My Eyes are Open

Last night, I caught an episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC, and I was both shocked and saddened when I saw what we Americans are doing to ourselves and to our children when it comes to food. Check out this promo about Jamie's mission in America:

My eyes were opened last night not to just what is being served to children in our schools, but to my own mistakes and what I also need to do to live a better life.

When I first heard about Jamie's new show, I felt it was an inspired idea, but I also worried that it would fall on deaf ears. According to last night's ratings, the American people are listening, and that is extremely encouraging. Let's hope Food Revolution catches on and becomes just that.

My Getaways: The Great Outdoors

I don't consider myself to be an outdoorsy kind of person, and this was proven during my time in Portland. I was the guy who thought it'd be OK to camp-out with nothing but a bed sheet during an Oregon summer (trust me, it gets cold at night up there). I'm also the guy who saw two of his buddies almost float down a river while being stuck in the middle of the water holding two fishing poles (wading was a foreign concept to me at the time, and still is). To be honest, I'm surprised I survived living up in Oregon.

While I'm not the world's greatest survivalist, I did develop a respect for the outdoors, and my interest in being more in tuned with nature was sparked while living in Portland. Plus, now I have a ton of camping stuff that I'd like to use more than once, so the thought of a camping road trip sounds mighty fine right about now.

A colleague of mine at Texas State mentioned that she once went on a camping tour de force that took her from Lubbock, TX through northern New Mexico and Arizona, down and over, and then back up. Honestly, her story prompted my urge to rough it for a few weeks, but I'd extend the trip.

Ideally, I'd start out in Big Bend, TX and work my way up north through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Then I'd hook a left towards the Pacific Coast which would take me through parts of Idaho and Washington. Down the coast through my old stomping ground and NorCal before cutting right to hit up Nevada and Utah. Then I'd travel through Arizona, back across New Mexico and my old home of West Texas, which brings me back to Central Texas.

Of course I'd be camping, hiking, and fishing the entire time...you know, like men do. Now, I just need to learn how to do those things or at least have a guide that would keep me from freezing my ass off. Either way.

My Doctor, Doctor

I was convinced once I finished up my masters degree, that would be it for me when it comes to furthering my education. For some reason, I've been rethinking that stance lately.

While at Portland State, I focused most of my studies on diversity, multiculturalism, and the identity development of multiracial individuals. These subjects really inspired my studies, and in the back of my mind I knew I'd enjoy continuing to study them, but at the time it was an afterthought.

Now, I'm considering going back to school to earn my PhD in education and building off of the foundation that I started at PSU. I've started to do some research on schools and it looks like there might be some interesting programs at the University of New Mexico and the University of Hawaii. I know that I'm still a few years away from actually applying, but the thought is kind of exciting, which surprises me.

Unfortunately, you don't need a doctorate in order to sell t-shirts on the beach.

My New Tunes

 

I can't believe that I had never heard of James Morrison before today, and of course I can really relate to this song. Go figure.

My March Blahness

I can understand why March Madness is so popular, but I've always found it to be overrated. I'm more of a college football kind of person.

With that being said, of course I'm going to hope that Texas A&M wins, Texas loses, and we get some great upsets. Plus, anytime Notre Dame loses (way to go Old Dominion!) is aces in my book.

I'll check out some of the games if I don't have anything better to do, but I'm sure things would be different if I had filled out a bracket.

My Luck of the Irish

It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years since I spent St. Patrick's Day in Ireland. My good friend Kelly decided to leave Portland to be with her then fiance (now hubby) in Ireland. While I knew that I was going to miss her, I totally understood. Plus it gave me a reason to visit her.

I remember my friend Adam and I were sitting in a PDX bar, and I said how I wanted to head over the Ireland for Spring Break to visit Kelly, asked if he was interested in joining. The next thing I knew we were booking flights to Dublin. Pretty sweet.

Spending a week in Ireland, and celebrating St. Patty's Day over there, was one of those wonderful times in my life that I'll never forget. Especially, since I had the chance to have this awesome experience with some of my favorite people in the world. We all grown up (well Kelly and Adam have at least), moved on to new adventures, but we'll always have Ireland.

My Getaways: Islands & Beaches

Last week was spring break for the student's of Texas State, and while I did have to work, it was nice having a slower week before the craziness that is registration ensues. I do have to admit that I was a little bit jealous of those that had the chance to get out of town for a bit. I need to get away too.

I know that I've blogged about traveling in the past, but seeing the world is one of the goals that I'm really adamant about, and I feel that it's is a pretty obtainable one. The only things standing in my way of being a globletrotter are my lack of funds, time, and travel buddies. If I had all three I'd be writing this entry from a beach somewhere. C'est la vie.

While I may not have to resources to travel the world right at my fingertips, I do have the drive to do it sooner than later because I don't want to have any regrets. Ten years from now I don't want to say, "I wish I had seen ______ when I had the chance". Money's starting to collect in the bank, the excitement levels are rising, and now I just need to spin the globe and pick a place.

My top destinations are pretty standard compared to the well-traveled's point-of-view, but it's all new to me. Italy is very high on my list, and while I'd like to do the standard stuff like see Rome, Venice, etc., I've heard nothing but good things about Cinque Terre. It's like some mythical place based on all of the hype that I've been told. I just need to see it for myself.

Second on my list is Greece. I don't think I'd be all that into Athens, but one of the smaller islands would probably blow my mind. I've said it before, and I'll say it until it happens, I will never come back if I ever make it to Greece

Speaking of islands, I've just jumped on the Majorca bandwagon. I really don't know much about the Spanish island except for the fact that I want to go there. I think it's because it is an island, which means water, which is a must in my book. That's reason enough for me. I'm sure I'd enjoy mainland Spain as well. Apparently, Barcelona is the place  to be, but I wouldn't be opposed to making a stop in Madrid either.

Hmm, where else? Australia is also very high on my list. Of course big cities like Sydney and Melbourne would be must-sees, but I'd like to spend as much time on the beaches like Surf Coast and on the Great Ocean Road. See why I want to pick up surfing?

I wouldn't say no to Hawaii or Mexico either. As you can tell, there's a theme going on here. Give me the three Ses (sun, sand, and surf), and I'm a happy man. Sounds reasonable, right?

My Writer's Block

One of my goals is to keep my blog interesting even if only a handful of people might read it, and I try to keep it as angst-free as possible, but it seems like all I can write about is what I haven't done with my life, the ones that got away, or where I'd rather be than here. I guess that's a fail on my part.

The crazy thing is, I have no problem coming up with things to write about for my entertainment blog, but for some reason my personal thoughts are too few and far between. I just cannot think of topics to write about that don't involve the life I could be living...I want to share the journey I'm on now, but for some reason it's not that interesting.

If someone is reading this post, and can think of an interesting topic for me to go on and on about, please share because I need to changes things up for a bit.

My 29th Year

This past Monday was my 29th birthday, which means I'm one step closer to 30. Bummer. I'm not afraid of hitting the big 3-0, I'm just not where I thought I'd be once I met that milestone. I'm still not married, I still don't have kids, and I still haven't won my Oscar.

I know that I still have a ton of time to reach my goals, but everyone had a list of accomplishments they wanted to reach by the age of 30, and I just wish I had more things crossed off of mine than I do. Or any for that matter. Ah well, c'est la vie.