologically preserved area in the world, covering a full ten percent of the planet, yet perhaps ironically, there is less life in Antarctica than anywhere else. The largest supply of fresh water in the world exists in the ice of Antarctica. Simply put, Antarctica is the most unique place I have ever visited, and it is a land where time stands still.

For a selection of about 400 of the more than 8,000 photos I took, see album one and album two. Log into facebook and leave a comment, or 'like' away. :)

Before I traveled to Antarctica, I talked to a very small number of friends who had already been there. Their opinions were all the same - for all of the traveling they had done, Antarctica was the most incredible place they had ever visited, it was worth every penny, and they would go again without any hesitation whatsoever.

Well, having now been there myself, I can confirm all of the above and more. I went to Antarctica with absurdly high expectations. With only the Grand Canyon as an accurate (though totally different) comparison, it blew those high expectations out of the water.

Put another way, I originally thought to myself that while yes, it would be a very expensive trip - by far the most expensive I had ever been on, it was my one shot to get to Antarctica, and I needed to do it to get there and check it off the list. Having been there, I can tell you that not only was it worth every penny, but it was so majestic and wholly encompassing that I will go again - for longer, further south, in a different season, to see different ice, and different species of penguins. Maybe not for awhile, but I will undoubtedly be back.


So... now what? How do you top Antarctica? I've been mulling over this for the past month or so, and I guess I have yet to come up with an answer. For now, I don't think you do. Instead, you continue to fulfill your other goals, and lucky for me, I have one that is right at the top of that list: getting to all 50 states. I am currently stuck on 46, so I have four more to go: Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia. I have, however, intentionally gone after the single outliers over the past few years: North Dakota, Oregon, Alaska, etc. As such, these four that remain are all doable in a single trip, and that is the next big one on my list. As of now, the goal is to get there sometime in April, before my 25th birthday on April 21st.


What else have I been up to the past month? The day after I got back, my parents drove into town and my brother flew in, so I got to play host for a few weeks. My parents left after a few days, though we did get a lovely trip to Santa Barbara as well as a day in Santa Monica in there. Shortly after they left, a UW friend flew in for New Years (Happy 2012 everybody!) and the Rose Bowl. Had a great weekend and a fun time at the game, but that is where we'll leave it. Losing twice in a row stinks, but it's even worse when both times you are within one score of winning. Oh well... I'll give them one more shot. :)

Last weekend I was in Las Vegas, which was a lot of fun. We had a mini-Antarctica group reunion, which was nice, and I got to speak again for People to People, which I always enjoy doing. I am actually excited for some more upcoming speaking opportunities in the near future. Check out this feature they did in their blog of me, it is very nice!

This week has been busy with work, but busy is a good thing! We Heart It is breaking records left and right. Check out the new page layout and features here!

I have also been really busy with running. The Surf City Half Marathon is coming up in two weeks and two days, which is right around the corner! I have been training like a madman, running 4-5 days per week. I have run 47.2 miles so far in January, and it is only the 20th! Since I started training and recreational running in August 2010, there has only been one month better than this one so far, when I ran 59.3 miles in April 2011. Tomorrow I run 11 miles though, and Sunday another 3-5, so I should top it for my best month ever by the end of this weekend, if all goes according to plan. I have also simultaneously been utilizing My Fitness Pal, which rigorously tracks calorie, carb, fat, and protein consumption of absolutely everything I eat or drink. Using that combined with my running software (Garmin for the Forerunner 410 and Runkeeper overall), I am able to stay on a very specific plan that has me losing weight for the past four weeks now. So far I am down about seven pounds, and I'd like to lose another two in the next two weeks before the race, and maybe another four or five after that. So far so good!

In sports, the Australian Open is currently ongoing in Melbourne. Having been to Wimbledon and the US Open, it is a big goal of mine to get to Melbourne in a future year during the last two weeks of January for the tournament, as well as to Roland Garros in Paris for the French Open in May. It is great having some good tennis on during the background, and it is also nice living on the west coast - I can watch half the matches live and it isn't some absurd hour, which contrasts greatly from the days of living in Madison when I would be intentionally writing essays at 3am so that I could watch Federer smoke some unworthy opponent. Speaking of Roger, he is in action tomorrow night against Bernard Tomic, the Australian #1 and a huge home crowd favorite. Should be an interesting fourth-round match!

On the always important hockey front, my Chicago Blackhawks won yet again tonight, and are again leading the entire NHL in the current standings. So far they look poised to have another great postseason, but one foot in front of the other - I will keep the hockey posts tuned down and slowly ramp them up as we get closer to April and May.

Finally, since I have historically mentioned it in the update blogs wherever I am, I do have to say that January in Burbank is quite nice in the weather department. It was in the upper-60s today, and I haven't seen a cloud in days. That said, we are supposed to get some rain tomorrow, but after that it's looking like it may get up to 80 this week, with plenty of sun. Quite the contrast from the -8 wind chill at home last night, nevermind the half foot of snow they got today. :)

Until next time, have a great weekend everybody, and thanks for reading the blog. In the past month, my page views have doubled. My youtube videos have been seen nearly 20,000 times now. Thanks for your comments and for sharing - I hope you enjoy it! 

Eighteen Thousand Miles

December 24, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Eighteen thousand, one hundred and forty one miles later, I have made it back to California. I will post some sort of general overview another time, but I wanted to wrap up the daily blog posts from the trip with one last daily summary of travel.

Last night, we took off from EZE on time, after saying goodbye to our last two co-travelers at our gate. I got a few nice pictures departing the city, had some dinner, and fell asleep.

About three hours later, I woke up to the single worst experience of turbulence I have ever experienced on a jet aircraft. I looked out the window, and it was immediately clear we were in the middle of an electrical storm. I looked up and to the right, and saw on the GPS that we were flying over central Bolivia, right where the Andes Mountains jet out from the Amazonian plains.

Instantly I thought of a few things. First, we weren't terribly south of the equatorial monsoon region. With the most moisture and humidity over such a large area compared with anywhere else in the world, as well as a constant supply of high-intensity sunlight and corresponding heat, this area is capable of producing massive thunderstorms with little to no warning. In Africa, just north these latitudes produce the tropical systems that move west over the Atlantic Ocean and eventually form into Tropical Storms and Atlantic Hurricanes, some of which hit the United States almost every year. In South America, you almost always hit some turbulence here (similar to flying east or west across the United States, you almost always it some turbulence when you fly over the eastern ridge of the Rocky Mountains, usually over Colorado, Wyoming, or New Mexico). This was also the same region that brought down Air France Flight 447.

Over the course of the next 30 seconds, we took direct lightning strikes on our left-side wing three times, and in all probability, took a few more on the plane. At the same time, I was tracking our altitude on GPS, and we lost over 2,100 feet, all of which was unintentional - when you are flying through turbulence, you go up, not down. At this point, I just kind of looked around and chuckled to myself, thinking, "at least everyone knows I made it to Antarctica." Twisted humor, sure, but I made it to all seven continents!

After what seemed like an eternity, we pulled a steep climb as we banked to the north. We climbed from our original cruising altitude of 35,000 feet up to 38,000 feet, and changed from our northwest heading to due north for ten minutes, climbing out of the storm. Below, there was such intense lightning within the storm that there was not a split moment (not second, but moment) wherein the clouds were not illuminated by lightning strikes. I fell back to sleep...

When I woke up, I thought about all of the above with a big sigh of relief. I have flown a lot of miles by any standard, and that really was the closest call I've been a part of. Alas, we proceeded to Houston, where our mid-flight diversion meant we got in about 25 minutes late. Small sacrifice for survival! I got through immigration, baggage claim, customs, and security without much hassle, and then burned through another four hours of a layover. Eventually our last flight of the trip departed on-time, and I slept through most of it.

On final approach into Los Angeles, I couldn't help but think that I was really a world away from the Lemaire Channel, Neko Harbor, and the South Shetland Islands. It was the clearest approach into LAX I have ever experienced - very little pollution, ample sunshine, and actual cleanliness. Despite that, I observed the human sprawl for as far as the eye could see, and it was with new-found admiration I was able to appreciate this fragile world we live in. From the White Continent to Southern California, over the course of more than eighteen-thousand miles of travel, and despite impossible odds, it may be a world away, but it is so clearly all connected; I was back.