My Old Blog

I’ve planned a lot of trips in my day. Actually, I’ve gone on a lot of trips in my day. Sometimes they are haphazardly planned….but not always.

I’m probably going to take 3 weeks off in March or April and go somewhere foreign. That really doesn’t narrow it down much. It is fairly difficult to look at a map and just pick someplace to go.

You’ve got to ask yourself a lot of questions: Is there anything to see? Is it safe? Do I need a visa? Does it have tourist infrastucture? Has the government been overthrown lately? Is it the rainy season? Is it expensive? Are there any necessary vaccines and/or medicines to take? Can I get a cheap plane ticket?

It is a bitch to track down all that information. It was easier in the old days. Or at least is seemed that way. I never really had to pick destinations out of a hat like this. I travelled in Europe because I was already living there. You can’t miss in Europe anyway. If you’re already in SE Asia (which I was), go to Thailand. It is the backpacker capital of the world. Living in Israel?? Go see Jeruselum or take a trip to the Pyramids. Who doesn’t want to see the pyramids?

What I’m doing is like throwing darts at a map. And, seemingly, I’ve already been to many of the can’t miss travel spots. I’m running out of places…sort of.

I could always try to get to like Papua New Guinea or something…but I’m not so sure being surrounded by a bunch of midget cannibals with plates in their lips shooting frog poison darts at me sounds like fun.

Maybe I’m getting old though. Travel is always a mixed bag like that. You want to go somewhere exotic, but not too exotic…otherwise you’ll die of cholera in some backwater swamp in Sri Lanka.

Its just that the “exotic, but not too exotic” countries are always changing. It is those countries with a rich history that are past third world but not quite modern that are still happy for the tourists but have not yet realized that they’re all super rich by their standards and so should be swindled out of everything they own…along with a couple of other balancing acts….if you can find somewhere like that….you’ve found a backpacker’s Mecca.

Too many tourists and the locals are jaded and dishonest. Too few tourists and there is likely no infrastructure (and probably a good reason why no one is visiting). Too poor and they’ll rob you at knife point in the streets. Too rich and it isn’t an exotic travelers destination anymore (not to mention it is really expensive).

It all seems sort of ridiculous doesn’t it?

I figure this will be one of my last backpacker-like vacations anyway. It is really tempting just to pay a lump of money and have someone do all this for me and have no decisions nor worries for the entire trip….all guaranteed safe and stress free.

That used to never tempt me. But money is very good at eliminating these types of hassles….and now I have money, so why not use it?

Besides, we get more cautious as we get older. I don’t know why really. Maybe we were just dumb when we were younger. Maybe we realize that the percentages are bound to catch up with us eventually. Probably the more things we are responsible for the more things we realize can go wrong.

Whatever the reason, living here in the US lulls me with its comfort and safety. I would hate to be kidnapped in some S. American jungle. It would be humid and I’d likely be tied up…no bed, no computer, no hot shower. That sounds like such a hassle.

Maybe I’ll just stay in my apartment for 3 weeks in my pajamas, drinking beer, order pizza after pizza, and play Xbox over the Internet until I waste away into nothing.

That would require no planning at all.

Anne Marie wrote the following quote. She is one of my favorite people and so I gave her question some thought in the useless roundabout way at which I excel:

“Anyway…yeah…sometimes I wonder what the hell I’m doin here in Germany…wasting time getting a masters that, actually, I am not sure if I like it because all I dream about now is opening a restaurant in the south of Italy somewhere…do you have some advice for me…I’ll take some if you’re handing it out Elliott…”

I am not a big fan of giving out advice, although it has its uses. Fortune cookies give advice. Only friends can support each other.

Your dream of opening a restaurant in Southern Italy sounds a lot like my dream of opening a traveler’s hostel in Eastern Europe.

I’ve deconstructed my dream a lot. Is it a dream of escape? My form of a primal subconscious dream to escape the responsibilities of life? I’m sure everyone has such a dream in some form. Does anyone every follow it and if so at what price?

Is it simply a fantasy that serves as an outlet for everything in my life that isn’t what I want it to be? In that case the dream is just a symbol of what more I want to achieve, and is safe because it is distant and can take on whichever qualities I need it to at the time. If that is the case, then following my fantasy wouldn’t satisy it. I would simply invent another one.

Is it a dream of fulfillment? Do I actually, in practice, prefer that life to this one I now live? Would I embrace the advantages and accept the disadvantages of that life better than the one I have in the US?

I’m not so sure any of those are the answer, probably some combination and a few things I’ve never thought of.

I used to talk to Peter all the time about the “right” thing to do…or actually he used to talk to me. He always did, and often still does, refer to his decisions in terms of right and wrong…as if there is some objective measure or a predetermined path to discover and fulfill.

I never understood that thinking. To me there is very rarely right and wrong…only many options, each with their pros and cons, but none of them is RIGHT in any objective sense…not even RIGHT in a subjective sense. Better or worse sometimes, yes…but right or wrong??? History books decide that, and they are written by the winners and so aren’t to be trusted. And no one has hindsight of the future.

At the time, there is only a decision, and how firmly and whole-heartedly you commit to it.

Of course, given a bit of time, I could deconstruct that statement too. I think the point here, if there even is one, is not to listen too much to what I have to say. I know I don’t.

Ask Peter, he might be able to give you the right answer.

It seems we take for granted that technology is moving forward at a breakneck pace. Everyday there is a new discovery, a new gadget, a new medicine…all better, faster and, of course more expensive, than the ones before.

I admit I get caught up in it too. I mean shit…we’ve got robots on Mars, animal cloning, genetically modified foods, infinitely fast computers, new drugs hitting the market everyday, commercial space flight, nuclear power, and cell phones the size of a credit card.

Do you guys remember few years ago they grew a human ear on the back of a lab rat?? They put human genes in a rat and made it grow a flipping ear on its back!! Even I have to say that is really freaky.

Anyway, I could go on with gazzillions of examples of all the unbelievable things technology and science are doing, but I’ve already listed enough to make my point: What freaking good do any of them do us?

I’m not discounting the value of science or saying that one day some of it might not produce significant results….but right now, all the “unprecedented progress” of the past 30 years is just so much HYPE.

I like my computer. I like my cell phone better than a phone attached to a wall….but my life is not really improved because of these things….and that is the real point. Life is not significantly better because of these dizzying science fiction advances.

Here are some real inventions:

Refrigerators:

I mean with a refrigerator, we go from eating spoiled, rancid food which will eventually kill us, or gorging on whatever fresh food we occasionally find, to being able to regularly get fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. It transforms life from “Feast or Famine” to “eat whenever you feel like it”.

The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in 1748. However, he did not use his discovery for any practical purpose.

In 1805, an American inventor, Oliver Evans, designed the first refrigeration machine. In 1876 German engineer Carl von Linden patented the process of liquifying gas that is still part of basic refrigeration technology. Finally, in 1918 Kelvinator marketed the first practical home refrigerator.

— The moral is that it was over a hundred years before the discovery made it into the lives of popular folks, thus improving our lives…alot.

Indoor Plumbing/Public Sewage:

Man…this one was a master stroke. We go from shitting in the woods, polluting our own water supplies and dying of thirst…..to porcelain flushing toilets and a near unlimited supply of clean water. That, my friends, is real progresss.

Over 2,800 years ago, the fabled King Minos of Crete owned the world’s first flushing water closet, complete with a wooden seat. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, was made possible by a sophisticated irrigation system. In essense, any ancient civilization worth a crap (no pun intended) was capable of public water systems.

It seems the idea of toilets didn’t materialize again (on record at least) until thousands of years later, in 1594. Sir John Harington built a “privie in perfection” for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth, to use in Richmond Palace, and one for himself at his humbler estate.

Then a few hundred years goes by again, during which time only royalty had access to private toilets and sewage systems. The idea of public water/sewage popped up again in England, and then in the US in the early 1800s.

Engineer Julius W. Adams provided the framework upon which modern sewerage is based. In 1857, Adams was commissioned to sewer the city of Brooklyn, which then covered 20 square miles. Chicago is credited with having the first comprehensive sewerage project in the country (designed by E. S. Chesbrough in 1885), based on the New York model.

Although the country’s first bathtub was commissioned in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1842, it wasn’t until the 1920s that bathrooms finally began to take off for regular folk. Even in 1950, 35% of dwellings lacked full indoor plumbing.

An outbreak of amoebic dysentery in Chicago during the 1933 World’s Fair was traced to faulty plumbing in just two hotels. The tragic results were 98 deaths and 1,409 official cases.

So let’s rally around toilets. They’re the shit….even though this time it took thousands of years from the time of conception to the time the average person got to take advantage.

Penicillin:

I love this one. The next greatest drug is introduced every single day. However, as I am quick to remind people, the death rate of humans is holding steady at 100%….despite the multi-billion dollar drug industry.

Alexander Fleming “invented” penicillin in 1928…or rather he noticed that a blue mold killed bacteria in a petri dish in 1928. However, it wasn’t until 1940 that it was isolated for medicinal purposes. It was first widely used in WWII.

I studied Microbiology in college. Want to know what human achievement has saved more lives than all drugs combined? Sanitation.

Clean water and unspoiled food are the best drugs we’ll ever invent.

Get your head around this:

Notice that life expectancy is relatively high (around 50 years) in the paleolithic era and then it drops. Why is that? Well, the “invention” of agriculture allowed us to move closer to each other since larger concentrations of food were, for the first time, possible in the same area.

That was bad. People died earlier. Why? Simple….people get sick and when there are a lot of other people around….they get sick too. People are hazardous to your health.

Also notice that, despite prozac, lipitor, wellbutrin, celebrex, kryptonite, megatron, bowflex, and any other number of modern, and very expensive, medicines……the average life span has not skyrocketed.

The fact that it has gone up at all is mostly lifestyle and nutrionally related…..it has little to do with pills or surgeries.

The Car:

The freaking car!! I might accept a bit of debate on this one; however, overall this has been an awesome advance. This is the beginning of transportation, the beginning of availability, and an integral part of what makes modern life possible.

Horses work well, but cars make us go…and more importantly the internal combustion engine makes transport of goods possible. What good is a refrigerator to store fresh foods if you have no method of transport to get them to you?

Karl Benz (of Mercedes-Benz fame) was the German mechanical engineer who designed and built the world’s first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine in 1885.

Henry Ford incorporated the Ford Motor Company in 1903, proclaiming, “I will build a car for the great multitude.” In October 1908, he did so, offering the Model T for $950. In the Model T’s nineteen years of production, its price dipped as low as $280.

Cars are very modern by most reckonings, but really most of the significant inventions mankind ever made all happened in a very small time frame…from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The Telephone:

Uhh…this one is a no-brainer. I wouldn’t say the telephone lineage that makes it possible for us to talk on our cell phones while stuck in traffic is a particular boon….but the telephone is the beginning of the communications revolution….forget the Internet.

What good is an engine to transport goods to your refrigerator (which itself is no good without public water) without a telephone to tell the fruit farmer in California or the meat broker on the midwest plains that you need it? Although at that time, it was likely the telegraph, not the telephone that was doing the communicating.

In the 1870s, Alexander Graham Bell patented, not invented, the telephone. It seems Mr. Bell was standing on the shoulders of giants because I can’t find much history to this invention.

Antonio Meucci was the real inventor. He was a doctor by trade and through medical research realized that one could transmit voice via wire, and between 1850 and 1862 he developed at least 30 different models of telephone, although he was too poor to protect his inventions with a patent. I can’t find any history before that.

I think I’m beginning to see a trend….all these inventions depend on each other in large part to be useful. By themselves they are just mildly interesting. In conjunction they allow us to move from death by malnutrition to death by obesity in 100 years.

Actually, it was only about 50 years around the turn on the 20th century. We haven’t done jack shit that has paid off in the last 50 years….although based on the timeline of the other inventions, the latest wave won’t really start to pay off for the average person for a few decades yet. Right now we’re just muddling about, stiring the same tea cup of old discoveries, looking for a way to grow a fucking ear on a rat’s back!!

My point is that these technologies are not producing significant improvements in the quality of life of the average person. They are incremental advancements at best. Their “whiz-bang” factor is off the charts, but their value is debatable.

What does the discovery of water on Mars have to do with me?? Absolutely nothing…and those dying of thirst in Africa have about as much use for the water on Mars as they do for space flight, global positioning satellites and any other number of modern wonders. They might be interested if the water could somehow find itself from Mars in the spaceship using GPS and then wind up in their desert hut….they still wouldn’t have a refrigerator though.

And don’t think I have the rose colored “good ol’ days” glasses on. I don’t think past inventions are inherently better than the present ones anymore than I think music, movies, people’s values, or any other number of things were nececssarily better in the past.

I’m just saying when you get right down to the old “what is this doing for me” litmus test……today’s science is just so much volleyball.

I vaguely remember myself when I used to have that much fun. That guy was mostly a rock star, and did what he wanted when he wanted….and everyone loved him for it.

The difference between that person and me is mostly psychological…but not altogether. Life changes….or perhaps we change and so our life seems to….which still makes the difference mostly psychological I suppose.

Anyway, as I toil away my days in the “real world”, middling about full of energy, bursting at the seams with nervous action of uncertain purpose….I am reminded of this person sometimes…….and wonder what happens that causes me to forget.

I am sure that it is the unrelenting barrage of non-events that makes up my daily life. Simply put, they wear me down….and sap the energy that makes me able to rise up.

Not that I am not full of activity and random achievement. Everyday is full to the brim with a spate of buzzing movement and exhaustive effort. When people ask me to do something, I really do have to check my schedule.

The non-events are like a hail of miniature ice picks, bleeding away my will to do anything but drink a beer and watch some TV….a welcome break from the endless snow storm of my life.

However, there is certainly a degree of romanticism to that person I was. His life was very tiresome and full of questions as well…but at least at the end of all that, although no closer to any answer, my story unfolded a little more….I was a little more myself than I was before.

These days end with me no closer to who I can be. They are spent mostly trying to be a little more of what everyone else already is. I have little to offer to that life.

I was at Ein Gedi in 1996 and was talking to Mark from South Africa, the good Mark, and he told me one night very drunk so I knew it was the truth, “I just want to be somebody. That’s part of why I travel. I want to do something special that makes me different….unique.”

I was really drunk that night too (big surprise) and told him something that is truer now than it was then. I said, “When you’re somebody wanting to be somebody different you do things that no one else does to set yourself apart. When you’re really different, you don’t do different things anymore…all you want to do is feel like everybody else.”

Take a look at the picture. Do any of you guys remember that person?? What would you say to him?

I don’t even know what I would say to him. “Keep going,” perhaps…or maybe, “Grow up you fucking Peter Pan,” but both of those are tough roads to hoe. How do you erase the baggage of your life??

That is a good question.

The headline at msnbc.com reads “Deadly November”. Something about 135 soldiers being killed in Iraq this month….the most since the beginning of the war.

I am sure that is true. However, about 6,500 (not 135) died on D-Day (not month) on the beaches of Normandy in 1945. I couldn’t find a count for the entire month.

If you think that is bad, in about 3 days 51,000 (not 6,500) Americans died at the Battle of Gettysburg …although that isn’t a totally fair comparison since we were on both sides of that battle.

I’m not trivializing death….I’m just saying look on the bright side.

I also looked at CNN.com, just to see I could find ONE positive story. There are about 40 headlines with links on their frontpage and I found just one with a fairly positive message: “Wal-Mart slashing prices”

Actually, I just read the article. The full headline is “Wal-Mart to cut prices after poor sales”. So that isn’t really so positive either.

How about this imaginary press release from a fictional Wal-Mart spokesperson: “Wal-Mart is going to cut prices just because we’re feeling nice…..no reason in particular. We’re currently the 12th most profitable company on the planet with about 9 billion dollars in profit in 2003. I mean, come one, 9 billion dollars?? We’re like fucking Richy Rich!! I wipe my ass with hundred dollar bills.”

That’ll be the day….

On a side note, I am not really Wal-Mart bashing. Wal-Mart isn’t the most profitable company in the world, but it does have most revenue: 263 billion dollars. To put that in perspective, that’d make Wal-Mart just about on par with Belgium…..the 25th largest economy (not company) in the world.

What I am bashing is MCI. Remember they declared bancruptcy in an accounting scandal arguably as large as Enron’s a few years ago. Last year THEY were the most profitable company on the planet according to Fortune magazine with 22 billion dollars in profits on 27 billion dollars of revenue. Even drugs don’t have a profit margin like that. Maybe I should declare bancruptcy?? I’d certainly be willing to engage in an accounting scandal….if only I had some money to account for.

I looked on Foxnews.com too. I couldn’t even find one seemingly positive headline there.

And you wonder why people like to talk about sports and the weather. Life is stressful. Why bother?

But look on the bright side, no matter how many people die in Iraq, no matter how bad the economy is, or how poorly the average man is faring, no matter how many people pull out in front of you on the way home….no matter how much your wife bitches: at least we don’t die in droves of the Bubonic Plague from lack of basic sanitation, living in our own squalor, like we did in the Middle Ages.

The Plague killed about 137 million people in its illustrious history. During one 5 year period in the 14th century, it killed one third of Europe’s population: 25 million people.

So that certainly takes the cake for devastation per capita, far beyond any wars….especially Iraq, but that isn’t the largest death toll in a year: That prize goes to the lowly Flu virus.

WWI killed 9 million men (and women) in 4 years, ending in 1918. In 1919 the plain old flu, albeit a particular virulent strain, killed 25 million people in one year. Phwhoo. In 1919 I bet people were longing for the good ol’ days…..when they were at war!!

Think that’s bad?? We haven’t even scratched the surface!!!

Humans appeared about 50 to 60,000 years ago. Since then about 112 billion people have been born. Of those, about 6 billion stragglers (us) are alive on this planet today (some of those of questionable usefulness). That means that approximately 94% of everyone that has ever lived IS DEAD.

And I’ll be completely honest with you: Our odds don’t look so good either. In about a hundred years….we’ll all be dead too, all six billion of us….wars, epidemics and global warming aside.

I think what I’m really saying here is: The Sky is Definitely Falling. Count your blessings….before they are killed in Iraq, die of the flu, are stolen away from you in an accounting scandal, or are underpriced by Wal-Mart.

Let’s face it. I become easily consumed with doing stuff of no practical purpose that I pursue for no other reason than to become good at it….at which point I no longer do it and pick up something else.

I have repeated this cycle bunches of times. I do it with literary genres, with sports, even people occasionally. I’ve had every hobby from ping pong, to financial markets, from playing music, to illegal substances, from trying to understand theoretical physics, to photography….even to petty thievery in my younger days….thankfully the last one was a short lived hobby, otherwise I’d be in jail.

Lately I suppose my hobby has been work. I treat it like all the rest of the junk in many respects. I liked it all the more because they said I was bad at it when I started. I find that funny.

One of my favorite and most enduring hobbies is singing. My dad can’t carry a tune and my mom thinks she can sing…but really she can’t (which reminds me of someone else I know —> ME). So I kept doing it…for years really, all the while knowing I have no inborn talent. I find it comforting to know I am bad at something and have become barely proficient only through years of practice. Singing is one of the things I’m proudest of….even though certainly not one of the things I’m best at.

I also think it is strange that I call them all hobbies….even work. I don’t really DO anything it seems. Although, at any given time, I am always DOING something…..I guess sort of implying that the hobbies are part time gigs in support of the real purpose…..but if they are all hobbies then I’m not really doing them in support of anything.

I’m a full time hobbyist.

I’ve talked to a few people on the phone this week and it seems I’m repeating the same story, so I’ll make an update here on the website in case anyone else wants to know what is up.

Job wise: I got a great performance review. It seems I’m really good at my job now. It was glowing. I think part of that was because I had come so far from when I was hired…..when they were quick to tell me I sucked alot.

Looking back I sucked a little…I admit it, but the main difference is that I used to work 40 to 45 hours a week….now I work 50 to 55. 10 hours more a week doesn’t necessarily mean I am better at my job…it just means I do it more.

Additionally, now if I don’t meet a deadline or am not as prepared as I should be…I am excused because they know I’m working hard otherwise. I used to just get grilled…which wasn’t pleasant.

Ok…I have done better…which I accept. But if I went back to 40 to 45 hours a week I’d be right back in the same situation I was in before….which tells me that it is really about works hours…not job proficiency.

I told them before: I would do a better job if I had less to do. If you tell a juggler to juggle, he does it….if you give him 3 balls, he pulls tricks and entertains the crowd and kisses babies in between balls; if you give him 7 balls the crowd is amazed by his ability to keep it all going….but if you give him 30….it doesn’t matter if the guy can juggle with his ass…there is a limit to how many balls even the most expert juggler can handle.

There is a always a point past which you will fail. That’s what I felt like in the past…and likely will in the future. At least now I know it.

Life wise: I still think I am a little to busy. I am trying to “schedule” more free time…but that is almost an oxymoron. I’ve already mentioned what my week is like…its still much the same.

I would like to do more outside of work and I dream up a scheme-a-day to get out it….I’m bound to hit sooner or later right?

On other fronts: I bowled really well tonight; I hope I’ll get up the energy to go to the USC/Clemson game this weekend, but I bet I’ll be working; my dog is now having occasional strokes, but at 19 years old the Vet says she is in pretty good health so I can’t really complain; I’ve talked to and seen a good number of old friends lately….all of whom are doing relatively well…which is nice; and lastly, I really like these three shows on TV: Smallville, Andromeda, and The Daily Show.

I’m off to bed.

I used to joke about seceding from the Union and forming my own country. I’ve know about Sealand for a few years, but I was doing some reading tonight and was reminded again.

This is Sealand, a sovereign nation:

It has its own passports, stamps, currency and a flag. Its just like a real country….only a little smaller.

It consists of a rusty steel deck sitting on two hollow, chubby concrete cylinders that rise 60 feet above the churn of the North Sea. Up top there’s a drab building and a jury-rigged helicopter landing pad.

During World War II, the United Kingdom decided to establish a number of military bases, the purpose of which was to defend England against German air raids. These sea forts housed enough troops to man and maintain artillery designed to shoot down German aircraft and missiles. They were situated along the east coast of England on the edge of the English territorial waters.

Some of them, actually one of them, was built outside British jurisdiction in international waters. After the war the bases were no longer needed so the British Navy dismantled them, except for one.

On 2 September 1967, former English major Paddy Roy Bates formally occupied the “island” and settled there with his family. After intensive discussions with skillful English lawyers, Roy Bates proclaimed the island his own state. Of course, he proclaimed himself King.

I keep asking myself….what the fuck did they do all day?? I understand wanting to “get away from it all”….but this takes the cake.

The ILO is the best. They need to make their research cheaper though.

New ILO book explores “Decent Working Time Deficit” in the industrialized countries

Twenty per cent or more of the workforce in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Japan work at least 50 hours a week, compared with fewer than 10 per cent in most European countries, according to a new publication authored by the International Labour Office (ILO).

“Working Time and Workers’ Preferences in Industrialized Countries: Finding the Balance”, produced by the ILO Conditions of Work and Employment Programme, argues that there are substantial gaps between the hours that people are actually working and the number of hours that workers need or would prefer to work.

During the late 1990s, people working in excess of 50 hours per week in the US and Australia increased from 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the workforce. Among those countries included in the study, only Japan (28.1 per cent) and New Zealand (21.3 per cent) had a higher proportion working more than 50 hours per week.

By contrast, in most EU countries (prior to the 2004 expansion) the number of people working 50 hours or more per work remains well under 10 per cent, with figures ranging from 1.4 per cent in the Netherlands to 6.2 in Greece and Ireland. The only exception is the United Kingdom, where some 15.5 per cent of the workforce spends 50 hours or more at work.

The overall pattern underlying these variations is that countries with relatively limited regulation of working time, such as the US, the UK and Australia, tend to have a much higher incidence of excessive hours than other countries, according to the book.

So….this is really more of an academic study than a book. It costs 132 bucks….not exactly a Barnes and Noble special. I can’t afford it anyway.

The ILO is a branch of the UN that promotes labor rights, social justice, and human rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being and it became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946.

Of course with a spelling like “Labour” and the promotion of labor rights, it is not a creation of the US. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Does anyone know anyone that works at the ILO or the UN?

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I’m drowning in work again. They’re not scoring any points with me. I have a performance review this week, and I’m guessing it’ll go really well for me. How ironic.

In the meantime, I just reminded myself that right after my work hours ballooned the first time I bought a new domain name: PlanningMyEscape.com.

Maybe I’ll start using it.