Monday Moods: Getting My Priorities Right

I have disappointed a few people when I chose this adventure, instead of accommodating others with my time. I put myself, before others. I have not always done this. 

Way back in the mid 1980's I was working for a home builder in Orlando.  We had a new project getting ready to open, and I had been tapped to be the onsite marketing lead. It was a great opportunity. I had scheduled a week of vacation and planned a trip to New Orleans. Then the dates for the project opening were posted, to overlap with my planned vacation. I asked if the date could be moved, pointing out that development was behind schedule.  The response was, "change your plans, or we will have someone else lead this project." I reasoned that the the project was behind schedule, and that was met with "he assures he will get it done." I cancelled my travel plans. Then the opening date was pushed back two weeks because the development was behind schedule - as I knew it was.  I never did take that trip to New Orleans. I let work take priority over my life. (It was a very good year, the most profitable I ever had with that company.) 

Flash forward to 2018, we were planning a trip to Vienna and onward into Slovakia to see where SBs grandmothers were born. I was serving on the board of a national organization, and they issued a save the date for an important board meeting in Nashville.  We were instructed to hold the dates, but not make travel plans, as there were details to be worked out. It overlapped with the only dates that worked for Vienna, so we didn't plan that trip. Then the board meeting was moved to a month later. Fast forward to today, the locations in Slovakia are 60 miles from the border with Ukraine.  We will make it to Vienna, but probably not father east. I let volunteer work be a priority over my life, and missed an opportunity that may never be possible again.  

As I was planning this trip, there was a save the date for another board I am serving on, for a meeting in San Diego. I kept checking and the answer was, we are not confirmed, there are details that have to be worked out, we are not sure on the budget, don't make travel plans yet. Then the cruise that starts this adventure opened for booking. It is repositioning cruise, so there is only one date, the same week as the maybe, we are not sure, we are trying to work out the details board meeting. I finally decided it was time to let my life be the priority and I booked the cruise. Three months later I get repeated emails asking me if I can't please speak at the meeting in San Diego. I promptly explained that I would be in the middle of the Atlantic, and unable to be in San Diego. 

It has taken me 50 years to do it, but I have my priorities straight, if it is not confirmed, I am not going to plan my personal life around it.  

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May. 

The Sunday Five: Big Thoughts

1: What emerging technology do you think is going to have the biggest impact on life ten years from now? 

2: Should the average home get larger or smaller over the next ten years? 

3: What is the most important thing for schools to teach today? 

4: If travel to the moon was as easy and safe as going to the grocery store, would you go?

5: How do you eat a 100 pound Chocolate Easter Bunny? 

My Answers: 

1: What emerging technology do you think is going to have the biggest impact on life ten years from now? Autonomous vehicles, driverless cars, trucks, drones. 

2: Should the average home get larger or smaller over the next ten years? Homes should get smaller. 

3: What is the most important thing for schools to teach today? Human interaction. Machines can do research, write, make decisions, fly airplanes, what they don't do as well at is making people feel like they are valued, understood, or believed. 

4: If travel to the moon was as easy and safe as going to the grocery store, would you go? No, and I am not sure why. 

5: How do you eat a 100 pound Chocolate Easter Bunny?  One bite at a time. 

Please share your answers in the comments.  

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May. 

A quick update, we are about 1000 miles east northeast of Bermuda. The weather is cool, moist, and I am having a great time. The enrichment lecturer is an art history professor from FIU, and is very good. Next stop is the Azores in a couple of days.

The Saturday Morning Post: Taking Creativity on the Road

My peak travel year, I boarded 32 airline flights, and spent 73 nights in hotels.  I don't travel that much anymore, but when we do leave home we tend to be gone for longer periods of time.  And while travel exposes me to ideas, and feeds my creativity, my ability to create art is limited when I am on the road.  So how do I take creativity on the road?

I always travel with a camera, really two of cameras, because my phone has a surprisingly great camera with three lenses and a 48 megapixel sensor.  The cameras allow me to be creative on a day to day basis. 

I carry a small notebook, that I can jot down ideas in, or make simple sketches.  These are things I should do more of. I will try this year. 

I take along a tiny computer, that gives me access to blogger and writing software. I try not to take work on the road, but I have edited reports and articles while traveling.  The change of routine of being away from home, often frees my mind to reexamine projects I have been working on in new ways, when this happens, a Chromebook allows me to get thoughts on paper before forgetting them.  

The creative process is different when on the road, and that is probably a good thing. Practice makes perfect, but doing the same thing over and over makes "Jack a dull boy." We can leverage travel to shake up the process, and bring freshness to our creative endeavours.  

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May. 

Funky Friday: Chunky Funky Buildings

 I love modern brutalist architecture. This is a modern building, built atop a traditional street level building. If you don't look up, you would never see it.  I do hope the cantilevered section is over engineered and carefully built, so it will last for hundreds of years.  If I ever moved, I would love to have one of those balconies overlooking the canal below, with my office/studio in one of the corner windows just to the right of the terraces. 

Modern buildings don't need to be boring. 

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May. 

The Thursday Ramble: Culturally Open Minded Travel

 

About three months ago, Angus in Scotland posted a link to an article about first impressions of life in the United States. The article talked about how visits to the United States impacted the thoughts of visitors from Iran, China and Russia.  Reading the article made me think, about how travel changes us. Timely as I am headed out on a grand adventure. 

People live differently in different places. The biggest differences are in international travel, though even from region to region within your country you will find differences. Differences in culture, in norms of behaviour, differences in language, the way homes are built, in the way that people live. 

There is much to be learned from the differences in culture.  To benefit from travel, I need to be culturally open minded. To expect that things will be different. To accept that what is different is normal. 

When I travel I suspend judgement. I remind myself that no one way is inferior or superior. This is the hardest thing for most people to do. When I judge another culture against my norm, I fail to understand the culture. 

I have learned many things when traveling, that have improved my life. I have tried not to try to change cultures, when I travel. I suspend judgement, and travel with a culturally open mind. 

What will I learn on this grand adventure?  

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May. 

My World of Wonders April 22nd 2026

 

Where have I been this week? If all has gone to schedule, we flew to Ft. Lauderdale over the weekend, and went to sea on Monday, we should be nearing Bermuda. 

What have I been up to? Exploring the ship, relaxing, reading, taking a few photos. 

Who I have I talked to? My sweet bear and strangers.  I always talk to strangers. 

What am I enjoying? A change of pace, a change of scene, the grand adventure of travel. 

What can I see out of my window? Water-Water everywhere. 

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May. 

Travel Tuesday: Sea Views

I am on a digital detox. This post was written ahead of time and scheduled to appear today. I have not missed posting at least once per day in over a decade. While on this detox, I will not have internet access many days, when I do have access it will be limited. Please continue to leave comments, but I may not reply to comments. I will read comments when I can. Normal service will resume in late May.