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An American’s Guide to Carnival: The Parade

This is part 3 of 6 in Gringo-izing Brazil: An American’s Guide to Carnival.  In this post we will talk about the Carnival parade itself. One of the biggest draws of Carnival in Rio is obviously the parade.  There are two ways to go about experiencing this.  The first of which is to watch the parade.  It occurs on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights of Carnival.  Each night the parade begins at about 8pm and goes to 6 the next morning.  That is A LOT of parade.  You really only need to plan on being here for one night, and chances are you wont be there for the full ten hours.  After awhile everything starts blend in, and you

Continue Reading > 3 Comments posted: May 25th, 2009

The Ultimate Ride: African Rush

This is the first in a series of guest posts from Steve Ogle’s journal during a 2008 trip to Zambia to film The Ultimate Ride: African Rush. Day 1 Portland to Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Johannesburg to Livingston, Zambia. 3 stops. 4 Flights. 39 hours. Not the longest travel itinerary in the history of the world I’m sure, but by the middle of the flight from Frankfurt to Livingston it was certainly starting to seem like it. Those “painful” 5 ½ hour coast to coast trips all of a sudden seemed like a trip across town. At least I was psychologically prepared for a long trip. All this to document the attempt of kayaker Steve Fisher to run the Zambezi

Continue Reading > 3 Comments posted: May 22nd, 2009

Happy Hour of the Week: Bartini

  As an ode to the beautiful weather we have been experiencing in Portland over the past few days (with the exception of Tuesday), I wanted to come up with a happy hour this week that has some outdoor seating.  Enter Bartini.  Located right off the corner of NW 21st and Glisan, Bartini is a great place to take a date or people watch.  Before I go too much further I do want to mention that this place isn’t perfect.  The service usually sucks, and it isn’t very big so seating can be an issue, but its strengths more than make up for it.  This is one of the few places in Portland that has a drink menu that is

Continue Reading > 3 Comments posted: May 20th, 2009

Defining goals for seanogle.com

Now that I have finally figured out my RSS feed problem, its time to actually start posting all of these articles I have written.  With that in mind, I feel like now is an appropriate time to outline some of the goals for the site.   It seems like on every blogger’s list of “steps to a successful blog” one of the first is to have clearly outlined your niche and goals for the site.  This is the one big area where I will admit, I haven’t followed their advice.  This is for a variety of reasons, but the main one is, I am not entirely sure what my goal is!  Alright, I know that more than just about anything, I

Continue Reading > 3 Comments posted: May 19th, 2009

An American’s Guide to Carnival in Rio: What to Expect When you Land

Welcome to Gringo-izing Brazil, my in depth look at Carnival in Rio from the eyes of an American.  This is part two in the series, in which we will set expectations for your arrival. Alright, so you are near the tail end of your 9+ hour flight.  You are a little disoriented from the combination of anticipation, a sleepless night next to Chatty Cathy, and having an entire drink cart spilt all over you after a bout of turbulance. Sidenote: Yes, this really happend.  While it was actually on our Aerolineas Argentinas flight from Buenos Aires, we hit a patch of turbulance which sent the contents of an entire drink cart on to me and the two New Zealand girls

Continue Reading > 4 Comments posted: May 18th, 2009

Quit your Job, Move to Hawaii. Part 1 of 3

This is a guest post from Ryan Martin, a good friend of mine that has done what many have dreamed of doing: move to an island paradise.  In this short series of posts he will document his thoughts on leaving, arriving and living the island lifestyle. As I sat on Hawaiian Airlines flight 39 bound for Maui, I pondered, how did I get to this point? How on Earth did I gather the courage to pack up shop and buy a one way flight to literally one of the most isolated places in the world? The answer is complex and convoluted, but in short it was one part fate and two parts ambition. Let us back up a few months

Continue Reading > 8 Comments posted: May 15th, 2009

Happy Hour of the Week: Uptown Billiards Club

For some, the term happy hour means little more than a cheap well drink, or a buck off a domestic beer.  Portland does things a little bit differently, as evidenced by the plethora of high end happy hours scattered throughout town.  While one might not immediately associate the terms pool hall and high end, when it comes to happy hour, the Uptown Billiards Club makes them seem like best friends. Located in a non-descript building off of NW 23rd st., the Uptown Billiards Club has one of the most unique happy hours in Puddle-Town.  Five gourmet courses, Ten bucks.  I could say nothing more, and all of you Portland bargain hunters would flock.  But its the thoughtfulness of the menu

Continue Reading > 1 Comment posted: May 13th, 2009

Gringo-izing Brazil: An American’s Guide to Carnival in Rio

This is the first in a six part series documenting my trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Carnival in February 2009.   In this series we will cover everything from expectations, places to see, what to do/not to do, and hopefully share some of the more interesting stories from the trip. Well lets see, where to begin.  Carnival in Rio is the biggest party in the world.  We had no idea what to expect when we headed down there, and to say the least we, were not disappointed.  Whether it was dancing in the Sambadromo for the parade, hang gliding over Rio, or visiting Iguassu Falls down south, nothing was as expected, but everything lived up to expectations! However,

Continue Reading > 8 Comments posted: May 11th, 2009

Seven Ways to Find Blogging Motivation

Have you ever wanted to start a blog?  It seems like anyone on the internet these days has at least considered the idea at some point.  Many people even attempt.  And then within months, weeks or even days, they fall into a black hole and stop writing all together.  Unless you have a real passion for your topic, or writing in general, it can be tough to get enough momentum going to keep your blog current.  I will admit, I too have fallen victim to this in the past, and who knows, maybe even will with this one, but I wanted to share these tools I have found for initial blog motivation, as it is something I am currently experiencing.

Continue Reading > 4 Comments posted: May 10th, 2009

The Beginning of seanogle.com

Well, everything must have a beginning right? This is mine. My name is Sean and this is a blog. It has taken a long time to get to this point. Numerous false starts and topical tangents that never quite panned out have plagued the beginning to this blog. So I decided the best way to start…is to just start. I am not really sure where this path will lead. There are so many things I wish to write about, it will be difficult to make this structured in a way that can provide some real value to you. Although, I feel I am up to the challenge. Times are tough, nobody is denying that. While the economy is currently showing

Continue Reading > 5 Comments posted: May 8th, 2009

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