tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60616242024-03-13T12:13:22.280-07:00JimspeakNothing lasts, so I'll leave a description up to your discretion.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.comBlogger1376125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-1912991382892280722009-11-01T11:25:00.000-08:002009-11-01T11:25:00.810-08:00Moving onI won't delete this blog, and I won't forget about it. However, I have decided to move on and make a fresh blogging start. Hence, Jimspeak 2.0 which you can find here:
http://fuzzyhorizons.blogspot.com/Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-22612202999033628762009-04-06T17:46:00.001-07:002009-04-06T17:47:19.134-07:00Will wonders never cease?Coming soon, to this blog.Tales from South America!Sun, heat, food and beer, locals and other travelers, bus rides and much more!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-63239379773091931972008-06-19T11:09:00.000-07:002008-06-19T11:15:50.603-07:00Thickening skinHere it is day 4 of the conference and I've not posted since day 2 when I was working! It's been a great few days, though exhausting. I've met a lot of wonderful people, seem a lot of great presentations, and don't feel totally hopeless about the state of the world (not completely...). The best part about some of what I've heard is that I think I've gained some tools and practical applications Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-54327785198098401782008-06-17T10:20:00.000-07:002008-06-17T10:42:17.869-07:00Towards Carfree Cities VIII Day 2My friend from Brazil arrived last Saturday morning, and thus began the end of the odyssey that has been preparing and helping to organize the Towards Carfree Cities (TCC)Conference VIII (http://carfreeportland.org/). My involvement began last year when I attended TCC VII in Istanbul. There was no way I could not be involved since it's being held here in Portland, OR. So far so good. Yesterday Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-68647830594998444712007-12-05T00:40:00.000-08:002007-12-05T01:20:55.729-08:00Update on carlessnessHere we are a couple of months into my being carfree, and how do things stand? Top notch I tell you. How many times have I had to resort to car trickery in order to accomplish that which needed accomplishing? Rarely. Incident #1 required the use of my friend Sue's Flexcar (http://www.flexcar.com/) membership in order to pick up the food and mini-keg of Roots beer that we were using to entice Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-42949616120916364752007-11-21T08:59:00.000-08:002007-11-21T09:07:55.630-08:00Why I love the Portland airportToday is the day before Thanksgiving and I am flying out to Hawaii. Not a rough life I lead these days, eh? But here's the best part of the morning so far (after the consideration of my destination): there was no line at check-in. Stranger yet, not a single person was in front of me at security. Amazing. Into the airport and to the gate within maybe 20 minutes. And, free internet! Happy Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-20009123811959547082007-11-11T22:17:00.001-08:002007-11-11T22:27:30.809-08:00Back to IstanbulA plane got us there. Quite boring in comparison to all the bus trips we'd recently survived. But I must say, it was not an unwelcome change! A short zany bus ride through Istanbul rush hour traffic dropped us at the ferry dock. A ferry ride and tram ride later and we were back at the hostel by the Aya Sofya, checking in and longing for a cold beer beverage. As we filled out the requisite forms, Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-48123799314234638602007-11-07T00:08:00.000-08:002007-11-07T00:24:24.492-08:00gettin' onIt's after midnight, I'm drinking a Widmer Oktoberfest beer and watching Young Frankenstein. I was all cozy laid down on the futon with a blanket over me and cold breezes swirling around my sodden head. Since I seem to have internet access in the apartment, what else would I do but get online! Checking for cheap business cardschecking emailtrying to not send out anymore "productive" emailsa bit Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-37726981169598093462007-10-29T15:37:00.000-07:002007-10-29T15:44:08.310-07:00Diminishing time in TurkeyKars to ErzurumThe van ride from Kars to Erzurum started out innocently enough. We got in a van at the travel agent’s front door. Chaotic weaving back into town and into and around the otogar, back through town picking up passengers all along the way. Finally, after what seemed like hours, we hit the open road and were on our way! Twenty minutes later the police stopped us at a checkpoint at Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-49365738654393381942007-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:002007-10-27T09:01:50.440-07:00Progress madeFor those not in the know, I have made a big step forward in life. After some deliberation, much prodding, and a smattering of guilt at self-purported hypocrisy, I rid myself of my car. Actually, it's not been ridden yet, it's still in front of my house, but the papers have been sent off and I got the call yesterday for which I've been waiting. By the end of the coming week, the Gold Saturn Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-81314207474002278692007-10-03T20:59:00.000-07:002007-10-03T21:03:48.876-07:00History aboundsI think I've mentioned it, but I will do so again. Only this time, a picture accompanies. We drive right past Noah's Ark laden Mount Ararat. Beautiful huge and expensive as hell to climb. But quite cheap to pass on a small dolmuc.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-76301292639594669102007-10-03T20:53:00.000-07:002007-10-03T20:58:44.625-07:00Kars and Ani*Author's note: This was written during a late night/early morning session a few nights ago and seemed quite funny to me at the time. But since I am too lazy to re-read it before posting, I am not responsible for what may be contained within*Our call time at the taxi was 8:00am. Breakfast proceedings began at 7:30am (despite the onset of Ramadan having begun days previous) so I was down and readyCoreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-90729613803719097842007-09-28T17:11:00.000-07:002007-09-28T17:12:09.283-07:00Steph and the Aya Sofya, Istanbul Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-63980724387564973642007-09-28T17:10:00.000-07:002007-09-28T17:10:30.015-07:00View of Lake Van from Van Castle Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-89342444727016467622007-09-28T17:08:00.000-07:002007-09-28T17:08:50.150-07:00Watching sunset with friends in Goreme Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-57188853334259386882007-09-18T15:18:00.000-07:002007-09-18T15:22:10.968-07:00Back to "safety"?For those curious to know, we made it back to Belgium earlier this afternoon. Somehow we made it without any major snags and are now sitting here in the lap of luxury with Steph's cousins, sipping some very tasty Belgian beer and eating pasta! My tummy is a might happy entity right now. Though my eyes are tired so I should perhaps sleep.So far, an incredible journey though it is about over (very Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-38681233507453904772007-09-16T22:47:00.000-07:002007-09-16T23:10:23.351-07:00Checkpoints and more checkpointsThe van ride from Van to Kars was a good one. Highly entertaining. The route taken was pretty roundabout and we ended up passing very close by the Iranian border. We learned that there is a good bit of drug smuggling that occurs in the area and that was the reason for the multiple military checkpoints we had to stop at. Six times our van stopped to chat with guys in camo. Twice we had to get out Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-87782403590727837022007-09-14T11:19:00.001-07:002007-09-14T11:21:19.188-07:00Did I not post this link?Here is the link to the website of my fellow traveler, Stephanie:www.pedalpaddle.blogspot.comIf her account of the trip does not coincide with mine, it's because she is lying.Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-39014356527082529262007-09-14T10:50:00.000-07:002007-09-14T11:15:39.453-07:00The most beautiful lake. Ever.Lake Van, next to the town of Van, is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. The blue of the lake was such that I had never seen before: a dark blue that lightened towards the shore. I can't even describe it adequately so once again pictures will have to tell the story-once I get home and download them. Amazing. The town was not bad, we walked around a lot and got sunburned. One afternoon we Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-38921837876573271312007-09-13T08:19:00.000-07:002007-09-14T10:48:09.315-07:00No love for meThe day after the dogs we eventually made our way to the small town of Midyat. We went there because our new friend in Istanbul is from there and we thought it would be fun to meet up with a couple of friends and see a very out of the way small town, a very Kurdish town. After getting off the bus at the otogar we started asking around trying to get tickets to our next destination for that Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-7611977936029965942007-09-11T08:33:00.000-07:002007-09-11T09:04:32.910-07:00Cute and cuddly doggiesBack to the other morning. After being dropped in the streets of New Mardin at 4am we were in need of a place to crash. The fancy expensive hotel across the street was full and not another was to be seen. Hoisting our packs we began hoofing our way towards the old city. Right quickly a guy pulled up next to us and let us know (Who doesn't love a good game of charades?) that he'd give us a ride toCoreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-91870181201140688352007-09-09T23:37:00.000-07:002007-09-09T23:54:12.482-07:00Hello from Mardin!Tell the phones to stop ringing and the babies to stop crying, we made it out here to Mardin without issue. A swinging shuttle van swept us up in Antakya, dropped us at the otogar (where we dined on bread raisins olives and spicy cheese) and a pretty bus brought us out here. The ride itself was....interesting. Pulling away from the station, a horde of weeping people surrounded the bus and Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-4012981106036602932007-09-08T02:02:00.000-07:002007-09-08T02:17:42.686-07:00The joys of travelSo, it seems the time came for us to pay the bill on all the luck and karma we have used up by traveling sans plans. Two nıghts ago we walked down to the bus depot to catch our 6:45pm bus from Goreme to Antakya. After standing around for an hour or so, the guy running the office of the bus company through whom we got our tickets came out and asked to see the tickets. He took them inside and came Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-40394343278959108742007-09-06T02:49:00.000-07:002007-09-06T03:58:21.207-07:00We go east and the temp goes northSince I've not yet gone through my conference notes I will bypass those days for now and will retell tales from the days that followed. But first, a sip of turkish coffee...That is good stuff. I'll continue pretending that drinking hot coffee when it is 32 degrees C and cloudless outside is a good idea. And yes, it is hot as balls out here and will only be getting hotter as we head east. Some of Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6061624.post-2951933440887845072007-09-03T03:36:00.000-07:002007-09-03T04:19:52.962-07:00Turkey. Not ConstantinopleFinally some time has freed up and I can begin recounting this trip. But where to begin? Our flight from Brussels to Budapest, Hungary was uneventful. The only point to note is that upon leaving the plane we boarded a shuttle bus that did a small loop and dropped us at a door 50 feet beyond where it had been waiting for us. I was amused. Our bags arrived (mine has become somewhat familiar to me Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07391020329830520336noreply@blogger.com0