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Creating a Legacy Project

creating-a-legacy-project

In the spring of 2007 I was feeling stuck. As amazing as they were, the four years I had spent in Africa were fading off into the distance. In my new life I had migrated to Seattle, entered graduate school, started a new business, and began traveling independently to faraway places during school breaks.

These were all good projects. Grad school, check. New city, check. Business, travel, volunteer work, marathon training, check. But despite the fact that these were worthwhile ways to spend my time, I knew something big was missing:

I had no legacy project, and it really bothered me.

I thought of a legacy project as something I’d create that would outlast me; something I could point to years from now and have more than just memories to show for it. In other words, I wanted something tangible and documented for anyone who wanted to see it at any time in the future.

As I was looking for a new focus, I considered a few options that initially seemed to be good choices ...

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Site Updates

Site Update: January-February 2009

This site update comes to you live from Tokyo’s Narita airport, where I’m on my way home from two weeks in Asia. At the moment I’m in between Hong Kong and LAX, and just 18 hours away from getting back to Seattle. I’d like to begin this update with a big shout-out to the American…

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Travel

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Holiday in Cambodia

Holiday-In-Cambodia

When I wasn’t playing ping-pong and visiting Dunkin’ Donuts, I passed up the chance to visit Cambodia in 2002. After a few weeks in Bangkok, Jolie and I ended up in a small village a few miles from the Cambodian border. There wasn’t much happening there, and one day someone said, “Hey, why don’t we go to Cambodia?”

We looked into it and learned that the visa would cost $20 upon arrival. The transport to get there and back would have been another $10, and for some reason I decided that $30 was too much to spend for a short visit across the border.

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Travel

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Bangkok Adventures

bangkok-adventures

The Japanese man sitting next to me looks back and forth between the video and me. Finally, he takes off his headphones and asks, “Wrong movie?”

Yes. Wrong movie.

The wrong movie plays for nearly three minutes before it is turned off by a flight attendant. She comes on the p.a. after another three minutes. “Ladies and gentlemen… sorry… we can’t find the arrival video for Japan. If you have any questions about Japan, let us know.”

Other than that, the 11-hour flight across the Pacific is uneventful. I arrive in Narita and quickly transfer to a Cathay Pacific flight for Hong Kong. Another five hours goes by as I fitfully sleep in the back of the plane.

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Frequent Flyer Challenge

5 Million Frequent Flyer Challenge: Update #1

Greetings, friends. Today I have an update on the Frequent Flyer Challenge, coming to you live from the Hong Kong airport: First, a good news / bad news personal update. The Bad News – After flying 19 hours, I slept on the airport floor for five more hours last night. It just didn’t make sense…

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Travel

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Rerouting Travel Plans

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It’s not technically last-minute – I’ve changed full itineraries right up to the day of departure before – but two weeks before I was scheduled to fly to Ethiopia, I decided to change directions and go to Southeast Asia instead. In fact, I’m leaving this morning! Yikes – after I write this, I really should think about packing.

This post will explain both the why and how of this decision. The why part covers the details of why I no longer wanted to take the trip I originally planned. The how part deals with Travel Hacking – in this case, how I was able to change the entire trip on short notice using Awards tickets and so on.

Take your pick – feel free to read both or either parts depending on your interest level.

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Miscellaneous

The 2:00 a.m. “Stuck in Portland” Redesign Launch Story

I mentioned in the comments about the redesign that there was a back story to this week’s launch, and I thought I’d share the whole story here for those who are interested. According to the new publication schedule (Mondays and Thursdays for main content), you can also check back tomorrow for a more typical article.

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Site Updates

Site Redesign and New Posting Schedule

Hi everyone. First, if you’re reading by RSS or email, please come over to the site so you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

As you can see, our new site design is now online. It’s been a long time in the making, and I'm really excited that it's here. For the concept and execution of the project, I’m grateful to the amazing Reese Spykerman who works on location in Michigan and Malaysia. As I’ve said before, if you need a good web designer or ebook layout expert, send her a note.

There are a few more tweaks that are coming in the next few weeks, notably in how we display the categories, but this is the first public display of the AONC 2.0 that I’ve been hoping to have for a while.

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Travel

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How to Get a Duplicate U.S. Passport

uspassports-duplicate This post is relevant for readers with U.S. passports who travel frequently. If you don't fit in that group, feel free to skip this one – or just read it for the entertainment value.

I've mentioned a few times that I have two U.S. passports, and each time at least one person asks me how that works. Well, I'll you exactly how I got the second passport, and what you need to do if this would help you as well.

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