Las Vegas, 2011

Welcome to Las Vegas!!

Uncle Mike went to Las Vegas last week for a couple conferences. It was a pretty good time and he learned some new information, but six days is a long time to be away from home. The first thing he did was visit the pawn shop that's home to the TV show Pawn Stars. It's actually pretty small inside and the famous people were all gone on vacation, but it's neat to say he was there.

Welcome to Ceasar's Palace, Brownie!

The first conference Mike attended was called Blackhat. It's a computer security conference. They provided a little bag with a drink holder than Brownie could ride around in:

Here's Brownie giving a talk at Blackhat!! Okay, not really, but he did get his picture taken on one of the podiums between talks.

Mike wasn't staying at Ceasar's Palace so he had to travel back and forth from his hotel every day. On the way back one night he ran into Buzz Lightyear and Woody!

Mike has a hard time going to Vegas without doing a little gambling. He's not very good and doesn't end up winning very often, but it's a good time. Mike had Brownie guard a $100 chip for him when it was time to walk away from the table. (Mike would later lose this $100 on more games.)

Pittsburgh

Had to hit the road again! This time Mike and Jeannette were headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to celebrate the wedding of Roger and Floria. It was a 8.5 hour drive each way so they carpooled with their good friends Trent and Heather. Unlike Illinois, once you get a little further east you start hitting more hills and mountains. Here's Brownie riding on the dashboard as we approach the Fort Pitt Tunnel:

Whee! I'm not sure why, but driving through tunnels is a lot of fun.

The next day we explored some shops we had spotted the night before. They had a Penzey's Spices store! Jeannette loves Penzey's Spices with all the cooking she does and was super excited to visit a real store instead of ordering from a magazine. You could open up all the spices and smell the samples.

Here's a great picture of Jeannette from the wedding. Mike was behind the camera so we didn't get any real good shots of him this time.

On our last day we took an architectural cruise around the rivers. One of the coolest things was this building that had a hole in the side of it. The purpose of the design was so that every office could have an outside window. The building was built before the days of air conditioning.


Next week Mike is headed back to Las Vegas for another couple conferences for work. Brownie is almost certainly going to tag along.

Dan Inosanto Seminar

Uncle Mike is on the move again! Last weekend Mike went down to Evansville, Indiana for a two day martial arts seminar with the legendary Dan Inosanto. Dan is a master of Filipino Martial Arts and one of Bruce Lee's top students (I'd say THE best).

It was quite an experience, 6 hours each day for two days. Dan would go over a ton of techniques really fast and then ask us to try them out for a few minutes. It was really hard to keep up. On Sunday, my JKD/BJJ instructor, Jack came down as well and I was able to get a picture with the three of us:

Here are a couple videos you might enjoy:

Video of Dan Inosanto talking about Kali sticks

Dan giving a demonstration at the Smithsonian

Minneapolis for an Interview

It's been awhile since Brownie has been on a trip, but he got the chance to go with Mike to Minneapolis, MN (technically he spent most of his time in St. Paul) earlier this week. Mike had a job interview with US Bank after some encouragement from his good friend Kevin. Brownie made sure Mike was well-groomed and had clean hands before heading in to meet people on his Big Day:

The interviews seemed to go well. Afterward, Kevin and Mike had dinner a Faces, a restaurant located in the building where Kevin lives. Mike had something called a tagine. It was sorta like beef stew, but without all the broth and really tasty.

After dinner we went up to the second floor where Mike got his picture taken by an old supercomputer. This is the Cray 1 serial #12. It doesn't look at all like your computer, in fact, this one has a built-in bench that goes all the way around it. The colors are a little weird, but those are the school colors at the University of Minnesota where it was installed.

On his way out of town, Mike stopped by a shop in the airport so Brownie could get a picture with a big moose. The moose was so tall Mike had to stand on his tip toes to get Browie up on the antler. Moose aren't usually that thick, but they really are that tall sometimes!

One last picture at the airport with Snoopy and Woodstock.

That's it for now, but Mike and Jeannette will be home this weekend to see everyone!

Seattle in October

Uncle Mike and Aunt Jeannette took their yearly trip to Seattle this past weekend. The first stop was O'Hare Airport in Chicago to catch the next plane to Seattle. At the airport, Brownie took a stop to hang out with some stuffed bears.

We left very early in the morning in Champaign, so we got to Seattle before it was lunch time there. Seattle is in Washington which is in a different time zone (ask your parents about time zones). Walking down the street from our hotel we saw this pig-shaped lunch bus. We ate there one of the other days and it was really tasty.

We also visited an outdoor art park down by the water. The tree you see behind Jeannette is completely made of metal.

There was also this glass installation that had different colors in the shape of clouds. It had a pretty neat effect when the sun shined through it.

Below Brownie you see another metal piece of art that Mike thinks looks like a palm tree.

"Oh no! I've got Brownie in my eye!"

Back in downtown Seattle we had a coffee, read our books, and watched a couple guys play a really huge chess game.


On Saturday, we went to a place called Cyberdog to get a hotdog. As it turns out they were vegetarian hotdog substitutes that weren't very good, but inside the shop they had this dog that looked like a much bigger version of Brownie.

We like to come to Seattle to visit Chris & Emily and Jessica & Matt. However, the reason our visit was this specific weekend was because we wanted to see The Black Keys again. It was an excellent show!

On Sunday we went over to Lake View Cemetary to visit Bruce Lee's gravesite. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, one of the martial arts that Mike studies. Next to the cemetary was an Asian art museum that had a coy pond outside.

We were in Seattle for five days and away from home for almost six. Diesel was very happy for us to finally be home.

Berkeley, CA (again)

Uncle Mike took another trip to Berkeley, CA this past week to visit some people to talk about work. He was hoping to go straight from home to the airport, but ended up having to go into the office before his flight. Brownie sat by while Mike had his morning coffee. The wooden top you see was brought home all the way from Peru by one of Mike's co-workers.

After landing at the San Francisco airport, we had to drive through rush hour traffic over to our hotel. On the way we passed a Ralph Gracie Jiu Jitsu Academy. (Pro-nounced Halph). Next time Mike goes out here he'll have to take an extra day so he can get some training in.

The next day we got up to walk over to our meeting. Brownie and Mike made a stop at Starbucks to get a coffee.


The people we met with are very cool. In their lounge area they had a bunch of games and even had an old Speak-n-Spell! Uncle Mike and your mom had a Speak-n-Spell just like this one.



We were invited to go to the roof of the building and check out the view. Way in the back, across the bay, is San Francisco. Brownie was a little nervous sitting on the ledge.


The elevator of the building had giant buttons on the floor that you could kick to select what floor you want to go to. Mike thought this was a really cool idea since he's often in an elevator with his hands full and it's hard to press the buttons.

Finally, on the last morning there, Mike took a picture of this neat metal sculpture.

Gencon - Indianapolis

This past weekend Jeannette and Mike went to a gaming convention in Indianapolis. It's the biggest game convention in the country and it's only two hours from Champaign!

The first thing we did was hit the exhibit floor to see what new games were being released. Jeannette took a moment to get a picture with this giant inflatable monster.

We took this picture for a couple friends of ours that are really into Dr. Who. In the show, the scientist travels through time using a blue telephone booth. But where's Brownie during all this?

There he is! We found him hanging out with some stuffed Settlers of Catan resources. In this game, you have to collect things like wood, wool from sheep, bricks, wheat, and ore. There was a TON of stuff to see and do, but with all the walking around we needed to take a break.

We stopped for some nice, cool drinks before heading back to the exhibit hall. The trip would have been worth it if it were just us, but as an added bonus, Jeannette's best friend from college flew all the way from Seattle to attend as well. Jessica and her husband Matt sat down with Brownie for a photo in our hotel room.

We're headed up to Madison, Wisconsin again next weekend and then Seattle at the end of September. Luckily, we don't have to pay extra to take Brownie on the plane.