Flashback 1 - Final Four in Detroit

With special guests Charlie "Lone Wolf" Whittaker and Dick Vitale.

This was the 12th Final Four run for Charlie and I and there really is no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

By the way, we ran into Vitale several times and he was always traveling with "The Schwab" of "Stump the Schwab" fame. Not only that, it seemed like the Schwab was actually his personal assistant/gopher. Pretty funny.












By the way, we highly recommend the world famous American Coney Island in downtown detroit.



Chas ate there (open 24 hours) approximately 6 times over a 3 day period and I ate there at least 4 times (they have burgers).

Flashback 2 - Detroit: So Many Justices, So Little Time

It was great to meet up with friends Tom and Tina Justice who live outside of Detroit.


Here with Tom and Tina's kids (Andrew - on the right - and Katherine) and a friend of theirs who we'll just call "not a Justice" because that's what he is.

If that weren't enough, Charlie and I accidentally hung out with yet ANOTHER Justice (Dave - yes, the former major leaguer. OK, not really.) who was visiting from St. Louis. This was during the day (Monday) in the Marriott bar in the GM building. We didn't know this at the time, but he subsequently described his conversation with two random, hungover, California based IU alums to Tina and Tom and they put together the pieces like modern day Colombo's. We all met up again before the game on Monday night.

There's a fabled video the festivities floating around as well. Unfortunately, Tina chose to record the video in a format (codec) that's only readable on a Commodore 64, so it will never be seen.

Final Shoutouts from Omaha

The theme this year was Western- far stretch, eh?








Shout out to the owners of Gorat's Steak- Warren's favorite steak hangout and serving up hundreds of steaks to the hungry in one evening.








Shout out to Woody (and his building full of followers) - who told us about DixieQuick's featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri.
Great brunch- Jeff and Padma recommend anything smothered in their Tomato Butter sauce!

Onwards to Omaha!

This year, we were joined by our good friend, Padma in participation of what has been called Woodstock for Capitalists. 35,000 Warren Buffet fanatics descend upon Omaha- even Charlie Munger has his own cult following. Jeff's all about the finance (with new friend Becky Quick from CNBC), Jin Sun's all about the steak (and fruit), and Padma's all about the partying!

From Middle Earth to Middle America

Back in the states, we picked up where we left off- another road trip. This time to St. Louis and Omaha. Our first stop was St. Louis- where we headed straight for the Hill for Jeff Favorites. Here's a picture of the best fried ravioli ever- light, crispy and filled with some magical meats and cheeses.

One Final Look at Sydney, Australia

Due to a missed flight connection, we spent an extra day in Sydney. Not a bad place to have a 24 hour layover- especially when the weather was perfect. We went to Manly Beach- where there was a shark siting and alarm warning! Only about 80% of the surfers left the water.

One Final Look at Queenstown, NZ

Our last day in Queenstown, NZ. View from the top and a view of a netball court.

Stuff Jin Sun Likes

See if you can pick up on a theme...

It's Doubtful Sound, NZ

We took an overnight trip to the magnificent Doubtful Sound in the fjordlands of New Zealand. Unlike Milford Sound, the Doubtful was much less touristy with our boat being the only one in the whole sound. The small islands were teeming with waterfalls and we saw hundreds. For more pics of this secluded and somewhat eerie natural wonder, click on the title link.






Here's our bunk that we shared with 2 other people.

Queenstown, NZ- The Thrillogy, Part 3

Our final stop of the day was the Canyon Swing- a 60 m drop and swing over a rocky canyon and river. Here are a few funny pics on our way to the big drop- and of course the videos of each of our jumps (Jin Sun's video turned out better - as always).

BTW, the higher number of soiled tightie whities indicates the fear factor. Jeff and I went for 5 undies, which was the max fear factor. According to JSP's heart rate monitor, the Backwards jump got her heart beating 150 beats per minute. She claims that is her jogging heart rate...

Queenstown, NZ- The Thrillogy- Pt 2

Part 2 of the Thrillogy
Jetboating- ripping through narrow canyons on a river surface just a few inches deep in some places at 85 Kmph. The 360 degree turns were the most fun- the thrilling part was coming within inches of the rock canyon walls. Check it out: http://www.shotoverjet.com/queenstown/main/
This was Jeff's favorite part of the day. Our driver's name was Murray.