http://tangentry.com Notes on food, wine, technology, travel, and wow, look over there! Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:03:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Because the tickets we're using are based on total mileage traveled without regard to number of stops, it made sense to do a bit of a whirlwind trip, with an eye towards seeing a bit of everything. We ended up with three or four days most places (except Budapest, ... http://tangentry.com/2009/06/03/big-trip-09-itinerary-want-to-meet-up/ [caption id="attachment_44" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Big Trip \'09: Planned Route"][/caption] Summer '09 seemed like a natural time for some adventure travel, since I have a break in the MBA program and a stockpile of frequent flier miles. In talking to Luke, my adventure buddy in rafting the Futalefeu and climbing Kilimanjaro, ... http://tangentry.com/2009/06/01/big-trip-09-the-route/ [flickr]photo:2350614143[/flickr]After the incredible difficulty of day 8, when we climbed from Barfu (15,000 feet) to the summit (19,000 feet) before descending to Mweka (10,000 feet), day 9 promised to be a figurative walk in the park. Sure, we were exhausted and sore and dirty, but we were starting out ... http://tangentry.com/2008/03/25/kilimanjaro-part-6-mweka-gate-and-wrapup/ [flickr]photo:2351416328[/flickr]Today's installment really begins at 11pm on the previous day. That's when we woke up to start getting ready for our summit attempt. Getting ready, in this case, basically entailed trying to wriggle into almost every bit of clothing I had brought with me: several stacked sets of ... http://tangentry.com/2008/03/24/kilimanjaro-part-5-summit-day/ [flickr]photo:2350545765[/flickr]After spending the night at Barranco camp, we had the almost 1,000 foot tall Barranco wall to look forward to. If we could manage that, we'd spend the next night at Karranga valley, another camp that some people skip in favor of getting right to Barfu camp, which is ... http://tangentry.com/2008/03/24/kilimanjaro-part-4-karranga-valley-barfu-camp/ [flickr]photo:2350477629[/flickr]Waking up at Moir hut, both Luke and I were feeling pretty refreshed. This altitude thing, we thought, isn't so bad after all. After all, we had spent the night at 13,500 feet, and while it was certainly a bit chilly, it wasn't all that bad. ... http://tangentry.com/2008/03/23/kilimanjaro-part-3-lava-tower-barranco-and-a-hail-storm/ [flickr]photo:2351167358[/flickr]After getting a good night's rest at Mti Mkubwa, we were ready for our first real day of hiking. Our route for day two would take us from Mti Mkubwa to Shira Camp, and our schedule called for a 5-6 hour, 7-mile hike that would take us to 11,500 ... http://tangentry.com/2008/03/23/kilimanjaro-part-2-shira-camp-moir-hut-and-a-misadventure/ [flickr]photo:2350248201[/flickr]Well, that was certainly an experience. I have just returned from climbing Kilimanjaro with my friend Luke. I'm going to try to control my natural verboseness in writing about the trip, but if you want the no-words-at-all version, the pictures are available here: Brooks' Kilimanjaro pics. Or, ... http://tangentry.com/2008/03/22/kilimanjaro-moshi-and-the-hike-begins/ Everyone hates flying Southwest Airlines. The cattle call boarding, the undersized boarding areas, the frequent delays, and those awful Boeing 737's. But hey, sometimes they're half the price of other airlines. And, like most other people, I figure that if can save $200 on airfare on a ... http://tangentry.com/2007/12/16/random-notes-southwest-gets-even-worse/ [flickr]photo:2079419506[/flickr]Some projects make sense because they're likely to be profitable. Other projects justify themselves by making life easier. My DMX project, though, is all about "oooh, pretty lights." I've always enjoyed theatrical lighting, and the couple of years I was involved with lighting and lasers for raves ... http://tangentry.com/2007/12/03/more-work-on-dmx-lighting/