Tales of a Technogypsie

The Diner* 4405 Fort Jackson Blvd * Columbia, SC 29209 * (803) 661-7676 * http://www.thedinercolumbia.com/ * http://www.facebook.com/TheDinerColumbiaSC * Just off the beaten path outside Gate 1 of Fort Jackson is a nice friendly little artsy diner plainly labelled after its namesake. They are after the classic American diner experience and image, open for breakfast, lunch, [...]

Fontana Village Resort * http://www.fontanavillage.com/ * Fontana Village Resort | 300 Woods Road • P.O. Box 68 | Fontana Dam, North Carolina 28733 * Phone: 828.498.2211 * We were seeking an escape to the mountains and while this time of year the blue ridge parkway had segments shut down, we ventured via main roads to [...]

The CHQ Building* River Liffey * Dublin, Ireland * http://www.chq.ie/ * A shopping center with future promise, as many of the stores are empty as they stand today. But big names like Starbucks, Louis Copeland and Sons, Fran & Jane, Carphone Warehouse, and Pilates IFSC have set up shop within. Historically the building was known [...]

Jeannie Johnson Tall Sailing Ship & Museum Dublin, Ireland Sitting in the Harbour of the River Liffey, just outside the CHQ Building is the replica of the infamous “Jeanie Johnston” ~ the three masted barque built in 1847 by John Munn that brought settlers over to the New World during the great Irish Famine. This [...]

Bottomless Lakes State Park* Roswell, New Mexico, USA * Our swimming hole playground while living in Roswell, New Mexico – Bottomless Lakes provided much cooling off during the hot and dry summers of the desert. Only Fifteen miles from Roswell, the Lakes are Located along the Pecos River, and are a series of natural caves [...]

Colorline Ferry: Service from Denmark to Norway One of the fastest methods, albeit an extremely expensive one, to get your car from Denmark to Norway is the “Color Line” ferry. As I was travelling from England to Norway with a friend via Denmark, this is the ferry we took. It is also the largest cruise [...]

Borre Viking MarkedViking Market / Festival, Borre, Borrekaupangen – the historical Borre Park, Norway: Sunday, 8th July 2012. http://www.borrevikinglag.com/?page_id=961 An amazing trek across the Irish and North Seas, through four countries, three days to reach, three days to embrace, and three days to return … I was taken captive by a Jorvik Viking from York [...]

Charleston Municipal Marina, Charleston, SC Charleston Municipal Marina * http://www.charlestoncitymarina.com/ * 17 Lookwood Drive * Charleston, South Carolina * (843) 577-7702 * One of several, this beautiful marina is stocked full of boats, visitors, and harbourers. The floating docks look quite popular, even though we didn’t venture out on it, just sat on the bench [...]

Rander’s Sail Club Cafe* Toldbodgade 14 * 8930 Randers NØ * Denmark * http://www.randerssejlklub.dk/ * A roadstop visit to this fine little marina cafe/bar/restaurant while visiting a good friend I met while sailing in Australia. Friendly service, good food, and good booze. A wide variety of loose-leaf teas to wet your whistle, as well as [...]

Charleston Therapeutic Massage * 310 Broad St, Ste 8, Charleston, SC 29401 * (843) 723-7005 * charleston-massage.com * Very relaxing and healing experience as I found a massage therapy centre to fit exactly what I needed. As a fellow massage therapist, its often hard to find someone who can perfectly release your aches and pains, [...]

Little Ass Burrito * 32-A Dawson Street (formerly: 1 Upper Rathmines Rd * Dublin, Ireland * 6 * (01) 4062614 * www.littleass.ie * Mon-Thu, Sun 11:00 – 22:00 * Fri-Sat 11:00 – 4:00 * Billing themselves as “tex mex” this fine restaurant has never disappointed. As I’m more the fan of Mexican fare than “Tex [...]

Ah, the wonderful world of Dairy 99. I was introduced to this wonderful frozen treat by my friend Vanessa when we were hiking across the Yorkshire Dales. Ever since I’ve been addicted and converted. I don’t know if it is the pure rich fresh dairy cream taste that the UK, Ireland, and Scotland is so [...]

Warehouse 13: Season 1 ~ Episode 4: Claudia Director: Stephen Surjik. Writers: D. Brent Mote & Jane Espenson. Starring: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, and many others. Original Air Date: 28 July 2009. The thrills of the mysterious pseudo “Men in Black” warehouse in the middle of the Nevada desert takes a turn as [...]

Burritos and Blues* 2 Wexford street * 2 Dublin, Ireland * http://burritos.ie/ * http://www.facebook.com/pages/Burritos-and-Blues/ * Phone +353 14254022 * As a recent transplant to Dublin, Ireland from America’s Southwest, one of the culinary facets i miss the most from the move is the lack of good Mexican food. But through my wanderings I’ve stumbled upon [...]

Gilligan’s Seafood Restaurant * 1475 Long Grove Drive Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 * 843-849-2244 * http://www.gilligans.net/ * My mom’s favorite seafood restaurant in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina has become my choice of seafood dining as well. Introduced to me as her “country club”, I found a very friendly, hospitable restaurant with fabulous service. Now on [...]

Melbourne Road Side Art Melbourne, Victoria, Australia One of the memorable facets to Melbourne I remember from my travels is the fantastic and sometimes bizarre roadside art one can find on the highways in and out of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Many of the roads and freeways around this Metropolis compete for attention by the implementation [...]

* April 23, 2011 Concert @ The Transit Bar * Downtown Canberra * ACT * Australia * While exploring downtown Canberra, I popped into the Transit Bar, underneath where I was staying in the Canberra Hostelling International for a night out downtown. The Holidays, a local Australian band, was just returning from their first ever [...]

Warehouse 13: Season 1 ~ Episode 3: Magnetism Director: Jace Alexander. Writers: D. Brent Mote & Jane Espenson. Starring: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, and many others. Original Air Date: 21 July 2009. By Episode 3 of the amazing series, I was hooked. I joined in on the adventure in this episode as Pete [...]

Warehouse 13: Season 1 ~ Episode 2: Resonance Director: Vincent Misiano. Writers: D. Brent Mote & Jane Espenson. Starring: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, and many others. Original Air Date: 14 July 2009. After my first viewing of this new and intriguing series, I joined in on Episode 2 where Pete and Myka are [...]

Reddacliff PlaceBrisbane, Queensland, Australia Every day during my gig as a tour guide for the HMB Endeavour, I would walk through Reddacliff Place. Reddacliff is also known as Brisbane Square. Its a great little market square located between the Victoria Bridge and Queen Street Mall, at the base of Brisbane Square across from the Treasury [...]

Mooney Memorial Fountain a.k.a. Eagle Street Fountain* corner of Queen Street and Eagle Street, 118 Eagle Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia * 400 * Every day enroute to work as volunteer guide aboard the HMB Endeavour, I passed by this quaint little ornate Victorian Revival Gothic styled fountain, and finally took a chance to admire this [...]

Warehouse 13: Season 1 ~ Episode 1: The Pilot Director: Jace Alexander. Writers: D. Brent Mote & Jane Espenson. Starring: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, and many others. Original Air Date: 7 July 2009. Its a blended science fiction television series of the “what if” and “after the fact” of the U.S. super secret [...]

The Pretty Vacant The Pretty Vacant Club * Mertensgasse 8 * D-40213 Düsseldorf * Open 8 til late (5 am) * http://www.prettyvacant.de/Saturday nights: The Sound’s of Swingin’ London. A great little hole-in-the-wall club and bar in the heart of the old town district of Dusseldorf. Around 10 pm, this little bar becomes infested with the [...]

Kas Bah Kas Bah * Rheinort 2 * 40213 Düsseldorf, DE * Telefon: 0211 / 8693888 * .Öffnungszeiten: Mo – Do, 12:00 – 01:00 Uhr; Fr – Sa, 12:00 – open end; So, 12:00 – 01:00 Uhr; .Happy Hour: Mo – So: 17:00 – 20:00 Uhr * http://www.bartime.de/location.kasbah.9.456.html A great little Morroccon cafe in the [...]

Push (PG-13:2009)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465580/ Director: Paul McGuigan. Starring: Colin Ford … Young Nick; Joel Gretsch … Nick’s Father; Djimon Hounsou … Henry Carver; Dakota Fanning … Cassie Holmes; Robert Tsonos … Division Doctor #1; Brandon Rhea … Division Doctor #2; Camilla Belle … Kira Hudson; and many more. It’s a “Heroes” style film about groups of people [...]

Thursday, 22 May 2008 Washington, D.C. 11th annual D.C. Goth Prom “Under a Milky Way” * Town Danceboutique * 2009 8th Strett NW | Washington, DC 20009 * http://www.gothpromdc.com/ 11th Annual Goth Prom, Washington, D.C. 5/22/08 After the National Geographic Live and private reception, I headed over to my ‘first’, while DC’s 11th, Goth Prom [...]

Tayto Crisps I find the whole British (count that Irish, Welsh, and Scottish) use of the term “Crisps” for “Chips” pretty humorous, but that’s probably because I’m American where crisps are called “chips”. You know, those “deeply fried” light slivers of potatoes we add to our calorie-infested food type called “junk food”. We serve them [...]

Sushi Kim’s * 388 Queen St. (Wharf St.), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4000 * Just as you’re walking down Queen Street from the Queen Street Mall as it turns to Wharf Street, enroute to Eagle Pier, on the left hand side is a small little tiny sushi mart that has incredibly affordable, delecious, and fresh sushi [...]

Starbucks, Brisbane, Australia Starbucks * International ~ (NASDAQ: SBUX) ~ Starbucks.com * While a mega-international coffeehouse chain, with its own brand of coffee, and clearly with much consumer conspiracy and debatable controversies especially towards small business, I’d have to say, still to this day, Starbucks is my most favorite (and used) coffee shop in the [...]

Brisbane West End Brisbane, Queensland, Australia My first online Couchsurfing experience in Australia was in Southern Brisbane’s infamous inner-city suburb called “The West End”. A great alternative artsy lively area of cultural hodge-podge, the West End I found was one of the more exciting neighborhoods in the city. It is also one of Brisbane’s oldest. [...]