design The Dodger Stadium tour is pretty great and if anything, underpriced Last week I was in LA to get some sun after a dismal cold winter in Oregon. I hung out with my aunt and while she's been a massive Dodgers fan since she was a kid, in the last couple seasons I've followed the Dodgers too
travel I honestly have no idea what a Canadian Mountie is thinking at any time Back in 2010, I was traveling internationally a couple times a year and I decided to go through the process of getting a Global Entry card from the TSA. It's like a magic pass that lets you run through customs in almost any country in just a few
travel The Louisville Slugger factory, ten years apart Yesterday, I went on the Louisville Slugger factory tour, mostly to enjoy the smell of fresh wood bats in their factory. After I got my tickets, I realized I also went on the very same tour the first time I visited Kentucky back in 2013. On the 2013 tour, pro
cars Moab winter trip report This week I took a quick solo road trip to Moab, Utah to explore some trails and see the southwest under a light dusting of snow (it's hot as heck in Moab 6-9 months per year). I know every guidebook says to only go there March-October, but I&
stories The Milky Way When I was 19, my uncle Joe—who lived in Arizona—asked if I wanted to join his twice-yearly backpacking trip down into the Grand Canyon. I'd never hiked more than a couple miles in my life, and he was asking if I wanted to sign on to
blinded by science There's a sweet new Antarctic blog in town I did my undergrad in environmental science and during my senior year I did a lake water chemistry research study. During this time, a friend mentioned someone he grew up with ended up at the research station in Antarctica and had the wildest stories. It was 1995 and I was
travel End of trip: Disneyland day 2 and thoughts Some thoughts from this trip to Disneyland * Downtown Disney restaurants are almost all closed. This is good, since I never set foot in most all of them and why was a rainforest cafe even there in the first place? I saw Salt & Straw going in so that's
howto Using a prepaid Koodo iPhone SIM in Canada (as a traveling American) Note: This is a guide aimed at getting a fast, semi-cheap, data/voice/text plan for Americans with unlocked phones traveling in Canada and information is up-to-date as of November 2013. Whenever I travel to another country, about a week before the trip I hit up the prepaid SIM travel
travel San Francisco summer trip I spent the last week of my daughter's summer vacation taking her to San Francisco to have fun for a few days. What follows is a summary of things I liked, tips, and a few photos from the vacation. * The California Academy of Science is pretty amazing, combining
travel Glacier National Park, Montana Last month, I took a family car trip over to Glacier National Park in Montana. I'd never been to Montana before, but since it was within 12 hours of driving from Oregon, I figured it'd be a nice experience for my 8 year-old daughter that mirrored
travel My trip to Italy I just returned from Italy, visiting Rome, Florence, and Venice over the course of two weeks. I went with my immediate family, along with my Aunt. Originally, the trip was meant as a sort of "reward" for my mom when she started to get a bad diagnosis about
apple Yosemite iOS apps (yes, really) Last month I had a lovely time in Yosemite with my family. I grew up in Southern California so I've been to Yosemite a dozen times before, but I really love going in the Winter because barely anyone is around. You can hike to many places in peace,
conferences SXSWi 2010 recap Now that I've slept it off and a couple days have passed, I feel like I can start processing the past week in Austin Texas for the South By Southwest Interactive Conference. Some quick bits follow. Huge Crowds I'd heard this would be the biggest SXSWi
travel Disneyland 2010 Now that I have a child that can really begin to enjoy Disneyland, we've made a couple annual visits to Disneyland and this past week we went there armed with three day passes. I grew up about a 20 minute drive from Disneyland, and I've been
flickr Holy shitballs Back in college, my favorite undergraduate class of my major was Limnology, or the study of lakes and rivers. I loved it so much that I went to grad school and eventually helped teach it as a TA while doing soil and water chemistry of a lake ecosystem. In the
travel Hawaiian Vacation I just got back from an insanely relaxing and enjoyable vacation on the big island of Hawaii. I'd previously visited Oahu, Maui, and Kauai before so I was looking forward to seeing a new island. After two previous winter trips to Hawaii, I realized 6-7 days wasn'
reviews Pile O' Tips I've been meaning to write up each and every one of these tips for weeks now, but I'll never get around to fully fleshing them out so instead here's a bunch of things I've learned over the past few months that might
travel My Year in Cities, 2006 Here's mine (starred means more than one visit, via the big K): McMinnville, OR (home) San Diego, CA* Orange County, CA* New York City, NY San Francisco, CA* (6 times I think) San Carlos, CA* Hood River, OR Cannon Beach, OR Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii
hacks How to fly with an empty seat next to you Lifehacker just posted a travel tip on picking seats most likely to stay empty at the time you buy your ticket, but I've found I only keep an empty seat next to me about a quarter of the time using that method. There's a much more