travel, trivia, and finding myself on the web

yes, multiple posts in one day. maybe i'm making up for all those days i skipped.....or maybe i'm just not in the mood to take care of any of the little "projects" i dragged into work with me today.
actually, you know what i'm in the mood to do? if i didn't have to go to work for the next few days, i could totally see myself hopping in the car for an impromptu road trip. i've wanted to see the florida keys for a while now, and if i stopped by the dry tortugas (i think you have to take a boat or something to get there, though), i could probably get my little national parks passport stamped a time or two during the trip.

perhaps i can squeeze in some sort of a long weekend to head down there at some point.

i've always been fond of travel. i figure the world's too big to stay in one place your whole life. i've been to most of the states (i'm missing alaska, hawaii, washington state, oregon, idaho, montana, utah, and i really shouldn't count texas, since i've only been to the airports), mexico (twice), spain (madrid and barcelona- on different trips), france, and canada (prince edward island, new bruswick, nova scotia, quebec, and manitoba- though that was a short-lived trip- across the border, where we were detained while my dad was called (i was under 18 and on a road trip), and back across the border upon our release.)

additionally, i've lived in five states- wyoming (i have one of those rare wyoming social security numbers, which i am quite proud of), colorado, maryland, missouri, and south carolina.

before i'm 30 (creeping up on me way too quickly), i'd like to go to:

~montana- one of my college roommates lives there, and i'd love to hike in the area.

~hawaii- not on a honeymoon, either- i'm too young for all that grown-up marriage stuff

~barcelona again- i'd like another shot at gaudi's architecture.

~some sort of island- i'm working on bermuda with mama in the spring, so maybe this one will get fulfilled soon.

~mardi gras, again.

~wyoming....well, again. it's been nearly fourteen years since i last set foot in wyoming, and there are a few places i'd like to revisit.

of course, i have a few other places in mind, too- but this list is a good start. besides, i should probably spend some of my time working to pay for my travel habit.

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i've spent the day flipping through a bunch of magazines i'd saved (i'm a pack rat- i'll admit it), trying to pull out the important articles and ads, and tossing the rest into a recycling box. in fact, if i share a few interesting tidbits i've found, i can recycle some of the stuff i tore out:

~the working title of the beastie boys' album licensed to ill was "don't be a faggot".

~fee waybill, of the tubes, now plays polo, and he's played dr. frank n. furter in a michigan summer stock production of the rocky horror picture show for the past several years.

~the record for "loudest concert ever", formerly held by the who (charlton athletic football ground, london, 31 may 1976) is currently held by manowar (hanover, germany, march 1994)- an eardrum-shattering 129 decibels. (as blender magazine pointed out, a jet taking off registers 150 decibels.)

~fergie of the black eyed peas was on kids, incorporated in the 1980s, then became a member of wild orchid in the 90s (i actually saw them in concert once- though i can't for the life of me remember the name of their hit song). jennifer love hewitt was also a member of kids, inc.

~darby crash of the germs committed suicide hours before john lennon was shot on december 7th, 1980.

~terry chimes, drummer for the clash, is now a chiropractor in london.

~jane's addiction was named for jane bainter, a housemate of the band. her signature was part of the band's first logo, and her picture was on the band's early flyers.

~slash is actually british.

~the opening words mumbled at the beginning of def leppard's "rock of ages" don't actually mean anything.

~neal smith, drummer for the alice cooper group, now makes a living as a luxury real-estate broker in connecticut.

~moby's great-great-great uncle was herman melville. his grandfather was major thomas melvill, who participated in the boston tea party. he was also the subject of "the last leaf", by oliver wendell holmes.

~"hey man, nice shot", by filter, is about the r.budd dwyer, the pennsylvania state treasurer who shot himself in front of tv cameras in 1987. he'd called a press conference to proclaim his innocence on bribery charges. some tv stations aired footage of the whole event. ew.

~whitney houston was considered for a role as a bond girl. however, given her poor health and mental instability, she was ultimately passed over and the role went to halle berry instead.

~elvis costello was banned from saturday night live for 12 years after playing the anti-corporate tune "radio, radio" in 1977.

~the first episode of mtv unplugged, taped on halloween 1989, featured squeeze songwriters chris difford and glenn tilbrook, as well as syd straw and the cars' elliot easton.

~bruce murphy, of men without hats, now works as a cosmetic dentist in ottawa, ontario.

~steven sweet of warrant paints pictures of pets in l.a. oh- and his real name is steven chamberlain.

~before they joined fleetwood mac, lindsay buckingham and stevie nicks made an album of their own. they were both topless on the cover, because buckingham didn't like the blouse nicks bought for the shoot.

~"the chain" is the only fleetwood mac song written by all five members of the band.

~dennis elliot, of foreigner, makes a living as a wood turner in florida, and has work in the smithsonian's permanent collection.

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wow. that's a whole stack of pages i can add to the recycling pile. much love to blender for looking up all that stuff so i don't have to.

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people get to my blog in some interesting ways. aside from the ones who get here from my radio page, my blogger friends' pages, and randomly passing through, i've popped up in searches for "moe's calories", samantha fox (a.k.a. stasia micula), my bouncy adidas shoes (the a3 megaride) , and some one even searched for my full (albeit non-legal) name.....and my blog came up as the second result.

perhaps i should broaden my range of topics so i show up on some really odd searches....or not.

in case you're curious, i don't show up on the first page of a search for "duff" yet, though another duff who muses randomly does.

one day, dammit, i will surpass hilary duff and show up at the top of the results for "duff". just not today- i'm not even showing up on page ten.

then again, does hilary have a devoted fan like this guy?

radiofanstimulation

ah well- time for another interesting diversion......either rollerblading or working on those arizona vacation photos. anybody have a coin i can flip?