Kyiv at Night

I first traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine in the winter of 2002. I was stunned by the overwhelming hospitality of the people of Ukraine. Never before had I met a people so interested in making friends and being friendly. Upon my second trip to Ukraine in 2011-2012, I remain equally impressed with the substantial differences between the Ukrainian culture and the culture of the USA.

Here, family and friends mean something that they simply do not mean in the USA. They really mean something. Please, this is no slam on the USA, so please don’t take it that way. What I intend to communicate is a vast cultural divide, not a judgment about which side of that divide is superior. It might come off that way, however, because I have my own preferences.

That is to say, I have a certain way that I treat friends and family. I am incredibly loyal to those I call friend or family. I would never, under any circumstances where it is possible to help a friend or family member, refuse to help. I would always put forth every effort to be of aid to my friends and family when they request it.

I would refuse help only when it was not possible, or when the “friend” in question had proved themselves unfriendly through their actions. I would otherwise attempt to give any aid requested, provided I had the ability to do so.

Ukrainian Culture

Embedded in the very essence of Ukrainian culture is a sort of steadfast loyalty. The culture here has a high regard for friends and family that is simply not present in the USA. For example, if a friend were out of work, or traveling, or down on their luck, it would be taboo for a friend not to help them out. It would be almost unheard of for a family member to say “no” if a request were made for a couch to crash on, or a few dollars of help. It would be nearly forbidden or considered extreme for a person to refuse a friend or family member in need.

In the USA, by contrast, the practice is quite common. When I was down on my luck, or in need of assistance, I would turn to family and friends for support, and frequently find that support noticeably lacking. I might need a place to rest my head for a week or a month rent-free, and find that nobody was willing to support me in such a manner. Such a situation would rarely arise in Ukraine. In point of fact, a person who acted in such a way towards friends and family would be viewed as a very strange anomaly here. In the USA, however, such behavior is commonplace…the norm rather than the exception.

This was one of my primary reasons for expatriating to Ukraine. I want friends and family that will treat me as I would treat them. I want steadfast people close to me who would always or almost always help me in my time of need.

I can see the writing on the wall, and I know that the next few decades will be a time of great upheaval on planet Earth. In such a time, I want people around me who will uplift and aid, rather than turn their backs. I would never dream of refusing any  friend or family member in need, in a tough spot, or requiring some form of assistance – unless it were simply outside my current powers or ability to give that assistance.

I’ve loaned money to people knowing I’d likely never see it returned. I’ve allowed people to stay with me for (sometimes substantial) lengths of time without any request for rent or assistance. I’ve treated every friend or family member as I would want to be treated.

The only time I’ve made exception to this Golden Rule of friendship and family has been when some friend has first turned their back on me in my time of need, or rejected me, or forced me out when I was seeking their aid or understanding.

Ukrainian People

There is a saying in this part of the world. Some (Russians) say it comes from Russia. Some (Ukrainians) claim it belongs to Ukraine. Regardless of the origin, I have found it to be true. The saying is: The Ukrainian people are the most hospitable in the world.

The people here truly pride themselves on hospitality.

To be hospitable means to be inviting and receptive of guests. It means to offer a pleasant and sustaining environment. It means to be readily receptive to others.

The people of Ukraine meet this word by any definition. They are warm and inviting. Once you have made a friend in a Ukrainian, you can expect to be invited into his home, asked to dine with his family, and listened to with an incredible ease that is rarely present in the USA. It literally does not matter who you are, so long as you express yourself with a modicum of respect.

Ukrainians treat people new to them as if they were sure to become friends, rather than warily, as in the USA. They do not expect the selfishness and greed that American citizens have come to expect (due primarily to our selfish and greedy culture) in our fellows. They are open, warm and inviting because they know that’s simply how most people are.

The Contrast

When I speak to Ukrainians of some of my experiences in the USA, they simply look at me dumbfounded, unable to believe what I’m describing. When I say that I needed a place to stay for a few weeks, and had to hunt and search for a few weeks to find just one local friend who would allow me to couch surf, the look of shock on their faces is readily apparent.

They have a particular idea of the USA as a land of plenty. They have their own illusions about exactly what that means, because they do not understand the difference in culture.

Ukrainians simply cannot imagine a situation in which they need help, where the bulk of their family and friends would say “no” to their request. It is, quite literally, a non-issue here.

Reasons for Leaving

People in the USA frequently ask me my reasons for leaving the USA. They cannot understand why I would depart “such a great country” in search of a new life overseas.

People in the Ukraine frequently ask me my reasons for coming to the Ukraine. They cannot understand why I would depart “the land of the free” for their comparatively poor and developing nation.

My reasons are simple, when you get down to it. I want friends and family around me who treat me as I would treat them. I want friends and family who will have my back, no matter what.

As I have gotten older, I have started to think about a family of my own. I have a real and strong desire to make that happen.

When I look at the prospect of raising my children in a culture that inculcates selfishness and greed, it makes me a bit ill. When I look at the prospect of raising my children in a culture that inculcates hospitality, family and friendship as vital means to survival and true happiness, it makes my heart shine.

If you want to know the deep and true reason I left the USA, this is it. I want a family. Not only that, but I want a family that will see family and friends the way I see them, instead of the way the normal US citizen sees them. I knew I could find that here in Ukraine, and the more I get to know Ukrainians, the more I see that I made the right choice.

So I say this to my new Ukrainian friends (and future family)….  I love you already. You’re amazing people living in a truly authentic culture. You’re unafraid to be true to your friends and family, even when that means a personal loss on your part. I admire that. I respect that. It is the root of my reasoning in coming to your nation.

If you asked me why I came to Ukraine, I may have pointed you to this blog post. I hope it clears a few things up for you. I hope you either see my point (if you’re Ukrainian) or start to think about your family and friends in a new light (if you’re American).

Again, this is not to slam Americans in any way. I get it. The culture over there is simply different. This is not the way you were raised. I ask you this, though: how do you want to raise the next generation of Americans? Is the same kind of culture we already have good enough for them, or do you want them to have better? If your answer is the latter, I suggest you  learn a different way of relating to family and friends in need than the typical way in US culture.

Okay, I just had to borrow a line from Sting. I know, I know, it would sound so much better if I were an Englishman, but I can’t satisfy everyone all of the time, and this time my friends from the UK will no doubt be glad I didn’t try. (Hello, Mike, Nick, Angela, Joel and Chris!)

I haven’t written an article here for a while, so this update may be a bit of a surprise to my readers. I’ve moved overseas!

That’s right, I’m no longer in North America. I made this change for a number of reasons, and expressing them is the purpose of this article.

You’ll notice a new category appearing here on my main blog: Expat. This is the first article in a new series I’ll be authoring about what it is like to be an American expatriate living in Eastern Europe. This first article, however, will focus on one thing….

My Reasons for Leaving the USA

I Despise Los Angeles

Los Angeles Skyline by Night

I became tired of Los Angeles about a year after moving there. Yes, LA has nice weather. Yes, there are plenty of things to do there. Yes, there are plenty of gorgeous women in Southern California. All that, and to me it has been and always will be one of the most plastic-fantastic places I’ve ever been.

What do I mean by that? I mean that your average person (not my friends, mind you) has a fairly plastic attitude towards life. They’re more interested in what you drive, how you dress, and who you know than who you really are in your heart and soul. The local population often seems obsessed with the Hollywood glamour and glitz. Half the people you meet are wanna-be actors who have only worked in one or two low budget films and a handful of commercials. They dress in the latest designer fashions, drive the fanciest designer cars, and think of themselves as designer people.

Yuck. Boring.

That’s how I feel about that LA attitude. On to my other complaints: traffic, cars, freeways, the necessity to have all of those because the public transportation sucks worse than a black hole, air pollution in the summer. I suppose that about covers it.

To sum it up: I really hated LA, and after a year there, couldn’t wait to leave. I ended up stranded there by financial issues for just over 15 years. The first issue was the good job that brought me to LA in the first place. Then I lost that, and hadn’t saved enough to move away after being laid off. Then I got a new job that didn’t pay well enough to save anything. Then I got a better job that paid so well that I started to pay down my debts, and wanted to stay because my earnings were higher than ever before. Then the bottom dropped out of the Internet business, an I lost that job, and found myself stuck without savings again.

I switched careers, and became poor for the first time in my life, earning less than my obligations from 2001 to 2009. In 2009, I hit rock bottom, and decided something had to be done. I went on what I called, “my hypocrisy smackdown.” I began to correct the places where my actions lacked integrity with my words, one at a time. By 2010, I was earning again, and this time saving it in order to escape Los Angeles.

English Teachers Galore

At this point, I should mention that a friend of mine, Steve, had traveled to Thailand and become an English teacher. My stepsister, Liza, had been an English teacher in the Czech Republic, and is now teaching in Korea. My good friend Mary Helen has also taught overseas, and is presently in Thailand. I managed to get back in touch with my long-lost best friend from high school, Rob, and found him running his own English school in Japan.

Back when I was poor, in 2007, I attempted to go to Japan to teach at Rob’s urging. The Japanese companies wouldn’t have me, for whatever reason (I suspect ageism, most people doing this gig are young). Regardless, this turned out to be a streak of good luck, as two of the companies to which I applied have since gone belly up. So, friends had been urging me since the first years of the 21st century to pack my bags for foreign shores and become an English teacher.

My best friend Rob is also a writer, and he pointed out that this career would allow me much more time for my writing. I’d been working entertainment and web industry jobs where I was working 40 hours in a short week, and as much as 65 hours in a long week. The average week in most years was 50 hours. That just does not leave time for writing.

A teacher of English as a foreign language spends about 20-24 hours with students each week, and about another 5-10 hours planning those lessons, which can easily be done on the weekend, if desired. This leaves a big chunk of time every day to dedicate to writing my blogs.

My Business Trip to Ukraine

A photo from my trip to Kyiv in 2002

In 2002, I had gone to Ukraine on behalf of that same friend, Steve. At the time, he was running an offshore web development house in Kyiv, Ukraine. He sent me and another employee of his, Angel, over there to help set up new computers and train their employees in our methods. I was scheduled to stay for two weeks.

While there, I fell in love with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and culture. There’s a saying in Ukraine that “the Ukrainian people are the most hospitable in the world.” In Kyiv, I found this to be true. I cannot count the number of times I was approached on the street by people interested in knowing a foreigner. They were friendly, gracious with my mangled Russian, and the most friendly people I’d ever met. Often I would be invited on a tour of the city, or out to dinner, or into their homes.

I loved it so much that I called my boss. Angel and I extended our stay an extra two weeks just to have fun and spend time with our new Ukrainian friends. I was given food and drink, and not asked to pay for it, despite my substantially higher earnings. I was invited into exclusive clubs and events. I met two rock bands. I saw some of the most amazing places. I drank the most amazing vodka I’d ever tasted. Actually, I didn’t even like vodka until I tasted the kind they have in Ukraine. It makes the American imports from Russia and other nations taste like lighter fluid in comparison.

Ukrainian Women vs. Los Angeles Women

The women. Oh my goddess, the women!  The Beatles were not joking in the least when they wrote the lyric, “Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out; they leave the west behind.” Kyiv made the Venice Beach Boardwalk (hottest women in LA on any summer day) look like the cattle farms in the California San Joaquin Valley. No, I am not joking.

An interesting thing about Europe is that you rarely see an overweight person, and you almost never see an obese person. Something struck me as odd the first day in Kyiv, but it took me a week to realize what it was: no fat people.

And the women of Ukraine are not like Southern California women. They are kind, while LA women are not. They are educated, and much better than the crappy education provided by California schools. They are gracious and hospitable, as opposed to entitled and angry. Their general character reminded me of the intelligent, wholesome women of my Midwestern upbringing in Minnesota, but they were all slender, and far more cosmopolitan.

Add to this the fact that since I turned 38, I’d been increasingly wanting to settle down and have a family. Now, no woman would have me during the years of 38-41 because I was poor as a stump, and what kind of candidate does that make for husband/father? And then when I started to have money again, and to try dating, I discovered that no woman of child-bearing age wanted me. I was “too old.”

I knew this would not be true in Ukraine, and began to think a lot about those amazing Ukrainian women I’d met on my trip in 2002. Oddly, I have also heard from older women that I was “too young.” Now that one just does not compute for me…. What I can tell you for sure is that women in Ukraine were far less concerned with age, profession, automobile and other meaningless garbage, and far more concerned with what sort of man I am.

So, when I began to think of leaving Los Angeles, my choice was clear: become an English teacher in Ukraine. But those were not my only motives. I did not simply want to escape Los Angeles, or to go to that wonderful nation of Ukraine.

The Rise of Fascism in the USA

Rise of Fascism in the USA!

I had also become wary of my own government. I could see the bad news coming. There were to be two waves of financial disaster caused by the housing crisis, and we’d only passed through the first of them. The second wave was set to begin in December, 2011. The first wave had decimated many friends, and I could see the writing on the wall.

It looked as though the NDAA would pass. It looked as though SOPA would likely pass as well. The last few civil liberties still not shredded by America’s “war on drugs” and “war on terror” were about to be flushed down the toiled by Obama. To me, this all appeared to be a massive, fascist power grab the likes of which had not been seen on this planet since the rise of Nazi Germany.

I looked at my country and at history, and knew without any doubt that the best course of action for an anarchist atheist was to get the hell out of Dodge. I still recommend that my friends and family back home do the same. If you really think it can’t happen in the USA, I ask you to think again. I ask you to review world history, and show me one time that a nation with such unlimited powers as the Federal Government of the USA now holds failed to use those powers to slaughter millions of innocents. I can already tell you that you won’t find one example. Every nation that has commanded such power has used it. Get out now, while you still can.

I’m not the only one. The number of young Americans wanting to leave the USA has quintupled in the last two years. That’s an astounding figure. Quintupled. Just two years ago, about 1% wanted to leave the country, now it has reached 5%. Think about that for a moment. The land of plenty is not the land of plenty anymore. The American dream is just that: a dream. The reality and truth of America is that it has become, as my fellow anarchists have called it for many years: the land of the fee and home of the slave.

When starting a business in Ukraine, in comparison to the USA at present, it is: easier, cheaper, and more likely to succeed. That is simple reality. It has been brought about by taxation, usury, and the erosion of Constitutional law.

The government has become a fascist beast in collusion with big business. The bankers, the multinational American corporations, the military industrial complex and the government are now one and the same entity. It is fascist Europe all over again, but on the American continent this time.

The next wave of financial loss is just hitting, and it will be slightly larger than the last loss.  President Obama and the Federal Reserve had a cure for that last loss – they tripled the money supply. Tripled. The Weimar Republic (pre-Nazi Germany) only doubled their money supply, and that led to some of the worst hyperinflation the world has ever seen. I shudder to think what will happen when Obama and the Fed triple the supply of money again after another wave of real estate and banking losses. Imagine the hyperinflation caused by a six-fold or nine-fold increase in the dollars in circulation! At any rate, to me it looked like the writing on the wall was obvious.

While nations like Ukraine are used to poverty and poor conditions, and their people tend to pull through such things with amazing solidarity, the same can not be said of Americans. We’ve become a selfish and entitled bunch. We take to the streets and smash things when we don’t get our way.

And that’s the real motive for the loss of civil liberties. The ones in power know what’s coming. They are expecting a violent revolution, and they mean to quash it by any means necessary, even locking up citizens in those camps they’ve been building since the Reagan era. Simply put: it was time to get out, for my own health and well being.

Summing It All Up

So, there you have it, my list of motives. Here they are in order of most influential (1) to least influential, so you can look them over in summary:

1. I fell in love with Ukraine, the people, and the culture: friendly, hospitable, warm and brimming with solidarity.
2. Becoming an English teacher had become a really attractive option.
3. I really despise Los Angeles, land of the Hollyweird madness and epicenter of selfish plastic culture.
4. The difference between Los Angeles women and Ukrainian women. Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out; they leave the west behind! They accepted me for who I am, and did not even ask or give a damn about my age, my receding hair, my profession, or the kind of car I drive.
5. The downfall of the American dream. Starting and operating a business is a cost prohibitive thing in the USA, but not overseas.
6. The rise of fascism in the USA. That nation has just become too damned dangerous to remain inside it any longer.

So, I am now out. I departed the USA on November 17, 2011. I do not plan to return until the wave of fascism dies out, or explodes, or is conquered by the massive wave of protests presently washing over the entire planet. I’m pulling for that final one.

Please, folks, don’t just let them roll over you with the tanks like the Germans allowed Hitler to do. That would be a damned shame. I really hope that Americans pull out all stops to halt the spread of this political disease, and take back that continent. In the meantime, however, I think it best to stay as far from that mess as I can get.

How do I feel, more than a month after my departure? I love it here. The last time I was this happy and contented with my life was almost 20 years ago. It feels great to be alive, on a new adventure, doing something really different, and pursuing my dreams.

Do I miss home? Not on your life. I miss my family, and being able to call my sister and father on just a simple cell phone without some massive international charges. I miss my friends, but most of them moved away from LA a few years before I did. I miss carnitas and barbacoa; you can’t find decent Mexican food in Eastern Europe. I do not, however, miss the USA, or Los Angeles.

To my country and my former home, I have only two things to say: goodbye and good riddance! Well, I might have a few more things to say, but they are too impolite to print in this article.

Buh-bye, USA! See ya; wouldn’t wanna be ya!

Why go shopping in New York City?

I understand the reasons: NY has gained mythological status around the world.  So has NY shopping!

Yet, the very idea of someone from Poland, Czech, or Ukraine wanting to come to the USA in November for a shopping trip strikes me as ridiculous.  Why?

1. Prices: Given the exchange rate between Eastern European currencies and the dollar, the prices in New York, and the general quality of goods in E. Europe, it just does not make any mathematical sense.  Goods in New York, I have found, are either of the same or worse (Chinese) levels of quality when compared to goods you find in the markets in E. Europe.  I can buy a wardrobe full of clothes in E. Europe that will last longer, look better on me, and cost the price of one good suit purchased in New York City.  Add to the cost of your excursion about $700-$1200 in airfare.  WTF are you thinking!?
2. New York Realities: Why are you choosing to go to one of the dirtiest, rudest, most crowded, noisy, stinking cities on the continent?  I call NY “the right armpit of America.”  The left one is Los Angeles, where I’m most recently from.  Why anybody would choose either of the two biggest suck-holes in North America as their destination, I will never understand.  Yuck.  If I never see either LA or NY again, I can rejoice!
3. The Alternatives: The United States are literally overflowing with amazing, beautiful locations, incredible cultural attractions, and rich historical backgrounds.  A traveler can pick from some of the most incredible outdoor experiences in the world, or see some of the best modern artwork gathered in one place, or catch a performance of some of the most incredible entertainers on the planet.  Why go shopping?  You can shop at home.

Top 5 Travel Recommendations for an Eastern European Coming to the USA

Before I tell you my choices for places to visit in the United States of America, allow me to give a tiny bit of personal travel background. I have only traveled off of the North American continent twice: in 2002, I went to Kyiv, Ukraine, and right now I am in Krakow, Poland. I have traveled very extensively in the USA.  If you take a look at that map on the right, you’ll see which states I have visited.  Of the states on that map marked in red, I have spent a fair amount of time in about half of them, and simply driven through the others, stopping at the occasional hotel or bed and breakfast on my way to another state.  Most of my travel has been by auto, rather than by plane.  In addition to the US States marked on the map, I have also been to Ontario and British Columbia in Canada, and to Mexico. I have seen some of the best sights on the continent, and returned to some of them time and again, because they’re so incredible.  Neither New York City nor Los Angeles would appear in my top 25 recommended destinations. So which locations do appear in my favorites list?

5: Chicago in Spring or Autumn

So, you want to go to a big city in the USA, do you? I have a much better place for you than New York City.  The people in the middle of the USA (Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, St. Louis, etc) tend to be more friendly, warm and inviting than those in either NY or LA. You will probably have to be the one to approach them, as most Americans won’t just come up to foreigners and introduce ourselves – it’s a cultural thing. Don’t be afraid to say hello to an American in Chicago. Some might be a bit rude, but most will probably be glad to give you tips, directions, or have a brief chat.

Chicago is one of the more beautiful cities in the USA, and also one of the most “American” places you’ll find. It is completely different than Europe, and will appear quite alien to most Eastern Europeans. If you want to know what American people, culture, architecture, fine art, performance art and food are like, you could not choose a finer destination.

You should seriously consider planning your trip for spring or autumn.  In the springtime the natural environment has just come to life after the dead cold of winter, and everyone emerges from their homes ready to enjoy the warmth. Granted, it can be quite windy any time of year (Chicago’s nickname is “the windy city”), so always prepare to be cool, no matter when you come, but in the late spring or early autumn, you will get the best chances of good weather. In the summer, it can be quite hot and humid, and in the winter it can be colder than anyone would ever want to experience.

Need more reasons: do a web search for museums in Chicago. It has some of the finest in North America. It also has some great performance art, from popular music, to the theatre, to orchestras and street performances.

Whatever you do, you must not depart Chicago without eating an authentic Chicago Pizza. The original (invented by) Chicago Pizza is, of course, Pizzeria Uno. Another great one is Barnaby’s.

4: San Juan Islands, Washington State

This is a place that’s fun to travel to any time of the year. My parents retired here, so I have visited a few times. I also studied here for a few weeks when I was receiving my training as a Master Practitioner of NLP. The weather is temperate and pleasant most of the year, though it does vary a bit. It rarely gets truly hot here, and it might snow a few days in the winter. While nearby Seattle and Vancouver are buried under rain, the San Juans often manage to stay dry and sunny.

The islands themselves are quite lovely, but so are the surrounding areas. Just a short ferry ride from here are Seattle, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. Seattle and Vancouver are both among the nicer, cleaner, and more beautiful cities on the continent. They’re both filled with charming parks and natural environments. They’re both surrounded by some of the most thrilling nature preserves and national parks on the continent.

I’d recommend that your trip include a few days in a Bed and Breakfast on the San Juan Islands, a few days in another Bed and Breakfast on Vancouver Island, 2 days in either Vancouver or Seattle to check out cultural events or just explore the city, and 5 days out in the wilderness somewhere hiking, camping, snowboarding, skiing, mountain climbing, or something of the like.

3: Colonial Williamsburg and Washington DC in the Spring

Consider paying a visit to some of the richest culturally significant locations in the United States. Colonial Williamsburg is a fully restored town dating from 1699 to 1780, the colonial period before the formation of the United States. It gives a great perspective on what it was like for early European settlers to come to the New World and create a new life for themselves.

Because of it’s date, it does have a bit of a European flavor to it, but is nonetheless distinctly American, as seen in the photo. For those interested in history, older architecture, and the origins of American culture, there are few better places to visit.

Among those few places is nearby Washington DC, which contains America’s greatest history museum, the Smithsonian. The city itself, of course, is the seat of American power. I am personally less interested in the politics than in the architecture and history of the city, so I am actually touting this town for it’s rich cultural history rather than because it is the US capital city, or an example of a democratic republic in action.

If possible, come in the spring. The blooming flowers will make both these cities a much more memorable experience.  In the winter, the weather can be far too cold, and in the summer, far too hot.  The autumn is nice, too, with the changing colors of the leaves.

2: Havasu Canyon and the Grand Canyon in the Spring

I’m going to underline spring on this one, because in the winter Havasu is closed, in autumn you’ll get more storms, and in the summer it is hot enough to melt lead. The best time of year for a visit is between late April 15 and June 1. Any other time, and you may find the weather punishing.

This one is for the hikers, the campers, and the explorers. I recommend going straight to Havasupai Village, which is the home of the Havasupai Native Americans. “Havasupai” means “people of the blue-green water,” and obviously fits. This strange little canyon, an offshoot of the Grand Canyon National Monument, is their ancestral home, and still belongs to them to this day.

You’ll park your car at the top of a large canyon, and have the choice of three ways down into the canyon. You can choose to hike down into the canyon, carrying everything you need in a backpack. You might also choose to have a burro (donkey) carry your things down into the canyon, and either walk or ride a burro yourself. You might also spring for the helicopter flight. Either way, you’ll take about a 21 kilometer trip into the heart of the Havasupai Reservation.

The canyon is beautifully colored stone, but practically barren of life for the first 15 kilometers. Then, you turn a corner and suddenly there is a small forest of green trees. As you approach, you find blue-green water bubbling out of the ground, and forming a tiny stream. As you hike the next 6 kilometers, the stream gains strength and size as more water bubbles up from the ground and into it.

Then you arrive at the home of the Havasupai.  It is a small village with a passable hotel, and a large campground. Many of the campsites have views such as the one in the photograph.  The hotel is about a kilometer from such vistas. There are 4 areas with large cascading waterfalls such as shown in the photo. Two of these are directly adjacent to the campground, and visible from your tent.

1: San Francisco Bay Area to Monterey Bay Area

This is far and away my number one recommended travel destination in the USA for both foreigners and US citizens. Try to time your visit between May and September to get the best weather. Be warned that Mark Twain once wrote of this city, “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Bring warm clothes that can be easily removed and carried with you. It is quite common in the summer to have thick fog and wind in the evening and morning, and sun in the mid-day. You’ll get up to go exploring, and require a jacket or sweater (jumper or pullover for you Europeans). By noon, all you’ll want is a short-sleeved shirt, and around sunset, you’ll want that jacket again.  If you visit between September and May, you’ll want a raincoat, lots of layers to keep warm, and a sturdy umbrella.

The city of San Francisco is probably the most “European” feeling city in the USA. The narrow streets, the Market District, the cable cars, subways, and trolleys all recall Europe. The people are quite friendly if you’re willing to approach them. Some of the best dining in the USA is found here. In San Francisco, there is so much great food that any restaurant that serves something less than four-star dining flavor tends to go out of business within a year. There are incredible shopping opportunities for handmade American craft goods. Several of the better museums in the USA are found right here. Some of the best city parks on the continent are also found here.

Journeying to the surrounding areas, one will find great opportunities for either relaxing vacation time, or for exploring the wilderness of the West Coast. There are numerous nature preserves, State and Federal Parks, and opportunities for day hikes or longer trips into the outback. Most of these lie in the region from Bodega Bay to the north (where Hitchock’s film “The Birds” was shot), to Carmel by the Sea to the south (where the infamous scene from Hitchcock’s film “Vertigo” was shot). If you’d like to see what that line in “America The Beautiful” is all about, you’ll find plenty of majestic purple mountains here, with fog gently rolling over them each evening.

If you’d prefer to spend your time relaxing, then consider spending a few days at a Bed and Breakfast in any of the following towns: Sausalito (just North of the Golden Gate), Half Moon Bay (just South of San Francisco), Santa Cruz, Monterey or Carmel (all on Monterey Bay). Each of these smaller towns is a beautiful beach community with lots of uniquely “Californian” features, such as charming little shops with handmade goods, natural healers such as massage therapists, and fusion-style restaurants. If you’re a vegetarian, in particular, you’ll find this one of the most heavenly locations on Earth. Excellent opportunities for vegetarian dining abound.

Most Romantic Hotspot: Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel in Pescadero, California – reserve your spot in a private room far in advance of your trip, as it is small, and often booked a year or more in advance. The hostel is in the outbuildings surrounding the lighthouse, as shown in the photo. The rooms are small and quaint. The sounds of the ocean surf can be heard relentlessly pounding the shore just below your window. The moonlight and sunset stream right into your room each evening. There is a hot tub overlooking the ocean.

Be sure to go to Duarte’s Tavern in nearby Pescadero, and order their cream of artichoke soup. It is the best I have ever tried, and can’t be beat. I make a special stop in this town every time I’m in the Bay Area just to get some of that soup!

A space shuttle launch

I’ve been working on this little network of blogs, and preparing it for launch for quite a while. It has been a side-project until recently, but took center stage when my little self-improvement project began to focus on the problem of procrastination.

I’m so happy to finally have this site ready to share with people!

I would love it if everyone who visits  would:

• take a peek around at the several blogs you will find up there in the “blogs” menu
• leave at least one comment on one of the posts
• share at least one post on one of these blogs on your facebook wall
• subscribe to any or all the blogs on this network
• post a link to any blog in this network on your own blog or web site

I know that most blog readers don’t bother with most of those things, but all the same, I’d love it if every visitor did at least one of the above.  I hope you’ll find the things I’ve written about so far (or what’s coming next) well enough that you feel like doing one of the above.

Here’s a copy of the network map page, and brief summary of each blog in my network:

Home: Where you are now, the core blog for ebsarver.com. This will contain everything else. I plan for a number of things will live here, including: Feeds to my Yelp.com Reviews, Feeds to my Amazon.com Reviews, Blog Update Information for the ebsarver.com blog network, Product Reviews and Recommendations, on rare occasion I may also make Personal Blog Posts, or talk about Travel. Basically, anything that does not fit one of the other sites, and is a low-controversy topic will be stored here.

The Personal Revolution: A blog dedicated to personal growth, self-realization, psychology, and personal liberation. The site will focus on techniques, books, methods, and teachers/guides. Additionally, a focus on taking the personal out into the world and making it political. Ultimately, the intent of this blog is to contribute toward the positive transformation of human society, but I’ll be doing that by focusing on individuals, rather than focusing on society.

Mindbenders: A blog dedicated to mind-bending movies, books, and other entertainment. The site will include reviews and discussion of mind-bending stories of all types.

Opinion: A blog dedicated to opinion essays, satire, political commentary, social commentary, conspiracy theories, and red herrings. Trust nothing. I’m as full of it as anyone, but unafraid to be controversial and say what I really think. Expect ruthless honesty. All controversial topics not belonging on another blog will be stored here, out of site of the Home blog.

Poetry: A blog archive of my poetry. Some of it very old. Some of it new. I plan a few avant garde literary experiments coming in the near future. The one great thing about my college education was my major program: Creative Writing. I had opportunity to study directly with several amazing poets, and extensively with Lucille Clifton, one of the finest poets on the continent. I don’t claim to be great, and this blog probably w0n’t see a lot of activity, but I hope you’ll enjoy it. Beware: content may be controversial or offensive to some.

Fiction: A blog of my written fiction. This will come later, and I plan to begin a new writing experiment: a serialized interactive web novel.

This recipe is my attempt to turn my mother’s excellent-tasting pot roast, which unfortunately was made with lots of commercially grown and preservative-filled ingredients, into a purely organic and natural recipe. I just cooked it for the first time, and I feel it is up to snuff. Mom’s recipe has always been great-tasting, so I wanted to try to reproduce the flavors without all the unnatural ingredients. I think I succeeded beyond my hopes. This has a deeper and richer flavor than her original, and is made with excellent all natural ingredients. I even used grass-fed beef for the pure Paleo Diet result.

Ingredients:

1. 3-6 lbs boneless grass-fed roast (Chuck Roast or Tri Tip is nicely marbled, and has good fat content for roasting – leaner cuts are generally not as good for this recipe)
2. 1 12oz box Pacific Natural Foods Organic Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup
3. 1 16oz box Pacific Natural Foods Organic French Onion Soup
4. 2tsp Organic Better Than Bouillon Mushroom Base
5. 2tsp Organic Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
6. 2tsp Organic Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base
7. 16oz filtered or purified water
8. 1 large organic yellow onion
9. 8-12 oz Crimini mushrooms (You may substitute any mushrooms you like here, I prefer Crimini)
10. Walnut or Olive Oil
11. Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb All Natural Salt-Free Seasoning Blend (or any seasoning blend you prefer that is natural and salt-free)
12. Tri-color peppercorns in grinder
13. Optional: 6-12 medium organic carrots
14. Optional: 6-12 small organic red potatoes (this will make the recipe non-Paleo, but is okay for Paleo-Athlete diets)
15. Note: Organic ingredients are especially critical on carrots and potatoes. Commercially grown varieties are usually covered and soaked in pesticides and other toxic stuff. You may use any dense veggies or roots as a substitute, or nothing at all. These simply provide a gravy-soaked accompaniment to the meat, and are not required.

Directions:

1. Rinse and slice the mushrooms into thick slices.
2. Peel and dice the onion.
3. Place a small amount of walnut or olive oil in a pan or wok, and stir fry the onions and mushrooms together, seasoning with ground tri-color peppercorns and Mrs. Dash seasoning to taste.
4. Stir ingredients 2-7 together in a medium saucepan while warming over low heat. It needs to be warm or hot, and stirred well, but should not be brought to a simmer or boil. Make sure that Bouillon and Condensed Soup are well mixed.
5. Mix the ingredients from Steps 3 and 4 together
6. Put frozen pot roast (up to 3-6 lbs of it) in deep roasting pan.
7. Pour gravy over meat.
8. Lift meat to be sure gravy goes under.
9. Optional: Arrange carrots (cut into approximately 1 inch slices) and/or small potatoes around meat between meat and pan.
10. Cover pan with foil.  If preparing the night before, put the pan with foil in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.  Marinating overnight will significantly improve the flavors and is recommended.
11. Preheat oven to 250F and bake foil-covered roast in roasting pan for 4-6 hours (depends on thickness and cut of meat – leaner and/or thicker needs longer, and more marbled and/or thinner needs less).  Open oven and lift foil every hour to check roast. If gravy is getting too thick, or roast is getting dry on top, add a little water and/or baste the top of the roast with a large ladle or spoon.
12. Turn heat to 300-350 for additional 2-3 hours. Check every hour at minimum. It can be easy to overdo the roast at the end. The added heat is used primarily to condense the gravy, so if the gravy is fine for you when thinner, then this step may not be needed, and the oven can be left at 250 until done.
13. Alternative cooking method: Cook on low in a crock pot for 4-6 hours, turning up to medium for the last 3 hours. Be sure to check roast at least every hour to make sure gravy is not dehydrating as it cooks. Add water as necessary.

I have one. I have one mainly because I went through a bankruptcy a few years back, and this is the only “normal card” (one without a ton of fees) that would take me. My credit score is good now, it is just the bankruptcy on my record that screws me for getting credit. So, in attempting to re-establish my credit, I am willing to accept deals from jerks like these guys. Unless you’re in my situation, you should find a better card.

Anyhow…here’s my review of their services and two recent stories about my experience with them.

Out of 5 possible stars (1 being “suck” and 5 being “awesome”)

Rewards Program: ****
Customer Service: **
Terms and Conditions: *

My pay day from my office and my due date of my bill fell on the same day, and because my bank account was empty, I was waiting for that paycheck to clear my account before paying my bill. I put a $29 rush on the payment when I paid it, because it claimed on the RewardZone site that if I did so, the funds would be cleared and available the same day. I planned to purchase a new bike on that day, and wanted to use the card so I could pay for it out of the next paycheck rather than this one.

I paid the full balance of my account ($404) on the 15th by rush payment.

The funds were NOT available the next day, so I called the RewardZone customer service. They told me that the funds would be available on the 16th. I didn’t even bother. I just paid for the bike out of my bank account, leaving me with a minimal balance. I figured the RewardZone money would clear the next day, and if I needed to buy stuff I could use the card until I could put money in the bank on my next paycheck.

Yesterday, the 20th, I tried to use my card to pay for a dinner date. It was declined, much to my surprise…and embarrassment. This morning, I logged in to my account to check the balance and make sure everything was okay. There was a $403 charge there I’d never made on the 17th. So I called customer service again.

The customer service guy told me, “that’s not a charge, that’s a hold on the money you deposited.”

I responded, “I paid a $29 fee so that the money would be available the same day, as it said on your web site.”

He told me, “In the terms and conditions of your account, it says we can put a random hold on your funds at any time for any reason.”

I said, “Random hold? What does that mean? How can you take a $29 fee to clear funds on the same day and then NOT clear the funds? That’s criminal! You guys are lying cheats! Why are you holding my money? I’ve been a good customer.”

Then the truth comes out….

He replies, “Because you paid the full amount on the due date, we placed a hold on the account.”

Yes.

There it is folks. They screwed me on my account because they couldn’t make interest off me this month. That’s the bottom line right there.

I am not afraid to say that by the above measure, the operators of this card are scum sucking scam artists who belong behind bars.

DO NOT GET THIS CARD (unless maybe you’re like me, and your only alternative is some card with a $150 start up fee and $50 annual fee and only $300 credit)

Tell your friends. Copy everyone on this. This card sucks, and I want EVERYONE on the Internet to know it.

All this said…if there is some credit card company out there with good terms, who would like to receive a glowing review and recommendation from me, contact me so I can apply. Had RewardZone fulfilled on that, they’d be getting a rave here, rather than a rant. I promote things I like, but I’m just as happy to bring the hammer down on liars and cheats as I am to promote something I like and get good use out of.

I could not be more pleased with my purchase.

This bike is lightweight, fun to ride, and has performed flawlessly thus far. It has 24 speeds and shifts smoothly and easily. The brakes perform better than any bike I’ve ever owned. The first time I needed to stop fast (going down a hill at about 50 mph when the dang light changed right in front of me), I nearly threw myself over the handlebars. That’s how much stopping power the brakes have on this thing.

And you know, after a few days of riding, I’ve noticed a couple of adjustments that need to be made. They’re minor, but I’m glad to know that I received a FULL YEAR of FREE SERVICE on this thing when I made the purchase at Reseda Bicycles. That’s right! A full year of free service comes with the bike purchases at this shop! They told me to bring it back in the first 30-60 days to have it tweaked. I can tell it will need it, but I’m waiting a little longer to let the cables wear in a bit more before making the tweaks.

The salesman at the store was wonderful and treated me well. He asked what I needed and presented me with several options, and allowed me to choose. He was never pushy or trying to get me to buy something I don’t need. He made sure to ask me if I had all the accessories I needed, and helped me to select the ones I did need to buy, but never tried to get me to purchase an accessory I did NOT want or need. In short, he treated me with respect, and didn’t try to up-sell me. I always appreciate that.

If you need a new mountain bike on the less expensive end of the spectrum, I recommend checking out the Trek 3900. If you live in Southern California and need a bike of any kind, I recommend Reseda Bicycles. They’re located right near the corner of Reseda and Sherman Way in the Valley.

I finally got tired of that tired old Motorola RAZR and its battery that died at weird unpredictable intervals, only to regain full life after being turned off and then on again. I finally got fed up with typing text messages on that crappy little phone keypad.

I broke down and got myself a Samsung Transform running Android 2.1 on the Credo Mobile service. I am in love with both my new service and my new “smartphone,” which I think is truly deserving of the name Tricorder rather than phone.

First, a bit more about Credo Mobile. They are a unique company in the telecommunications business in the USA. They offer a phone service where a percentage of profits are invested into advancing a number of progressive causes. Most big telcos spend millions funding the campaigns of the major parties, or funding any number of conservatives. With Credo, I am assured as a customer that money received from my business won’t be used to advance the goals of political agendas I do not share.

Credo uses the Sprint network, so if you can receive Sprint in your area, you’ll also be eligible for Credo. They don’t have quite the selection of phones that you find at Sprint, but as you can see, I got a state of the art phone at the same price I could anywhere.

I ordered my phone over the web, and it arrived within a couple of days. I unpacked it and followed the activation instructions, which were easy and helpful. The customer service representative was very helpful and kind on the phone, despite the fact that I was activating it the day after Christmas and the lines seemed busy.

Since receiving the phone, I have been very pleased with the Credo service – not a single complaint.

Regarding the Samsung Transform, I don’t think I could have picked a better phone. While I do like the bigger screens of some units like the HTC EVO 4G, nothing beats having a QWERTY keyboard! Seriously. Texting with a phone keypad is lame, and the slide out keyboard on the Samsung has converted me. I’ll never deal with another one of those phone keypads again – I’m spoiled now.

Android functions great on this phone, though I do notice a brief delay or hang in the OS every once in a while when trying to launch an app.

If you buy, please credit me….

If you choose to switch to Credo as a result of reading this review of my new Samsung Transform and the Credo Mobile ethical phone service, I request that you mention my name as your referral when joining Credo. They will give me $100 to say thanks for referring you as a new client. Let them know that Evan Sarver referred you to Credo. Thanks!

In the near future, this domain will host a small network of blogs, all maintained by myself, e.b. sarver. I plan to mostly feature my own writing, and occasionally feature links to articles I find of interest. More likely, I will write my own commentary, and include a link to their content in a short post.

I hope you’ll enjoy my writing. I plan to write articles on a variety of topics, and plan to have several blogs in this network. These shall include:

• Mindbenders: A blog dedicated to mind-bending movies, books, video games, and other entertainment. The site will include reviews and discussion of mind-bending stories of all types.
• The Personal Revolution: A blog dedicated to personal growth, self-realization, psychology,  and personal liberation. The site will focus on techniques, books, methods, and teachers/guides. Additionally, a focus on taking the personal out into the world and making it political. Ultimately, the intent of this blog is to contribute toward the positive transformation of human society, but I’ll be doing that by focusing on individuals, rather than focusing on society.
• Poetry: A blog archive of my poetry. Some of it very old. Some of it new. I plan a few avant garde literary experiments coming in the near future. The one great thing about my college education was my major program: Creative Writing. I had opportunity to study directly with several amazing poets, and extensively with Lucille Clifton, one of the finest poets on the continent. I don’t claim to be great, and this blog probably w0n’t see a lot of activity, but I hope you’ll enjoy it. Beware: content may be controversial or offensive to some.
• Fiction: A blog of my written fiction. This will come later, and I plan to begin a new writing experiment: a serialized interactive web novel.
• Opinion: A blog dedicated to opinion essays, satire, political commentary, social commentary, conspiracy theories, and red herrings. Trust nothing. I’m as full of it as anyone, but unafraid to be controversial and say what I really think. Expect ruthless honesty. All controversial topics not belonging on another blog will be stored here, out of site of the Home blog.
• Home: Where you are now, the core blog for ebsarver.com. This will contain everything else. I plan for a number of things will live here, including: Feeds to my Yelp.com Reviews, Feeds to my Amazon.com Reviews, Blog Update Information for the ebsarver.com blog network, Product Reviews and Recommendations, on rare occasion I may also make Personal Blog Posts, or talk about Travel. Basically, anything that does not fit one of the other sites, and is a low-controversy topic will be stored here.

Additional sub-blogs may be added in the future. I have a wide variety of interests, and if a topic gains enough posts, it might also gain its own blog.

Solar Cycle 24 NASA Estimate

Here is some research I have been reading about the sun and celestial mechanics. A large part of it has to do with climate change, and a potential lengthy cooling period coming up for the sun as well as the earth. Personally, I have no idea what to think, but I did find the research below fascinating.

The solar cycle was expected to restart in January of this 2008 at the latest, according to most predictions. So far, there have been only a small number of tiny sunspots, but compared to a normal cycle, nothing… The current solar minimum has now lasted more than twice the length of most solar minimums on record. This could mean nothing more than a slow start to the cycle, something that happens at regular intervals…or it could mean the hypotheses of the papers below have some truth to them.

Either way, we will know who is right about the time of that most “fearsome” date of 2012. Haha. Not that I believe any of that millennial mumbo-jumbo, but there it is. If the sun is going into a massive cooling phase, there will be no denying the evidence by then.

Here’s an article from The Australian that talks about one theory as to what is going on with the sun and the earth:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23583376-7583,00.html

These next links are to studies of the motion of the barycentre (center of gravity) of the solar system in relationship to the sun’s gravitational center.

1. The earlier research on barycentric motion was conducted in 1987 by Fairbridge and Shirley at Columbia University in New York:http://www.springerlink.com/content/w57236105034h657/
2. A while back I found this research done in 1999 in the attached PDF (http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/31/66/11/PDF/angeo-18-399-2000.pdf) from a Czech scientist named Charvatova who cites the research of Fairbridge. His research shows diagrams of the barycentric motion that look like little spirographs. (More on Spirographs) The diagrams were very compelling for me as part of his evidence.
3. In 2007, research was conducted by Wilson, Carter and Waite in Queensland, Australia:http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/138/paper/AS06018.htm

Based on our claim that changes in the Sun’s equatorial rotation rate are synchronized with changes in the Sun’s orbital motion about the barycentre, we propose that the mean period for the Sun’s meridional flow is set by a Synodic resonance between the flow period (~22.3 yr), the overall 178.7-yr repetition period for the solar orbital motion, and the 19.86-yr synodic period of Jupiter and Saturn.

Or, as the author of the report stated to a member of the press:

It supports the contention that the level of activity on the Sun will significantly diminish sometime in the next decade and remain low for about 20 – 30 years. On each occasion that the Sun has done this in the past the World’s mean temperature has dropped by ~ 1 – 2 C.

Interestingly, there is a guy out there named John Casey on the web, calling himself the “SSRC” (Space and Science Research Center) and predicting the same thing based on his reading of the intersection of several long and short cycles in the sun. Many of the mainstream solar researchers seem to be dismissive of him, and consider him to be pushing that his ideas be accepted as fact and acted upon politically. In short, it seems more like a political campaign than a scientific one. On the sites that discuss these theories, there is discussion about all of the above ideas, but almost no discussion about Casey’s. Usually that means one of two things; either he’s completely off and they’re dismissing him with good reason, or he’s a total genius that came up with a good method of predicting solar activity that conflicts with other ideas in such a way that they can’t accept his ideas. From what I read on his site and about him elsewhere, I’m more inclined to think the former. In any case, here’s his web site and info:

John. L. Casey, President, Verity Mgmt. Svcs., Inc., and Director of the Space and Science Research Center (SSRC). http://www.spaceandscience.net

In true internet tradition, there is already a web site to monitor this solar cycle. Funny how these things go viral on the web, and whole communities start watching them. If you’re interested, you can see the site I’m talking about here:

http://www.solarcycle24.com/

Some further additions:

Added Nov 2, 2009:

• Solar storms tied to planetary orbits by NASA
• Prediction of solar radio interference via planetary orbits by Radio Corporation of America
• More on Barycentric motion from Germany in 1981
• Russian scientist agreeing with the Barycentric data

Added Nov 24, 2009:

• NASA revises prediction for next solar cycle – downward

Added Oct 10, 2010:

• Of the 25 most spotless years since 1849, 3 of those years were: 2007, 2008, and 2009.
• Despite an increase in solar activity as the sun moves toward solar maximum, the sun has continued to have a record number of spotless days during 2010.

Added October 19, 2010:

• Scientists warn of potential ice age

Added December 20, 2010:

• New article about record solar minimum

Added December 21, 2010:

• More warnings of a mini ice age

Added June 20, 2011:

• Sunspots May Disappear, Sun Going Into Unusual Quiet Mode: Scientists

A Few Comments to the Anthropogenic Global Warming Believers

Having been called “retarded,” and other such things for expressing the ideas above, I find it necessary to address the “Anthropogenic Global Warming” folks directly with the below message:

I am open to the possibility that all of the data about the sun found above might be completely wrong.

I am also open to the possibility that all of the anthropogenic global warming advocates might be wrong.

Are you open to both of those possibilities too?

Or are you satisfied in your certainty that your pet theory…or the scientists’ latest pet theory…is completely correct and infallible?

If you’re satisfied and certain…then I remind you that Newton’s calculations have been proven to be off, that Einstein was proven wrong on several counts, and that the majority of humans in the West once thought that the world was flat. Popular does not equal accurate. Nor does the best science that we can come up with necessarily describe the world accurately.

The map is not the territory. – Alfred Korzybski

The menu is not the meal. – Alan Watts

Our model of the way climate works is a MODEL, and should not be confused with the Earth’s climate itself.

If you’re satisfied and certain…like the “Flat Earth” people were…or like the “Bleeding Cures Illness” people were…if you’re certain that your current model is completely accurate, and will never need to be changed, then I ask you:

Who is the “retarded” one?

Wake up! Take the absolute belief out of your head, and stick a “maybe” in it.

And one last thing: If this data above is all correct, isn’t that a good thing? I mean, shouldn’t you be hoping this data is correct, rather than running about calling people retarded for having the gall (or is it balls) to consider an alternative theory that ends up meaning that global warming is not going to be some runaway end of humanity scenario after all? Hmmm? Or do you like the idea of the world being destroyed by the hubris of humans?