Iceland Day 5 – Around the Glaciers

We were supposed to take a boat ride in a glacial lagoon this morning, but unfortunately, it got canceled due to the insane winds today. As always, Iceland is unpredictable. We thought we could instead chill and use the hot tubs at the hotel, but then those also got closed due to the insane winds. We’ve been doing a lot for the last 4 days, so decided to spend the first part of today just relaxing and watching Netflix to take a break.

This afternoon though, we had an ice cave tour. After a short walk on the glacier, we entered this giant ice cave. These caves naturally form inside the glacier during the winter, and then melt and are gone by summertime. The cave is pure ice except for some parts of the floor, and it’s something like 12 feet high and the length of several houses next to each other. The inside is so incredibly stunning. Again, this is a “photos don’t do it justice” thing. The colors of the ice are different in different parts of the cave, varying from black, to clear, to this shimmering teal color depending on how much light is passing through the ice from the outside. The wind carves these half circle pockets in the ice walls that make them look almost like fish scales. This was truly unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.

After the the ice cave, we drove to the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. This is a large lagoon that a glacier empties into. Chunks of the glacier end up falling off and forming icebergs that float around the lagoon. Some of these icebergs were massive, and this was a really beautiful sight to behold. But it was also still crazy windy… like brutally windy where you can barely stand upright, so we had to go hide in the car after a bit.

Next stop was Diamond Beach which is nearby. The icebergs in the lagoon slowly end up washing out to the coast. There, they get pummeled by waves which break up the ice into chunks, and the glittering ice chunks wash up on shore, looking like giant diamonds. It was so surreal to sea these giant chunks of ice in the ocean water amid the crashing waves. Just totally unreal. Something in my brain just doesn’t imagine ice and waves going together. It was still insanely windy, so sadly, any ice that washed fully on shore was instantly covered in sand, so we didnt get to see the full “diamonds on the beach” effect, but it was still super cool.

For the last stop of the day, we went to the smaller glacier lagoon, Fjallsárlón (this is where we were supposed to do our boat tour that got canceled). This area was protected a little bit by some snowy hills, so it wasn’t very windy. And wow. The scenery was so gorgeous. This was probably my favorite spot of the whole trip. We were more or less the only people there, so it was just totally serene. Light powder blue water with all these jagged ice hunks floating around in it, some of them flat and clear, and others large ice bergs. In the distance, you could see the glacier itself over the water. The sun was slowly starting to set, and it was just so peaceful and magical. I felt like i could have stayed there forever.

After the lagoon, we went back to the hotel and finally got to use the hot tub. It was so nice to soak in the hot water after our long day in the freezing wind. And, the views from the hotel deck were amazing. This was a really nice way to top of our already incredible day!

more indietronik stuff

there’s just too much good music coming out these days. over the last couple of weeks, i’ve thrown together a new mix in my spare time. mostly some indietronik stuff, but some other random odds and ends as well. it’s a bit all over the place in some ways, but there’s some pretty sick tracks in there. check it out and leave a comment to lemme know what you think. also, last time i uploaded a mix, i guess pretty much everyone had issues downloading it for some reason. too large of a file maybe? so this time i’m also including the mix broken up into three chunks for easier download… each of the chunks should seamlessly come together if you have itunes w/ gapless playback.

Download the entire mix here: Question mark mix.

or, download it in 3 chunks here: Question mark mix part 1, Question mark mix part 2, Question mark mix part 3.

(oh, btw, the last track is pretty NSFW so dont play it for your boss or your mom)

Tracklisiting below:

1. David Byrne – Dance On Vaselin (Thievery Corporation remix)
2. The Martin Brothers – Stoopit
3. Freeform Five – No More Conversation (Mylo Remix)
4. Man Like Me – Oh My Gosh (Hoi Polloi Mix)
5. Gameboy/Gamegirl – Sweaty Wet/Dirty Damp
6. Yelle – Je Veux Te Voir
7. Klanguage – Priceless Things
8. Crystal Castles – Air War
9. ELMar – Suck That (Colt 45’s Remix)
10. Alan Hostage – Let’s Pretend (PornScar Remix)
11. Cajuan – Dance Not Dance (Digitalism Mix)
12. Riot in Belgium – La Musique (Van She Tech Remix)
13. GoodBooks – Leni (Kissy Sell Out Remix)
14. Cut Chemist – What’s the Altitude (She Wants Revenge Remix)
15. Au Revoir Simone – Fallen Snow (The Teenagers Remix)
16. The Valentinos – Kafka (Bagraiders Remix)
17. Le Castle Vania – Tigertron (Feat Factory Aire)
18. Spank Rock – Bump (Pink Skull Remix)
19. Thunderheist – sueños dulces
20. Spank Rock – Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge

*v

Never a dull moment in the Deco Ghetto

I was working from home today, as usual, when i heard tons and tons of sirens outside my house. this is not uncommon around here.. it seems like all the time shit is going down. usually it’s probably the police. this time it wasn’t though. when i looked out my window i saw a ton of black smoke gushing out of a building less than a block away. i grabbed my camera and ran outside to see what was up.

it was nuts!! this building was smoking like crazy and every once in a while you’d see all these flames gush out of the top. there were at least 6 fire engines around, and lots of ambulances etc as well. a large crowd had gathered and we all stood there staring up at the fire. eventually, as time passed and they sprayed more and more water on it, the smoke changed from black to gray and soon i could tell that the fire was pretty under control. i’m still not sure what caused the fire. it was so crazy though!!



the rest of the fire photos are here .

*v

Votigo.com

for the last couple months i’ve been working at Votigo.com, and we just beta launched our site last week. dude, it’ so cool to see this website go live. it’s really neat that this site that was built by me and just a tiny handful of others is now on the internet and being checked out by a bunch of users. seeing the site slowly grow is so dope!

in case i haven’t already told you, the point of the site is online contests. people can submit either photos or videos into various contests, and then other users vote on them. also, any user can create their own contest, so as the site grows there will be more and more cool contests to check out and interesting videos/photos to watch.

right now, we’re running this promo w/ epic records. anyone who’s got photos of this band Augustana (i hadn’t heard of them, but they’re semi-big… been on letterman, vh1, etc) can submit them for the chance to win a camera. in just the last 10 days or so, the contest has gotten almost 12,000 views! not bad for a website that was just launched!

if any of you have some time, i’d love it if you checked out the site! the url is www.votigo.com. try it out… start your own contest, enter someone else’s contest, or just vote in contests. the more contests/photos/videos we get on the site, the better… and who knows, you just might get hooked. also, i’d be down to hear any feedback you have. how does it look? is it easy to use? are there any things that make no sense, or could be better? any general suggestions? any help or thoughts would be great!

lemme know what you think!

a few things to keep in mind:

a) you’ll have to register to make entries, vote, etc.

b) the site is LIVE… if you make entries/comments/whatever, make sure they are relevant and not just gibberish “asdfgdsagfd”, swear words, or anything else. dont mess up the site, and dont get me fired!! i hate being fired! 😉

thanks peeps!!

*v

i made it to vietnam!!!

the journey here was so exhausting. 14 hour flight to hong kong. the seat in front of me was broken so it was falling into my lap, the food was some of the worst airline food of all time (they actually served cup of noodle instead of one of the meals?!), the service was surly, and the sound stopped working 80% of the way thru the inflight movie. 14 hours later, we got off in hong kong, exhausted and slightly delirious. after a painful wait, we flew the last few hours to vietnam.

but anyways, WE’RE HERE!! i’m so excited! after a full night of sleep, i cant wait to go out, explore, and try my first bowl of Pho!

*v

into the unknown…

a couple weeks back, out of the blue, someone who used to be my boss emailed me and asked me if i was interested in switching jobs. he was creating a new startup and wanted to know if i was down to work there. he told me a little bit about the plan for the website etc, and it really sounded like it could take off. i was definitely interested…

…but should i take the job? on one hand, i loved my current job at consumerreview. working as a contractor, i had ultimate freedom, could take as much vacation as i ever wanted, worked as many or as few hours as i pleased, the people i worked with were hella cool, and the salary was damn good. if i took the job offer, i would end up working more hours since startups are always really hectic and also, after doing the math, it turned out that i would be taking a steep paycut. hrmmmm, the typical startup life… working more hours for less money… sounds good, right? but still… the thought of trying something new was really intriguing to me. starting a new company and new website from the ground up sounded really exciting. i struggled w/ the decision for a while… but the more i thought about it, the more i was tempted to go for it.

taking this job seemed like quite a risk… so many startups just dont make it. at the same time, their idea did seem like one that could really be successful. plus, if there’s ever a time to take risks, it’s when you’re younger. i wouldn’t necessarily be able to jump into an opportunity like this when i’m say 40 years old and have to worry about mortgages etc etc. finally after a little negotiating, i decided to go for it. i just couldnt pass this up.

so, here i go… off into the unknown. i’ve been working at the same company for the last 7 years or so, and i’ve become very comfortable w/ everything there… it’s time to push my limits and see what i can do in a totally brand new environment. wish me luck!

*v

turning 30

8/13/06

dayum, this post is like 2 months late. i turned 30 this year. yup, 30. in my mind, that’s just insane. 30 has always seemed so old to me. like, your 20s are this nice in between age where everything is still ok, but 30 year olds… that’s straight up adult. 30 year olds are grown ups who are serious and have careers etc. i keep feeling like there’s some weird mistake.. there’s no way i could be that age. i’m still a young guy… right? so, as it got closer and closer to my birthday, i was really not looking forward to it. luckily, i figured out a foolproof plan to get through it:

1) avoid thinking about it as much as possible
2) spend the last 2 weeks leading up to your birthday having a blast in a foreign country (distraction)
3) arrive home on the day before your birthday and have a huge party (be sure to get really drunk)
4) spend your birthday recovering from the day before and celebrate all over again
5) home free! it’s all in the past now!

ok, i’m kind of kidding… well, partially.

my birthday celebration was hella fun. we rented this party bus that drove us all around the city. there’s something really cool about being driven around the city and being able to party it up the whole time. the bus had a soundsystem inside, natasha rocked her ipod, and everyone got trashed. we went to a bunch of bars, and also stopped by levis plaza for a little bit to have cake. the cake was bomb… but a damned security guard kicked us out of the plaza soon enough. we ended the night at the beach.

here’s some photos that i stole from natasha’s site:


i couldn’t have had too much to drink?

some more photos at natasha’s site

*v

Halloween is early

usually i leave shopping for a costume until within a couple days of Halloween. I’ll drive down to the Halloween superstore and spend some time frantically running around and searching through the leftover costumes and debris. this time, for once, i actually got a costume early. along w/ natasha and erica, i’m gonna be a pink bunny this year. pretty random.

Caryn’s friend Becky had a Halloween party last weekend, so i got to try out the costume. driving through the streets of sf, 2 weeks before Halloween, was pretty funny. lots of people yelled out and waved from their cars.

i called my brother only 45 minutes before the party and tried to convince him to go (how’s that for short notice?). despite not having a costume, he was able to throw something together at the last second.

Joey’s costume was pretty funny

*v

Indietronic – try #2

it looks like nobody was really able to download this mix when i posted it the first time. ugh.

so, i’m reposting it here with a new url which should actually work.

the new link is at: http://www.thisisvlad.com/music/

the tracklisting is still:

1. Metric – Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix)
2. Mystery Jets – The Boy Who Ran Away (Riton Re-dub)
3. The Futureheads – Skip To The End (Digitalism Remix)
4. Justice vs simian – We Are Your Friends
5. Para One – Dudun-Dun (MSTRKRFT Remix)
6. The Presets – Are You The One?
7. SebastiAn – Walkman
8. The Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control (Soulwax Nite Version)
9. The Valentinos – CCTV (Bang Gang vs. Van She Tech Remix)
10. The Rapture – Whoo! Alright-Yeah…Uh Huh
11. The Gossip – Listen Up (ATOC Extended Mix)
12. Klaxons – Gravity’s Rainbow (Van She Remix)
13. Animal Machine – Persona (Para One Remix)
14. Young Love – Discotech (ocelot remix)
15. Bloc Party – Banquet (boys noize remix)
16. The Killers – Mr Brightside (Jacques Lu Cont’s The White Duke mix)