My 7-year old daughter’s favorite “lullaby” for me to sing is “I Knew An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly”.  When there isn’t time for an entire concert of lullabies I let her pick a song and finish with my permanent encore, “The Cuppycake Song“.  Inevitably her choice is “I Knew An Old Lady”.

Last night, by the time I reached “I knew an old lady who swallowed a horse”, she was prepared to cut me off and end with “swallowed a buck”.  Improv everywhere.

After the lady swallowed a buck (oh, what luck! she swallowed a buck!) I was shocked to find out that the lady had also swallowed a bull.  (She was so full!  She swallowed a bull!)

It will be interesting to find out what she swallowed between the bull and horse the next time around.

Also, take a minute to, in one breath, sing “She swallowed the bull to catch the buck, she swallowed the buck to catch the cow, she swallowed the cow to catch the goat, she swallowed the goat to catch the dog, she swallowed the dog to catch the cat, she swallowed the cat to catch the bird, she swallowed the bird to catch the spider that wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her…”

A trip to the New England states brought me to the back steps of Porches Inn in North Adams, MA.

Although I’ve been to dozens of boutique hotels, this one is unique among the unique.

Once a row of six boarded up and dilapidated Victorian-style row houses built in the 1880s, The Porches now is a row of rooms self-described as “retro-edgy” and connected by a long, comfortable porch complete with rocking chairs.

You can grab a book in the study and read by the fireplace during the snowy North Adams, Massachusetts months or, if you’re visiting while the Green Mountains (just a few minutes up the highway) are still Green, grab a book from the study and head out to the porch with a slice of fresh-cut slice of watermelon and a cold glass of lemonade from the pitcher in Reception.

Once the evening turns cooler, head to the sauna, pool, or meeting room where a big screen TV and surround sound sit.  During my visit this room was relatively unused and with only 47 rooms on the property, my guess is you can pretty much catch any Big Game on any given night in this room.

Overall, I had a great time at this hotel and could see myself coming here again for a 3-5 day trip to relax, take in the Mass MoCA, hike the nearby trails, explore the Williams College campus and just unwind.

Pictures: Here
Try: The Nutella, Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich at Brewhaha
Bonus: Best tap water I’ve ever had

It looks like a few people are having trouble figuring out how to use the newly added ping.fm support on the latest version of Twhirl (twhirl.org).  It would make sense to find a place to add your ping.fm account in the Account Manager, but that’s not how it’s set up.

To set your Twitter entries to automatically “ping” to your other social networking sites (Brightkite, Plurk, Facebook, etc.) follow these quick and easy steps.

1. Login to your Twitter account on Twhirl.

2. Open the Configuration for your account.

3. Click the Key to find out what your Ping.fm Desktop / Web Key is.

4. Login to Ping.fm if you aren’t already logged in and copy your Desktop / Web Key.

5. Paste the key into the field in Twhirl.

6. Save and you’re all set.

My favorite part is that the code is smart enough to tell Ping.fm not to post your tweet back to Twitter again, so there’s only one copy of your Twhirl post across the board.

Yesterday I took passport photos to renew my passport.  It expired in May.

I don’t have plans to go anywhere, but the last international trip I took was planned three weeks in advance.

That trip landed Kevin and me in Peru on New Year’s Eve enjoying a culture and a land whose beauty you can sense is thousands of years old; a much needed oasis from our long hours at the office.

We hiked Huayna Picchu in the rain, had multiple massages at $40/hr a pop, fed the llamas, sipped coca tea by the fire, and ate “real deal” Peruvian chicken while overlooking the ocean.

All born from three weeks’ planning.

The Itch

In the past couple of weeks I’ve been bitten by the travel bug again.

New York, DC, Cambria, and Boston, I love you — I really do.  But this time an American town just won’t do it for me.

I find that I’m American in loyalty, but vagabond in spirit; my stomach churning with the desire to see Kerger Park again.  Able to taste Zurich in my mouth.  Cairns, Australia filling my nostrils and the Mediterranean filling my dreams.

I suffer from theresickness; like homesickness, but rather than ache to be home, I ache to be “there”.

My name is Shaun and I’m an addict.

Sweet and Tart

I am a learner by nature.  I want to know the most important 10-20% about every topic there is.  Learning is one of life’s simple pleasures.

But to travel is to experience.  And experience takes the simple pleasure of learning and turns it into a rich delicacy unparalleled in taste and color and texture by anything else I’ve ever known.

I want to stare mindlessly into the Japanese gardens of Osaka while sipping tea.  I want to roam the streets sprouting from Florida Street in Buenos Aires.  I want to strain my neck looking up to see the top of the Eiffel Tower and I want to peer down from Taipei Tower.

To learn. To experience. To live and to see and to eat.

And so I crave travel.  And so my passport can no longer remain expired.

Paralyzing Intimidation

I recently received an e-mail that stated

I guess the bigger problem is that I’m paralyzingly intimidated when I feel like I’m talking to/working with someone who knows more than I do, because I’m afraid of being made to feel stupid when I don’t know everything they know, or have an idea that they already KNOW is the dumbest idea ever.

There are only a few people who I don’t have this problem with, namely you and [redacted], because you are both so patient and especially not condescending.

I think the key is to treat life like one big brainstorming opportunity.

My Free Trade Agreement

Most of life is spent trading thoughts and ideas. At some point you have thoughts and ideas that should be given to others.  At some point others have thoughts and ideas that you will find useful.

Each time you know something that someone else doesn’t or vice versa, it is an opportunity to trade.  An opportunity to trade is an opportunity to improve on each other’s ideas.  Trade freely.

Some Thoughts About Thoughts

• Don’t form opinions until you have enough facts. In addition, when you receive facts, “trust, but verify“.
  
• Don’t be embarrassed to ask questions about what you don’t know.  At some point everyone didn’t know what they now know.  The only way they found out was through asking questions.
• When others don’t know something, “be patient and especially not condescending”. How will they find out if they don’t ask?  Just because I came across the facts first doesn’t mean you won’t understand the facts or even have a better application of those facts.
• When you come across information that you think someone might find useful, pass it on. Even if they haven’t asked for it, they will probably find it interesting at least.  At most, it will help them form a better understanding of the subject.
• Anyone can learn.  Wise people are willing to un-learn and re-learn. Keeping an open mind and re-evaluating facts, ideas and opinions on a regular basis are critical to being wise.

Those are my thoughts on thoughts.  Leave yours in the comments section near the title of this post.