Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I have had a serious of "near zero days" (reference hiking jargon), but I think they mostly just seem like zero days. I am getting stuff done, just not at 100% efficiency. Not sure anyone can move with 100% efficiency... Anyhow, I am planning on starting my next journey on May 1st. -- more details as they unfold. I know what I like and dislike. I know what turns me on and off. It's time for that knowledge to be guidance. We booked a trip to Wyoming/Yellowstone park in a few weeks. It will tackle at least three items that have been on my list 1.) Visit Yellowstone (in winter). 2.) A longish snowmobile trip. 3.) A visit to Wyoming. That will be my 50th state. That will make it all US states, 100 countries and all continents. I will likly be getting involved with MTP (Most Traveled People) https://mtp.travel/ where they break countries into regions. I decided I like this music. DiDuLa - "On the way home"

Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...

I prefer to pronounce brainwashing with an Ohio or American Midland Dialect. "Warsh". Its a catchy pronounciation. Step one of any effective brainwashing is to eliminate any notion or self-evidence of brainwashing. "I am absolutely sure I am not brainwashed. I am an American. I believe in the individual. I believe that all of my ideas and thoughts are my own." Those thoughts are a good starting place. The fact is that you, as a human, are a herding animal. It is a lesson that I found in my time in Antarctica and watching my own herding animals. "No man is an island" --John Donne (1572–1631). Is also a good start. We are all affected by our instincts. Tribalism being one of them. Many of us have lost a lot of our instincts. When we loose enough we probably fall somewhere into the vast ontology and categories of mental illness. So, You are what you eat, both informationally and physically. Think different. Use what you learned in school about empathy. ...

I am no longer part of the Vestry at Christ Church Norcross. I served my full term as the Buildings and Grounds liaison. It was three years. There were a lot of items to deal with over the years. But the effort wasn't the work. It was the responsibility and knowing that I wasn't doing enough. I think most people get that feeling with obligations. Maybe not. I am sure the time and responsibility will be quickly reallocated. When I signed on I figured I would learn something. Now I am thinking about what I learned along with the hows and whys. I think my Grandfather would have approved. He is mentioned on page 12 in the folowing time capsule. https://digitalarchives.episcopalarchives.org/the_witness/pdf/1941_Watermarked/Witness_19410515.pdf His noteworthy translation: Kant

We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...

Before this trip I couldn't spell caribbean... It's a weird one. We didn't have a lot of time for this trip as usual. Other things in life besides travel to get done, like work. We planned Punta Cana Dominican Republic, Domenica, and Antigua and Barbuda. Our visit to DR was shortened by a cancelled flight on Liat Airlines. Our first flight on Liat we were at the ticket counter for 3 hours. There were only 3 other passengers on an Embraer 145 which holds 50. We learned in Dominica that Liat is short for "Leave Island Another Time". Or as I used my very limited Russian swearing vocaulary "Blyat" or "блядь". You can hear this word many times watching car crashes in Russia on Youtube. It is normally compounded with many other intensifiers. Of the three countries we liked Domenica best. It reminds me of Maui without all the tourism and people. Parts of the island might be the densest jungle I've seen. This pic is a improptu ...