Boise
A beautiful Idaho morning sunrise drive
This morning I had to go into work to check in so on the way back I set my GoPro Hero 3+ up in the dash and let it record on the drive back. I love the color of the sky and the flat, wide open spaces that you experience while driving in Idaho. This drive is from Mountain Home AFB to Boise via Airbase road, Bypass road and I-84W.
Shot using 1080p wide angle, 60fps.
Fooling around some more with the GoPro Hero 3+
Mounted the GoPro to my visor and recorded a drive this evening. Since the camera was hanging upside down I turned on ‘upside down’ mode which made everything reverse 😛 Shot in 1080p 60fps wide angle with spot meter turned on.
How was your Thanksgiving and Black Friday?
Thanksgiving this year was great. It always sucks being away from family during one of my favorite holidays, but I’m grateful that I got to spend Thanksgiving with Vanessa and her family and the food and company were great. The Ravens went on to narrowly defeat the Steelers which was also a plus. I thought for certain the game would go into overtime for the third time this year and I’d have to hold my breath longer. It was certainly an nerve wracking victory.
We didn’t really do a whole lot of Black Friday shopping. All of the sales were starting at 6pm on Thanksgiving which is not something I think should happen. We slept in this morning and headed over to Barnes and Noble just to look around. I was tempted to purchase the Nook Simple Touch which was $39, but I have a feeling Kindles will be on sale on Amazon Monday. If not, oh well. I used to have a regular Kindle and then a Kindle Fire HD, and for awhile I used an iPad but I no longer have any of those and do all of my reading on my MacBook (via iBooks and Zinio for magazines) and my iPhone. I’d like to have a Kindle so I can read in bed without having all of the other distractions my MacBook and iPhone offer. I’m hoping the Paperwhite goes on sale again since it sold out in a matter of seconds during the Kindle Fire offer.
I hope you enjoyed your holiday and Black Friday shopping if you participated! I’m certainly enjoying the long weekend.
~
I received one of my favorite holiday snacks in the mail from Pennsylvania. Stauffer’s Chocolate stars. I was quite surprised last year when I found out that these were nowhere to be found out here (in Idaho).
Vanessa and I just before the Ravens and Steelers game.
Game time!
Boise’s Westside Drive In
One of my favorite places to eat in Boise is the Westside Drive In which has been featured in Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (video below). The food is amazing as are the milkshakes. Last night I had the Special Deluxe burger (1/4lb patty, special sauce, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar, slice of ham) and potato gems with fry sauce. It was absolutely delicious!
If you ever find yourself in Boise I highly recommend you swing by the Westside Drive In and give the food and shakes a try, you won’t regret it!
The Village / Village Cinemas at Meridian and why reserved seating sucks
Yesterday Vanessa and I went out to Meridian to check out the new shopping center, The Village at Meridian. Its design is pretty cool and it feels more like a park or college campus than a shopping center. The signature feature is the fountain that is synchronized to music and lights at night. It’s surrounded by tables and a few fire pits which make for a great atmosphere to relax in.
We were planning to see Thor 2 at the Village Cinemas and we decided to go to the 4:30 showing. The movie theater is absolutely beautiful and very stylish. We arrived at 4PM to buy our tickets. The theater has reserved seating, and when we were buying our tickets the only seats left with two side by side seats were in rows D and up. We figured the screen would be far enough back that we could still enjoy seeing the movie in row D. Unfortunately when we got into the theater it was clear there would be no way we could enjoy the movie that close to the screen. What annoyed us most was the theater was almost entirely empty when we got in there and we really should’ve been able to sit where we wanted.
We ended up heading back to the box office to get our money back. Reserved seating in a movie theater is a very bad idea. I don’t very often plan hours ahead of time to see a movie, so it’s not practical to buy tickets online hours before a movie starts. Plans often change, or people often decide to join at the last minute. Reserved seating ruins the traditional movie going experience.
One of the newer movie theaters back where I’m from in Pennsylvania had reserved seating when it first opened, but it quickly learned it was a bad idea. People complained, got refunds or blatantly ignored the assigned seating and sat in other people’s seats often causing problems as the movies were starting. I can only hope Village Cinema in Meridian will learn how undesirable their reserved seating is and end the policy soon. Until then we’ll stick with Edwards in Boise.
Ice Rink opens next Friday!
Grinkers Arcade in Eagle, Idaho / Arcade Outsiders Tournament
I was browsing for things to do in the Boise area this weekend and came across a post for the Arcade Outsiders Tournament at Grinkers Arcade this weekend. I hadn’t previously heard of Grinkers and only knew of the Spacebar retro arcade. I love retro arcades and am glad I discovered a new one in the area.
(Photo from the Grinkers webpage)
Vanessa and I headed over at around 4 this evening to check the arcade out. It’s a bit larger than the Spacebar and has more machines, but a similar feel. There’s a bar with food and drinks and a bunch of classic arcade machines and pinball machines. I had quite a bit of fun revisiting old games, some of which I’ve never played in their arcade forms. I played Off Road, one of my favorite games on the NES, which was quite fun. We also played Super Mario Bros (didn’t even know there was an arcade version of the game. Only made it to level 1-2 :/), Mario Bros. (also didn’t make it very far), Space Invaders (lasted about 2 minutes), Ms. Pac Man (didn’t clear the first stage), Mortal Kombat and a few pinball machines.
(Photo from the Grinkers webpage)
We didn’t stay long enough to really get a feel for the tournament action, but there were quite a few machines marked for tournament play and a handful of people playing those machines (much better than I could ever play).
Check out a few photos I took below. I also recorded a few videos which I’ll add to the post after they upload to YouTube.
Three Days Grace / Otherwise 25 August at the Knitting Factory in Boise
Sunday night we saw Three Days Grace with Otherwise at the Knitting Factory in Boise and it was an awesome time. I’ve seen Three Days Grace a handful of times before in Pennsylvania, but this was my first concert since being stationed in Idaho. Otherwise was really awesome to see live and they put on an energetic performance that worked perfectly to excite the crowd for Three Days Grace.
Three Days Grace played an amazing show, which was a relief because I wasn’t sure how I’d like Matt Walst (the bassist’s brother who happens to front My Darkest Days) who took over on vocals after Adam left the band. He performed their songs superbly and put on an incredible show.
Biking the Boise Greenbelt (video)
I picked up a Zéfal iPhone bike mount for $19.99 at Wal-Mart and shot some video on our ride on the Boise Greenbelt Sunday evening. The mount includes a rain proof case that will protect your iPhone from the elements and keep it quite sturdy which is great for shooting video. It includes some inserts that can be adjusted to fit either the iPhone 4/4S or the iPhone 5, and is pretty simple to assemble with the included allen wrench.
Boise Farmer’s Market / Freak Alley pictures
Last weekend we biked out to the Farmer’s Market and I took a few pictures around town and of Freak Alley so I thought I’d share them with you. I love going to the Farmer’s Market, it’s great to see all of the local products and the people behind them. It’s always an enjoyable way to start a Saturday morning.
Gumballs Plays Games 