dirtbike hillclimb in Hood River, Oregon

This is a little video of some friends and I playing around in the woods on our dirtbikes, trying to climb a huge hill. It's actually way steeper and longer than it looks in the video, promise! Only one guy out of 6 of us made it all the way to the top. Intense!
I'm gonna miss my dirtbike while were on our trip...

Turn your volume up because the beautiful sounds of dirtbikes is the best part! In the video I'm the guy with the really ugly red/yellow pants!

You can also click here to see it larger

snoozin

a funny moment i captured at sams club in amarillo, texas. this dude is definitely diggin his nap in the warm car while the wife is inside shoppin away.

11,015

Deleting 11,015 RAW files and freeing up 103 gigs of HD space feels REALLY GOOD.

Couchsurfing - Mike and Andrea Katz

This post is WAYYY overdue.

Hmm, where to start... Ok first I'll tell you about a totally awesome website called CouchSurfing.com



Basically, people from all over the world (223 countries and 32,160 cities) have offered their couch for YOU to crash on while traveling. It's awesome. I don't want to try and explain it all when they have already done a great job explaining it here, so check it out.

My experiences with CS (couchsurfing)... All of them have been wonderful!

My first was about a year ago in New York City. My sister Lindsey was really into CS, and had already done it in Japan and other far away places. Honestly I was doubtful, and wasn't too sure about the idea of staying with strangers. But, we ended up staying with this awesome couple in their NYC apartment, just a block away from central park. We totally hit it off with them and really enjoyed their company.

So far that has been my only "surfing" experience, but I've hosted a couple times, which was just as awesome!

And that is where Mike and Andrea Katz come into the story. They surfed with us in July, and it was totally awesome. When Andrea contacted me and I checked out their page, I could immediately tell we were all going to get along. It was such a fun time hosting them. They stayed 3 (or maybe 4?) nights... way too quick!
One of the many reasona we hit it off is because Mike and Andrea were just starting a 9-month around the world trip! A trip very similar to what Bethany and I are doing... but much more extensive.
Anyway, we are really looking forward to seeing them again because the plan is to meet up with them in Thailand and/or Nepal next year! Definitely cannot wait to dive the waters of Thailand with Mike!

Here are a few snaps of Mike and Andrea from July.

Hangin out, having fun talking late at night-
Mike requested a "hairy cleavage shot" of himself... Here it is Mike! hahaha

On their way out... off from our place in Hood River to Peru!

One last shot of the 4 of us-

Here is a snapshot Mike got of a great white in South Africa. (they went in a underwater cage with great whites swimming around them!)

Since they were at our place in July they have been to- Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Zambia, and now they are in Turkey! Crazy...
They have an awesome website for their family and friends to keep up with, and they add photos and journals often. Check it out here! http://www.thekatzes.com/

So, with all that said... please check out CouchSurfing... sign up for free, make a page and surf some couches! Also check out my page here, and add me as a friend! (especially if I know you)

getty ads featuring alien people

warning: this is a rant.

getty images is the largest and most powerful stock agency in the world. they have something like 70 million images in their archive and annual revenues around 800 million dollars.

you'd think with all that at their fingertips, they could put out a decent ad?

i subscribe to a weekly "creativity" email with news about the advertising world and all that jazz. in todays email the first thing you notice is a getty images ad featuring an alien like woman (obviously photoshopped) and the words "The new gettyimages.com - Search re-engineered"

what the heck? i don't get it.

so i click on the ad, and it directs me to the page below, featuring an alien looking dude (obviously photoshopped again) with the words "Search with more precision. Explode your thinking. Finding the right image just got a whole lot easier. Explore the possibilities."

Ok...

what the heck? i still don't get it.

i clicked around for another minute trying to make sense of it all and find the catch line. nothing. not a thing.

i mean, this is stretching it, but maybe, just maybe, the photos are a play off of "explode your thinking" and that is supposed to be what someone looks like when your thinking is exploded...?

seriously, am i missing something here or is this the worst ad EVER? what do you think? please share...

digimon is back!

my digimon camera is back! (digimon is what I have always called my little point&shoot cameras)
last time we drove to Michigan to visit Bethany's family i misplaced digimon and i spent hours and days trying to find it, but always with no luck. i bring that thing everywhere and take snaps of everything, so it was a major bummer not having it all this time. i just couldn't bring myself to buy a new one though, because in the back of my mind i knew it would show up sometime, somewhere.
so bethany was recently in michigan visiting her family, and i asked her to look around for the camera again. she did, and then she started thinking about where we went around the time it disappeared, and she amazingly remembered that one night we went to an irish pub to have dinner and listen to live music... so she gave them a call and asked if they have a lost and found. sure enough, i left it there and they kept it that whole time, almost 4 months!
so hopefully i'll be able to update this blog more often because i'll be snapping pics again with digimon.