¡Hola! part duex

Hello all,

first things first...

ok i have a cell phone number here

if you wanna call me dial

00 34 659 24 7871

if you wanna do it cheap you goto skype.com and download that for free and then you can open a free acct or paid acct. open a paid and put in like 5 or 10 bucks and its only 2 cents a min to call your favorite dumbo. and ill be getting new numbers like once a mounth but you can always talk to me for 2 cents a minute

the calls are free for me to take and i love to hear from home for 5 or 10 minutes, dont be offended if i dont talk for hours but i have bunches to do and not much downtime, but if you catch me on a wait for a train... o boy im not gonna let ya go. I really do wanna hear from people back home, especally buddies and family. o and all my college bound friends you get the added benefit of having to call your friend in spain or germany or croatia... it will spark conversations about whos your friend, with ladies, that you could perhaps take out to dinner or something once they devolp a nice idea of you and your commitment to your lonely world traveling friend. just a thought. soooo i want calls ok?

ok, sorry just plugged that in from an email to save time, internet cafes can be quite expensive. however i found one that lets me upload pics and such thru usb so ill be sure to come back to this one, Granada was amazing. The actuall palace and history was of course interesting to a history buff like myself but the gardens were quite lovely as well. I've discovered that i definatly have a mimicing personality, those of you day-in/day-out close to me know that i have a tendency to steal phrases and such but i definatly show it here, ill attempt poorly to use british slang or speak with a spanish accent. My spanish is horriblé as the locals would say, but i try to speak as much as possible -- much to there laughing pleasure im sure, but hey im sure i come off as stupid but nice most of the time. ¨Silly gringo¨ they say.

I have been greatly enjoying myself and the only thing i boo booed on was forgeting to buy a converter, ill have to have one mailed to me or something. The train ride up from malaga was quite nice and i have to say my stay on the south of spain was quite enjoyable. The heat will get to you and i believe it is important to eat alot of water and rest during siesta, i paid dearly for that knowledge so be thankful im passing it on to you.

Wow i havent even begun to keep up with my posting and such, im going to have to start writing freehand and then typing it up later because im missing so much of my trip.

I'm in madrid today and after a small bit of second guessing on the metro i figgured it out, thankful to not have to take a cab. I found a small tapas bar next to the hotel im staying in, Hotel Moderno, and had a bit of dinner along with my tapa. The beer here is ok, pretty good. I walked around Madrid and saw a bunch of nasty looking prostitute types --- not exactly what i had in mind when ¨sight seeing¨Madrid. The rest of the town that i´ve seen though is above reproach in its beauty. It seems in some parts as though i´m walking down 5th avenue or something, but it is genuinely nice.

Well it seems i've used up myhour in record time and have about 2 mins left so im going to post and hope i dont have any malfunctions.

I hope to update soon, and hear from ya'll soon as well. you now have email and phone so you have no excuses.

Bye Bye
Tyler

¡Hola!, ¿como estas?

I'm in SPAIN!!!!

it's beautiful. I highly recomend travel here - I'm so thrilled it doesn't even matter that air france lost my luggage. I should be recieving it all tonight. The trip over here wasn't bad. Just a ''hop across the pond'' really. I had lots and lots of fun and I couldn´t be gotten down because i would just say to myself, I'm going to spain, what more do I need.

I have to go but I´m going to granada tommorrow and i´m sure i´ll have tons to write about

Quick Catch Up

Well nothing mind boggling. I have yet to really reflect on Madison or My girlfriend since I made those posts. Well not like I've been thinking alot and heres what I want to say on the topic type reflection. And I think any reflections on Natalie I would do probably won't make the public blog, but the private journal.

Aside from that I have been simply coping with getting outta here. Kansas City, MO was a nice relaxing break from the go-go-go pace of Denver. I'm glad I was there, and I'm really glad I could help a little, but I don't envy the work that lies ahead of Caleb and Nance with not only the baby but the house, and jobs. YIKES!! They are probably pretty stressed out... everyone should send love.

KC was awesome, I got to visit with Mike and family. Nathan and Joy are doing great. I had an awesome day just hanging out with the family. I left for Newark, NJ and rode a train down to Washington, DC to see the Glicks. I promptly passed out for 10 bajillion hours and only got time to chat with Dave who shares my bad sleeping hours. I fully intend to change that and need to get to sleep ASAP. I leave tommorrow at about 1230 for my train back and the flight out of Newark is at 630.

I have to get some packing or something done so I can consolidate into one pack instead of having an extra bag (no joke... only for books -- I had so much to read and I didn't want to miss any of the travel guides (thank you to the Nevilles), now I want to keep them so I can reference the Cities and info. but I think I may just have to count on memory) I also think I might have spelled Neville wrong but it is 430 am so I think it'll be ok. I have yet to hear from Vince which is concerning, but will work itself out.

I also read two really good books that I will review for you later (I think I'm going to set up a seperate sight that I can link to, we'll see)

Never Eat Alone
and
Liar's Poker

I'm halfway through Moneyball, which was recomended by both Kei and Caleb, they both have good taste. I am enjoying it tremoundously. The other two were awesome as well... I highly recommend all three.

mmmmkay everyone look for more updates from Spain. Goodnight

Check it out!

Well I've "discovered" a new artist I like a bunch. For all my friends/male relatives, be prepared to call me a sissy...

Anna Nalick

I say "discovered" because she is being promoted fairly heavily as this is her first CD after being signed to Columbia Records in 2003. She's at least to my ears a very unique sounds -- Think Emo-Pop. Check her out if you like that stuff... I think she's great.

Breathe (2 AM) is the single and is stunning, despite being only middle-grade song in my opinion. Check out "Forever Love" "Catalyst" "Consider This" and the Albums namesake "Wreck of the Day"

The Video for Breathe is worth seeing if you get a chance. There is some stunning visual artwork right after the third verse (about 3:10 min) where she has just finished singing a verse requiring alot of breath and you can visably see the emotion drain out of her and the resulting release on her face... It is probably the best Cinematography I've seen involving a person in a music video... ever. Kinda reminds me of that scene in almost famous where the camera just captures Kate Hudsen's reactions for a long time, kinda.

I'm done plugging, for more info: Http://www.annanalick.com

Madison McKinley Willis

Boy did I have a bunch to talk about... Since my last post I have renewed gov't docs, bought tickets and eurail passes, almost missed my bus, Spent 30 hours on a bus with some of the craziest charecters you've ever seen (and I mean ever, I have at least 2 hours of hilarious, gross, and scary stories). I arrived in denver, saw a great movie and did other stuff. I thought that was the most eventfull 2 and half days I'd have until I left. Boy was I wrong.

Enter the reason that all of that thought changed...

Madison McKinley Willis

Madison was born at about 7:45am on 7/17/05 and is my first neice. I'm really kinda shocked by emotion right now. She was expected to come in 5 weeks and the fact that she was early and I was able to see her was the best gift I could have recieved before my trip. Really puts my connection to family back in perspective, especially as I question connections with friends and try and see what I dig in other people and learn more about connections and whos worth keeping around and who I should distance myself from. I had some good talks with most of my better friends about this, some were short and some were long but all were good. If you read my other posts I'm speculating on the power of relationships and how that effects our life and now all I can think about is Family. I got great evidence for the importance and greatness of personal relationships with all of the local denverians coming in to visit, see madison, and offer help to Caleb and Nance.

All I can think about is how much I enjoy my family and regret the fact that we aren't closer. We do have close nuclear sections and we keep in touch on a slow-cycle basis. We all love each other but seem to value alone time over the love we share. This seems unfortunate to me. I always wanted to have more traditions, and spend more time, and enjoy each other more. I realize this reflects on the "Willis Clan" which is like Carla and Dave (my grandparents), Diane, Mike, My nuclear family, heather and dave (my cousin), Wolfe and Max (Dave and Heather's kids) timmy (cousin), steph (caleb and molly's mom), and recently the Wilkins clan. It also is the bigger picture, the Craney family has like 400 some living decendents today and I don't think many of us know lots of them, We don't even know most of the decendents in our section of the family tree. Maybe I'm naive to think that a family that has spent many generations here and has suffered nuclearization and spread to all corners of the country will be close like a first or second generation family that is all in the same city would, but it's something I think we all would regret in the end, I don't want to die (eventually hopefully 100 years from now) without raising a family and having a close supportive unit that my core family is a part of. Maybe I should stop moaning and try and do something about it. ehmm the wheals are starting to turn.

Another pretty cool thing was that Devin Cass (one of those extended family cousins I was talking about earlier) got my blog from my dad, so hey maybe we are more connected then I thought (I'll be optamistic). The interesting thing in that is that I read it today on a time when I'm most reflected on family, I left her a comment with my email and maybe that will be the link between our two seperate nuclear units. Kind of funny if it worked out like that and the kids were encouraging the adults to stay close and follow tradition. Very Twilight Zone.

Well all my bantering and pondering aside, I'm happy as a Polar bear drinking coca-cola that I was able to see Madison -- I look forward to her telling potential boyfriends about her crazy uncle whos very protective. Caleb might get in trouble with Nance and Madi if he trys to scare off the bf, but I think I'm beyond reproach. Ahh the delights of not having much expected of you, I'm gonna miss youth when it's gone.

Madison - One day I'm going to go over this trip with you and share with you this post and what a delight it was to meet you before it. Welcome to the Willis Clan. Your dad is an excellent man who loves you very much and your mother is an angel without wings. You, I'm sure will have a beautiful life ahead of you filled with errors and achievements. You'll learn to take the good with the bad, keep a happy demeanor and love life. I can't wait to watch you grow and mature into a young women filled with a drive and vigor that rivals anyone. I will enjoy every minute of it, and I feel so weird because it's the first time I look forward to another generation as the future, you brought me to terms with my own mortality in just less then 20 hours. Imagine what you'll do with a lifetime. If you ever need advice or a listening ear, you have a loving family unit and uncle here for you. We all love you and wish the best for your life, may god look down upon your life with pride and love.

Congradulations to Caleb and Nancy... here's there email announcement and a link to the pictures.

Cheers
-Tyler

Friends and Family –

Nancy and I wanted to share our recent news with everyone – Madison McKinley Willis was born at 7:46am, Sunday, July 17th, and is happy, healthy and doing great. Nancy went into labor early Sunday morning (around 5 am), and after a very quick delivery, Madison arrived, weighing in at 4 pounds, 3.5 ounces, and stretching the tape at 17.75 inches long.

Madison was obviously anxious to join everyone on the outside and help us move into our house, arriving ~5 weeks early! We couldn’t be more excited, and were overwhelmed by the support of family and friends, many of whom came by the hospital today to welcome Madison into the world. (We are truly blessed to have such an outstanding group of friends here in town…)

I have posted a couple pictures here, and will post more over the coming weeks.
http://willisdomain.com/calebftp/Madison/

Both mother and daughter are doing very well, and we look forward to introducing Madison to you all in person soon!

Best,
Caleb, Nancy and Madison Willis

Extraordinary Visions

Vince left this morning and as I was sitting around waiting for my sister I decided to watch a DVD. I took a copy of Extraordinary Visions with Dewitt Jones. The one hour long presentation is essentially a man and his view on life. What he thinks we can learn from his experiences, which essentially boil down into two, bumper-sticker sized, Mantra-isms.

1. Carpe Diem, Latin for seize the day
2. Take it all in, and give it all back

The second one resonated with me alot. I really realize that in dealing with social connections and I estimate in greater life, you don't get happy by playing your cards close to your breast, but when you play face up... and trust those at the table with the whole truth and your successes and failures, your assests and flaws, you find what truly makes life worth living.

This is significant for my trip, It gives me a method to test my hypothesis. Will I be able to interact with strangers and give out my very best? If I can, will they respond, will they appreciate the effort even if it doesn't effect thier day at all. How do people react, when others give it all, regardless of the result. It has made me think about human interaction, and greatness in self.

Great DVD, I recomend watching it.

Greetings from San Diego,

O man, the weather is perfect here! So great, unfortunatly the waves have not been cooperating and I haven't surfed in the past two days... tommorrows gonna be awesome sets, I feel it in me bones! I got a haircut, unfortunatly for most of you reading this... It's now a much more distinctive mohawk. I went down to Birdrock Barber on Garnett Street here in Pacific Beach. Nice lady name Cheryl cut me up and shipped me out. We had a nice conversation and I gave her this site address -- So if your reading this, thanks for the cut. I like to support local businesses over conglomerates so if your in Pacific Beach look her up.

For all of you reading this I'd like to see some comments, there is a spot underneath each post where you can share your views. I'm hoping that will give me more contact with you guys back home and everyone I meet, but also I think it might spark some interesting conversations between my dad and Xobile Rawactin who is a travelling student from South Africa. Who knows, life is all about connections - and the best ones occur in weird circumstances -- so I'll get off my soapbox now, but I hope you guys reply! If it's personal feel free to email me.
Willis.Tyler@gmail.com

I'm very convinced that my attention grabbing haircut is a negative and I plan to shave it off in Denver, after I scare Nancy and embaress Caleb of course! The final straw on this is that I left Birdrock and within 3 minutes a group of punk rock Jr. Highschool girls gave me a Sieg Heil (you know heil hitler) and that is definatly something I would prefer not to be associated with. Not a big Nazi fan. I enthralled (or bored) my sister and Vince with some of the peculiar happenings of Hitler as a young man. How he was kind of a loser in Vienna, and his entry into the Nazi Party, and failed overthrow attempt. Truly -- history according to Frank Navvarro (Modern European History and Facing History were definatly two of my favorite classes, maybe I'll teach them someday?). Watch out Navi... I'm coming for your job!

We went to Fred's Mexican Cafe (http://www.mooserestaurantgroup.com/fred/branch3/cinco.html) also on Garnett Street, and it was pretty sweet! Huge plates that left Vince and Molly Stuffed, I only had a couple rolled Tacos, I'm trying to watch my figure! Again, a crucial place to vist in P.B. They had a Tequilla Wall of Fame that I plan to join after I'm 21. The atmosphere is nice and the help is nice if not that attentive. It's cheap and gives big portions (1 lb. burritos), one lunch can doggie bag like 3 meals. Nuff' said.

We checked the surf and decided instead to rent Kalifornia with David Duchovny and Brad Pitt. Weird movie -- Do not watch it if you don't want to walk out asking what the heck just happened. It was good though - Molly's recomendations are always a little weird but good. Cooky is a nice descriptive word for her choices.

I decided to take a walk, Vince came along but doubled back prefering instead to watch In Good Company. I walked up and down the main drag here and just soaked in the atmosphere, thinking and being quiet. I found an STA travel which was good for helping with Eurail Pass. I'm watching these 20somethings interact and enjoy the drunken club life and it's interesting to me. I met a young guy named Adrian who was one of 3 people to engage me as I was hanging outside. I told him of my travels and he wished me luck. "Oh thats amazing brother -- that's really good to do, wish I could do that. Like, Where you gonna go?" His friend looked bored and they were both not exactly sobert but I told him the short version that I have become pretty good at reciting. Not even 3 minutes later he was off to a different bar to wait in another line and wished me luck. It got me to thinking -- That guy won't remember my name tommorrow, yet he will be in my brain because I'm sober and he's the first nice guy to engage me in PB so got me thinking on connections. How we all interact as humans -- people we love, people we like, even the people we hate influence the course of our life.

"It's not what you know, it's who you know"

That's always been one of my favorite proverbs and being in a young town not 7 blocks away from a vibrant club scene makes me think even more about who we meet and how we meet them. What values do we place on these relationships. When I'm clubbing in Europe will I meet a better quality of people then if I stopped people on the street, or in my hostel. I don't think so... yet people go clubbing to be social, because it's more acceptable. If I were a European kid traveling your hometown and I engaged you at a restaurant or on the bus... how would you react? I'd be some weird foreigner that scared you, or that interupted your day. I realize that we can't meet everyone and that it seems nessacary, but I'm starting to question that. Can we step away from our Big Mac's for one second to share a nice moment with the person in the next booth? Who knows, I haven't found the right answer I'm only starting to answer the questions.

Thinking about all of that of course made me miss Nat terribly. I planned to sulk in a denny's booth, but I was broke and not hungry so I decided to head home. caught up on all my internet junk and got some sleep

I didn't sleep well and I had a couple nightmares, I think it was probably just trip stress and I hope desperatly it's not my Malaria Meds. They do supposedly cause weird dreams, however these were really poignant to current happenings and not like superweird so I think it's fine, I'm not worried about it yet. Waking up to Vince BLARING bad music was fun, but It let me catch a call from Natalie. It was wonderful to hear her voice and I just sat and looked at her picture in my wallet for awhile.

I cooked up some Pasta from the night before (great entrees but the service and atmosphere was so bad that I don't want to support that local place) and then after I ate Vince and My sister went to the Bagel Place I walked off and came back to find them gone, I felt bad but neither seemed to sweat it much so alls well that ends well. Vince and I watched Office Space (I know, sad and fat to be wasting SD weather on a movie). We walked down to The Surf Club (on Garnett) and bought my sister a Wall Rack for her board. It was a TY gift from Vince and I (Mostly from Vince, I don't want to take credit for his awesome Idea -- It was the perfect thing for her and he defenately brunted most of the heavy lifting on that success). After that I went across the street to STA travel and purchase my rediculously expensive but invaluble Eurail Pass. The Chatty Kathy's at STA kept me entertained and I was almost late for Dinner with Carl Caskey.

Mr. Caskey is a friend of my dad's. They went to Highschool together and played football. He's a riot, I got more dirt on my dad then I've had in years (which is still relativly minor -- I'm begining to think my dad's been 50 his whole life). Anyway I listened to stories about the old gang, and all the Sports they played (they were state champs in football, baseball, and I think basketball). He's still a big sports fan and told me about hanging out with some pros and stars -- sounds like quite a life. Really interesting guy, and we are both History buffs so we got along very well. I felt a little young and like I had to prove myself so I'm not sure how great I came off but we got along very well. After a remarkably entertaining 2 hours or so we all said our goodbyes and Carl left with his 5 year old granddaughter and her dad. Again I started thinking about the whole relationship theme, this is becoming a repetative part of this trip!

We rented a few more movies with my free coupons from blockbuster and I have been on the computer since then. Molly's second cooky hit was Employee of the Month which I've wanted to see forever, and it was very good, but definatly not for everyone -- more then a little quirky.

I am planning to Visit Mexico tommorrow and then after surfing (fingers crossed) I'll be boarding a bus to denver at 1045pm (30 hours long!)

Sorry for these rediculously long posts, I'm going to have to start cutting back on what I share or just start breaking these up into managable chuncks... stick with me while I figgure out what works. Goodnight ya'll I'm gonna go watch Extraordinary Visions.

Welcome to the Dirty Waffle!

Well I have arrived in San Diego (Sandy Eggo, yea yea bad joke),

Vince and I drove all night Sunday to arrive here about 10am. Despite Molly's directions and confusing instructions we broke in and crashed on the couch. after 3-4 hours of sleep I awoke to a phone call from Nat, and was surprised to see my sister here. We all went for a walk and decided to try surfing. It was tons of fun - I haven't gone in like 4 years and boy did I show it. I caught two waves but didn't pop up at all. I also got caught inside and my right eardrum is killing me from all the saltwater pounding into it, made sleep a little uncomfortable, o well! Vince tried to go out and it was rediculously funny - He tried to turtle roll under a wave and got thrown about 10 feet, and then a second wave threw the board into his head. I was quite nervous about begining my trip but I'm starting to calm down and I think I'm ready to make it, At least mentally. I talked with Mr. Navvarro to figure out the meeting place in Spain. This trip is shaping up to be something that will change my life, I made the goal of surfing in the phillipines. I don't have much else to share, I plan to head down to Denver on Fri, I need to pickup the Travel Pace. I need a haircut badly so I'm heading out. I'll leave you with a couple pictures of my gear, you can see the full set on my flickr acct. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tylerwillis/)

my gear and my hackey sack

My Luggage and... iPod!

Leaving Today

Well It's been a hectic week or so, Today I leave for SD. I have alot to update you on, and even more to get done before I head out so I'll get to it. This entry will probably be pretty straightforward and not very poetic. Here Goes...

I started out the week by Checking out all this stuff on podcasting, which is essentially a audio blog that users can subscribe to and have pushed automatically to thier Ipod. hence its like a radio program that is playable anytime. Very cool Idea that has been integrated with the new Itunes, so i've been listening to some cool interviews with pretty cool people such as steve jobs, and steve wozniack - I highly recomend checking it out if you have an iPod and iTunes. I put in the ability on this sight for me to do it, but I am not going to try while I'm on the road unless a good oppurtunity comes up.

I also signed up for a flickr acct. to share my pics with you all. I will use it to post into this blog as well as upload my pics from the road.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tylerwillis/

My passport came in the mail so I'm all ready to go country hoping! I started taking my malaria meds to test them, and I took my second to last of 8 shots. Boy is medicine expensive these days!

I finally finished a rough itenerary. I will travel to SD, Denver, KC, maybe cleveland and then from Newark I fly to Europe. here is my email to my buddy's mom to tell them where I'm going.

I will be ending my trip in Rothenburg on the 15th Aug.
I will train to Nuremburg and then Berlin. Arriving Late 16th or Early 17th
Meet with Vinny in Berlin where we will spend about a week (Dep. around 24 Aug)
Train to Prauge where I have Fam. Friends and we can explore (Est. Dep 1 Sep)
Train to Vienna (Est Dep 8 Sep)
Train to Budapest (Est. Dep 11 Sep)
Train to Bern, Switzerland (Est Dep 15 Sep)
Traverse the Alps to Milan (Est Arv. 20 Sep - Est. Dep. 24 Sep)
Train to Venice (Est. Dep 30 Sep)
Train To Florence (Est Dep 3 Oct)
Train To Rome (Est Dep 10 Oct)
Train to Naples (Est Dep 13 Oct)
Train To Palermo (Est Dep 17 Oct)
Boat/Plane to Hike Corsica (Est Dep 23 Oct)
Boat/Plane to Valencia, Spain (Est Dep 26 Oct)
Hike/Train the Spanish Mountains to Ceuta, Spain (Est Arv 30 Oct - Est Dep 1 Nov)
Travel to Rabat, Morocco (Est Dep 5 Nov)
Boat to Lisbon, Portugal (Est Dep 12 Nov)
Plane to Dublin, Ireland (Est Dep 16 Nov)
Train to Cork (Est Dep 19 Nov)
Train to Kilarney (Est Dep 23 Nov)
Train To Limerick (Est Dep 25 Nov)
Train To Shannon (Est Dep 27 Nov) ---- Vince will Prob. Leave Shannon
Train To Galway (Est Dep 29 Nov)
Train To Donegal (Est Dep 1 Dec)
Train to Belfast (Est Dep 5 Dec) ----- He could depart from Belfast
Plane to Amsterdam (Est Dep 10 Dec)
Train to Brussels (Est Dep 14 Dec)
Train to Luxembourg (Est Dep 17 Dec) --- or Luxembourg
Trip thru E. Germany
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Finland (Est. Dep 1 Jan)
St. Petersburg (Est Dep 7 Jan)
Moscow (Est Dep 10 Jan)
Kiev, Ukraine (Est Dep 15 Jan)
------Alternate #1-------
Odesa, Ukraine
Bucharest, Romania
Zagreb, Croatia
Sarajevo, Serbia (Est Dep 1 Feb)

-----Alternate #2---------
Warsaw, Poland
Krakow, Poland
Budapest, Hungary
Zagreb, Croatia
Sarajevo, Serbia (Est Dep 1 Feb)
-------------------------------

Athens, Greece
Crete
Turkey
Eygpt
Isreal (28 Feb)
Asia (India, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Austrailia, Phillipines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, S. Korea, Japan)


During the fourth of july I had a bunch of time to discuss my trip plans with the neighbors and get alot of really interesting contacts and stories from them. Ephraim who is from russia was kind enough to regale Nat and I with histories of Russian capitals, and St. Petersburg in particular. His wife, Riasa, also said she would give me some contacts. Very cool. I then had a long talk with Jack about Los Altos Sister Cities (We have 2 in Austrailia and Russia, and are trying to recruit a 3rd in Italy) I told him I'd try and visit the one in Austrailia, and be a good ambassador for us in Italy. It was tons of fun and everyone was super nice! Glad I could reconnect with the neighborhood before I leave. At Nat's Dinner, her friend Anna (who is like this really hip woman with this kinda savvy New York vibe - probably in her late 20s) told me she has family I can look up in Croatia. I hope I can get down there and use those connections because that sounds like an awesome trip. Then I took nat to pacifica and saw killer fireworks.

I emailed a couple of my father's friends and made some good connections for the trip in poland, czech republic, and other places.

I also updated the site and added some links, and a donation button so if you wanna give me money, feel free, i'm here to help. haha.

I went to REI and bought a pack and some clothes. and got all setup there, wow - hugely expensive.

I'll go ahead and end this post with a instruction on how to subscribe to my blog. It's probably not that well done, but here goes. I'll update when I can.


RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a format one can use to have text (and audio and video) directly sent to your computer. Essentially it is like an html feed you can subscribe to.

You can download a RSS aggregator and then "subscribe to a feed" (for example say My Blog) and then everytime I type a new blog entry it will be saved in an RSS form that is accsessed when you start your RSS aggregator and it searches for new posts on the subscribed feeds. Then my blog entry is immediatly displayed in your aggregator and saved on your computer for offline viewing.

If you want to do this I recomend http://www.sharpreader.net/. Once Sharp Reader is installed and you start it up you will have 3 feeds already subscribed and you will see an adress bar at the top of the program. If you type in my blogs address http://guerillaculture.blogspot.com/atom.xml and then click the Subscribe button to the immediate left of the address bar it will automatically record any blogs I send out and it will be stored on your computer for offline viewing (and you have the option of sending Individual Posts thru email in case I have a post that would be off interest to any of your contacts).