How long do you have to wait? The next eclipse that will be visible from the East Coast will be on August 21, 2017, but if you head to Nepal, you can see one next year. Check out the NASA map below.
Want to see a Total Solar Eclipse?
Google: “What economic crisis?”
To The Grand Canyon
A few weeks ago my dad had a business meeting in Phoenix, AZ and was planning on flying out on a Wednesday, then flying back home on a Friday. I am not too far away in San Francisco, so I suggested we meet up and go to the Grand Canyon instead of him flying home. Naturally, he jumped at the idea and we met up that Thursday night.
Follow The Election
One Year and Counting
I know I bust on the daily grind pretty often, but it was apparent to me early on that I was not built to fit into that mold. I can’t keep focused in a cubicle and I can’t sit still that long anyway. I need to see a change of scenery more often.
Many of the people I have met here live lives that seemed ridiculous and impossible to me barely a year ago.
- One fantastic woman hasn’t paid rent in five years because she has built up such a reputation as a house sitter that she is booked up months in advance. She is also a radio host.
- One guy works the business side of a pornography company in a building that used to be a WWII armory. It is a giant, $15 million dollar castle, and you can do donuts in a truck inside of it.
- One lawyer lives in a warehouse with 24 other people. It is made of old redwood beams and their individual homes are like tree houses in the upper corners, or stacked on top of each other like Lincoln logs. They hold massive parties there a few times a year.
- Several people that I have met are in polyamorous relationships, an uncommon occurrence in Georgia / North Carolina.
- One guy travels the world making documentary films and living wherever he can.
- A man who is a healer and wanders around throwing large parties where he simply invites as many interesting people that he is in contact with and facilitates them getting to know each other.
Derek (in back) our chef, and his Irish helper, Benny. We have a Chef!
Just a few, and there are many more. The people I live with are an incredible mix of all of the above. We live and work long, full days, but I cannot call one day I have had in the past year “typical”.
Looking back at my past year, I would say that until I did it, I would have called it impossible. Before I graduated I saw a vision of my future laid out in front of me, and it involved working for a bank in DC until I went to law school, with a wife, two kids and a house in the suburbs. Not a bad life at all, but one that is hard to change once you are in it. (I do have to say I am very glad not to be working for a big bank right now…)
In fact, one year ago this week I sold my truck, the final “no going back now” card of my departure.
Did I have any idea what I was going to be up to now? I honestly thought I would be teaching English somewhere in Asia. I could have been if visas had worked out. But they didn’t, and I ended up traveling Asia, staying with hill tribes, meditating in Buddha’s birthplace, bungee jumping, hiking to Everest Base Camp, living in Alaska, flying around Mt. Denali, living in San Francisco, working for CouchSurfing.com and cramming more life experiences into a year than I could have thought possible.
In my free time I am currently working with Laura McNamara (www.giramonda.com) to begin establishing a sustainable cocoa farm in Honduras, (www.thecocoaproject.org) and cannot wait to see the path this leads me on. I can only imagine a small fraction of ways to this next year can go, and I am sure that one year ago from today I will look back and be blown away again.
-Ben
Exploring Berkeley
When I first arrived here in Berkeley, I was disappointed that I was not going to be living in the actual city of San Francisco. Over the past few weeks I have gotten over this. Berkeley is a lot of fun. For one, the campus is right next door, which makes for an ever changing tide of students throughout the day. Our house is up on a hill, and people watching couldn’t be better. Since we are in a college town prices are cheaper than they would be in the city, and the food is fast (Chinese delivery in under 15 min!) We can see San Francisco across the bay from our house, and most mornings when I wake up I look out and see a dense fog bank surrounding the city. Not so over here, we are getting nice sunny weather every day.
I joined the California Sailing Club, which gives me access to a wide variety of boats and windsurfing boards whenever I get the drive to bike to the marina. I also discovered the best rock climbing gym I have ever been in today. It is massive. I showed up and paid $10 for a day pass because the guy at the counter told me the registration fee would be discounted $50 starting in October. I bouldered around for a while, then worked out on equipment they have. They have a sauna, showers, free weights, machines, treadmills, cycles, and classes. Everything I could want from a normal gym, plus a massive amount of climbing. Perfect!
Berkeley also has a challenging disc golf course that I found today, and the whole town is bike friendly.
Berkeley Disc Golf Course
Dear Everyone,
I completely agree with this.
http://www.neticons.net/music_life/
-Ben
The Long Now Foundation Seminar
These happen every few weeks in San Francisco. In case you don’t know what the Long Now Foundation is, here is a brief summary from their website.
The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996* to develop the Clock and Library projects, as well as to become the seed of a very long term cultural institution. The Long Now Foundation hopes to provide counterpoint to today’s “faster/cheaper” mind set and promote “slower/better” thinking. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.
I have been interested in the Long Now Foundation for quite some time, and the Long Bets group as well. Now that I am in the area, I get to actually attend these conferences and enjoy them.
The Conference I went to last night was good because it was my first one. However, Peter Diamandis, the founder of X-Prize, essentially presented an infomercial about the program. I had looked at some X-prize information online before I went to get a feel for what might be discussed, and a lot of what I read on the website came out in the presentation.
One thing that really interested me was the survey they handed out before he spoke. It was almost an exact list of many things I studied in my Future Studies class my Senior year at Elon. We were asked to select three that we thought should be the focus of a mega x-prize. ($100 million to $1 billion)
From Alaska to San Francisco
Okay, since my last real update I have driven 4,000 miles from Alaska to San Francisco, spent a week in the middle of the Nevada desert for Burning Man, set up a house for 15 people in Berkeley, joined a sailing co-op, and am now working for CouchSurfing, designing about six web sites, and finding high return real estate property prospects for a guy here in Berkeley. Not that I have been busy or anything.
Right. Let’s begin.
Jim (www.fliptophead.com) and I left Anchorage to start our drive, and quickly realized that this was going to take forever. Alaska is big, and Canada is bigger. We were waved through the border patrol by a bored looking guard who hardly glanced at our passports.
Burning Man Photos
Dad and Me on the playa
Burn Barrel that was made in Atlanta
For More photos, visit the photo album