Josh's Blog: 2016

Monday, June 20, 2016

You've Grown on Me, LeBron.

Once one of LeBron’s biggest haters, I try to explain why LeBron has grown on me, why I found myself rooting for the Cavaliers last night, and how we can all learn from LeBron’s journey to where he is today.

I had never been particularly fond of LeBron James. In fact, I was one of his biggest haters and took schadenfreude in his shortcomings.

Despite his obvious otherworldly talent on the basketball court, there was just something about him that irked me. He self-declared himself the nickname “King James.” He claimed that he would make a statement on social justice issues in China prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, which he never did. The following year, after a particularly unentertaining Slam Dunk Contest in 2009, LeBron promised that he would participate the following year.

LeBron James did not participate in the 2010 Slam Dunk Contest.

In the summer of 2010, after my beloved Celtics once again dismissed LeBron from the NBA Playoffs, as most of you know, James had the option to either stay with the Cavaliers in Cleveland – a city that had not won a championship in nearly 50 years and where he had played his entire career and pretty much grown up his entire life – or leave his team for another team with greener pastures and more basketball talent. And, as I'm sure you remember, he left Cleveland for Miami by doing this:

The decision to leave his hometown was heavily ridiculed. His haters, myself among them, thought: so when the going gets tough – as it certainly has in Cleveland—LeBron thinks you should flee for greener pastures? When faced with a challenge, instead of working harder, you should take the easiest path to success? He thinks loyalty is overrated? What about the promise LeBron made about bringing a championship to Cleveland? Was that nothing? What does that tell his fans?

While the decision itself was controversial, what was more damning was “The Decision” process itself. A publicized TV event on national television to announce that you’re ditching your hometown for the sexy beaches of South Florida? Who do you think you are? As one writer put it, LeBron publicizing his decision to “take his talents to South Beach” via “The Decision” was about the equivalent of dumping your loyal longtime girlfriend on national TV… in her house.

Making matters worse, just a few days after The Decision, LeBron (and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) threw the now infamous “Not 1, Not 2, Not 3…” party in South Beach just days after the decision. Way to rub in it Cleveland’s face.

Cleveland, and most of the general public, didn’t take LeBron’s decision and actions fondly. Cleveland fans burned his jerseys on national TV and called him a traitor, a liar. The Cavaliers’ owner, Dan Gilbert, famously published this scathing letter condemning LeBron for his Decision. The ESPYs, featuring Steve Carell, made a parody of James’ Decision, which I’m sure I watched twenty or thirty times in the following weeks. He even took some flak for his otherwise well-crafted Nike “What should I do?” commercial -- which South Park deftly parodied-- mainly because it was, once again, LeBron making The Decision all about himself.

I was more thrilled than most when the team-oriented Dallas Mavericks upset the Heat in the 2011 finals. In 2012, my hatred for LeBron, en route to his first championship, peaked as he unleashed this gem on my Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. He would win the championship again in 2013, but fall short in the Finals in 2014. I still despised him.

As the years passed in Miami, however, something gradually changed in LeBron. He no longer made brash comments about himself or took on promises that he could not keep. He no longer purposefully drew the spotlight on himself. It was almost as if he preferred to remain behind the scenes.

And then shockingly, in the summer of 2014 following the Heat’s loss in the finals, LeBron decided to leave the Heat and return to Cleveland.

While the decision to return to Cleveland was in itself praiseworthy, the avenue in which LeBron chose to do so was even better. There was no publicized press conference. There was no build-up. There was just this letter published via Sports Illustrated, where LeBron delicately and deliberately put everything out on the table. (But seriously, re-read the letter. It's pretty incredible).

In the letter, LeBron explained he left for Miami "to seek championships," a decision he most certainly did not regret. He talked about how as his time passed in Miami, his decision to return home "felt right" and simply made him feel happy. He didn't promise any championships. He understood that he had to be patient and work extremely hard. He came across the realization that his presence, his calling, was bigger than basketball, that he truly meant more to those in Northeast Ohio than he did in Miami or anywhere else.

What was most refreshing about his letter (and his return to Cleveland), at least to me, was LeBron's ability to swallow his pride and forgive, despite his power and stature. LeBron succinctly described his thoughts in this paragraph:

LeBron is not a perfect role model, nor can he ever be one. He acknowledges that he makes mistakes, sometimes big ones. But he has also shown that he, like all of us, is capable of maturing and learning from his mistakes and moving forward from them. He follows his heart and his passions and sticks to his beliefs, regardless of what others say or think. He (now) understands that the most rewarding challenges to overcome require the most work, the most passion, and can only be earned. He shows that forgiveness can indeed be an avenue towards greater happiness and fulfillment. He, despite the media and fame that surrounds him, has finally demonstrated understanding that the world does not revolve ourselves and how necessary it is to consider others and the greater good, something most of us (myself included) have yet to truly grasp.

LeBron's growth over the years is fascinating because despite the fact he has superhuman basketball abilities, his story -- a guy who made some mistakes but proceeded by forgiving, growing up, and moving on -- his something we, as normal humans, can strive for and relate to.

And so, when the choice became to either root for the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron—trying to bring a sports championship to a blue-collar city that desperately needed some good fortune—or the overly arrogant, muscle flexing, groin kicking Golden State Warriors and their fan constituency of wealthy tech folk and an overcrowded bandwagon, it was a pretty easy choice.

I hate to admit it, but you’ve grown on me, LeBron.

It's also pretty cool you that can do things like this.

-JTF

In case you care, here was my last blog post (which I finally finished!) about my road trip across the country last month!

Friday, May 6, 2016

Road Trip IV: This Time I'm Driving a Truck!

It's been a month since we completed the road trip, and I still haven't posted the rest of the blog until now. Here it is!

The Entire Trip from Sacramento, CA to Fairfax, VA

For those of you who didn’t know, my father is moving from Sacramento, CA to Washington DC, and I’ve agreed to drive his stuff across the country for him. I’ve blogged about my past road trips* from Boston to Atlanta in Summer 2013, Sacramento to Seattle in Summer 2014, and of course, from Seattle to Atlanta in Fall 2015, but this road trip has its fair share of differences, the most prominent of which include:

* If you're gonna look at only one of these, Seattle to Atlanta is the BEST best one. Read that one.

Not easy parking this guy...

1) Instead of driving my own car, I’m driving a big ass Penske (a knock off of UHaul, if you weren’t aware) moving truck AND and towing my father’s (hideous) car. The main differences here are: (a) instead of driving like 80 in the left lane, I’ll be driving like 60 in the right lane for most the trip, and (b) I have to consciously be aware of ease of driving and finding parking spots where I am able to fit, which basically means my flexibility is limited because it is difficult to drive/park in densely populated urban areas.

2) I have a strict deadline on when I need to get to DC by. Specifically, I began my trip on May 5^th and need to arrive in DC by noon on the 13^th. Once again, this hinders my flexibility on how much fun I can have and keeps us moving towards DC.

3) My costs are (somewhat) covered; my dad has given me a sum of money to cover the expenses for gas, lodging, and food. This is awesome and a main reason I’m doing this. Although money is not a concern, the lump sum of money means I can’t spend frivolously since it still is my money.

Starring David Kim

4) Unlike all my past trips, I’m not driving solo. I’ve managed to rope two of my best friends in the world to come with me for the ride. David (DK) Kim—a former Juice teammate and my 14^th favorite roommate in college—had agreed to fly out to Sacramento and ride with me to Salt Lake City, and Andrew (P) Lee—a folk legend, wannabe ultimate player, and fellow Andover JV1 Boys Basketball Hall of Famer—had agreed to fly out to Salt Lake City and keep me company the rest of the way back to DC. Really helps that both of them have great flight benefits due to family members either traveling a ton or working for delta.

I guess I’m really doing this trip and blogging because I’m pretty bored with life, love doing cross country road trips, love having a good story, and want to share it with y’all. Hope you enjoy! The goal is to bump my blog viewership from 3 to 5 readers this year!

Day #1:

Day 1: Sacramento to Lovelock.

The trip did not start on a good note.

When I got to Sacramento a few days prior, I realized that the trip was going to be much more limiting than I thought. The truck, a 16’ foot guy, was bigger than I thought and the tow trailer also took more room than expected as well. I mean, it’d be hard to fit it in two parking spots! I was already stressed out about driving a truck and not a car and to be honest, wasn’t at all looking forward to the truck experience.

As moving day came, tensions were already running a bit high within my family. My dad and Baby Matthew (who is now 4 years old) had to rush / stress pack the Penske Truck and I was doing the heavy lifting. I already was rushed from the get-go (I moved out of Nashville a bit earlier than I wanted to to accommodate my dad’s moving schedule), and was relatively tired from the week before. Also rushing to spend my 2 days in Northern California to see and say goodbye to various family members and friends in the area, all while helping my pain in the ass dad stress move isn’t exactly peaceful. Luckily, I was able to find a peaceful moment with my little brother.

Baby Matthew says hey!

It didn’t help that DK was delayed and could not get on his flight… twice.* He was supposed to fly in on the night of the 4th, couldn’t get on that one, and then the morning of the 5th, which he also couldn’t get on. Finally, he got on a flight that arrived in Sacramento at 4:10pm on the 5th, delaying my plans a fair bit. But he did finally make it, better late than never though!

* his mom works for delta so he gets free standby tickets… if he can get on but only if there are seats available.

After eating a yummy dinner at my grandparents’ (if you’ve ever been there you’d likely agree), we headed off to the Penske Dealership, where we left the loaded truck, at around 6:00pm, already about 3-4 hours behind schedule. We learned then that one of the taillights of the tow trailer was out and had to wait another 30 minutes. Finally, at about 7:30, we finally left Sacramento.

The drive from Sacramento to Reno was not easy. It was already dark by the time we reached the Sierra Nevada, and when we got to the top of the mountain pass, it was really foggy. Like I couldn’t even see two dash marks in front of me in between lanes. It was scary as shit; going downhill in a moving truck, towing a car, unable to see anything, with my hazards on. Had to have been going like 20 mph at that point, if that. Glad DK was there, man, would’ve been freaking out!

Anyways, we did make it out of the fog of the cascades alive, and as we descended past Reno, naturally our first stop was at an In-N-Out in Sparks, NV, a Reno Suburb. As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t easy to park the truck and car:

We then made a quick trip to a nearby casino, where in about 8 hands DK flopped blackjack twice and made like $20, and I made $4 at the blackjack table too. The guys we were playing with were cool; I showed my GA license to the dealer and the guy next to us asked me what the hell was wrong with my (Atlanta) Braves. I know almost nothing about baseball but I know the Braves really suck, so that was kind of cool. We ended the day at a motel in a rural town of Lovelock, about 1.5 hours outside of Reno, at about 1 am. DK brought his Gamecube so I beat him in a 16 race grand prix of Mario Kart DoubleDash, which we’ve been pretty obsessively been playing the past few months. DK blew a 9 point lead with 3 races to go. Classic.

While long distance traveling alone brings its own great benefits in terms of soul searching and self-discovery (and is something I highly recommend everyone do at some point), traveling with a friend is really beneficial in itself. The ability to have some deep conversations (even with DK, shockingly), sing together at the top of your lungs and the like is pretty great company. Especially when your friend literally finds laughter and joy in the stupidest things: like after passing a sign that says Auburn and making a bad joke on how we made it to Alabama already. As DK says, why not laugh if you can? It’s a good trait of yours, DK, recognize that.

I usually like to end my blog posts with a short reflection of sorts. The short moral of the story is whenever you do something substantial and important, expect bumps in the road (great pun, Josh!). Doing so helps you psychologically with your task at hand. Additionally, having a challenge and overcoming some sort of adversity is why you take on these tasks or goals in the first place. So instead of being stressed about it, embrace it, see it as an opportunity to be mentally tougher, a better person. Challenging yourselves and overcoming adversity is truly the only way we grow.

Most importantly, if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my adventures, it’s that the best and most memorable stories in life are always ones in which some unexpected and crazy shit happens.* So really, embrace the bumps in the road y’all!

*My prime example is that time we went lazy river tubing and we crashed into the branches which resulted in half our tubes popped and our cooler broke so all of a sudden you have a bunch of really drunk college kids wading the river, chasing after PBRs slowly floating down the river. Imagine how much less fun and memorable that trip would’ve been if that didn’t happen!!

Anyways today is Day #2. I’m about to eat breakfast and DK and I will hit the road soon. We are headed from Lovelock, NV to Salt Lake City, where we will pick up Andrew at the airport at about 10:00pm, and then have the greatest threesome ever imaginable. I’ll give y’all an update soon!

Cheers,

-JTF

Post #2. 5.8.16. 10:30 AM MDT. Fort Collins, CO

Opening up with a few notes here:

(1) Driving a tow truck is a fair bit more difficult than a normal car. You have to make really wide turns, changing lanes in urban areas is difficult. The worst part is that when you're driving, you can't actually see the car you're towing behind you! So you just have to hope it is still there! But once you're on the freeway, it's actually not that hard.

(2) When we want to dick around a city, we unhook the car from the back of the trailer. It takes a bit of time; unhooking the tires and chains (and then having to rehook them before we hit the road), but we managed to narrow it down from about 20 minutes to execute down to ten. Definitely worth it to not drive the truck!

3) Gas Prices have consistently dropped as we have moved eastward. From $2.80 in Cali to $2.69 in Nevada to $2,39 in Utah, and now about $2.15 in Wyoming and Colorado. We'll see how long this lasts.

Day 2: Lovelock, NV to Salt Lake City, UT

Day #2:

On May 6th, David and I woke up in Lovelock, NV, and hit the road. We forgot to fill up gas on the way out, and were genuinely concerned we'd run out of gas because the towns in rural Nevada are so far apart. Luckily, we found a place just as the gas arrow pointed to empty.

Poker in Wendover, NV

Anyways, we stopped in Elko, Nevada for lunch after a few hours of driving. I really wanted an elk burger, for obvious reasons, but had to settle for a bison burger. It was solid. I'm sure I mentioned this before in my last road trip blog: Eating locally on roadtrips is always better!

A few hours after Elko, David had to pee, so we stopped at Wendover, NV, which was right on the Nevada/Utah border. To my surprise, Wendover had a few normal sized legitimate casinos, which I later learned were there mainly because people from Salt Lake City would make the 1.5 hr drive out to get their gambling fix in. I had an itch to play some poker, which I had yet to do this trip, so I convinced DK to let me play for 30 minutes. I was getting incredibly lucky* and picked up a quick $100!!!

*My main hand went as follows. Went into the flop head's up with a guy, First to act. Flopped Q-3-8. I check he checks. Turn is a K. I check he checks. River comes a 4. I check he puts in 15. I push him all in. He calls. He reveals K-4, Two Pairs. My hand: Pocket Queens. $100 richer.

Anyways, after the Casino we drove to Salt Lake City and went to another In-N-Out, and then picked up Andrew at the airport.

This day was a turning point of the trip for a few reasons. First, obviously, Andrew is taking DK's place. But second, as myself and DK figured out quickly, while in Nevada/Utah, whenever we were bored or wanted to stop, we could always play some slots at a casino or eat In-N-Out. But without both of those, what awaits us next?

Day 3: Salt Lake City, CA to Fort Collins, CO

Day #3:

On May 7th, at breakfast I offered DK a dollar to eat a waffle (ya know, the kind you make yourself in most hotels or dining halls) in one bite, which he did adeptly. Sorry for not getting it on video.

We dropped DK off at the airport at 10:30, and then returned to the hotel, attached the car to the trailer, and hit the road, bound for Cheyenne, WY.

The trip started off pretty boringly, actually. Andrew and I left Salt Lake City at about noon and headed east. Other than a few funnily named butts*--fossil butte, church butte, and black butte--the first half of the ride was rather boring. We stopped in Rock Springs, WY, a small coal mining town, to eat at a local burger joint. We had what Andrew said "may have been his favorite burger ever." The city was ok itself, but it made us wonder: why would anyone live there, so far away from everything else?

After we left Rock Springs, the adventures began. It started raining again, for the third consecutive day on my trip. But after an hour, we realized that the rain was moving sideways... and was actually snow. And in another hour, as we were approaching Laramie, WY, all of a sudden we were in a thick snow shower. Remember, it is May right now!!!!

We were driving in the blue.

We had already booked our hotel room in Fort Collins at that point. We had seen various signs over the past few hundred miles saying to take the next exit if the sign's lights were flashing, which meant the next section of I-80 (which connects Salt Lake City to Cheyenne) was closed, presumably due to weather. We talked about how shitty it would be if we had to turn around or take an exit.

And what do you know, as we were approaching Laramie, the electronic billboards said: I-80 closed ahead. Must take one of the next four exits." Shit. Imagine that. In the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Stranded in a snowstorm in May. Oh yeah, forgot to add: I had no service, our car charger broke, and Andrew's phone was dead.

So happy Andrew was there... I would have been freaking out!

Luckily for us, our exit was coincidentally one of the next four exits in Laramie. The snow had really accumulated. Thank god we were headed for Fort Collins instead of Cheyenne! After picking up gas in Laramie* and learning** that Laramie has gotten snow at least once in every month of the year--even on the 4th of July--within the past several years, we headed for Fort Collins.

*Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming, seemed like a pretty cool town. As Andrew described it: "Did you see that there was a Papa's John's AND a Domino's here?"

**Anyone who has followed my blog knows that I collect $1 scratch tickets to prove I've made it into a new state. Forgot to get one in Cali, and it turns out Nevada, Utah, AND Wyoming don't sell scratch tickets!

ugh. snow

The moral of this story is that sometimes, shit happens and at some point you can't turn back, you just have to power through. Worrying doesn't really do you anything, so you shouldn't worry. I was actually pretty scared driving in the snow, really worried how much worse things could get. But what else were we going to do? Turn around and go back? To a place like Rock Springs in the middle of nowhere?

Side Note, One of the scariest driving experiences, was when a semi passed us coming out of Laramie. As it passed, it happened to flung a bunch of slush onto our windshield, completely blinding our vision for two whole windshield wiper swipes. Going 50+ mph towing a car and not being able to see anything is scary as shit!

We finally got to our hotel in Fort Collins, CO at about 11pm. Was so thrilled (and surprised) that there was a Waffle House here! A few fun notes here: First, the Waffle House here is the most expensive Waffle House I have ever been to; the All-Star Special was $8.20. Second, as I ordered my same All-Star Special--wheat toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, hasbrowns--the server asked me: "Have you ever been to Waffle House before?" I got a kick out of that. Am I a true southerner now?

Anyways, today we are going to explore Colorado. We were planning to go on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, but it's supposed to rain. Severe weather--rain, hail, snow, even the threat of tornadoes soon--seems to be following us.

Day #4:

Elk chilling in Estes Park, CO

We woke up on Sunday the 8^th looking for adventure; it was only one of two days that we had available that we did not have to use as a travel day. We headed to Rocky Mountain National Park, about an hour from Fort Collins, hoping to sightsee. The drive from Fort Collins to Rocky Mountain National Park is a scenic one. We started by going through Big Thompson Canyon, which is pretty sweet. Then we passed the touristy town of Estes Park where wild elk casually chill amongst the locals.

We arrived at Rocky Mountain Park Visitor Center* shortly after noon. With help from the park rangers, and wanting to get into Boulder by around 6:00pm, we decided to go on 6ish mile hike and then drive around the rest of the park to see the views. There was a potential chance of snow, but we figured what the hell, let’s wing it and see what happens.

*always start off a trip at a park at the visitor center, they’re always happy to help and provide great insight on sightseeing, hikes, etc.

Snowy Trails are hard to hike.

The hike started out alright, a pretty standard hike with great views. As we ascended however, gone went the dirt trail, which quickly turned into a slick snow covered trail, which was difficult to navigate with our shoddy sneakers. We were being followed a mother and daughter on a Mother’s Day Hike, and the last thing we wanted was to be surpassed and not finish a hike that a 50 year old and 20ish year old mother daughter combo would finish.

As another couple of people passed us traversing, they told us we probably weren’t even halfway to the top, despite the fact we were convinced we had to be close, we decided to put up the white flag.

I know this seems a bit contradictory to what I said just in the last post the day prior (when sometimes there is no turning back), but other times it’s better stop being stubborn, swallow your pride, and admit it’s time to turn back. Sometimes you have to admit that there is a better decision to be made, or maybe that you did something wrong. The ability to know when you have to suck it up and plow ahead and when it’s time to change course is probably one of the more important lessons we all will need to know in life.

So anyways, we hiked back down, and the mother-daughter combo decided to follow suit. Although it sort of sucked not finishing what we set out to do, we felt pretty good about our decision, as it seemed that a storm was approaching shortly. We did get a pretty sweet pic taken of us as well:

Following Rocky Mountain National Park, we headed down to Boulder, about an hour from RMNP. The climate change between the two places was drastic—from 30 and blizzard to 60 and sunny—only about an hour’s away.

Blizzard!

Our first stop was a recreational dispensary. Andrew has been trying to get me to succumb to the recreational activities for years, and I decided there was no better time to give it a shot. Apparently there are different types of flowers that do different things to the body—energize, relax, tire, etc. and that there are different types of flower best used of different occasions. Also there are different flavors—very similar to how there are different flavors to beer. Shows how much I know.

Anyways, after stopping at the store, we headed to Downtown Boulder. Aside of Andrew’s completel inability to find wide open parking spots—he managed to bypass 4-5 open parking spots so we drove around in circles—Boulder was a fun experience. The downtow is super clean, has lots of restaurants and bars, retail stores. It has a certain vibe that says young, trendy, yet super outdoorsy and active. I can totally see why so many people speak so highly of Boulder now, being so close to the Mountains yet a reasonable distance from Denver. The University of Colorado campus is beautiful too. Could definitely myself living out there one day if things fell into place that way.

After visiting Boulder, we decided take in a relaxed night, use our prior purchases, and watch a movie we had both wanted to see: Zootopia. Better yet, Andrew and I actually had the whole theater to ourselves! How romantic!

Here’s my movie review of Zootopia, which had received pretty solid reviews from critics. On a scale from 0-10, with the “Good Dinosaur” being a 1.5, a completely neutral average movie as a 5, and “Memento” topping my charts at 9.5, Zootopia was a solid 7 – 7.5. The plot was fine but nothing special, but the movie did do a good job at putting in some subtle references to other TV Shows, Movies, and Disney Flicks that if you catch you’ll get a good chuckle watching. The movie also had some subtle (and not-so-subtle) moments of addressing stereotyping, gender, and race in America while keeping the film entertaining and family friendly. Not a must see, but definitely a should see.

Speaking of romanticism, the next morning, the custodian, a really nice guy in his 50s, working the breakfast, who had seen us the day prior, said to me: “if you or your partner need anything, let me know.” Couldn’t help but chuckle a bit there. I’m all about supporting the LGBT community and all, but maybe we are going a bit overboard here. Is there something strange about two bros on a road trip together? Is there? (Probably a bit.)

Day #5:

Fort Collins, CO to Council Bluffs, IA

Driving into a tornado...

On Monday the 9^th we drove from Fort Collins, Co to Council Bluffs, IA. Nebraska is pretty much exactly what I expected it to look like. Really flat land. Lots of Corn fields, although corn clearly was not in season. Pretty boring drive.

While the day started out in beautiful weather, as we headed eastward toward central and eastern Nebraska, we noticed that the weather was getting rather ominous.

So for the next two hours, and for the fifth day in a row on the road trip, we were driving in ominous weather. As if 4 inches of snow in Wyoming, or near blizzard-like conditions in the Rockies weren’t enough, we turned on the radio only to hear that the town we were passing had a tornado warning only about an hour before we got there! We were joking about how we shouldn’t follow the tornadoes… but here we were!

While driving in pouring rain / hail / thunder / the threat of tornadoes doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, It was actually rather enjoyable. Driving into a storm where multiple (chain?) lightning bolts strike every few minutes was enlightening. And after the storm passed, we were blessed with this surreal sunset as we were passing the suburbs of Omaha.

Sunset after the Storm

I really wanted to eat steak in Omaha, you know since Omaha Steaks seem like a big deal. I told Andrew to navigate somewhere good for us. Granted, our options were limited, since we didn’t want to spend $40 on a steak, nor did we have the ability to park our truck + car anywhere downtown. So he took us on a twenty minute detour to a Firebirds Grill... which as we found out afterward, is your average national chain restaurant like Longhorn Steakhouse. Ugh.

Another fun lesson here. I’m a pretty frugal dude, as those close to me know. But sometimes, it’s definitely worth it to splurge the extra cash needed for an experience. I’ll always remember that time we didn’t get an Omaha steak, instead of the time that we did. That extra $10-15 really didn’t mean that much to us.

Lucky for us, the day ended on a bright note. As we pulled into our hotel in Council Bluffs, IA (right across the Missouri River from Omaha), we learned that not only did Iowa have Casinos, but there was also a Casino literally across the street from our hotel. So much for not gambling the rest of the trip! It makes me wonder, which other states still have casinos?*

*P.S. Andrew is now addicted to gambling. He has memorized the ideal blackjack tables, and has gone to a casino about 40 minutes away from his house tens of times in the last month.

Day #6:

Council Bluffs, IA to Champaign, IL

The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

On Tuesday the 10^th, we decided to spend a half day in the Omaha area before hitting the road. I’m a sucker for rivers and (pedestrian) bridges, and I really wanted to go to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge connecting Council Bluffs and Omaha. So we woke up, headed for Omaha’s Heartland Bikeshare, and rode to the bridge, across the Missouri, and into Downtown Omaha.

I love the concept of public bikeshares in cities. Beginning with Capital Bikeshare in DC several years ago, most major cities in the country have adopted some sort of bikeshare. It’s cheap ($5-$7 per day usually) and really a unique way to sightsee a new city while getting a semi-workout in also. Was pleasantly surprised that a smaller city such as Omaha had one; it fit our needs perfectly! Downtown Omaha was a really nice place too! Surprisingly one of my favorite cities on the trip!

A tired Andrew after a short bike ride.

Following our excursion biking Omaha and a quick trip back to the casino, we hit the road towards Chicago, but ultimately ended up heading in Champaign, Illinois, since Andrew grew up as a small child there and wanted to pass his old hometown.

We were starting to go a little bit crazy and fatigued on the road, during a particularly boring part (Iowa) of the country. So we found a new strategy to get by: Memorizing the lyrics to various songs that we had downloaded for the trip. Among the songs we learned included: Mike Posner’s “I Took a Pill in Ibiza,” Jessie J’s “Price Tag” (Andrew on the B.o.B. part), Zedd and Selena Gomez’s “I Want You to Know,” and Kris Allen’s “Live Like We’re Dying” Ask us to sing any of these for you and we’ll do it!

As we pulled into our hotel in Champaign, we had our first bit of real trouble parking the truck/trailer. The hotel was adjacent to a small strip mall and they shared a parking lot. There were three exits to the parking lot—one was blocked by another truck, one we entered in, and the last was actually blocked by some cones and a chain link fence. Given how crammed the lot was and the extreme difficulty of putting a truck with a trailer in reverse, we were in a bit of a conundrum.

So we asked the hotel manager if he could move the cones and chains; which he could not. And there we were trying to back out of a small parking lot.

This must have been absolutely hilarious for this manager. Two twenty-something year old Asian dudes, driving a moving truck and towing a car, unable to back out of a parking lot with no exits. Just really living up to those stereotypes lol. He tried to make things better for us by saying he’d get our paperwork ready for us when we got the truck out. How did he know who we were? (He’d later tell us because we were the only Asians who hadn’t checked in. Lol.

We then called it a night by going to Meijer (which is a Midwest regional chain similar to Wal-Mart), and picking up some beer* at 1:00am, which for some reason was okay in Urbana, but not in Champaign. Weird Alcohol purchasing laws, 2 am is super late in itself.

*Exciting anecdote here—we wanted some local beer but for some reason kept finding only Michigan beers instead of Illinois beer. Why? (We were looking under the “Michigan Beer” Section). Facepalm.

Deep Dish Pizza

On Wednesday the 11th, we walked around University of Illinois’ campus. Nice campus, pretty standard large state school. We did see a girl walking not a dog, not a cat, but a bunny on a leash on campus. Super strange. Lots of people were walking up to this picture and taking pictures. Good way to meet / pick up people, I suppose. We also ate some Chicago Deep-Dish pizza at local pizza joint, Papa Del’s, which was really good.

In the late afternoon, we hit the road toward Akron, Ohio. Other than setting foot in Indiana for the first time, which made it 43 of 50 U.S. States for me, and actually winning my first scratch ticket (I won $1), it was a pretty uneventful drive—really boring scenery, nothing of note.

Perhaps the most exciting part of this drive was pulling into Arby’s at the very end of it. The entire trip Andrew had been yapping and drooling about how good Arby’s is (it’s not good at all, really) and how it’s better than Harrision’s Roast Beef in North Andover (again, simply not true), so I decided to give in and try to make it to Arby’s before it closed at midnight.

Anyways, we pulled into Arby’s at 11:53pm, only to find that the drive thru was the only source of getting food. But the Penske Truck didn’t fit in under the drive thru top, so we stood at the drive thru like idiots waving our hands, hoping someone would notice. Eventually, Andrew ran over to the window, where we had to explain to the server that the truck wouldn’t fit. It was a pretty humurous exchange. All for a mediocre sandwich.

Day #7:

North Canton, OH, to Fairfax, VA

On Thursday the 12^th, we started the day by heading towards Cuyahoga National Park, a newly established National Park. I’m a fan of National Parks, and one day want to visit them all, but Cuyahoga was pretty disappointing. Granted, the eastern U.S. Scenery simply can’t compare to Western scenery, but not only was this National Park disappointing compared to lesser known state parks out west, but it was actually less impressive than state parks in the east. This isn’t to say the park wasn’t a nice area—there was a nice waterfall, a nice marsh, actually a cool part with hundreds of herons nesting high atop a handful of trees – but it simply wasn’t National Park quality. The lady at the visitor center was so nice though. By far the least aesthetically appealing national park I have been to thus far.

After Cuyahoga, we headed South towards Canton, and the football of hall fame. We stop at a regional burger chain called Swenson’s, an old school joint where you’d park your car, and eat the food in your car, with a tray that attached to you window, similar to as if you were eating a Sonic. The food was pretty solid; burgers were really good and a variety of unique sides (like fried asparagus, fried mushrooms, etc.) Not as good, and certainly not as healthy, as In-N-Out, but a solid experience.

We then went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which I had wanted to go to for quite some time. But then we looked at the fees; $25 for admission plus a $10 parking fee. Given that we had to hit the road soon, and that price seemed a bit unreasonable, we elected to pass on the museum, and headed to the museum store instead. Lots of cool stuff—jerseys, clothes, photos, and other memorabilia. One thing I did notice however, was a clear underrepresentation of Patriots’ apparel there. I mean, there were handfuls of Colin Kaepernick figurines and Jerseys but a clear absence of Tom Brady jerseys. Colin Kaepernick! Hmm…

After leaving the store we decided to throw around on the field outside of the Hall-of-Fame. Then we hit the road, DC bound!

We arrived in DC that night. A great trip, no major car issues, and I only tried to kill Andrew twice.

I’m so fortunate I had (another) a chance to tour the country, sightsee. And this time I got to make the trip with company, which is definitely safer and more entertaining, although it certainly makes it more difficult to blog in a timely manner. If you ever get the chance to drive cross country, especially if expenses are covered, definitely do it. And invite me. Because I'd probably want to join you.

Thanks again for following along. Till next time,

-JTF

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Population Data Suggests that the Raiders, not the Rams (and definitely not the Chargers), should be moving back to LA

The NFL announced that St. Louis Rams will be relocating to Los Angeles beginning in the fall of 2016. Additionally, the San Diego Chargers, will have the option to joining them in LA. The Oakland Raiders were also considering a move to Los Angeles, and will reportedly have the option to join the Rams only if the Chargers elect to stay in San Diego.

I was thinking about which team should actually move to Los Angeles, and conversely, which city of the three could most afford to lose a pro team, based on its metropolitan population data. So I collected population data* on every metro area** with a big four (professional ultimate didn't make the cut, unfortunately) professional sports team, put in on a scatter plot with how many professional sports teams the metro area currently supports (including the Rams' move). Then I put in a line of best fit model to illustrate the data. The results*** are as follows:

Data Reflects Post-Rams Move. Click to Enlarge.

*data collected from this wikipedia page. So it might not be the most accurate. But that's not the point.

** For purposes of presentation and avoiding extrapolation, the trendline excludes New York City (20.63, 9) and Los Angeles (15.06, 7)
***For more analysis on the scatter plot, there is a discussion notes section at the bottom of this post.

A quick look at the above scatter plot shows that, based on metro population alone, of the three teams that were considering moving to Los Angeles, the NFL should have given the Oakland Raiders first priority in moving, as the Bay area currently houses about two more sports teams (6) than the metro population in the model would predict (3.99). In fact, of all the metro areas in the country, the SF/Bay Area should be the first metro area of any to lose a professional sports team, as it currently has the highest difference (+2.01) in actual vs projected teams it is able to support.

Meanwhile, while the St. Louis Rams (since this data reflects the Rams already back in LA) were a strong choice to move back to LA, they were not as strong a choice as the Raiders. Prior to the move, St. Louis had 3 pro sports teams vs. a projected (2.02), or a differential of +0.98, which isn't as high as the Bay Area. That said, the numbers show that two teams in St. Louis does seem the appropriate number for St. Louis to have. In fact, of all the metros that had three teams, St. Louis was the second best choice to lose a team, only behind Tampa.

Conversely, San Diego should absolutely NOT lose the Chargers, based on these numbers. Of all the metros with only two sports teams, San Diego has the second highest projection of number of teams it can support (2.50) based on population, trailing only Seattle. Furthermore, if San Diego were to lose the Chargers and drop to a one team metro, San Diego would become the U.S. metro* with THE GREATEST need to add another team, with a (-1.50) actual - projected difference.

*that currently has at least one team

Obviously the relocation of a professional sports team and a city's ability to support teams is much more complex than simple population numbers, as a number of other factors--proximity to other metros, number of transplants, climate, culture of city, socioeconomic status of city, team ownership, media presence, among many others--come into play. So this is all likely a moot point.

But simple population numbers suggest that the NFL got it wrong. While the St. Louis Rams were a solid choice, the Oakland Raiders should have been the first team to return to LA, and they should definitely have had preference over the San Diego Chargers.

Hopefully the Raiders did a simple data analysis very similar to mine in their pitch to move to LA. Then again, they're the Raiders, so it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they failed to do so.

#gopats

Sincerely,

-JTF

***Discussion Notes of Scatter Plot:

-The red diamonds indicate Canadian metro areas which predictably have less pro teams than projected, since, ya know, they're in Canada.

- A line of best fit including New York and Los Angeles (y = 0.417x + 1.1484) projects that LA should have about 7.2 pro teams, when prior to the move it had 6, and it now has exactly 7. So this model definitely supported LA picking up another professional team, whereas picking up two teams would be justified, but not necessary.

- There were two top-30 populous metros that had zero pro sports teams, despite the fact that the model projected them having two or more teams: Riverside, CA (projected 3.21 teams) and Las Vegas (1.96). Riverside's lack of pro teams likely stems from its close proximity to Los Angeles and its relatively low socioeconomic status. Vegas, well... probably because it's Vegas.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Winter Break Photoblog

Here's a collection of my best photos from what was a great winter break. Either scroll down or click on the first pic and shift using your arrow keys.

Follow me on instragram @jfeng004 if you want to see more attempts of me trying to make images look artsy. I'll probably follow you back.

Enjoy!

-JTF