March 28th, 2011

This past weekend I met up with my friends Munchie and Ali out in the Mojave Desert, near Joshua Tree. The ride out was cold and windy, but I made it without much trouble. Three hours on a small motorcycle can take its toll quickly, but once I found the back country cabin I also found my second wind. We hiked around Joshua Tree for the rest of the day until sunset. The scenery is remarkable and the hikes quite pleasant, so much so that it doesn’t make for good reading so I’ll skip ahead to the troubles of the next day.

We woke up with the sun and headed out early. We made a good hike up a small mountainside but didn’t stay long. Munchie had to drive back up to San Francisco for a flight back to Chicago later that night. We headed back to the cabin and I checked over my bike before we parted ways. I was dangerously low on oil and most of my electrical system had wiggled itself loose. I tightened everything up and dumped a quart of oil in the motor. But the 42 year old motorcycle wouldn’t start.

Why Munchie chose to rent a cabin in the middle of the desert is beyond me. We were a few miles from even the smallest town and time to fix my bike was time we did not have. They still had a nine hour drive to SF and it was fast approaching mid afternoon. I had them drop me off in town and I ushered them on their way. I would have to figure this out on my own now, stranded in the devil’s desert. I was completely alone now with very few options.

But what is life without a little disaster and adventure?

I decided not to get too worried about. After all, I enjoy some unknown in my life and these are usually the best times. I wasn’t sure how being stranded in the desert would end up being a good thing, but I am forever hopeful. Another thing I kept thinking about is how no one would care to know about my nice pleasant trip out to nature if nothing went wrong. In a way, I almost had to be thankful.

Great times don’t always make for great stories.

So I hitch hiked across town to the only auto parts store that had any life in it. It was Sunday and damn near everything in this town was closed. I resolved myself to staying in a roach motel until Monday, where I had hoped this town would come to life. At least that way I can hire a mechanic to come out with me. I soon learned that most shops out in the desert take their weekends on Sunday and Monday. This would mean being stranded for at least two days, with time and money I wasn’t really interested in spending. So I bought some spark plugs and a socket wrench. I figured if it wasn’t an electrical issue, I may have fouled the plugs burning through the oil. I was going to have to get myself out of the desert. As I sat in the shade trying to hitch a ride back to the middle of the desert to my bike, I saw my savior pull up.

A lifted, boxy Jeep Cherokee pulls up to the gas station across the way. It’s painted in decals reminiscent of the famous #3 Dale Earnhardt race car. I beeline to him, hoping he could give me a lift to my bike and maybe even trouble shoot with me if I can’t figure it out. I find out his name is Randy and he lives in the area. He runs a small business dealing in Nascar collectibles and was working across the way at the local swap meet.

So I jump in and Randy takes me back to the swap meet where he gathers up his trailer of goods. I’ve never been to swap meet in the desert, and it’s probably a good thing. The temptation to throw away the minimalist lifestyle would be too much. Something about the folks that shift goods around in the desert… somehow the most unusual and fascinating things end up in the desert. This place felt like an American version of a Bedouin community.

Randy and I zig-zag across the unnamed, unpaved roads of the Mojave. He seems to know exactly where is he going. We find my motorcycle sitting pretty like an oasis. I jump out and tighten down all the loose electrical (the battery terminals, the regulator rectifier, and the starter solenoid). We connect the jumper cables and the 1969 motorcycle kicks to life. It was as simple as that; some loose wires, a dead battery, and a jump.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. Ten years ago Randy was involved in a horrifying accident where his Jeep Cherokee rolled two and a half times. In the mountains. He was pinned between his Jeep and the road, crushing his chest and severing his spinal cord. He is paralyzed from the chest down. But none of this stopped him from being the most lively guy I could’ve hoped to meet in the desert. He is not only as strong as an ox, but he is so full of excitement and life. And he was willing to help out a complete stranger. He exemplifies the ‘today you, tomorrow me’ mantra.

So when life hands you lemons, even if you’re stranded in the desert or a truck lands on your chest, you may as well focus on the good and make some lemonade.

March 23, 2011

WARNING: Self exploration post here. Existentialism and potential hippy jargon. You may want to skip it.

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Who do you want to be known as?  Where do you want your life to go? When are you most excited and passionate? Why do you do the things you do?

What are you doing to get there?

Really digest those questions.  I mean, really explore the core of your being and purpose.

The idea of a ‘To-Do” list reminds me too much of a bad tattoo or a refrigerator magnet. The bucket list sounds too Hollywood for me. Michael Ian Black even coined the Fuckit List. Joel Runyon has his Impossible List that he created and that is a fresh perspective. So until I come up with a better name (or someone suggests one for me) I will call this my ‘Beer and Skittles’ list.

There’s an old 19^th century saying “Life isn’t all beer and skittles”. Well, I am going to try and argue that life is in fact, all beer and skittles. Oh, and apparently skittles is an old European game similar to bowling. I’m going to imagine the quote is really about the delicious candies instead.

A running list has been working in my head for years now, but this is the first time I’ve allowed the thoughts to be seen before my eyes. Truly it is a remarkable feeling to list all the things you want your life to accomplish. For that alone, I encourage you to do the same.

I’ve managed to pull the more relevant items to the top of my list if you just want a quick peruse. But if you read further, it is everything that I can think of that I’d like to experience in this little life of mine. At the very bottom of my list are things that I have experienced or accomplished that have been on the mental list for all these years.

I’ll be updating this as I go, so keep checking in if that’s your thing. I look forward to tracking my progress and making my life happen for myself.

My Beer and Skittles List

Establish a location independent income (either self employed or with a company I believe in)

Visit every country in the world. Without shoes.

Get my Italian citizenship

Learn the violin

Freight train trip

Teach at a university

Learn to weld

Pay off my damn student loans (to be debt free!)

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Complete the cannonball

Become an active Kiva lender (inspired by Joel Runyon! Many thanks for this idea!)

Motorcycle trip across the USA

Experience and explore the catacombs of Paris (not with a tour)

Befriend and share life with Roma

50 pull ups

100 push ups

Visit every state in the USA

Trans Siberian Railroad

Attend the festival of Holi in India

Meet a ghost

Save a life

Freight ship trip

Fly a helicopter

Skydive (solo)

Learn to paraglide

Handstand on an elephant

Hot air balloon

Learn planche push-up

Sail across an ocean

Complete a marathon

Complete an ultra marathon (btw I hate running)

Blog regularly during my travels

Have my blog break into top 200,000 alexa rank

Teach at a community college

Rebuild my 1947 motorcycle

Learn the night sky constellations

Tickle the keys. Learn the piano

Write a book and publish it

Learn Italian. And French.

Get married to a lovely wife

Have lots of babies and adopt lots of babies

Talk less. Listen more.

*completed prior to this post but were important personal goals of mine*

Learn guitar

Learn ukulele

Learn Spanish

Live overseas

Rebuild a classic motorcycle

Surf and shape my own surfboard

Move to California (wanted this since 7^th grade)

March 19th, 2011

Minimalism isn’t just about getting rid of all your stuff. If you follow any other minimalism blogs, you know this topic has made the rounds thoroughly. But there is something elegant in the air as spring defeats winter. The extra hour in the day, the burst of colors everywhere, and the smell of extra oxygen even lingers in the air… These things inspire freshness. And in the consumers world, this means spring cleaning. That’s right, it doesn’t just apply to emails.

I’ve been really digging deeper into this life of minimalism. I have been questioning everything I choose to own.  I’m a bit of the sentimental at heart, saving damn near everything even though my girlfriend may now argue that. And even though I desire the beauty that is minimalism, I somehow still accumulate unnecessary extras and excess.

But now it’s time to sell or junk it all. I recently took photos of all my extras and then loaded into my truck. I’ve put it all on Craigslist and Amazon. And while this is certainly a process, it’s much less work once you just do it. One I’ve stupidly been putting off for a long time.

So why not just do it already?

Well I’ve made those critical first steps. I’ve sold lamps, a Colombian hammock, an old typewriter, my first electric guitar, an amp, digital cameras, old phones, furniture and everything in between. I’ve also put up a lot of old textbooks on Amazon and I’ve been making a killing this way. So far, I’ve already cleared over $400 and my truck is still full of more stuff. And this helps, since I have no ads or affiliate marketing. To think, I’ve sort of indirectly made money from this blog!

Spring is starting off right. And I don’t plan to stop here. All the extras are going out and staying out. Find your inspiration. Read how Joshua and Ryan did it. They documented their whole process and now focus on what matters.

*a moral to the story*

I sold my motorcycle lock to an old timer off of Craigslist. I’ll call him Javier, since that’s his name. I told him about my quest to sell all my stuff. To own less. To be more. I told him about my travel plans. My excitement and enthusiasm surely made me seem fiery and mad, a young Kerouac screaming to criss-cross the country. But old man Javier looked at me calmly and just said ‘good’. And he assured me I’m not crazy for wanting this. He knows the crazy life is the life of pretend safety and comfort. Careers, people, things… they do not give you comfort and stability anymore. This unstable economy and society has shown us that comfort and stability are dead. We need to make our lives worth living. We need to be who we always dreamt of being.

Don’t let those dreams stay as dreams.

This isn’t just about freedom from your stuff. Freedom from the clutter. Freedom from the burdens of needs and wants and must haves. It’s also about money. I’m certain you have your own desires for better ways to spend your money. Give yourself that opportunity and run with it.

Stop saying later. Stop putting it off. If you need a fire lit under those buns, this is it! Spring is in the air and so is the new you! I hope you’re out there making your life happen, because no one else can do that for you.

Bloodlines are a tricky thing. Especially as an American. We tend to take great pride in our heritage. If you ask an American what they are, you’ll likely get a pie chart percentage break-down of exactly what composes their bloodlines. I enjoy playing dumb and simply answering American, but delving deeper does have its benefits.

In this case, potential citizenship.

That photo is of my old man. He is half-Sicilian and half-Polish. My mother is also half-Sicilian but the other half mutt. (Czechoslovakian, Yugoslavian, American hillbilly, etc).

This makes me half Italian total, on two fronts. The neat thing about Italy’s history is that they have this thing called jure sanguinis. Basically, if you have Italian ancestors and they’ve never denied their Italian roots, well then my friends, you too are eligible for Italian citizenship.

Of course, these things are never easy. I am finding this out myself. I’ve been trying to gather the paperwork needed for a loooooong time now. Mostly between laziness, forgetfulness, and bureaucratic nonsense, I just haven’t been able to make it happen. But since this blog is about making things happen, well, here I am now. So dear readers, you’ll be my accountability. And if anyone else out there is planning to go down this path too, well let me know and we can do it together! This could make traveling, living, and working overseas much easier. My goal is to re-visit this by August so see exactly how my status is coming along.

I’m currently looking into working with a company that may be able to expedite these things along. I’ll give an update if it works out.

But for now, a presto!

David William
March 13, 2011

You open your closet and shoes pour out. You kick off your work shoes to throw on some sneakers, and then shed those later for your after dinner slippers. You’ve got two feet and dozens of shoes. Sound about right?

But all for what? Two feet can’t wear all those shoes.

Somewhere in the quest for stuff we have lost ourselves. We’ve outrun our own minds and completely missed the point of our basic needs. So let’s back up a second and examine something simple. Let’s look at our feet.

We’ve got it good. If you’re able to read this blog, you’ve likely got a pair of shoes. That means you’re already a damn near million miles ahead of many folks on this planet. We buy into this consumerism culture with the appetite of a blue whale. (I’m not really sure blue whales even eat a lot, but I’d like to imagine for this analogy that they do.) So why not give a little considering you can: A. afford the extra space in your closet. B. give yourself the peace of mind of some less junk in your life. And C. help change the life of a complete stranger.

Remember folks: today you, tomorrow me.

My forever active girlfriend recently organized a shoe drive at her office for Soles 4 Souls, a shoe recycling charity. They collected over 12 boxes (54+ cubic feet) of shoes!  That is over 500 pairs of shoes! I somehow found 7 pairs of shoes that I was able to donate, which really emptied out my shoe rack. On the plus side, I then had to go out and by another pair of shoes since I gave them all away. I found a pair I really liked and did even more good buying these!
Then, a few days later, I was given a pair of shoes by a total stranger. And these shoes are originally sold to the singing tune of $325! I’ve never even seen that much money in real life! (Sidenote: I’m kidding. I have. Just once though.)

So how do you like that for some karma?! Get out your old shoes and donate them! Clear up space in your place and feel good doing it! Big thanks to Joshua Millburn for the shoes! I am picking them up tomorrow from the post office!

David William
March 7th, 2011