10.10.07

Good Luck to Rowler, Trainwreck, and Angela on THE MISSION

Posted in Blogroll at 6:53 pm

A bit over two years ago, my good friend Billy (aka Rowler) went to Costa Rica on a Peace Corps assignment. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting him, a trip that I still talk about which also yielded five different blog posts I wrote.

Well, it’s finally time to come home, so why not do it in style? Rowler’s girlfriend Angela, their Canadian buddy Trainwreck and some dude named Doug¹ are making THE MISSION – a bus trip through Central America.

The Mission is being documented by each person at themission-sologood.blogspot.com.

Hoping to see great stories of typical travel humiliation and pictures of interesting food and sights, I check the blog daily. And what am I rewarded with? Garbage like this article: Lebron James Puts Damper on The Mission. They are 3500 miles away from home, on this imposing trip, and THIS is the shit I have to read? You’ve got to be kidding me Billy. My comments were left below, and you can see from this article from Honduras that Billy tried and failed to punch back.

While I do look forward to seeing what happens between Billy’s Cleveland Indians (go Tribe!) and Trainwreck’s hated Boston Red Sox, I also hope to see more of Doug’s reviews on the hotels and food, because he is the only hope for any coherent and relevant writing coming from the aforementioned blog.

As far as Angela goes, the staff here at MikeRoberto.com is just hoping that she survives the watered-down-testosterone-filled trip up to LA, where I’ll take the boys out and she can have girl time with Amy.

Despite the inadequate and illogical writing, I plan to continue watching the team’s progress, and wish them the best of luck as they cross back into the good ol’ US of A and hope to party hard with them in LA! Cheers everyone!

THE MISSION

¹I’m already convinced Doug is the the coolest person this trip, by default

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02.28.07

Where is Jason Now? Cheers and Safe Travels to Jason Newquist!

Posted in Blogroll at 11:03 pm

On September 18, 2006, my friend and co-worker, Jason Newquist, quit his job. Jason decided that he had had enough of corporate America, and wanted to embark on an adventurous journey around the world.

Newquist, or “The Nuke”, had been living dirt cheap in his cousin’s farmhouse outside of Austin, stockpiling cash for an entire year. He survived without running hot water and much human contact while at home. Showers were taken at work and at places such as my apartment. Bringing home girls would be an adventure as he drove towards ‘haunted’ country. Tractors and trucks were more common than Internet. When he wasn’t bathing out of a metal pot or getting stuck in the mud, Jason was a great worker… but his heart just wasn’t in it.

After one final farmhouse party in the autumn, Jason finally embarked towards Europe over Christmas break. His travels are being documented at www.whereisjasonnow.com, which I begged him to create so that we could keep up. You have to love Jason’s spirit and attitude in these posts. Without a doubt, my favorite story thus far is National Lampoon’s Portuguese Vacation, in which Nuke is constantly humiliated at every turn. His rental car fiasco is hilarious!

Despite my belief that Jason probably planned on bolting all along, he is a totally great guy and standout character. I am truly jealous of what he’s done — not because he’s traveling the world, but because he is chasing his dream. I know that Jason will land on his feet wherever he ends up (our guess is Australia), because people love him. One regret is that I didn’t hang out with him more.

Well, Nuke, cheers to you! The warm staff here at mikeroberto.com wishes you safe travels, and if you end up in Asia, jump over the pond and come visit me in LA!
-Berto

PS: Don’t forget that beer you shotgunned in the picture below… you look AWFUL!

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