PAX Prime 2010 – Day 0

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Youseph

My Fiancé Hannah, and I were woken up at 5AM on Thursday, September 2nd to the theme of Top Gun blaring from my iPhone that rested on the night stand. The night before I set my iPhone to wake us up to the Top Gun theme because this day needed to start off with an awesome song. This was the first day of our vacation and the day we would be traveling from Juneau, Alaska to Seattle, Washington for the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). It was the start of what I knew would be a legendary adventure for the both of us!

We where both checked in at the airport by 6:45AM and seated on the plane by 7:40AM. We where no sooner seated when we heard the announcement made that we would have to de-bored the plane because it was discovered that the brakes on the plane needed to be replaced. With a collective sign from everyone on board we all grabbed our language and made our way back to the gate seating area. Every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours we were updated by the overhead speaker system saying that maintenance was still working on the plane and they hope to bored everyone in the next 30 minutes. Even though it was frustrating to hear this statement every 30 minutes I am glad that the airline took the time to notice this braking issue with the plane and fixed it before trying to send us on our way.

On The Plane

The non-stop flight from Juneau to Seattle was just under 2 hours long. The weather in Juneau when we took off was overcast and rainy. Hannah kept herself entertained on the flight by playing games on her Nintendo DS and I switched from reading a book to trying to nap. We landed with Seattle welcoming us with 72 degree sunny weather.

We made our way from the airport to our hotel in downtown Seattle via the new Link Light Rail system. The $2.50 ride from the airport to downtown was worth every penny. Through the windows of the rail car we watched as we were carried through traffic, weaving under and above ground at times till we made it to our University Street stop. From there it was a short 3 block walk with our bags to our hotel.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Seattle on foot. We walked around and made sure we could find the PAX convention center. We checked out a few shops while trying to get the lay of the land. We had dinner at the HardRock Café and dessert at the Cheese Cake Factory. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at little convenient store and picked up a few bottles of water and hand sanitizer to take with us the next day. With everything ready for PAX the next day we went to sleep.

Local H – The 6 Angry Records Tour

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Youseph

Last Friday was the Local H Concert at El Corazon in Seattle dubbed “The 6 Angry Records Tour.” I was so excited to go and see my good friend Lyle and hear some great music from my favorite band.

I packed really light for this trip. I think I took the least amount with me that I have ever taken on a trip. Just a couple of shirts, a pair of pants, a camera, and my backup PowerBook.

My dad and brother took me to the airport in Juneau and waited around till I got checked in and passed through security. I was shocked when I got through security as saw that the terminal was just packed wall to wall. I have never seen the Juneau airport so full. I don’t know if that is a result of Alaska Airline’s reduced flights in and out of Juneau or if it’s just a really busy travel time.

Eventually I got to board my plan that was running a few minutes late. As I walked up to to the plan I started to see signs stating that this plane had in flight WiFI access. Sweet! However I learned that this was a farce. The passengers of the plane where even told that yes, we would have in-flight wifi access once we got above ten thousand feet. No sooner where we in the air when they made the announcement that in-flight WiFi is not available in Alaska. WTF Alaska Air lines? It also does not help that your flight attendants on my flight where technological morons.

The over all flight however was fine. I sat next to a baby that managed not to cry once! I was able to get a quick nap and was on the ground in Seattle before I new it. Flying over seattle was pretty neat because the city was seen through a giant sucker hole that was gone by the time Lyle and I got to our hotel.

Lyle met me at baggage clam and we took a shuttle to get the rental car. This was my first experience of renting a car and it was a good one. The Car ( a Chevrolet HHR which stands for Heritage High Roof) was a peace of shit. The whole thing is a blind spot.

We drove to downtown Seattle and checked into our hotel. From their we walked. It was a great day and perfect for walking and checking out the city. We walked for what I think was three miles to Dick’s Drive-In for dinner. Ever since I moved to Alaska I am always craving Dick’s Burgers. This trip was perfect for getting some.

After Lyle and I finished our burgers and shakes we walked to this used book store called “Twice Sold Tales”. Inside we where greeted by a happy fat cat. We did a quick scan of the books. I looked for some older Dungeons & Dragons books but struck out.

From the used book store we walked to El Corazon. Lyle was stopped by security because he has a pocket knife on him. No worries for us. We were early so we just walked back to the hotel and put his pocket knife in the room and walked back to the venue.

We went through the pat down again and got inside. We then made our way to the bar where Lyle was stopped again because he did not have a current divers license. So out side we both went so Lyle could have a smoke. We got some shit for trying to get back inside the venue. I guess once you enter your not supposed to leave?

So we are back inside the venue as the opening back for Local H is finishing up their last three songs. I snapped a couple of the pictures of the unmanned Local H merch table and people are starting to come in off the street for the main act.

Scott and Brian took to the stage. Scott was funny as he announced that he just got back from the Cinnaroma and saw Iron Man 2 which he did not like. He stated that Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau where overrated and that the only good movie Robert Downey Jr. made was “A Scanner Darkly“.

Scott also asked a little boy in the crowd how old he was and the boy said “9 years old”. Scott then said “Man, I have said “Fuck” more times then you are old. Fuck, I said it again!”

The thing about this Local H tour is it’s called “The 6 Angry Records Tour” where one person from the audience gets to draw from a hat one of the names of Local H’s last 6 albums and the band will play that album from start to finish. The album that was drawn that night was “Here Comes The Zoo“. I finally got to hear “What Would You Have Me Do?” live which is my favorite song of that album.

After they finished playing the whole album the band played a couple more of their songs. I snagged a photo of the set list before it was taken away by a fan.

After the last song was played Scott just walked off the stage to the back of the venue to his merch table and started selling shirts and CD’s and giving autographs. I got in line to buy some shirts and when I got up to Scott I showed him my plane ticket and explained I flew down that day from Alaska to see Local H play and that it was worth every penny.

With raw throats from shouting during the concert Lyle and I left the venue and headed to some all night greasy spoon restraint he knew of that made great milk shakes. They where perfect for our tired bodies, soar throats and ringing heads.

However on the way to this place we found this in the cement sidewalk. What the hell is this? It looks like Tony Stark’s Ark Reactor. Their were like 6 of them.

[Update: 6.25.2010] I met a nice couple at the show who had a something far better then a camera phone to take pictures with. I traded e-mail address with them and just got copies of the photos they took at the show. Blow you will see the new photos.

5 Dungeon Masters

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Youseph

Wizards of the Coast recently posted three videos about 5 Dungeon Masters located either in Seattle or New York. The following videos are from that page. I like to post videos about Dungeons & Dragons because I think it helps people who have not played the game get a better idea of what all the fuss is about. So enjoy!

Not Fixing My Arrhythmia

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Youseph

I am back from Seattle now. Back to cold, wet, snowy Juneau Alaska. My trip did not fix my Arrhythmia like I and everyone was hopping. I have officially stumped the doctors at Virginia Mason and told that what I have was something that was not life threating and since I grew into this I could very well grow out of it. That is just a depressing answer to get from a doctor who specializes in hearts. I will be doing some follow up visits with the local doctor and keeping in touch with the guy from Seattle. Will see what happens.

A few higlights from the trip are:

I got to see my dad who I have not seen in about 7 years
It took the nurses 6 tries to get my I.V. Started. (I passed out after the 3rd attempt)
The doctor was not able to poke my heart in a way to get it do it’s Arrhythmia thing. Nor was he able to get it to go crazy with drugs. Only after I swallowed water could they see the Arrhythmia which caused my doctor to laugh.
He called in other doctors to watch this who also laughed.
I was told that out of all my doctors colleagues only one had see something like this before about 20 years ago or so.
I was lied to about how much it was going to hurt.
I shared a recovery room with an older guy who had a hearing aid that would keep going off.
I was unable to obtain a video tape copy of the procedure to post to youtube.

Fixing My Arrhythmia

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Youseph

I will be heading down to Seattle next week to fix an arrhythmia of my heart. It was discovered a month ago during a doctors check up here in Juneau. What happens is that every now and then my heart starts beating really fast for no real reason. How fast is my heart beating? Well the doctors have clocked me at over 200 beats a minute. Not the best thing for your heart.

So my heart can go in to over drive for no reason at all. But it also happens just about every time i swallow. Which no doctor I have spoken with has ever heard of happening before. .

The procedure to correct this is called a “Cardiac Ablation“. It’s rather common and no one expect there to be any issues from it.

…ablation is a relatively non-invasive procedure that involves inserting catheters – narrow, flexible wires – into a blood vessel, often through a site in the groin or neck, and winding the wire up into the heart. The journey from entry point to heart muscle is navigated by images created by a fluoroscope, an x-ray-like machine that provides continuous, “live” images of the catheter and tissue.

Once the catheter reaches the heart, electrodes at the tip of the catheter gather data and a variety of electrical measurements are made. The data pinpoints the location of the faulty electrical site. During this “electrical mapping,” the cardiac arrhythmia specialist, an electrophysiologist, may sedate the patient and instigate some of the very arrhythmias that are the crux of the problem. The events are safe, given the range of experts and resources close at hand, and are necessary to ensure the precise location of the problematic tissue.

Once the damaged site is confirmed, energy is used to destroy a small amount of tissue, ending the disturbance of electrical flow through the heart and restoring a healthy heart rhythm. This energy may take the form of radiofrequency energy, which cauterizes the tissue, or intense cold, which freezes, or cryoablates the tissue. Other energy sources are being investigated.

Once this is all over and I am back on my feet I will write a follow up post.

I found the following links to be helpful for me when looking this up on line.

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/services/tests/procedures/ablation.aspx
http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/cardiac-ablation.html
http://www.sjm.com/procedures/procedure.aspx?name=Catheter+Ablation
http://www.hrspatients.org/patients/treatments/cardiac_ablation.asp
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cardiac-ablation/MY00706

Back In Juneau

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Youseph

We’re back in Juneau after a much needed two week vacation in Washington state. It was such a fun and relaxing trip visiting with our families. We got to just hang out and visit. It was exactly what I wanted. A stress free trip.

View From The Plane

We arrived in Seattle on the 20th of December which was a Saturday. Our plane touched down sometime in the early afternoon. The first thing that Hannah and I noticed looking out the plane window was that there was more snow on the ground in Seattle then in Juneau at the time. We knew getting to our folks house might be interesting because of this.

At the airport we met up with Hannah’s father and older sister Audra. We visited and had lunch with her sister and dad for about an hour which is about the time when her sister had to catch her next plane. She was on her way to California and we would meet back up with her next week.

Guemes Island Ferry Doc

After Audra left to board the plane Hannah, her father and I drove from Seattle to Oak Harbor where we met up with Hannah’s Mother. The four of us got back in the car and drove to Anacortes and took the ferry to Guemes Island and had dinner with my mom and younger brother Abe. It was so nice to be home.

The snow in Washington was not bad at all when compared to Juneau standers. But it becomes an issue when you think that none of the roads had been plowed. Everyone was driving a little bit slower and safer. Guemes Island was the worst, I would have to say. In the one week we spent on the island I got the car I was driving around the island stuck in the snow three times. Nothing that bad really. Nothing a little push could not fix.

The Festavis Pole

While we were on Guemes for that first week, Hannah’s folks came over for another dinner and visit with everyone. My brother Abe, put up a festivus pole and the two of us engaged in a couple of games of Axis & Allies. Hannah, Abe, and myself built a pretty big snowman man who eventually fell over after his second day of existence. Poor guy.

Snowman!

The three of us went to the park on the island to try and build a snow fort. But we quickly learned that building a snow fort takes a lot of work. Plus, the snow on that side of the island was not as packable.

The day before Christmas my sister Tracy came from Bellingham with her home made fudge. The snow was bad enough at this point that she could not drive all the way up my mom’s drive way. So, we all went down and helped her carry her things from the car, up our driveway, and into the house.

snowman Down

The next day we had Christmas. Mom instructed Abe to hand out the presents from under the tree because he was the youngest. He was happy to learn shortly after that Hannah was the youngest and that he no longer had the responsibility.

Drive To Vancouver

The following Saturday we packed up our things into the car, and said our good byes to my mom and brother and headed out on the second leg of our vacation. We drove to Vancouver Washington where we would end up at another of Hannah’s sisters, Amanda and her husband Scott’s house. The snow had melted quite a bit since we got to the island so driving was much better this time around. The drive was about 5 hours long. There was still snow on the ground in Vancouver, but nothing bad.

When we arrived in Vancouver we were greeted by both Amanda, and Scott. We spent the next hour or so chatting and catching up. Then, one by one the rest of Hannah’s family arrived. Her parents, grandmother, her sister Audra, her brother Shaun, and wife Jennifer with their kids Hailey, and Paige. There were lots of people, smiles, and chatting as everyone got caught up with each other.

In the following days we celebrated Christmas with the whole family. Played gift exchange games and opened our stockings. Christmas dinner was quite the feast and gave us all a chance to chat and thank everyone.

Scott Never Backs Down!

In the evenings everyone but Scott, Amanda, Hannah, Audra and myself went back to their hotels. Scott and Amanda took this time in the evenings to get us caught up with “How I Met Your Mother” thanks to Tivo. It was Awesome! I gave Scott a copy of the film “Never Back Down“. Which is quite possibly the greatest cinematic masterpiece to come out of 2008. Over the course of that week we watch that movie at least two and a half times.

For new years the five of us went out to Applebee’s for dinner and then went back to the house to bring in the new year with some of Scott’s and Amanda’s friends.

The next day Amanda did Hannah’s hair. Scott and I joked around while watching “Never Back down” and geeking out on our MacBooks. That evening we packed up our things and got ready to hit the road for the next day.

We drove back north to Oak Harbor and to Hannah’s folks house. My mom came over for dinner that night and I was really glad I Got to see her one last time before we left for the airport the next day.

Snow Covered Cars

We we got back to our place our vehicals where just barried in snow. Getting them out was fun.

Rain Rain Go Away

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Youseph

It's Gon' Rain!

Has Juneau Alaska became the rain capital of the world? Ever since Hannah and I got back from our vacatin in Washington it has just been either overcast, or rainy. It was really starting to get to me for a minute, but then I just started taking some viteman D and all is better.

I really am starting to miss the sun though. Last summer was kind of like this too. The first summer we spent here was great, but that was 3 years ago. Seattle Washington really has been unfairly called the rainiest place on earth thanks to a little movie called “Sleepless In Seattle“. I have lived in Washington for several years and it’s true it is rainy. But Seattle has nothing on Juneau for rain right now.

I do hope this is not a trend. Maybe it can be blamed on El Niño, or the butterfly affect.

Vacation – Part 2 of 2

Posted on June 18, 2008 by Youseph

On Wednesday, June 11th, Hannah and I went to see (the best band in the universe) Local H play in Seattle at the Chop Suey Club. We met up with our friends Abe, Kenny, Eric, Lyle, Dustin, Jason, and Doug.

We all shared a couple of pizzas before the show across the street from the venue. I realized I forgot my cammera and was kicking myself about it. Luckly for me, Lyle and Jason had their iPhones handy and they both did a great job snapping photos.