Pending my release from being held hostage, I’m only a few months from Africa. Now is the time to start thinking about vaccinations and pre-trip doctor visits. That said, I thought I would dust off a piece from my travel column days and a photo of my brother with Malaria in France after our trip to Honduras. Good times.
An Appendectomy to Go, Please
I’m not hardcore I have an appendix.
Legitimate children of Adventure prepare for their travels and expeditions for months if not years. They look into every possible problem and how to prevent it. The worthless appendix is like a time bomb to these neurotic adventurers, lying in…
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I’ve always wanted to be held hostage.
Not because of the messy bits – being blindfolded, asking permission to use the restroom, the failed escape, the proof of life, or even the Stockholm syndrome – but because of Barbara Walters.
If you’re held hostage and are released, you are pretty much guaranteed an interview by Ms. Walters. I’m not talking the View here. I’m talking 20/20 where the sharpness of Ms. Walter’s questions are inversely proportional to the softness of the lighting. The lighting would make me look 12 again, well, other than I wouldn’t have big ol’ buckteeth and a head a few sizes too big for my scrawny torso.
You suffer the bad…
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Sometimes in life you just stick out your thumb and see what adventures will find you.
That’s kind of the approach I’m taking to my year of giving $10 to a cause every Tuesday. I thought I would have to spend more time looking for causes to support. So far the causes have found me. I’ve supported groups helping in Haiti following the earthquake, and a homeless shelter in my hometown after my sister-in-law emailed me about a walk she was doing. This week is a bit different still.
I follow Matt Gross, the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler, on Twitter. Last week he posted this:
frugaltraveler Founder of hitchhiking site Digihitch.com gravely ill, needs help.
I read the story of Morgan and his tumor he…
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW7Xk5VBwao[/youtube]
At least now I have a good excuse for not buying Annie jewelry this year for Valentine’s day. If you’re appalled by this practice, sign the National Labor Committee’s petition.
Watching this video reminded me of an experience I had in Nepal. I wrote a column about it years back. I dusted it off for your reading pleasure.
The Kathmandu Caper
By Kelsey Timmerman
On the streets of Kathmandu- Motorcycles weave in and out, cars honk their horns repeatedly jockeying for position, pedestrians scurry for their lives frogger-style while covering their nose and mouth from the dirt and stench. Tractors lacking gas caps slosh fuel this way and that, cows and dogs dine side by side on piles of trash. Chaos reigns supreme, but none lose their cool.
Amid the ruckus I stood…
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I’m not famous.
I don’t need a corral for folks to line up in to buy a book and have me sign it. I don’t need blank cards for me to sign in case a student doesn’t want to buy a book, but still wants my autograph.
But when I was speaking at a The Check Your Label Symposium at IU’s Kelley School of Business I had both.
As a kid you dream about the day someone will ask for your autograph. In preparation you practice. You recall the Reds player you saw signing baseballs atop the dugout. His wrist flashed across the baseball and a signature appeared. A looping, swooping, signature that assured the ball would never be hit…
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This morning I caught author Katherine Paterson on the Bob Edwards Show. She lived in Japan and talked about the use of white space by Japanese artists. The artist intends the viewer to fill in the space with their own imagination.
Patterson told Bob that she incorporates this into her writing and said something that really resonated with me…
“Every reader is my co-author.”
I’ve come to appreciate this because a funny thing happens when you write a book…someone reads it (hopefully). And when they read it and then they tell you about it, sometimes you’re left wondering if they read the same book that you wrote.
Awhile back two interviews of me came out on the same day. One was in Ball State’s newspaper and the other was in a newspaper in…
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This weekend my sister-in-law, Emily, is participating in “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” to raise money for the Muncie Mission homeless shelter. Go Emily!
Emily and her family have been very supportive of my shenanigans over the years, and I’m thrilled to give $10 in support of this important cause.
Unfortunately, it’s getting more important by the day.
In Delaware County, Indiana, where I live the number of homeless people has increased by 100% in the last year (from 223 to 447). Ivy Farguheson, one of the Star Press’s finest reporters, has written about the increase and about the circumstances that have left folks homeless.
This week if you donate to your local homeless shelter and report back on this post or…
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