At least in the United States, we live to sign contracts. From our mobile phones to our mortgages to car and school payments, we are a society built on promises. Throughout my life I have never missed a payment of anything, ever. It's just not cool to break promises. I have, however, never once in my life finished out the terms of a single lease. For the most part, not finishing a lease has cost me. How much is debatable given ... Read More »
If I estimated correctly, I am about 2,000 feet from the summit of San Jacinto peak right now. I set out this morning around 5:30 AM to climb the highest peak of the San Jacinto mountains. At 10,834 feet, it is less than impressive but it will work in a pinch. Last night about 7:30 PM I got bored. More than bored. I had this craving for an adventure. Ultimately, I would have done anything to be standing on the top ... Read More »
Today, Monday, October 10th, we celebrate the arrival of Christopher Columbus into the America's, promptly followed by raping and pillaging. Some of you took the day off work, the rest of us are not afforded the luxury of a salary pay structure. This image has been floating around Facebook today. While amusing, the artist/author forgets some key differences between the arrival of Columbus and the concept of immigration as we know it today. As a servant to society, I will do my ... Read More »
On Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 11:08 pm Troy Davis was declared dead and a county corner removed his body from the gurney. If you haven't been living under a rock, you've heard the story. This was a man who claims he was the victim of mistaken identity. After repeated attempts of saving his life, even reaching as high as the U.S. Supreme Court, his execution was carried out. [caption id="attachment_1488" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Troy Davis"][/caption] A laundry list of high-profile individuals have ... Read More »
I recently wrote a quick and dirty article about celebrating my birthday in the mountains. Thank you everyone for your kind birthday wishes, was great to come back to civilization and read them all! I thought it would be appropriate to share with you my most recent adventure to the Colorado mountains. If you recall, my last trip to the Colorado mountains in Estes Park culminated when I decided to climb a gorge. This particular trip left out extremely stupid and exciting tricks such as this, ... Read More »
It's that time of year again. I've added another year to my ever growing age. That's okay. Wanna see where I am celebrating my 26th birthday? [caption id="attachment_1441" align="alignright" width="300" caption="From this..."][/caption] Beautiful, isn't it? I'm here in the Rocky Mountains and on a mission to climb Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive, the 2nd and 3rd tallest mountains in the continental United States, respectively. Nobody wanted to come with me so I'm here by myself and it sure is quiet. Quiet in a good ... Read More »
The annual State of the Union address is scheduled for tonight. The White House has added an interesting forum to YouTube where users are able to post questions for President Obama to answer in a post State of the Union speech. Other YouTube users are able to vote on the questions and ideally promote the best questions to the top. Well that's the idea anyway. Have you read through some of those questions? Notice how half of them aren't even questions? How about the other 45% of entries that consist of (generally) U.S. Citizens holding out their hand asking for help with something or another in their lives. Whether it happens to be a job, asking President Obama to help the people or Iraq rebuild or requesting that he stonewall the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, these people are insane. I've gathered some ... Read More »
When I climb mountains, it's nice to have a reward for reaching the summit. I can't think of a better way to reward myself for such a task as to pop open an ice cold beer. It goes great with the view. Fortunately, most mountains worth climbing have snow at the top, so it makes a convenient place to keep beer cold. Around seven months ago, I headed to the Rocky Mountains to spend a few days climbing 14er's for my birthday. On that trip, I stashed a few beers into my pack that I didn't have the chance to consume. Wrapped in wool socks to avoid breakage, they were mailed along with my gear back to Milwaukee. Completely forgotten, my pack sat in Milwaukee until I drove it back down to Los Angeles where it was kept in my car. ... Read More »
Tonight I caught a short clip on CNN about how the government bureaucrats are trying to kill this poor woman's four month old baby. Intrigued, I listened in. Have yourself a quick viewing of the clip on the CNN website. Did you watch the clip? I believe it's pretty obvious that the government is not trying to kill the baby. Though, I should be clear in stating that their actions may result in a higher risk of death for the baby, the goal isn't to kill the lil guy as the mother would like to suggest. Here's the situation in the nutshell: Baby is four months old and has a relatively rare (less than 20 per year in the United States) heart condition The mother does not have private insurance but rather utilizes government insurance Many hospitals are capable of performing the required surgery, but ... Read More »
Ultra mobile: capable of living, socializing and working at nearly any short-term location without planning. The lifestyle is not for everyone, or even most people. The people who truly subscribe to an ultra mobile lifestyle though, are never bored. Whether it's deciding where to eat, where to sleep, where to hold a meeting, where to travel to or where to do laundry, every decision is an adventure. For the most part, I have my regular routine. For me, it's stable and secure. For most, it lacks structure and comfort. That being said, anyone can live the life of an ultra mobile vagabond. It's not physically or financially difficult. It does require a bit of creativity and patience, but both of those skills can be learned. [caption id="attachment_1458" align="alignright" width="300" caption="One of my many road trips."][/caption] This particular blog article has been in draft mode ... Read More »
Every single United States citizen has the inalienable right to freedom of assembly. That will never change. However, there are still rules with that freedom in order to make it possible. One of those rules is that when you begin to threaten the police with your now non-peaceful assembly, your precious freedom goes out the window. UC Davis Pepper Spray - What Really Happened It's amazing how the 15 minutes before the "Pepper Spray Incident" can really change the view of why it happened. I support peaceful protest, but occupying land that's not yours is not peaceful and these police clearly gave warning before they went about it clearing a path from their own entrapment. As a disclaimer, I obviously was not there and did not personally witness the events as they unfolded. That being said, this video is by far the most ... Read More »
I don't know a single person who hasn't been had a relative or friend somehow involved in war. Regardless of where you or I stand on the nature of war, I would like to think that we can all agree on the fact that our soldiers are making a significant sacrifice every time they put themselves in harms way for our freedom. In July of next year a few friends and I will be participating in a Tough Mudder event in southern California. To be upfront, I didn't decide to run in Tough Mudder to help support this particular charity. I just love a challenge. That being said, I can't think of a better charity to support with such an event. Maybe you have some extra cash laying around that you need to dump into a charitable contribution before the end of the year, ... Read More »
Thanksgiving is basically about three things: 1. eating until you pass out, 2. remembering how much cooler it was to sit at the kid's table and 3. giving thanks to those people who have enriched your life. I'm definitely going to eat until I pass out and I don't care how much wine is served at the adult table, eating at the kid's table will always be a favorite past-time. Yes, I still stick the black olives on my fingers and pretend I'm a monster. Aside from the obvious focus of food, I have many, many people in my life to be thankful for. There is no need to call you out by name as you already know who you are. You're the one who makes sure that even as a homeless vagabond, I never end up sleeping on the street. You're the ... Read More »