Imagine what you believe the characteristics and personality of the oldest prison in America would be like. An enormous building created from massive amounts of stone and concrete; huge walls and dark corridors? How about a penology unit built more than 177 years ago that has half a mile of wall, eleven acres of ruin, and is currently crumbling at every corner.

After my journey through Dayton, Ohio; I was accompanied by Justin Clark and Blake Green for a wonderful drive to Philadelphia, PA. We began our journey around 11:00PM EST on Wednesday night and arrived in Philly around 8:00AM EST the next day. I drove throughout the night with the assistance of conversation from Justin and Blake. Once we arrived in Philly we were met by an extraordinary amount of traffic on the interstate and made it to Chap and Maura Ambroses’ home in the Italian district of Philadelphia about 9:30AM EST.

A dull, plain and extremely boring city; a typical statement made when an average individual inquires about Dayton, Ohio. Personally, Dayton does not even rank in my top 25 favorite cities on the planet. I believe I can state whether a city is deserving of a visit; based on the fact that I have been to almost every major city, alot of larger cities and small towns along our wonderful interstate transportation network. Dayton, Ohio is a city that I have frequently visited over the past few months because members of my family have recently moved here.

While driving amongst your average evening traffic on Dayton’s maze of horrible paved streets I stumbled upon Fifth and Wayne. Unknown to me at present time; this seemingly average intersection would soon modify my overall impression of Dayton. As I made an illegally performed left turn; neglecting to use my indicator lights, I found myself in Oregon District. The Oregon District is a four city block night life hot spot. I drove the Fifth street three or four times before deciding upon where to park and what my ambitions for the area would become.

After briefly analyzing the area I decided to visit The Neon Movies. This location caught my attention because of its small size and appearance of an extremely wonderful movie cinema. I walked into the theater with high expectations. Those expectations were instantly achieved when I saw a counter-top style coffee shop within the theater. The concessions area was not just limited to coffee, popcorn, tea and snacks. They actually served alcohol as well!

I ordered a hot cup of black tea and walked over to a small colorful table and sat down. At the time of my arrival there were only three individuals in sight. Two of these individuals were employees of the cinema and the other a passenger of the nationwide Greyhound bus line who was temporarily delayed in Dayton. The employees were very generous and polite; giving me detailed information about the district and where I should hang out and avoid. One of the employees actually equipped me with a great map that she outlined locations with notes of why they were fun for her.

The cinema felt small. Serving only two movies at a time. The two movies currently being showed were Into the Wild and The 11th Hour. I have not heard too many statements about 11th hour so I decided to watch Into the Wild. I was familiar with the story behind the soon to be viewed movie and I was excited to watch it. After a few minutes people began walking from the first Auditorium. To my surprise, there were more individuals than I expected to see leaving the movie of such a small cinema.

I joked a bit with an older couple sitting next to me in the lounge area outside the auditorium. At 9:50PM EST we were informed we could now take seats. I walked in and found a uniquely designed theater with a curtain over the main screen. The seats were extremely comfortable and designed well. They were slightly larger than most seats you find at cinemas. Everything about this cinema was different: seats, screen, exterior, interior and staff.

It pays to explore more. I now have found myself reading up about Dayton, Ohio and the various hidden spots of entertainment and leisure around the city. Hopefully I will be granted more time to spend driving the labrynth of roads, discovering new locations to surprise me and more polite people like those found at the Neon Movies.

That’s right, today is the day! I’ve kept this baby under the hat for quite some time and today I am finally launching! I will be giving individuals rides to anywhere they want to visit in North America! I even pay for half the gas! You can find all the details and information over on the summerrideshare.com website. I have a live video streaming to the internet from the vehicle as well as GPS tracking. Doesn’t get much better eh?

Anyways, tell everyone you know, show some support and link love. I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm and efforts to help my project be a success!

Go to Summer Ride Share’s Website!!

My site will be “updateless” for the next month..

That’s right! A while ago, Blake, Josh, Murphy and myself all got together one evening and decided that because we had nothing better to do, we would invest our dollar into diet coke and mentos. Actually, I don’t believe any of us had experienced this at home science experiment first-hand; prior to this evening. However, after a stop at a local convenience store for supplied we were on our way to advancing our knowledge of physics and chemistry.

Josh captured some photos in which he put on his flickr account for the world to see.

I noticed Uncrate had a wonderful product on display today, introducing the Mentos Geyser Tube

First, I would like to take about twenty three seconds to sit back and breathe. Slowly remember all of the details surrounding my recent trip to Vancouver, B.C. The modest trip into Canada for Web Directions North brought many trials and tribulations as well as moments of pure happiness. Overall, I would say the trip was okay in terms of enjoyment, however for some reason, I feel you want the full story.

Okay, so my original flight scheduled to leave Tulsa, Oklahoma was delayed until 4:50PM. This was a major issue considering that would put me into Denver, Colorado around 6:50 CST; which was late to my conncetion. Therefore, I was going to be forced to take an alternative route. I spoke with Andy at the ticket counter in Tulsa and he re-routed me through Alaska Air out of Denver to put me into Seattle, Washington. This wasn’t a major issue, however this meant there was going to be another leg in my flight.

I agreed to the transfer and switched flights. So here we are, waiting in Denver International on flight 525 out of Denver to Seattle. It has been delayed as well which means that my 10:30PM PST flight out of Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. is going to be missed as well.

The kind woman at the gate counter informed me that the individuals working the Seattle gate should see my arriving flight is delayed and wait a few extra minutes for me. I only need ten! Keep your fingers crossed, I’m about to board my flight in Denver I think. Something is happening at the gate, can’t hear over the Swahelia or whatever being spoke around me all loud!

Time to pack up and run! TTYL!

Last night, Kimberly and I attended the John Mayer concert in Oklahoma City. The event was held at the Cox Communications Center, across the street from the beloved Ford Center. Personally, I’m a much bigger fan of the Ford center, but hey, I’m not going to complain! Josh Rouse and band opened for John Mayer, starting the show at 8:00PM sharp! This is the first concert I think I have been to that actually started right on time.

In nearly two weeks, I will be calling Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada home for roughly a week. Why? To attend, Web Directions North, a conference hosted by various designers and developers that influence my day to day thought process on design, interaction and development.

Attending the conference plus the additional workshops is something I have been looking forward to for quite some time. I am totally pumped about the experience and listening to these guys (and girls) and what they have to say relating to design and the like. I’m hoping to be able to post some articles and such about the experience and what exactly is being talked about.

If you’re going to Vancouver for the event and you want to share a hotel room, I am totally game for splitting up a room with someone. As long as you don’t jack my posessions, snore louder than me or try to touch me inappropriately. Okay, that about covers all the bases — hit me up via my contact page if you think you would like to split a room.

See you in Vancouver!

It is now 3:30AM EST and I am resting on my bed here in New York City. Brief overtones from the World Tour of Poker are playing in the background and I am about to throw on some warm clothes to take a walk around the neighborhood.