Thirty Years Of The Internet

Yesterday the Internet turned thirty years old. In those thirty years the Internet has changed a lot.

I started exploring the web back in the '90s.  Back before the Internet was a visual medium with pictures and video.  There wasn't much out there.  Many pages were lists of links compiled by humans.  Those links were either academic or just plain weird pages coded by amateurs.  The net felt like a creative version of the wild west.

When Mosaic and Netscape took over the tubes took off with graphics and videos.  Soon the net started attracting commercial businesses.  I was excited when I saw my first commercial with an internet address list.  I am easily excited.

Blogs appeared fairly early on allowing 'ordinary' people to spill their guts, show off their children, and document their lives.  I began blogging seriously in 2006.  I started Homer's Travels as a way to let our families know what the Wife and I were doing.

Blogs soon connected me to the world.  Over the years I met people through my blog.  It started with Phil who writes Wild Rye.  He left a comment on a post of mine and started following me.  I took the second move when I came across a hiking post when I was researching the Sandstone Peak, Mishe Mokwa, and Tri-Peaks trail.  I came across a write up on GeekHiker's blog and, inspired by Phil, left a comment thanking him for his post.  GeekHiker started following my posts.  One day, while bored at work, I went through GeekHiker's blogroll (his list of interesting blogs).  This led me to Just A Girl's 'Angsty' blog, Miss McCracken's 'Silly With Heart' blog, and Dobegil's 'You Did What?' blog.  Before I knew it a small family had formed as we read each other's writing and left comments.

Over time I met in the real world, first GeekHiker and Just A Girl, and then Dobegil.   (I have yet to meet Miss McCracken - that will have to change someday.)

Eventually My blog friends slowed and stopped updating their blogs.  Our lives are not constant.  Things change over time to the better, to the worse, or simply to the different.  The lives of my blog friends have all changed in one way or another.  GeekHiker quit his job, traveled the country and the world for a year before settling in a new area of California, getting a new job, and getting married.  Miss McCracken quit her job as well and is working towards becoming an illustrator for children's books.  Just A Girl met her "Boy", became less Angsty, and has now become Just A Mom.  Dobegil, battling health issues, is supported by her faith.

I know what happened.  It happened to me too.   My life changed with the move  to Omaha and my two Caminos.  But the real reason blogs are no longer being updated: We all discovered social media - i.e. Facebook and similar sites.

Facebook (and Twitter is some cases) became a replacement for blogging.  It was just easier to spread information to our family and friends as they were all there. The didn't all have to visit your blog.  At the same time, social media, in my case anyway, discouraged long form writing.  Most Facebook posts are limited to a paragraph or two.  Often, when someone writes more than a paragraph they feel the need to warn people and apologize for the length of their post.  Twitter is even more overt by limiting posts to two hundred and forty characters.

Over the last decade or so blogging has been slowly fading.  I used to randomly wander through Blogs to get ideas for Homer's Travels.  Over time I started noticing something.  Many of the bloggers, after faithfully blogging for a year, two, or three, would start to slow down or even stop.  Often abruptly.  Many times there was no warning.  Often the last post said they would be more diligent at posting and then ... nothing.  The decline I saw occurred sometime between 2008 and 2010.  Something happened these years.  That's when it seems most people would either slow down their posting dramatically or stop all together.  That's also when Facebook adoption approached an inflection point.



So it appears that Facebook may have been the culprit.  Long form blogging has been replaced with short snippets of random thoughts.  I miss the longer posts.  I looked forward to sitting down and exploring the thoughts of my friends.  Taking a long look at their lives.  Now, while we share more than ever, all we show are glimpses.  Tiny little peeks that only scratch the surface of what we are really thinking.  In my opinion, social media ruined the Internet turning it into a homogenous world with limited creativity and rebellion.

I have succumbed to this trend as well.  Little posts I would have written up for Homer's Travels now find there way to Twitter or Facebook instead.  I have tried to steer a middle course.  I post links to my Homer's Travels posts to Facebook and Twitter.  People can click through if they wish more than short little blurbs or interesting links that I have shared.  I have tried.

I've posted about this same subject before over six years ago ("More than One Hundred Forty Characters").  Things have not improved much.  I have moved away from Facebook a bit only linking to Homer's Travel's posts and occasionally liking family and friend posts. The short form is so enticing, so easy, but I miss the long form of writing I used to enjoy.  They say the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Maybe, if I stick with it long enough, long form writing will come back into style and the Internet will once again become the wild west of creativity.

Well ... That's A Little Bit Better

October felt like it went by in a flash.  At the end of September I lamented my lack of motivation in a post.  In October I did a bit better I think.  I posted a more ... just.  A few of the posts were just photograph posts.  I still fell short in finding things to write about.

Last month I said I would ride bike more.  I didn't manage the twelve rides I'd hoped for but I did manage to do seven rides (one hundred and ninety-two miles) which is a bit better than the three rides I did in September.  I think seven or eight rides a month are my limit.

I'd also hoped to drop some weight and I did manage to drop three or four pounds in October.  I'm finding it harder to lose weight than it used to be for me.  Another age related change I imagine.  The bike rides and the long walks I squeeze in of Fridays seem to be helping.

Besides biking and dropping pounds ounces, what else have I been up to?  While the Wife has been very busy with school and visiting her parents, I have not been that busy.  The lack of motivation I had this summer is still lingering a bit.  We did visit with the Maid of Honor and the Best Man last weekend.  We learned all about their vacation to Greece and Turkey.  Their account of Istanbul has the Wife and I reconsidering the destination of our next international vacation.  More on that in some future post.

I tried a couple new foods/drinks this week.  By this I mean new for me.  Last weekend I tried my first ginger beer.  Ginger beer is brewed using ginger and is non-alcoholic.  My impressions ... it was like drinking something I would clean my kitchen sink with.  Not that I've ever tasted what I clean the kitchen sink with but I'd like to think it would taste like ginger beer.  The second new item was a Hostess Twinkie.  Yes ... it took my fifty-one years before I had my first twinkie.  I tried it on my long walk yesterday.  It was okay.  Not really impressed.  I walked off the added sugar.

So what's on the agenda for November?  I may squeeze in a camp if it unexpectedly warms up.  We will be going to a charity auction at the GodSon's school.  That should be fun.  We have a concert after that.  The one task I really need to finish this month is planning my five day camp in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Campsites have to be reserved and first and second choices for each night have to be submitted by snail mail (Snail Mail!).  I have a detailed park map with trails - I just need to sit down and knock out a realistic route.

That's it for me.  Hope to post more often this month.  We shall see, won't we?

Quiet ....

I've been really quiet lately.  I've been a bit sedentary and have been reading a lot.  I've only posted six times this month and that's including the one you are reading right now.

So ... what have I been doing?  I've been trying to ride my bike more but I have not been very successful.  I planned to ride three times a week, or twelve times for the month, but I managed only three bike rides.  I have been very successful at coming up with excuses.  Not very encouraging.  These rides are meant to be preparation for riding RAGBRAI next year.  Strange how the idea of riding RAGBRAI really appeals to me but I am not very enthusiastic about actually preparing for it.

My motivation has been struggling since our return from Africa.  I just can't get things started.  The couch ... and the television it faces ... has gotten a work out this summer.  When I'm not watching TV I'm on Facebook or Twitter.  In other words ... not being very productive at all.  The result is I'm not preparing for next summer and I've even gained a little weight.  Not that much actually but I am approaching the weight I was when I had bad blood test numbers.  I got my numbers down last time by losing ten to fifteen pounds.  I wouldn't want to have my blood tested right now.   I try to tell myself that the gain is because muscle weighs more than fat but my lack of activity lately doesn't jive with that rationalization.

That is just about it really.  Sleep, eat, do chores, surf the social web, watch TV, ... rinse and repeat.  Not the healthiest of lifestyles.

So I'm trying to regain some motivation.  I'm trying to get out more.  I've  started to walk once a week again.  On Saturday I went on a Backwood's led hike this last weekend at a park I'd never been to before (Neale Woods) - it was nice but buggy, a victim of the time of the year (it was a year ago I got all bit up at Waubonsie on another Backwood's led hike).

Sunday the Wife, her Sister-in-Law, her niece, and I went to the Brownville Flea Market and enjoyed a nice sunny day browsing rusty treasure.  (The ice cream I had there didn't help my weight situation much but it was oh so good.)

I will get on my bike and I will kill two birds with one stone - prepare for RAGBRAI and loose some weight.  Heck, I'll kill three - I would also be preparing for next year's Trek up the Tower.  October will be a more productive month.  I promise.

More than One Hundred Forty Characters

I read recently, on the Godson's twitter feed (he linked to the What Ed Said blog), that "The less frequently [you] write, the more difficult it is to get going again."  That is what I have been running into lately.  The culprit, besides the dreary, overcast we've had lately, is social media.

I've been thinking about this for a while.  I used to peruse random blogs and I started noticing that, since the popularization of Facebook and Twitter, the number of post have gone down for a lot of people.  I think it has become easier to post 140 characters or less on a social media site than it would to put together a more substantial post.  It is easier to post a picture from your phone to Instagram than to post it to a blog.

I have fallen into that trap.  I dismiss ideas as not blogworthy and they end up on Facebook.  I joined Facebook in February 2009, the last year that I posted over 200 posts.  My posting has declined since then with the only exception being 2011 when I posted all my Camino, Route 66, and California vacation posts.  It's strange how, since having what I think of as the most interesting summer ever back in 2011, my life has become routine.  I think of things to write about but, as I think about them more, they start seeming unimportant, something to put up on Facebook or Twitter rather than on Homer's Travels.  If I weren't on Facebook and Twitter I probably wouldn't hesitate to throw together a little throwaway post that would at least keep me writing.

It hit me the other day when I posted the picture of an eagle that was flying over the house.  I posted it on Facebook, not Homer's Travels.  In my head that was so ... so wrong.  This really doesn't make sense.  I have it set up to automagically post links to my Homer's Travels' posts to Facebook and Twitter.  Any idea or picture, however insignificant, should just be put on Homer's Travels and it will end up everywhere else with no effort on my part.

So that's what I am going to do.  I will predominantly post on Homer's Travels.  Maybe putting together shorter posts will inspire me to write longer, more significant posts.  Maybe I'll think of more things to write about than just feet and walking, the themes that seem to be coming to mind lately.  Maybe I'll move past the summer of 2011 and I will see what is around me and make the best of what I have.

Forty Eight Days In ... And Another Mediocre Post

Another week has gone by and things are doing well.  It seems I've been doing a lot of these lists of small events lately.  If I didn't do this type of post, Homer's Travels would be a bit empty.  Well, it is a little empty I guess but it would be worse.  I suppose I could have been breaking these posts into two or three shorter posts but I'm finding this an easier way to package my life.  If I broke it up into more posts, those posts would probably never be written.  So let's just get on with what I did this week.

I hiked in Fontenelle Forest this week using my poles.  Like the hike the prior week at Hitchcock, the trails were muddy.  This time I managed to stay upright.  I also managed to bend one of my poles.  I'm not sure where I did it or how it happened.  I stopped at a bird blind for a scheduled rest stop and I used the railing to help bend the lower section (of the three section pole) back into line.  It isn't perfect but it was usable again.  I ended up squeezing out over nine miles on the hike.

Later in the week I did a city walk around northeast Omaha.  I decided to walk in an area that I'd never walked before so chose a road that wraps around the east side of the Eppley Airfield, Omaha's main airport.  The road around the airfield is probably the most boring 5.1 miles in the state.  I was hoping to see at least some airplanes flying in and out of the airport but there were only three in the hour and a half that I spent walking the road.  The only notable thing along this road is the other side of the swing bridge but, because they are fixing and reinforcing the flood control levies around the airport, which were damages during the 2011 Missouri river flooding, you are not allowed to get very close to the bridge itself.

There was a first on this walk for me.  I'd been waiting for it to happen for quite awhile. While I was walking around the airport a police car slowed down and asked if I was okay.  There have been several times when I have waked along country roads and out of the way places and I've always wondered why no one, not even the police, had stopped to ask if I needed help.  I suppose if I'd really been in trouble I would have actively flagged down a passer by.   I suppose this time was different since I was walking around the airport, not a normal occurrence in this day and age.  It's nice to see that the police were doing their job.

We had some light snow Friday night.  On Saturday I went out with the leaf blower and cleared the driveway and sidewalk of our house and the neighbors.  Yes, I said leaf blower.  I'd seen a guy doing it the last time we had snow and, if the amounts are small and if the snow is of the light and dry variety, the leaf blower does a great job at clearing the snow.  In addition you don't have to bend over so much so my back is happy.

The only special event this week was going to the regional Poetry Out Loud competition.  The Wife's student had already qualified for State at another regional competition so we were there to scope out the competition and to listen to another of her students recite.  The student, winner of the Wife's school competition, could not compete because she was not a US citizen (she's an exchange student from China).  The second place school winner will be competing in the state finals in early March.

Twelve Days In ...

So.  Has anything happened in the last week?

It was a too cold and icy for riding bike but I did manage to get a couple long walks in.  I even managed not to fall down on the ice on the second walk, something I cannot say about the other three walks I've taken in 2013.

The same walk was also my first walk in a new pair of shoes.  I probably should have broken them in on a shorter walk but I ended up taking an 11 mile walk in them.  I now have a blister, though a very small one, on one of my toes.  Since the rest of my feet feel pretty good I regard the new shoes a success.

When I bought these shoes, New Balance 956s, I did something different: I bought two pair.  This is the same type of shoe I've been wearing for almost a year now and these are the shoes I will be walking my second Camino in.  I know that the pair I started walking in this week will be worn out by the time I head to Spain so buying a second pair means I will have a fresh pair ready when I walk across Spain again.  Just for reference, In the first seven months of 2012 I walked over 427 miles and that despite not walking much in China/Nepal/Bhutan/India.  I tend to put quite a bit of mileage on my shoes.

I also got an interesting email from an editor of a small town newspaper this week.  The newspaper is putting together a tourism magazine and he wanted to do an email interview about one of the Iowa state parks I posted about a few years ago.  The questions were simple and covered why I went to Lake of Three Fires, what I did there, and what I liked about the park.  He was even going to use some of the pictures I took but they were too small for publication (The full size versions were lost in the NAS debacle).  This will be a first for me ... assuming he actually publishes any of my answers.  Writing about the park has got me thinking about going back there sometime this spring.  It would be a good place to train with a backpack and trekking poles.

That was pretty much it for me this week.  Things are going well with Iago.  I've had to add a second vacuuming day to my chores list to keep up with the dog hair ... or at least try to keep up.  There are a few things coming in the next couple months that will be fun to write about.  For now my life is going well ... not much excitement ... but nothing bad either.  So far so good.

Five Days In

2013 is five days old.  This year has started on a busy note.  Nothing really exciting, just house work and chores - catching up on the paperwork that fills up our lives.

The Wife's brother called this morning.  He suffered a minor heart attack and is in the hospital.  Seems like the health issues that have plagued our families since last August are continuing.  Hopefully he will do well once the doctor's have a chance to thoroughly look him over.

Iago is doing well.  He's adjusting to his new surroundings quite well. Many people, myself included, were concerned that changing his name would be confusing for him but, after being in our house for a week he already answers to his new name.

He sleeps on a dog bed on my side of the bedroom.  He's been having trouble sleeping through the night.  He gets up a few times each night just to make sure we are still in bed.  He walks over to check on the Wife first then he checks to see I'm there before getting back into his bed.

One strange thing about Iago is that he doesn't know how to play.  He will run after a thrown ball, bring it back, and drop it at your feet (Homer never learned to drop things) but he grows tired of it quickly.  The Matron of Honor and Best man gave him this chicken toy.  Iago will hardly touch it.  He thinks about picking it up but then it squeaks and he walks away.  He behaves the same with all of Homer's old toys.  He doesn't even like chewing on his nylabone.  Iago is his own dog.

As for me, I started the year right with a couple of nine mile walks.  My feet are feeling pretty good.  I'm walking with some new custom insoles and they feel pretty good so far.

I really don't have any major projects besides keeping the house clean ... or trying to now that we have a shedding dog living with us.  I've started buying things for my next Camino.  Little things that I'll talk about later.  I'm still recovering from losing the backup drive.  I now have three or four copies of everything (computer, external USB drive, NAS, and online backup service) - a little overkill maybe but something I should have done a long time ago.  I'm using the loss to reorganize my files into a more logical system.  I downloaded all the pictures I'd uploaded to Flickr, all 6,640+, and I'm slowly sorting them into folders and renaming all the files.  Fortunately I had copies of my best pictures up on Flickr.  Sadly most of the pictures of the Wife and I were not on Flickr and many good pictures of ourselves,  friends, and family are gone now.

That's enough rambling for now.  Ready for week number two.

A New Year ... I'm Not Insane ... Really!

New Years eve was a quiet night here at Homer's Travels.  We didn't go out like last year.  We went to bed at our normal time, read until the new year arrived, wished each other a happy new year, and turned out the lights.

Iago woke me up at five til seven so I got up, fed him and took him out, and did my morning exercises.  The highlight of my first day of 2013 was a 9.29 mile walk around the city.  That for my New year's day.

I usually start each year with some post about plans, resolutions, and goals for the year ahead.  As a matter of fact my first two posts at the beginning of last year ( here and here) talked about my plans, goals, and resolutions for the new year.  I only had two: I would write more posts and I would become more optimistic.   (A third, actually a goal, was to enjoy our Asian Adventure which I accomplished.)  After all of the failed plans, missed goals, and forgotten resolutions you would think I would've known better than to make resolutions.  Neither of these resolutions came even close to being achieved.  I had the lowest post count in the six years I've been writing Homer's Travels.  And when it comes to being more optimistic and positive ... let's just say that I spent the entire month of December being snippy, irritable, rude, surly and downright negative for no apparent reason.

I ended my first post of 2012 with the words: "No excuses."  I don't have any excuses.  I just didn't manage to do what I'd set out for myself.  I can't say I really tried.  So what to do?  Do I get back on the hamster wheel and make more resolutions that I can not meet?  What did Albert Einstein say? He said insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  I'm not insane ... most of the time.

xkcd "Resolution" by Randall Munroe

So this year I make no resolutions, no goals, and very few plans.  The only thing I will be working towards is my second Camino in September-October - it's the one thing I'm enthusiastic about.  Other things will come along and they will will be avoided, handled, planned for, or enjoyed, whatever is appropriate.

Bring it on, 2013, show me what you've got.  I'm hoping for the best.

Route 66, California, Camino - A Pilgrim's Epilogue

The summer of 2011 was my summer of pilgrimage.  For ten weeks I walked and rode along roads, both old and ancient.  On pilgrimages like these, people are often looking for something.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular except adventure.  I found a desire to change.

The Camino de Santiago took me to a world of  of unstructured routine.  A world of few worries and carefree wandering.  A world of new places to explore and new friends (whom soon became old friends).  Time faded into the distance as one day became like all others.  It was surprisingly comfortable.  In Santiago de Compostela the feelings of friendship and camaraderie reached a crescendo as we celebrated our accomplishments and exchanged hugs and tearful goodbyes as we all scattered back to our homes, wherever they may be.  It was not the end for me - my pilgrimage didn't stop in Santiago de Compostela  - it just changed modes of transportation.

My pilgrimage continued along Route 66.  Few minutes passed by on the route where I didn't think about the Camino, it still so fresh in my mind.  Reminders of my Camino were everywhere.  I'd walk into a restaurant and there would be a sign welcoming the pilgrims of Route 66.  Everywhere I drove I saw the shell sign reminding me of the shell of Saint James.  The long quiet stretches of the route gave you time for your mind to wander just like the dusty roads of the Spanish Meseta.

California, all of the places we visited there, felt like Santiago de Compostela.  Both were the end of the road.  They were a place to visit with friends and to reminisce on the times we'd shared and the places we'd visited.  They marked the end of the journey ... and time to go home, to return to the real world.

These journeys will stay with me for a long time.  They will stay with me in many ways.  I'm still recovering from the aches and pains developed over 513 miles of walking with a pack and sitting in a car for a few thousand miles more.  My right leg ached all the way along Route 66.  I'm still recovering from the Topa Topa hike.  My knee makes noise and aches more than ever.  These things will persist for a while but with time, and physical therapy, they will fade.

The memories of the road, the way, the pilgrims, the people, the places, the monuments to our past, the yellow arrows and the route markers, they will persist for a while but they too will inevitably fade with time and age.

They say that the Camino changes you.  So does Route 66 to some extent.  I think any adventure, done properly with abandon, will alter your perception ... of the world around you, the people you interact with, and ultimately, of yourself.  I have changed or, more correctly, I have developed the desire to change.  A desire to improve myself, broaden my horizons, improve my self-image, and become more positive.

These desires aren't new - they have been there all along - they just have a new sense of urgency.  Peru, Jordan, Camino, Route 66 - Each adventure makes me thirst for more.  They make me relish that carefree, no worries world.  That world that, along with the aches, pains, people, places, and memories, persists for only so long.  I embrace them, keep them with me wanting to never let them go, until they too become immaterial and fade, slipping through my fingers ... leaving only the real world.

Bruce ... Bruno ... Batman

The Wife and I often have weird conversations.  Especially at the end of the day.  Once it was a discussion on which were more real, Unicorns or Chiggers.  The Wife doesn't believe in Chiggers (or at least she claims she doesn't).  To prove there existence I pulled out a dictionary.  While Chiggers are in the dictionary the Wife pointed out that the entry for Unicorn has a picture while the entry for Chigger does not.

Another time our discussion was about the Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers who fought with the British during the World Wars.  Needless to say, our discussions are ... eclectic.

Recently, the Wife told me one of her students had started calling me Batman.  This had mystified her until she finally asked why.  "His name is Bruce ... just like Batman ...  Bruce Wayne," he said.  This sparked a whole new discussion.  I jokingly suggested that maybe I should be called Bruno because in Spain Batman's alter ego is named Bruno Diaz.  I learned this while in Burgos recuperating from my tendinitis. One of the TV shows I watched while resting my ankle was an animated Batman movie.  Batman's alter ego was not Bruce Wayne but Bruno Diaz.  Her class, upon hearing about our discussion, and confirming the Bruce-Bruno connection, are more convinced than ever that we are weird.

While I like Bruno as an alter ego, I think I'll just stick with Batman.

For Want Of A Tool ...

From Dictionary.com:

op·ti·mism   [op-tuh-miz-uhm] noun

1.  a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.

2.  the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. 

3.  the belief that goodness pervades reality.

4.  the doctrine that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds.

So, a resolution I mentioned in my last post, though I didn't explicitly call it a resolution instead lumping it in with posting more regularly, is to become more optimistic.  While I think it's a worthy change, it's also hard to get my head and hands around how to do accomplish it.

For my resolution, definition 1. seems to be what I'm striving for.  It's a state of mind.  It's related to how your brain perceives and reacts to the world around you.  So how do you alter how your brain perceives and reacts?    How does one become more optimistic?

Many resolutions have tools a person can use to keep the resolution.  To lose weight you watch your diet and increase your exercise regimen.  To eat better you learn about nutrition and begin looking at  food labels.  What tools do you use to increase your optimism?

I have more questions than answers and I need some suggestions.  If anyone out there has any ideas of tools for increasing my optimism, please pass them along in the comments.  I'm sure I will find what I'm looking for.

A New Year ... No Excuses.

We finished 2011 with a bang.  We had dinner at the Rock Bottom Cafe in downtown Omaha.  I had Chicken Lettuce Wraps, a 12oz New York Strip Steak, mashed potatoes, and a triple chocolate brownie ala mode for dessert.  The Wife had Firecracker Shrimp, 14oz Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, and her own triple chocolate brownie ala mode for dessert.  It was a great meal to end the year with (I was burping chocolate all night).

The weather was a little windy and, as we ate rain started to fall (rain on New Year's eve ... very odd weather we're having).  We worried that this might cancel the scheduled fireworks but, just before 7:00 PM the rain slowed to a light drizzle and the fireworks were set off.  Our table, that we'd reserved a week earlier, was by a window facing the fireworks so we didn't even have to brave the cold drizzle to watch the fireworks.  We invited four girls in a table with no window to join us as the fireworks lit up the night sky (our good karma move of the night).  We'd skipped the fireworks the past two years, not willing to brave the frigid temps.  Now that we know the secret of watching them from inside the restaurant, we will probably make this our annual ritual.  The rest of the eve was spent at home watching the celebration of the new year's arrival on television (and, after the Wife had gone to bed to read, the SyFy channel's Twilight Zone marathon).

So What's in store for 2012?  I won't even pretend to believe it will be as good as 2011.  Since I've been pretty bad at sticking to my plans and achieving my goals I will commit myself to only one major goal:

• Enjoy our month long China/Tibet/Nepal/India vacation.  I hope to document it in pictures and I will write in the journal my Mom gave me for Christmas (and post on Homer's Travels when I get home of course).

This isn't my only goal but experience has taught me that if I put plans in writing, especially plans that require effort on my part, they will inevitably be followed by a post explaining why I couldn't meet my goals.  Therefore I am keeping these goals, three or four of them, to myself.  As I complete them, or at least come close, I will share them with you ... I promise.

One lesser goal that I will share with you, at the risk of having to explain next December why I couldn't meet it, is to post more regularly on Homer's Travels.  For the first three years of Homer's Travels I managed over 200 posts each year.  2010 and 2011 witnessed a decline in my posting.  Some of this may be a result of Facebook.  Some of this may be a result of my lack of creativity.  Some of this may be a result of my depressed mood (in 2010 at least).  Whatever it was I want to return to the long form posting that Facebook cannot accommodate.  I want to rekindle my creativity.  I want to strive for a an optimistic outlook conducive to a good mood.

No excuses.

The Rest ... I Want To Be A Surprise

2010 left in just about the same way that 2009 did, quiet and calmly at home in front of the television.  We didn't feel like fighting the crowds and cold to see the fireworks, something we skipped last year as well.

The first weekend of 2011 was filled with football for the Wife and some crappy Kongregate.com adventure game, one I played an embarrassingly large number of hours, for me (thank you GeekHiker for introducing me to that time suck).  Between games we managed to put away all the Christmas decorations.  Once again we were amazed how bright our family room is without the tree.

So, what's up for 2011?  Last year I set goals and this is what I said::

"I don't make resolutions. I do make plans that I often stray from though.

• I plan to read more.

• I plan to try to watch less day-time television.

• I plan to push my hiking/walking out past the twenty mile point.

• I plan on walking the Steamboat Trace.

• I plan to walk the Cowboy Trace if other things work out.

• I plan to finally convince myself that I can do the Pilgrimage in Spain.

• I plan to enjoy our Jordan vacation."

Looking back I was not totally successful.  I read less, not more.  I did try to watch less day-time TV but I utterly failed.  I did not walk the Cowboy Trace.  But I did push my hiking/walking out past twenty miles (21.22 miles in October).  I did complete the Steamboat Trace from one end to the other - twice.  Despite camera issues, I enjoyed our Jordan vacation.  Most importantly, I am confident enough to have booked an airline ticket to Spain for my pilgrimage.  Four out of seven isn't half bad ... well, it sort of is, but it could have been worse.

I don't think I'll set many goals this year.  Two goals will be enough:

• Finish the Camino de Santiago.  A really big one for me.  The hardest physical challenge I've every attempted.
• Drive Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica and visit our friends in California.  We have this planned for after I get back from Spain.  It will be our most ambitious roadtrips ever.  On the way out I hope to visit the town where I grew up before my family moved to Guatemala (haven't been there since college).  On the way home we will visit San Francisco to make a third attempt to visit Alcatraz (we have failed twice before).

The rest ... I want to be a surprise.

P.S. Happy Anniversary to Just A Girl and the Boy!  One down, a lifetime to go.

Sneezing Our Way Along The Heritage Highway

Sunday was another Nebraska Passport day.  This time we headed to the prairie and the city of Beatrice (It's not pronounced as you think.  It's pronounced be-AT-russ with emphasis on the 'a'.  Another strange Nebraska pronunciation).

Our first stop was about 30 miles west of Beatrice.  Located south of the unincorporated town of Jansen is the Rock Creek Station State Historical Park.  Rock Creek Station was a stage coach and pony express station located on the Oregon and California trails.  The station's claim to fame is being the location where Wild Bill Hickok shot David McCanles, beginning his gunfighting career.  After getting our passport stamped we headed down a mowed trail past pioneer graves, including one of an unknown school teacher, to the reconstructed buildings near the creek crossing.  First stop was the post office and a ranch cabin.

Following wagon wheel ruts, we walked to another grouping of buildings.  On the way we passed a man wearing a shirt that said "100% Red-Blooded American.  The Wife leaned in to me and asked sotto voice "Should I ask him what tribe he belongs to?"  This got us giggling all the way across the toll bridge to the east ranch grouping of buildings.

The other group of buildings consisted of a toll cabin, a pony express barn, and a bunkhouse.  In the barn an old local guy was giving black smith demonstrations to a group of kids and their parents.  We walked around, took some pictures, and headed back to the visitor's center.  We walked through the exhibits before buying a magnet and leaving in search of lunch.  Pictures of Rock Creek Station are here.

We stopped for lunch in Beatrice and then headed over to nearby Homestead National Monument.  Homestead is the only national park dedicated to an act of congress: the Homestead Act of 1862.  The visitor's center, a building with a sweeping roof line reminiscent of a plow blade, houses an impressive arrays of multimedia displays including a microphone where you can record your own memories of homesteading (The act was discontinued as late as 1976 - 1986 for Alaska).  We watched the movie and witnessed a balanced description of homesteading including its impact on the Native American populations.  Some of the Native American comments were quite poignant.

After getting both our Nebraska and the National Parks passports stamped, we stopped at the nearby Freeman school.  This one room schoolhouse was named after Daniel Freeman, the first Homestead Act applicant.  In the 1890's the school was in the center of a church-state separation struggle when Daniel Freeman objected to the teacher using bible verse in her lessons.  Freeman sued.  Freeman lost that suit.  Pictures of the Freeman School can be found here.

On the way home I counted my passport stamps and found I had ten.  I'd reached the first milestone that would get me a t-shirt.  Adding in my head the last three or four attractions that I could get on day trips, I realized I would never reach the next milestone of eighteen.  I decided right there that it wasn't worth the effort or the gas to get the remaining attractions within my reach so this will be my last Nebraska Byways Passport post.

One last thing.  After spending the day out on the Nebraska prairie, the Wife's and my allergies kicked into high gear.  We sniffled, snorted, and sneezed our way back home.  We decided that if we were pioneers we wouldn't have survived the first allergy season on the prairie.  We're both medicated today.  My pill seems to be wearing off so I think I'll go get another.

Shaving ... Check.

Disclaimer:  I've been drawing blanks lately for things to post about.  I've been rolling this one in the back of my head for awhile and frankly ... it falls a little flat but I've decided to post it anyway.  My apologies.

For the past month or so I have felt like I've been in training, preparing for the Way of Saint James (El Camino de Santiago).  I've started taking longer hikes on the Wabash.  I've started hiking with a backpack to approximate the pack that's I'll be wearing on the camino.  I've begun looking at the clothes and the equipment that will be in my pack.  Of course I started putting my packing list together a long time ago - November 2007 to be exact.

One thing that will not be in my pack will be my electric razor.  For most guys this would be no big deal.  They probably learned to shave with a blade razor when they were in high school and are now quite proficient.  I learned how to shave using an electric razor.  My dad got me started.  As I thought about the pilgrimage I realized an electric razor wouldn't do.

An electric razor fails weight-wise and the whole where's an outlet thing would be an inconvenience.  I look terrible in a beard - I and splotches of light colored facial hair that, from a distance, looks like bald spots.  I haven't had a full beard for years (decades?) so that might not be a problem anymore but the idea of an itchy, hot beard isn't appealing.  The only option would be me learning how to shave with a blade razor.

Now, one skill I have, one that I am very proficient with, is the ability to turn the tiniest, simplest thing in the world into the most important and earth changing event of my life.    That is what I did with learning how to shave with a blade.  I went online and found videos about how to properly shave with a blade.  I read how to do it properly.  I fretted about it for months ... yes, months.  Frankly these videos, while very instructive, made it look more complicated than it actually was.  There are people out there who take shaving way too seriously.  Multiple lathering.  Shaving in multiple directions.  Rinsing and repeating.  My God, would I ever master this art, will my face die the death of a thousand cuts, or razor burned to a crisp?

I took the plunge and ordered a shaving kit at amazon.  I decided to go a little old school with the soap and boar hair brush while swerving back into the modern world with a disposable razor.

Last week I lathered up as I'd seen on the YouTube and swiped the disposable razor down my face and thought "What was I worried about?!?"

I feel like such a fool.  It just took me thirty-some years to learn such a basic skill.  Not only that but the shave is closer than my electric razor and it doesn't take any longer to do the deed.  Now I'll just have to buy some travel shaving soap and I'll be all set for Spain.

A Slow Start To 2010

The new year has pretty much started out like last year. The one difference is we decided not to go downtown to watch the fireworks this year. The snow that we had Christmas has been followed by a real cold snap with temps staying in the single digits and teens during the day and negative numbers at night.

The first three days of the new year have been filled with slow moving and rather mundane activities. The Wife has gone shopping twice so far this year though the outings have been motivated more by cabin fever than the desire to buy anything. Other than that, football and HGTV has filled her days.

Me, I've been trying to recuperate from the killer back ache I've been suffering from since the day after Christmas. It is getting better but very slowly. The snow blowing/shoveling I did this morning (2-3 more inches fell over night) seems to have helped it a bit. I think my back needed a good stretch. The rest of my time has been filled with reading, budgeting, and tax preparation. Well, that last thing was actually me buying TurboTax and downloading it from Amazon. You might think I'm sick but I enjoy the whole budgeting and tax preparation process. We came out ahead last year - always a good thing. Quicken is one of my most used programs. Who knows, in another life I could have been an accountant.

So, what will 2010 bring? Based on some of the Facebook posts recently, there is a lot of optimism for the new year. It does have a nice ring to it doesn't it - 2010 - Twenty-Ten. I can't believe that people on the news are arguing if it's twenty-ten or two thousand ten. What a waste of air time. 2010 has a very Sci-Fi ring to it and it almost makes you feel that we've finally made it to "the future".

I don't make resolutions. I do make plans that I often stray from though.

• I plan to read more.
• I plan to try to watch less day-time television.
• I plan to push my hiking/walking out past the twenty mile point.
• I plan on walking the Steamboat Trace.
• I plan to walk the Cowboy Trace if other things work out.
• I plan to finally convince myself that I can do the Pilgrimage in Spain.
• I plan to enjoy our Jordan vacation.

So, let's get this year started ... even if I'm three days late.

Oh Yeah and Congratulations to Just A Girl and her Boy who are getting married today. I wish them all the happiness in the world.