Dingo’s Kidneys!

That kind of thinking arises out of an uncreative mindset that has closed its eyes to an array of viable options. There are lots of ways to travel to the destination of your dreams without spending nearly as much money as you think. As Rolf Potts says in his pioneering work “Vagabonding”, going off and motorcycling across China for 6 months is actually a heck of a lot cheaper than you think, and it may even be cheaper than staying where you are!

So today I’m going to explain my method for dramatically reducing the cost of travelling from Point A to Point B, as well as how you might even make some money from doing it, like I did. Today, let’s talk about Craigslist rideshare.

6,000 Miles of Success

Last year, I utilized Craigslist with great success. In fact, about 90% of those 6,000 miles mentioned above were traversed through Craigslist rides. If you’re not familiar with Craigslist, it’s a website that allows you to post classified advertisements to easily get a lot of eyeballs on what you have to say, usually a request or an offer of some sort. With the exception of a few select categories like real estate for the most populous cities, Craigslist ads are completely free to post.

You may already be familiar with areas on Craigslist that help you find housing or sell your car, but increasingly, people are using it to find carpool and rideshare partners. By using the Craigslist rideshare page, I was able to travel thousands of miles around the western half of the USA without having to worry about bringing a car along (and all the maintenance, parking, and security concerns that arise from that). And I plan on doing this again in the future.

Does the thought of using Craigslist to share rides seem strange to you?

Why should it? Many many people around the world do this exact thing every day and benefit greatly from it. I’ve used it for about two years and have never had a negative experience using it. I originally found out about this section of Craigslist via word of mouth, and judging from how it’s grown over the past year, people are recommending this service to their friends more and more. Perhaps that’s because the people I’ve met through Craigslist are very kind and more open than the average person you’d meet. They have families and friends just like you, and they’re just trying to save some gas money as they go from Point A to Point B. That’s why the system works. So now that you know why, let’s talk about how.

How Craigslist Rideshare Works:

1. Go to www.Craigslist.org
2. Watch the site automatically redirect you to the Craigslist page for the city nearest you. Or you can choose a specific city from the: Craigslist Sites List
3. Click “rideshare” under “community”, which is on the top left. (Alternatively you can just add “/rid/” to the end of the URL.)
4. Browse the listings and find a ride going where you want. (You may also want to use your browser’s “Find” function to search for all instances that your city’s name appears on the page.)
5. Click the email link above the entry and email the driver that you’re interested in sharing a ride with.
6. Repeat Steps 5 & 6 a few times to increase your chances for a quick response.
7. Wait.

Sometimes people who post rideshare ads won’t get back to you for a few days, so if they provide any other contact info besides the anonymous email address that Craigslist provides, try contacting them via that method first. I’ve had more success this way.

Alternatively, you can also post an ad of your own, free of charge, on Craigslist to request or offer a ride. Just be sure to post in the Craigslist site for the city you’re departing from. And if you’re really in a hurry, I recommend you do both: post an ad requesting a ride as well as email anyone offering a ride to your destination. Doing both will dramatically raise your chances of leaving sooner.

Once you’ve contacted someone via email or exchanged phone numbers, plan a time to meet up before your carpool. This isn’t always possible, but it’s recommended for journeys longer than a couple hours. Usually fuel expense is split evenly between all people who will be riding, but occasionally a generous driver will offer a ride free of charge. (Some people just want conversation during a long ride.)

So how could you actually make money from this?

The way I made money using this amazing service was initially accidental. I had been checking Craigslist for a few days, trying to find a ride out of Denver to the Chicago area. Sometimes, around holidays especially, finding a ride to a distant city can take as long as a week. That’s why it’s important to have a backup plan (or be more flexible), however I’ve found that timing tends to work out for the best in the end.

This case was no exception. I found a posting on Craigslist by a woman who was moving from Denver to Chicago, but she didn’t enjoy driving on the freeways. “What a great circumstance,” I thought. “I’m completely happy to drive on freeways, and I’m headed exactly that way.” After exchanging a few emails, I called her up and planned a time to meet up with her.

I had been using Craigslist for years before this, and this was the first time I had the opportunity to be the driver. This situation is quite rare, and about 99% of all ride offers do not require you to drive, or even have a drivers license.

Run Craigslist riders past your Intuition

Just as with any new person in your life, it’s important to run prospective passengers and drivers past your intuition (what some people think of as their “gut feeling”). Although some people tend to judge on appearance, I’ve found that even more important than appearance is the feeling a new person gives you. How do you feel after you’re done talking with them? Tired? Neutral? Confused? Energized?

A phone call is a great way to start, so when I called her up, I paid close attention to how her presence made me feel. What does my intuition say about this person? Do I feel he/she is trustworthy? Is this the kind of person I’d feel comfortable sharing a car ride with for the duration of my trip?

After running it past my intuition, I got a green light. I felt good and scheduled a time to meet up. By meeting up in person, my intuition would have a lot more data to go on, and I’d be able to examine the car I’d be driving. When I met her in person, my intuition gave me another green light, her little car started up right away, and I had a good feeling all around. After asking her some questions about the vehicle’s condition, I concluded that it was ready for the 1,000 mile journey ahead of us. (It’s worth noting that, if you’re the driver, it’s a good idea to make sure your vehicle is up to the task BEFORE you embark.)

How I Got Paid to Travel from using Craigslist Rideshare

Here was the deal: In exchange for driving us all the way to Chicago, she would pay for all of the fuel and also offered to pay me some money for my time. I was surprised. I’d never been a paid chauffeur before, and because I didn’t see the work as being that challenging, I didn’t see it as something that provided that much value. This mental association with non-challenging work not providing much value was false, of course. I realized that since she didn’t feel at all comfortable or capable of driving on high-speed highways, I was providing a good deal of value, but I told her she could pay me whatever she felt was fair. To be honest, at that point I was still so pleasantly surprised at how things were working out — still rather amazed at that the universe brought me an opportunity to go 1,000 miles for free — that anything beyond that was metaphorical icing on my metaphorical travel-cake.

And So I Drove All 1,000 Miles… in One Day

We were both lucky to have found each other, and without Craigslist this never would have happened. If she hadn’t found me, she said she would have had to pay for another driver’s plane ticket back to Denver. Lucky for her, I was heading back home; and lucky for me, she was heading my way.

We set out as early as possible, and I drove the entire 1,000 miles in about 17 hours. It would have been faster, but she had a dog… and dogs have needs. (Note to self: Intend that no future rides involve pets that have to stop for “bathroom” breaks…)

But all things considered, it worked out incredibly well.

Expand your Comfort Zone

Doing something like using Craiglist rideshare to find a carpool partner may be beyond your comfort zone right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. You have a lot more freedom that you realize; and in my experience, the worldview you’re used to seeing on TV is not an accurate representation of what America (or the rest of the world for that matter) is actually like.

Just turn off your TV and see the world is nicer than you thought.
~ Elijah Wald

As I said at the beginning of this article, many many people do this around the world every day, and every Craigslist experience I’ve ever had was positive. These are people with families and friends, just like you. These are people who are trying to get from Point A to Point B, just like you. That being said, if you’re going on an especially long trip like I did, it would be wise to meet up with the person beforehand to make sure you’d be comfortable being in the car with them for most of the day. But remember, that they would use Craigslist to find a ride says something about them as a person. It says something about their beliefs about the common goodwill between people and the confidence they have in themself. The amount of people using this service who are really fearful is about nil, and that’s something I like about it.

And although I can’t comment (yet) on how effective Craigslist is outside of the USA, I’ve heard that it’s useful in Europe, as well. As I said before, the people I’ve met through Craigslist are usually very kind and more open than the average person you’d meet. In fact, every Craigslist ride I’ve ever had has felt safer than being on a city bus, and do you realize how many people ride the bus every day without even thinking about it? I guess that explains why people who have used Craigslist rideshare once tend to use it again and again because they have good experiences.

Step Into the Freedom that was Always There

Why not open yourself up to travelling via Craigslist instead of driving next time you have to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco or from Chicago to Minneapolis? Or even for a shorter trip like Seattle to Portland? You’ll be saving a lot of fuel (which is environmentally responsible) and you’ll be stretching yourself a bit. Who knows, a new friendship might even arise from it!

Have you ever noticed that crossing beyond your comfort zone gives you a rush, sometimes lasting a few days afterward? You get this feeling because a part of you knows expanding your comfort zone is for your higher good (and one of the best uses of your time).

You have a lot more freedom than you exercise. Start stepping into that untapped freedom today, while you still have the chance.

The whole world calls out to you.

No posts relate.

If you haven’t, you’re really missing out on a great opportunity. Some of the most unique photos I’ve ever taken were through spontaneous, wacky, and unconventional uses of my camera. Today I’m going to share a very different way to take a photo, a technique that I stumbled upon when my mind was in a state of play. Today, I’m going show you how to literally paint with light on your camera’s sensor (or film if you’re still into that) to produce some truly unique images.

Being Crazy & Shameless

For this shoot, I’d returned to the dock where I’d photographed the Rainbow Rocks over a year before, but this time I wanted to do something really different. With modern auto-focus and light metering, any cross-eyed orangutan can take a decent photo of a tree, and even a child can frame a photo pretty well these days. But it takes a slightly odd human being, such as myself, to do something a little crazy without being ashamed about it; and to be honest, I felt bored with the idea of taking photos in the conventional way.

I had taken thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of rather conventional photos before. (A good example of a rather conventional photo is this intimate macro shot of warm autumn leaves and pine needles nestled inside of a hollowed-out log. Great photo, but not any territory that hasn’t been covered before.)

In the past, I’d taken advantage of everything I could think of, always aiming for an image that gives people a new perspective, or at least an image that they find pleasing. But this time I wanted to do Something Different™, and yes, something a little crazy. In the process, I inadvertently started painting with light, creating abstract and perspective-altering images by smearing the light as it hit the sensor.

So how did I do this?
And subsequently, what do I highly recommend you try?

How to Camera Dash

First, I increased my camera’s shutter length to 1/20th of a second and sometimes as long as 1/13th of a second depending on the light around me. How long your shutter length should be depends on your lighting situation, but if you’re not getting results, try increasing your shutter length. Secondly, holding tightly to my camera’s gripping area, I literally flung my arm around, and took a photo as the camera was moving quickly through the air. Timing is key. I tried a lot of different things, sometimes rotating the camera and sometimes diving the camera near the grass to get a warping effect. The photo to the right is a good example of a dive.

It’s important to point out that this technique is different from letting go of your camera and actually tossing it into the air. I do not recommend camera tossing at all! Camera tossing puts your camera at great risk of falling and breaking into a thousand shiny pieces. I’m not a fan of shattering expensive cameras, and I suspect you aren’t either.

Camera Dashing is Much Safer

My technique, which could be called Camera Dashing, is much safer. The difference between this and camera tossing is that you maintain a strong grip on your camera as you make arcs, rotations, and dives through the air while pressing the shutter. (Keeping the camera wrist strap on is definitely recommended.) And although it takes some practice to get the timing right, you should also try quickly rotating your camera as you take the photo which can produce some interesting results. A good example of a rotation is the photo of the forest on the right.

It’s the Safest Form of Kinetic Photography

I later found out that this is actually an example of Kinetic photography, which is photography composed wherein a specific effect is caused by motion. However, because you never let go of your camera when doing this technique, Camera Dashing is the safest form of Kinetic photography that I know of. As long as you know your own strength, the risk is minimal!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments. This doesn’t take long to get the hang of, and it produces some very interesting results.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and paint with light!

Be Crazy.

Be Shameless.

And most of all, have fun!

— — —
Photos from this trip are in the Camera Dashing in the Abstract Forest album. All photos in the Byteful Gallery can be used as desktop wallpapers because they are high resolution (1920×1440) just like the fullscreen & widescreen wallpapers.

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Marinara That’ll Turn You To Stone

Paintings and sculptures you’ve heard about, and seen photos of for your entire life, live here. Because it’s featured in the introduction of a well-known television drama, many people will be familiar with the duo of paintings, “Adam & Eve” by Lucas Cranach, for instance. And fans of the board game Masterpiece may recognize “Old Man with a Gold Chain” by Rembrandt, if they aren’t already fans of Rembrandt to begin with. Aside from the major “rockstar” pieces of the museum, there were also more unusual creations, such as a darkened sculpture room filled with hauntingly black square pillars and a photo of the head of Medusa created entirely out of spaghetti entitled “Medusa Marinara”. And I must say, seeing Medusa’s image interpreted in Italian cuisine is absolutely hilarious.

But even if you’re not an Art History major (and try not to pass out when I admit that I’m not), you’re sure to appreciate two works of art in particular. The first is the inimitable painting “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper. Finally seeing this painting in person was a special treat because I really enjoy the visceral way the painting evokes the era of which it’s from. If you really gaze into the painting, you can almost feel the hard, cold wood of the curving bar. A nearby sign said it

“…was inspired by “a restaurant on New York’s Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet,” but the image, with its carefully constructed composition and lack of narrative, has a timeless quality that transcends its particular locale.”

Indeed it does.

“A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” was just Incredible

But without a doubt, the painting I was most excited to see, and the painting you’ll probably recognize the most, is “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat (pronounced Soo-rah). I was first exposed to this lovely painting when I saw the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” many years ago. When I first entered the museum, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to see any of Seurat’s famous work because I’d been told much of the art had been temporarily shipped to a museum in Texas due to the remodeling that was currently being done. So, you can imagine how glad I was to hear that they did keep one of Seurat’s paintings; and thankfully they decided to keep this one, which is probably his most popular work.

Seeing “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” in person was really amazing, and I even had time to take multiple macro photos, each getting progressively closer to the painting to capture the tiniest detail. I would certainly never touch the glass that’s over the painting, but I did take a macro photo close enough so that you can see even the individual brush strokes that reveal the style in which it was created. Do you see how everything is actually made up of tiny dots? That’s because this painting was created in pointillism style. Check Art Institute of Chicago album for the macro photos that reveal this detail in full size.

The Museum Itself is an Icon

You don’t have to be an Art History major to enjoy this museum. It features many of the iconic images you’ve probably seen before, but seeing them in person delivers a more personal, and more real, emotional impact. I spent about 2.5 hours exploring the museum, but some of it was inaccessible due to the remodeling. I’d expect that if it weren’t being remodeled, it would only require an afternoon to really get a grip on. If you want to save a few bucks, take advantage of the Free Thursday evenings from 5 to 8 PM. A truly delightful experience, the Art Institute of Chicago is not to be missed.

So get down there and check it out before they ship the Seurat to Spain!

Note: The author of this website does not make any claims to know the future movements of any Seurat works of art, painted or otherwise. Such claims are purely comedic and probably not even that funny. When questioned, the country of Spain declined to comment… but seriously, what is the deal with that medusa marinara?

— — —
Photos from this trip are in the Art Institute of Chicago album. All photos in the Byteful Gallery can be used as desktop wallpapers because they are high resolution (1920×1440) just like the fullscreen & widescreen wallpapers.

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1. Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Doesn’t Like Your Camera. We can change this.
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3. Have You Seen The Bean? (Chicago Cloud Gate)
4. The Top 3 Exhibits at Chicago’s Field Museum
5. Is Navy Pier a glorified shopping mall?

Where was I?
Ah yes, Creativity.

In the last article, we discussed how beneficial it is to reflect the attitude that the Master Creators hold by being aligned with passion when we create; and how creative output, when produced this way, tends to be much more impactful and relevant. A few days ago, a visual summary of that message, a high-resolution image that can be printed out or used as a desktop wallpaper, was uploaded to the Byteful Gallery. Behold, Walt Disney’s famous words:

“We don’t make movies to make money,
we make money to make more movies.”
~ Walt Disney

So beautiful in its simplicity. So rewarding to contemplate.

I won’t lie to you, it takes a lot of effort to get to that place in your own life, but it’s one of the most worthwhile accomplishments you can ever make.

As I said in the last InspirationEverywhere entry, it’s important that you be patient with yourself and remember that everyone is a work in progress. Along that journey of self-improvement, Disney’s words serve as a useful guide of what it really feels like to be aligned with your passion. You see, what Disney is really describing here is his company’s alignment with three things: what they enjoy doing, what work they feel is important, and what other people enjoy.

Let’s deconstruct that for a minute. If Disney didn’t enjoy what he was doing, he wouldn’t really care about making movies that exemplified timeless lessons. If he didn’t feel that the messages could benefit people, he wouldn’t create movies at all. And if other people didn’t enjoy the movies, he simply wouldn’t have the resources to make more.

A Positive Spiral

Another way to describe being truly aligned with passion is the idea of a positive spiral. If you were doing the work you really loved (work that also fed/clothed you), you’d allow yourself really dive into that work, wouldn’t you? And what would happen to your skill level? You would improve in that work, wouldn’t you? Which means your level of contribution would increase, which would in turn increase the amount of people who benefitted from your work. And this would increase your income, thereby freeing you up more and more to increase the quality of your creative output. This is the positive creative spiral: a place of alignment and congruency with who you truly are.

Today, make it your aim to create a positive spiral in your own life. To help facilitate this process, you can print this poster out and put it somewhere you’ll see it so you can be reminded of his message everyday: Disney Quote – “We don’t make movies to make money…”

— — —
The poster of this quote is in the Byteful Gallery > InspirationEverywhere Motivational Quotes album. Selected Quotes from the gallery are now available on T-shirts and mugs at the Byteful Store. (Specific quotes added upon request.)

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4. Personal Development for Smart People & Travel

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to reflect on lessons learned over the past year and, more importantly, to set a vision for the new year. Let’s dive into today’s odyssey, shall we?

Questions for today:

1. Are you doing work you’re passionate about, work that you were born to do?
2. Are doing work that provides real value to the world instead of temporary distraction?
3. Are you allowing yourself to explore new territory so you can learn what works for you and what doesn’t?

Today I’m going to show you how it takes time to find what you enjoy creating, but once you find it, you can embrace your unique contribution and start creating for passion instead of just to survive. This is one of the best feelings in the world.

Over the years, the focus of byteful.com has morphed considerably. At first, it was an experiment to see how I felt about communicating through the medium of blogging. (And it’s important to remember that blogging is a medium in the same sense that newspaper is a medium. Blogging is not a genre, and it is most certainly not a verb!) I finally zeroed-in and started focusing on travel sometime 2008, because, after trying lots of different things, I discovered that this focus is something I’m really passionate about. And, lucky for me, it was complimented by my passion for photography, as well.

But I didn’t discover this right way. Only after many experiments in writing about different topics and using different styles had I come across a focus that I really felt good about. Not just good: I really love writing about my experiences, and I came to realize that true adventure, the spontaneous exploration and documentation of powerful experiences, was something that I would be more than happy spending years writing about. And because I finally felt really passionate about what I was doing, I would regularly put in the time to write, which meant I would improve more and more at what I was doing. You see, when you feel passionate about what you’re doing, you want to put in the time to get good at it, too.

Something to know about me upfront: I’m really bad at getting up the motivation to write something when I’m not interested in it or if I have any doubt whatsoever that what I’m writing about actually matters from a higher perspective.

I’m not going to be shy about this: certain articles I’ve posted here are complete drivel, and I felt pretty tedious while writing some of them. (Hint for the wise: you’re probably not writing compelling content if you, the writer, are bored to tears.) So why did I write them? Good question!

Every Misstep is a Growth Experience

At the time, for some mindless reason, I felt like they needed to be complete. I felt that articles such as Visiting the Minneapolis Central Library were somehow meaningful.

HAH! Perhaps I felt that way because I wanted completeness in my chronicling of my experience in Minneapolis, but my values were out of whack: my focus wasn’t on creating with passion. My focus seemed to be on completeness instead. With what I’ve learned now, I’m not convinced the world needed another 672 word article describing a public library… (Even if it did have interesting architecture.) Honestly, the article was boring!

Sure, some of the pictures are interesting, and the bit about the moving bookshelves was cool in an “I, Robot” sort of way, but really. If I don’t enjoy reading my own article, I don’t expect YOU to either. I promise.

That bulbous blubber of an article never helped anyone, did it? The only person it may have helped was me. Do you know why?

It helped me because, every mistake, every misstep, is another experience mark on the chalkboard, another experience you can grow from, another step toward success… if you have the ability to learn from it. You’ve got to find how to get into your own creative flow, and you learn that through experience, through DOING.

This is the crux of everything I’m saying here.

I focused on being thorough instead of writing with passion for far too long, and do you know what resulted? Boring beige blather. Perhaps I used thoroughness as some kind of demented crutch, I don’t know.

Perhaps I was hypnotized at points, like some kind of sleepy polar bear. Yeah, maybe I should release a formal statement that goes: “Sorry folks, I was in a zombie-like walking-coma for the year of 2008 and probably at points in 2009, as well.”

All joking aside, metaphorically that’s not far from the truth. In some of the articles, I was like a zombie of heartless thoroughness, but never again. Over time, I have grown much in my wielding of the art of communication. The blubber has been going down and will continue to go down as I improve as a writer, as I align more and more with creating with passion.

Walt Disney once said,

“We don’t make movies to make money,
we make money to make more movies.”

Now slow down. Take a breath. Read Disney’s words again. Inside this quote is the essence of creating with passion. So, why should online content be any different?

It isn’t.

You Will Suck… but it’s temporary!

In the early days of byteful.com, I wrote a little article giving myself permission to make mistakes as I grew as a writer. I recognized that experience is the only way to improve, so I embraced the fact that I was definitely going to make mistakes and probably write a lot of boring beige blather (though I didn’t call it that at the time). I knew I was going to suck… a lot.

For a long time.
And the best part is: that’s okay!

Do you think anyone is born knowing how to write compelling articles or compose an inspiring photograph? Heck, no! Each success is marked by uncounted reams of blather: learning experiences about what works and what sucks. And it’s okay because I was doing something that I enjoyed, something that I would continually improve upon.

And please don’t get me wrong. I don’t claim that I’ve stopped sucking, only that my level of suckage has reached a tolerable level in such a way that my work is actually shared between people now. Remember, this is a journey. As long as you keep working at it, keep creating with passion, you will improve! And if you stick with your passion long enough, you’ll start creating content that really speaks to people on a deep level. When you’re passionate about something that’s important to you, you can’t help but do this.

People are Starved for a Message that Speaks to Them

A good explanation of this was discussed at last year’s South by Southwest conference. Merlin Mann and John Gruber held a panel on this subject and have even offered the discussion as podcast for free download. If you create web content, or any kind of creative output at all, I highly recommend you listen to this. I cannot recommend this podcast enough. I’ve linked to it at the bottom of this article so you can grab the mp3 of their panel discussion once you’re done here.

Some of my favorite ideas from the podcast:

“People are starved for content that speaks to them that’s not a reality show.”

“You have a certain obligation to reinvent yourself.”

I would tweak the first statement and say that, beyond content, people are starved for a message that speaks to them. All content has a message whether you realize it or not, and last time I checked, the Earth could use more empowerment and more gratitude in its messages.

We’re all here to do What we’re all here to do

Khalil Gibran once wrote, “Work is Love made visible.” And I’ve never come across a better way to describe the mindset of what it feels like to be doing the work you were meant to do.

When you commit to putting time in doing work you’re passionate about, you will “level-up” in your ability to do what you’re doing. Here’s a useful analogy that came to me while writing this article: The difference between one level of skill to the next level is similar to the feeling you get when you’re trying to see a 3D hologram embedded in a 3D stereogram.

For a long time, you squint and squint, but you just cannot see the 3D image embedded in the pattern. After a while, someone comes along and tells you to focus beyond the image and suddenly:

BOOM.

Your eyes relax as they focus beyond and an amazingly detailed hologram of a dinosaur, or a boat, or Merlin Mann’s face appears in front of you and has depth. And for the first time, you see that this new perspective is pure magic and you say, “Wow! I never realized I could do that, but it makes so much sense: Focus Beyond…”

This is what it feels like when somebody shows me something I’ve suspected in the back left-hand corner of my mind, but never fully articulated. The work of people like Khalil Gibran, Merlin Mann, or Steve Pavlina make truths pop-out in 3D for me every now and then. It’s ineffable, and I’m so grateful for them.

Create with Passion or DIE

You see, when you create with passion, you use your divine ability to create something new that also shimmers with the love energy you put into it. If you get proficient at this, it will be significant on a very deep level. Life is too short not to create with passion. Yet many people misuse their abilities and write drivel that’s only designed to be a momentary distraction with no longterm benefit to the reader. Some writers don’t even realize they’re doing this. And from a higher perspective, this is very disrespectful to the reader. The most valuable gift you can receive from anyone is their time, and when someone gives your article attention, they are giving their time to it. Thankfully, smart people have gotten wiser about what articles they actually decide to read and which ones are just fluff that only deserve a 3 second skim. So, do you really want to end up in the fluff pile?

It’s all about flow. It’s about embracing what your unique contribution is, whether it be writing, photography, videography, animation, speaking, or anything creative really. The more aligned you are with what you’re passionate about, the more congruent you are with your work, the easier it is to be in the flow and to start doing some seriously great work.

Don’t forget the words of Disney. He didn’t make movies to make money. He made money to make more movies. He created his company because of his passion, and that’s the exact mindset that all of the Master Creators embody, the exact mindset I seek to embody more and more. So this year, I’m going to tweak the experiment that is byteful.com: I’m not going to be quite as constricted about which topics I write about for this site anymore as long as the topic relates back to embracing freedom, which is one of the core messages. My focus is on passion. And I can assure you that Disney answered all three of the questions at the beginning of this article with a resounding, “Yes.”

So, what would it be like if you embodied this attitude in your own creative work? How would you feel? And what effects would it have?

These questions are important to consider in this new year. After all, the year is what you make of it. Make it a year you’ll look back on with warm gratitude at how far you’ve come. Don’t die with your music still inside you.

Create with passion!

~~~~~~~
- Merlin Mann and John Gruber’s Panel Discussion -

Related Articles

1. How Walt Disney Created a Positive Spiral
2. Your Chances of Success
3. Travel Writers Need Time to Reflect, too.

As you probably have guessed by my unexpected hiatus, I’m currently on-assignment exploring the world while I still have time.

Last September we talked about the options a travel writer has for staying fresh and current on the web: either wait until after a trip to write to gain perspective, blog from the road, or find a balance between the two. And as I’m sure you can see, I’ve been leaning towards the first option thus far on this current (and quite extensive) tour through various cities. This hasn’t always been by choice, but equipment occasionally fails at inopportune times.

Believe me when I say your positive thoughts and intentions toward my travels are greatly appreciated and truly do help!

Touching Down to Write

During this current hiatus, I’ve gained some new clarity toward those three options mentioned above.

When I wrote about the options a travel writer has, I was not in a travel mode of thinking, and I didn’t realize I was actually looking at the scenario from the outside looking in. When I wrote that article, my life was physically, mentally, and spiritually “on the ground” in the metaphoric sense, but now that I’ve “taken off” into a mode of long-term travel, I realize more and more the importance of finding a place to “touch down”, a place to allow my mind to become quieter and ease into more of a reflective, writing mode. I don’t expect this is true for everyone. But as for myself, I find that I’m able to reach greater depth of reflection and objectivity when writing about a place when I’m able to transition, if only for a while, into my writing mode.

When I look at the time that has passed, I see that this hiatus is giving me a new perspective on this weblog, and I sense a turning point is approaching. And I suspect this hiatus will be a catalyst for more than just new photographs. Beyond that, we shall see.

Many Stories are Ahead

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to sharing my explorations of cities such as Denver, Portland, and San Francisco with all of you. Many photos and many stories lie ahead.

All is well. I leave you now in love and light of the Infinite Creator.

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— — — — — — —

Yes, I’ve been to farther skies
Farther skies beyond your eyes
Where birds rush by at the speed of light
Where answers follow all the whys

Oh, I have been on other worlds
Spinning ever-different orbit-curls
Making always-changing whirly-whirls
As this vast galactic sea unfurls

Yet still more worlds are beyond my eyes
Still more adventures beyond those skies
So I say to you, embrace your prize
The Horizon: there you keep your eyes

And keep spinnin’ sideways toward Sunrise.

~~~~~~~

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People Come in Waves

It has been said that the quality of your life can only be as good as the quality of your relationships. There’s the relationship between you and others; and, perhaps most importantly, your relationship with yourself.

Having healthy, mutually-beneficial relationships is certainly conducive in creating a happy life. (That’s not to say it’s a requirement for everyone though. There are many people, such as hermits still living today, that claim to be quite happy in solitude, so as the ancient saying goes: to each his own.) However, in my experience most people require positive interpersonal relationship to be content, and this is actually a wonderful design because it encourages exposure to new ideas and provides a completely new lens for a person to see themselves through. In fact, relationships are the biggest catalyst for growth in most people’s lives.

Human Predilection to Relationships

Because of this predilection to forming relationships, whether they be friendships, intimate relationships, or casual in nature, people also tend to become attached and acclimated to these types of conditions. But will any of these relationships truly survive on the physical plane?

Of course not! Everything your eyes can see is temporary… including your eyes, actually, but try not to think about that too much. That’s out of your hands.

Instead, consider that the nature of your existence is temporary, and none of your relationships will survive death, at least not in their current form. And if you are a frequent traveller, you have probably experienced an accelerated version of this, making fast friends, perhaps even having some intense experiences, and knowing that you will not be there for long.

For such travellers, it’s easy for them to see that relationships come in waves. They are forever in flux, forever in change, and they recognize that holding onto something tightly is like trying to stop the tide from coming in and destroying your lovely little sandcastle. But the sandcastle was not made to remain in that form, just as any relationship was not made to remain static. Much like any natural phenomena, a human relationship either builds, crumbles, or gradually wears away from neglect. There are no other options.

A Sandcastle Before the Tide

Of course, the foundations of these ideas are not new, in fact they are quite old. So only take this as a reminder that becoming attached to a single person, or a set of people, is a completely natural reaction; but always remember that you are in the midst of a sandcastle before the tide. Enjoy the time while it lasts, but never place your happiness and validation into the hands of others. I’ve learned this personally time and again. To side-step much suffering, it is helpful to let seasons pass in their own time, and to relish in the changes when they come, knowing that the next stage will shape you into an even stronger and more compassionate person than you are now.

Though it’s not a lesson that comes easily or quickly, when you learn to do that, joy will follow you through all your journeys.

No posts relate.

A lesser-known alternative to these sites is to purchase a standby ticket from a place like AirTech.com which is a standby travel system for transatlantic flights to and from Europe (and even flights to Hawaii). This can be MUCH cheaper than any other option. You may not be familiar with how a standby ticket works, and you should definitely understand the concept before you buy one.

How a Standby Ticket Works

1. You purchase a standby ticket from AirTech.com or directly from the airline.
2. You get a range of dates that your flight will leave. Usually this is a 4-day window. (So flexibility is required.)
3. Call the airline the night before the day of your intended departure to confirm your ticket.
4. Arrive at the airport at least 1 hour early, 2 hours early for international flights. (Keep in mind there is a very real chance you’ll be bumped to another flight, such is the nature of standby, so be open to finding accommodations for the day after, just in case.)
5. Don’t check in any luggage unless absolutely necessary. There’s a chance your bags will leave on a different plane than you do (though to the same destination). You’ll be reunited with them eventually, but it’s better to take a carry on. Plus, travelling light lends itself to a more relaxed trip overall.
6. Stay at your airline’s gate and listen carefully for your name to be called.
7. Board the plane feeling awesome that you saved a lot of money.

You Gotta Want It

Basically, flying standby means your ticket is fulfilled when an extra seat is available on a plane to your destination. That means being ready to jump on a flight at almost any time during the day and sometimes having to wait until the next day. So a standby ticket requires you to be flexible. To be safe, AirTech gives you a 4-day window, though it’s very rare to have to wait 4 days.

When you do finally settle on a date and departure city, be mindful of the comments listed under Airtech’s “seat availability” page. Sometimes (and this is rare) tax is not included in the ticket price displayed, and is an extra charge. The comments will contain all this information. The departure cities are also limited to the cities listed on the site, but if you save a few hundred dollars (or if you’re already living in a departure city) this can still be the smartest option. Be aware of the pros and cons, and you can save a lot of money.

Research Pays Off

Depending on your situation, standby tickets can be the cheapest option, especially if you’re staying with a friend in the area or live near the airport. A prime example of savings is the difference between a ticket from Minneapolis, MN to Amsterdam. During an off-season like September the best price you could get from a ticket aggregator (like Kayak.com) is $618. The trip on the same day costs $359 on AirTech.com.

While standby tickets aren’t the answer to every situation, they’re an option you shouldn’t overlook. With some research, you could very well save hundreds of dollars.

Now go, and embrace your freedom.

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On this day each year, I like to write something profound, and I have a reason for this.

Over the last few years, something profound, usually relating to crossing a threshold, has “coincidentally” happened to me this date, so I’ve decided to celebrate today by writing the poem below. Reading it reminds me that it’s harder to make excuses when you’re dead.

— — — — — — —

What would you say
If I said, you died yesterday
And this whole day, you’ve been inside a dream

You’d probably
Laugh and shrug it away
If true, you would not want to believe

What if I proved it?
Beyond a reasonable doubt
Today, what if you’d really withdrawn?

You may shout out
And fall into despair
For all your possibilities gone

~

Lucky for you
That is not the case (yet)
You still have some more time to breathe

You have it all
All the time you will need
To see failure enough to succeed

A wise man said
If you love doing X, do X
Take your talent’s sword out of its sheath

Do what you love
Please develop that skill
And be paid fairly for every deed

When you do that
You help the whole world
And that is precisely what we need

~~~~~~~

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Fossils in the Floor

Interestingly enough, a curator that I met on the first floor told me that most of the building isn’t even accessible to the public. Two floors were above the publicly-accessible 2nd floor, and two floors were beneath the pulicly-accessible lower floor, making six total. With a sense of mystery, he told me about the different levels and how the floor I was standing on actually contained pieces of ancient fossils from a sea bed. I looked down and photographed these small white fragments embedded in the tiles. He also explained some of the history of the building and how it was used as a hospital in one of the nation’s larger wars. I wasn’t sure if I could believe him entirely, but this older-looking gentleman did work for the museum, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

#1. Meet Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex

Without a doubt, the first thing you’ll notice when you step into the Field Museum is the looming T-rex on the first floor. And this magnificent T-rex is definitely in my list of top 3 exhibits to enjoy while at the museum. The T-rex, nicknamed Sue, is nearly 13 meters long (42 feet), 4 meters (13 feet) tall at the hip, and the most complete T-rex ever discovered. It was simultaneously wonderful and frightening to imagine that this 7 ton creature once roamed the Earth hunting its prey.

I decided to wait a bit for the 11:15 tour, and it was definitely worth the short wait. The tour guide introduced the main areas of the museum: Paleontology, Geology, Biology, and Egyptology, among other things. When this brief introduction finished, we were near the Egyptian exhibit on the first floor which was a small stone building. The huge stones looked as if they really were from Egypt, and inside this small stone building I met the same curator I’d met before the tour began. He talked at length about what the hieroglyphics on the walls meant and briefly discussed Egyptian pharaohs and their ways of life. He departed as quickly as he appeared (such as many fascinating people are apt to do), and I began exploring the maze of a museum on my own.

#2. Step inside the Ancient Egypt exhibit

The Ancient Egyptian exhibit is wonderfully diverse, and it’s my second pick for my list of top 3 exhibits you can’t miss at the Field Museum. Within the Egyptian stone building, I found a staircase going up over a stone wall and then down again. (It was one of the few staircases I’ve used in my life that went up first in order to take you to a lower level.) And soon I was descending down the flights into darkness.

At first, I couldn’t see much.

Once my eyes adjusted, I could see I was now sanding in a rather dark hallway with dramatic lighting around me. Actually I was in a replication of a Mastaba Tomb. I turned a corner and saw a mummy for the first time in a long while. The gilded mummy had gold-embossed face, and it was holding up pretty well considering its age of about 2,300 years.

As I neared the heart of the Ancient Egypt exhibit, I passed a wooden coffin with the Eye of Horus (also known as Ra) painted on its side. The Eye of Horus symbol was frequently painted on coffins to protect the occupant in the afterlife. Farther on, I was delighted to see Egyptian scrolls, memorial stones, and even a real Egyptian. Yes, the unwrapped mummy of a boy was carefully placed on a blanket behind some glass. A sign explained that the museum didn’t know when or why the boy’s wrappings were removed and pointed out that, before x-ray photography, mummies were often unwrapped to simply see what was inside.

While exploring, I also discovered other fascinating facts such as how to play a board game that the Pharaohs used to play and remains of an Egyptian sculpture that looked strikingly like Michael Jackson. Is this proof of Michael Jackson’s heritage or a mere coincidence? I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

Probably the most surprising element was the Egyptian love poem entitled “Last Night Made It Seven, My Eyes Missed My Kitten” which was delightfully frank about romantic love. Here’s an excerpt:

“Why, that girl’s better than any prescription,
more to me than the Pharmacopoeia –
My own secret Hathor Home Remedy?–
Her slipping into my room from the road!
(have her examine me, then watch my energy!)

See the entire poem in the gallery.

Seems little has changed in three thousand years when it comes to romance, including man’s propensity to write poetry for his beloved. How endearing.

A Short Underground Adventure

Soon after, I took a brief detour into the Underground Adventure exhibit in which everything is oversized and the visitor is plunged into a bug’s eye view of the underground world. If you like giant earwig models, giant spiders, or giant pennies that say, “In Soil We Trust,” you’ll really dig this place. The exhibit did a good job at showing how alive soil really is, but I would have appreciated more interactivity.

The Hall of Jades and Mysterious Bi discs

After snapping a picture of the Stanley Field sculpture, I headed up to the 2nd floor where fresh wonders awaited me. I began at the Hall of Jades which featured a 1,130 kg (2490 lb) Nephrite boulder, mysterious Bi discs from the Neolithic era, and a beautiful jadeite desk screen from the Chinese Qing period. A description below the Bi discs explained that the significance of these discs is still a mystery, apparently being used in burials stretching back as far as 4,000 years ago. What could their purpose be? Are they part of a memorial tradition? I can’t help but think of the discs from the movie Tron in which one’s entire life depended on a disc. The disc shape, it seems, has a long and detailed history in human culture.

Just outside the Hall of Jades were some Chinese artifacts. One was an exquisitely detailed ivory carving of the Daoist longevity god, and the other was a wood carving of Guan Yin. You remember Guan Yin, don’t you? It’s the Bodhisattva of compassion. Can’t recall, perhaps? About two years before, I came across the figure of Guan Yin in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Unlike that large statue, this figure of Guan Yin had 24 arms and was sitting on what appeared to be a pine cone. I’d read a bit about ancient pine cone symbology, but I didn’t expect it to show up in Buddhist art from 200 years ago. Of course, the world is full of surprises, and pine cone symbology shows up in the most surprising places. Recommended research.

T-rex Mural & Sue’s Skull Up Close

After briefly examining a trilobite fossil that had been into Earth orbit, I made my way over to the T-rex skull exhibit. Because of its weight, the real skull was on display up here on the 2nd level, separate from the rest of the skeleton. An accurate copy of the skull, one that weighed less, was made for the full T-rex skeleton I saw on the first floor. I enjoyed being able to see Sue’s skull up close, and I couldn’t help but wonder how it really looked all those years ago, when it was alive and warm breath came from its nostrils.

Above the skull was a huge mural of Sue painted by Paleoartist John Gurche. Later I learned that he won the Lanzendorf PaleoArt Prize from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for this mural, and I can see why. It’s fantastically textured and cleverly laid out, quite lifelike. The viewer is placed in a subordinate position, making the T-rex look huge and menacing with it’s eyes glowing a soft red and dead prey underfoot.

Nearby were displays highlighting Sue’s furcula (a.k.a. the wishbone), which was the first ever found from a T-rex. This is especially exciting to scientists because only birds and meat-eating dinosaurs have wishbones. The forelimb (a.k.a. what normal people would call the arm) was also on display. Since it’s so short, how the forelimb was used remains a mystery to this day.

#3. The Evolving Planet Exhibit

And even more mysteries lay ahead for me on that day for the next part of the museum I explored was a cornerstone of the entire museum, and it’s also my 3rd and final pick: The Evolving Planet exhibit. So far, I’d only seen a handful of ancient creatures, but as I soon learned, that was only the tip of the ice burg.

Take a trip back to the origins of life on Earth with me and visit the Evolving Planet Exhibit photo album in the Byteful Gallery. Warning: Blood-thirsty dinosaurs are contained therein. And perhaps even an Dromaeosaur claw… No!!! The horror! The horror! The horror…

— — —
Photos from this trip are in the Field Museum – Chicago and Evolving Planet Exhibit albums. All photos in the Byteful Gallery can be used as desktop wallpapers because they are high resolution (1920×1440) just like the fullscreen & widescreen wallpapers.

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An Uncommon Afternoon

On Sunday, I had a bit of an uncommon afternoon. I’d been sitting under a tree reading. I was actually at the library, but outside of it. I would have been inside the library, but, being Sunday, it was completely locked up. After a while, the winds started to kick up, and I decided to avoid freezing and read in my car.

Earlier that day, I got really anxious, and I knew I had to go: out. I just had to get some fresh air and clear my mind, and only later did I realize how well this actually worked. When I returned later that afternoon, my head felt clear and refreshed, almost as if I had taken a nap, but I hadn’t.

Splash! Crack! Splat!

I drove over slushy ice clumps on the road. Though my iPod was in my pocket, I didn’t play anything. Today I preferred the music of the car’s engine in response to my foot, the sound of the ice cracking under the tires.

I stopped by a park I had been to many years ago. The park hadn’t changed much in the intervening time: a few less pieces of equipment perhaps and a few new things. Overall, I wondered if this park saw less and less use these days, and I pondered how the internet is changing things.

What’s fun about that size?

I looked down and saw a “fun-size” candy bar in the snow. The wrapper had a small tear, and a chocolate piece was still inside. I wondered if I would have considered eating it if the wrapper had been perfectly intact. Probably not. Not worth it. Even if had been in mint condition, who knows how long it had been there in the snow…

I tried to find a place to throw it away, but I couldn’t. Everyone in that neighborhood seemed to be either gone or sleeping. I got back into my car and eventually got to the library.

And as I said, it was closed.
It was Sunday.

So I read outside.
Under a tree.
Which made all the difference.

And that’s about where we started.

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