Livermore, CA

After spending a couple days in Tempe, I flew to Livermore, CA for an interview with Sandia National Laboratories. Before interviewing, I practiced my best schmoozing techniques.

The interview itself was grueling, but went quite well. I gave an hour-long seminar, followed by 10 one-on-one meetings throughout the day. The toughest part was dusting off my brain after 7 months of inactivity.

Cedar City, UT

On December 8 I began the 2-day drive from Boise back to Tempe. I stopped off in Cedar City, UT the first night. When I woke up, the temperature was 1 degree Fahrenheit. Here's a mediocre attempt to take a picture of my 1-degree breath.

The second day of driving was beautiful, as it passed through southern Utah and northern Arizona, which is full of winding roads and awesome canyons. Google maps claimed the drive would take 9.5 hours, but I did it in 7. Suck it, Google maps!

Palm Coast, FL

On December 3 I flew from Boise to Florida for a Kokondo seminar in Palm coast. When I left Boise that morning, the temperature was 10 degrees Fahrenheit -- a perfect time to head to Florida! The seminar was a great time, as usual. We had a great turnout, and George has an awesome dojo space down there.

On Saturday, the kids broke boards at the end of their class, and then had all the black belts sign their boards. I felt like a rock star.

Boise, ID

On November 29 I drove from Walla Walla down to Boise, ID to spend a week with my friends Vince and Lisa. Being good friends, they provided me with lots of alcohol.

It was a great week; we spent the day doing kata in the living room and doing throws in the garage.

Note the beginnings of an epic beard.

Walla Walla, WA

On November 25, my parents and I drove from Pullman to Walla Walla to do Thanksgiving with my brother, his wife, and her family. The first night there, I ended up in a volleyball game loaded with former high school and college players. Luckily, this meant that there were plenty of people to tell me where to go.

Dinner was very good, and a bit chaotic with multitudes of people rushing around the kitchen. I did my part and mashed the potatoes.

Here's a shot of most of the group.

While in Walla Walla, I also did some Christmas caroling. No, really. Audra had a few of us show up at her friend's house and sing jingle bells. We were terrible, and everyone in the house seemed really confused until Audra and Brent popped out from behind a bush.

After Thanksgiving, a bunch of us headed up to a cabin in the Blue Mountains. We drank hot cocoa, then turned off all the lights and played hide and go seek. I had to wear a hat so that my shiny head wouldn't give me away in the dark.

Pullman, WA, for the third time

After a week in Seattle, I returned to Pullman, WA for the two weeks before Thanksgiving. As I may have alluded before, not much happens in Pullman. Therefore, to pass the time I spent as many waking hours as possible in either the public library (free wireless Internet!) or in Washington State University's palatial rec center, which is equipped with a giant swimming pool, a monstrous weight room, and hordes of hot college babes.

Unfortunately, all the hot college babes were gone for Thanksgiving break.

With nothing else to do, I also decided to cut my hair. Now, here's the thing about hair -- just when it becomes awesome, it also becomes nearly unmanageable.

See how awesome/unmanageable that hair is? Anyway, I spaced out and had an accident with the clippers, the result being a necessary shaving of my head.

So yeah, I'll be sporting the bald-with-a-beard look for Thanksgiving. No worries, though; there will only be about 25 people at dinner this year. And I have a job interview in three weeks.

Seattle, WA

On November 9, I drove across the state to Seattle. I stayed with local Kokondo sensei Gary Mikasa and his wife Diane. Like everyone else, they were incredibly hospitable; I had an entire basement to myself, and Diane cooked up a storm while I was there.

In addition to attending a variety of Kokondo classes and a seminar with Kaicho Howard, I also had the chance to catch up with some old friends. I met Julie and Joe for lunch in West Seattle, and had a chance to revisit some of the areas where I grew up.

I also got to see my old friend Dan at a party in Issaquah. We were neighbors in the graduate dorm at Washington State University, and our rooms shared an adjoining bathroom. WSU officially called us "showermates" but I prefer to call him my "bathroom buddy."

In unemployment-related news, I also applied for a postdoc position at Sandia while I was in Seattle.

Helena, MT

On November 6, my mom and I rented a van and drove to Montana to pick up the last of her stuff in Helena. Like the true vagabonds that we are, we slept in the back of the van on the first night.

While in Helena, we visited a wellness labyrinth with a peace pole in the middle. The labyrinth was 75 feet in diameter, but it was a 0.3-mile meditative trek to reach the middle.

In Helena, we stayed at my mom's friend's house for the night. When we arrived, her cat seemed incredibly interested in my shoes. I commented that they must smell like dogs because I had just been kicking some puppies. For some reason, that joke didn't go over so well.

Pullman, WA

On October 28, I left the Bay Area and drove north. My plan was to camp a night in the redwoods and then work my way toward Pullman, WA. However, for some reason I became possessed and drove 18 straight hours to Pullman. I don't know why I did it; maybe all this time on the road is getting to me.

Halloween in Pullman was exciting -- I watched TV for a while, then went to bed. It was the exact opposite of this:

The last time I was in Pullman, the snow was out of control, and the roof of my parents' house became clogged with ice dams. So this time around my dad and I spent an afternoon covering the gutters with some low-resistance heating wire, in preparation for another ridiculous winter.

Bay Area, CA

On October 19, I drove from Bakersfield up to Redwood City to hang out with AJ and Fiona for a while. My time in the Bay Area included the usual assortment of activities: coffee, alcohol, gymnastics, karate, jujitsu, hiking, making fun of ridiculous martial arts movies, going to a boylesque show in San Francisco, and eating sushi.

My friend Pete moved down to the Bay Area recently, and my friend Pat was also in town for a football game. Back in the glory days at Sandia, the three of us called ourselves Orgy of Talent, and we went surfing.

This time, we just hung out in Oakland and ate Ethiopian food.

Bakersfield, CA

On October 9, I drove from Tempe to Bakersfield for a weekend Kokondo seminar. As usual, it was a good time, and we were given plenty to work on and think about. Here's a good shot of all the black belts lined up, preparing to terrorize the non-black belts:

After the seminar, I stayed at Barbe's house for a week, and attended the Bakersfield Kokondo classes on Monday, Thursday, and Sunday. Aside from that, it was a pretty depressing week. I spent most of the week sitting on the couch, watching people fail miserably on Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, which was interrupted every 5 minutes for some bail bonds commercials. Going to see Capitalism: A Love Story didn't help much either. On the plus side, I'm still unemployed!

Ok, it wasn't all bad. One day I was doing kata in a field when a small kid walked by and said, "Look mom, a ninja!"

Boyce Thompson Arboretum, AZ

About 30 minutes east of Tempe sits Boyce Thompson Arboretum, which sounded like a nice place for a quick day hike. Upon arriving, we were told that it would take about 1.5 hours to complete a walk through the park. It took us 20 minutes, which included me stopping to pour some water out of my water bottle.

Although the hike was disappointing, there were some colorful plants, as well as a hummingbird and a huge-assed bee.

Grand Canyon, AZ

After 10 days of sitting on the couch and watching TV, my significant other grew disgusted and decided that we should get out of town for a day or two. So, we went up to Flagstaff and dropped by the US Naval Observatory's open house. They had the telescope trained on Jupiter that night, and after waiting in line for 2 hours, we were finally able to catch a glimpse. It was pretty cool; the wind-generated stripes in the planet's atmosphere were visible. We were even able to see a couple of Jupiter's moons.

The next day, we continued north to the Biggest Damn Hole in the United States (or Grand Canyon for short).

While there, we noticed a strange phenomenon. Many of the tourists, when given a choice between taking pictures of The Biggest Damn Hole in the Western Hemisphere, and taking pictures of a glorified rodent, chose the rodent.

Seriously people, they're just rats with big bushy tails. They also cause power outages and are high in cholesterol.

Tempe, AZ

On September 16, I returned to the scene of the crime -- Tempe, AZ. It was a little strange to return to the town where I did my PhD, as it was the site of simultaneously the 5 best and 5 worst years of my life. When I arrived, I was greeted by my PhD diploma and a bound copy of my dissertation:

To complete the trifecta, I decided to finally get that tattoo I always wanted:

Four Corners, AZ, CO, NM, and UT

On my way from Navajo State Park to Tempe, I stopped at Four Corners, the junction of AZ, CO, NM, and UT. While having my picture taken I attempted to stand in the timeless void between all four states. The world lurched, the skies opened, and the gods voiced their displeasure at my attempt at immortality. That explains the crookedness of this picture.

Navajo State Park, CO

After a harrowing descent of Pike's Peak, I drove to Navajo State Park in southern Colorado, just north of New Mexico.

While setting up camp, I was caught out in a short rainstorm. That sucked, but the ensuing rainbow provided a small degree of consolation.

That night, my neighbors Jeremy, Paul, and Ray invited me over for some hamburgers, shrimp, and Bud Light. Unsurprisingly, Jeremy lived in Mesa, AZ for several years.

Pike's Peak, CO

On the morning of September 15, I took my trusty car up the menacing slopes of Pike's Peak. After driving over washboarded gravel roads for part of the way, I realized that the shocks in my car are completely shot. I blame the crappy highways in Massachusetts.

Here's a view of the summit from halfway up.

The top of Pike's Peak was muddy and chock full of tourists, but the views were still majestic.

Here's the proof that I was actually there, and didn't just download these images off of the Internet.

Eleven Mile State Park, CO

On September 14, I drove from Kansas to Eleven Mile State Park, a few miles west of Colorado Springs, CO. It was absolutely beautiful, and I was happy to be back in the mountains. After reaching my campsite, I noticed a thunderstorm brewing on the other side of the lake.

I watched and listened as the lightning and thunder drew closer and closer, but I held out hope that the storm would pass me by.

Nope.

After spending a fitful night attempting to sleep in my car, I woke up before sunrise and enjoyed the view.

Cedar Bluff State Park, KS

On September 13 I left St. Louis and drove to Cedar Bluff State Park, in western Kansas. It was flat.

In the early evening, I decided to work on some kata. When I started the sun was up, but all of sudden I found myself in overwhelming darkness. I couldn't figure out what happened, but then I remembered that it's not June anymore. I have been on the road for 3 months, and the nights are now about as long as the days.

A post to make this blog more Twitter-like

Today I shaved.