Back in Denver

And after 18 days, back in Denver. Final mileage reads 5427.7. Full posts coming soon. Pics aren't up on flickr yet but here's a quick preview:

Days 6 and 7: Lake Tahoe

We arrived at Lake Tahoe very late at night the previous day and collapsed into extremely luxurious surroundings. The house Carmel's family and friends rented was massive-almost 20 adults plus kids and babies were staying there, in completely comfortable and spacious surroundings. It is currently on the market for 4 million and we probably only saw about 1.3 million of it-having not seen the top or bottom floors. It was so large that there was simply no reason to do so. It was covered in bears (and Thomas Kinkade's-oh the horror!) from floor to ceiling. On chairs and shelves, on paintings and wallpaper, on cookie jars and curtains. They were all over the place, you could always find one more bear in the room you were in.

It was so nice to wake up in what felt like a home. Go downstairs and make breakfast, brew some coffee, not feel the immediate pressure to leave a hotel room or campsite. It was also extremely nice to have the space to do some office work, such as following up with Peace Corps emails and write. I was able to catch up with the wonderful Carmel as we worked side by side in Bear Hollow's dining room, like a vacation version of an oft repeated scene we shared in Boulder. After office we all went down to the lake. Just like our private lake in Teton, this lake was crystal clear and cloudless, though thankfully a bit warmer. We splashed and played 500 in the water, played backgammon and practiced yoga on the beach. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Coming back Nick and I left to pick up liquor. We stopped at Safeway where I asked a lady selling root beer floats at the front if they carried liquor. "Oh yeah, we have a full selection," she replied "This is Nevada hon!" Back at the house, we drank SoCo lemonades, laughing about the bedroom intruder video while people busied themselves in the kitchen preparing an incredible dinner of bbq roast, mushroom risotto, and root vegetables. That night we played scategories and paper telephone, until the four of us once again collapsed asleep into luxurious surroundings.

The next day I slept in and did a bit of computer work with Carmel and Evan. One of the things I love about Carmel, and her family, is how intellectually stimulating the conversations are. Her family is both fascinating and scintillating. I love how I gain so much from Carmel when with her, whether that be book recommendations, cookies, or perspective. I ordered 4 books from half.com, ranging from business models to alternative education just after being with her and her family for less than two days.

We eventually had to leave our mountain resort, resigned to the fact that we had already committed to being in Sacramento that night. Had we the ability to be flexible I would not have been surprised if we stayed for the week's remainder. But all too soon we found the matrix packed and on our way south from Nevada to Sacramento. In Sacramento we met Ovita, Nick's fabulous aunt who hosted us and Nick's Sacramento family for a taco and margarita bbq. Nick and Margaret went swimming in her pool while Evan and I lay on reclined pool chairs until woken up and told it was time to head to Nick's aunt Natalie for the night.

Natalie is Nick's waffle aunt, and we woke up to a massive breakfast for ten-chocolate chip waffles, breakfast casserole, bacon, and fresh fruit. Refreshed and rested, we continued our Great American Road Trip heading for Pacific Highway 1 to begin our west coast adventure.

Photos of Seattle and Lake Tahoe

Evan has not stopped taking fantastic pictures. Here's more proof that we are having an amazing time.

Day 4: Exploring Seattle

Day 6: Lake Tahoe

An Introduction to the Atlantic Ocean

Check out the link on Web Gallery here

filmed by Evan

words by Nick

performed by Josh

Day 5: The Road to Lake Tahoe; an Introduction to Bat Fishing

While taking a break from our 14 hour drive from Seattle to Lake Tahoe, Nick had the best Bat Fishing session ever tonight. As this blog is titled 'Bat Fishing in Montana' now might be a good time to discuss what exactly Bat Fishing is. Bats catch bugs using sonar, diving towards the small objects that bounce their signal back. Bat Fishing involves throwing small items like pebbles, sunflower seeds, etc up towards flying bats in hopes that they'll dive for the pebble thrown. Its pretty obvious when you've caught a bat because they nose dive directly towards your throw. There's really only a period of about 30 minutes to Bat Fish each day as you can only do it at dusk.

The point system Nick and I have worked out is as follows:

catch a bat (get a bat to dive after your pebble): 5 points

catch a bat you've been tracking: 10 points

get two bats to crash into one another: 50 points, automatic timeout.

One of the best things with Bat Fishing are all the puns that accompany it. Its amazing how versatile a word like 'Bat' is when you have absolutely no standard of humor.

Day 4: Exploring Seattle

Driving into Seattle, we throw the radio on and happen across 89.9. Two grunge songs in a row, then Radiohead's 'Jigsaw Falling into Place'. Then after a radio tag caricaturing a Frenchmen drinking coffee, the announcer states 'Well its been about 5 minutes, lets play some more tool'. This is our first impression of Seattle. Shortly after, our second impression is that, apparently, we weren't even listening to the good radio station. There's good music everywhere.

We go to Pikes Place market which is a luscious feast for our senses. Bouquets of fresh cut flowers; juicy fruits i've never even heard of before, like a mango kumquat and blackberry balsamic; fish flying through the air. We ate our fill and b-lined for tourist stop number 2: the Space Needle. After this rough morning of sightseeing it was decided that we had earned ourselves a drink. And for that we went to Shorty's-a cheap dive filled with pinball machines and delicious hot dogs. Lucky guess on our part as we went there again with Devansky thatnight sushi.

Afternoon drinking leads to afternoon shopping, and afternoon shopping leads to afternoon rambling. We wandered to a park with a massive fountain shooting cannons of water all around throngs of kids. The fountain sat at the bottom of a massive concrete bowl, it was brushed steel with water pouring off of it. At random intervals different water canons would shoot and spray 20, 30,or sometimes 50 feet in the air.

Immediately the cellies and wallets are out of our pockets, and we're running down thinking we're going to play just a little and get just a little wet. Within moments of crossing the threshold we are pelted by massive water cannons, leaving any inhibitions of age and semblance of dry behind. Within moments, we're racing kids around the dome,shooting streams of water with imaginary guns, and seeing how close we can get without getting doused.Even Evan, our personal paparazzi paid penance to this god of water and had to genuinely book it away from a quick water cannon switch up.

The day continued its magic into evening, outstanding sushi, getting drunk on sake and PBR, but our delirium from the fountain would have continued throughout the evening no matter what we were doing. Links to Evan's Picassa will be up soon.

Photos from Days 1 and 2

Evan has been an incredible documentarian for this road trip. You probably don't need to read my slop if you check out his fantastic photos.

Great American Road Trip - Day 1

Great American Road Trip - Day 2

Here are a few from Day 1

Days 1 and 2: Firehole Canyon and Grand Tetons

In Wyoming we were sitting around a table making lunch of salami and cheese sandwiches from our cooler outside a roadside stop. We had a rule that we had to stop for any place selling fresh pies, but we hadn't seen any yet and needed to pick up a cord of wood for our fire that night in Grand Teton. We hadn't had any wood for fire at Firehole Canyon, the previous days stop, but that didn't get in the way of our fun. We killed a bottle of bourbon as we walked to the lake below our temporary desert home-a wonderful omen for the road trip we had only just begun.

Entering our campground in Grand Teton searching for a spot, we espied a picaresque lake through the trees. As if to draw us there as quickly as possible the first campsite we found was as close to the lake as possible.

To get to the beach we slid down a steep slope. Once on the shore, Nick and I immediately ran in. While adjusting to the sudden drop of temperature surrounding our bodies, I jumped backwards and inelegantly tubbed into the water. This lake was cold. As Margaret explained afterwards "the water was almost as cold as the Mos Def concert was hot." But it was our own, private, lake. We had spectacular scenery of the mountains in the distant West, foregrounded by an island forest. Evan quickly came in while MD snapped pics, smiles cheek-to-cheek, frozen to our faces. Margaret swam in, warming up in a race with Evan towards the mountains beyond. When we got too cold we would sun ourselves on the beach, the rocks trapping the warmth of the sun better then the crystal clear water.

Lessons Learned

Day 1:

1) Pay attention to gas gauge before light comes on

2) Pay attention to mileage when directions are given in those terms

3) If you go to sleep drinking bourbon and coke, make sure you have a water bottle next to your sleeping bag

Day 2:

1) Don't jump backwards into a lake wearing your sunglasses

2) Always get bacon

3) Go with Liquor, not beer

Should Companies Be Responsible for Their Employees Development?

I view development in a company as a benefit just like 401k or health insurance. It is a way for the company to remain competitive within the labor market as an extra incentive or option provided. If an employee is seeking development opportunity (beyond, for example, merit raises) they can evaluate the job market to figure out where that is happening and whether the company providing this incentive is worth moving their employment over to.

In the case of this New York TImes article, losing an employee is a substantial blow to the company, one not quickly recovered from. It is not necessarily the job of this employer to develop his employees, but it will most likely be in his best interest to do. If providing development for employees is the difference between a senior employee staying with this company or seeking other opportunities, then it must be addressed.

But what is development? The author seems to equate it with promotion and supervisory positions. But I would argue that development is grounded in experience gained within career. What does the owner of this company have to offer that his employees may find valuable. Is he adept at priority setting or negotiating? Can he help cultivate this or any other beneficial life skill within his employees?

If an employer looks at development solely as an aspect of the specific job that the employee is in, or working towards, then the employee will still experience burnout, just a bit delayed. The employee must see how what they are learning in their professional career ties to their life. When you work to truly develop the person, you are always getting a better employee, an an employee who is more invested in the company they're working for. By removing the necessity for title change, the employer explodes his options for employee development.

And so it begins...

Below is our expected itinerary for our upcoming Great American Road Trip. I believe that you each know what this means for each of you. For me I begin this GART 2 days after accepting my invitation to volunteer with the Peace Corps in Azerbaijan. 4 days before that I was the Best Man at my brothers wicked wedding. And 35 days before that I left Apple, in anticipation of doing exactly this; joining the Peace Corps 35 days from now (specifically: 9/23)

I am wicked excited about camping. I am wicked excited about seeing the country. I am wicked excited to hear how wicked excited you are about this too. Which, by-the-by, is a spot to slip in the notice that you now have access to post to the blog 'Bat Fishing in Montana' which is available here:

http://joshehr.blogspot.com/

See you soon,

Josh

Date: Sleeping Spot

Thurs 8/12: Josh gets in Denver

Sat 8/14: Evan gets in. Firehole Canyon, WY

Sun 8/15: Grand Teton, WY

Tue 8/17: Seattle, WA

Wed 8/18: Lake Tahoe, CA

Fri 8/20: Sacramento

Sat 8/21: Beach Party, 1st choice: Big Sur, Limekiln State Park, otherwise San Simeon

Sun 8/22: Los Padres, CA

Mon 8/23: Los Angeles, CA

Tue 8/25: Las Vegas, NV

Thurs 8/26: Flagstaff, AZ

Sat 8/28: Utah

Tue 8/31: Denver, CO

15 Podcasts, Numbers 1-3.

One of my most immediate goals upon leaving Apple was to record 15 podcasts. This wasn't some ambiguous goal to at some point do, this had a hard deadline. I left Apple 7/2 and on 7/31 would be moving out of my apartment, and thus back to dallas sans stereo (which md is lovingly safekeeping). The podcast project took more commitment than I initially expected, but it made the feeling of accomplishment all the realer.

I'm glad I'm able to bring a bit of vinyl with me on the roadtrip and overseas. I love it and will miss it while away. I'm also glad I could take some time to intensely engage with my collection. It was a great opportunity to play with stuff i hadn't previously dropped and try new pairings and sets. Quickly I found that I felt much better when I gave myself restrictions. On number 1, I was just playing from the current pull crate am felt a bit rambling and unfocused, but on number 2 - heidi's mix I felt like I had a direction to go in which. constraint breeds creativity.

Unfortunately numbers 1 and 2 were deleted but number 3 - ccr (and all subsequent numbers through 15) have not. I'll be posting these for yours and my enjoyment throughout the next months as a download. I like Creedence and I've heard some people don't like ccr, for whatever reason I couldn't guess. Actually I think I can, I bet they've never heard them while driving, because driving may be the best environment to enjoy credence in. They're an american band, and function as a fantastic soundtrack to that very country going by your windows.

Anyway, here's podcast number 3 - ccr as a download link. Enjoy!