Road Trip to the Grand Canyon

A little over two months ago I ventured to the Grand Canyon. Having never been and wanting to be spontaneous, I figured what the hell. So on August 4 I traveled in my 84 Corvette from Glendora to Williams Arizona which was about 30 miles out from the Grand Canyon National Park. First off, the drive up to the Grand Canyon was perfect... for the most part. I would say the first 4 hours were incredible because the temperature was perfect, the road was empty, and I had enough music and cigarettes to keep me pumped! Then, about 2 hours outside of Williams a out-of-know-where storm rolls over the highway with heavy rain and slight hail! Traveling at around 85mph most the way it was unreasonable to be one the road once I entered the storm... for a moment I could not even see what was in front of me. After the mayhem, it cleared up and cooled down. I checked in at a Motel 6 (staying classy) and got some dinner before I treked up to the Grand Canyon National Park.
About 2 hours after checking into my room I drove up to the Grand Canyon Park with a water and my 35mm film camera. I wanted to arrive in time for the sunset and try to capture some good photos. Once I parked, I found the first shuttle bus to try and catch my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. Around 5 o'clock I got to witness it in all of its magnificence.

Ended up running into some nice people as we all went from shuttle to shuttle. To be honest, the shuttles were a bit confusing so I just followed a group who knew all the best photo spots. I am not a professional photographer by any means. However I enjoy the risk in taking a photo and not knowing what type of moment it will capture until you print it. Below are some of my many shots of the Grand Canyon I took.

By 7:30pm it was dark and everyone was shuffling back to the shuttle buses. I got back to my room around 9:30pm with groceries I bought before including sandwiches, chips, and of course BEER. My trip was not meant to be long. This was a Saturday and I had work on Monday. So around 10am I headed back to Glendora. If you know anything about me you know I love my car. Here's a shot of my 'vette before I got the the Arizona-California border.

Inspired by spontaneity, I found this to be one of my favorites trips of my summer.

Vegas

As I head back from sin city I thought now would be a good time to get back on Bradblog and share some of the memories of my mom's 50th Birthday in Las Vegas. From the clubs to the slot machines there is really nothing better than a family trip in the city of lights. We had a huge group of people including grandparents, family friends and others who I have not seen in years. This combination can make or break a trip and I'll be the first to say it made the trip. Practically everyone had a funny moment that I wanna say I remember but there is just too much to share.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. With that said here are a few photos I thought would explain our trip.

TURNTABLE: The New Music Epidemic!!!!

Internet music is about to change. Turntable, a new beta recently released has been growing at a exponential rate with over 2 million users! I recently joined and it has been an amazing site to find new and classic songs from literally any genre you can think of. Once invited (hopefully open to the public soon) it sends you to a link to turntables main page. Here, you link your Facebook account to turntable and whooola! You then choose a avatar based on your dj point ranking. Obviously, I signed up with zero points, so I choose from the appropriate area. If you look over the avatars in different ranks you'll find people like Deadmau5 and Daft Punk at the top of the chart.

So, after making a Dj name and choosing an avatar you are now capable of going into or making a room to dj in. The room can hold as many listeners as you please, but there is a limit of 5 dj booths per room. Once djing, you can upload music from your personal collection right onto Turntable or you can grab other peoples uploads. This way, you can know every song uploaded and also a opportunity to purchase the song right off the site! The music is filed on the right side in whatever order you choose. The song selected for the dj queue is the song at the top of your list.

The image below is of me in room sh, where i am currently playing a song. It shows that I have 36 points because in 36 different instances someone liked my song rating it "awesome" or kicking me off the song by pressing "lame".

If you get a lame vote it does not take points away, it just means the song might get booted before its finished. One of the best features to Turntable is the chat spot for everyone in the room whether it's the dj or listener. This makes for good interaction with people who like to talk about their music taste and get an idea for where people are from. So far the sight has been released in the USA, Europe, Japan, and many other countries! So... if you can get an invite from a friend or myself I highly suggest this for summer boredom!

Feed Me - To The Stars

Feed Me, a new name to the old artist Spor, has just released a EP out now on beatport.com! This new EP is labeled "Feed Me - To The Stars" and it takes on true Feed Me style. The technical sounds and bass lines make it really fun to listen to. I have been a fan ever since he released his first album to the Feed Me Adventure series. A lot of electronic artist compile unique and interesting sounds just like Feed Me, but the rhythm and sound placement to Feed Me's music makes for something that sounds completely apart from the rest. Being under the Mau5trap label, it is obvious that Joel Zimmerman (Creator of Mau5trap a.k.a Deadmau5) would pick such a exceptional artist to join the team. I highly recommend downloading this EP exclusively on beatport.com

Here is a preview into the EP "To the Stars"!!! Enjoy!!!

Feed Me - Feed Me to the Stars EP - forthcoming clips by youfeedme

Humans!

Humans! was a video I StumbledUpon and it was everything I didn't expect it to be. Even though none of us have the intention to hurt/kill one another, it is quite interesting how someone portrayed us. A short clip, it brings to mind some questions we, as humans, should ask ourselves. As much as we love our planet it's hard to say that it loves us back. Our constant abuse of the earth's natural resources can cause major consequences. So watch this video, and see how it can put things in a different perspective.

The Invisible Web

I find myself spending a lot of time on stumbleupon.com these days. This website is not new, but it has been a awesome new tool for me. After setting my preferences on the free account I began to "stumble upon" a lot of interesting websites. Which got me thinking, how is it that Stumbleupon is able to show me these different websites and the normal Google search engine does not?

After doing some research, I found a website called makeusof.com. Reading a post titled,"Ten Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web" I finally found some good information. From their website to my blog I want to share some of the links they provide on Makeusof. This invisible web you are about to look into is much larger than the visible internet we experience today. A quote from Makeusof reads,""The figures are attention grabbers" “the size of the open web is 167 terabytes. The Invisible Web is estimated at 91,000 terabytes."" Wow, we are not getting the true access to the internet without some of these search engines. I highly recommend checking this out if you need research information for any field in school.

ENJOY: (Click on the name of the search engine to access it's webpage)

InFomine

The WWW Virtual Library

Complete Planet (I recommend this one)

InfoPlease

IncyWincy

These are just some of them, for more check out the official page at 10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web

Zephyr Cafe in Pasadena

Zephyr Cafe is one of my new favorite "chill" spots. Erika Cox and I went the other night and I got to experience what a real cafe should feel like. The building design is that of a comfy home making you feel welcome and relaxed. Zephry's also displays art from artist who submit their work.

After ordering a wild raspberry tea we walked to the outside seating area. The ambiance was incredible. Not only was everyone enjoying there beverage of choice, you also have the option of ordering food, hookah, even a Italian soda (one of my favorites). Everyone should take a night to enjoy the music, hookah, art and drinks.

P.S. I was told they play live music some nights..... Thursday I believe.

LINK: Zephyr Cafe