Morbid Inspiration

In the eyes of juries and insurance adjusters, a person who enjoys the outdoor is worth more than a person that does not.

The leaves are changing. So, get off your duff and go frolic.

To hear more on How to Increase Your Value as a Person, listen to Adam Davidson’s piece on This American Life. It’s the 3^rd act, so you’ll have to FF a little, but it’s worth it. Davidson will even tell you the best way to increase your value as a person – burn.

K-Stan: Ever Wonder?

I think someone slipped something in my Cheerios this morning while I was watching CNN.

Soledad segued to commercial and then the hallucination began. A vast plain fades into a festival, the festival fades into white slopes, the white slopes fade into two men worshipping at the foot of a mosque, etc, etc. This all hints at a place full of culture and begging to be explored.

“Huh, looks nice I wouldn’t mind going there. Where is there?”

Then the TV reads- Kazakhstan: Ever wonder?

My spoon stops just short of my lips. Milk funnels down the butt of my chin.

I can honestly say I’ve never wondered about Kazakhstan. But now I kinda am.

Some Kazakh Facts courtesy of wikipedia and wikitravel:

* K is the 9th largest country and is roughly the same size as all of W. Europe.

* Kazakhstan possesses the Soviet equivalent to the United States' Cape Canaveral, where the Soviet Union launched its version of the space shuttle and the well-known space station Mir.

And you couldn’t even spell the countries name. Shame on you.

Wait, before you book that ticket to the Kazakh capital of…(hold on let me look it up)…Astana. Hold that thought. Astana? Am I the only one that has never heard of Astana? Anyhow, before you book that flight to Astana you may want to consider Wikitravels intro to K-stan:

Its lack of significant historical sites and endless featureless steppe have put many off Kazakhstan, but many are captivated by the emptiness and mystery of this goliath state.

Sounds magical doesn’t it? A regular land of wonder. I think K-stan may want to rethink their motto. I’m thinking…

Kazakhstan: Where the hell am I?

Surviving a Plane Crash

By now you’ve probably seen NY Times reporter Joe Sharkey on TV or read his story about surviving a mid-air collision and an emergency landing into the Amazon jungle. It would be an understatement to say flying at 37,000’ and colliding with another plane above the Amazon - of all places - is bad luck. In Ohio we’d probably call it piss poor luck.

The 737 that collided with Joe’s plane went down killing 155 people. Joe survived without a scratch. In Ohio we’d call that gosh darn’d good luck. But surviving a plane crash takes a lot less luck than you think.

From a recent story by the BBC:

Most people believe that if they're in a plane crash their time is up. In fact the truth is surprisingly different. In the US alone, between 1983 and 2000, there were 568 plane crashes. Out of the collective 53,487 people onboard, 51,207 survived. The advances in science and technology now mean over 90% of plane crashes have survivors.

I stumbled upon both of these stories on World Hum, one of my favorite blogs (I’ve added a permanent link). WorldHum in their own words: World Hum is dedicated to exploring travel in all its facets: how it changes us, how it changes the way we see the world, and finally, how travel itself is changing the world.

Posers

I’m working on another letter for Casa Guatemala. This one is trying to get donations to send their older students to boarding schools. To brief me on the situation, Angie, the orphanage’s director, sent me a few pics.

I recognized a few faces from my trip last year, but what really stood out was all of the posing going on. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me? When I think of orphans in places like Guatemala, I usually don’t think “High Fashion.” But put a camera in front of girls like these and look out because here comes the steely, ice cold stairs, and the perfect premeditated hand placement.

It just goes to show that a teenage girl is a teenage girl regardless if she is wearing Gap or hand-me-downs from some relief organization.

Writerly Stuff

Ahh, the business of writing - driving authors to alcoholism and suicide since papyrus.

I enjoy reading about the struggles and triumphs of other writers, so I decided I would start relating some of my own…

Struggles-

In the last two months I’ve written two publications into obscurity: The Hub Weekly of Champaign Illinois, and Glucose Magazine.

I contributed Travelin’ Light to the Hub for about a year and the column was well received. In fact, one Hub reader who has a winter home in New Zealand, after reading a piece I wrote about New Zealand, even offered me a place to stay on NZ’s South Island. He seemed like a nice enough fella, but I think he was looking for a house/pool boy…(wink, wink)… if you get what I mean. He even sent me pics - an awesome place on a cliff above a beach with perfect kayaking and sailing below. The place is almost on the level of coolness that I would consider life as house/pool boy. Almost.

Glucose Magazine was the most regular paying writing gig that I’ve ever had. They paid me to explore Ohio. The one thing that surprised me most was that there are actually places in Ohio worth exploring. For Glucose, I interviewed people about Bigfoot in southern Ohio, climbed a 90’ mast on a tall ship while sailing on Lake Huron, hiked, kayaked, and other things of this sort. I am a believer that adventure is a state of mind that is not limited to individuals that live in cool States (CA, CO, WA). I thought the idea of Glucose could be replicated in other boring states such as, Indiana, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, etc., and maybe it could have been, if anyone would have ever sold any ads.

You know a magazine is not doing well when most of the ads in the magazine are ads about the magazine. I’m not sure Glucose had one salesperson out beating the bushes. Glucose was a good idea poorly executed.

The writing was excellent, of course.

Triumph-

I really don’t have a voice for the radio; some have told me that I sound like Matthew McConaughey and others Joe Dirt. I’ve got a bit of a nasal draw. But this weekend I recorded a piece for the World Vision Report radio program about playing soccer in a remote Honduran village (I'll post a link when there is one).

I think it went well, but I never thought I would need to do so many other things besides talk into a microphone. The engineer bailed on the appointment and I was left with a nice lady who didn’t know jack about recording. The World Vision editor called to listen and the “nice lady” wasn’t able to tap my editor into the microphone so I had to hold a phone to my ear as I talked. She couldn’t even find a stand to set my story on, so with my other hand I had to hold up my story to read. Apparently, if I looked down to talk my voice would sound even worse.

I don’t want to come across as a radio diva, but the next studio is going to have to meet some of my demands to have the pleasure of taping my nasal twang. Things like: 5 bowls of Skittles sorted by color – the purple ones to be individually hand washed and wrapped in Hershey Kiss foil; which leads us to…unwrapped Hershey Kisses; 4 bottles of FlavorSplash bottled water; two jugglers; one sword swallower; a reading stand; a nice lady that knows what the heck she is doing; and James Earl Jones to read my story.

What can I say? Me and my posse have needs.

Have a holly-jolly Ramadan

Happy Ramadan! Or is it Merry Ramadan? How about Happy Holiday for you PC folks out there?

Ramadan started September 23rd so I’m a bit late with my Ramadan well wishes, but as they say رمضان رمض رمضان!!

Wikipedia on Ramadan:

Muslims believe that during Ramadan, the revelation of the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad began. The entire month is spent fasting from dawn to dusk. The first day of the next month is spent in great celebrations and rejoicings and is observed as the ‘Festival of Breaking Fast’ or `Eid ul-Fitr. Allah (God) commands Muslims to fast just as Christians and Jews were instructed to fast by their respective prophets, examples being the practices of Lent or Yom Kippur.

I was in Kosovo and Bosnia during Ramadan a few years ago. When the sun went down a canon went off and prayers would begin to spill from speakers atop minarets. Depending on were you were you could hear several different half sung, half wailed prayers. Then the streets would come alive with people and shops that were closed would open.

One evening back at my hotel in Prishtina, shortly after the call to prayer, the kitchen sizzled with food and conversation. After a day of fasting it was time for some feasting. I turned in early, but it was hard to sleep. Feasting entails a lot more than not eating. No sex during the day either, which apparently was a big deal for the occupants of the rooms above and on both sides of me. First there was the noisy, over-dramatic hay rompin’ upstairs, then to the room on my left, then to the room on the right. The weird thing was that through the pillow wrapped around my head it sounded like the same starlet in each room. Eventually, I cranked up the BBC World News on the TV and fell asleep.

Looking back at the experience I can’t help but wonder if it was a hotel or a brothel.

I really need to forge some PG Ramadan memories to bump out the X-rated ones. It’s on my understand-other-cultures-through-travel to do list.

I am Superman

I took the superhero test. As it turns out, I am most like Superman. Actually, it was a tie between Superman and Supergirl. I can't help but think this was a result of my answer to the question "Do you wear thongs?" Thongs are flip-flops right? Of course neither Superman or Supergirl wear flip-flops...huh...maybe I should take the test again.

Oh, well...

In Honduras last summer I was Batman (scroll down to 7/11)

My test Results: Superman 85% Supergirl 85% Green Lantern 65% Spider-Man 55% Wonder Woman 55% Robin 50% The Flash 50% Hulk 40% Catwoman 40% Iron Man 30% Batman 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Premature Pull Cord

This is what it looks like when a first time skydiver full of nervous energy accidentally grabs the pull cord of his instructor.

Watch the video – Premature Pull Cord. It features my buddy Justin on his first jump. Not only is it funny to see the incident, but it’s a pretty cool video in general.

As for the incident and the reaction…

If Justin’s instructor had not been leaning against the co-pilot seat, the plane would have filled with parachute, which would have been bad. To make matters worse, the gutted plane had openings in its side that could have sucked the shoot and Justin’s instructor through the fuselage.

So that’s why, when the incident occurred, the occupants of the plane collectively crapped their pants.

Lost Summers and Lightning Bugs

I wore jeans yesterday for the first time in months. Kind of depressing. I recently wrote an essay about lost summers and lightning bugs. Have a sample:

I can’t help but smile when I see lightning bugs.

I remember being barefoot and shirtless scattering across the yard with the other kids, arms outstretched, legs pumping, hands ready to snap shut gently, my focus shifting from one pulse of light to the next. Caution had to be taken to avoid tripping over the balls, bats, rackets, and lawn darts, left over from a successful day of play. Saplings that we had nursed through the dry summer and parents in lawn chairs provided their own unique challenges.

There was always that moment of questioning, Do I have more than air? Then it would happen -- yellow light filling the spaces between my fingers. A miracle!

Kosovo meets the Beach Boys

Bermuda…Bahama…come on pretty mama…Key Largo…Montego…baby why don’t we go down to…

Kosovo??

You just gotta watch this video of troops perfoming “Kosovo” to the music of the Beach Boys’ Kokomo.

I was in Kosovo in 2003 and it’s far less sunny than this sun-bleached rhythm would lead you to believe - especially in October - which makes this rendition so incredibly enjoyable. It does a great job of summing up the frustration of the locals who don’t want the UN to be there and the UN soldiers who, in fact, would prefer to be somewhere else.

Just another example of how frustrating international peacekeeping can be. If you like the song and its theme you should check out the movie No Man’s Land.

Interesting Fact

The US spends more than any other nation on healthcare and yet we rank 42nd in infant mortality.

*** I plan to comment further, but I'm crunched for time at the moment. Check back late tonight or early tomorrow for an update.***

Update: Really I don’t have much to add. I won’t even pretend to be smart enough to fashion a guess as to why this is. Go HERE to see the complete list.

The US infant mortality rate is 6.50 deaths/1,000 live births.

Cuba has a smaller IMR than we do. A real head scratcher.

Singapore has the best at 2.29, which leads me to believe that a small IMR may have something to do with not spitting or chewing gum, or even, perhaps, the usage of caning as punishment.

Why IMR is important according to Wikipedia:

The infant mortality rate correlates very strongly with and is among the best predictors of state failure.[1] IMR is also a useful indicator of a country's level of health or development, and is a component of the physical quality of life index .

Signspotting with Doug Lansky

Doug Lansky has made a career out of being the Whacky Sign guy. While browsing the bookstore this weekend I stumbled across his latest book, Signspotting. It’s definitely worth a look and would be a great replacement for that five year old Reader’s Digest on the back of your toilet.

I guess I don't really have an eye for whacky signspotting on my travels. I can't think of any to relate here.

Go, now! Look at funny signs HERE.

Doug on Doug and how you can be a part of his Signspotting exploits:

What started as an unhealthy fascination with quirky signs in 1992 during a two-and-a-half year round-the-world journey metastasized into a nationally syndicated newspaper feature in 2000 and Lonely Planet book in the fall of 2005.

With new signs going up every day, the only way to keep track of them is with an army of travel photographers - in short, you. So, the next time you find yourself scratching your head or chuckling at a sign, please snap a picture and send it in. But before you do, please take a moment to look through the submission tips so you can maximize your chance of winning $50 or even the Round-The-World ticket.

Thanks! Look forward to seeing your photos.

Doug Lansky, Photo Editor

Goodbye Key West, Hello Ohio

(My crumbling KW license that wasn't supposed to expire until 2009. Doubt it would have made it)

I’ve been on the lamb for awhile, riding the high of eluding the law with my crumbling Key West license. I have lived at 3 different addresses and in two different states with my 1401 Petronia St. license. At one point, I was living in North Carolina, driving a truck with Ohio plates, and carrying a Florida license. Ah, the life of an outlaw.

If a trooper pulled me over I was going to plead ignorance and that I had been experiencing a bout of serial homelessness for the last 4 years.

There are no good reasons that I didn’t update my license with the various moves, but here’s a list of some bad ones:

1. I could get 50 cents off my favorite pizza place in Key West when I visit
2. I could save a lot of $ on a Florida fishing license if I went to the Keys spearfishing
3. Key West, FL sounds a lot cooler than Ansonia, OH

Now, I’m officially a resident of Ohio, no one offers discounts for that.

Warped World

Know what’s great? Smart people and their mathematics.

Somewhere some smart person is plugging away at his unbalanced multi-linear differential equation (if there is such a thing), thinking up something that will make the rest of us scratch our heads and say “Cool,” at which point we’ll scratch our butt and continue with our own research – determining which nostril we can shoot Skittles farther with (have you noticed that the purple one’s seem to travel farther…me too…for the good of all mankind we should combine our research efforts).

The Worldmapper Project must have a lot of smart people working on it because their maps are super cool. Here’s what they’ve done in their own words (I’m too dumb to explain it):

The maps…are equal area cartograms, otherwise known as density-equalising maps. The cartogram re-sizes each territory according to the variable being mapped.

Here are two examples:

Toy Exports or We don't like to share

Toy imports or Gimme

I’ll talk more about the toy imbalance in a future post. Back to the maps or cartograms, if you like…

The best part is not only do you learn about the world, you can laugh at puckered continents and swollen countries. I searched their site for awhile and have yet to find a map that had anything to do with Skittles or nostrils.

The work of smart people is never done.

Scalzi on bacon on cats

I love cats. I love bacon. But I have never found a way to enjoy them at the same time.

Science-fiction writer John Scalzi, who hails from my neck of nowhere in Ohio, has discovered how to link the two – tape.

GO HERE to see what lengths a SciFi writer is willing to go, to not finish his book. Sometimes writers will do anything (blogging) but sit down at the computer and get some work done.

Somebody call PETA!

Scalzi is supposed to be putting the finishing touches on the third and final book of his trilogy. If you are hankerin’ for a hunkerin’ of space warfare, you should check out the first in the trilogy, Old Man’s War.

Here’s the opening for OMW:

John Perry did two things on his seventy-fifth birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.

Killer Hooch

(Kaiser and Domingo playing on the beach)

In Nicaragua 35 people died and 600 are ill because of some poorly mixed moonshine. The moonshiners responsible for the deadly brew were trying to give their booze some punch with industrial strength alcohol.

This bit of news could be painted in a humorous light, and I’m sure it will, but it really is awful. Read more about it HERE.

I don’t drink often, but I can honestly say I have fond memories of drinking cheap and yummy Nicaraguan rum with Nicaraguans. When I heard the news, I immediately thought of the friends I made over a small bottle of Flor de Cana rum.

Here, have a sample (from a recent column):

Soon the four of us are sitting beneath the shade of a tree near the water’s edge. We chat about our lives and worlds. Domingo, a former cruise ship waiter, and Wycliffe, an aspiring baker, are lifelong friends who have brought Kaiser, Wycliffe’s son, to the beach to play.

Wycliffe pulls out a small bottle of rum and Domingo twists open a bottle of Coca-Cola. They have a rapidly melting chunk of ice wrapped in a plastic bag and pound it against a nearby rock. Splashes of Rum and Coke are poured over ice into two Styrofoam instant noodle cups.

While we talk, Kaiser digs in the sand, occasionally, stopping to bring us sand dollars.

Totally unexpected, a little grit of sand, lightly rolling surf, on an isolated beach in Nicaragua with two buddies and a child building cities from sand and imagination – it’s how all rum and cokes should be served.

I’m not sure about travel changing a fella, but it sure does put real faces to half-inch news blurbs.

I wonder if I would have taken a comedic crack at the Killer Hooch story if I had never been to Nicaragua?

The events I read about on Sept. 12th

I’ve never felt more American than I did 5 years ago, reading September 12th's morning paper on a newsstand’s step in Sydney Australia.

The Mile-high club

Membership fee to the Mile-High Club now only $299!

Today’s USA Today features an interview with a pilot in Atlanta who takes willing couples to 5,280 feet for one hour of fooling around. This Bob Smith, owner of Mile High Atlanta, is like no other Bob Smith you’ve ever met. He has taken his Piper Cherokee 6 and pimped it out with a bed in the back.

My favorite quote of Smith’s:

“It’s not against FAA rules to join the mile-high club.”

This story is a must read, if only for the chance to think-up juvenile, eye-rolling, innuendos. I’ll give you a couple flying terms to get your wheels turning:

Turbulence. Cockpit. Yoke. You get the idea.

(I apologize for this in advance) Kinda puts a whole new meaning to the movie title “Snakes on a Plane.”

Can you come up with anything cheesier?

In a completely unrelated event, although somewhat freakishly coincidental, it turns out I’ll be flying in my father’s Cherokee 6 tonight with my parents and my girlfriend Annie to Kentucky to go waterskiing. It’s likely that we will never reach an altitude higher than 5,280, but if we do, you can bet that there is a better chance of me jumping out of the plane than any hanky panky going on.

To learn more about the Mile High Club, you big freaking Perve you, visit the Club’s official website.

Mustard-snorting leads to mind-blowing idea

At Wrigley our seats “weren’t bad.” Of course, this means that there were few worse. Out in foul territory in left field, I could spit over my left shoulder and hit T-shirt hawkers stalking the street outside the stadium.

Unlike most entertainment/sports venues the seats at Wrigley aren’t turned toward the action. Ours faced the outfield seats. By the end of the game my neck was sore from trying to follow the on field action.

Discomfort and laziness runs a close second to drug-induced mind frenzy when it comes to producing great ideas. So, either there was something in the Wrigley mustard or our stiff necks spurred a sudden wave of creativity.

The idea…

Rotating stadium seating

Say goodbye to “weren’t bad” seats. Everyone enjoys a little sun and a little shade. Everyone gets a chance in right field to catch a Bonds homer. All fans are equal, horizontally speaking as the stands rotate around the playing field.

I'm just an idea man. Someone else take rotating stadium seating and run with it. Consider the idea my gift to the world.

Wrigley Field

I went to my first game at Wrigley Field. Awesome.

Bonds eyeing #728 . The fella who caught this ball bucked the Wrigley tradition of throwing back the opponent's homerun ball and stuck it in his pocket. Luckily a kind-hearted soal two rows behind him pulled out a ball he brought and threw it onto the field. The crowd roared in approval. Of course, we wouldn't have cheered if we knew that the fella pocketed Barry's ball. I saw it on SportsCenter later that night.

Me holding the 2nd all-time leading homerun hitter in history. He's much lighter than I thought he'd be.

My brother Kyle who landed the tickets, his bud Daryl and Daryl's father in law Ken

Me in Cubbie Blue