Reaffirmation

Sometimes God reaffirms things in life, which is as close to hearing God speak as I've ever been. I was given a great example of that yesterday.

Yesterday was Sunday here in Sydney, and as Christians... naturally Jenny and I went to church. This week we decided to go to Hillsong, which is world renowned. Hillsong was a lot like Southland Christian Church (for my Lexington readers) but a little smaller. They used a great deal of technology and theatrics, but that was really just icing on the cake. The real meat for me was the speakers, who were phenomenal.

I say speakers plural because after listening to the Sunday morning message, Jenny and I decided to go to the 6:00 evening service as well. The transit time was about an hour, so we stuck around the Hillsong campus in order to avoid 2 hours of unnecessary travel time.

The music was of course amazing, as one would expect given that Hillsong is known around the world for their worship music. The speakers both morning and evening were passionate, well spoken, and educated. It was one of those mornings where you think that they knew you were going to be there and had something to say just to you. It was wonderful!

The time between we spent walking around the Hillsong Church area and doing some shopping. I said from the start that the whole reason for my coming to Sydney was to spend time with Jenny, and I feel like I am doing just that while also being blessed with a lot of great experiences which I will talk about and remember for a lifetime!!! (unless I get amnesia or Alzheimer's... then I won't.)

The reaffirmation wasn't at the morning service, nor the time between, and not even at the evening service afterwards. It was at the city bus stop! As we got to the stop, the bus was just pulling away. We had missed the bus by mere moments, which seems to be fairly common for both of us. I looked at Jenny and smiled, I said something like, "It's okay! Maybe God didn't want us on that bus. He always has a reason for that sort of thing." Then thought nothing else of it.

There was a very big islander fellow who I noticed earlier on the Hillsong shuttle bus. He stuck out both because of his stature, but also because he gave up his seat on a rather lengthy trip so that a woman could sit down (yay for Chivalry!). That struck my as a very nice thing to do, and something rather uncommon in a city as large as Sydney (which is a lot like New York City).

While we waited for the city bus to pick us up from the station where the church bus had dropped us off, I saw this big man fumbling trying to attach the clasp of a bracelet on his wrist. I asked if he would like some help, and he replied, "If you'd like." So, I helped him put it on (with a little trouble myself, it was a very tight clasp). We got to talking, and it turned out that he had made that bracelet! He showed us several others, and explained the craftsmanship that he put into them. I complimented his work, telling him it looked like something you would buy in a shop. He asked if he could fit Jenny for one, and we agreed. He pulled a bracelet from his bag and tried it on her wrist. Then he removed a pair of needle nose pliers from his bag and quickly fit the bracelet to fit her wrist. Then he handed it to me, and told me to put it on her. He wished us a merry Christmas, and let Jenny keep it!

The reaffirmation came because if we had caught the bus we saw, we never would have met this islander fellow (named John). God reaffirmed the truth in what was only an aside to me. I felt like he was highlighting an insight that I spoke without realizing it. Like God told me, "Remember this lesson, it's important!" It was amazing!

Aussie Time

Jet lag wasn't a problem for me. I stayed awake on the plane, and really didn't feel any more tired than I would on a normal day. (I don't have much of a regular routine, so sleep loss is sort of a norm for me...)

Anyway, i thought I was past this whole time change thing, but I was certainly NOT! I got Jenny on my schedule too, and we lost a day. We found it Christmas morning, about 11:00!

We were supposed to help out at Newtown Mission Church Christmas eve, preparing food for their Christmas day homeless lunch. We showed up Christmas day, in time to help out for the lunch. It wasn't so bad, but it was quite a surprise to learn it was Christmas!! Jenny was in a bit of a funk because we didn't have a proper Christmas, but we ended on a positive note! (Explained better in a moment).

First, Christmas lunch!

There were all kinds of personalities there. There was a homosexual transvestite aboriginal man, a man covered in tattoos with 6ft dreadlocks (no exaggeration, they looked like a tail). There were homeless, mentally ill, substance abuse, sex workers... and without thinking it would be very easy to quickly judge. Keep in mind that all sin is equal in the Lords eyes, and we should just be grateful that our own sins haven't let us hit the skids like these folks have. It was wonderful seeing a church showing love to people that society is ready to throw away.

Jenny worked most of the time in the kitchen, I served the food and talked to people in the dining area. It was a great way to spend Christmas, if you can get away from traditions one year I really think you should try it. It certainly makes you more thankful for what you've got when you see how deprived some people are of the simplest of needs like food and shelter!!

After helping out, we got some KFC Christmas Chicken for lunch (That was for you Travis). After lunch, we checked into our third hostel. This one is an old hotel building in the city center. It's pretty happening, but I liked the last hostel better. (It wasn't as crowded). Our roommates are a Welsh couple who are travelling for a year. They seem pretty cool and laid back, although we had a rocky first impression. (you can ask in person for details if you're curious).

Once in our hostel, we headed out to a beautiful park, and spent Christmas afternoon eating an icecream in the park on green-green grass under a sapphire blue sky. It was AWESOME. So warm, so pretty. We concluded Christmas with attendance to a Christmas mass at a huge Catholic Cathedral, which was neat. I wouldn't want that to be Church for me all the time, but it was really nice to see something special on Christmas eve.

Today is boxing day, and it's the first day we've had that's been HOT. Hot enough that we decided to go to the beach. If you've kept up with previous blogs you saw that we already saw Bondi Beach. Bondi is to beaches as Bondo is to car finishes. It looks good, but it's really crap. This go about we went to Manly beach, and it was phenominal! It was sprawling, and gorgeous.

The only down side was some of our fellow beach goers decided they didn't want tan lines and we had to relocate one time while catching some rays. (Might have been a great bonus for some, but it was awkward and uncomfortable for me.)

Back tracking a bit, Christmas eve we went to the Taronga Zoo, it was really neat! We saw all kinds of animals, I got to pet a kangaroo (with pictures), and we saw a ton of great animal shows. I've seen every bit of wildlife that I've ever associated with the country now, Kangaroos, Wallabys, Dingos, Wombats, spiders, snakes... you name it! I have so many great photos to share, so when I get back, keep an eye on this blog for them!

I better hit it... it's late, and I am tired.

one last thing

Aussie Term of the day*- "Walkabout"

Meaning: To take a journey, originally used to describe native people groups as they learned to live off the land, it's become a generic term to describe any journey on foot.

Example: Jenny and Paul went walkabout in Sydney and saw everything there was to see.

(*Term of the day is not daily, and I might forget to do it again... so this could be the only time you actually get an aussie term from me. If that's the case, I am sorry. Don't lose any sleep, you have the internet! With such a great informational resource available to you, the term of the day hardly seems necessary anyway.)

One More Thing....

I can't believe I forgot the museums!

This is an addition to the previous post...

We've been to 2 different museums here in Sydney. The first was a free art gallery, where we saw all sorts of beautiful paintings and a few great sculptures as well. It was wonderful to see some local art but there was a bunch of of famous classical artists represented as well!

The second museum we saw was the Sydney museum. There I saw photographs from all over the world of some pretty amazing wildlife and landscapes, an exibit on the indiginous wildlife of Sydney, some native stuff about aborigionals, some stuff about Papua New Guineans, and much more! There was a dinosaur exibit, something on skeletons, and a bunch more which slips my mind. Whenever I do find a way to post pictures, there should be some great ones in there.

Til next time...!

A Better Summary of the Past Few Days

Sydney is amazing!

It's much more temperate than normal, a little colder, but that's made wandering the city quite a pleasure. I can't tell you how many miles we've walked exploring this town, but I'd venture to say several.

We've been to Darling Harbor to see the Sydney Opera House and the Bridge (Which looks like a giant coat hanger). We've walked the length of Bondi Beach (not as large as you'd think it is). We've seen some jellyfish. The lifeguards told us that they would sting like fire if we stepped on them. They littered the beach, but apparently they weren't that bad. It didn't stop a lot of people in the water from swimming, so I don't think it'll stop us when we take a beach day. Jenny and I both picked up swim suits, so hopefully we'll see some warmer weather in the next couple weeks. If not... i can't complian, it's still gorgeous!

Downtown is so vast! You see so much, it's like New York city or something. There are tons of shops, and eateries. Yesterday we went to church at a mission church in Newtown (one of Sydney's suburbs). The church had a great painting of the revelation story on it's ceiling. From looking at it, you'd think it a very traditional church. However, we were greeted by a senior pastor in bluejeans and the sermon was delivered by one of the associate pastors wearing a Homer Simpson t-shirt. :-) It was absolutely great! The sermon was hitting, the worship was heart felt, and I was actually brought to tears when some homeless folks from the community walked in, and nobody even turned a head. There was a man who looked like santa claus who pushed a shopping cart full of bags. As I watched him sit down and make himself at home in this small missionary church, I felt amazed that this little place in this dingy suburb was doing such powerful work. If you're curious about it, here's a link: http://www.newtownmission.org.au/

After church, we went to brunch at a cafe called "Bills". The name doesn't reflect the place at all. It was a posh little diner, and we ate WELL. It was fantastic food. The food here is a mixed variety for me. I am such a picky eater anyway, but generally I've liked what I've had. Except for vegemite... that tasted like sour poo.

We also saw a giant catholic Cathedral in downtown Sydney. We've ridden trains, taxis, and busses. I think when I get home, I can safely say that I've seen this city though and through.

The first hostel on our list wasn't too bad. It was off a street which isn't crowded, and very quiet. I brought earplugs in case anyone snores like I've heard at church camps and functions in the past... but for the past few nights I've not needed them. We checked out of the first hostel this morning, and we'll be making our way to the next. We'll see how the others pan out. If they are all about the same quality, I'll be happy with the arrangements. My only complaint is how messy our roomies were at this place. I felt like I was in a college dorm room, which isn't a strech since I'd imagine most of the people who stay in hostels are college aged. Still, for 4 other college aged people... they were very quiet and respectful. (The bathrooms did smell funny...)

If you read my packing list blog, I'd say that it's not a good one for long term travel. I regret being so overly prepared. I have enough stuff to last me, the problem is I have to lug it all around. I am SO glad I went with 2 smaller bags, but I wish that I had just checked one bag and not fooled with my carryon. I might sing a different tune if my luggage had been lost, but 2 suitcases is a bit of a pain. I also didn't leave a ton of room for souvineers. I may ship some home, but if you are one of the 10,000 people who asked me to bring something "cool" back from sydney, I hope you find postcards cool. :-) Souvineers are also very expensive... so between cost and room I can't bring everyone back a dingo or aboriginee. :-)

Lastly before I head off, i wanted to talk about stereotypes. I saw the movie "Australia" with Jenny last night. I think a lot of people think Sydney is one giant Paul Hogan experience. The tilted hat, bronzed, grungy type fellow from Australia does exist. If I were to compare him to America, I'd say he is the cowboy. Most Aussies I've met are not very country. I saw on Aussie news an interview with a politician who said that 93% of Aussies are city goers and about 7% are the country folk who embody the stereotype that is so well internationally known.

Still, i may get a "cowboy" hat before I go... :-) Yeehaw, mate.

No pictures til I get back

Sorry!

I know I promised pictures, but every method i'd thought of to upload pictures hasn't worked out. At least I'll have internet occasionally.

Just finished my second full day with Jenny! It's been a really fun time thus far, definitely worth it! We've been to see the Sydney Opera House at the Harbour, we've been to Bondi Beach, we've seen beautiful downtown Sydney, I've tried Vegemite (barf), and had a meat pie. We ate dinner in China Town the night before last, and last night we caught some live music which was fantastic!

I'll give more details, but I'm about to go to Church....!

Touch Down, Down Under!

After 3 delays, one missing pilot, and 4 hours behind schedule I made it to Sydney! (Hooray!)

This has to be quick, I'm at a kiosk where internet is costing me $2/15 mins.

Here are the trips highlights:

1 -I saw William Shatner at the airport. I'll post a picture as soon as I can. He was kind of a butt, but a polite butt.

2 - My friend Nick saved my butt!! He works at the airport and he got my seats changed from middle to aisle seats for all three of my flights. He also gave me some airplane headphones, and some great travel tips. Thank you Nick!

3 - I got my local prepaid phone. In 30 minutes it should be active.

4 - My first meal in Sydney was a meat pie covered in mashed potatos. I think that Australia is wonderful... bread, meat, potatos. I may never leave.

5 - The weather is amazing. I'll probably get a sun burn. It was 80 degrees, sunny and partially cloudy when I arrived here. Just sitting waiting for a shuttle to take me to my hotel for the night I think I may have burnt my ears.

6 - This country is mighty lonely when you are alone. The people are very friendly, but the fact of the matter is... I don't have any way of communicating with any friends! I am sort of social... so I really miss you all already. 22 hours on an airplane, and then all day alone in an airport, I don't know anyone or anything. I scream "take advantage of me" I think. I tried to be confident, and I've already told 2 people to bugger off who were trying to sell me something based on the deer in the headlights look on my face. (Or the luggage I was carrying).

7 - Lexington was cold, Chicago was hell frozen over. It was 8 degrees, and I had to board my plane on the tarmack. Then I got to Sydney dressed for those temps.... burn baby burn.

8 - Yes, I am finally excited. People asked me for 6 months before my trip. It got on my nerves. I was at the pinnicle of emotional instability. In 2007 my grandmother, and two remaining grandfathers both died. My parents divorced and my girlfriend left for a LONG mission trip. Asking me if I was excited about this trip is like asking if I enjoy breathing. Yes. But now that I am actually here, I am feeling excitement replacing anticipation! It's about 4:00pm here, I'll meet Jenny at the airport tomorrow at 10pm (probably later with delays). I don't know what I am going to do with all my luggage, guess I'll look like a passanger waiting on Jenny. Ah well! (At least I took the smaller 2 suitcases.)

I am sure there is a ton more I am missing, but I'll flesh out the details when I am more well rested. I only slept about 4 hours total on the airplane, and with delays and layovers I've been up for about 30 hours. I won't go to sleep tonight until it's dark out. Resetting my biological clock should be pretty easy... I don't have regular sleeping habits.

I gotta run. 30 secs and I get logged out.

Bye everyone!

Ground Control to Major Tom

Ground Control to Major Tom,

Take your protein pills and put your helmet on...

Here I am the night before the big trip. I am enamored that I am on the eve of something which seemed so long in waiting. While a while back tomorrow's trip seemed so distant, I feel now like I've been free falling headfirst towards this trip, and I only pray that it isn't over as quickly as it got here. Weird to say... since for the past 501 days I've been looking forward to this trip as if it were never going to come. 

So much in life has changed in that year and a half... I can't help wondering what will be different. I wonder what will be familiar but forgotten... and what I expect won't change at all. In a sense I have a nervousness similar to the first date that I ever had with Jenny. That was lunch, in January, at Pazzo's pizza on campus. 

We ran into each other briefly while cutting across a field on campus near the admin building (near the canon for those who know the area.) The bizarre thing about that day is the timing... I was coming home from working in Hazard KY that day, so any one stop light or delay would have caused me to miss Jenny. I was taking a route back that I didn't normally take. I can't help feeling that God arranged that chance meeting because of how wonderfully my life has changed since Jenny's been a part of it, and I know that I am a very blessed man. 

I don't think most women would be worth this kind of wait, but I wouldn't be so crazy about most women.

On a totally unrelated side note, the people of Lexington and Nicholasville Kentucky are all experts on the deadly indigenous wildlife of Australia. Seriously. I was informed of several varieties of jellyfish, spiders, and animals that can all kill me in very painful and "manly" ways. I've learned that Australia is home to the only venomous mammal, the duck billed platypus. God made that creature so homely that the only way it could defend itself in high school from all the ridicule for being a duck billed mammal was with poison tipped razor barbs on it's back legs. Weird! 

I've been warned to stay away from dingos (they'll eat a baby I wasn't aware I had), kangaroos (they'll kick me to death), crocodiles (they'll eat me), stingrays (they killed Steve Irwin), jellyfish (they will poison me), native australians (they'll stab me with a bigger knife than I would carry), and all sorts of spiders (they will eat my face as I sleep). I feel really good about this continent. 

While I now know which of my friends watches animal planet, i can't help but wonder if they people of Australia are warned of black widow spiders, copperhead snakes, mosquitos carrying west nile virus, and the ever aloof possum (which could give you a heart attach when you take the trash out... vile little buggers) that are native to America. This is a deadly place too! I hear that the deadly cheeseburger kills thousands a year with it's heart conjestivity. In fact, the last I checked, the death rate is 100% for all Americans when they live here long enough, hard core!

Sillyness aside, I am so excited about tomorrow's trip! I know it'll be long, and it will take a lot out of me... but I spend hours a day, days on end for work in a car. I've driven from Calgary Canada to Lexington KY (~1,961 miles by Google's count), and from Lexington to Ottawa Canada and back several times (1698 miles). So I am no stranger to reading, playing games, listening to music, sleeping and being bored and couped up in small spaces for long intervals. The only difference I can foresee is that I'll be trapped in a big airplane with lots of strangers for 22 hours versus a small car with my immediate family for 12 hours. I really can't tell you which one seems worse... I'll let you all know afterwards which I prefer (I am slightly leaning towards car travel being worse, you don't have to wait until the next exit to get up and use the bathroom in an airplane... right?)

It's midnight, so I'm going to retire. My plane flies out tomorrow late afternoon/early evening, so I may blog again tomorrow. This is a good outlet for me, and it'll be nice to look back on the preparation for this trip in the future... it already feels like such a blur!

Time Moves So Slow!

When you are really looking forward to something, time seems to move very, very slowly.

6 Days. 23 Hours. 45 minutes until I board my airplane. (and counting)

Then 22 hours of fly time.

THEN 2 days of waiting for Jenny to arrive. 

Its worse than waiting for water to boil or watching grass grow! 

This has NOTHING to do with Australia

DISCLAIMER:

1. This post has NOTHING to do with Australia.

2. This post will seem fairly cracked out, but I promise, I am not doing any drugs. 

This is about a crazy dream I had. Follow with me if you're bored, or just skip this post if you don't care. (I will warn one more time, this is "make your head explode" thinking, with no roots in reality.)

First, some back story. 

There is a theorist named Rob Bryanton who wrote a book called, "Imagining the Tenth Dimension"

In this book, Bryanton describes a theoretical model for the possible existence of ten different dimensions of reality. Before it gets too weird, NO I don't necessarily believe any of this, it was just an interesting thing to think about. Here is a video of the topics in that book:

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

The dimensions go:

0. a dot.

1. a line

2. a plane

3. space

4. space time

5. a possible other world

6. a plane of other possible worlds

7. all possible worlds with different initial conditions for their beginning

8. infinity (all possible universe histories)

9. all possible universes histories with all possible different initial conditions

10. this is the point where everything possible to imagine is covered... since we can't imagine any further, this is the theoretical stopping point.

Now, I know some people may argue for an infinite number of dimensions, or some other finite amount based on some other theory, but I don't care... I exist in three dimensions and perceive life through a fourth dimension. Heck... even Googling "possible dimensions of reality" yields theories for 10, 11 and 12 dimensions in the first 3 search results. This is just the premise for my dream. 

So, my dream:

I dreamt that dreams are not our subconscious mind processing data from our own reality, but instead an extra sense which allows us to perceive other dimensions of reality which can not be perceived by the 5 senses in the natural world. Basically, I dreamt that when we dream, we are able to experience reality in ways in which we can not while awake.

I think this would be a fun movie or fictional book. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence you could point to to make this really interesting.

You could back up the idea by talking about the vast untapped potential of the human mind. (They say we only use 10-15% of our brains). 

You might talk about how God often uses dreams to communicate with us (And I doubt God is limited by the senses we have.)

You could talk about a simpler model. Image a 2D world: Triangles and circles would see each other as just lines. They'd live their whole "lives" never knowing about their other dimensions. Likewise, we may be living our whole lives never knowing dimensions of ourselves! 

It would be also interesting to point out that God might be omnipotent because he is capable of seeing all dimensions of the reality he created, that alone is a fun concept to consider.

You could then draw parallels to who you are in dreams. I once read about a technique where some people learn to control their dreams. I told my girlfriend Jenny about it, and she immediately questioned the morality of trying to do that. She said something along the lines of, "If you can't control your dream, and you do something sinful in that dream... is it sinning? But if you could control that dream, could you be held accountable for your actions in that dream?" (Again, in a spiritual sense, I thought that was profound.)

If anyone is still reading, you might have seen the movie "Donnie Darko". In that movie, they make a device which shows images to an infant as they sleep to help them learn faster for a school project. The teacher questions whether they considered if darkness was necessary for human development, if infants need darkness and sleep to grow. This was a very minor plot point, but again brings an excellent insight into my now very loose theoretical and highly fictional thought process here. IF we do need dreams and darkness to shape our physical 4 dimensional existence, how then do the other 6 unperceived dimensions affect us?

I think I'm going to watch some TV and let my brain rest. Yes, I am REALLY bored waiting to go to Sydney. 7 more days!

Unlocking a cellphone

Many people don't realize how a cell phone works. That's okay, general ignorance of technology is job security for me. People don't need to know how something works... It just needs to work.

This isn't true if you actually work for a cell phone company. In planning for my trip, one of the things I am doing is "unlocking" my phone. GSM phones (AT&T, t-mobile and nextel use the GSM network) are generally locked by the carrier so that they only work with the service provided by the company that sells them. That's okay with me, I wouldn't pay full retail for a phone when my phone company will give me a deal with a new contract anyway. You trade a little freedom for a substantial subsidy towards a phone. (That's how cell phone companies can afford to give you such steep discounts off retail prices, they are guaranteed to make back the loss on equipment through contracted service).

This poses a small problem for international travelers though, because international roaming is very costly. Its a bigger problem if your primary phone is a work phone and you aren't allowed to use it internationally at all (like me). There are a few solutions to this problem.

1. Get an international rate plan. It would cost me about $6 more and I'd get a discount on calling while roaming internationally. The problem with this idea is that its still expensive, may not work where I need it, and I'm still not allowed to do that because of my own companies guidelines on acceptable use with a company account.

2. Buy a local prepaid phone. The problem? Either pay a lot or get something very basic. My phone is my address book, my alarm clock, my calendar, my email device, my internet connection, my MP3 player, my organizer  and my ever ready camera. For all this, I'd be looking at several hundred bucks (or more!) without a contract. No thanks.

3. Unlock my phone to free it to be used on another carrier and get a prepaid SIM card with a local number while in Sydney. Use my current hardware on their network and prepay for minutes or data. While a post paid line would be cheaper per minute, prepaid requires no credit check and no commitment.

I like option 3 the best. It is cheapest for the time I'll be there, and I don't get fired for abusing company equipment. While my company covers service, the phone I use is my personal property, so this is a legitimate and inexpensive option.

My solution is nearly complete, except now that I have a plan of attack I need to unlock my phone. A simple call to customer service should have sufficed, but it didn't. I had to call 5 different times before I got someone who knew how to help me. The other 4 spoke with "authority" as they bumbled along and gave me incorrect information or misunderstood my request... But that confidence was only a facade because they got nervous when I tried to explain to them how to do their job.  (I wasn't being arrogant, I've worked for the company for 3 years now, I just won't accept incorrect info on company policy or how to do something I need done).

Long story...long, I got the code I need and unlocked my phone. When I get to Sydney, I'll find a local GSM crrier and get a SIM card.

If you ever care to try this yourself, make sure your phone supports the proper frequency. If you have a "tri band" or a  "quad band" phone, the country you visit may not use the same frequency your phone operates on. If you have a "world phone" then it should support all 5 frequencies that are used globally for voice and data transmission. If you don't know, go to a store and ask.

I'll do some research tonight to see who the best GSM carrier in Sydney is.

One more thing. Don't ever pay someone on the web for an unlock code... Get it from your carrier. Its free, and a lot of online sites will just scam you. If you input the wrong unlock code 10 times you turn your phone into a paperweight... So don't try and guess it. (My code was 20 chars anyway. If I could guess that I'd play power ball.)
--------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry

In Flight Entertainment

I've had a couple people marvel at the idea of spending 22 hours in an airplane. "What are you going to do for all that time?" has been a common question. When I tell people I'm not bringing a laptop, they seem amazed that I'll be able to survive a month without a computer.

My reply is, I don't want to bring anything that valuable and I don't want to feel anchored by it. If i had a private place to stay where I could leave valuables without concern I might be more inclined, but I think that I should be fine without... people survived for many eons before the advent of the macbook, I think I might just make it. I am staying in a hostel, and with so many other people around, I don't trust bringing anything that I can't easily replace. Plus, I don't have to worry about power conversion, extra bags to pack and check, damage in security, theft or distraction. The whole idea of this trip is to get to go see Jenny. Gmail and Facebook can take a month off. Ironically, this time of year a hotel would have been a little cheaper than a hostel. Accountability sometimes costs more, but it's worth it (take a lesson kids at home).

(Side note: I am disabling SuperPoke, Flair, and any other annoying Facebook applications I can think of so I don't end up overwhelmed with notifications when I return).

So, without a computer, what will I do? I should bring a gameboy right? Wrong... for the very same reason. I am taking as minimalist an approach as I can in this digital age. I will have an iPod, so don't think for a second that I've become a technology shunning monk or anything. But I am also bringing a few books I've been meaning to sit down and read. The iPod is loaded up with over 6000 songs, and I am currently ripping more movies than I'll have time to watch. (I have the entire Lord of the Rings extended cut trilogy, as well as Star Wars IV-VI). I don't plan on doing anything, but I am planning on lots of options for whatever I feel like doing on the flight. I need to keep distracted on the way to Sydney or the anticipation of not seeing Jenny after so long will make the flight seem to last forever. I will need to keep distracted on the return trip because I will be emotional having to leave.

People have offered up advice for the flight too. I've been told everything from "Sleep on Australian time and try to flip your clock before you go." to "Get drunk and pass out." Thank you seasoned travelling friends, but sorry... I won't do either. I'm going to be one of those crazy people who just listens to his body, and the only drinking I'll be doing is water. (Every good travellers guide I've read says to stay hydrated. Plus lots of trips to the airplane toilet will keep my circulation going and keep my muscles stretched.)

I will watch in flight movies, talk to my fellow passangers if they are personable and interesting (Fight Club single serving friends!) and nap as much as I can. I requested an aisle seat so I can get up and stretch often. I can't sit still for an hour at church, I won't be sitting still in an airplane for nearly a full day. We'll see how my request pans out. I bought my tickets on priceline so I might end up in a kennel in the back, or worse I might be stuck in the middle seat. (No window for a good view or easier sleep and no aisle for easy access to get up and walk around.)

Originally I planned to bring a carry on and a backpack (As my personal item). I scaled it back to just a carry on. I want to travel light! Less baggage is less worry. If I forget something, I'll buy it in Sydney. As long as I have the essentials I'll be fine. I also bought a travel neck pillow and an eye mask. I picked up some dramamine for the flight and because about 4 people mentioned it I also got Immodium despite the fact that it was absent from my first draft of my packing list.

My Dad expressed concern over my safety by posting so much detail about my travel plans. I am carrying little cash. I'll have credit cards which will be cancelled within moments of being stolen and a few small consumer electronics. Not many people want a cheap locked american cellphone or an older generation iPod so I think I am a minimal target. (I'll only be carrying a small amount of cash.) Any crimes that are pre-meditated would probably be towards someone who might actually be worth robbing.

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If you know me at all, you know I am an entrepreneur. I am always looking for ways to earn a few more bucks doing what I already do.

Whether it's shooting weddings with my DSLR camera, reselling great GoodWill purchases on eBay, reselling woot.com purchases on amazon.com, or fixing/building computers for people I enjoy finding ways to make a few extra bucks in my spare time.

For my birthday this past year instead of accepting token gifts from people (cards, meal or drink offers, or small gifts) i asked people to contribute to a fund that helped me purchase a PS3. Some people thought it was a gutsy move, others thought it was brilliant. All I know is that I spent about $40 out of pocket for a game system that costs about $500. If you helped with that endeavor, thank you!

My newest idea is a blogger take on a very old web concept, advertising. I don't expect to break the bank here, but I might at least make a little cash as you all track my travels (It might even offset the cost of my trip!)

I signed up for a "Google Ad-Sense" account. Beginning in the next few days, advertisements should start popping up on this site. I specified nothing distasteful and nothing annoying (No "Click the seizure inducing banner ad for a free iPod" nonsense). If I can integrate relevant ads  tastefully into my blog's design you may not even notice a change. If I can't, I'll scrap the idea.

I'll get a small cut of the cash that Google makes advertising on my blog. I have well over 600 contacts on Facebook, so if I can get a regular readership of about 5% , that would translate to about 30 people a day helping generate a few clicks. 

Clicks turn to pennies which aggregate over many days. Multiply many days and many people and hopefully this could turn into dollars. 

I don't know if this will pay out at all, but even if I net a just few bucks, it will be a fun experiment. Let me know if advertisements become annoying, I'll throw the kill switch on this idea if it becomes obtrusive.

All that being said, be sure to click on my advertisers!

Flight Info

All this will be subject to change, but in case any of you want to make sure my plane hasn't crashed*, here is my flight schedule. 

I will be flying with United Airlines. I leave December 15th on flight 5802 Lexington to Chicago at 5:04 PM. From Chicago I will catch flight 899 at 7:00 PM to Sydney International where I am scheduled to arrive 19 hours and 50 minutes later making just one stop along the way. I won't know what day it is, or which way is up when I arrive. I hear the toilets flush the other way down there. I'll be sure to investigate this for those of you who are curious. 

On my way back I'll be flying out of Sydney, again on United Airlines. I'll catch flight 840 on January 12 which departs at 3:15 PM. That is 6:15 AM January 11 for most of you reading this. From there I'll fly to Chicago making one stop along the way. Same timing as before in the reverse order. I will arrive at O'Hare Airport in Chicago then onward to Lexington via flight 5954 where I should be home at about 10:22 AM. I'll be depressed because of having to leave Jenny and Australia, tired, and jet lagged... so I should be a bucket of fun for the remainder of the week. After that, you can expect a daily countdown of the number of days until Jenny comes home. 

(*If my plane does go down, you may know before me. I don't have a living will, so if something does happen I leave all my earthly possessions to my twin brother to delegate as he sees fit. Chances are you won't have a funeral because my body will likely burn in the wreckage, but I won't care because I'll be dead and in heaven anyway. 

God forbid such a morbid thing happen, but if it does, celebrate my life don't mourn my death. Also, feel free to tell jokes and laugh at my memorial service, because I enjoy life and I don't want that mentality to stop should mine end early.)