Friday, June 10, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dual Survival
Survival shows in general are badass and it all started for me when Bear Grylls came on the scene with Man vs. Wild. Now Discovery Channel has gone further with their survival programming by creating Dual Survival which takes a primitive survival expert - Cody Lundin and former Marine - Dave Canterbury on survival missions in some of the harshest terrain in the world. This is definitely one of the more entertaining shows I've seen and below is an example of how badass these guys are:
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
I haven't posted in a long time due to a lot of things that have been going on in my life. I just got a new job working for an event ticketing company Xorbia Tickets (www.xorbia.com). I've been doing marketing and customer service for them since the beginning of May.
My sister, Marian Adeimy just got married to Nick Avise and I have to say I'm quite proud to have a brother-in-law; the wedding was amazing and I'll be posting pictures soon!
I just moved into a new home as well in the Va/Hi area in Atlanta. I'm living with the five best friends that anyone could have! There will be plenty of fun to be had in the coming year!
The topic of this post is about a show that I went to last night at Hell in the Masquerade. For those of you not familiar with this music venue its located in the warehouse district down North Avenue in Atlanta. This place is supposedly haunted and remains one of Atlanta's most storied venues (Radiohead used to play here). The Masquerade or Masq is actually a solid concert spot with three levels appropriately themed: Heaven (top floor), Purgatory (middle floor), and Hell (bottom floor). Karl Denson was in Hell playing to a smaller Wednesday night crowd, but full of energy and a great atmosphere. Now Karl Denson's Tiny Universe is a funktastic soul band that does a lot of things really well most of all, they make you want to get down to some sweet tunes. I have embedded a video (not from their show last night) within this post to allow you to experience this amazing group of six musicians, Karl Denson being the nasty/sickest sax player I've heard in quite some time. These guys give 110% when they play and they get the crowd involved with the music. Please do yourself a favor and check them out....I'll be providing many more music reviews and suggestions this Summer and Fall so stayed tuned and expand your music library to include some seriously good musicians and get out to these upcoming concerts in Atlanta!
My sister, Marian Adeimy just got married to Nick Avise and I have to say I'm quite proud to have a brother-in-law; the wedding was amazing and I'll be posting pictures soon!
I just moved into a new home as well in the Va/Hi area in Atlanta. I'm living with the five best friends that anyone could have! There will be plenty of fun to be had in the coming year!
The topic of this post is about a show that I went to last night at Hell in the Masquerade. For those of you not familiar with this music venue its located in the warehouse district down North Avenue in Atlanta. This place is supposedly haunted and remains one of Atlanta's most storied venues (Radiohead used to play here). The Masquerade or Masq is actually a solid concert spot with three levels appropriately themed: Heaven (top floor), Purgatory (middle floor), and Hell (bottom floor). Karl Denson was in Hell playing to a smaller Wednesday night crowd, but full of energy and a great atmosphere. Now Karl Denson's Tiny Universe is a funktastic soul band that does a lot of things really well most of all, they make you want to get down to some sweet tunes. I have embedded a video (not from their show last night) within this post to allow you to experience this amazing group of six musicians, Karl Denson being the nasty/sickest sax player I've heard in quite some time. These guys give 110% when they play and they get the crowd involved with the music. Please do yourself a favor and check them out....I'll be providing many more music reviews and suggestions this Summer and Fall so stayed tuned and expand your music library to include some seriously good musicians and get out to these upcoming concerts in Atlanta!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Just Checked In To A Post Osama Bin Laden World
Bin Laden is dead!
The U.S. military covert operations in Pakistan acted on definitive intelligence by taking out the most wanted terrorist for the last decade, with a $25 million bounty on his head, Bin Laden was able to elude the intelligence community for almost 10 years. In August, a major breakthrough occurred though, and the U.S. intelligence community gained a lead from informants of Bin Laden's whereabouts. It took close to 8 months for that lead to blossom into a full scale operation that could be signed off on by the President himself. SEAL Team Six conducted the operation in the depths of the night with two helicopters. They pulled off the operation with the precision expected from the most elite and deadly force known to man.
What does this mean for the world?
Osama Bin Laden is an after thought at this point because he really has no true control over Al-Qaeda which is now split among hundreds of cells spread across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and even in the US. This operation and the resulting death of Bin Laden is both symbolic and historic for our country and the world, but in the grand scheme of things it has only raised more questions. Why are we over in Afghanistan again, we killed Bin Laden right? Pakistan Intelligence is either incompetent or can't be trusted, which is it and either way doesn't that present a huge problem for a country with 175 million people? What about Libya we're basically in a stalemate there and soon NATO a.k.a (Almost solely funded by the U.S.) will ask us to once again take control of the situation with our "unique capabilities?" These all are valid questions that have and will continue to be asked at the highest levels of U.S decision making for our current foreign policy stance.
Here's some information about our troop deployments that might answer all these question's pretty easily.
We currently have troops deployed overseas in:
Germany (54,000) been there since WWII
Japan: (32,000) been there since WWII
Korea: (28,000) since the Korean War
Iraq: (50,000) we will always be there
Afghanistan: (close to 100,000) again we will most likely always have some presence there.
We're occupiers, we police the world, we provide military and technological assistance to more than 100 countries, Pakistan alone receives more than $1 billion in military aid from the United States...I'm le tired, however it's quite certain that we'll be spending at least another decade throwing billions of dollars into vast nothingness while CHINA just waits in the foreground for the U.S. to stumble and fall.
The U.S. military covert operations in Pakistan acted on definitive intelligence by taking out the most wanted terrorist for the last decade, with a $25 million bounty on his head, Bin Laden was able to elude the intelligence community for almost 10 years. In August, a major breakthrough occurred though, and the U.S. intelligence community gained a lead from informants of Bin Laden's whereabouts. It took close to 8 months for that lead to blossom into a full scale operation that could be signed off on by the President himself. SEAL Team Six conducted the operation in the depths of the night with two helicopters. They pulled off the operation with the precision expected from the most elite and deadly force known to man.
What does this mean for the world?
Osama Bin Laden is an after thought at this point because he really has no true control over Al-Qaeda which is now split among hundreds of cells spread across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and even in the US. This operation and the resulting death of Bin Laden is both symbolic and historic for our country and the world, but in the grand scheme of things it has only raised more questions. Why are we over in Afghanistan again, we killed Bin Laden right? Pakistan Intelligence is either incompetent or can't be trusted, which is it and either way doesn't that present a huge problem for a country with 175 million people? What about Libya we're basically in a stalemate there and soon NATO a.k.a (Almost solely funded by the U.S.) will ask us to once again take control of the situation with our "unique capabilities?" These all are valid questions that have and will continue to be asked at the highest levels of U.S decision making for our current foreign policy stance.
Here's some information about our troop deployments that might answer all these question's pretty easily.
We currently have troops deployed overseas in:
Germany (54,000) been there since WWII
Japan: (32,000) been there since WWII
Korea: (28,000) since the Korean War
Iraq: (50,000) we will always be there
Afghanistan: (close to 100,000) again we will most likely always have some presence there.
We're occupiers, we police the world, we provide military and technological assistance to more than 100 countries, Pakistan alone receives more than $1 billion in military aid from the United States...I'm le tired, however it's quite certain that we'll be spending at least another decade throwing billions of dollars into vast nothingness while CHINA just waits in the foreground for the U.S. to stumble and fall.
Friday, April 29, 2011
The U.S. Supports Terrorism In The War Against Terrorism
For many decades the United States has used political rhetoric and diplomacy to put a massive veil over our true intentions when it comes to foreign policy. We supported Bin Laden's Taliban with 100's of millions in US weapons and assets when we felt it was in our interest to stop the spread of Communism. 9/11 came along and instead of simply targeting the cells where the attackers originated we thought it would be intelligent to spend billions on two wars that have accomplished nothing but the downfall of the U.S. middle class. Your probably asking yourself what the hell does this all mean? Simply put, the United States has been saying one thing to the masses and then doing the complete opposite behind the scenes. We spend $50 billion a year to fund covert operations that support terrorist organizations that we will most likely go to war with later in the century. We have our hand in too many issues, we are constantly striving for "democracy in the Middle East" which means we want them to remain as insignificant as possible for as long as possible....the United States policy towards the Middle East is destabilization so that our assets and interests will remain the most influential for years to come.
The tip of the spear is leading us, down a rabbit hole where perpetual war is all our children and their children will ever know.
Please read this article: Covert Operations and the Middle East
My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected by the tornadoes in the Southeast.
The tip of the spear is leading us, down a rabbit hole where perpetual war is all our children and their children will ever know.
Please read this article: Covert Operations and the Middle East
My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected by the tornadoes in the Southeast.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
My Trip to LA and Vegas
Last week the government took a week hiatus and I decided to take a trip to LA and Las Vegas with my former teammate from UNCG Arsel. My cousin Miles has a condo out in Irvine, CA which gave us a free place to stay for the week.
Tuesday: We left Atlanta early Tuesday morning and arrived in LA that same morning around 9am. We immediately got our rental car and went to my cousins condo in UC Irvine which is 40 min south of LA. Once settled in we knew the beach was where we needed to be and we headed straight to Laguna Beach right off the Pacific Coast Highway or the 1. Laguna Beach is a pretty cool place considering how it is situated in the hills and then drops right into the ocean, very similar to Malibu except that Malibu is just a little more badass mainly because of the shear beauty and size of the mountains in Malibu. That same day we drove all down the 1 and hit Huntington Beach which is another LA staple point and great atmosphere. Huntington Beach is massive and so many young people were out there enjoying themselves so it presented a great people watching spot as well as a solid marketplace where you could buy anything from clothes to farm fresh fruits/vegetables. Basically the 1 highway is the place to cruise when your in LA especially on a nice day, you go through almost every major beach you would ever want to see and you can pretty much pull off at anytime and be on the sand in seconds. We ate dinner near Huntington at this southwestern restaurant called Habana, the food was really solid and I think the bill including drinks was less than $30 so not bad at all.
Wednesday: We headed straight for Malibu and Pepperdine. Malibu was so amazing and it honestly got me pissed off that I never even thought about working my ass off in school to go to Pepperdine which was a big mistake considering its sick location. We hiked all over the mountains there and ended up at a 75 foot waterfall that was breathtaking. Malibu is so unique because it literally sits right on the Pacific and right behind the small town are massive mountains that provide immense opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts like my self.
Thursday: This was the beginning of our trip to Vegas which was a four hour drive from Mile's condo. We decided that since we were driving through the Mojave National Preserve we would definitely find a solid hiking trail and experience the desert. We did just that and climbed to the top of Teutonia Peak, this climb was 4 miles round trip and on that day we were experiencing 30-40mph winds with gusts well over 50mph at the summit. This climb was one of the sickest experiences of my trip and going into it I had no clue what we would encounter, the only advice I would give is that its not too smart taking a brand new 2011 Toyota Corolla off-roading through the Mojave. After our hike we rolled into Las Vegas, check into the Rio, and kicked off our Vegas experience with a bang by losing $300 between my friend and I in the first couple of hours playing roulette and black jack. We had a friend in Vegas who hooked it up big time by getting us a table with the owner of Tao at the Venetian.....I survived to see daylight on Friday morning.
Friday: I was woken up with a call from the same friend who had a $400 tab at Tao Beach for us to eat and drink on. My friends and I stuffed our faces with fresh sushi and about seven different pitchers of mixed frozen drinks...one thing lead to another and I knew I had to book a hotel for Friday night, did that and continued partying. Staying Friday was the best decision I made on the entire trip because it allowed me to win all my money back and then some. I walked into the Luxor with two $5 chips, put them on RED 23...boom $340 right there! Then I continued to play 1st and 2nd 12 and got up to $700 before ending my gambling stint in Vegas up $300...not bad, very, very lucky overall.
Saturday: We both struggled to recover from our two nights in Vegas, Arsel was completely done after his seven hour marathon on black jack from the previous day. We limped back into LA to meet up with my cousin and continue our tour of Cali. We went to San Clemente and hit up a pizza/micro brewery with great food and enjoyed a solid double IPA that won an award at the Great American Beer Festival.
Sunday: We went to the mountains once again for about an 8-9 mile round trip with some amazing views of LA county. We found mint all over the peaks of these mountains so I thought we could use it to make mojitos...later that night we attempted to make the mojitos and they were terrible, I mean disgusting...worth a try though. We had a pretty chill weekend and flew back to Atl from Lax on Monday morning.
California is an amazing place and Vegas is party. We had a badass trip and met some amazing people, the biggest take away from this trip is that I now know that all I want at this point in my life is to travel, travel, travel as much as I can and develop new relationships. It's much easier said then done, but at least I know what I want to put my money into for the time being...next move is leaving the United States.
Cheers
Tuesday: We left Atlanta early Tuesday morning and arrived in LA that same morning around 9am. We immediately got our rental car and went to my cousins condo in UC Irvine which is 40 min south of LA. Once settled in we knew the beach was where we needed to be and we headed straight to Laguna Beach right off the Pacific Coast Highway or the 1. Laguna Beach is a pretty cool place considering how it is situated in the hills and then drops right into the ocean, very similar to Malibu except that Malibu is just a little more badass mainly because of the shear beauty and size of the mountains in Malibu. That same day we drove all down the 1 and hit Huntington Beach which is another LA staple point and great atmosphere. Huntington Beach is massive and so many young people were out there enjoying themselves so it presented a great people watching spot as well as a solid marketplace where you could buy anything from clothes to farm fresh fruits/vegetables. Basically the 1 highway is the place to cruise when your in LA especially on a nice day, you go through almost every major beach you would ever want to see and you can pretty much pull off at anytime and be on the sand in seconds. We ate dinner near Huntington at this southwestern restaurant called Habana, the food was really solid and I think the bill including drinks was less than $30 so not bad at all.
Wednesday: We headed straight for Malibu and Pepperdine. Malibu was so amazing and it honestly got me pissed off that I never even thought about working my ass off in school to go to Pepperdine which was a big mistake considering its sick location. We hiked all over the mountains there and ended up at a 75 foot waterfall that was breathtaking. Malibu is so unique because it literally sits right on the Pacific and right behind the small town are massive mountains that provide immense opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts like my self.
Thursday: This was the beginning of our trip to Vegas which was a four hour drive from Mile's condo. We decided that since we were driving through the Mojave National Preserve we would definitely find a solid hiking trail and experience the desert. We did just that and climbed to the top of Teutonia Peak, this climb was 4 miles round trip and on that day we were experiencing 30-40mph winds with gusts well over 50mph at the summit. This climb was one of the sickest experiences of my trip and going into it I had no clue what we would encounter, the only advice I would give is that its not too smart taking a brand new 2011 Toyota Corolla off-roading through the Mojave. After our hike we rolled into Las Vegas, check into the Rio, and kicked off our Vegas experience with a bang by losing $300 between my friend and I in the first couple of hours playing roulette and black jack. We had a friend in Vegas who hooked it up big time by getting us a table with the owner of Tao at the Venetian.....I survived to see daylight on Friday morning.
Friday: I was woken up with a call from the same friend who had a $400 tab at Tao Beach for us to eat and drink on. My friends and I stuffed our faces with fresh sushi and about seven different pitchers of mixed frozen drinks...one thing lead to another and I knew I had to book a hotel for Friday night, did that and continued partying. Staying Friday was the best decision I made on the entire trip because it allowed me to win all my money back and then some. I walked into the Luxor with two $5 chips, put them on RED 23...boom $340 right there! Then I continued to play 1st and 2nd 12 and got up to $700 before ending my gambling stint in Vegas up $300...not bad, very, very lucky overall.
Saturday: We both struggled to recover from our two nights in Vegas, Arsel was completely done after his seven hour marathon on black jack from the previous day. We limped back into LA to meet up with my cousin and continue our tour of Cali. We went to San Clemente and hit up a pizza/micro brewery with great food and enjoyed a solid double IPA that won an award at the Great American Beer Festival.
Sunday: We went to the mountains once again for about an 8-9 mile round trip with some amazing views of LA county. We found mint all over the peaks of these mountains so I thought we could use it to make mojitos...later that night we attempted to make the mojitos and they were terrible, I mean disgusting...worth a try though. We had a pretty chill weekend and flew back to Atl from Lax on Monday morning.
California is an amazing place and Vegas is party. We had a badass trip and met some amazing people, the biggest take away from this trip is that I now know that all I want at this point in my life is to travel, travel, travel as much as I can and develop new relationships. It's much easier said then done, but at least I know what I want to put my money into for the time being...next move is leaving the United States.
Cheers
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Beltline, The Real Deal
I have been talking a lot about whats happening in the world right now. I could keep doing this but its not getting us anywhere, and personally I need to expand this blog to encompass not only issues facing our world, but local opportunities that could give Atlanta the jolt the city needs to compete and grow in the 21st Century.
THE ATLANTA BELTLINE:
The Beltline is a transit/economic development project that is located along a 22 mile rail corridor that surrounds Atlanta. The project's motives are to completely redevelop and connect all 45 of Atlanta's neighborhoods through walking/biking trails, and high speed rail that will connect with existing MARTA lines. The proposal calls for $2.8 billion in funding and it is currently the largest-most wide ranging urban redevelopment project in the US.
MY VIEWS:
The Beltline in my opinion is one the greatest proposed initiatives to happen to Atlanta since I've lived here. They have been planning this project since 2004 and in recent years it has picked up significant pace receiving support from the City of Atlanta and State Legislators. I recently was able to speak briefly with a State Senator whose district resides in many of these neighborhoods that will benefit from the forming the Beltline. She believes as do I that we are finally seeing a shift in the ideals that have shaped Atlanta over the last several decades. Businesses, communities, and governments know that Atlanta's traffic woes are a huge problem for the future growth of our city and although we are among the best states to do business with because of our large corporate tax breaks that alone won't stop cities like Charlotte and Jacksonville who are currently investing heavily in transit to take our businesses and capitalize on our failure to act. There have been too many times where the City of Atlanta has received potential federal funding for major transit projects and has failed to act. Atlanta Beltline Website - Good Information
We now are seeing a light emerged not only with the Beltline, but the Atlanta Street Car that will connect East and West Atlanta for the first time since the connector was constructed some 40+ years ago. The street car which just got $9 million in funding to go along with our $45 million federal transit grant will connect Centennial Olympic Park with the MLK National Historic Site, it will also be connected to the Beltline corridor. Atlanta Street Car Article
Atlanta has the potential to be a beacon of light in the Southeast and people from all over are now beginning to believe in that potential. The Beltline will bring an urban revolution to our city and will ensure our competitiveness and growth for the 21st Century. We will finally be a biker friendly city, we will insure that our Atlanta remains "the city of trees," the proposed redevelopment will bring thousands of acres of green space and created a number of jobs for our beleaguered state economy. We have a bright future ahead in this city and as long as we stay informed and active in our community failure is not an option.
Cheers
THE ATLANTA BELTLINE:
The Beltline is a transit/economic development project that is located along a 22 mile rail corridor that surrounds Atlanta. The project's motives are to completely redevelop and connect all 45 of Atlanta's neighborhoods through walking/biking trails, and high speed rail that will connect with existing MARTA lines. The proposal calls for $2.8 billion in funding and it is currently the largest-most wide ranging urban redevelopment project in the US.
MY VIEWS:
The Beltline in my opinion is one the greatest proposed initiatives to happen to Atlanta since I've lived here. They have been planning this project since 2004 and in recent years it has picked up significant pace receiving support from the City of Atlanta and State Legislators. I recently was able to speak briefly with a State Senator whose district resides in many of these neighborhoods that will benefit from the forming the Beltline. She believes as do I that we are finally seeing a shift in the ideals that have shaped Atlanta over the last several decades. Businesses, communities, and governments know that Atlanta's traffic woes are a huge problem for the future growth of our city and although we are among the best states to do business with because of our large corporate tax breaks that alone won't stop cities like Charlotte and Jacksonville who are currently investing heavily in transit to take our businesses and capitalize on our failure to act. There have been too many times where the City of Atlanta has received potential federal funding for major transit projects and has failed to act. Atlanta Beltline Website - Good Information
We now are seeing a light emerged not only with the Beltline, but the Atlanta Street Car that will connect East and West Atlanta for the first time since the connector was constructed some 40+ years ago. The street car which just got $9 million in funding to go along with our $45 million federal transit grant will connect Centennial Olympic Park with the MLK National Historic Site, it will also be connected to the Beltline corridor. Atlanta Street Car Article
Atlanta has the potential to be a beacon of light in the Southeast and people from all over are now beginning to believe in that potential. The Beltline will bring an urban revolution to our city and will ensure our competitiveness and growth for the 21st Century. We will finally be a biker friendly city, we will insure that our Atlanta remains "the city of trees," the proposed redevelopment will bring thousands of acres of green space and created a number of jobs for our beleaguered state economy. We have a bright future ahead in this city and as long as we stay informed and active in our community failure is not an option.
Cheers
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