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.

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.

coming home

sunset from the window of 9D

flying from dallas to houston.

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.

texas

after seeing essentially all of dc,

dallas had a hard time competing.

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

 

 

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.