Re-route...

Ryan told me last night that an Atlanta show has been booked between Austin and Philadelphia. Never been to Hot-lanta so that will be cool!

The plan...

So, one reason for this blog that I forgot to mention before is that I will be driving cross-country in 8 days with my friend Ryan Ferguson, who just happens to be an awesome musician. He is starting a solo career after performing for many years with a band called No Knife. He'll be playing a few shows on the way, which will make the trip even that much more exciting. Our first night, 4/29, will be in Phoenix, where Ryan will be playing at a record store called Stinkweeds along with an Arizona band, Rueben's Accomplice. Ryan has known the Reuben's guys for quite a while from touring with No Knife, so we're hoping we can crash at their place. After Phoenix, we'll make our way across Texas to Austin by 5/1. In Austin, we're hoping Ryan can get on a bill with The Good Life, friends of both of ours who happen to be playing Austin that night. The following day, Ryan will be playing an in-store performance at Waterloo Records. Then, we have to make our way over to Philadelphia for a show on 5/5. I think we'll probably make stops in Memphis and Columbus between Austin and Philly, but we'll have to see about that. It would be great if he could pick up another show somewhere in between. After Philadelphia, where we'll stay with our life-long friend Jeff Hooks, we'll head up to New York. Ryan will play a final show in NY and then fly back to San Diego the following day or the day after. My hope is that I will have internet access most days at some point so I can update this blog with updates and pictures. We'll see how that goes, but that's the plan.

Shea Stadium

I can't wait to see the Padres come play the Mets at Shea Stadium. The games are July 19-21, in case anyone wants to come out to visit me and go to those games. I took the picture above at a game in September 2003 when I was visiting Jeff Hooks in NY. The Mets played the Expos that day and Jeff and I got hooked up with these great seats by a really nice Mets season ticket holder we met outside the stadium. I liked Shea a lot more than I thought that I would.

In the beginning...

OK, so I stayed home sick from work today (I actually am sick too) and I decided that it would be cool to start a blog documenting my journey from San Diego to NYC and at least the first couple months of living there, finding an apartment, finding a job, trying to make friends, etc. In the past I have been terrible at keeping any kind of diary or journal so I'm not terribly optimistic about the success of this venture, but hopefully I will prove myself wrong. I hope it will give me an excuse to go out, take pictures and document the day to day of this transition. It would probably be a lot more entertaining if I was, say, Larry David, but I guess entertainment will be a secondary benefit of this enterprise. Not sure what the primary benefit is yet, hopefully to keep in touch with family and friends and something to reflect back on at some point. So, anyway, here goes-- my first post to the Blog Universe... see you again soon!