Jack's Book is Done!

Hey everybody,

I finished Jack's Book on London early Christmas morning. It was a fantastic Christmas present to myself.

It ended up being 221 pages, which is 67 pages when you put it in 8.5 x 11 format. I've reread parts of it, and I love it. I hope you will too.

Please let me know if you want a copy by sending an email to brian@perfectlittleplanet.com. (2010 Update!! You can buy one now for just $10 on Amazon.)

I'm really ridiculously proud of it, but I know it's not perfect. If you see something I should change (spelling, grammar, or entire parts or stories) please let me know. I plan on reading it this week and I know I'll be making changes too.

Woohoo! I'm done. :)

The Pacific Ocean is COLD in December

So I went exploring today and ended up at Asilomar Beach at the tip of Monterey Peninsula watching the surfers and enjoying the sunset. I had no intention of getting in the water because the sand alone was ridiculously cold, I couldn't even imagine how cold the water would be. But it's been almost 6 years since the last time I'd touched the Pacific, so I figured I'd just put my feet in.

You know the rest of the story, don't you? I got my feet wet and it was FREEZING!! But I saw the surfers and I got a picture in my head and I ended up going pretty far out into the water to get the picture. You can watch the video here:



Don't you love the music?

I also put two videos up on my PerfectLittleLife channel. One is from my day at FDNY's Fire Academy with Chris (my brother). It was so much fun. Click here to watch "FDNY Fire Academy" video.

This last video is one that I am extremely proud of. It's a compilation of clips from 30 locations in 8 different countries. I've been putting it together for over 3 months. It's a response to a questionnaire posted by Michael Buckley, one of the channels I subscribe to on YouTube. I made it into a game so you can watch the video and try to guess what city or even country I'm in, and you can learn a little about me as I answer the questions. Click here to watch this video.

Let me know what you think.

California

Yeah, I'm in California. I'm in Monterey, a little town about 2 hours south of San Francisco. My company sent me here to help out a store for a few weeks. I plan on being here until mid-January.

I hope to be able to visit some friends in Sacramento, but I'm working 10 and 12 hour days, so I don't know how possible that will be. I'll keep you guys updated.

I'm still working on a few videos from New York. I'm trying to decide if I should still post the video I took at the Macy's Day Parade. It's a little late now, but what do you think? Do you still want to see the floats and Santa Clause riding down Broadway? I also have a video from my day at FDNY's training academy on Randall's Island. That was cool, and I can't wait to put it together to show you all.

I'm just about to post a video project that I've been working on for about 3 months. As soon as I post it, I'll send out an email to the mailing list so you can watch it. It's a video with random info about me and it contains clips from 8 different countries. I thought it would be fun for you to see what places you recognize. It should be easier for you, since you know what countries I've been to recently.

I'll be back in NYC for New Year's (just for 3 days, then back to Cali). My older brother and I just got an apartment in the Bronx, about 2 blocks from Yankee Stadium. So now I am officially a resident of NYC. Feel free to come visit any time. :)

Euro Trip

Hey everybody. I'm just procrastinating. I'm supposed to be packing for my trip out to Europe (I have to be at the airport in 6 hours) so I decided to update my blog instead.

I'm extremely excited for the trip. I'll be by myself, so if anybody happens to be reading this and you're in the London area some time in the next week, shoot me an email at brian@perfectlittleplanet.com and we'll go do something.

If you're not in the London area, you can feel like you are every day by watching my daily vlog. I'm planning on making a video every night I'm out there of what I did during that day. If I post it at midnight there, it'll be about 6pm EST, so check it out each evening. The link for that page is youtube.com/perfectlittlelife. (Update: Click here to go to the London playlist)

I'll be back on November 13th, so if you're in New York or CT around then, let me know and we'll hang out then.

Talk to you all later.

Love, Brian

Phoenix

So I got a buddy pass to fly stand-by to Phoenix. I checked the internet before I got to the airport and both available flights were soldout. I didn't have anything to do, so I figured I'd show up anyway and give it a shot. I have pretty good luck, so why not, right?

So I get to the airport and I tell the checkin girl my plan and she laughed at me and told me there is no way that I'm getting on the flight, but she gave me a pass to get through security anyway. I show up at the gate and the guy looks at me like, 'Are you kidding?' But I joked around for a while with him about how I have nothing to do today and I've got my iPod and I'll just kick it all day and if I don't make either flight, I'll just go home and try tomorrow. He ended up changing my priority and hooking me up a little, but he told me that he still didn't think I'd make the flight.

Five minutes before the flight they still hadn't called anybody (no stand-by's, no missing people from the flight) and then the announcer came on, "Passenger Ciccotelli please report for boarding." What?!! I ran up there and he laughed and said I'm the luckiest person ever. I ran down the tarmac tunnel to the end but the girl shut the door before I got there and the sign said "Departed." I banged on the door but she couldn't hear me and they moved the ramp away from the plane. Luckily, another employee was in the tunnel with me and she unlocked the door and let me out. I ran to the plane, stopping them from putting up the stairs, and I ran onto the plane. "Do you have an extra seat?" All the way in the back, one open seat. I hadn't even gotten to my seat before they closed the door and the plane started moving about 2 minutes later.

Whew.

So now I'm in Phoenix.

I know, it's been a while

So, a few things have happened in the last two months. Here's a list:

1. I'm no longer in Aruba. I finished my contract with Del Sol and I came back to America. I'm currently in Utah, but only for one more week. To see the constantly updated plans, go to perfectlittleplanet.com/plans. In the next two months, I'll be in 5 states and 4 countries.

2. I'm addicted to YouTube. I now have two channels, both of which you can get to from the links at the top of PerfectLittlePlanet.com. The first (youtube.com/perfectlittleplanet) contains videos I make while out on my adventures. The second (youtube.com/perfectlittlelife) has all the videos I make while just hanging out with family and friends. This will also have my vlogs whenever I start doing those.

3. I'm no longer using my pc. I bought a mac and I LOVE IT!! It comes in especially handy while making my videos and putting up pictures on the website. Everything is so streamlined... iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, and everything else works together so well it makes editing so easy.

4. PerfectLittlePlanet is now widescreen- and mac-friendly. Woohoo.

5. Lots of new pictures have been posted to the Aruba slideshow.

6. I shrunk all the original photographs used for my slideshows to stop people from downloading them. I'm in the process of changing the site over to a business. The slideshows still look the same, but now if you want a size suitable for your desktop wallpaper or something, you need to email me and ask for one. They're still free for now, but we're heading away from that direction.

7. The book is on the front burner and I'm just about half way done. I'll be in London at the end of October to put the finishing touches on it.

8. I finally got an iPod (it came with the new computer). I've reached a whole new level of happiness that I didn't think possible. Seriously, you guys have no idea how long I've wanted an iPod, but I could never justify spending the money to buy one.

9. Now that I'm back in the states, I don't use MySpace that often. Everyone I know is on Facebook though, so I have an account there and I go on every day or so, but I don't really understand it (all the applications and stuff).

10. I'm currently designing a logo and a theme song for PerfectLittlePlanet. I'm excited about both of those and I'll keep you posted as they progress.

That's all for now. Hope you're all having a wonderful day.

Love, Brian

New Stuff!!

Hello!

I added two new pictures to the Aruba slide show, including one of my new all-time favorite pictures. It's a sunset picture taken at Moomba Beach. Besides the colors being incredibly vibrant, I love the couple holding hands on the bottom left of the picture (you have to really look for them, it's subtle, but fantastic). I think they make the picture that much more romantic.

Also, I added a new video entitled "Lost Keys". It's a combination of the three part series I posted a few weeks ago. I just made it nicer and added some music (now that I know how to do that). :) So check it out because it's fun. (2011 update: Oof, not my best work. It's amazing how far I've come with editing and video making skills.)

I'm also going to add another video about the abandoned plane I explored today. It was very cool, and I thank Grant and Janae for pointing it out to me (although it sits just 20 feet from a road I travel at least twice a week, I had never seen it in 6 months of driving past it).

And if you haven't seen the Transformers movie yet, go right now. Turn off the computer and go. It's awesome.

YouTube, My Book, Aruba, and Friends

Hey, I've been busy. Here are some reasons why I haven't blogged in sooo long:

I've been making lots of cool videos. If you haven't checked it out recently, go over and check out my youtube account (www.youtube.com/perfectlittleplanet) and watch all the latest videos, especially this one (Aruba Hi-Winds 2007) because I'm so proud of it.

I'm writing my book. Remember, I want to finish it (if not completely then at least the majority of it) before I leave Aruba. If you have no idea what book I'm talking about, email me at brian@perfectlittleplanet.com and ask me about it.

I only have 6 weeks left in Aruba, so I'm trying to do so much because I know time is running out. :(

Lots of friends have been coming to visit. They know I'm only going to be here a few more weeks so they're all coming now before it gets too late.

But above all, I'm just lazy. :)

Much love, Brian

Perfect Little Planet Adventures

I created a new section on Perfect Little Planet which contains pictures and videos of adventures I have while out taking pictures or just having a good time. I just posted the first story which happened less than a week ago on the south point of the island. It is called Sunset Waves Attack. I am extremely happy that I am still alive to tell the story.

More adventures will be posted as I have more time in the future.

Brian

Millions of Fish

I have gone snorkeling at least once a week for the past 11 months, sometimes as many as 4 or 5 times a week. I can't get enough of it. This past week, in one day I saw more fish than every other dive combined. I saw two schools of fish with seemingly countless fish. To give you an idea, here's a video of the first school I swam into:





I took one of my new favorite pictures ever this day. You can check it out on the Aruba Slideshow. It's the first picture in the show.

I also had an interesting experience at this same location two days before this dive. You can read about it in my MySpace blog. Just click the link on the right entitled, "New Snorkeling Adventure."

Also, I've updated PerfectLittlePlanet.com with a few new maps to make it easier to navigate. Go check it out.

Brian

Yet another new camera

Remember that time I bought "the most durable digital camera in the world" and I managed to break it in 4 days? Good times.

I called Olympus tech support, which was a complete joke. My support guy was about as helpful as a 4 year old giving me algebra pointers. You know how the camera just came out 2 weeks ago? I think I was the first person to ever call in with a problem.

So I went to the store where I bought it and I toyed with the idea of yelling and screaming (as my friends put it, "You're American. You're supposed to be loud and obnoxious. Use that.") but I thought I'd have more success if I was nice to them. I smiled, showed off my broken Olympus Stylus 770 SW, and gave them the sad puppy dog eyes until they gave me a new camera and a new warranty card.

The camera takes great pictures. You can go check out the Aruba page to see some new pictures (that I took with this new camera). I put them at the beginning of the slide show for you. Enjoy.

Brian

New Camera and New York

Remember that time I bought a brand new Pentax Optio W20 in January to replace the one that broke after 3 months of usage? And then the new one that I bought stopped working in February?

So I went back to the store and they won't replace it. I have to send it in to Pentax to have them repair it. So instead of sending it in and waiting for them to send it back again, I just bought another new camera.

I bought the new Olympus Stylus 770 SW. It's been on the market for 2 weeks. It claims to be the most durable digital camera in the world. It's waterproof up to 10 meters (33 feet), shockproof up to 5 feet (if I drop it), freezeproof to 10 below Celsius (so I can take it snowboarding), and crushproof up to 220 pounds. I am extremely excited to have a new underwater camera that is not a Pentax, since I haven't had the best of luck with them. I'll try it out soon and let you know how it works.

Also, I put up a few pictures of New York City. It is by no means extensive. These are just a few random shots I took when I was home for Christmas. Enjoy.

I'm working on Mexico right now. They'll be up soon.

Brian

Update!!

I know it's been a while. I don't know what you know already, so here's everything I've got on the site up to date:

Europe

Aruba

Chicago

You can click on any of those cities to go directly to that slide show.
I also put up a list of FAQs that you may or may not find interesting.

I'm still working on the website construction itself to make it easier to navigate and easier for you to find pictures you want to see. If you have any ideas on what you think would make it better, let me know.

Brian

Mailing List

**Update: I don't use this anymore. Just subscribe to the blog if you want updates.**

The mailing list works!! I've been playing around with it for a while, but now it's up and running. Put your name and email in the form on the right and click "GO". You'll have to reply to a confirmation email, but then you're in.

Don't worry, I won't sell your info. And if somebody tries to buy your info from me, I'll get their email address and we'll all send junk email to them.

Brian

New Everything

Hello everybody!

Welcome to my blog. Eventually, I'll use this to keep you all in touch on what country I'm in, what I'm doing there, and I'll let you know when new pictures are up on my website. Please be patient, as I am building all of this in my free time.
Thanks!

Brian

ps: If you have any comments at any time, please feel free to speak your mind.