Well I have made through the mid point of my wee staycation. The problem with being a road warrior is that the instant you stop traveling, you get sick. Of course the only time I cease traveling is when I am on holiday and yes you can guess how this one started out.

Though my grand plans of snowboarding and biking have been mostly thwarted, it has been a good time. On Sunday, Hunter S. Thompson Memorial Greens (my wiffle field) hosted the season opener for LowBall.

Good times for sure.

Finally something original from the Laudromat.

While Isa and I were kicking it to the dump, we saw the holy grail of roadside debris, "the free bike". Now the free bike typically comes complete with piles of rust, a non pink exterior, and a host of other issues. Obviously the second is a near deal breaker for a 3 year old. There was some work to be completed. We stripped the bike completely down.

Painted the main components pink, obviously.

Scrubbed the remaining pieces until no rust or dirt could be found.

Put it together in a mere 13 attempts, chipped some of the fresh paint off, and holy cow a new-ish bike. Thrifty is the new black, get some.

Looks like another banger day and the trees are starting to green, only 4 days of staycation left.

S Nathaniel o.u.t.

I certainly was not a screaming proponent of the torch protests, however I do recognize the situation in Tibet. I could go through the ins and outs of my feelings on the subject, but that would be borderline pointless. This on the other hand is a great article and I think you should read it.

Watching his daughter on a homemade ladder smoothing varnish over the red-and-yellow trim of their large new log house, Norbu Choden smiled with the satisfaction that even if there was no getting the Chinese out of Tibet, he'd finally figured out how to benefit from their decades-long occupation of his homeland. "Once you understand that they’re never going to help us," he said, "you realize that you have to make your own future."

Norbu made his by transforming himself from a herdsman to a middleman. Like many of the five million Tibetans living under China's flag, he'd spent nearly all of his 48 years in eastern Tibet driving shaggy yaks through alpine meadows, eating their meat and butter, living in a tent woven from their coarse black wool, barely getting by from one brutal winter to the next. Now he leaves the hard work to others, while he buys and sells for profit.

The middleman has a long and storied history among Chinese, but his vital economic role has largely eluded the grasp of Tibetans. Before Norbu's metamorphosis, he would look on with envy as Chinese from neighboring Sichuan Province arrived each spring, buying up a wrinkled little fungus that he and other nomads had dug from the ground in their spare time. The Chinese then sold the brown Cordyceps, known as caterpillar fungus, for huge profits to traditional medicine makers.

The full article at www.nationalgeographic.com

After nearly 6 months of traveling back and forth from VT to Cali on a weekly basis, the great Cali project has come to a close. Sadly I will no longer have the opportunity to suffer through 24-30 hours of air travel per week to enjoy the smog filled congestion of the OC. Now it is time for a week chilling in the VT; playing wiffle, riding out 7YW, dusting off the road bike, and most importantly hanging heavy with the fam.

Lots of posts to come. Peace. S Nathaniel.

French Spiderman" Alain Robert, who has become famous for illegally climbing buildings across the world, scaled a top Hong Kong hotel on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said.

The 45-year-old urban climber scrambled up the outside of the 46-storey Four Seasons Hotel before being detained when he reached the roof, said one worker in a skyscraper close by who saw him reach the top.

The feat drew onlookers from nearby office buildings, including the neighbouring Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong's tallest building, which Robert had been expected to climb once he announced his visit.

Robert was in Hong Kong to publicise his book "With Bare Hands," which looks at some of his climbing successes, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Sydney Opera House and many of the world tallest skyscrapers.

He has declared his guerrilla climbing activity his "philosophy." On his website he boasts that he has made it to the top of 70 buildings and monuments around the world in his 12-year career.

Last year, he was deported from China for illegally conquering its tallest building, only to have Chinese officials invite him back in November to legitimately climb a mountain in the center of the country as a tourism attraction.

www.breitbart.com

VIDEO of Alain's previous exploits

This one is for Jensen, I am still very intrigued by the geocoding deal. This looks like a gang of fun. We should talk, I could see a very male friendly vacation coming up at some point.

The project is an organized sampling of the world. There is a confluence within 49 miles (79 km) of you if you're on the surface of Earth. We've discounted confluences in the oceans and some near the poles, but there are still 10,895 to be found.

You're invited to help by photographing any one of these places. Read the Information pages, and contact us if you have questions.

www.confluence.org