Category: Travel (Page 2 of 4)

Glad I’m in Green State

05/23/2008 / Blake

click the map for an interactive experience

It’s crazy to see how the prices are moving up. when I first went to college I remember $5 would get me nearly 6 gallons of gas. Most people think gas will be over $4 here in Mississippi really soon. It stings going to get gas. But then I look at this map and don’t feel so bad. Or maybe not as bad as other people are feeling.

What color is your state? What did you pay per gallon the last time you got gas? I think mine was $3.69

GasBuddy.com is actually a pretty cool site if you spend a little bit of time looking around.

The Restaurant for the Sunday Nooma

05/22/2008 / Blake

If you don’t know what the Nooma series of videos are, then this won’t make any sense. If know about Nooma, but you’ve not seen the one entitled Sunday, then it might not make much sense. But in a nutshell, they’re videos to spur discussion and conversation about spiritual matters created by Rob Bell. They are worth checking out fo sho.

But anyway, a year and a half ago John, Stevie, and I went to Grand Rapids/Grandville Michigan to attend Isn’t She Beautiful at Mars Hill. We went looking for the nearby restaurant where the Sunday Nooma was filmed. We found it. And this below is very much like the opening shot of that very video! This is at the Rainbow Grill in Grandville, MI. Snow was all around!

When we asked the servers there at the restaurant which booth he’d actually sat in when doing the video shoot, not a one of them had a clue what in the world we were talking about.

Stevie, who was videoing, is getting married this weekend in Gulfport. I think I’m going.

How cool is our world? Boom-Di-Atah!

04/29/2008 / Blake

Sometimes our world does seem sorta crazy. But our world is pretty cool (especially in its natural state). Watching this commercial reminds me of that. And that I need to get out and experience it more. (It also reminds me that Discovery is a pretty cool channel.)

Boom Di Atah!

[ht to Andy]

They’re Australian, so I’ll forgive them

04/19/2008 / Blake

I really, really, really like Hillsong United (myspace). They are one of those worship bands I’d heard about before, but never invested any time into checking them out until a few years ago. I was blown away. They have some really moving songs, but not just moving because of good music (which is top notch), but I think the lyrics are deep too.

They have a new project coming out, and part of the project is a new DVD. And the name of this new DVD is called All In This Together (click the pic for more info). I think my mind is poisoned now because of High School Musical. I even hear Pat use the phrase “we’re all in this together” last week in his sermon, and I immediately thought of HSM. In Pat’s defense, I don’t think he’s ever seen the movie.

But I think that I’m going to get the new double cd AND the DVD that Hillsong United is releasing. I’ve never been disappointed with their stuff.

Running…

04/08/2008 / Blake

I’ve never professed to be a great runner. Though I do enjoy it sometimes. But I’m not at that point in my life right now. It usually takes a few weeks of consistent running to get the endorphins rolling…. This morning they were not rolling at all. I’m still considering the Double Decker run in about two and a half weeks. We’ll see.

But to compare morning and night running is like comparing, well, night and day. A morning run is WORK. A night run is enjoyable. I never really ran much in high school. Never had a reason. While working at Camp Lake Stephens one summer I ran a little now and then to try to impress a girl. [It must have worked; she married me] The next semester at school she calls to inform me that she signed me up for the Crescent City Classic. I had no idea what that was. But turns out it is the massive 10K race in New Orleans. So I figured i should train for it.

I did. And to this day, my first ever 10K race has been my best time ever. And I guarantee that there’s no threat of breaking it anytime soon. But a night run is the best. Or a run in the rain on a summer afternoon. Sometimes it’s quite nice to go running with a friend. But other times the solitude of a solo run is needed. It’s fun to run in Costa Rica too! [Emily does it in Columbia.]

I don’t know that I’ve ever regretted a run either. But there are plenty of times I’ve thought of running, didn’t, then regretted it later. Sorta like spending time with Jesus. Sometimes I know I should. And I know how beneficial it would be. But I keep saying I’ll get to it soon.

Anywho…running. Do you do it? Do you like it? When is the best time for you to run? And what have your best runs been? Please..do tell!

What should you do?

03/06/2008 / Blake

I came across this quote from Peter Marshall yesterday. I’d heard it back in September on our trip to Washington DC. Peter Marshall is the former Chaplain of the Senate in the 1940’s and pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian.

I wonder what would happen if we all agreed to read one of the Gospels until we came to a place that told us to do something, then went out to do it, and only after we had done it, began reading again?

There are aspects of the Gospel that are puzzling and difficult to understand. But our problems are not centered around the things we don’t understand, but rather in the things we do understand, the things we could not possibly misunderstand. Our problem is not so much that we don’t know what we should do. We know perfectly well, but we don’t want to do it.

To read this seems to place some heaviness of responsibility on us, doesn’t it? How does that quote strike you?

Free WiFi in Oxford, Mississippi

02/12/2008 / Blake

When I getting ready to move here I wondered where the free wireless internet spots were here in town. I’m still ferreting some of them out, but I couldn’t find a list of them anywhere on the internet. So I started asking around and doing some of my own investigation. I’ll make a list of place I know there is free wifi. I’ll update it as more are discovered:

Bottletree Bakery: Just off The Square. (map) A really eclectic, snazzy bakery with good breakfast and lunch. It was actually featured on The Food Network and Oprah because of their pies.
San Francisco Bread Company: Jackson Avenue (map)
Pak Mail: Jackson Ave (map)
McAllisters: University Avenue (map) The restaurant that is pretty much like all the other McAllisters, yet this one was the first one.
High Point Coffee: North Lamar by The Square.
Purple Haze: North Lamar (map) Nice little shop with culture and groovy tunes.
Puddin Place Bed & Breakfast: University Avenue (map)
Kroger: University Ave (map)
Comfort Inn: Jackson Ave (map)
Days Inn: Jackson Ave (map)
Proud Larry’s: South Lamar (map). You may have to ask them for access, but they’re cool about it.

Now please double check me on these. Sometimes I’ve found a signal, but then turns out you have to pay to surf (like McDonalds). But I may have missed some or have been mistaken about a couple. If there is a correction or addition that needs to be made, leave a comment!

The Day After…

11/23/2007 / Blake

Well, today is the day after Thanksgiving. We hit the ground running or the road rolling or whatever yesterday. But we made it to a big lunch and a big supper. It worked out well to where supper was just a few big pots of soup. That way we didn’t have TWO traditional Thanksgiving dinners w/in 8 hours.

It was good to see a lot of family. Everyone was excited that we’ll be back closer in the coming months. I am thinking I look forward to being able to see them some more too. Being close to family wasn’t a determining factor with the decision to move and shift into a new job/place. But I’m sure it will be a definite added benefit.

We stayed at my mom’s new house last night. First time we’ve done that. It slept pretty well, but shortly we’re going to head up to my dad’s for some lunch and to watch the Egg Bowl. I’m a little nervous about the game. Mississippi State should win. All indicators point to that. But you never know with this game…

And we’re off…

11/22/2007 / Blake

The Tahoe is loaded.

Now we’re about to head out and do another blitz of family sites, only to return Saturday night with a lot of food eaten and a lot of folks able to see us and probably not much good sleep!

Oh the holidays!

My take on Washington D.C.

09/07/2007 / Blake

Okay, I’m about a week removed from my trip to The District. All in all, I’d say it is a great place to vacation. I’d even consider living close by maybe. We saw tons, and there is still lots more to see. But here are some bulletpoints that came to mind while I was there:

DC may be the most diverse place I’ve ever been to when you consider all the tourists.
I’ve no clue why people from Bangledesh and Peru want to take pictures of a statue of Abe Lincoln.
Having a laptop and a hotel with free high speed internet is now a must on vacations (helps with numbers, maps, directions, menus, schedules, prices, distances, movies, email, blogs, facebook, newspapers, espn.com, and instant messaging.)
The Yellow Line seems to be the slowest of the Metro Rails.
But the Metro Rail system is a nice way to get around.
The burgers at Five Guys are big and HUGE!
The burgers at ESPN Zone are pretty good too, and still HUGE!
But if you walk around all day, I think it doesn’t matter how big of a burger you eat.
75% of people on the streets in China Town smoke when they’re outside.
China Town has a lot of non-chinese people in it.
Could almost be Africa Town at some point.
I didn’t meet anyone named George in Georgetown.
But I think Georgetown is a really cool place.
But I could never live there….real estate is WAY above my means.
Georgetown U is pretty cool too. A pretty diverse campus. And they have mad school pride. Part of me wishes I’d gone there.
I like the Circulator.
National Community Church is doing some great things there in DC.
Most of the “nice” people in DC seem to be from the South.
It’d be cool to do a segway tour of DC. But those things cost over $5k.
Seems people either run (lots of runners around Capitol Hill) or smoke (lots of smokers everywhere.)
If I liked coffee a lot, I’d probaby hang out at Ebenezeer’s Coffee House.
But if I wasn’t in that area, I’d be okay. There seemed to be about 1.5 million Starbucks around DC.
Somethings look smaller in person. Some look bigger.
Jason Bourne is a very bad man…in a good way, of course.
I wondered if George Bush always looks that happy to see people on the sidewalk or if he was genuinly glad to see ME.
I want to read some books and watch some movies again that are based in DC since I know where stuff is now.
If you can help it, try to fly into Ronald Regan Airport…it’s much easier/cheaper to get to your hotel from there.
Most of the areas we went to were pretty clean. I was impressed.
It’s really loud in both the Hard Rock Cafe and ESPN Zone.
Stadium Seating is best for movie watching.
There are cops everywhere in DC.
Food is really expensive in the Smithsonian Museums.
The Loews Theater in G’town gives one free refill on your popcorn and your drink. Now that’s awesome!

That’s it for now. Now I want to go back and spend more time.

Who wants to go with me?