Montana

I crossed the Continental Divide for the first time

I'm sitting in a McDonalds in Livingston, MT writing this. In the 15 minutes I've been here I've had 2 sets of Michigan Grads walk in and talk to me. Which is great because yesterday I was feeling a little lonely.

I woke up in Idaho and hit the road early. After some mega-blogging in Coeur D'Alene, I got to drive through Northern Idaho which I remember from my drive out west 4 years ago as spectacular. It did not disappoint.

I then turned onto the country roads in Montana to drive up to Kalispell. Even the two lane country roads in Montana have a speed limit of 70MPH, so the Camaro really got to hug the roads. I drove up next to Flathead lake which was georgous before stopping in Kalispell fol lunch. From there it was on to Glacier National Park. The going to the sun road was still closed with snow, but I went as far as I could from the west side of the park. It was spectacular but driving through Highway 2 to the east side I think I would have really enjoyed that portion of the park even more.

From there it was more country roads all the way to Great Falls and onto my campsite at the Lewis and Clark Nat'l Forest. I made camp at a roadside campsite which was very unlike the campground I had stayed in the previous nights. Instead of having 30+ campsites packed with people and crying babies, I was the only person at this 6-site campground situated between the road and a mountainside. I also didn't have a cell signal which made me acutely aware of just how alone I was. I ended up retreating to me tent early.

This morning I woke up around 5:30 and packed up camp and after a few rainy hours on the road ended up at this here McDouglass's. Today I explore Yellowstone! Upwards and Onwards!

Baseball Cities

I've always lived in cities with AL baseball teams. I prefer AL baseball and there are some great cities with AL teams. I've been thinking the past couple of days about which division in baseball has the best cities in it. If for some reason I had to choose one division in baseball and I had a random chance of living in any of the cities within that division, what would be at the top of my list? I went through and ranked them all based on my perceptions of each city as a place to live not considering being a fan of baseball.

6th - AL Central (Detroit, Cleveland, Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis)

The AL Central is hard to rank last growing up a Tigers fan, but straight up there are a few cities in the AL Central that I really wouldn't want to live in. Kansas City is lifeless, Cleveland is Cleveland, Minneapolis in nice when it's not 10 degrees outside. I grew up near Detroit but it's still not a city that I would be excited to live in. The only great city in the AL Central is Chicago.

5th - NL Central (Milwaukee, St Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Houston, Chicago)

With 6 teams the NL Cental is nice if you like manufacturing cities located on rivers. None of these cities would be horrible to live in but most of them lack the glamour of a great city. The only cities I'd be excited to move to are Houston and Chicago.

4th - AL West (Dallas, Seattle, Oakland, LA)

In contrast to the NL Central, the AL West only has 4 cities making it a bit easier to rank. It seems like nothing good ever happens in Oakland. Dallas still strikes me as a city stuck in the 1990's. LA is LA, and as much as I hate to admit it would be a really cool city to live in. I live in Seattle so I know that it's a fine place but I honestly feel that it's lacking the character of some of the better cities in the US.

3rd - AL East (NYC, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Baltimore)

The AL East has 4 cities that I would totally jump at living in. NYC, Boston and Toronto are amazing cities and Tampa is really nice too. But the AL East also has Baltimore. Baltimore really drags it down the list. Maybe I've watched too much of The Wire, but no one wants to live in Baltimore.

2nd - NL West (San Francisco, San Diego, LA, Phoenix, Denver)

There are some great cities in the NL West and I like all of them. The last time I was in Denver I didn't really get a chance to appreciate the city but what I hear/read about Denver is that it's pretty decent. All the other cities I really love. Beautiful cities with great weather and lots of fun things about them.

1st - NL East (Washington, Philly, Atlanta, NYC, Miami)

The NL East really has it all. Each of these cities have been great places every time I've been. I've driven around Philly, but I haven't ever spent the weekend there. The other 4 cities I've been to a fair amount and they are all terrific. There isn't one city on this list that I would be unhappy living in.

I guess I hate on the midwest but with the exception of Chicago most of the cities are depressingly banal. From the view of a 24 year old LA and NYC beat out Milwaukee and Cleveland. Another note, whilst compiling this list I realized that the only MLB City I haven't been to is Toronto.

What do my readers think? Agree, disagree? Just a reminder to keep the comments reasonable. With all the comments on my last few posts I guess I need to remind you guys to not go overboard.

Drunkest Man in America

I went to DC for New Years. After waking up from a tremendous all-you-can-drink on Friday night, we proceeded directly to the bar at noon on Saturday to watch the Gator bowl. Because of the results we decided just keep drinking all day and all night.

Somewhere around hour 9 of 14 and bar number 4 we began wondering if we were any of us were approaching the title of drunkest man in DC. Clearly, one of us held the title of drunkest man in the bar we were at. But there was no way tell if any of us could claim the title of drunkest man in our nation's Capitol.

Human microchip implants are an existing technology. Cell phones with RFID readers exist. I'd wager that in 40 or 50 years microchips will be widely used in conjunction with cell phones for people to monitor their blood sugar, temp and other body statistics such as BAC. This could be very helpful for people that want to know if they are legal to drive a vehicle or need an insulin shot.

So it stands to reason that it could be possible to create a phone app that compares the BAC for a large number of people and output over what geographic area you are the drunkest man. I'm pretty sure there have been a few times that I've contended for DMIA. I've at least broached the top-100, and definitely have been the drunkest man in Ann Arbor. But until the future catches up, I'll have no way to know for sure.

Brian invests in America; Lotto, Ebay, Flags, Eagles, Sunglasses and Trucks

My little scratch off hobby has grown into a full blown addiction. I know this because everyday after - and sometimes before - lunch I go to 7-11 and play the instant game. Any winnings get immediately re-invested. That might not make me an addict, but I'm pretty sure anytime your using the ATM in the 7-11 to get out cash for lotto tickets it means your on the edge. Your overboard when you start playing the 20$ ticket. I'm overboard. This is what the drawer in my cubicle looks like.
Underneath the 60$ of lotto tickets, Pop Rocks, take-out menu's and Ramen are some 5.25 inch floppy's labeled "1985". But today I won 25$. It was on a 20$ ticket mind you, so I only really won 5$. But when she handed me 25$ it felt like 25$. So I decided to keep the cash and blow it all on eBay.

I got the polarized Oakley Fives 2.0 that I wanted. I Then decided that I needed some more Americana. So I bought some American flags. I already have an amazing 10 foot Stars and Bars, that is in my room right now. So it was time for the novelty flags. I choose these two.

and
The question lingering is which one I should put up in my cubicle. It's too bad I only have room for one. I'm thinking truck. Then I can wear the eagle flag as a cape.

These two babies should be here before the 4th. Unfortunately I won't be able to fly them on the 4th, because I'll be doing something much more American. I will be traveling one tenth of the way across America in a bus.

Can't Get More American that That

Yesterday I was driving down I-75 in a Ford, windows down sunroof open, drinking a Coke, eating McDonalds double cheeseburgers and listening to Bruce Springsteen.