December 31, 2011

did i do it?

it is time to take a tally of my life. 
my 2011 life. 



in the beginning of the year i made a list,
a pretty ambitious list.


and i made another one in june, 
well, not so much a list,
as a taking stock. 

and by june i was on track for a couple of things
but i had already failed on a couple already. 


now the end of 2011 is here,
and it is time to take stock yet again. 



and maybe i kind of failed on almost all of my to do list.


i hate not completing a to do list. 
the feeling of crossing something off a list
may be one of the best feelings in the world.
so not being able to cross things off
kind of sucks.


good job 2011. 


but actually, 
2011 was a pretty good year. 
(even if i didn't complete my to do list.)

it started out good, 
had a couple of rough patches in the middle,
but it finished strong.




and i'm pretty pumped about 2012. 
because i am kind of convinced 
that 2012 is going to be flippin' awesome.


or the world is going to end. 
whatever.


















and in case you are wondering:

the goal: 25 ice creams
actual: 19 flavors, 
or 24 if you count the mixed flavors

the goal: 52 books 
(one for each week)
actual: 31

the goal: 5 half marathons around nyc
actual: one, the manhattan half

the goal: learn spanish
actual: kind of? maybe?
i can understand it, sort of.
does that count?

the goal: visit DR
actual: moved to mexico
let's call that one a wash.

the goal: tattoos
DONE!!

obviously the other to dos were colossal failures. 
whatever. 

here's to 2012 
and completing my to do list.


December 30, 2011

lesni bar



this past april i went to the czech republic.

while there i hiked to the (almost) top of a mountain
to go to a bar --
lesni bar.


it is a bar that some generous person keeps stocked
so that hikers and bikers can stop for a cold beer
while on their travels. 


it is pretty flippin' awesome.







the drinks are kept cold by the mountain spring water-- 







and as people drink, 
they donate to the cause.







there is even a building for people to stop in at
in case of rain or snow.




there is another bar even further up the mountain --
the horni bar.




too cool for school.










December 26, 2011

December 25, 2011

sonny bryan's smokehouse



apparently the thing to do in texas is eat barbeque.
brisket, to be exact


and as my last day in texas approached, 
i had still not had any.


lame.
times a million.


to rectify this, 
rcg and his family
stopped at sonny bryan's
as we headed to the airport.
obviously sonn'y is a dive.

but the bbq was good -- 


so good, in fact, 
that they occasionally run out of food.

December 24, 2011

texas

after seeing essentially all of dc,
dallas had a hard time competing.



but who doesn't love stars, cowboy boots, and texas??









 







December 20, 2011

washington dc

rcg has never been to dc before ---




this is our 7 mile journey to see all that dc has to offer.







we started at arlington cemetery
where we got a private tour of the tomb of the unknown soldier 
by a member of the honor guard,
sgt. skywalker.





thanks tlw.
badge #212







we then walked across the bridge to the lincoln memorial.



















then to the vietnam war memorial.





the korean war memorial.



there are 19 men in the field 
and 19 troops represented on the wall 
equaling 38 -- 
to represent the 38th parallel
and the 38 months that the war was fought.


























we walked down the reflecting pool 
towards the washington monument,
but first, 
the world war 2 memorial.










now, 
onto the washington monument.





then we saw the national christmas tree
and the national menorah.













we even saw president obama returning to the white house.






then we walked along the mall to 
the national american history museum 
to see the star spangled banner.





we continued down the mall to the air and space museum.






the spirit of st. louis.





 and as if all of that wasn't enough, 
we checked out the capitol 
and the library of congress 
as well.






a replica of freedom, 
the statue on the top of the capitol building. 



 this is the very center of washington dc.


the interior of the dome,
the apotheosis of washington.


 throughout the capitol building 
there are at least 100 statues,
2 from each state.




                                                                                                 


 we walked through the underground tunnel 
to the library of congress, 
maybe one of the most gorgeous buildings in washington dc.










the walls are covered with paintings, mosaics, and quotations
from some of the greatest minds in history: 
homer, shakespeare, dante, newton, etc.






it was a long two days, 
but we saw some crazy awesome stuff. 





sometimes when you live somewhere too long,
or you are away too long, 
you forget how amazing it all really is.



washington dc is pretty amazing.