Klippies se Korner

Dana Point, Baja Sur, Kansas City

2009-04-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Arrived in LAX and had to hang around for Katie to arrive. Snow and planes don't generally compliment each other well, so she was delayed for a while. Duce, picked us up in the Bronco, a car that he managed to get for a case of beer. Nonetherless, a quality vehicle it was.

Headed down to Dana Point, just South of Laguna Beach in Cali. Managed to sneak in an In-N-Out Burger - Made from fresh ingredients and hand cut potatos. Caught the sunset and watched some waves down on the beach before retiring to the couch for a good chat over a some PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon for everyone other than Marti).

Thursday we headed to LA via Hermosa Beach. Had some Lunch at a place called Sharkeez. Fish Tacos = heaven.

Headed off to Jerad's house after that before TURTLE racing. What a joll.

So hundreds of people rock up at Brenners Bar in LA for the big event. There is a green mat on the floor, about 4 X 4 meters with a small circle in the center and a large circle on the edges. People line up to choose their turtle, $5 a pop. Four turtle at a time get put in the middle and they race to the edges. Classic.

Hung out in Dana Point till sunday. visited Newport Beach and a couple of other spots.

Flew to Mexico on Sunday with Katie. Arrived in Cabo and decided to rent a car for a couple of days. Drove that afternoon to La Ventana, South West of La Paz, andchecked into Captain Kirks.

La ventana is Kite surfing heaven. huge bay with a constant Norte (Northerly) wind. Kiters and Windsurfers from all over come to this spot.
Captain Kirks is an awesome spot and we had a great little casita. Spent on day cruising around La Paz and getting some provisions, and spent the other three Kayaking, Stand Paddle Boarding, and enjoying the sun and the local beverages. We played backgammon nightly as the sun want down and had some great catch up time.

We left La Ventana and headed to Cabo San Lucas. Basically USA in mexico. Was fun there though, watched some great live music and did some snorkeling. It is quite an exciting town. Was busy for the easter weekend with a whole lot of americans.

Flew back to the States on Sunday and Katie and I parted ways in Denver airport. :(
I continued to Kansas City and she continued to Aspen!

Landed in Kansas late on Sunday night and Nic Grivanis picked me up.. Spent the first day in kansas taking it easy whilst Nic was at School.
Had a couple of cold beers and braais in the evenings I was there. met a great bunch of guys from all over. We spent two days helping Cameron paint a house that he was renovating which was fun.

Misse my flight out of Kansas City. Not ideal but I have made it to Austin. Beautiful place!

Will spend a better and more detaild post soon!

Slacker, NYC, and Charlotte

2009-04-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have been slack. But it hard to tear yourself away from the beach, to sit in front of a laptop to send mails and post blogs. But here goes.

Finally made it to NYC. After a 10hour flight from CT to Dubai, 1 4 hour layover, and a 14hour flight from Dubai to NY. Although I was on the abslolutely incredible A380-800 Airbus, I had possibly the most badly behaved 2 year old next to me whos mother didn't give a frikking hoot about her childs bad behavior. Thus, sleep was not going as well as planned! Did have two rather attractive Aussie hostesses to keep me company though. :)

Arrived late in the evening on Friday after a transfer with a Taxi Driver that made South African Taxi Drivers look as tame as a frikking Daschund. But made it out alive.
Went out for cheap, yet awesome curry a few blocks from Adam and Claire's apartment. Okay, cheap is a relative term here. Nothing in New York is cheap.
Went for drinks at 230 on Fifth Rooftop Bar which was styling. unfortunately I was a little buggered, so crashed realaitively early.

Spent the Satursday cruising down Broadway and in Soho. Had the greatest breakfast Bagel at Murray's Bagels. Did some window shopping, bought cheap sunglasses, had coffee at the Grey Dog, possibly the most unique coffee shop I have ever been to and headed home.

Ad and I set off to play rugby for Stern Bussiness School against the Wharton Warthogs (U Penn Bussiness School). Rather tight game, but the South African influence made the difference and we won 7-0. Went to a small pub under below the apartment for drinks and found local. Barteneder ended up giving us a bunch of free drinks and what was going to be one quite one turned into a few.

Sunday I flew to Charlotte to see Paul, Sandy, Felix and Jordan. Arrived sunday lunch and chilled out with the family, taking it easy. Dave, Dee, Teegan, and Cameron came round for a drink.

Monday took it easy with the family, did some planning, and packed my backpack for my journey. Went for a drink with George and Abi to the Rusty Rudder. Had deep fried pickles (gerkhins). Can you phathim that? Anyhooo, they had Flat Tire so I was a happy guy. Had a good catch up with them and got to drive George's old, yet awesome, LandCruiser home.

Tuesday is Paulus's day off, so got to hang out with him. Went for an epic MTB ride in the afternoon on his new Gary Fischer. What a joll. Sandy and Dee had bookclub that evening, so Paul, Dave and I took the kids for dinner to Cheeeburgers in Paradise (a Jimmy Buffet Franchise). Had a Cheesburger..What do you expect?

Wednesday I flew to LA to meet Katie and Duce.

Last Day of Work

2009-03-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

So, today is my last day at work! There will be many pints polished off this evening at Beluga (The Local for the past 2 years) and The Mowbray (The new Shebeen SSC Headquarters).

I fly to New York on the 26th of March for a weekend of mayhem with my cousin Adam and Claire, from there I head to Charlotte, North Carolina for 3 days with my brother Paul, Sandy and my niece and nephew.

On 1st April I head to Los Angeles to meet up with Katie and my buddies Ted and Jerad before heading down to Baja , Mexico for two weeks of sea, sun and fun!

(The above are all pics of a place calle Mulege where I will be spending a couple of days with Katie on the beach! shitlife.com)

Will keep this updated as much as I can and gooi some photos up soon!

Teill next time!

Peace!

South America here we come

2009-02-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

Next stop Central and South America!

Dr. Phil says...

2007-08-20T04:24:00.000-07:00

How to ease constipation in half a second...

2007-08-17T01:04:00.000-07:00

Ellies ay Sun City

2007-08-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris's Cat!

2007-07-02T01:16:00.000-07:00

Chuck sent me this picture of his cat! This thing is hardcore!

Erotica Tinting!

2007-06-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Got sent his at work. Too funny! I want some for my car!
Qwa-La-Tee

Klippies and Jerry Collins!

2007-06-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Sat next to the big man himsefl at the Durban Intenational Airport. SOLID!

2007-06-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

Hangover Ratings

1 STAR HANGOVER

No pain. no real feeling of illness. You slept in your own bed and when you woke up there were no traffic cones in there with you.

You are still able to function relatively well on the energy stored up from all those vodka and Red Bulls.

However, you can drink 10 bottles of water and still feel as parched as the Sahara.

Even vegetarians are craving a Cheeseburger and a bag of fries.

2 STAR HANGOVER

No pain, but something is definitely amiss. You may look okay but you have the attention span and mental capacity of a stapler.

The coffee you hug to try and remain focused is only exacerbating your rumbling gut, which is craving a full English breakfast.

Although you have a nice demeanour about the office, you are costing your employer valuable money because all you really can handle is some light filing, followed by aimlessly surfing the net and writing junk e-mails.

3 STAR HANGOVER

Slight headache. Stomach feels crap. You are definitely a space cadet and not so productive.

Anytime a girl or lad walks by you gag because the perfume/aftershave reminds you of the random gin shots you did with your alcoholic friends after the bouncer kicked you out at 1:45 am.

Life would be better right now if you were in your bed with a kebab and a litre of coke watching daytime TV.

You've had 4 cups of coffee, a gallon of water, 6 chicken nuggets and a litre of diet coke yet you haven't peed once.

4 STAR HANGOVER

You have lost the will to live. Your head is throbbing and you can't speak too quickly or else you might spew.

Your boss has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze.

You wore nice clothes, but you smell of socks, and you can't hide the fact that you (depending on your gender) either missed an oh-so crucial spot shaving, or, it looks like you put your make-up on while riding the dodgems.

Your teeth have their own individual sweaters. Your eyes look like one big vein and your hairstyle makes you look like a reject from a second-grade class circa 1976.

You would give a weeks pay for one of the following - home time, a cheeseburger and somewhere to be alone, or a Time Machine so you could go back and NOT have gone out the night before.

You scare small children in the street just by walking past them.

5 STAR HANGOVER

You have a second heartbeat in your head, which is actually annoying the employee who sits next to you.

Vodka vapour is seeping out of every pore and making you dizzy.

You still have toothpaste crust in the corners of your mouth from brushing your teeth.

Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva, so your tongue is suffocating you.

You'd cry but that would take the last drop of moisture left in your body.

Death seems pretty good right now. Your boss doesn't even get mad at you and your co-workers think that your dog just died because you look so pathetic. You should have called in sick because, let's face it, all you can manage to do is breathe ..... very gently.

6 STAR HANGOVER

You arrive home and climb into bed.

Sleep comes instantly, as you were fighting it all the way home in the taxi.

You get about 2 hours sleep until the noises inside your head wake you up.

You notice that your bed has been cleared for take off and is flying relentlessly around the room.

No matter what you do you now, you're going to chuck.

You stumble out of bed and now find that your room is in a yacht under full sail.

After walking along the skirting boards on alternating walls knocking off all the pictures, you find the toilet.

If you are lucky you will remember to lift the lid before you spontaneously explode and wake the whole house up with your impersonation of walrus mating calls.

You sit there on the floor in your undies, cuddling the only friend in the world you have left (the toilet), randomly continuing to make the walrus noises, spitting, and farting. Help usually comes at this stage, even if it is short lived.

Tears stream down your face and your abdomen hurts. Help now turns into abuse and he/she usually goes back to bed leaving you there in the dark.

With your stomach totally empty, your spontaneous eruptions have died back to 15-minute intervals, but your body won't relent.

You are convinced that you are starting to turn yourself inside out and swear that you saw your tonsils shoot out of your mouth on the last occasion.

It is now dawn and you pass your disgusted partner getting up for the day as you try to climb into bed. She/he abuses you again for trying to get into bed with lumpy bits of dried vomit in your hair.

You reluctantly accept their advice and have a shower in exchange for them driving you to the hospital.

Work is simply not an option.

The whole day is spent trying to avoid anything that might make you sick again, like moving.

You vow never to touch a drop again and who knows for the next two or three hours at least you might even succeed.

OK, now hands up all those who have never had a six star hangover!!

Thought so!!

You are proudly South African when....

2007-06-26T02:08:00.000-07:00

1. You produce a R100 note instead of your drivers licence when stopped by a traffic officer.

2. You can do your monthly shopping on the pavement.

3. You have to hire a security guard whenever you park your car.

4. You can count the national soccer teams scores with no fingers.

5. To get free electricity you have to pay a connection fee of R750 6. Hijacking cars is a profession.

7. You can pay your tuition fees by holding up a sign at a traffic light

8. The petrol in your tank may be worth more than your car.

9. More people vote in a local reality TV show than in a local election.

10. People have the most wonderful names: Christmas, Goodwill, Pretty, Wednesday, Blessing, Brilliant, Gift and Given.

11. Now now can mean anything from a minute to a month!

12. You continue to wait after a traffic light has turned to green to make way for taxis travelling in the opposite direction.

13. Travelling at 120 km/h you´re the slowest vehicle on the highway.

14. You´re genuinely and pleasantly surprised whenever you find your car parked where you left it.

15. The last time you visited the coast you paid more in speeding fines and toll fees than you did for the entire holiday.

16. You paint your cars registration on the roof.

17. Half your mail is guaranteed to reach its destination.

18. You have to take your own linen with you if you are admitted to a government hospital.

19. You dial a toll free number and nobody answers.

20.You have to prove that you don´t need a loan to get one.

21.Prisoners go on strike.

Coincidence?

2007-06-19T01:21:00.001-07:00

Unhappy Chidren

2007-06-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

No wonder i didn't get any presents....and I was such a good boy!

Focus on your goals!

2007-06-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

Flippin Big Rabbit

2007-06-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

Aspen Pub Golf

2007-02-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

So, Pub Golf was an outstanding event, well organised by Archie and well participated by all. The evining got pretty silly, as you can see, with Ted snogging the bronzed horse.
Troye May ,Katie, and Harry.
Myself and Smelly!
Bug and Archie!

Australia Day/Rude Ski Day

2007-02-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

The 26 January celebrates Australia, I don't quite know why, but man they know how to celebrate. They invented a day called "Rude Ski Day" when everyone dresses up pretty stupid and gets drunk and skis all day in funny uniforms. Check these out! Great snow statue!
Myself as a Knight, Conrad in some wierd stuff..., Archie in his Superman outfi, river in a pink one piece, and Harry in the Bat man suit. AWESOME!
Myself, Bob, and Harry in our uniforms at the top of Elk Camp!

X Games

2007-02-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

This is a super blurry pic...but it does show how intense x games actually is. ( He is upside down)

Makaha Park

2007-02-04T13:05:00.001-08:00

Just showing off a bit. Some pics of myself in Makaha Park in Snowmass

Ox Braai

2007-02-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

In memory of the great event in South Africa, Dan Webber hosted the great Aspen Snowmass Ox Braai. What an event it was!

Archie, Myself, Dan, and Dan's Boss
Dans Boss and JVS ( Jamie Van Schoor)
Marti, Dan, and Doc scavenging for food

Everclear 2

2007-02-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

Myself, Katie and Lau at everclear!

Smelly, Conrad and River and Everclear

Everclear Concert

2007-02-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

Everclear came to do the Bud Light HiFi concert (which is free) at the X Games. Super Cool show. Were so much fun on stage, was pretty cold but everyone was hammered and drinking jaegermeister in the snow. Pretty sweet. For those of you know Aspen, this was at the bottom of Ajax next to the Gondola. Sick show

Aspen 2007

2007-02-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

So I am back in Aspen and have been useless with my blog. Facebook seems to have taken over the world but I have decided to get back into it. This year Lau ( my sister) and Katie (my girlfriend) decided to follow me to the snow. Lau was only here for a few weeks and is currently travelling the states before heading home to SA. She had a blast and I am so glad she came here before settling into the big working world on the 15th of March!
Katie is still here with me and we are waiting to find out if we can stay here longer than we planned. Getting visas out of the US embassy is like drawing blood from a stone ( i have never tried to draw blood from a stone but I imagine it is very difficult).

Katie, Myself and Lau at our local pub The Mountain Dragon. Great Chinese.
Matt Searl, a Zimbo that has been here for a few years with my current jacket.
Some new South African friends Dellboy, Archie Sheilds, Bob Roux, Guy Sellwyn Smith, Bridgett Thorpe, and Bruce

Back in Aspen

2006-12-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

So, I am back in Aspen...which clearly means it is far too much fun here and there are many resons to come back. Arrived during a 4 foot snow storm and the mountain has been amazing. Its been a sunny week though so a little more snow would be great...but there seems to be a sneaky little storm heading our way this evening.
But its good to be back.

Snow on Toorberg

2006-08-16T02:30:00.000-07:00

Who needs Aspen when you have snow like this at your front door? This was on may farm about 3 weeks ago. Awesome snow covered the whole farm. 3 inches at the front door and about a foot and a bit on the mountains. It was beautiful. So glad i was there to see it!

Hunting at the Roux's

2006-08-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Went on the Annual Roux Hunt. Great fun, not so great shooting but here are some of the proud hunters. If they have blood all over their faces....they just shot their fisrt buck!

James Martin with a nice Springbok ewe!
Paddy Fitzgerald (Left) and Bob Roux with paddy's first buck, a Wildebeeste.
Nic Rosslee with his first Springbok Ewe.
Myself with a trophey Ram shot on my Farm

Back on the Farm

2006-08-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

So I have been back in South Africa for about 2 months and loving it. There is no place like home. Spent a bit of time in Cape Town catching up with my friends and doing some drinking. Then I set off for the farm with my ever willing companion Dave. Had a great time, did some hunting and fixed the Land Rover. And it was pretty cold too.

Dave and I fixing the Land Rover. 35 years old and still going strong!
Katie and I looking at the game.
Kareoke at Camdeboo Safaries where we hold the annual Graaff Reinet Hunt
Looking after the Spit Braai at Camdeboo Safaries. Yum Yum

Emily Adler in SA

2006-06-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

So I left London a little early and got back the the nicest winter I have ever see. Amazing. Been home for ten days and it has been a beach day every day! Emily, the girl who came on exchange with my sister 5 years ago, came to SA after a six month stint in the Cameroon for a little visit. She could not have asked for better weather, what a beautiful week!
Outside Waterford Wine Estate which was closed to my disgust!
Ontop of Table Mountain! Awesome!
Katie ontop of the mountain man!
Splendid view from Valley of the Red Gods

College House in London

2006-06-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts but I have been very busy! This was a pic taken on my last night in London. Met up with all the College house guys which was awesome! Haven't seen some of these guys in ages! From left to right: Charles, Ray, Simon, Roo, Myself, Pig, and Dobies!

Wednesday: The Tate and Millenium Footbridge

2006-05-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

Went to the Tate Modern Museum today. Very interesting. Could have spent a day there. Thesre is a lot of great work to see! Favorites included Roy Lichtenstein's pop art and Marcell Duchamp's famous urinal (Katie's favorite) as well as Peit Mondrian's "Compostion No. 2"! Katie really fancied Matisse as well!
On the way there we crossed the Millenium Footbridge which is very nice cause you get a great view of many of the bridges that cross the Thames as well as St. Pauls Cathederal!
The Millenium Footbridge:
The Footbridge and St. Pauls from The Tate Modern:
St. Pauls:
The Tate from outside...Clearly!

AGM at the Garage in Southfeilds

2006-05-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

Trying to catch up with everyone in London before I leave this pathetic excuse of a summer for a winter that makes summer here look like a damn blizzard! So I called up MIlo and Wendy and dragged Pierre out with Katie and Myself for a sneaky few on a school night! Ended up being a great night but unfortunately England beat the poor Hungarians 3-1 and we had to sitness the arrogant poms enjoy it. Was quite upset for a moment and then got over it...Promptly!

Compettition: Beard

2006-05-31T03:12:00.000-07:00

Charlie challenged me to a beard compettition. So as of now we are growing the hard facial hair we have! Man I am getting itchy!

Galway

2006-05-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in Galway on the west coast of Ireland! Really good. Too much Guinness, the Irish are frikkin crazy! Charlie is living with Richie Springer. Charlie Wienand met these Austrian birds and they came to the Skeff (Skeffingtongs).

Katie with Charlie's pet Doggie who is travelling thel world with him!

The way Guiness goes down!

2006-05-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Galway!

2006-05-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

Galway is really pretty. Walked around yesterday eveing and this is what i saw!

Went to a bad called the Skeef! Great big thumping pub. wathed the rugger there this morning!

From Dublin to Galway on the Train!

2006-05-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

Travelled from east to weat by train! Was packed most of the way but mamaged to get a table eventually! The countyside is beautiful!
The Coutnryside
Chappie
Katie and the view!

For the Beenies... The Guinness Brewery!

2006-05-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Guinness Brewery was fantastic. A fantastic self guided tour through the process of making the worlds finest stout! Katie and Charles in front of the water used. Kaite and I at the top of the Brewery in the pub that had a 360 degree view of Dublin. really inpressive!

What a beaut!

Jameson Distillery!

2006-05-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

Went to the Jameson Distillery ion Dublin with Charlie! Was great. tour costs E7 and you get a free drink at the end! Was really interesting!
Katie and I infront of a pot still
Charlie and Katie with Smithy the cat that was stuffed in honour of its fantastic work catching mice back in the day. His record was 20!
A water mill! Nice!
The Washback!

Sunset courtesy of RyanAir

2006-05-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

Flying at 21h00 and half way through the flight you get a sunset like this! Amazing! That is cloud by the way, not land in case you were confused!

Katie tries to find me a present in London!

2006-05-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

Dining out at the 216 Airbourne

2006-05-27T06:16:00.000-07:00

Darren Hillhouse was kind enough to invite me to the dining out of Sean, a South African who has served 9 years with the brits! Darren organised the whole thing and really pulled it out the bag! Was really cool! The kit is too funny though! They all spoke very Highly of 2nd Leiutenant Hillhouse and I was really proud and inmpressed with my mate! What an unforgettable night!

The Puzzle!

2006-05-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

Firday in London was the Puzzle night. Saw loads of South Africans! Was great! Got slightly drunk!
Darren Hillhouse and Ross Robertson!
Wendy Rodd and Katie!
Nic "Cookes" Grivanas and Pierre!
Myslef, Ross and Rich " Cyote" Adams!

Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall

2006-05-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

Katie's mom pulled it out the bag and got tickets to see Eric "God of Guitar" Clapton at the Royal Alvert Hall. Hwta na experience that was. We was incredible! PLayed all the great stuff with the best intros I have ever heard! He was amazing!
Katie standing at the Royal Albert!The opener The Robert Cray Band!
Eric himslef!
Katie and Judy!

NYC: Day 3

2006-05-20T06:15:00.000-07:00

The train trip to NYC from Conneticut with Katie and Doug
Wnet up The Empire State and saw this!
Hans Cristian Anderson monument in Central park... The Ugly Duckling for you not so educated readers!
The Guggenheim was under repair! Interesting building!

NYC: Day 2, Part 2

2006-05-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting looking building!
We went to see a great show called Dirty Rotten Scoundrels! An absolutely excellent musical. super funny! We went for a 3 course pre theater dinner at this little Italian place. tomato soup, half a roast chicken, and creme brulle, amazing!

Times Square at night is insane. Really impressive! I can't imagine how expensive it must be to run all the lights and billboards in it. A couple of million a day!

NYC: Day 2, Part 1

2006-05-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is the site of the World Trade Center. Ground Zero!
We caught the tour bus for 2 days to see a bit more of NYC.
This is the UN building. Interesting because we basically studied the UN last year!
And our horse and cart ride through central park!!!! with Robyn Day, our tour guide!

NYC: Day 1, Part 3.... MoMA Continued

2006-05-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Found some South Africa in MoMA. Some William Kentridge. Was really exciting!

NYC: Day 1, Part 2: MOMA... They call this art!

2006-05-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

MoMA is the Museum of Modern Art! Really impressive to see! We each got these telephone gadgets to guide us through the gallery! Very cool!
Doug listening to some crazy woman who painted about a thousand tiles and put them on three walls. ART!!
Katie with her HiTech phone standing in front of 6 pieces of wood that I could have slapped together in about 3 seconds. ART!!!!!!
This is a marble block shaped as a house, surrounded by rice!!! ART...can you believe this shit!
The elephant, I really liked! Finally some talent!

NYC: Day 1, Part 1

2006-05-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Times Square
Doug Robson standing at the clock in Grand Central Station
Times Square and the TRL Studio, unfortunately there is no TRL on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays so we could not get onto the show! Bummed! Well, Doug was!
Katie ditched me for some ugly naked dude in Times Square! This is the world famous Naked Cowboy! We nearly clashed!

Felix the Snowboarder

2006-05-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Felix the thirsty

Charlotte

2006-05-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ribeye in his usual sleeping place
Utah fighting with the Cheetos
Felix and I
Felix and Katie

Felix and His Friends

2006-05-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

First we have Felix, he is a pure bred human!
Next in line is Maya, a pure bred Golden retriever that had a tough stat to life so she is a bit skinny but has an amazing personality. Will not leave me alone!
This is Utah, the greatest cat I have met, spent the whole night licking my arm to wake me up!
And Ribeye, also great fun, but a little more reserved than Utah!

Lake Norman Part 2

2006-05-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my brothers house! That is his hand made jetty with a floating dock!
This is the kitchen getting revamped
The Balcony with a view
The alterations!

Lake Norman

2006-05-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

Went to check out my brothers place on the lake that they are renovating. It is amazing. Went for a cruise on their cruise boat, had some lunch and a drink on the boat and swam at one of the islands! The Lake is huge. 51 miles from tip to tip!
Sandy and Felix
Paul my brother
The boat!

Felix in Charlotte

2006-05-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Charlotte today to stay with my brother Paul dn his wife Sandy and my little nephew Sir Felix. He has grown so much in the last couple of months! As you can see he is super cute! Lau... eat your heart out!

2006-04-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

Make way for the Ducklings!
Make way fot the Ducklings was a book that my mother read to me when I was a kid. It was written by Robert McCloskey and was inspired from his walks in the Boston Public Gardens/Commons where he noticed how the Ducks and their Ducklings battled the traffic around the pond. There are now statues of the mother duck and her ducklings on the path that they would have walked. This one was just for mom!

You have no idea how popular these ducks are, we had to wait in line to have photos with them. Eventually when this little kid refused to let go we just took a pic of him! Greedy bugger!

This is the last little duckling! Aint it cute?

Boston Commons Continued!

2006-04-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Katie standing next to a mine that was used in the World Wars! It is a memorial for all those who died!
Spring and all the colours it brings, the commons are really pretty!
The statue of George Washinton in the Commons!
The gardens are covered in tulips of many different colours!

Craig and Mary Bass

2006-04-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know Craig and Mary Bass, these are the awesome people that Katie live with.

Katie and her Boys

2006-04-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

These are the kids that Katie is looking after! Jared (3) and Adam (5)!

Katie and Jared.
Jared!
Katie and Adam

The Basses in Bedford

2006-04-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Bedford to visist Katie on Tuesday the 25th. She is Au Pairing for the Bassingthwaightes, Craig and Mary. This is the place she is living in. Beautiful house with loads of space!

Redlands vs Occidental

2006-04-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

Bryan Ducey was playing baseball against Occi and thrashed them 9-1. Was interesting to watch as I have never watched a game before and known the rules. learnt a bit. Hot girls everywhere at the game. these players are pretty popular! Duce made some great throws from third base and threw a double play.Double play means that you get two people out with one hit. He tagged third and then threw a great ball from third to first to get two people out!

GoArmy.com

2006-04-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

The USA has about 3 amy commercials every ad break. It is crazy. Could not resist getting some pics fo Marti, the most anti GoArmy.com com man I know.

Some sniping practice by Little Duce!
Marti doing the most excercise he has done in 5 months!

Marti and the Shuffle Board

2006-04-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

The 609

2006-04-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

The 609 is Ted and his brother Bryan's digs in redland. Sweet place that reminds me of Kevin "Limpit" Hills place. Thursday night we played some great drinking games and got really drunk really fast! We ended up going to The Flamingo AKA "The Dirty Bird". Had great fun trying to teach the yanks how to play shuffel board, we even let them beat us! We went through 36 beers. Was good work!
From left to right: James "I Can't Score in the USA" Martin, Ted "The Duce" Ducey, Bryan "Little Duce" Ducey, and Anthony "The Big Nasty" Albanys.
The Big Nasty and Myself!
Myself and Julio the Mexican
Little Duce who is not so little!

Los Angeles

2006-04-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

How is this sign near Venice Beach in LA. Drugs are hectic in this place. Crazy!

Brandin' Iron

2006-04-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to the Brandin' Iron for some line dancing and 50c beers. Got horribly drunk and tried my best to dance but gave up! Not very good! Also tried to break the beer record there, we got pretty close! I am now, once again, hungover!
This was the Tower of Beer!!
Ted's brother Brian and myself!
Some decent looking women doing some line dancing!
In the middle of the club..... Trophys?

Mexico

2006-04-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

Went from San Diego to Mexico. Quite different. Went to Rosarito for tacos and tequila. Had a great deal and found a deal of 10 beers and 5 tequilas for $25. Sweet. Lots of poor people!
When we left Mexico we had to go through customs and present our visas. James was missing one of his forms, the dreaded ds-2019, from his passport and they would not let him back in. He had two options: 1) Stay in Mexico until we found his piece of paper or 2) Pay a small fee of $260 just to get him through. Eventually the top dog came out and told the other muppets that we were allowed to go through! Relief!
Later that eveining we wnet to Pacific Beach for drinks. Went to a place called Moondoggies and Pacific Beach Bar and Grill. Had some drinks and the special were fantastic. $2 a draught which is half price!!! San San Diego is cool!

Tequila at 11.30am! Nice!
Eating at the Taco stand. $1 a taco and they were good!

Dutchmen in Mexico

2006-04-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Saw this cruising in Mexico! Too Funny!

Pretty San Diego

2006-04-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

Thought I should throw this in to show what a pretty place it is!

You stay classy San Diego

2006-04-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Went ot San Diego with Ted, Jerad, and James. Was great fun. Walked around and saw a ton of stuff. It is a beautiful city. Very clean and well kept and lots of beautiful people. views are awesome and people are really friendly. We went to this bar called Dicks Last Resort. Too much fun. They mock you the whole time. When we walked in one waitress came up to us and said "Finally something good to look at", she then looked at James and siad "You! Don't look at me!" Was quite an interesting concept. The only restaurant that you can be nasty to the customers and make money by doing so. It was a pretty popular place!
We also went to a place called the Yard. They had 125 different types of draught!!!! AWESOME! James and I did the six pack, which, as you might have guessed, was six different draughts...but only half draughts. Was pretty fun comparing them. San Diego is lots of fun!
A war memorial on the promenade.
The Yard and half of the 125 draughts!
Jerad and his girlfriend Megan, Myself, and James the Muppet!
The Legendary Six Pack!!!! The really light one on the far side was some peach cider and tasted like shit! Sugar and Water!!!

Viva Las Vegas

2006-04-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

Got to Vegas yesterday evening, it was awesome. A friend of Teds that came to stay with us, Jared, organised for us to go to a super exclusice club called ICE. He put us on the VIP list and we got to join some of his friends at their private table with $300 bottles of vodka and some great friends. It was awesome. I got wasted and knocked over the whole table of drinks. Popular. Then caught a limo home and James asked me to please leave the hotel door open cause I was the only one with a key. So, i forgot, as you do. Was wasted. James hooked up with a belter and ended up getting home quite late. he spent an hour convincing the gaurd that he was staying at the Hotel, when they eventually believed him they let him up and the door was locked. Ha Ha. So he knocked till he was blue in the face, needless to say in my wasted state I heard nothing. He called security and they came up and let him in. He abused me for a good while and asked me where Ted was. I proceeded to shout down the shower drain to call him and told the security that he was on his way. I am currnetly suffering a massive hangover. What a night.
How these dancers at ICE... HOT!!!!

The three of us in the Excalibur lift.
View from our Window.
At the Venetian. It has canals and gondolas and people singing. This pic is inside by the way. The sky is painted on!

2006-04-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

This is the Hotel we stayed in. The Excalibur. Ted and myself snuggling!

2006-04-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Snowmass to Vegas

2006-04-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Left Snowmass at 4.30 am for Vegas, what a drive. Went Via Moab and the Grand Canyon. These are just a taste of what we saw. This country is pretty beautiful. Went through 5 states in 2 days. Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. The drive took us 15 hours.

The Last Supper

2006-04-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

This was the last dinner I had with my fellow employees at the Timbers Club. We had an amazing time and met some really nice people and made some great friends! Many of them want to come down South to visit us!
This is james doing the 70 ft jump at the Snowmass Park and Pipe.
Myself doing the 50 ft jump at the Snowmass Park and Pipe.

The Bowl from a Distance

2006-04-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

This is the Hiighlands Bowl from the top of Ajax. I am gonna miss it!

Daves Day at the Pool

2006-04-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is what happens on the last day at the Timbers, you go swimming! Dave left a while ago but only got the pics recently. You have no idea of how much fun it was...until I realised he was wearing my shoes! Bastard

Park and Pipe

2006-04-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

This was our second last day on the mountain adn we decided to do the Snowmass Park and Pipeline. These jumps are pretty big, even though they might not look like it! Sweet Day!!!!!

Staff Party No. 2

2006-04-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

These were taken at our second staff party. We wnet up to the wine cabin on Sneakys and had the "grill" going... that means braaivleis for us commoners, we had a keg of Fat Tire which is amazing and currently sitting in the back yard of our house in need of finishing, and loads of fun.
This is a pic of Cleve Johnson the top dog of timbers and our General Manager and Kristi Forster our accountant.
Myself and Kristi...note the jersey!!! Proooovince!!!!!!
Jerremy carrying Lola with Kate, Katie and Cindy in the back from left to right!
Sitting at the Cirque after a long day of drinking with Bill (Head of Mainainence), Lola, Kate, Mike, Cindy, Myself, Katie, Kristi, and Jeremy

Shebeen Boys Respect!!!

2006-04-07T10:55:00.000-07:00

I recieved a comment from Schizo that there was not 1 Pic of me in my Shebeen attire...wrong my friend. First day on the slopes this season this is what I was wearing. I am a Beenie and I always will be. I wish i could be there for the start of the season but unfortunatley I will only make the second half. From June onwards. Please note that I was in the Jersey and the nice warm Beenie. I AM A BEENIE!!!!! AND PROUD!!!!

Last day on the HIghlands Bowl

2006-04-01T21:09:00.000-08:00

This was the last oppertunity for us to do the Bolw and the closing party is tomorrow, should be amazing. It was Marti and our new house mate Jerad Bailey who is driving us to California. The Bowl ahppened to be amazing this day, we did White Kitchen which is steeper and deeper than Steep and Deep. Awesome!!!!!!!!

Shooters (Bar Aspen)

2006-04-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

This was an awesome evening at Bar Aspen, better known as Shooters. It was Gui Leitte's last evening with us at The Timbers Club so we made it count. $13 all you can drink from 9 till 11. The que starts to grow from 8 so the idea is to get there early with a six pack and enjoy the cold.

From Left to right: Andrew Johnson (Oz), Lindsey Forster (Oz), and Matt Searle (Zim).
Myself and Ted Ducey (USA)
Marion Thomas and Matt the Zimbo
Marti and the Duce

Dave doing the Dave thing!

Left to Right: Hugo Camara, Gui Leitte, Dave, and Ted

Ajax and Highlands Test Session

2006-03-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday last week, Dave, Marti, and I hit Ajax and Highlands just to see what we were and were not missing out on. Ajax, is not the greatest mountain and certainly does not compare to our absolute favorite Snowmass. Highlands on the other hand is awesome, there are so many awesome tight tree runs that no one ever goe too. There was still great powder and the day was just amazing. needless to say there was a large amount of drinking to be had at Iguanas at the foot of Highlands. They serve free beer for 2 hours and we certainly took advantage of the situation.

Timbers Club Staff Party No. 1

2006-03-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

Well, we set off for the Eljebowl Bowling Arena on Thursday evening, in Eljebel. What a deal. Free bowling, free food, and most important...free grog. It was pretty entertaining since the last time I went bowling was when I was about 6 with my Kritzinger cousins. I was pretty hopeless but got the odd strike and spare (technical bowling terms, wouldn't expect you commoners to understand). We lost nonetheless. It was great fun. We then hopeed into Lightning Limo for our trip to Aspen. We ventured into Bently's, Erics, and eventually Club Chelsea. by this stage we had a large quantity of alcohol running through our veins and somehow made it home. What a night to remember. forgot to take pics of the after party....sorry.

Timbers Club Pre-Staff Party Warm Up... And Did We Warm UP

2006-03-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you let the Timbers Club Staff loose on an average Thursday Night! We certainly had alot of fun, Watched a band called the Freddy Jones Band and then came back to our abode with the team where we proceeded to drink large quantities of a range of alcohols and ended up with a considerably large hangove which in James Martin's case looked a bit like this....

Attman in Aspen

2006-03-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

found this appliance in the Bathroom in Club Chelsea, designed and produced by my very own cousin, Attman Herringer!

The Pitkin County Dry Goods Staff...HOT

2006-03-10T17:16:00.000-08:00

These are just a few pics of the girls that James works with every day! He likes going to work!!

Some Crazy Hats

2006-03-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that people wear this shit... Can you even believe that people BUY this shit. Damn yanks!! Its bloody funny though! Not as funny as Marti's board though!!!!

Its all fun and games until...

2006-03-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you play too hard. Its all fun and games till someone snaps a board. The Hanging Valley wall is our favorite run and we were having a great afternoon till we were 5 seconds into the run and with a loud crack, James " I am still too heavy even though I have lost 8kg's in Aspen" Martin snapped the nose almost completely off his brand new Head Intelligence board. Intelligence my poephol!!!

Pierre the Ski Slope Slut

2006-03-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

I am sure you all got this e-mail about "King of the Swiss Slopes - Pierre Roux". Give us a break and stop fooling yourself, you just sat at the pub all day. And by the way, what is that crap on your head?

Highlands Bowl

2006-03-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

These pics are of the Highlands Bowl, it is a pretty insane run and you can maybe squeeze 2 in if you are fit enough. You catch 2 lifts up to the top of the mountain and then ski to a sno cat which looks like this...

and this will take you half way up The Bowl.

From there you walk for half an hour in the snow, pretty challenging at 13000 ft!!! Air is in short supply at that altitutde.

Washing the beaver

2006-03-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

How is this for a crazy t-shirt, Americans are wierd!

Sunday Nights!

2006-03-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

This is what we get up to when the Timbers Club lobby is empty!

Mr Compito feeds the masses

2006-03-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

Today, sunday the 5th of March, one of our most amazing guests Mr Jerry Compito bought the whole timbers team dinner from the famous rib restaurant The Hickory House. The meal consisted for 6 racks of ribs, 2 chickens, 50 chicken wings, 12 Chicken fingers, 2 litres of bakes beans, 2 litres of cole slau (spelling), 10 pieces of garlic bread, a oven plate of french fries, and a number of sodas (coke and mountain dew). We of course challenged the 6 of us on duty to finish the lot, however this was not possible. Here is the evidence!

From left to right: Hugo Camara (Brazil), Lindsey Forester (Oz), myself, and Daniel Johnson (Oz)
The Feast itself, oh and what a meal it was.
Literally guzzling some Hickory Ribs!
Hugo Camara with half a rack of ribs
Doug Robson from Kingswood with the french Fries!

Katie in Aspen

2006-03-05T20:17:00.000-08:00

Katie flew from Boston on the 24 Feb to visit me in Aspen which was great. Really nice to see her after 7 weeks. These were taken at the top of Elk Camp on an amazing day in Snowmass. They wont let me post them so follow the links.http://www.aspensnowmass.com/store/photo/photocard_display.cfm?x=6EB355457D20807D3D67AA03A25838AD
http://www.aspensnowmass.com/store/photo/photocard_display.cfm?x=ED20F1B648B4B755AC3BD4F6AAC3128C

2006-03-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

This is just a little clip from Mardi Gras, probably the most fun I have had in the space of 12 hours ever. Ted and myself started to celebrate at 12pm with a pizza and pitcher from tasters ($4 pitchers... its just unbelievable), and then set off to the Snowmass Mall to watch the parade which was pretty fun. Next was the Jagermeister party at the Blue Door, one of our local haunts, and finally we ended up at the Mountain Dragon. Our favorite pub in sleepy snowmass. This was somewhere in the blur of Jager and beer. Dave and I with one of the gorgeous ladies of the Snowmass Police force.

2006-03-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

This was the first day boarding with our new housemate Mr george Eadie. We had about 9 inches of decent powder and hit what we call the Hanging Valley Wall. It is all double black eiamonds and probably the most amazing fun you can squeeze into a 6 hour ski day.

This is the mountain we are on most days. Its pretty good fun. A touch icy at the moment, but it will do!

2006-03-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

2006-03-04T20:15:00.000-08:00