The (former) Linebacker U

Friends,

It was back to reality this week after an amazing week off in California. My days were spent largely in West Virginia, not exactly my favorite place as you all know from reading previous blogs. Nevertheless, this was where I was called and I don't have much choice in the matter. Thursday night, I crossed through the Maryland peninsula north into Pennsylvania, and settled in State College, PA for the night. State College is home to Penn State and I must say, it's a pretty nice little town. I got inThursday evening, and my hotel was right on the edge of campus, so I was able to see a lot of the school on my drive in.

The funny thing about Penn State, though, is they consider themselves "Linebacker U" because they think they have the best players in the nation at that position. As a buckeye fan, I beg to differ. They may have been the center for head-smashing linebackers in the 90s, but I think linebacker greatness passes through Columbus now, not State College. Anyway, the folks around there were excited about the game with Illinois Saturday, so it was cool to be in that atmosphere.

My travel schedule right now is in limbo a little bit as my October dates in the Northeast have been cancelled last minute. So, I'm in Charlotte now, awaiting word on what the next few weeks will entail. Likely, I'll be contained to the Southeast from here on out, which is fine by me! I'll have more details to report in the next week.

Hopefully you're all doing well and thanks for reading!

On the road,

Matt

Back to Cali

All,

I know, I know...you're all wondering where my thought-provoking, insightful posts have been the last week (yeah right!). Well, you're in luck. This past week, I've been on vacation in California, so my time in front of a laptop has been limited; on purpose, of course! It felt good to get away from work for awhile and enjoy some long-overdue R & R. What made the time even better was that my girlfriend, Stephanie, had the week off, too, and made the trip out west with me.

The vacation kicked off in Los Angeles , as we met my brother and his fiancee, Amber, in Burbank Friday night. We were all in LA for the Southern Cal-Ohio State football game on Saturday. This much-hyped match up between traditional powers did not turn out to be much fun as many of you know. SC beat our Buckeyes in a BLOWOUT. Tough pill to swallow, but it is what it is. The loss didn't prevent us from having a good time. Steph and I left Burbank Sunday morning for Malibu, where we ate lunch at Beach Cafe at Paradise Cove, an oceanfront restaurant with beach access. This kicked off our tour up Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. From here, we spent some time walking the streets of Santa Barbara before stopping in San Luis Obispo Sunday night. Monday morning, we visited the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, the palace inhabited by media mogul William Randolph Hearst in the first half of the 20th century. This was an amazing place, and the stories told of lavish parties there in the 1920s filled with Hollywood stars of that era made you envision Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion of today. At least, with less skin exposed.

The rest of the trip up US-1 incuded stops in Big Sur, Carmel and Monterrey, where we saw amazing views of the rocky coastline and visited the country's #1 aquarium in Monterrey where they pump in actual sea water from the bay. After the aquarium, we made the "17 mile drive" around Pebble Beach. One of the pictures above is of the "lone cypress" at Pebble Beach, the famous logo the golf course uses on everything.

From Monterrey, we started to head East and eventually picked up the interstate towards Steph's aunt's place in Sonoma. She lives on a mountain overlooking the Sonoma valley. The views from her deck were absolutely amazing. The picture above does not even begin to do it justice, but at least it gives you an idea. We spent a few days in Sonoma, touring wineries and visiting landmarks. Jack London, the famous author of White Fang and Call of the Wild, is buried here. His famous "Wolf House" that he built and then tragically burned down a month before completion, is also located here. I didn't know much about London besides his books...ok, movies...but found out that he was an very interesting guy, and after touring the site, definitely gained an appreciation for his life.

We left Sonoma Friday afternoon and made it to Ryan and Amber's place in Lodi in about an hour and a half. We did a few more wine tastings at some of the vineyards around Lodi on Saturday. Some of you may have heard of the wine, "Seven Deadly Zins" which is made there.

Now, I'm sitting in the Sacramento airport waiting for a flight back east. Tomorrow morning, I'll take off from Charlotte and spend the week in West Virginia and southern Pennsylvania. Next week is up in the air as far as my schedule goes, so I'll keep you all updated as I know more.

This post was a little wordy, but I had a lot to ramble about this time. Thanks for reading. Back to reality tomorrow.

On the road,

Matt

The Heart of Rock n' Roll is in Cleveland

All,

Greetings from the BUCKEYE STATE!!! Yeehawww! Back to the roots of my childhood I've arrived after several months spent everywhere else it seems. I'm working mainly in northern Ohio this week, as I began the week in Sandusky and the last two weeks I've been staying in Mansfield. I must admit, there have been some boring drives through the cornfields, but it feels good to be back, nevertheless. Today, I was in and around Cleveland. The weather was beautiful today; Sunny and in the middle 60s. It doesn't get any better than that for me! Cleveland gets a bad rap back where I'm from, probably because we hate the Browns and Indians...and the Ohio River never caught fire...but it's not so bad. My girlfriend's from up here, though, so I guess I'm developing a soft spot for C-Town!

Thinking of Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that's here, I wanted to share a cool story from a few weeks ago when I was in New York City. A guy I worked with in Brooklyn was an interesting dude who didn't really fit the mold of a typical hardware salesman. When I asked him "Yankees or Mets?" he replied with, "Led Zeppelin." Hearing this, I laughed and knew where this one was going. Luckily, my love for sports is rivaled by my affection for good music, so I had a feeling this would be a day filled with enlightening conversation! Turns out, this guy was in a heavy metal band back in the day that was pretty small time. They got a huge gig one night, though, as they opened for someone at the famed CBGB Punk Rock club in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. I thought this was really cool as you hear a lot about CBGB being THE underground venue of the late 70s-early 90s. The Ramones (pictured above) got their start here, and many other bands played here, too. The club is closed now, but it's well-known with the leather pants crowd, of which I'm not a member. Just a poser who knows a little, I guess. This guy was an original, and that's refreshing since most of the people I work with on a daily basis are as apple pie and white bread-American as they get. He just sold hardware to pay for his guitars and amps! I love that.

Anyway, I'll be in northern Ohio working tomorrow, then tomorrow night I stay in Lancaster and work in SE Ohio Thursday. Thursday afternoon I'll drive to Charlotte. Friday afternoon, Stephanie and I fly to LA for the game Saturday at the Coliseum, and a weeklong trip up the coastline of California for a long-overdue vacation. More details and pictures to come.

Thanks for reading and everyone cross your fingers and shout out loud for the scarlet and grey Saturday when they take on Southern Cal. OH......IO!!!!

On the road,

Matt

College Football is in the Air

Friends,

Hopefully you all had a good long weekend! Mine was nice as I spent it with family in Lake Hartwell, SC. I worked in the Atlanta area Friday, and then drove in to Charlotte after work. Stephanie and I headed to the lake Saturday afternoon and spent a couple days with everybody there, including my grandfather, who just celebrated his 93rd birthday!

After spending a great deal of time in Ivy League country in the Northeast the last couple months, now that I'm back down south, I'm in SEC country! I can't help but talk football with everyone around here, as every small town in the south has its allegiances to someone. I love this time of year! As luck would have it, my South Carolina Gamecocks will be playing Vanderbilt in Nashville Thursday night (televised on ESPN), and I happen to be IN Nashville this week, so I plan to go to the game tomorrow night. This is yet another example of how I'm probably the luckiest traveler there ever was!

This game should be a good one, and I'm excited that I get to see a new stadium. It's a goal of mine to visit every SEC stadium before I die, a project I've talked to my dad about trying to pull off together. After the clash between SEC East titans Thursday night, I'll drive to Louisville, KY, to see my parents Friday morning. Since I must travel to Sandusky, OH for work Monday, I was given a travel day Friday. I will spend the weekend with the folks in Louisville, before making the 6 hr. drive to Lake Erie Sunday.

I'll be in Ohio Monday-Thursday of next week, then it's back to Charlotte Thursday night before Flying to Los Angeles Friday for a week in California.

Well, back to work for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a great week!

On the road,

Matt