It’s been a wonderful three months. I haven’t updated my blog since I stopped working in May because I have been traveling, reading, biking, and generally having a great time. Those following me on Facebook are probably pretty well acquainted with my adventures (if they haven’t completely filtered me out of their feed - sorry guys!) but for the uninitiated, here’s what I’ve been up to:
- Biking 500 miles from central Virginia to New York
- Spending countless hours at the Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC
- Learning about Baltimore with my foxy female sidekick
- Catching up with friends living in New York and performing stand-up comedy with Cody
- Visiting Seattle with the aforementioned foxy female
- Writing iPhone applications and learning Objective-C
- Reading books about finance, politics, and food - specifically, The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman
, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
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So teacher, there’s my report (albeit bulleted) on what I did this summer. In the process of traveling from place to place, I used almost every vehicle known to humankind, including train, light rail, subway, bike, bus, plane, ferry, kayak, canoe, and of course the ever-pervasive automobile.
I could reflect endlessly on the relative virtues of each travel option. In fact, I plan to do just that in the coming weeks, and tap out my thoughts on our myriad options for people-moving. But for this summary post, I simply want to say this: travel, regardless of the method, is an adventure, and adventure is fraught with peril. Mass transit has delays; mechanical devices break; passengers are different from you and often smell. If you can’t deal with that, stay home. But if you can roll with the punches you’re in for a hell of a good time.
Unfortunately, I noticed recently that I’m running out of money. So I am going to start looking for a job in September. My lease is up soon at the apartment I technically live in, and I’m looking for a place to move. And I’m thinking nine years in Atlanta may be enough.