Ernie Harwell Has Passed....A Sad Sad Day

Ernie Harwell passed away today...one of the most amazing things about growing up as a young kid in Michigan was sitting outside a nice summer day up north, listening to Ernie call a Tigers game on the radio win or lose, sitting there with my Granparents and just letting his wonderful voice fill the calmness of the vast woods that surrounded us. 

This is one of the things I will always cherish in my life it is always sad to see someone pass on, especialy someone who has provided some many people with so much joy through the years...what a sad sad day..

Snowstorm in Billings...fear and loathing on I-90....Lets Get To Seattle ALIVE....

Snowstorm in Billings, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

Low and behold i make it to Billings alive and pass out in the nicer of the two hotels I stayed in on the trip. I wake up expecting a nice easy drive to finish out the last leg of the trip to Seattle...oh it was anything but....

As soon as I hot the freeway I was caught in the midst of a hellish snowstorm blowing the Saturn Vue every which way. Taking refuge behind a semi it was a 35mph crawl for an hour until we could clear that treacherous mess, and lord knows those mountains were going to give me trouble..i just wanted this go forsaken snow to end...

Having a death wish I decided it would be a good idea to snap pictures with the Palm Pre all along the snowy journey through the western United States... I did so much of this that the Billings to Seattle journey is going to need to happen in several intense, life risking, and near death posts to come....

Rochester,MN to Billings, MT via Heather Murdock and Sioux Falls, SD (Day Two)

Wind Farms, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

Day two of the trip started off bright and early as passing out night before left me very well rested to continue on towards Seattle. When i started down the highway I had yet another bright idea!! Knowing that my friend Heather was currently living in Sioux Falls, SD; I decided to call her on a few hours notice and surprise her by swinging into Sioux Falls and paying her lovely self a visit.

Making great time, I was able to get to Sioux Falls early enough to spend a decent amount of time catching up. It was really nice to see Heather, as our hanging out has been few and far between since we both graduated and moved on from Michigan State in 2007. The stop was also a welcome break from driving through hours and hours of wind farms in central Minnesota and South Dakota.

Having spent an hour or so with Heather and getting ample driving rest, it was time to continue on with the journey. Like with the girls in Chicago, if I had known that I would get to Seattle as quickly as I did, I would have stayed and hung out much longer in Sioux Falls with Heather and her boyfriend John, but not being a good judge of time, I forged on ahead towards Billings.....

Oh Look.. There is downtown Seattle!

P1000090, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

On a walk into my little downtown area I walk down to the nearby lake and this is what I see. While people who live here may take these views for granted, I feel very lucky and awestruck to look out on that every time I take a walk into the downtown Fremont area. Click thru on the photo to access my flickr account if you want to check out more pictures of my new surroundings.

Driving from Detroit to Chicago (Day 1)

Great Lakes - Commodore Perry, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

The move to Seattle began not so early during this past Tuesday. I had packed the Saturn Vue to its fullest on Monday night; with a Hot Tub Time Machine break afterwards. Embarking upon my journey I made a point to stop over and see the ZAAZ Chicago Girls as well as the always lovely Sarah Pinto. This was my first stop of the day after leaving Madison Heights, so I made it a long one since it was a beautiful 70 degree day.

Quite simply The Chicago girls are a very fun time and I didn't want to leave!  I contemplated staying and drinking for the rest of the day; and if I would have known that driving to Seattle would have been the most boring thing in the universe I probably would have brought one of them to keep me company.  However I was attempting to keep to a driving schedule so I had my lunch, drank a beer and continued the drive to Rochester, MN.  Leaving was not the easiest thing for me as it struck me that there was no turning back at this point and that it was going to be a very boring and lonely drive the rest of the way.  

The drive would commence through the boring countryside of Wisconsin. If rural areas of that place are God's country, he must be playing some kind of cruel joke on those people. On to Rochester!

There Is A Place In Seattle....

There is news on the homefront, namely a new homefront has been secured north of Downton Seattle.  Marc and Andy have been working dilligently in an attempt to find us a new place to live and they have as of last Thursday succeeded.  We will be living in the area of Seattle known as Fremont.  They move in at the end of March and I will be joining them several days after.  Very exciting!

Grace Potter Will Rock Your Face Off

IMG_1921, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

She was quite simply two of the best concerts I had the opportunity to attend in 2009 at Bonnaroo in June and at Rothbury during the July 4th Holiday. I am looking forward to seeing her again in 2010 at a city near me :) Full of energy and life, this has been hands down one the best bands I ran across in 2009.  Check out the video below and enjoy! It may take a bit to load so be patient..and if you are interested in live mp3's you can get alot of them here! Grace Potter Live

Time For Some Change

IMG_1467, originally uploaded by Andrew Sprung.

The photo you see here is Seattle at nightfall. Having taken a number trips there is past two years I couldn't help but think that I could surely see myself living there someday. Well...that time has come. After much thought, deliberation and careful consideration I have decided to take the show on the road and relocate to Seattle.

Having visited most recently in November I was able to spend an extended amount of time hanging out in the city with some of my friends I have met while working at ZAAZ. My friend Justin was more than gracious enough to let me crash at his place with an extended workcation/Detroit Lions game visit that was one of the best trips I had taken all year.

Of course it rained, but it had rained on my previous three trips (Bonnaroo Festival, Rothbury Festival, Silver Lake) in 2009 too! After spending 6 days there I really didn't want to leave. There was something about the place that just clicked with me.  Having lived in Michigan for 28 years and not lived outside of a 100 mile radius of Detroit, I had come to the conclusion that this was the place for me and so the pursuit to relocate began.

Luckily I work with some amazing people both here in Detroit and in Seattle that were willing to make something work in order for me to be happy.  I will be living with some old friends of mine from back here in Michigan so the transition will be easy.  I will continue to work with ZAAZ supporting all of my colleagues here in Detroit to ensure we continue to do great work for our client here in Detroit.

With all that being said....Seattle here I come.....