Category: General

Here is some more information on my trip:

• I’m looking for a name for the travel website. Garaphernalia doesn’t cut it. Its going to be a seperate website and for the duration of the trip, this domain name will probably point to it. I’m going to change the web hosting service I use so I can get more bandwidth and host video. I’ll also have to find some software or modify MovableType. I really don’t anything too different than what MT has to offer. I’m open to suggestions for the name of the website.
• I’ve begun looking at video and camera equipment. I need a camcorder which is of a low end professional quality, not the tiny jobs you can hold in your hand for recording childrens birthday parties. I will also need a better digital camera for still photos. I’ll probably also be taking some classes on photography and video editing.
• In addition to the photography, I’m also going to get certified for SCUBA and get my extra class ham radio license. I’d like to take a small HF radio with me to talk to people, but I’ll have to research that more.
• I will probably need a new laptop too. Mine is OK, but I’d like an integrated DVD drive and more storage. I need it to be about the same size as my current laptop.
• Despite having just announced this, I’ve had several people willing to join me on some of the legs of the trip. I’m more than happy to have people travel with me whenever and wherever they can. Word of warning: I plan on traveling cheap and staying in cheap accomodations.
• There is a business side to this venture. I’d like to be able to use the material I gather (video, photos, text) and be able to parlay that into more than just the website. I have no big plans in this area, but even if it could pay for all or part of the trip, that would be enough. If it doesn’t pan out….oh well. I got to go around the world.

Ok, here is something which isn’t your idle chit chat.

In 2005 I’m going to be selling my house and taking a year-long (at least) trip around the world.

..and I’m not just going to travel around the world. I’m going to document the entire trip with video, photos, and a weblog. My goal is to travel around the world and visit as many countries as I can.

This is going to be an enormous undertaking. I have so much stuff to do to prepare for this it isn’t funny.

I’ll be posting updates on the site as I prepare for the trip. I got technology to buy. Routes to plan. Websites to make.

I also welcome any and all suggestion you might have on where to go, what I should see, and how I should go about doing it.

Wish me luck….

• Its over. Bush won. Nothing is even close to being Florida 2000 close.
• NONE of my hopes for this election came true. Bush became the first President since his dad in 1988 to get more than 50% of the vote. Ponder that for a while.
• The economic models that came out before the election were damn close in predicting the percentage of the vote Bush would get. The fact is, the economy isn’t that bad in historical terms.
• Who’s happy for this result on the democratic side? Hillary Clinton.
• The exit polls, like in 2000, were not very accurate. Polls taken in the first few hours of the morning don’t mean jack.
• The Democrats picked the wrong guy. Kerry might have been better than Lieberman or Gephart, but not as good as Edwards, Clark, or even Dean.
• Like the Republicans in 96, hatred for Bush might have gotten in the way. Most Americans don’t hate Bush, even if they may disagree with some things.
• I don’t think that undecided voters necessairly vote against the incumbant. Especially during a “war”. There is some security in the devil you know vs the devil you don’t.

I avoid politics like I avoid cliches…….like the plague.

However, I think I can break that rule for an election day update.

• I had to wait an hour this morning to vote in EP. There was an MoveOn.org person outside the polling place. I thought it was odd, but they weren’t campaigning, so technically, its kosher I guess. They were just checking on people that registered through them. If MoveOn can be at a polling place and the Democrats can’t, then there is a good reason why you shouldn’t work via a political party. It also calls into question what the real difference is between a PAC and a political party. I applaud them on their organization actually. I’m amazed they even bothered with EP. The right has some catching up to do over the next four years.
• I once again wasted my vote. I voted Libertarian. I can’t vote for Bush and wont vote for Kerry (or is it the other way around?). I also voted against all incumbant canidates that had opposition. It made my ballot pretty jumbled. I voted for a liberal Democrat for congress and some right wing Christians for judge. I have a consistant algorithim I use for voting. I don’t know if I’ll use it the next time I vote.
• I hope for the following things to happen in this election: 1) Bush loses by a margin less than the what the Libertarian canidate gets, at least in a few important states. 2) Republicans keep control of congress and we get gridlock. 3) Kerry gets less than 50% of the vote, or better yet, he wins the electoral vote and loses the popular vote (sweet sweet irony).
• I’m sick and fucking tired of people asking me if I’ve voted, or if I’m going to vote. I also feel sorry for people who are getting crap for voting for Nader. They seem to get more crap than I do. I’m a lost cause I guess, but they are heritics. Wars within religions can be more fierce than those between religions.

Maybe I’ll have some interesting statistical tidbits when the dust settles.

Qwest can do nothing right. I’m not even joking. Here is the summary of my Journey with them so far.

1) I’ve all but abandoned my landline, but I do use it for my Direct TV. I’ve had no dial tone for about 3 months so my Tivo can’t dial out. I decided to just cancel my phone line and use Vonage. In the long run its cheaper. So I called Qwest and told them to a) cancel my phone line and b) subscribe me to their naked DSL service. That is where you get DSL but no phone line.

2) They said they would have to upgrade my service to some new standard they use. I’ve had DSL for about 5 years here. Ok. So I asked if I’ll notice any disruption in service. They said no. What they didn’t tell me was that I needed a new DSL router.

3) I call about my service and they tell me that I need a new router. OK. So they send it. It never shows up. I call and they tell me that UPS couldn’t find the address, which I think is total BS because they never had a problem in the past delivering me anything.

4) The only thing that has worked out in all of this is that my neighbors have an open wireless connection and I can get online via my laptop.

(reminder to self: secure wireless connection when new router arrives)