So here I am finally getting a chance to visit the condo down in West Palm Beach, FL.  Todd initially had plans with his friends to make the journey down there so Angel just decided to join them.  Angel and I spent 3 days in West Palm Beach then headed for Naples, FL to visit a few people. Tim Moorehead is a kid that I grew up with and I consider him to be one of my best friends around even though we haven't kept in touch much over the past few years. Naples was a blast and while we were there we stayed with Grace (angel's moms best friend). I dedicated a blog entry to her and her place.  West Palm and Naples providing great weather and a ton of drinking.  I think I managed to get drunk everynight and one night I even ventrued down to take a swim in the ocean .  Overall I had a blast with Todd and his friends and it was a good break from school.  Ok now 4 more weeks left this semester time to buckle up and knock it out

YEAAAHHH!! After 30 hours of straight drivig I arrived in Indiana.  I got in about 12:15 pm this afternoon and had lunch with the dad before getting home and getting some rest.  The last leg of the trip was extremely long so we bought a few DVD's  to make it go a bit faster.  Angel is staying at her parents and tomorrow I am off to Lafayette to finish some last minute things at Purdue.  It's going to be interesting settling back down in 13 degree weather with minimal things to do. Don't be surprised if  next time you see me I put on 30lbs :).  Well the Dude is in town and is stopping by to hang out and catch up on old times.  I'm OUT

80 and Sunny!  Not bad weather for the winter season.  Today Angel and I hiked all afternoon in some National park.  I managed to get a little bit of sun and we both had a very relaxing day.  I just got back from my little cousin Molly's softball game and we are getting ready for dinner and monday night football.  Tomorrow we are going to start the last leg of the trip towards the midwest.  We are talking about getting an early start, 7:00 ish, and getting about 16 hours of road time.  That should leave us with about 10 hours left until we reach IN.  Wednesday is also the day my stuff gets delivered so that is going to be quite a hectic day.  Hopefully they won't get there before I do or my parents are going to be in for a huge surprise :).  Well I will get back on here when I hit Indiana. 

It's now sunday and football is the only thing that is on the mind.  I got about 6 hours of sleep which is plenty for me.  I wake about 9:00 am and await my cousins who are currently at church.  I haven't seen either of then in 3 years and I didn't realize how much they have grown up since then.  Ashley is now a senior and signed a letter of intent to play softball at Miami of Ohio.  She will be in the midwest now and we all will be glad so we can see a little more of her.  3 years is just way to LONG!!  Molly is now 11 and in 5th grade.  She has really grown up fast.  Not to mention she has the potential for being the tallest Gartland of them all .  She seems very knowledge and helped me solve a thanksgiving problem I had on my cell phone.  I will not disclose details but she knows what I am talking about.  All in all it's been great seeing all of them. 

Angel also has a friend here in Arizona, McKenna and she lives about 15 mintues from my Aunt's place. We are staying over here tonight and she has managed to talk Angel into staying another day :).  I am thrilled!!!  I want to go hiking tomorrow and I can always use a little more sun so this is GREAT.  This is pushing the date of the arrival to IN  back another day but who cares.  I checked the trip mileage and we have traveled a little over 1800 miles.  The beautiful coastline and the beautiful weather are going to be left behind in the last few legs of the trip but that's life.  Tonight we are going to party with McKenna and her husband Mike.  Till next time, take care and Take on LIFE.

Ring, Ring, Ring the alarm goes off at 7:00 am saturday morning.  I jump up and ask Angel if she still wants to get up and on the road now.  After shaking her numerous times she says I want to go back to sleep. Argghhh, out of frusteration I get up and use the restroom, upon returning I am wide awake and the anticipation of the day has got me moving.  I started packing everything up and loaded the car while Angel catched a few more zzzz.  The car is now packed and I am showered it's 7:30, time to get Angel moving and into the car.  Angel gets up and we say our goodbye to Mike and thank him for the hospitality.  Everytime I visit Mike we have a great time and I realize what a good friend he is.  He let us use his bed and even washed the sheets .  8:00 am we are on the road taking 101 south.  Even though we have about a 14 hour drive ahead of us we decied we wanted to visit Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California.  I head of the place from my mom and she said I should stop by if possible so we are going to stop by.  San Simeon is about half way between San Fran and L.A. about 3 hours later we are at the castle. We get there just in time to catch the 11:40 tour and we hop on the bus and head up the mountain to the Castle.  This place has the best view of the ocean I have ever seen.  I now understand why he went through all the trouble of building it up so high in the mountian.  (pics will be posted later)  This guy was amazing and so was his house.  The tour lasted about 2 hours and then we hit the gift store and were back on the road around 2:00 pm.  I am estimating another 12 hours to get to Arizona so roughly 2:00 am.

While driving past L.A. we saw something very interesting.  I was driving and a car about 20 yards in front of me started to spark.  As that car made it's way over to the right shoulder I headed towards the left.  The whole underside of the car had now caught fire and also the engine.  Angel and I were beside ourselves as the person driving this car didn't look like they were going to make it.  I dialed 911 and reported the incident and continued driving.  I will never know what happened but I hope everything went ok.

I forgot about the time change but we made it to AZ around 2:00 am and we are staying at my Aunt Tina and Uncle Tom's house.

On friday Angel and I decided to venture out on our own.  First stop was the G.G. (Golden Gate) bridge.  We found a little diner before the bridge and had a bite to eat then headed towards the bridge.  We got out and walked about half way across the bridge and admired the beautiful view of the city. (pics will be added later)  You really don't understand how great the G.G. is until you are on it.  From there we dropped by the Explorotorium and walked around the unique structure for a while.  Next we were off to the drive around and find something to get into.  Parking is crazy in the city so we parked at Mike's place and headed for Union Square AGAIN!! Shopping never gets old too girls and honestly I enjoyed just walking around the city. After a long day we got back to Mike's and enjoyed laying around for about an hour and decided we wanted a romantic/not fast food dinner.  Mike and Kevin (mike's roommate) suggested LuLu's so that was the choice. WOW, some of the best food I have ever had. Angel had some type of fish and me some ribs ummmmmmmmmm.  Now off to the Metrodom to watch Oceans 12.  We hit the sony store and played PS2 as we waited for Angela and Mike.  The movie started at 10:30 pm and got over around 1:30 am then we walked back to Mike's and cashed, what a lllooooooonnnnnnngggggg day.  Tomorrow morning back on the road....

HERE I am!!  I made it to San Fran last night around 12:30 am.  The drive was long and rough, rain and fog were present throughout the whole trip.  My boy Mike is letting Angel and I crash at his pad (which is tight, I will post pictures later) and is going to take us out on the town tonight.  Mike's girlfriend Angel will be reffered to as Angela to cause less confusion during this post.  Angela, Angel and I got up early today and went off to venture the Bay area.  We started down at Fisherman's Warf and grabbed a bowl of the legendary clam chowder.  This is also known has Ghirradelhi square, the famous San Francisco chocolate.  We then took the trolly to Union Square and decided to go shopping.  Macy's might be one of the best dept. stores EVER!  Angel got me a few christmas presents (I got a Blazer that raised my pimp status at least 3 points) I am stoked.  However I can not touch it till the 25th AHHHHH....oh well christmas presents are for christmas so I will try to cope.  This is my second visit here and I really enjoy this place.  The weather is awesome and the company is even better.  I could probably spend a week in the bay and never get bored.  That will not be possible b/c Angel and I are headed south toward Phoenix saturday morning.  Well I am out for now.....

Arrrrrgggggghhhhhh,

Well for the 4th year in a row I have decided to move.  This time it's not just down the street it's half-way across the country.  From Washington back to IN. Studies show that moving is the second most stressfull thing in life next to DEATH.  (I agree)

My last two years have been spent working for the greatest company in the world "Microsoft". However my road has come to an end there and I need to return to school to take it to the next level.  Not sure what the next level is yet but it's going to be a hell of ride getting there. Well back to Packing....