Tucson, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe

I arrived in Tucson, AZ and checked out the casino. I played some poker before heading back to the hotel and going to bed.

I spent a day in Tucson, AZ. I did a 30 mile bike ride around downtown and headed up the Catalina foothills. The landscape is a lot different. There are a lot of cactus in Tucson. These desert cities are unique in that everything is in a neat grid and the streets go for a long way. These perfectly flat streets are great in that I can pick up the draft from the cars. I can sustain 35 mph in the draft of a line of cars.

In the afternoon, I went to see Biosphere 2. It's an amazing facility that attempts to mimic the Earth's environment on a large scale. Then we headed to Phoenix and stayed 2 nights in Tempe.

Phoenix is a huge city in terms of area. It's much like Dallas in that there are all these large suburbs that surround the city like Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa. Mike and I went to Tempe's Mill Ave to check out the college scene (ASU students). Next day, we went to South Mountain Park and spent the afternoon there driving up the mountain and checking out all the overlooks and TV towers. In the evening, we spent the night in Scottsdale's entertainment district.

Scottsdale is one of the areas of Phoenix with a lot of money. It's too bad that I lost most of my Phoenix pictures due to user error. :( What I remember most about Scottsdale is Saddle Ranch. There is a mechanical bull in that bar. I rode the bull 4 times! I tore up my hand pretty good and my groin and wrists are pretty sore! I got pretty good at it as well as I could stay on longer than just about everyone there except for this guy that was actually a rodeo bull rider.

There were so many beautiful women in Scottsdale. But you could tell many of them were fake and there was a lot of plastic. They were just too perfect (face, hair, body, etc.) and it was obvious that there was a lot of surgury going on. Sure, it looks good, but it's just not real either. Many of the girls there looked like they came out of a Barbie factory. There were a lot of blonde bombshells. Sure, it's my type, but it's too exagerated. We talked to the bartender at this Dive Bar and she told us that you had to have plastic surgery in order to work there. I definitly recommend checking out the Scottsdale neighborhood. It's very upscale and must be one of the nicer parts of town.

We left Phoenix the next morning and started a 6 hour drive to San Diego. It was interesting to see how the geography changes. We saw farmlands, deserts, sand dunes, wind farm generators, and went over rock mountains going into San Diego. These mountains are interesting because they seperate the desert from the coastal climents.

San Diego is a beautiful city. We spent the morning in La Jolla. This is a beautiful area of town and it seems every piece of property is over a million dollars. Then we headed to "Old Town" which has a bunch of old shops. We picked up a trolly tour and saw the cruise ship terminal, downtown, and Coronado. These are some really beautiful places. California certainly has a certain style that is unqiue to it. Every property in Coronado is supposdly worth a million dollars.

Tucson, AZ

I am currently in Tucson, AZ in my motel lobby. Yesterday was an exhausting day of driving. We drove for 10 hours from Fort Davis, TX all the way to Tucson. We arrived at Tucson at 9:30, checked into the hotel, and then visited a casino. I played poker for a couple of hours, won $4, then went to bed.

It has been hard to find a decent Internet connection over the past few days. I spent the first night in Fort Stockton, TX, about 2 hours north of Big Bend. The second night was in Fort Davis, TX. I saw the observatory and attended the star party. The star party was awesome! The guy had this high powered green laser that he would use to point out all the constellations. Being in the middle of nowhere, I could see so many stars.

It is incredibly desolate in West Texas. I would not see any cars or people for tens of miles at the time. There was nothing, but cattle and open country. The scenery in Big Bend is quite spectacular. Mike and I did a 5 mile hike up this mountain that took us to 6,000 feet.

Yesterday, we spent a couple hours in El Paso, looking around the neighborhood where he grew up. It seems the entire town is Mexican and they speak Spanish more than English. I10 goes along the Mexican border and you could see the poverty on the other side of the border.

Birthday!

It's my birthday today! I am 32 years old! Ugh! That sounds so old! Especially when I go downtown to hit on girls and they are 10 years younger than me. lol!

I plan on celebrating at 6 p.m. at Hula Hut. Feel free to drop by and say hi to my friends and I.

Road Trip: Route Changes

View Larger Map

Check out first post if you haven't read that one.

I've made some changes to the route for my road trip.

• My friend who is going with me would like to make a stop in Los Angeles. Frankly, I don't care for LA after visiting a few times. The city seems to be the ultimate urban sprawl nightmare. But he wants to check out Hollywood and of course, see that famous sign. There certainly are nice areas to visit. The last time I was there, I spent a day layover on my way to Taiwan. You can check out pictures from my flickr set. The first few photos are in LA. There are some very nice beaches. I spent most of my time there exploring Hollywood and hanging out in Santa Monica. There was a nice shopping mall, beautiful beach and boardwalk, and beautiful people to watch.
• I added a stop in Sedona. Sedona was one of my favorite places to visit. It's famous for its stunning red sandstone formations. I was there back in 1994 with my parents and we stopped here before heading to the Grand Canyon. We did a Jeep tour on the trails, which was really fun! I would never do that with my SUV!
• My friend would like to make a stop in the four corners region. This isn't too far from Monument Valley. This is the only place in the United States where you can be in 4 states at the same time. :)

The total milage after these changes increase to 3,700 miles compared with 3,500 miles for the original route. I suspect I will end up driving well over 4,000 miles on this trip as we will log miles driving around each city. 

Amazing uptime with my iMac...

I just went 6 straight days without rebooting my iMac. All I did was put it to sleep when I wasn't using it. How many of you running Windows (any version) could do that? So what finally forced me to reboot? A power failure. The stability is miles ahead of Windows PC's. However, Safari does crash just like Internet Explorer. I suspect it has something to do with flash websites.

I also upgraded my iMac 4 GB of RAM (the maximum). It's a joy to use now as everything happens instantly (other than slow network or moving large files).

Garmin GPS Deal...

I just ordered a Garmin nuvi 660 GPS unit from Best Buy for $350 in preparation for my road trip. They are including a $50 Best Buy gift certificate in the deal, so I can buy some more accessories with it. I could have gotten the newer nuvi 750 unit for about the same price, but that unit doesn't have Bluetooth built in, which I find very helpful in the car. The main difference between the 600 and 700 series (as far as the features I care about) is that the 700 has an integrated antenna while the 600 relies on a flip up on. There are additional features in the 700 series units, but I believe the 660 I purchased already does everything I need it to do. 

My old GPS is a worn out handheld Garmin Vista that no longer stays on because the battery contacts are loose and the buttons don't always work now. This one should be leaps and bounds better than what I was using although it can't be mounted on a bicycle like the Vista could.

You can find the deal here. The nuvi 600 or 700 series of GPS's seem to be getting the most favorable reviews so far. Here's a detailed review from GPS Magazine. Still, I like the GPS units that are integrated into the car's dash. You can move these units from car to car, but you have cables and mounts hung into the car which can be inconvenient.

Road Trip: Preliminary Route

I've been playing with both Yahoo Maps and Google Maps to plan out my trek through the southwestern United States. I like the graphics on Yahoo Maps better, but Google Maps seem to work much faster. The route I plan on taking will look something like this:

View Larger Map

I plan on spending quite a bit of time in Arizona. I have always been fascinated with the Arizona landscape and the American West. The desert with the bright red rocks, cactus, brilliant blue sky, and the Grand Canyon have fascinated me since I was a child. 

Major stops that I'd like to visit are:

1. Big Bend National Park, TX - This is one of the most isolated parks in the country. The pictures I have seen of this place is beautiful.
2. Tucson, AZ - This is a fast growing Arizona city. It is one of the cities I had considered moving to. However, I decided against moving to Arizona because of the extreme heat. However it should not be too hot this time of the year. From the pictures that I have seen, it is a beautiful city.
3. Phoenix, AZ - This is the largest city in Arizona. I plan on spending at least a few hours exploring the city and resupplying here. I've been there only once before in 1994. What I remember most about the city were the cactus and the fact that the streets are LONG! You can be on the correct street and be nowhere near where you want to be.
4. San Diego, CA - If it wasn't for the high cost of living, I would live in San Diego. The weather is perfect. There's the ocean and the mountains are near by. It's a beautiful city with beautiful people from what I hear. I've never been there, so it will be interesting to see first hand if it's true.
5. Las Vegas, NV - I only spent 3 days there over Halloween weekend. I met quite a few interesting characters. I plan on spending more time visiting the sites. I definitely want to do Hoover Dam, play some poker, and perhaps stay in a luxury hotel.
6. Monument Valley, UT - Almost every American would instantly recognize this place even if they've never been here. It has been used as a backdrop for countless TV shows. I remember this place as the backdrop for the 80's show Air Wolf.
7. Amarillo, TX - I don't want to come back down thru I10, so instead I'm going to go thru the Texas Panhandle via Albuquerque, NM. Don't know what I'll find here besides cowboys and cattle.
8. Dallas/Fort Worth, TX - I've been to Dallas a few times including a trip I did over 4th of July weekend in 2006 as well as a few trips there with my mom. I have never been to Ft. Worth, however. For this trip, I will probably spend the majority of my time exploring Fort Worth.
9. Austin, TX - Back home to Austin, TX!

According to Google Maps, this entire trip will be about 3,500 miles. I'm hoping to see new, interesting things, to meet new people, take beautiful pictures, and to come back with interesting stories.

So how much will a trip like this cost? At 18 mpg with my 2001 Nissan Pathfinder, I'm estimating I will need 200 gallons of gas. At $3.50 / gallon, that will be $700 in gasoline costs. I'm estimating it will take between 2-3 weeks to complete this trip. Three weeks of hotels at an average cost of $60/night will come out to $1,260. I shouldn't count food entirely because I need to eat regardless of whether or not I go on this trip. But it certainly does cost more to eat out than to cook at home. Plus, there is money for excursions, although I tend to do mostly free or cheap activities like museums or city tours. Anyways, I'm budgeting around $2,200-$2,500 for this trek across the south west.

It would be nice to have someone go with me both for the company and to split the cost of this trip. Unfortunately, it seems most of my friends don't seem to have the time, and/or the money for something like this. Let me know if you are someone that would be interested in doing something like this.

Last Day at Dell

Today was my last day at Dell. I had been working here as a contractor for nearly a year now. It's too bad that I couldn't stay longer. I enjoyed working with everyone there and overall it was a positive experience.

On the other hand, I'm looking forward to the time off and pursuing something new. I am gearing up for a road trip that I will start within 2 weeks for now. Right now though, I need to clean up my car and run some personal errands that I had been putting off.

Road Trip!

My last day at Dell is tomorrow. I am planing to go on a road trip in the next couple weeks. Back in 2005, I did a 2 week road trip through the eastern part of the country from New Jersey to New Orleans and back. Now I plan on exploring the south western part of the country. I plan on heading west towards New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and Colorado. Some major cities and attractions I would like to see are Tucson, San Diego, Grand Canyon, Big Bend, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, and Sedona.

I really want to go explore Arizona. I was there in 1994 to visit Phoenix and the Grand Canyon. I remember the beautiful red rocks in Sedona and the brilliant blue, crystal clear sky. There is some of the cleanest air in the country there.

Gas is very expensive though. A trip like this means I'm burning thru a tank of gas every day, about $55 for 300 miles on my 2001 Pathfinder. Perhaps, I can find someone who wants to go with me.

Last Day at Dell

So it's finalized! My last day at Dell will be March 14th. I have been contracting at Dell since March 26th, 2007, so it means I will have been here just 1 week shy of a year.

I just did a technical interview yesterday with Compass Learning, which is an educational software company located in downtown Austin. I think I did pretty well. I got just about all of his questions right, although I did have to take an educated guess as to when a table variable is slower than a temp table. I'll see if I can get an in person interview next week. If they give me a good offer, I'll probably take it as I believe you have to make the money while you can, not when you have to. If I don't get this offer, I'll probably try to take some time off, although that might be hard since the Austin job market is still quite strong (although it's probably weakening since the economy is going into a recession) and there are a lot of good opportunities out there at the moment.

Music: OneRepublic Stop and Stare

I've been listening to a lot of OneRepublic lately. Here's another one of their songs that I really like:

This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us
It's time to make our move, I'm shakin off the rust
I've got my heart set on anywhere but here
I'm staring down myself, counting up the years
Steady hands, just take the wheel...
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal... for the life I lead

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're 'here' not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can u see what I see

They're tryin to come back, all my senses push
Un-tie the weight bags, I never thought I could...
Steady feet, don't fail me now
Gonna run till you can't walk
But something pulls my focus out
And I'm standing down...

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, you don't need

What u need, what u need...

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be
Oh, do u see what I see...

iMac: Bootup times....

As I have said in a previous post, my iMac boots a lot faster than my Dell Inspiron 1705 laptop running Vista. How much faster is it? Well, I actually timed it today. It takes 35 seconds for my iMac to boot up from a cold start. That is the time it takes between pressing the power button to where I can move the mouse pointer and launch a web browser. For Vista, it took 1 minute 35 seconds to get to the same point. However, that doesn't tell the entire story. The iMac was very responsive at that point. Vista was still busy loading stuff in the background, so the system was very sluggish and unresponsive. I'm really impressed with the responsiveness of the Mac. It seems much faster than an equivalent PC running Windows. The specs on my iMac as of today are as follows:

• Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.4 GHz
• 3 GB of RAM (just upgraded with a 2 GB module)
• 320 GB 7200 rpm hard drive

It's pretty much the lower end 24" iMac with the aluminum case as pictured here. My Dell laptop has the following configuration:

• Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.0 GHz
• 2 GB of RAM
• 80 GB 7200 rpm hard dive.

My iMac does have more memory, but it was already booting up that fast before I upgraded the memory from 1 GB to 3 GB.