Thursday, November 17, 2005

There was only one month that I was not either on a plane or a train somewhere in 1997-1998

I finally got around to writing about this. During the calendar year 1997-1998, there was only one month that I was not either on a plane or a train somewhere. Literally.

I spent almost the entire first six months of 1997 on the road in Philadelphia and in Washington, DC. I was home for Easter and Father's Day but was away the rest of the time.

I spent 65 days at the Holiday Inn in Washington, DC. The bill from that hotel stay stretched more than 25 feet long across the lobby! And thanks to Eli, the CEO of Holiday Inn even sent me a Thank You note later that year (as seen below...you can click on it to blow it up).


While in DC, I did most of the typical touristy things such as the Smithsonian, the National Air and Space Museum, toured the US Capitol Building and got to sit in on a session of Congress, went to Arlington National Cemetery, saw the US Navy Band play at the Navy Memorial, and toured the FBI Headquarters. Went to the Pentagon but did not make it into the tour. Also missed out on the tour of the White House. Over in the Georgetown neighborhood, Old Glory was my favorite place to hang.

In November 1997, I went to Las Vegas and among other things, went on an airplane tour that buzzed the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon. I felt like I was almost flying on the Manhattan Express at New York, New York and on the Big Shot at the Stratosphere...a ride that shoots you up 160-feet on a tower that's already over 1000-feet above ground-level, and you do it in only a few seconds at 4-G's! Had a very magical dining experience (literally) at Caesar's Magical Empire.

Went back to Vegas in 1998 for the opening of the Star Trek Experience, which is soooo cool...one second you're standing in a small square room, and the next second you find that you've been beamed into the Transporter Room of the Enterprise...truly amazing! I've been back there several times since then and still cannot figure how the hell they do that!

Friday, November 11, 2005

Flying

I dug out my pilot's license and went flying this morning for the first time in like five years (I was supposed to go a few years ago, but then the September 11th stuff happened and all flights were grounded).

A picture perfect day today and we could see the NH mountains from Boston! The straight-and-level flying was easy for me -- almost like riding a bike -- but I think I'll leave the landings up to the pros until I go back up at least a few more times. Hopefully it won't take me another five years to go back again.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Aerosmith at Mohegan Sun

While I wasn't a huge fan of Sunday's show, I wouldn't say it totally sucked, like a lot of other hard-core fans have said.

It was very cool to have classics like "Seasons Of Wither" and "No More No More" in the same show along with "Walkin' The Dog" and "Helter Skelter", and I am probably one of the only ppl who don't object to "Angel" especially since they don't beat it to death like some of their other songs from that era. The rest of the setlist could have been a bit better, though. I thought "Janie's Got A Gun" completely sucked, as I've thought just about every time I've seen them do it -- the beginning just drags on and never feels right to me.

I would have liked a little more interaction between the band members. To me it seemed like in the rehearsals, they worked on the songs, but not really on any of the choreography (for lack of a better word) -- almost like they need to be reminded that Joe and Brad typically do the catwalk stroll during the guitar interlude in "Dream On", for example.

But I am letting a lot slide based on the fact that it was first show of the whole tour and they haven't played out in a while. I am going again tonite so we'll see how that goes.

Lenny Kravitz kind of impressed me. I am not really a fan of his in general -- I don't dislike him at all, but I don't go nuts over him. But his performance was solid and he did a great job.

Pics (from my aging camera phone) are here.