The Mountain Dew Tree

There have been few times in my life where things have been just abundantly clear to me. Usually, there’s something that clouds my mental judgement, something that obscures my clarity, something that always makes me second guess just about everything. One of my former mentors always told me, “question everything”…. So, to this day, that saying has been my mode of operation for as long as I can remember. And to what avail does this mantra afford me? Well, good question… see? There I go again… But to answer this question directly, it allows me to see the world objectively, as to say that, it allows me to find the preverbal “holes in everything”… And yet, I sit here (pecking away at the keyboard once again) and I’m most definitely certain of this; unquestionably, I have roots in Latvia. No doubt…

Monday, April 14, 2008
I awoke in the morning in Paris, France… and spent almost an entire day in a state of stress… Stressed about getting to my flights in time, getting to my trains in time, getting to where I needed to be, when I needed to be there, and with all of my things. It was quite the day to be completely honest, and t make matters a little worse I didn’t sleep well the night previous. I awoke that morning and was immediately thrust into trying to negotiate financial standings (in French) with hotel personnel… I had a slightly unsatisfactory breakfast, and then set out with everything I had on my back and in my hands (in the form of a backpack and a travel case) into the streets of Paris.

So, down into the Metro I went, then transfered to the “B3” RER train at the Gare du Nord train station that took me to the CDG aeroport, then onto a Lithuanian Airlines (FlyLAL) Flight from the CDG aeroport to Vilnius, Lithuania, ultimately arriving in Riga, Latvia on the connecting flight. Adding insult to injury, the flight from CDG left an hour late, after I had already sat in the check-in line for just shy of two hours because:

1. Their (FlyLAL) boarding pass/ticket printer had failed, and
2. Their (FlyLAL) baggage conveyor had failed, and all (non-carry-on) luggage had to be moved by hand from the terminal to the aircraft by personnel.

So, we arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania with 5 minutes to make it from my first flight to my second connecting flight… I know what you’re thinking, this doesn’t sound good, and that’s what I would have thought, too… but, rest assured, we’re both wrong… Remember, I’m in Lithuania… it’s not the hustling, bustling, busy-body airports that most Americans and Europeans are used to… Oh no, this airport operates on it’s *own* time table… In fact, I wish I would have been in a better state of mind on this leg of the journey to take photos, because pictures are worth a thousand words. The pictures would have shown an airport, with nobody in it… except, of course, for the gates that our original flight was connecting to. Half of the passengers on the flight from CDG were going to Tallinn, Estonia, and the other half were going to Riga, Latvia… so, there were two gates that were operating in the Vilnius airport at 6:30pm on a Monday evening, one servicing Tallinn passengers, and the other serving Riga passengers… and there was no hurry, because, they (the staff at Vilnius) were waiting for us. I think after both secondary flights left the tarmac, the staff at the Vilnius airport packed it in, and went home for the evening… I’m not kidding.

The flight from Vilnius to Riga took about 45 minutes… just long enough for me to ask for my first request in Russian to the stewardess… “Я хочу ваду… нет газ”… ( transliterated in English: “Ya hochu vadu, niet gaz” ) which means, “I would like water, no gas”, or, flat water, no bubbles. Although, I would like to add at this time that Russian is not the language of Latvia… Latvian is the language of Latvia, but there were numerous languages being spoken on this flight, so I felt compelled to try out some of my new language skills… amazingly enough, I got exactly what I asked for! “Cool!” I remember saying as I sat and chuckled to myself. And as soon as I was done with my water, we were on our landing approach into Riga.

The Riga, Latvia airport is an even smaller airport than the Vilnius, Lithuania airport… and much to my surprise, there weren’t any customs officials waiting to check your passport… I quite literally, walked across the tarmac from the aircraft, walked into the terminal (which is basically a large room, with a baggage claim and an ATM), grabbed my one bag, and walked out onto the curb, and hailed a taxi. The taxi driver didn’t really have much to say, however, when we crossed the “A2″ bridge, he did say, “Welcome to Riga” and pointed out the Riga Castle, and then he proceeded to tell me that he didn’t have a pass to get into the old city, so he was going to drop me off at the closest possible spot to my hotel, and I would have to walk into the “old city center”, and ultimately to my hotel, the Konventa SÄ“ta. And that’s exactly what happened… luckily, I only had to walk two blocks (two old-world style small blocks), and I was there. I checked into the hotel, went upstairs to my hotel room, spoke a few words to my wonderful and amazing girlfriend on the phone, and let her know that I was done for the day, and crashed…

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Big Day… April 15, 2008 would be the day that I visited the town that my father grew up in… LÄ«gatne, Latvia… Unfortunately, my father was not present to show me the way, so I had to make it up as I went along. Quite a liberating experience, in fact. I awoke, got a great breakfast at the Hotel Konventa SÄ“ta Restaurant (restorans), called Raibais Balodis, and set out to walk off my breakfast in the old city and get myself acquainted. It was during this walk that I decided that it was going to take a rental car to get to LÄ«gatne (which is 75 Kilometers to the East of Riga), so I talked to the concierge at the hotel, and they provided a few different services. I went back upstairs to my room, made a few calls, and two hours later, the car arrived at my hotel. A 2008 Volkswagen Golf 1.4 litre… Nice!!!!! What better Eurobox would you pick to go driving through the Latvian country-side? OK, fine, me too, the Ferrari F430 would be awesome, but this is Latvia, you’d stick out like a sore thumb, and the roads aren’t exactly built for a grand-touring road car, so the VW Golf was perfect!

After singing the obligatory Eliterent paperwork, singing my life away if I wrecked the Golf, and paying 40 Latvian Lats ( ~$90 USD ) for the fee, and 200 Latvian Lats ( ~$450 USD ) for the deposit, Robert ( the car guy ) shook my hand, and I set my off on my own accord. Of course, this is a place (Latvia) that I had never been before, nor driven in, so I opted for the GPS system; and OMG, I’m glad I did, because it was a huge help. Driving in Latvia is awesome! Those Latvians know how to drive… seriously. It was truly a pleasure driving through the streets of Riga… cobble-stone roads, courteous and alert drivers, adequate signage, and get this… staging lights for stop lights!!! Yes, that’s right, staging lights, so you know when the red light is going to turn green! Awesome! Anyways, I digress. As I reached the outskirts of Riga, the beautiful Latvian countryside became the predominant sight from behind the driver’s wheel.

So, there I was, driving through Latvia… I got within 20 kilometers of my destination, and suddenly traffic stopped. There was road work ahead, and an endless line of cars stretched into the horizon. After not moving for about 20 minutes, I hit the “Road Block” icon on my TomTom, and it rerouted me… a 75 kilometer reroute, but a reroute nonetheless. With time on my side, a beautiful day to look forward to, a full tank of gas, and a TomTom GPS, I promptly flipped a 180º, and headed back the way I had come on the A2. The radio was playing some good music, so, I was set. The Latvian countryside is truly beautiful, and I stopped periodically to look around and take in the sites, taking pictures and rolling video to record my travels. Yet, little did I know that my little TomTom device was about to take me to a road that existed in it’s memory banks, but did not exist in reality. I drove around in circles twice, wondering if I had missed something, but I didn’t… so I hit the “Road Block” icon, again, and the little TomTom rerouted me, again… Normally, this thing would have frustrated me, but, I was thoroughly enjoying myself, so I just kept on driving further and further into the Latvian countryside, driving through towns such as Sigulda and CÄ“sis.

After three hours of driving, suddenly, there it was… the turn-off to LÄ«gatne. 6 Kilometers to go. I made my right turn, and headed down the road to LÄ«gatne. I must admit that I was expecting something different, but, it was a pleasant surprise. LÄ«gatne is a small town set deep in the Latvian countryside. It’s a small and beautiful community. It was something that I’ve always wanted to see, and it was very sentimental for me to go back to where my father grew up. While I was there I had a brief, and fairly incomprehensible conversation with one of the village elders. He did not speak any English at all, and I do not speak Latvian at all, so we were in somewhat of a stalemate as we both tried to figure out what the other was saying… we reverted to using hand signals and gestures. It was shortly after this encounter that I got back into the VW and headed out on my way back to Riga. The drive back to Riga was much quicker than the drive out to LÄ«gatne, as the road work had finished and I didn’t have to traverse through the countryside, and I arrived quickly back in Riga on the A2, and returned the VW to Robert.

In the evening, I went to dinner at a place called Taverna, which is a traditional Latvian cuisine restaurant (restorans). Taverna is located along the Ancient Amber Road, and it sort of feels like you’re eating in a basement of an old gothic church because it is almost entirely lit by candles, and the furniture looks like it had been carved from trees. My server, Artis, was even dressed like an old monk, and he was playing some traditional Latvian rock music by a band called “LÄ«vi“, and they sounded like early original Black Sabbath. I ordered the Shepard’s Soup and the Salmon, and of course, a good bottle of wine. The soup was absolutely amazing; sliced onions, carrots, and cabbage in a chicken broth, with diced pork, served along with black bread and sour cream. There was nothing left when I was done with it. Then came the salmon; Baked salmon, served in a base of some kind of sauce that was absolutely amazing, along side steamed cauliflower sprinkled with dill… everything was devoured completely when I was done. For desert, I had bread pudding, which was nothing less than impressive… I remember saying to myself that it’s no wonder my dad was such a good cook, if he grew up eating meals like this. I went back to my hotel, completely satisfied, and enjoyed the first good night’s sleep I’ve had since I began the European adventure.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
I awoke fully refreshed in the morning and after eating breakfast, I went for a walk on the West side of the Daugava River. I crossed the “VanÅ¡u tilts” (Vansu bridge), walked through Victory Park, and then headed back to the old city across the “Akmens tilts” (Akmens Bridge). Unfortunately, at this point I went back to my hotel, because I wasn’t feeling very well, and spent the entire day laying down on my bed with an awful stomach ache… I wasn’t sure if it was something I ate for breakfast, or if my seemingly endless and tiresome adventures had finally caught up with me… Regardless, I missed a day, but, it was actually somewhat nice to just relax and take some time to recuperate.

On the evening of the 16th, I began to feel better and I went out to Taverna again, and visited my new friend, Artis, who once again, hooked me up with an amazing dinner… Although, this time, there were quite a few more people that were dining at Taverna that evening, so Artis was fairly busy, and we didn’t get to talk as much as we did the night before. After dinner, I came back to the hotel, spoke with the love of my life over Skype for about two and a half hours, and crashed.

Thursday, April 17, 2008
Well, it’s time to move on once again, and this time I’m off to Stockholm, Sweden. I finally get to meet up with the love of my life in Stockholm, whom I have been missing terribly for the past 12 days. I really enjoy traveling alone, it’s nice, but there have been some times on this trip that I really would have liked to have someone there at certain points… to share experiences with. Well, it’s time to pack it in and get moving… More news soon.

Paris!
Oooh la la! Magnificent Beaucoup!
Paris is the most amazing city that I have ever been to. Talk about history, culture, and beauty… Paris has it all. Everywhere you turn, there are things to do, amazing landmarks to visit, beautiful roads to walk down, and breathtaking sites to see. You read about these things in books, and they just don’t seem real until you actually see them for yourself. I am very fortunate to have been able to see many of the things that I’ve read about in books and magazines for so long… But, my adventure here begins in London, England.

I left the London St. Pancras railway station in the EuroStar high-speed train (It’s the train that goes under the English Channel, and travels at a speed of about 186MPH) on Friday, April 11 at 11:30am and arrived into Paris at the Gare du Nord train station at 2:30pm… Mind you, you jump forward an hour from London to Paris, so the entire journey takes only two hours. Let me just say, the EuroStar was an awesome experience, except for some of the most obnoxious English people I have ever come across. They kept on and on about “The French do this… ” and “The French do that…” and during the two hour journey they drank two bottles of Champagne… so needless to say, as the train advanced towards Paris, so did their inebriation and obnoxiousness. I was so happy when I was finally able to put some distance between myself and them.

When I stepped out into Paris from the train station I literally had no idea of where I was in relation to where my hotel was, so I found a taxi and had the driver take me to my hotel… which, was only a few blocks from the train station. I think the taxi driver was a little annoyed that his fare was so small, and proceeded to tell me “Impossiblé”… which from my limited knowledge of the French language, meant that he was somewhat ticked off. Many people (Americans, and possibly the rest of the world) think that the French are rude… Actually, they’re not rude at all. They’re just made that way, and are very accommodating and helpful, especially if you make attempts to speak the language… no matter how much you obliterate it.

So, I arrived at my hotel (Hotel Republiqué Les Halles), which was very small (and somewhat nice), I must say… but it’s what you get when you’re looking for the cheapest place to stay in Paris. It is situated in the Republiqué prefecture, just North of the Seine River, and about 1.5KM from the Place de la Bastille monument if you take the “Boulevard de Magenta.” Once I set down my bags, I was so stoked to be in Paris, that I immediately had to go see the “Tour Eiffel.” And so, I set off thinking I would take the “Metropolitain” (the subway)… and found the nearest station, called quite properly “Republiqué.” Luckily the “billets” machine had an English option, so I bought a “single-pass” ticket and proceeded to take several different metros to get to the Tour Eiffel station. I got off the metro, and immediately made my way in the direction of the Tour. When you get off the train, you can’t see it, but it suddenly looms off in the distance after rounding some buildings that hide it from view.

“Wow! I really am in Paris!!!” I remember saying to myself… and so, I visited the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel), and went all the way to the top, or the 3rd floor (trois etage). It was a cold and blistery day in Paris, but I went to the top nonetheless. It started raining when I began standing in line, and just to buy tickets (billets) you had to wait for about 45 minutes, but I stuck it out, because this was something that I had to do. After chilling (literally) for about 45 minutes, I bought my billet, and went inside to get on the elevator. The elevator (ascensuer) takes you to the second floor observation deck, and then you have to get on another elevator to get to the top. C’est Bon! The view is impressive! You can see for miles (kilometers) in every direction from the top. After about 15 minutes at the top, I was frozen, so it was time to go back to my hotel. That night, I went to a little brasserie down the street from my hotel, and had my first dining experience in Paris… Ordering dinner was a little difficult, but the waitress was really nice, and helped me through the ordeal. Haha! Bon Appetit! I was tired afterwards, and went back to my hotel to spend my first night in Paris in my little hotel room.

On Saturday, April 12, I pretty much tried to hit all of the things that I wanted to see in Paris, because rain was in the forecast for the next day, and I knew that if I wanted to see everything, the time was now… So, I visited Notre Dame de Paris, The Louvre, The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, and the Arc de Triomphe, and then walked along the Seine RIver towards the evening, and went to the Boulevard de Saint Germain at night for dinner.

Notre Dame is nothing less than a religious experience… walking through the cathedral, you can really feel the history there. It’s absolutely magnificent, and words cannot describe the beauty of the craftsmanship that comprises the structure, so I won’t even try. So, after Notre Dame, I walked down to the Louvre… The Louvre is HUGE!!!! OMG! Really! It’s a two day thing… you cannot possibly see everything in there in one day. It’s an overload, but I went to see all of the important things, like the Mona Lisa, saw the Babylone exhibit, and sat in awe looking at all of the priceless relics that are laden throughout the museé. After the Louvre, I started my trek up the Champs-Élysées. Wow! The Champs-Élysées is quite the Avenue, you simply have to see it for yourself. And of course, at the top of the Champs-Élysées is the Arc de Triomphe, which is a lot larger than I originally thought it would be. You can purchase tickets to go to the top of it, but after walking so much that day, I didn’t have it in me, so I took pictures of all the angles, and made it back to the Metro to get ready for the evening.

On the evening of the 12th, I took the metro down into the D’Italie prefecture, and walked along the Seine river… and enjoyed the cool Parisien air, along the river. After walking along the river, I went over to the Boulevard de Saint Germain, which is lined with great little cafés and nightclubs. Also, running along side of it is the Latin Quarter, which is probably one of my favorite places in all of Paris. It’s a little road that cuts through one of the blocks, and is lined with more cafés and bars and sidewalk attractions. Every single culture is represented there, and the place is electric with energy. So, I found a little café off of the Latin Quarter, and had dinner, and did a bunch of people-watching.

On Sunday, April 13, I decided to go for a run through the streets of Paris, after a brief walk down the Champs-Élysées in the morning. I ran for about 8 miles, and made my way from my hotel, down the Boulevard de Magenta, down to the Seine River, ran along the Seine until I got to the Louvre, then made it across the Seine, and ran back, passing the Pont Neuf, Notre Dame (where there were these inline skaters who had setup a slalom course in front of Notre Dame, which was awesome to watch), and then made my way through the island that splits the Seine, and then back the way I came up through the Place de la Bastille Prefecture, and back to the Place de la Republiqué. After the run, I went back to the Champs-Élysées to do some shopping…. but since the weather had been awesome the entire time I was there, the rain finally broke through, and it started raining which cut my shopping spree short, which was probably a good thing because everything is super expensive (a beanie from Quicksilver costs 50€… about $75 USD). So, I went back to my hotel room, took a nap, and then went out for dinner at a little café down the street from my hotel, and crashed.

On Monday, April 14, I woke up promptly at 7am, and started the next leg of my European adventure to Latvia… Since I didn’t know how to get to the Charles de Gaulle aéroport (CDG), I figured I’d start early, just in case I made any mistakes getting to where I needed to be. LOL, well, I started a little too early, because I arrived at the CDG airport 5 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave, and here I sit, at the La Brioche Doree in Terminal 2B, pecking away at my keyboard recalling all of the thoughts that are running through my mind. However, I would like to add that the public transportation system in France is nothing less than fantastic. The metros run in perfect unison with the other trains, so, if you need to make three hops from one train to another to get to where you want to go, by the time you arrive at the next hop, the train is pretty much pulling up moments after you get there. Even the peripheral trains that connect to the rest of the country run very well. The public transportation system in France is highly optimized, is clean for the most part (except for a few stations here and there), and is hidden from view, thereby not taking away from the beauty that surrounds Paris.

I found this and thought it was one of the best pieces of software ever written for exporting your Mac OS X Address Book to any particular format you could possibly think of.

I was checking this out the other day and thought I’d share this with you… Luis and Anya at the NYC Salsa Congress 2007…

Just wanted to throw this up here, because it’s some of the cleanest, non-flashy salsa dancing I’ve ever seen… Thought you’d like to check it out.

I just realized today that I haven’t posted anything up here about the project that I’ve been working on for the past several months… So, without further adieu, I introduce to you, the DesertLab Class 7 Open VORRA / SCORE Desert Race Truck (DL7).

I have been tasked with engineering the electrical systems on the DL7… so several major considerations come to mind when you’re dealing with a race truck that could, at any time in it’s life, be hundreds of miles away from the nearest pit crew during a long point to point race such as the Baja 1000.

1) Safety – It’s gotta be super safe… This isn’t a Tonka Truck!
2) Durability – It must withstand relentless desert conditions!
3) Simplicity – Must be simple for ease of maintenance and use!
4) Modularity – Must be able to disassemble in sections!
5) Sorry… Trade Secrets Here!!! Can’t give you all the details!

So, after all those considerations, I set upon my task of meeting the objectives that were set forth. And, I’m happy to say that all of them have been met, if not exceeded!

The DL7 is nearing completion and trials and testing begin shortly! I’ll be posting more photos and links shortly, so stay tuned for more information!

Have you ever had a dinner that literally made you smile because it tasted so good? I mean seriously, like the kind of smile where there’s nothing you can do to get rid of it? As if to say, someone could throw a full glass of water in your face, and you’d just keep on smiling? I was fortunate enough to have one of those dinners the other day, created and prepared by Chef Matteo of 4CourseVegan (4CV).

The 4 Course Vegan dinner was hands-down and by far one of the most wonderful dinner experiences I’ve ever had. I was joined by 16 other people who had come as far as New Jersey to attend the dinner in Williamsburg, NY (or Brooklyn for those of you unfamiliar with the area). Chef Matteo personally serves each guest and explains the ingredients of each of the wonderfully prepared and visually stimulating courses.

The 5 course 4CV dinner featured unique tastes and aromas found only in some of the most prestigious five-star restaurants in the world; almost startling to find these in an unsuspecting kitchen in Williamsburg. For anyone visiting the New York City area, I would highly recommend you treat yourself to one of the most amazing culinary experiences you will ever have. Carnivores and vegans alike will truly love the 4 Course Vegan dinners!

I went and checked out the Dezert People Cinco Movie Premeire last night at Coach’s Sports Bar in Campbell, CA, and let me just say that this is the best cinematography I’ve ever seen of desert racing. The Dezert People guys have definitely stepped up their game over the last several releases, and this movie did not disappoint. The soundtrack kicks ass, some of the shots leave you feeling like you need to dust yourself off, and several of the sequences feature Travis Pastrana in his Subaru WRX Rally car, Pistol Pete’s Class 1 Trophy Truck, and numerous other sequences that are sure to leave you wanting more.

If you want more info, you can check out their web site here:
Desert People Cinco

Last weekend, I installed a Camburg Engineering Long-Travel Suspension System on my 2001 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4×4 truck, equipped with Sway-A-Way Race Runner Series 2.5 inch coil over shocks with remote reservoirs. OMG! What a huge difference over the stock suspension?!?! It’s an amazing kit, and I am thoroughly impressed with the appearance, performance, and tactile characteristics of the kit! Seriously, it’s great. The following are a few observations I’ve made after a few hours of use.

Observation #1:
One of the things that perturbs me about the new kit is the Camburg lower A-arms rub the stock steering shafts directtly on the bypass shock tabs, which dramatically increases the turning radius and leaves a really nasty rub-mark directly on the nice powder-coat finish of the Camburg lower A-arms.

Observation #2:
Handling is dramatically improved and I can hang corners at a much higher rate of speed compared to the stock Bilstein shocks. Sway-A-Way has definitely done their homework, and the performance of the coil-overs dramatically improves ride-feel and response when encountering bumps, rough terrain, and differentiations in road conditions.

As far as the front suspension is concerned… Next, I plan to install bypass shocks to improve the control of the ride during turning and off-road excursions. The rear suspension will be done as soon as the entire front-end of the truck is done. Stay tuned for more updates as the build continues, as I’ll post the progress of the build here.