Its that time of year, the time when the calendar changes from December to January and the numbers on the year go up by one. The TV networks usually do something like recap what has happened over the year and I tend to do the same thing, reflecting on a year that has been and what really stood out over the last 12 months of my life.
I started the year in Cuzco, Peru with a nice headache - and not from drinking. I was on vacation with friends from FDR and the altitude of the city was doing more damage to my brain than any drinking did but I was better off than another person whom I was traveling with - he would have to get the assistance of a doctor to get over it. I went to Machu Picchu with Rik and Laurie (and her son Connor), friends of mine from school. About a week later, I joined up with another group of teachers from FDR and hiked through the Colca Canyon - as much as we could anyways. Five days of adventure later, we split up and my friend Tim and I headed out on an epic adventure down South America. After almost two months of traveling and having gotten close to the southern tip of the continent, I headed home and prepared for my last semester of teaching abroad.
I knew from the end of the first semester in Lima that FDR wasn't the school for me and March was the beginning of the end of my tenure there. I struggled at times to endure the second semester but had some fun along the way, making a trip to Huancayo with three lovely ladies (and good friends), and doing my best to stay focused on getting everything done that I could while still enjoying Peru. I may not have enjoyed the school but I did enjoy the country. Like many places I have visited or lived in, there are pluses and minuses with each and Peru was a good place to be in a lot of ways. But my time there was limited due to my displeasure with my job so in June I packed up my bags and ventured my way to New Mexico.
Albuquerque is not what I had envisioned, the city was different than I had expected but in a good way. I got here and decided to crash with my parents for a bit until something else came along. I thought that with my teaching expertise and ability to do just about anything that someone put in front of me, that getting a job in the States would be an easy prospect and I was in for a rude awakening. I came back to the country just in time for an economic crisis and the job market I was hoping to tap was a bit on the thin side. Some tough times ensued and I must admit that August and September were not good months as unemployment was not the most enjoyable of times for me mentally. Time off is good but the idea of not being a viable and/or usable commodity doesn't feel good for anyone's ego and I definitely fell into that category. Slightly discouraged but still optimistic, I trudged on. A glimmer of hope came from a surprising venue and a sand volleyball team led to an interesting turn of events.
I signed up for a co-ed sand volleyball team where I knew no one but I wanted to meet people in and around Albuquerque (ABQ). One of the people on the team was a teacher at a local private school and she got me in to substituting there. *The school will remain anonymous until I get a job there.* The school reminds me of the attitude that I enjoyed in Holland when working at AISR and I found that I really wanted to work there full time next year (09-10). The science department chair took a liking to me and subbing there has been a good way to get my foot in the door, hopefully it will pan out to something more in the following months.
The substituting also led to the fact that I needed a new pair of shoes and so I ventured into REI one afternoon to get me something more suited for the classroom. While walking in, I saw a sign that seasonal help was needed and so I applied. Sure enough, I got the job as a cashier and started working there around Halloween and have been enjoying the position ever since. Retail is never a ton of fun during the holidays but I gotta admit that working at REI is a whole lot better than if I was at Wal-Mart or something like that. And now with the holiday season over, I find myself being carried over as a regular part-time employee - a good thing indeed. So with employment being taken care of (sorta), I also had time this year to focus on something else - someone to start a family with.
Previous posts on here have told about my dating exploits and the problems that I have had with it. After some awkward dates, short-time relationships, and frustration with learning how to date again in the US, it looks like something has panned out. A young lady (11 years my junior) recently made her way into my life and while the romance is new (since Thanksgiving), I would like to report that all is well and progressing nicely. We share a lot in common and I would expect that readers here will here more about Pipes as we continue our relationship and I continue to blog here.
For me, 2008 was filled with a lot of news. I lost two members of my family (maternal grandmother in Feb and paternal aunt in Dec), I traveled most of the western coast of South America, I returned to my native country after 5 years abroad, and I learned what it was like to be an American once again. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the last 12 months but I am grateful for all that I experienced and cannot believe how wonderful my life is. My thanks to my family and friends for all their support and kind wishes with my return home. And here's to looking forward to 2009 and all that it may hold for me. What news will come out next? Tune in and find out...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
veterans day
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - the time to remember those who served their country and possibly gave their life to defend what they hold most sacred in their heart. I salute those who came before and after me and especially those who currently serving.
As a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, I am honored to have people remembering what I did for those years I was on active duty. But my sacrifice was small, not anywhere near as great as those who didn't return. My thoughts are with those who made the greatest sacrifice on the altar of freedom and those who are currently standing on the wall to defend us.
Thank you one and all for keeping America free from all enemies, foreign and domestic. No matter what branch of service and no matter what you do, thank you for keeping our country safe.
As a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, I am honored to have people remembering what I did for those years I was on active duty. But my sacrifice was small, not anywhere near as great as those who didn't return. My thoughts are with those who made the greatest sacrifice on the altar of freedom and those who are currently standing on the wall to defend us.
Thank you one and all for keeping America free from all enemies, foreign and domestic. No matter what branch of service and no matter what you do, thank you for keeping our country safe.
Friday, November 07, 2008
scrum-deli-icious
Don't these cupcakes look amazing? I'm getting hungry just looking at them. I gotta go get some sugar in me now...
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
losing my religion
No, I'm not going to comment on the famous R.E.M. song or how it was written or anything like that. If you want that, go to the wikipedia page for it and read for it yourself. Instead, I'm taking a note from my dear friend Mozzy who has given me yet another wonderful idea to blog about.
The discussion that he started had to do with souls and whether or not animals have them. The original discussion was started with his mother and he did a fine job of recapping it for me in an email and it got me to thinking. My religion as of late has been ALL over the place, from agnostic to atheist and nothing in between but perhaps this view that Mozzy has will help me to define my spirituality. So after thinking about what he had to say, I've thrown off the previous notions of religion that I've had and decided to go with something that makes a lot more sense to me.
In his discussion with his mother, Mozzy brought up the idea of Star Wars and 'the force'. His idea was that all living things give off energy vibrations and those can be sensed by the universe. People who have ESP or paranormal senses may be able to pick up on the vibrations of previously living people that the rest of us are unable to tune into - kinda like how dogs can sense higher pitches of sound than humans. I found a connection between the two in my mind. This connectivity really struck a chord with me and after thinking about this for the better part of almost 2 weeks, I've come up with something that I can grasp in terms of spirituality.
As a Physics teacher, I see how the universe is described through the beauty of its simplicity. Newton's laws of motion, Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism, Einstein's mass-energy equivalence principle - they are all simple in theory and explanation. Much like Ockham's Razor, which is often paraphrased as "all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best", the description of everyday events by Physics are beautifully simplistic.
Current theories that are emerging from the field of Physics includes the idea of a unifying theory that will attempt to explain the way universe acts completely. Einstein searched for this, a grand unification theory, that would tie together the cosmos and the atom, his theory of general relativity with the realm of quantum mechanics. Don't worry if you don't know why those two don't work together, just know that they don't at this moment in time. Theoretical physicists have been working on a unifying theory, called string theory. It was when Mozzy said "vibrations" and "energy" in his discussion with his mother that my new spirituality became apparent.
String theory is the idea that the smallest particle of matter is actually not matter but a vibrating string of energy. Take the atom and break it down into smaller parts and you get protons, neutrons, and electrons. Break those down and you get quarks. Keep dividing subatomic particles enough and string theory predicts that you wouldn't have matter at all, rather a vibrating string of energy. Einstein's mass-energy equivalence principle (you all know it as E=mc2) fits perfectly into this idea (at least in my head it does) and how everything is interconnected.
For those of you whom have seen a movie called The Secret, you will note that the ideology put forth in the movie suggests that there is a natural harmonic to the universe and positive thoughts will yield positive results in life. While I don't subscribe to that specific philosophy, it does relate to the concept of interconnectedness of everything and has some aspects that I agree with. The book/movie talks about the 'law of attraction' where good thoughts attract good events/outcomes where negative ones will attract the same. While this sounds a bit hokey and many feel it falls into the realm of cult status, it does start to blend in scientific ideas with the parts of the universe we do not understand (the supernatural). Bare with me, let me try to explain.
If our body and mind is composed of energy, as E=mc2 demonstrates, and the energy we are composed of vibrating strings, then we each have a natural vibration - called a harmonic. Scientists over the years have also been great musicians as they believed that the universe was just a grand symphony, only out of our auditory range. Just like musical notes don't always work together well (dischord), people do not always get along. Is this due to the idea that their energies are disharmonious? Do people not have soulmates but rather have harmonious energies? If a person alters their mental energy by thinking different thoughts, do they possess the ability to change the energy that physically surrounds them? The Secret argues for this, I'm a bit more skeptical than that.
In a spiritual sense, this all ties together for me in cosmology - the study of the cosmos, not makeup application (that's cosmetology). There is a debate about the fate of the universe and the three possibilities are open, closed, and flat. Two of the three don't make sense to me (open and flat) but closed does. A closed universe suggests that the gravity of the universe will eventually pull everything back to one single point (a singularity) and the Big Crunch will possibly lead to another Big Bang. I like this idea. It says that the universe is like a giant balloon that is continually expanding and contracting, creating a universe over and over again in this process. It tells me that the entire cosmos is connected and comes down to a single moment of creation from destruction, life from death, the cycle of the Phoenix repeating forever. There is no God for everything is the creator and the created. Everything is interconnected. In essence, energy is divine and if we are all composed of energy, we are all divine.
Organized religion has bothered me in its pretense for years. Too many things are done in the name of an Almighty. Tithes are paid to build a church stripping money from people through guilt, a jihad is started to purge the land of infidels because of fear of difference, genocide is considered acceptable to attain a master race of genetic purity to reach a perfection. To me, organized religion is nothing more than people with charisma writing rules for people who don't think before they act. Why else would stoning by written into the Bible or jihad to non-Muslims in the Koran? People use fear to maintain an organized society and breaking the rules means punishment must be passed down. I think the basic premise of religion had it right - respect all life in all ways. And then man got his hands on it and found it a useful tool to control people to do what they wanted, altering meanings and using their charisma to convince the controlled that they were divine and beyond reproach. Organized religion is nothing more than a power play where people are instructed on how to live their lives because others deem it so. I've got plenty more I would like to say about that but that's for another post...
So it all comes down to this. Every creature, object, atom, whatever you want to look at, is the same at the basic level. The universe is energy and we are made of that energy. If a human has a soul, then so does a dog, a tree, your cell phone, a planet, and the Sombrero Galaxy. From the Big Bang, the cosmos was created and everything is a part of that creation, no matter how big or small, how warm or cold, how apparently life-filled or lifeless. You are connected to every person, bug, windshield, asteroid, drop of water, and star - whether you think you are or not. In cosmology it sometimes is overwhelming to think of how big the cosmos is and what is all out there, it can make you feel completely insignificant in the big picture. But that's not the way I see it anymore; I am a a part of this universe that is unique and will never be experienced again - the universe better enjoy me while I'm here just as I will enjoy it. And just maybe I'll see you all again the next time this universe is created once again. Hope to see ya on the flip side. :-)
The discussion that he started had to do with souls and whether or not animals have them. The original discussion was started with his mother and he did a fine job of recapping it for me in an email and it got me to thinking. My religion as of late has been ALL over the place, from agnostic to atheist and nothing in between but perhaps this view that Mozzy has will help me to define my spirituality. So after thinking about what he had to say, I've thrown off the previous notions of religion that I've had and decided to go with something that makes a lot more sense to me.
In his discussion with his mother, Mozzy brought up the idea of Star Wars and 'the force'. His idea was that all living things give off energy vibrations and those can be sensed by the universe. People who have ESP or paranormal senses may be able to pick up on the vibrations of previously living people that the rest of us are unable to tune into - kinda like how dogs can sense higher pitches of sound than humans. I found a connection between the two in my mind. This connectivity really struck a chord with me and after thinking about this for the better part of almost 2 weeks, I've come up with something that I can grasp in terms of spirituality.
As a Physics teacher, I see how the universe is described through the beauty of its simplicity. Newton's laws of motion, Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism, Einstein's mass-energy equivalence principle - they are all simple in theory and explanation. Much like Ockham's Razor, which is often paraphrased as "all other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best", the description of everyday events by Physics are beautifully simplistic.
Current theories that are emerging from the field of Physics includes the idea of a unifying theory that will attempt to explain the way universe acts completely. Einstein searched for this, a grand unification theory, that would tie together the cosmos and the atom, his theory of general relativity with the realm of quantum mechanics. Don't worry if you don't know why those two don't work together, just know that they don't at this moment in time. Theoretical physicists have been working on a unifying theory, called string theory. It was when Mozzy said "vibrations" and "energy" in his discussion with his mother that my new spirituality became apparent.
String theory is the idea that the smallest particle of matter is actually not matter but a vibrating string of energy. Take the atom and break it down into smaller parts and you get protons, neutrons, and electrons. Break those down and you get quarks. Keep dividing subatomic particles enough and string theory predicts that you wouldn't have matter at all, rather a vibrating string of energy. Einstein's mass-energy equivalence principle (you all know it as E=mc2) fits perfectly into this idea (at least in my head it does) and how everything is interconnected.
For those of you whom have seen a movie called The Secret, you will note that the ideology put forth in the movie suggests that there is a natural harmonic to the universe and positive thoughts will yield positive results in life. While I don't subscribe to that specific philosophy, it does relate to the concept of interconnectedness of everything and has some aspects that I agree with. The book/movie talks about the 'law of attraction' where good thoughts attract good events/outcomes where negative ones will attract the same. While this sounds a bit hokey and many feel it falls into the realm of cult status, it does start to blend in scientific ideas with the parts of the universe we do not understand (the supernatural). Bare with me, let me try to explain.
If our body and mind is composed of energy, as E=mc2 demonstrates, and the energy we are composed of vibrating strings, then we each have a natural vibration - called a harmonic. Scientists over the years have also been great musicians as they believed that the universe was just a grand symphony, only out of our auditory range. Just like musical notes don't always work together well (dischord), people do not always get along. Is this due to the idea that their energies are disharmonious? Do people not have soulmates but rather have harmonious energies? If a person alters their mental energy by thinking different thoughts, do they possess the ability to change the energy that physically surrounds them? The Secret argues for this, I'm a bit more skeptical than that.
In a spiritual sense, this all ties together for me in cosmology - the study of the cosmos, not makeup application (that's cosmetology). There is a debate about the fate of the universe and the three possibilities are open, closed, and flat. Two of the three don't make sense to me (open and flat) but closed does. A closed universe suggests that the gravity of the universe will eventually pull everything back to one single point (a singularity) and the Big Crunch will possibly lead to another Big Bang. I like this idea. It says that the universe is like a giant balloon that is continually expanding and contracting, creating a universe over and over again in this process. It tells me that the entire cosmos is connected and comes down to a single moment of creation from destruction, life from death, the cycle of the Phoenix repeating forever. There is no God for everything is the creator and the created. Everything is interconnected. In essence, energy is divine and if we are all composed of energy, we are all divine.
Organized religion has bothered me in its pretense for years. Too many things are done in the name of an Almighty. Tithes are paid to build a church stripping money from people through guilt, a jihad is started to purge the land of infidels because of fear of difference, genocide is considered acceptable to attain a master race of genetic purity to reach a perfection. To me, organized religion is nothing more than people with charisma writing rules for people who don't think before they act. Why else would stoning by written into the Bible or jihad to non-Muslims in the Koran? People use fear to maintain an organized society and breaking the rules means punishment must be passed down. I think the basic premise of religion had it right - respect all life in all ways. And then man got his hands on it and found it a useful tool to control people to do what they wanted, altering meanings and using their charisma to convince the controlled that they were divine and beyond reproach. Organized religion is nothing more than a power play where people are instructed on how to live their lives because others deem it so. I've got plenty more I would like to say about that but that's for another post...
So it all comes down to this. Every creature, object, atom, whatever you want to look at, is the same at the basic level. The universe is energy and we are made of that energy. If a human has a soul, then so does a dog, a tree, your cell phone, a planet, and the Sombrero Galaxy. From the Big Bang, the cosmos was created and everything is a part of that creation, no matter how big or small, how warm or cold, how apparently life-filled or lifeless. You are connected to every person, bug, windshield, asteroid, drop of water, and star - whether you think you are or not. In cosmology it sometimes is overwhelming to think of how big the cosmos is and what is all out there, it can make you feel completely insignificant in the big picture. But that's not the way I see it anymore; I am a a part of this universe that is unique and will never be experienced again - the universe better enjoy me while I'm here just as I will enjoy it. And just maybe I'll see you all again the next time this universe is created once again. Hope to see ya on the flip side. :-)
Sunday, November 02, 2008
something from my past
I was cruising around on flickr and came across this interesting shot of the Kubuswooning (Cube Houses) in Rotterdam. Cool place to take a tour of, if you get the chance but then again, not many people take tours of Rotterdam!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
i <3 my minivan
It used to be the bane of my existence, my mom's Mercury Villager. "The Pickle" (its very green) was purchased new back in 1994 and has been my mother's prized possession until about a year ago when she bought a Honda Odyssey (I don't know about her fascination with minivans, we never had them when the kids lived at home). As a result of the addition of the Honda, the Villager became mine and I must admit that it has grown on me.
"The Pickle" was purchased in my waning days of my military service so I didn't see it much when it was new. A few years later I was given the keys to the green monster and sent off to my 10 year High School reunion. How embarrassed was I to show up to the reunion single, unemployed, having not completed my undergrad yet, and driving a minivan. I was mortified to have to take it but drove it because my normal car (Honda Accord) was in the shop getting work done on it. Who shows up for a reunion driving a minivan when they don't even need one? Talk about "ways to unimpress the chicks"...
This particular minivan has served the family well and we almost lost "The Pickle" about a year ago when my sister nearly donated it to some charity. It couldn't pass CA emissions and so she had no use for it. My mother knew that I was going to be returning to the States and would need transportation outside of my motorcycle. So she rescued the green beast and brought it back to NM where it awaited my arrival. I was being given "The Pickle" to use and I was gracious to accept it. I was (still am) in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth and drive my 'new' mode of transportation whenever the bike isn't a feasible option.
At first I was reluctant to take the beast out. I wanted to ride my motorcycle as much as possible and did so when I first came to Albuquerque. The summer weather was perfect and I had been sans scooter for the years in Peru and missing it terribly. Occasionally the need for driving "The Pickle" required that I use it to get places but I lived on that bike for the first 2 months I was here.
As the weather is starting to cool and the brakes on the bike are awaiting to be replaced, I've been driving my Villager a lot more. It is really starting to grow on me and not for the typical reasons. What I love about it is the fact that it is perfect for the utilitarian use that I need at the moment. I can easily throw in all my hockey gear without straining my back, I can change clothes in the backseat when I want to go for a run after work, there is a ton of open space (I took out the captain's chairs and only have the back seat) to lay down and sleep in the back if I want - this van completely serves my needs and I couldn't be happier with "MY Pickle".
This isn't to say that there aren't difficult moments. A packrat took up residence in it recently and chewed its was through a couple of sets of spark plug wires (he has been removed), the car has virtually no acceleration, the rust from living back in Ohio is starting to make its way to the surface, and the list goes on and on. I won't even go into the whole deal about being able to start it without keys in the ignition... But van accurately describes who I am at the moment and that makes me happy.
I have taken "The Pickle" out on dates and not been apologetic about it. I figure that if a girl wants a super fancy car and doesn't understand utility, then she doesn't understand me. My friend Gilles in Peru taught me that lesson well with his approach to life and I can't thank him enough for instilling that in me. In a way, the minivan and I have a lot in common. My rust is starting to show through, my acceleration isn't what it used to be, and I've needed to replace some of the things in life to keep me going. The key in the ignition? Let's just say that what starts me up at this point in my life has changed from what it was before - just like "The Pickle".
So yes, I do love my minivan for what it is, what it represents, and what it does for me. Unpretentious, utilitarian, and fun - is there anything better?
"The Pickle" was purchased in my waning days of my military service so I didn't see it much when it was new. A few years later I was given the keys to the green monster and sent off to my 10 year High School reunion. How embarrassed was I to show up to the reunion single, unemployed, having not completed my undergrad yet, and driving a minivan. I was mortified to have to take it but drove it because my normal car (Honda Accord) was in the shop getting work done on it. Who shows up for a reunion driving a minivan when they don't even need one? Talk about "ways to unimpress the chicks"...
This particular minivan has served the family well and we almost lost "The Pickle" about a year ago when my sister nearly donated it to some charity. It couldn't pass CA emissions and so she had no use for it. My mother knew that I was going to be returning to the States and would need transportation outside of my motorcycle. So she rescued the green beast and brought it back to NM where it awaited my arrival. I was being given "The Pickle" to use and I was gracious to accept it. I was (still am) in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth and drive my 'new' mode of transportation whenever the bike isn't a feasible option.
At first I was reluctant to take the beast out. I wanted to ride my motorcycle as much as possible and did so when I first came to Albuquerque. The summer weather was perfect and I had been sans scooter for the years in Peru and missing it terribly. Occasionally the need for driving "The Pickle" required that I use it to get places but I lived on that bike for the first 2 months I was here.
As the weather is starting to cool and the brakes on the bike are awaiting to be replaced, I've been driving my Villager a lot more. It is really starting to grow on me and not for the typical reasons. What I love about it is the fact that it is perfect for the utilitarian use that I need at the moment. I can easily throw in all my hockey gear without straining my back, I can change clothes in the backseat when I want to go for a run after work, there is a ton of open space (I took out the captain's chairs and only have the back seat) to lay down and sleep in the back if I want - this van completely serves my needs and I couldn't be happier with "MY Pickle".
This isn't to say that there aren't difficult moments. A packrat took up residence in it recently and chewed its was through a couple of sets of spark plug wires (he has been removed), the car has virtually no acceleration, the rust from living back in Ohio is starting to make its way to the surface, and the list goes on and on. I won't even go into the whole deal about being able to start it without keys in the ignition... But van accurately describes who I am at the moment and that makes me happy.
I have taken "The Pickle" out on dates and not been apologetic about it. I figure that if a girl wants a super fancy car and doesn't understand utility, then she doesn't understand me. My friend Gilles in Peru taught me that lesson well with his approach to life and I can't thank him enough for instilling that in me. In a way, the minivan and I have a lot in common. My rust is starting to show through, my acceleration isn't what it used to be, and I've needed to replace some of the things in life to keep me going. The key in the ignition? Let's just say that what starts me up at this point in my life has changed from what it was before - just like "The Pickle".
So yes, I do love my minivan for what it is, what it represents, and what it does for me. Unpretentious, utilitarian, and fun - is there anything better?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
darth's gaze
Today marks the end of Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta and unfortunately, there have been no launches this weekend due to weather conditions. So I decided to put something up to remember the occasion of this, my first of hopefully many, balloon fiestas.
too much information?
No rant this time, just a question that I'm asking of myself on a public forum. I have a site counter down at the bottom of the page and occasionally click on it to see who is visiting the site. I have friends from Maine to California, Canada to UAE (with a little Myanmar thrown in for good measure), and I know they will stop in from time to time to read on my latest ideas. And believe you me, I've had some interesting ideas float out on this forum. Some were political in nature, others on a more personal front, but clues as to whom I am and what I think about certain issues.
The site meter allows me to see who is clicking in from where and how they got to the site. Believe it or not, the most common search that brings people to my site is "how to drag your knee on a motorcycle" on Google. It comes from a post that I put up almost 2 years ago about a picture that I found on flickr. But there are a great deal of people from around the world that find this site and it brings me to the question posted in the title, am I giving too much information?
I guess the scare a few months ago with identity theft really got me to thinking about the whole issue. This site - expatnomad.com - also has an email address associated with it and I've been giving that email address to ladies whom I would like to date. Its not something that I thought about terribly much but it gets me to wondering which of my potential dates has stumbled upon this site and given it a read (site meter says 'none'). I've never been one to be shy of my opinions or telling anyone what I truly feel and I make no apologies for my stances on whatever issues are being discussed. I just wonder what brings people to this site (aside from wanting to learn how to drag their knee on a motorcycle) and how much information is enough and how much is too much. Are people using bots to gather information about others on their blogs and then using that information for mean, nasty things? Is it really a good idea to share your private thoughts and ideas on a public forum? Are blogs just the laypersons way of becoming a public icon? Is this the way that the average person gets their 15 minutes of fame? Hmmm....
The site meter allows me to see who is clicking in from where and how they got to the site. Believe it or not, the most common search that brings people to my site is "how to drag your knee on a motorcycle" on Google. It comes from a post that I put up almost 2 years ago about a picture that I found on flickr. But there are a great deal of people from around the world that find this site and it brings me to the question posted in the title, am I giving too much information?
I guess the scare a few months ago with identity theft really got me to thinking about the whole issue. This site - expatnomad.com - also has an email address associated with it and I've been giving that email address to ladies whom I would like to date. Its not something that I thought about terribly much but it gets me to wondering which of my potential dates has stumbled upon this site and given it a read (site meter says 'none'). I've never been one to be shy of my opinions or telling anyone what I truly feel and I make no apologies for my stances on whatever issues are being discussed. I just wonder what brings people to this site (aside from wanting to learn how to drag their knee on a motorcycle) and how much information is enough and how much is too much. Are people using bots to gather information about others on their blogs and then using that information for mean, nasty things? Is it really a good idea to share your private thoughts and ideas on a public forum? Are blogs just the laypersons way of becoming a public icon? Is this the way that the average person gets their 15 minutes of fame? Hmmm....
Monday, October 06, 2008
sunrise
This week is Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque and it is amazing to see 650+ hot air balloons launch. I was able to go last Saturday morning and see the festivities. Perfect weather started off the day, as can be seen by the picture shown here.
And for once, its not someone else's photo - this one was taken by me. :-)
And for once, its not someone else's photo - this one was taken by me. :-)
Thursday, October 02, 2008
new banner
Well, I figured that since its been a few months now that I've been gone from Lima, it was time to update the banner. Gone is the "Live from Lima, its Saturday Night!!!" which pictures of Tim surfing and the Cordilleras Blancas outside Huaraz in Peru. While I thought that was a great banner, I knew that I had to put up something that reflected the change of locale.
So this morning I put together something different, a new look at my new home, New Mexico. Albuquerque is known for its annual "Balloon Fiesta" and a picture adorns the left side of the banner to address that. The right side, my friend - the cactus. A bad experience hiking in the Sandia Mountains urged me to put something in that was something to chuckle at. And the tag line? I'm not sure why New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment" so I merely had to question. Nothing against Albuquerque or New Mexico, I am enjoying both; its just a question.
A new look for Expat Nomad, enjoy.
So this morning I put together something different, a new look at my new home, New Mexico. Albuquerque is known for its annual "Balloon Fiesta" and a picture adorns the left side of the banner to address that. The right side, my friend - the cactus. A bad experience hiking in the Sandia Mountains urged me to put something in that was something to chuckle at. And the tag line? I'm not sure why New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment" so I merely had to question. Nothing against Albuquerque or New Mexico, I am enjoying both; its just a question.
A new look for Expat Nomad, enjoy.
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