ffeJ + PAL Adventures | Endeavors | Assorted Shenanigans
What's New
The Water Incident
Sarah and I had a good day today. First on Sarah’s list was the Pantheon, located in the Latin Quarter. To get there, we walked across the Pont Neuf and through the Place de la Concorde so that she could take some pictures. We got a pain aux cereal at a random boulongerie that was [...]
Lazy Sunday & Sunday Supper
We both slept like rocks after 3 days of back-to-back site seeing. I went for a run down the Seine, which was surprisingly populated with other runners. After coffee, Sarah and I had a random wander down to Saint Germain, which is an area that we haven’t been to yet. We decided to eat at [...]
Up We Go!
[kaltura-widget uiconfid="534" entryid="0_fsflb5rb" width="400" height="330" style="margin-left: 280px;" addpermission="3" editpermission="3" /]
Up we go! The elevator ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
We had to check out of the Hotel Raphael this morning, and return to life as humble travelers. A bitchy old French man cut in front of us in line to check out, and we had a good time with the other plebes—the bellboys—talking crap about him. When it boils down to it, the bellboys [...]
Sarah Got Lost In Napoleon’s Apartment
I couldn’t sleep this morning and woke up at 4AM. I guess that I am not completely adjusted to Parisien time yet. No worries though, 4AM is an awesome time to go for a run in most cities. Yeah, okay, maybe it’s a little early. I think the interesting thing about 4AM anywhere is that [...]
Lost In Paris
Woke up and made our way down to breakfast at the Hotel Raphael. It’s pretty clear that we are atypical patrons of the Hotel Raphael at this point. I guess two reasons in particular really drove this home for me. One was picking up the breakfast menu and nearly falling out of my chair—who pays [...]
Arriving In Style
Jet-Lagged, but we managed to make it to the Hotel Raphael via taxi (about the same price as the train when you have four people, and way less hassle). We had a little bit of a problem finding the reservation for our “room” (which was actually a ridiculous 2 room suite). The “room” wasn’t ready [...]
Home For The Holidays
Home for the holidays as usual. It was a great trip, and Jeff was able to join us in the snow for a few days after Christmas too.
Merry Christmas Manhattan Beach
[kaltura-widget uiconfid="534" entryid="0_cpev67e2" width="400" height="365" addpermission="-1" style="margin-left: 280px" editpermission="-1" /]
Despite shorts, flip flops, palm trees and surfers, Manhattan Beach feels downright seasonal and festive for the holidays. The town is decked out to the nines in lights and decorations, and the night of the holiday fireworks festival always gets me in the Christmas spirit. [...]
Giving Thanks
I went home for Thanksgiving for the first time since high school. Figured 10 years was too long to go without celebrating the day with the fam. It was a whirlwind of a week – throwing a 70th birthday party for Mom, celebrating Dad’s birthday, enjoying Thanksgiving at Tim and Nicole’s, surprising Mom with [...]
Sunset Swim
The last Friday before daylight savings ends is always the prettiest Friday evening swim, we get to enjoy the sunset the entire swim. Bittersweet though as this is the last time we’ll get to enjoy the sunlight on Friday evenings until spring.
Big Sur
Sarah and I went on a little mini-vacation, just for fun. We left on Saturday morning and drove up to Cayucos, a sleepy little town just past Morro Bay on Highway 1. My friend Kiowa really likes Cayucos, so we thought it would be fun to check it out. We stayed at a little bed [...]
Brotherly Love
My little brother Andy and his girlfriend Caroline came to visit. Unfortunately for them, it was pretty cloudy and gray the entire time. Oh well, we had a really good time with them. I wish they lived closer to us than Denver–I think we’d hang out a lot. I picked them up at the airport [...]
Hermosa Triathlon
I finished my first triathlon and am still alive! It was just a sprint – 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run, but a good place to get my feet wet with tris (no pun intended, hehe), and to see if I want to try something a little longer next season.
I did [...]
ffeJ Fam!
My parents came to visit for the weekend, and although Sarah and I feel a bit sheepish in our shitty apartment by the beach, well, it’s by the beach. One of these days, Sarah and I will get a real place so that we don’t feel like transient college kids. I mean, seriously–if we lived [...]
d comes to Cali!
To our delight, d is moving to Cali in October! She stayed with us this weekend and we spent our days scoping out apartments and potential roomies in OC. We met quite the cast of characters in our epic hunt, but she found the perfect place in Laguna Hills. Her trip was [...]
Sin City
For Labor Day Sarah and I went to Vegas. I’ve never been to Vegas, but Sarah told me that she’d get overwhelmed if she was there for more than 48 hours, so we left on Saturday night. I’d heard horror stories about it taking 10 hours to come back…so we flew. Of course, our flight [...]
US Open Of Surfing
We went down to Huntington Beach, just to check out Weezer for free. On the beach. At the US Open of Surfing. It took a long time to park, and we parked really far away. It was fun; lots of semi-naked people in the sun, being really into surfing and Weezer. Hot Hot Heat played [...]
Pier To Pier
Brrr! I made it! I escaped without any close encounters with jellyfish, stingrays or other evil sea creatures – and also managed to escape hypothermia, which FIFTY SIX people were treated for. Our lack of a real summer here has resulted in chilly, chilly water this year. The race is about 2 miles from the [...]
Mayhem In Manhattan
I can remember my first Six-Man experience when we first moved to Manhattan Beach in June of 2006. I was walking down the Strand, minding my own business, when I stumbled into the Six-Man Volleyball Tournament. Manhattan Beach is “the home of beach volleyball,” but this tournament is a different beast. There’s something surreal [...]
Night At The Museum
Sarah and I are big fans of the Getty, so when I heard that they were having a free show in the “Saturdays Off the 405″ series with Les Savy Fav, we were in. If you’ve heard of Les Savy Fav, that should explain why I went right there. I haven’t really listened to them [...]