JarrettHarris.com

Two blog posts within the same month - when’s the last time that’s happened? For your viewing pleasure, Emily’s Spring 2008 collection:

Follow this link for the version you can watch in full-screen.

This is not my return to blogging. Far from it. In fact, this may be the last post JarrettHarris.com ever sees in its current iteration. But due to the fact that Emily and I are moving East in less than two months and we would like to share pictures of our new abode with friends and family, this serves as the best medium (take that, Facebook!).

.Comrades, it is without further ado that I present our future home:

Immediately upon entering the apartment you’ll find a vertical non-snow angel Emily greeting you!

Come on in and you’ll find a (soon to be) cozy living/dining area:

And just where will we be cooking delicious meals, you ask? Well turn around and see for yourself!

Let’s take a closer look:

Mmmm… Stainless steel!

We’ll surely be going through a lot of cloth napkins at all the fancy dinners we’ll be hosting - but fortunately laundry facilities are just a few feet away.

We’ll need a place to fold all those cloth napkins. The bedroom sounds as good a place as any, right?

The bedroom will most likely be serving as the new JarrettHarris.com HQ, as well. Fortunately it has a great view!

Yep, that’s the Empire State Building - visible from our bedroom! It’s actually centered right between those other buildings, I just couldn’t hold a steady enough hand for a good picture. (Probably it was getting tired thinking of all the napkin folding it’ll be doing.)

Here’s another view of the building next door:

With that, I’ll open up the comments section to receive reservations. Looking for our first guests, we are!

For more information, click here.

Just weeks after his publishing debut, a well-traveled .Comrade single-handedly caused a group of aging rockers embarrassment, and nearly cost this summer’s Warped Tour one of its leading acts. Fortunately, a few days of rehab at JarrettHarris.Com headquarters proved successful, and our fallen hero is back on his feet again.

*Disclaimer - links may contain explicit content. Click at your own risk!

Last week my wife took our 2006 Scion xB to the dealer for an oil change (incidentally, the first oil change we’ve had to pay for, as the first three were “free”). While waiting on the technicians, she took a gander around the lot to check out the new 2008 model xB. Instantly filled with horror, she sent me a text message.

“What did they do to the xB?!” the message read.

I had seen - from a distance - the new xB model a few weeks before, but hadn’t had a long enough glimpse to elicit such emotion. I knew the overall look of the vehicle had been altered somewhat, but hadn’t done much research on exactly what the new changes were. The text message conversation that followed my wife’s initial outrage piqued my curiosity, so I searched for some reviews online.

It didn’t take long to be saddened by what I found. As one review stated, “Having wrestled the title ‘world’s largest car manufacturer’ from General Motors, Toyota’s already committing some of the same mistakes that brought GM down…” Gulp.

It seems the changes the Scion design team made had a greater affect than just an updated body image. Unfortunately, the resulting consequences nullified some of the vehicles greatest attributes - some of the “selling points” I would gladly share with friends and family members looking to make a new vehicle purchase. Those changes include the following:

• The boxy, “toaster” look of the original xB has been traded in for a smooth, curvy, and in my opinion less distinct look. Thus, the back window - which was like looking at a wide screen HD plasma in the rear view mirror - is now narrower and more gangster (as in Capone, not Tupac) like. Also, as you’ll notice in the above picture, the back side window has been replaced with a slightly more opaque material: steel. There goes that amazing visibility.
• The throne-like bucket seats in the front have been replaced and some of the vehicles abundant head room has been shaved. This affects not only the front visibility (again, something I loved about the original) but presumably puts the new xB more in the “feels like a car to drive” category. I didn’t realize until I drove a hybrid Civic a few weeks ago just how spoiled I’d become riding in our amazingly comfortable xB. There goes the comfort that made even the longest drive enjoyable.
• Somehow (and I cannot wrap my mind around this) the new xB gained 650 pounds over the previous model. The new model now features the same six cylinder 2.4 liter engine found in the Camry rather than the four cylinder 1.5 liter engine in the Yaris. I’m not sure if the excess weight required a bigger engine, or if the bigger engine added extra weight, but the result is a roughly 20% decrease in combined fuel efficiency. So, there goes that.

In one generation, the Scion design team has decreased the vehicle’s visibility, comfort and fuel economy. Way to go, team. What’s particularly disheartening is that whereas the original xB was designed and manufactured completely in Japan and imported, the new model was designed specifically for American tastes. It sickens me to think they got it right in that regard. Bigger, sloppier and hungry for fuel.

I guess there’s probably some greater lesson to be learned in all this. “You’ll never make money appealing to a niche target market” or “The best things in life appeal to a small percent of the population” or something like that. I’m just worried what the next step in the xB’s evolution will produce…

In early May of this year, I was flying back from a conference in Tarrytown, NY to our home in lovely Southern Illinois by way of Chicago. I happened to share that flight with a coworker who was connecting back to San Francisco. We spoke about a number of things on our journey - a mutual love for “The Office”, respect for the Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash, and other life-y stuff. As I was going on and on about my lovely wife (which I am known to do from time to time), I for some reason mentioned how when we got married I really wanted to honeymoon in Northern California.

“Really,” my colleague replied. “My parents own a cabin up there - you guys should totally use it sometime.”

Not being one to let an opportunity pass me by, I spoke with my wife that evening and sent an email the next day with a list of possible dates when we might make a trek west… and then north.

Yada, yada, yada… thanks to the fantastic generosity of my colleague’s family, we went to San Francisco and Northern California a few (several) weeks ago. The following images capture a mere fraction of the good times we had.

First stop, San Francisco for some extremely good times with friends who treated us very well and introduced us to some of the bay’s best views and some of the world’s finest tequila. For more on San Francisco, look over here.

Next, we made our way to Lakehead, CA - population 549. This was our home base for our several days in the Mt. Shasta region. On our way, we stopped at a bridge that not only lets you cross the Sacramento River but lets you know the time, too! They call this: The Sundial Bridge. Personally, I think the name could use a little pizazz.

Now just imagine you are Emily and you are staring a giant sundial right in the face!

The next day we went to a few different waterfalls in Dunsmuir, CA - a big train town. (”Big” modifying the volume of trains passing through, not the town.) The first waterfall we visited required a 45 minute walk along some train tracks. It was a lot of fun and well worth the trip. Here’s me, standing by the falls, where the water seems to be dripping out of vegetation like… something. Something involving “tendrils”.

I wore an eye patch to intimidate the locals. Here is a video that doesn’t really capture how cool that was (”that” modifying the falls, not the eye patch):

Then we went across town to some other waterfall where Emily daringly tried to capture a digital likeness of ourselves by placing our camera on a rock, setting a timer and running across slippery stones. It didn’t quite work out.

On a side note, Dunsmuir is home to a fantastic little establishment called the Corner Stone Bakery and Cafe. Here is the address if you are ever in the area. We dined on a few vegetarian dishes that were far too amazing to try to describe here.

Moving right along… on one of the following nights we enjoyed an evening “at home” enjoying a great Californian wine, a sharp white cheddar cheese, some delicious bread and California peaches.

During our journey we traveled in green luxury: a 2007 Civic hybrid. We weren’t actually supposed to get this car, but the rental place was “out” of the bottom dollar Dodge we’d reserved so we drove this around at no additional charge. Here Emily shows off the vehicle’s ability to support the weight of an entire human female without rolling.

Count me unimpressed (”unimpressed” modifying my feelings regarding the car, not regarding Emily). The mileage was good, but not great. And I’ve decided that our xB has ruined me for ever sitting as low as a typical car sits.

On our last day in Northern CA we decided to travel to Castle Crags State Park and undertake what had been described to us as a “strenuous 2.7 mile hike”. But that’s strenuous to the average (obese) American, right? And 2.7 miles isn’t that far, is it?

We saw just two people that day, about half way up the trail. We passed them, and never heard from them again. We’d been told to pack plenty of water and snacks, which we took to mean two tiny bottles of Aquafina and some goldfish crackers. About two hours into it, we decided it’d be wise to turn around. We were running out of energy, had little rations left and had no idea how much further we needed to go. With Jarrett resigned to defeat, Emily decided to trek another 20 feet up the mountain to get a better picture of the truly gorge-eous scenery… and whatdyaknow - the top!

She looked like this:

But actually felt like this:

I was in a particularly contemplative mood…

…as were these rocks:

And there you have it.

A special thanks to the wonderful family who trusted their property to a few red-meat eating Midwesterners like ourselves, and also to everyone who treated us so well in San Francisco. We hope to return.

Now if I can just arrange to share a flight with one of our European reporters soon, I’ll have next year’s vacation plans taken care of!