2010 California Coast Classic Tour from Johnny Lam on Vimeo.

But I digress. Happy new year to my few readers out there! The holidays came and went without much fanfare. As I grow older I realize I don’t want as much “stuff” as I once did. I’ve been on a consumption diet as of late. Leo Babauta of ZenHabits wrote a post entitled, “The Case Against Buying Christmas Presents” which I am very much in agreement with his views on what Christmas has become and why I don’t view it innocently like I once did. On my time off (compliments of my new employer) I spent time to reflect on myself. What really matters to me these days. I don’t want stuff to matter. I want experiences and relationships to matter more. Therefore, I’ve told folks I would rather spend money on an experience to enrich a person’s life rather than on something that can eventually break or be forgotten. If you’re reading this and you know me personally, please do not give me any more “stuff”. I would rather you take the money and donate to a fund-raising effort. I’ll take this time to pimp those out: 1. Tour de Cure which is a ride to cure diabetes. 2. CCC ride for the Arthritis Foundation. This will be my second year. The first year was AWESOME!

I’ve also been reading another blog called The Path Less Pedaled which documents the journey of a Long Beach couple, Russ & Laura, who decided to sell all their personal belongings and go on an epic bike ride in 2009. I have been reading their past posts non-stop on my in and out of work. This was when I ride the bus this week. So far I’m at August 2009 where they made it up to Portland, OR and have been cruising around there and are at the state of Washington. Both authors can write so I enjoy reading their recollection and Russ is a photographer so his pictures are amazing! Some are taken from his iPhone and edited on the fly. As I poured through their entries, I am constantly reflecting on my own situation. I don’t think I own as much stuff as they did but it is a considerable amount. I need to start going through my crap and throwing things away. Even though I’m not going anywhere (yet), I’d like to lighten up the possessions. I guess I’m striving for a more simple life. I’ve been striving for a few years now. To try to minimize as much as I can.

Another interesting point in one of Laura’s post mentioned the critical mass of stuff that needed to make a home feel like a home. To fill it up with the right things so that it was more inviting. Since they had to go through this mass cleansing, they found themselves torn apart by their stuff and their overall goal to get out on the road. I have similar sentiments about my current home of 2 years. I’ve be reluctant to furnish the place fully. My bedroom just has a bed and a side table that was given to me by a friend. My living consist of a lounge chair given to me by a friend of my dad and a futon bed given to me by a buddy of mine. Coffee table is something my uncle gave me that was sitting in his garage collecting dust. My rug was bartered for some work I did for a carpet company. I got my tv stand as a present for the gf. I did splurge on the TV. I’m slowly regretting that purchase but can’t bring myself to admit it because everytime I turn it on to watch sports, I am reminded why I “had to have it”. I’m being owned! On the other hand, I’m feeling the pressure to “feather my nest” so that it feels more inviting. I’m so torn.

On another note, I am going to be getting a new bike! The one thing I don’t feel guilty about buying for myself is this custom built Surly Cross Check built by the Flying Pigeon LA guys.

Isn’t she beautiful? Build details will come later when I go pick it up this weekend. It’s missing some lights and a chainguard in this picture.

I feel more open on my personal blog to express and rant. Unfortunately, due to a few life changing events I am completely overwhelmed with work and have been trying to waste my time more wisely. On a rare occasion like tonight, I am feeling a bit inspired to put some words here and give my dedicated readers an update of my life even though I know you don’t care or already know what’s going on. Hell, this will be good to go back and read my postings when I’m old and gray and say, “Thank you, you! For writing this.”

So what’s been going on? The most significant accomplishment that happened late September into October was that I completed my awesome ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 8 days. Words cannot explain how awesome this trip was. Therefore I’m just going to show you my Flickr photo set instead:

250 riders raised about $1.27 million for the Arthritis Foundation. It was so good that I’m going to do it again next year. Look for my solicitation for donations and leave some money in your budget to help donate to this great cause.

The second update in my life (or really my family’s life) is that my sister is finally married! Her long-time boyfriend turned fiance is now her husband. I gained a brother-in-law who I welcome to our family with open arms. I was part of the wedding ceremony which was a very simple and progressive combination of American and Chinese culture. Much like the way I would like to do it if I was getting married. Too bad that’s not happening anytime soon.

The third and final update is that I am in the middle of changing jobs. Yup, I am moving forward from my 7 year tenure from NBC Universal. Quoting the great Lebron, “In this fall — this is very tough — in this fall I am taking my talents to Culver City and work with Sony”. Last day is November 5th. It’s going to be a sad departure. I’ve given my best with this company and they’ve allowed me to grow and groom my skills as a Project Manager.

There you go! You’re caught up with my life now. Move along. There’s nothing else to see here…

We got to Goat Island in no time and was greeted with an empty parking lot. What this meant was that we got to see the Horseshoe Falls with no other tourists and really up close and personal. We were so close that with the change of the wind direction, we were showered with the mist from the crests below. To enhance the beauty of the falls, a rainbow can be found circling the top to the bottom of the fall. A truly beautiful and magnificent sight.

With 15 minutes left until the bus drives off, I quickly made my way over to the Bridal Veil Fall, the smaller of the 3. It was quick jog down to the viewing deck with a bridge running over the fall.

After our viewing from the top of the falls were complete, we once again found ourselves at the Visitor’s Center and made our way to the park. We were the first tour group to get there for the Maid of the Mist attraction. Essentially Maid of the Mist is a boat ride near each of the 3 falls. They gave us plastic raincoats because it is expected that we were going to be drenched. I personally didn’t think we were going to get that wet. I was in for a big surprise.

We boarded the first boat that was out for that day and they packed it in with visitors. I luckily got to one side of the boat leaning up on a railing. As we got closer to the American and Bridal Veil Falls, you gradually got misted on and there was a constant spray of water. It wasn’t so bad. But when we made our way to the biggest fall, Horseshoe, the mist became pelting drops of rain. The next thing you know, everyone was doused in water from head to toe. Truly a refreshing feeling! Nothing like an early morning shower to cool down the already warm morning.

As we doubled back, we passed by the other two falls once again giving the other side of the boat the experience of misting from the falls. We made it back to the dock drenched. Our tour guide tells us to go check out the staircase that is located next to the American Fall. Boy was that crazy! With every step up to the side of falls and every wind blowing against you, the water mercilessly pound everything in it’s way including myself and other tourists who wanted to see the top. I got there. I got soaked!

I finally made it back down and eventually found myself at the top of the fall at the observation deck. I took a couple of pictures from way up top. That was the last time I saw Niagara Falls. We were told to get breakfast / lunch before boarding the bus. The bus ride was LONG! Crying kids, uncomfortable chairs, and people complaining about this and that was all part of this ride back. When we finally made it to New York City, I was so glad to be out of that environment. We were back in Chinatown and I had to find my way back up near Korea Town, where my hostel was booked.

I took the Train N up and got off at 28th Street. I made my way to Latham Hotel. For $120+ a night, it was located conveniently close to the Empire State building and few blocks away from Times Square. So when I got there, I dropped off my stuff in my little room and ventured out to get some dinner and explore Times Square. This “hostel” was nothing you wanted to write home about. Didn’t feel all too safe there but it did have an air conditioner which is awesome! Plus I didn’t have to share this space with anybody else. The next morning, I got breakfast at a near-by deli and waited for my shuttle to come. I made it to JFK with time to spare and enough memories to keep me occupied until I get back into work the following day. Great solo vacation!

Niagara Falls, I’m going to miss you!

Little did I know, we will be spending majority of our time sitting in the bus. It was good to catch up on some reading as well as my sleep. We soon reached our first destination: Hershey’s Chocolate World.

I never knew that there was such a place that existed. The place consisted of an amusement park and a tourist center. We went to the tourist center where upon entering, you smell the distinct scent of processed cocoa and sugar. Oh manufactured chocolate heaven. Surprisingly enough, there wasn’t any admission fee. Our tour guy gave us 1 hour here. I quickly got on a “Disneyland-like” ride which basically explains with simple animatronics how chocolate is made. This was very high on the cheesy side of things. The ride eventually ends and you find yourself in the middle of the gift shop. This was the mecca of all things Hershey. From toy cars to stacks of chocolate for all your sweet tooth’s delight. I decided to curb my hunger by having some breakfast/lunch here. They had their own cafeteria in this center. I was feeling like some real breakfast but instead had some soup.

After all of that, I looked down and realized I was out of time. I quickly made my way back to the tour bus. As usual, I wasn’t the last one back. In fact there were still people taking their merry time. By the time we all returned to the bus, we were 15 minutes late. The tour guide was not happy. Nevertheless, we were on our way. But where?

Our next destination was the Corning Museum of Glass. The route that the bus driver took was primarily 2 lane roads. At times, it was scary watching him try to out pace neighboring cars for a lane. Mind you, I was just getting over the trauma of the accident. During the 3 hour drive over, the bus driver and tour guide got into it. The bus driver wanted to break but tour guide who was conscious of time did not allow that to happen. The bus driver, this big Russian dude, was whining the whole time to this smaller Chinese guy who was our tour guide. Rather uncomfortable since I was sitting next to the tour guide.

We finally arrived to Corning Museum of Glass. This was located in the middle of nowhere. It was literally the only thing in town and if you were around, you wanted to see this place. We were quickly ushered in by the tour guide who worked his magic to get us into the glass blowing demonstration that was already taking place.

The glass blowing demonstration was interesting but what was best about this experience was that the air conditioner was kicked up high. It was hot out and taking refuge from that heat was very comforting. As we finished the show, we were given an hour to check out the museums. There was one exhibit room which had glass artifacts that was used through-out the world. There was another section where it was purely interesting things about glass and it’s significance in day-to-day lives.

My favorite item there was a glass that was curved in such a way that it magnified the people that walks towards it. Very trippy when you see yourself 5x bigger. The coolest thing was definitely the glass pane that automagically frost and unfrost depending on what angle and side you were looking through. Totally awesome!

I finally forced myself away from the rest of the place to grab a quick bite for lunch. With 5 minutes left, I swallowed my lunch and quickly ran to the bus. Here I am hypocritically late. We started on our journey once again. The ride was kicked off with the tour guide making people do karaoke. He eventually got to me and I just didn’t know what to sing. So I belted out some Careless Whisper ala George Michael. It was horrible. When you’re put on the spot you can’t think of the lyrics to one of the most popular song in your arsenal. I crashed and burned! Meanwhile, all the Indian tourists was able to sing to their hearts content. This last about an hour until the tour guide put on a movie. Guess which one? One of my favorite one, Yes Man! I’ve watched it several time and haven’t gotten tired of it.

3 hours later we end up on the first of the Twin Bridges. We eventually reached the welcome center for Niagra Falls. I was finally here!! I couldn’t believe it. We entered the visitor’s center which contained the movie theater. We were given a 15 minute opportunity to go see the falls. The first and closest one was the America’s Fall. That was a thing of beauty! Never have I been in awe just watching water fall off a cliff.

I eventually was herded back in for an IMAX viewing of a movie about Niagara Falls. Again, the air conditioning was the highlight and the movie was cheesy to say the least. A general overview of the falls and the people who discovered it or fallen off of it and lived to tell.

When the movie ended, we were given about an hour to grab dinner and be back at the bus by 9:30PM so that we can be bused over to Goat Island for the best view of the fireworks. With the combination of people being late as well as crowds of cars and tour buses, we ended up not being able to go over to Goat Island. Instead we were dropped off again at the Visitor’s center. We made it 10 minutes before the fireworks show started right above the falls. It was spectacular. Overcrowded but beautiful view of colorful display of art in the sky.

It took awhile for us to gather all the people and head over to our hotel which was in Buffalo, NY. I was exhausted and easily knocked out. 2 days down 1 more to go.

So when 6AM rolled around, I quickly hopped out of my bed, got cleaned up, and gathered all my stuff and bolted out of my room. Everyone was still asleep.

It was refreshing walking through the streets of NYC with a few people around. I walked the 1.2 mile to my destination in Chinatown. I eventually found my tour bus and had some breakfast Chinese food style (bbq pork bao and fresh squeezed soy bean milk). Lucky for me, I was assigned a seat right up front with the tour guide.

We left Chinatown with a partial full bus towards New Jersey to pick up the rest of the people at 8:05AM. Our tour guide was very energetic and knew what to point out to us as we pass it. Strangely enough, I’ve seen more sports stadium in one day than I ever want to. I must digress, our first stop for the day was in Philadelphia, PA. There we had the opportunity to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The line to go into to see the bell was way too long for the 30 minute allotted time the tour guide gave us. Instead we got to peak in from the side window.

The courtyard was teeming with tourists given the fact that it was 4th of July weekend. I got to go into the Old Courthouse and walked by the 1st Library that Benjamin Franklin founded. The cobblestone streets gave it a touch of historical reference.

We eventually made it over to Washington D.C. and was greeted by the MLB’s Washington National’s ball park and the view of Capital building. Our tour guided scheduled a boat tour of the Ptomac River. The captain of the boat gave us brief facts about Washington D.C. as we cruised through the warm and windy harbor. Highlights included Reagan Airport, the Washington monument, and the Pentagon.

One hour later, we boarded our bus again and made it to the Smithsonian Airspace Museum. The tour guide said the place was only 2 stories tall. It was a huge 2 story. I didn’t get to see everything that wanted to or dive deeper on some of the exhibits. I was actually late to get back to the bus and had to jog towards the Capital reflection lake where the rest of the group was.

We took a brief ride over to the next stop; the White House. No, we didn’t go in to see. Instead we hung outside the front for a glimpse of our nation’s capital. Throughout Washington D.C. (as well as everywhere else) they were preparing for the 4th of July celebration. At the same location we saw the Nation’s Christmas tree. Again, Washington’s Monument was prevalent throughout our tour around the area.

Our next stop was Jefferson’s Monument. This was an impressive building for the author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was my favorite President when I was learning history back in grade school. The power of his written words moved the creation of our great nation.

As we made our way towards the Lincoln Monument, something unfortunate happened. We got into a car accident. I was prepping post cards and looking at my iPhone at the moment. I look up to see a SUV pull right in front of our path. The bus driver swerved left but it was too late and we smacked right into the SUV. Luckily for the sheer size of the bus, nobody was seriously injured. One lady was complaining about back pains but other than that we were all fine. It took about 2 hours to clear up the mess. By the time we got to the Lincoln Monument, it was dusk and there was an especially large population of students from schools scattered throughout the steps up to the monument. This was the most impressive monument I’ve seen.

Ironically enough we never stopped to see the Washington Monument. Like I said before, it was prevalent throughout our stay at Washington D.C. so we weren’t missing out too much. Our tour guide said there’s usually a line in the morning to go up the monument. The elevator only fits 7 passenger at a time since it narrows out at the top. He also pointed out the two shade of color. The reason is that when they first built this monument, the Civil War broke out. So they ran out of funds since it all went into the war. When the war ended the completed the monument. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the right material after the war. That is why you see 2 different material or shading of the monument when you’re up close.

Our day concluded about 10PM when we reached our hotel outside of Washington D.C. I ended my day with a meal in my room and just passed out on my bed. We were told that the wake up call was at 5:30AM. One day down and 2 to go!

I check in here at 3:30PM. After multiple attempts to open my door since the card reader did not seem to want to work, I finally got into my room. The bed that was suppose to be mine was already occupied so I took the only available bed which was a creaky top bunk. The bed is smaller than a twin size and feels very unstable. There are lockers in the room which I brought a padlock to lock up my valuables. I spent some time to plan out my route for tomorrow’s bus tour departure. This was capped of with a brief walking tour in the city. Didn’t go anywhere in particular but got a baguette for dinner. I come back to an empty room and jumped into the shower. During this time I hear one of my roommate come back. He’s from Austria and is on his way to Florida and then eventually to California.

He tells me he’s going to be taking a nap and then go out to explore the city later. I climbed up to my bunk directly above his and was on my computer. Another couple comes in and they introduce themselves to me. Forgot where they were from but they took a quick power nap as I dozed away as well.

I wake up to the Austrian leaving and then the couple leaving as well to explore the night of New York City. I made it down and now I’m here blogging. People have been generally nice. Did I mention that I’m in my pajamas?