My dad began taking me on exploratory adventures on the fair weather weekends for the last few years of high school. This was probably his way of spending some quality time with his last son before the graduation and departure for the great beyond. Who knew I would end up buying his house and live…

As a twelve year old entrepreneur, I had the grand ambition of pet sitting for some spare cash. I made some fliers, walked around our neighborhood and that next to us, and found myself with three whole customers. That was ok as being a twelve year old didn’t lend itself to a busy work schedule…

I have a Master’s degree from a foreign university. I also got a scholarship from that country to study there; that country is technically in revolt; and I have a foreign, off shore bank account and an alias. These are all the reasons I probably have my own satellite by now…It is totally legit…Trust me.…

While doing research for my master’s degree, I had to spend a lot of time in the mountains (oh darn). Because going to eight study sites at four different elevations, two times a month, took about three full days for each data collection session, I got to experience practically every lodging option that Taroko National…

One of the first words you become very acquainted with when studying in Italy is sciopero which means “strike”. While the Italian predilection for communicating their language with their hands is in line with their vibrant and emotive way of life, I found it quite a surprise that not only do strikes often happen (ok,…

My master’s degree is in natural resources, specifically ornithology or talking about birds. The great thing about studying these amazing creatures is gaining a very healthy respect for how amazing they are, including things like the fact that they can eat and sing at the same time (thus never having to worry about choking), that…

During one of those times that I was either eight or twelve, our family was into camping a lot. We would trapes around Arizona pitching our tent in the national forests and enjoy the vast world in which we live. The various ecosystems of Arizona provided a huge amount of variety and entertainment from the…

As high school came into its last year, I finally got to take a backpacking trip. This has been a dream of mine that was long term in coming at least in my memory because when we went when I was pretty young, there was a lot of suffering on my part being a bean…