“The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need. My name in print. That really makes somebody. Things are going to start happening to me now..”

—Navin R. Johnson
(1979-); The Jerk

        

“After all these years, I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It's better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.”

—Sophia Loren
(1934-); actress

        

“Trials, temptations, disappointments — all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fiber of character but strengthen it...Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.”

—James Buckham
(-); writer, author

        

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

—James Neil Hollingworth (pseudonym Ambrose Redmoon)
(1933-1996); writer, former manager of the folk rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service

        

I designed this poster at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Mo over the Thanksgiving holiday.A really great museum; I spent over four hours there and could have stayed longer.

        

Java Monster Lo-Ball is a low sugar (8 grams per 15 ounces - which is less than milk) energy drink that I use as a breakfast replacement. It has 100 calories per can and kills my appetite. I'm not really into breakfast so it serves as a nice little stepping stone to lunch. The downside is that it costs like $2.50 at the grocery store. I need to see if I can get it at Costco.

        

        

I am in the process of selecting my next adventure destination. Current nominations include

Aegean coast of Turkey

The Azores

Bali

Cook islands

Dordogne region and Point de Saint-Hernot in Bretagne in France

Falkland Islands

Greenland

Iceland

Mauritius

Marianas Islands

New Caledonia

Norway

I don't expect it to happen until late winter or Spring. Need to plan ahead though!

        

My favorite tea is Celestial Seasoning's Morning Thunder. It is a black tea mixed with maté (I first was introduced to maté in Tierra del Fuego). It smells like spicy pumpkin pie and doesn't need any cream or sugar. Beyond the practical uses as a tasty tea I thoroughly enjoy the box art (like a kid's breakfast cereal!). A giant bison with a sunrise behind him, and clouds comprised of the spirits of his (assumedly dead) bison friends. It's like a story on a box! Whenever I drink it I stare at the box and say "so cool." I change between thinking "the bison is free and happy" and "he wants to kill some white men."

        

“Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed Or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend; Nor would I pass, unseeing, worthy need, Or sin by silence when I should defend... 'The world is better that I lived to-day.'”

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919); author and poet