Let's Bowl!!!

Well, I'm back in Pittsburgh buried under a few inches of snow and a few feet worth of work to do. So, to avoid the massive piles of work a few of us first years' decided to hit the lanes & knock back some brewskies, Big Lebowski style. The alley we went to had obviously not been renovated since the 70's, which is how every bowling alley should be! If there was ever a hole-in-the-wall bowling alley, this was it! It was 18 lanes of goodness that sold nothing but 7-oz. mini beers! Plus, next to our lane there was a poster of our now-bowling idol, Earl Anthony, whose form Gary emulated perfectly, leaving the rest of us in drunken awe.

Gary Klein, a.k.a. Earl Anthony, shows off his PERFECT form to pick up a tough spare!

Now, when one talks about bowling, the discussion of beer must not be left out of the conversation. The positive correlation of bowling prowess with amount of beer consumed is absolutely irrefutable.....until about the 5th beer. After reaching that level, bowling ability is nonexistent (but bowling is a lot more fun!). Obviously, we kept ourselves well-lubricated with a few buckets of mini-Rolling Rocks...and these trends of bowling ability vs. beer intake were absolutely proven with the following anecdotal evidence:
1) Our amigo, Drew Crosset, showed up just a tad drunk...and began his night by closing out the first 5 frames! However, after a couple more drinks he became i) unable to keep the ball out of the gutter, and ii) entirely concerned about busting out his dance moves (including shaking his ass at us before every shot)....and dayam, that boy can do the sprinkler like none other!!
2) I showed up dead sober...and couldn't hit the head pin to save my life (nor could I break 100 in my first 2 games). But 5 mini-beers later and I was rollin' 'em like a pro, compiling my highest score ever, 189!
3) Our last game, we were all rollin' up big points...both Steve & Gary were in the mid-100s...and by this time the pressure was through the roof as Drew & Joe had stopped bowling and were heckling our every shot!


Drew, upon arriving, hit strike after strike...giving him a well-deserved chance to bust out with the sprinkler!!!

This is what it's all about....good friends, good beer, average bowling, and lots of smack-talking!

Dueling Cameras

Check out these pictures from our last night in Seattle. From one end of the table Coté snapped a pic of us, while on our end I simultaneously snapped one of them. However, I caught all of Coté's flash, so my flash didn't go off! Sweet...


These 2 pics had to be taken essentially simultaneously (well...with coté's coming a split split split second earlier)! Everybody's expressions are exactly the same! Awesome...

About time for a break!

The three and a half weeks I had off for winter break can be easily separated into two disjoint sets: before New Years' and New Years' + 2007. Not that either was better, but during the first week and a half of X-mas break I spent all of my time in the greater LA area while in the final 2 weeks I made my way all over the West Coast: from San Diego to Portland to Seattle and then back to LA. The time off was a perfect balance between relaxing and recharging my batteries and having some fun, crazy nights with good friends. I saw some of my amigos from Chile (Renee, Coté, Jorge, Guille, Armin, Alfredo, Sean, etc.) who I hadn't seen since at least June and I spent a couple days with the homies, John, Pete, and Adam, who hadn't been together since May 2005. And hell yeah, we rocked the place.

A Happy New Year to all. May your 2007 be better than your 2006. I experienced quite a roller coaster ride in 2006. The year started off great, with some fantastic times in Chile plus trips to Machu Picchu, Brasil, Patagonia, and the Atacama Desert. I had an amazing time with my Chilean friends, especially in the last few months and also thoroughly enjoyed my research. The return to the states was less harsh than I had imagined: it was great to spend time with my dad and my transition to the 'almost' real world (graduate school) was not as hard as expected. Hugo's death in October was tough to deal with, but I battled through the end of the semester and was rewarded with a spectacular break to end 2006 and kick of 2007. Enjoy these pics and videos from the break!


My dad an I celebrated a nice X-mas together...with our enormous tree!


For New Years' Eve we went to a San Diego Chargers game and then hit up the Gas Lamp District.


Me and my amigos chilenos in Seattle (from L to R, Renee, me, Guille, and Jorge).


Me and Guille eatin' lunch, trying to survive those American portions!


We rocked out at the Experience Music Center in Seattle.


And no trip to Seattle is complete without some Space Needle pics!


And I caught up with Alfredo and Armin on my last night in the Emerald City.


Before truckin' down to LA to see these locos. The homies were again together...so lock up your daughters, lock up your wife, lock up your back door....and run for your life!!!


It was great to see that Pete can still dance!


And even Adam can dance now!!!


And our man Dre could always eat! He put together, and then put away this 10 by 10 at In-n-Out!!