The Tech Shack Personal

Then take some tips from me or not, but I know a thing or two about traveling by plane, trains, automobile, boat, transporter, rocketship or by foot.

What makes me think I can give any sort of advice? Here are some places I have lived, and keep in mind, I drove or flew to most locations and most of my family live in Oregon so on vacations and Christmas, I fly or drive back home to Portland.
I have lived in:
Portland Oregon (born & raised), Fort Benning Georgia, Fort Knox Tennessee, Aschaffenburg Germany, Colorado Springs Colorado, Tempe Arizona, Austin Texas, Oklahoma City Oklahoma and now I came full circle back to Portland again.
All have take always, some more than others so some will not be talked about at all due to national security. ;-)

I'm 6'2", so planes just stinks, unless you ask always for the emergency exit seat, which gives you a lot more leg room. If you are really picky on where you want to sit, you can use the link here called Seat Guru which lets you pick your seat just like they do at Ticket Masters for a concert. Very convienent especially if you are bigger, taller or travel with someone or a family.

Anyway, here is a great link that lets you monitor flight paths and so on, but not live, as it would not be safe as we seem to have a lot of lovely terrorists out there that think being happy, freedom of speech and so on, and also being the biggest kid on the playground are reasons to start a fight. Don't get me started!

OK, lets start with some local links:
The Portland Tribune - http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/index.php







Map of our Pale Blue Dot. Where are you on it?

Mt. Hood 1 hour East of Portland, OR and where they made Stephen King's The Shining. Over 11,000 feet my dad loves to climb it and share his knowledge with everyone who is interested.

Let's talk maps.
Google maps are fine and great for driving directions (as Mapquest once was) showing you a street view so it is like you are standing in front of the location you desire and it lets you rotate and zoom, if you click on satellite it shows you aerial shots that are really cool too, but wait, there's more, if you look at the maps you click and hold your mouse on the map, you can move it around in real time and it is really neat, especially in satellite mode! Now this I wrote years ago when I was fascinated with it, but it is still great with newer features like under water and our solar system.
Here I'll show you some of my high resolution collection. Click on the map link here:


How many of you like to make plans till the last minute? Not the biggest thinkers you'd think, even I have been guilty of this, but wait, I have a link for Last Minute Travel Deals!


Now here is a great shot of Portland. Most of my links are from Oregon, I lived there the longest, and there is just so so much to do there your head would spin. I use to like to go camping at Timothy Lake a lot, which is close to Mt Hood, which coincidently is where they made Stephen King's The Shining! Indoor shots were done in a Colorado lodge, and the maze was in England. It's a pity Stanley Kubrick changed so much of it from the book but it was good. Ensure you watch the other one King did himself. It follows the book.


This is a pict I took at Canon Beach, OR on my honeymoon. The sunsets are to die for, just sit back on the beach, relax, listen to the waves crash on the rocks and the hiss is the air with your loved one, hopefully it will be a cold night so you can cuddle up and wrap yourself in a blanket as you breath the crisp air, holding each other and waiting for the breath taking views that are unique to Oregon.


This is Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs, CO where I lived for almost 2 years after I returned to America from Aschaffenburg, Germany. Back when they had Marks, not Euro's. ;-) This is a rock climbers dream, and even if you just want to walk around and look at the beauty that seems too good to be real, or go to their gift shop and grab a drink or a post card, you will love this place.


This is a pict I took at Canon Beach, OR on my honeymoon. The rock is called Haystack Rock, it has many sea life entities living on it and may oceanographers from all over come to study it. If you think star fish come in only 1 flavor, think again. I have seen there on the rock that are all sizes, different # of "arms" and anywhere from purple, red, orange, yellow and others. It is very neat, and on some other rocks farther out I have seen seals and sea lions. People always ask me why I talk so highly of Oregon and it's hard to explain with out going there and seeing what I have. Everyone thinks of rain. I see liquid sunshine.


This is a pict I took at Canon Beach, OR on my honeymoon. You can see Haystack Rock in the center of the pict way off in the hazy distance, but if you look at my gallery's you will see very nice photo's of it I took and can't wait for my next trip. Always an Oregonian at heart. Home is not always where you lay your hat.


This is a pict I took at Canon Beach, OR on my honeymoon. Think I like it here????


This is a Mt Hood ski lift that was shut down since it was summer time, although it does not look much like summer, does it? An hour west is Portland, and it was about 75 degrees and clear. The following day was also clear. But I really like this pict and we had fun, so no regrets.


Here is another photo of Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood, Oregon where Stephen King's The Shining was filmed in 1980. Stanley Kubrik did a good job, however did not follow the book and King was distraught and re-made it 15 years later as an ABC mini series. I enjoyed both


This photo is a nice bronze statue that was made for Pioneer Courthouse Square in the middle of downtown Portland, OR. I enjoy this area...Saks 5th Ave, Starbucks, an Apple Store, 2 malls in walking distance, live music, the water front, more than 300 restaurants, clubs, over 50 coffee shops, hotels and much more. Want some culture and a city where all you have to do is show up downtown and there ia always something fun to do? Very low crime, home of the UFC's (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Team Quest, an hour from the coast, and hour from great skiing at Mt. Hood, 5 minutes to Washington State - Oregon is much better! ;-)


Multnomah Falls, Oregon - from the bridge - honestly, no words can describe this place. It was featured in the movie Twilight in 2008 when they played baseball. They tried to say it was in Washington, but come on, the beauty is too strong to come fro that state. ;-)


The KOIN Center building, Portland. My favorite building in downtown Portland. The top has a penthouse where in the 80's, it cost over $4,000 a month. Prices have gone up, i can only imagine it is closer to $10,000 a month. Who knows. But it would be great. 1/2 way up is a restaurant. ;-)


The Park blocks downtown Portland at 7th and Burnside. Look it up! There is so much to see here. Powell's Bookstore is about 2 blocks West of here, and is the largest used bookstore on the planet. 2nd largest new bookstore on the planet. I work 5 a minute walk from there.


Hot air balloon race in Colorado - I did not take this picture nor did I get to see it. I was stationed right next to Cheyenne Mountain, better known as N.O.R.A.D.

Here is a shot of San Francisco when I drove down to work MacWorld, 2001 I think, and we took my friend John and John's car, along with Bret and Beth (See above photo.) To make a long story short the car died 3/4's of the way there, and we had to take a bus the rest of the way, then take a train back to Portland which was utterly boring, but better than walking. OK, next....if you are a Mac person, it was when we introduced the new PowerBook G4's and all of the iApps like iTunes, iMovie and so on.. ;-) I learned that day we had a new application called iTunes, which now has changed the movie, TV, music & gaming industry - I knew nothing about it but learned on the fly and answered questions on it. I am good at winging it.


This picture is one I took in Barcelona, Spain on one of my first of 2 trips to Spain in 1989. We stayed in Llorrett De Mar (awesome place) but took a road trip up to see the bull fights, the musical water fountain and the mid-evil castle (the original that was copied in Vegas and other places.) We got to go to a private beach party where we got to ride these long yellow banana looking things that held about 10 people, and was hooked to a boat, and as the boat turned it threw you off unless everyone leaned the right way. It was a lot of fun. All the Sangria's you want, food and so on. Was quite a treat. Let me tell you, when I first swam in the Mediterranean Sea, I swam for close to 30 minutes was not tired. It was really strange how much more salt was in the sea vs. the Pacific Ocean I was use to. I also went paragliding. It was time well spent. The clubs (if you like clubs/dancing) were open till about 6am, they then close for 2 hours to clean then re-open. Quite a night life as you can imagine and an experience.

This is Bora-Bora in the Tahitian Islands, and is my dream vacation. I first heard about it when Humphrey Bogart said it was the most beautiful island he has ever seen after filming Casablanca there. I had to see for myself, and I must agree! It is an island within an island and the only one of it's kind. It is the most beautiful island visually I have ever seen, but yet to experience it first hand. I always envisioned this to be the place I go for my honeymoon, but the reality - it is not cheap. ;-) I will soon have some good links for all of these picts for your enjoyment and edification. Till then, this is a pretty good pict and you can Google it! One day I will go there and may never return, so if my page ever goes away for good, I'm probably there. ;-)

So you are interested in flight? Maybe real space travel? Go to my Education page and look at SpaceShipOne and the X Prize and Virgin Galactic as they are making space flights soon for money. It's not Sci-Fi, it's Fact-Fi!