What I’ve Been Reading Lately

posted by Russ | September 30 | Add a Comment

I’ve been trying to read more lately, and I think I’ve been doing a fairly good job. And since I’ve been a bit lax about posting actual articles here, in their absence I’ll share what I’ve been reading.

For a while there I was reading some more serious books, some non-fiction and some travel/adventure books, but I decided I needed a break, and have read a few novels since then.

The non-fiction books of note that I read were Eating Animals, What Should I Do With My Life, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Dark Star Safari, and Into Thin Air.

Eating Animals by Jonathon Safran Foer is a fairly quick read, but there are parts that may be hard to swallow (no pun intended) depending on your stance on eating meat. That said, I would recommend it either way. If nothing else it is a good reminder about where your food comes from, and […]

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Posted in: reading

Vegetarians, personal beliefs, travel, and cultural sensitivity

posted by Russ | September 24 | 2 Comments
Insects at a Thailand Market

Insects at a Thailand Market

As I’ve written recently, I have been dabbling with vegetarian, vegan, and raw diets. I have also been honest in saying that while shifting my diet, I do still eat meat and dairy on occasion. I won’t go into extensive detail about the reasons for this since I’ve explained them in the past, but I will say that it’s still something I still think about often. And after seeing Anthony Bourdain speak last week, I’ve been thinking about diet choices, personal beliefs, and how they relate in the context of travel and culture.

I am a big fan of Anthony Bourdain, and I don’t think it is news to anyone that he is very outspoken in his dislike for vegetarians and vegans. His claim during the presentation (and in interviews I’ve read) is that he […]

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Posted in: travel

Las Vegas for a weekend

posted by Russ | September 1 | Add a Comment
The pool at Monte Carlo, Las Vegas

The pool at Monte Carlo, Las Vegas

I spent the past weekend in Las Vegas with my girlfriend and some of her friends. Aside from the fact that we both got sick during our stay (which sucks because getting sick is something that rarely happens to either of us), we still had a really great weekend. It’s a bit ironic because typically Vegas wears you down quickly, but after this trip I came back relaxed and mildly rejuvenated, except for my lingering sniffles and head congestion.

The drive out from San Diego was quick and easy, we left Saturday morning and had the smoothest ride I’ve ever had heading out that way. There was pretty much no traffic at all. We got in around 3:00PM and checked into our room at the Monte Carlo. The Monte Carlo wouldn’t […]

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Posted in: travel, united states

Getting to Koh Phangan from Bangkok, thru Surat Thani

posted by Russ | August 24 | 4 Comments

Entry #3 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #4, #5 and #6)

Hualamphong Train Station, Bangkok

Hualamphong Train Station, Bangkok

We just barely made it to the train station in Bangkok for our overnight train to Surat Thani, but we were now finally aboard the train, ready to head south to the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. We settled into our first class cabin, and as we pulled away from the station, we enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of the train after fighting with Bangkok traffic only hours earlier. The peace didn’t last long though, as there was a rowdy British group in the cabin next door, though this much was expected considering most of the passengers on the train were likely heading to the islands for the upcoming New Year’s celebrations.

There are a plenty of options for a trip like this, as […]

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Posted in: thailand, travel

The raw milk controversy

posted by Russ | July 28 | Add a Comment

Last weekend I caught a segment on NPR about the controversy over raw milk and dairy products, and then yesterday my friend sent me an article from the Los Angeles Times with similar content. In short, due to the possibility for E coli or salmonella contamination, the FDA has banned raw milk and dairy products in many states, stating that consuming them poses a health risk.

First of all, I will not say that I don’t believe there is a risk in consuming raw products, but for the FDA to ban them is outright crazy. The FDA is after all, the same organization that regularly approves drugs, both over the counter and dcotor prescribed, that can and do kill people all time. According to the first article, “raw milk can contain deadly bacteria like E. coli and salmonella and has sickened more than a thousand people since 1998”, and recently was […]

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Posted in: health & diet

People generate too much garbage and waste

posted by Russ | July 1 | 2 Comments

I was out running the other morning, and it just happened to be garbage day. I couldn’t help but notice that close to half of the houses sadly had an overflowing garbage can, or even two, out at the street. This is absolutely amazing to me. How can one household generate that much waste in 2 weeks?

When I lived alone several years back, I wouldn’t even generate one plastic bag’s worth of waste. And I don’t mean a garbage size bag — I always used leftover plastic bags that found their way into my apartment, typically your average plastic bag that you would get from a grocery store.

Now that I live in a house with my girlfriend, we barely generate more waste than that. And now since we use reusable bags for shopping, we’ve turned to using other plastic that comes into the house for garbage bags. An empty bread […]

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Posted in: sustainability

Life has changed

posted by Russ | June 29 | Add a Comment

My life has changed quite a bit recently, but I’m really loving it. Don’t worry, nothing wrong with my personal life, however there’s been a big change in my working life. The end result is that I am still employed with the same company, but now get to work from home full time.

The company I work for has had quite a turbulent history. I was one of the first employees to come on board, and we grew quickly, too quickly. First We moved offices and had a nice office downtown with a great view. But within a year, it was decided that we outgrew our our lovely office, and so we moved again. This time to another downtown office with another great view, but now we had the entire floor. Problem is, around the same time, we stopped growing. Oh yea, and the economy took a crap. So over […]

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Posted in: lifestyle design

Bicycle trip from San Diego to Phoenix (NEW)

posted by Russ | June 18 | 8 Comments
Riding along the US / Mexico border

Riding along the US / Mexico border

Day 1 – San Diego to Alpine
We left at about 9:30am from Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach after a few goodbyes, and were riding a high heading out of the city. We made some good progress, stopped for a pizza lunch, then hit the road again. Our last 20 miles were a serious uphill battle, and around the time our weary and not yet road accustomed legs nearly gave out, we had completed 50 miles and reached the Ma Tar Awa RV Park just east of the Viejas Casino. We were too late to check in, as the office had already closed, but we saw someone cleaning who let us slip in on the agreement that we would pay our dues in the morning. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but being that […]

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Posted in: travel, united states

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