Libro d'Amore: Bill Bryson "Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe"

In my continual attempts to make myself a "reader" I'm starting a new series on Empty Pantry called "Libro d'Amore" (Book Love in Italian...because everything sounds better when said in Italian).  In this new section I'm going to review books as I finish them. So welcome to Libro d'Amore's maiden voyage. 

After discussing traveling to Vienna with my, compassionate and insightful, friend Katie; she understood that my soul longed to take me places my wallet could not afford.  So instead of just feeling sorry for me she took action.  She purchased me a travel book by Bill Bryson about his travels through Europe. 

I started this book in early August while on vacation.  Which, being as it is almost October, shows you how inconsistent my reading is.  The book starts out with Bryson going North to Hammerfest.  Hammerfest is the Northernmost town in Europe and he went in the middle of winter because he wanted to see the Northern Lights.  And thus starts our journey with Mr. Bryson through Europe which takes us through Paris, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, Rome, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, among many others, and finally ending in Istanbul.

This book scratched a dangerous itch, as I have a dangerous internal desperation to travel.  Bryson took me to many places I had never considered going before.  Some of which I am still not likely to consider and others that have been added to the bucket-list.

The book was enjoyable enough.  While I never felt bored with it, I rarely felt drawn to pick it up.  But when I did it was rewarding.  So I guess I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Next up:

If current trends continue see you late December.

Quieting the Static

I heard someone on the radio talking about how it takes 3 days of being away from society and out in the wilderness for the static of our lives to quiet down.  When I say static I mean the "did I pay my bills?", "I should go check facebook", "I need to write a blog", etc etc etc...basically the noise of our lives.  He then said by day 10 you are completely aware of who you really are.  You've pushed your body to it's limit.  You've had nothing but time to think.  You've returned to the most basic version of you. 

Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) killed himself a few years after returning from the famed expedition.  No one knows why he did this.  But the person on the radio hypothesized that Lewis changed in the wilderness.  He had changed by no longer being able to discern himself from the native Americans he was making contact with.  His skin was tan from spending so much time outside.  He was wearing animal skin clothing.  When he looked at himself and when he looked at the Native Americans, he stopped seeing a difference.  The noise of his life had been snuffed out and that was all that was left.  The effect was that when he came back to "society" he could no longer cope.  He had changed too much, and he no longer belonged.

Now, I don't know if the radio host's hypothesis is true or not.  But it seems like a possibility.  At some point I want to take a trip where I can quiet the static.  Where I can see myself without the noise of my life.  I don't want to have to wait until retirement to do it.  The noise gets louder the older I get.  If I have to wait 20 more years to quiet it I'm afraid I'll go deaf.

-scott

(RED): helping fight AIDS

My friend Amber has a blog called "My Aim is True".  She has made a post where she will donate $1 (up to $50) for every comment left for her (RED) entry.  (RED) is an organization that partners with other organizations to help raise money to fight AIDS.  All you have to do is go to the link below, click her entry for this then comment.  So what are you waiting for...get to commenting.

http://www.myaimistrue.com

Blair's Ultra Death Sauce and Music News

So I bought the hottest sauce I've ever tried the other day.  It's a little something called Blair's Ultra Death sauce.  It's crazy hot.  I wrote a review of it on the Blog of Burn the other day.  Go check it out.

Blog of Burn

In other news I just picked up a copy of Johnny Cash's "American III: Solitary Man" for $8 at the bookstore. This album in the American series is special because Cash has Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band...and he covers "I See a Darkness" by Will Oldham. He also has Oldham singing backing vocals on that song.

Also, my new band finally picked a name. When I say finally I mean we've been going back and forth for weeks trying to come up with something.  So we decided on...are you ready for it?

Popular Vultures

...you may now breath. 

New Episode on the Blog of Bun is Up

We just posted a new episode for the Blog of Burn today.  That's my other blog where my friend Dave and I sample and review hot sauces in funny yet thoughtful videos.  It generally takes me and Dave about 4-5 hours from start to finish to get these up.  You should check it out.

http://blogofburn.blogspot.com

School and Beer

I'm currently enrolled in CS312 at ODU.  For those of you not in the CS department, the class is an "Internet Concepts" class.  My first project for the class is to make a blog.  Well...I have 2.  So this one gets to be my project for the semester.  Which means I have to update it regularly...which I've been pretty good about.  So expect my continued dedication to bring you a blog of all things Scott. 

Now that that is out of the way, lets move on to a more interesting topic...BEER.  I like beer.  Almost all beer.  The watered down cheap stuff to the great microbrews I've tried, almost all of it has been wonderful.  When I say almost there is one category that has eluded me.  This type of beer has always sent me away asking for something different.  What is the bitter biting beverage?  IPA's.  IPA stands for Indian Pale Ale and it comes from a style of beer that has a lot of hops so that the beer would keep while being shipped from India.  Thus the name.  IPA's are characterized by a sharp, crisp taste up front and a bitter bite on the way down.  It's the bitterness that has always kept me away. 

However, I feel I need to conquer this bitter beast because there are so many great ones being made.  It seems like every time I talk to someone about beer I am being told that I need to try some IPA or another.  I feel like I'm missing out.

So a few weeks ago I decided to give the IPA world a good try.  I started out with Pyramid's "Thunderhead IPA".  The taste was pleasant but due to the bitterness afterwards, it was a sipper.  Now, when looking into the world of IPA's the name that keeps coming up is Dogfish Head "90 Minute IPA".  So the other night at the bar I frequent they had 90 Minute on tap, so I decided to order a pint.  It was more enjoyable than the Thunderhead.  I would definitely order it again...and probably will next time I'm there.  I still wouldn't say I love IPA's, but I've made steps towards appreciating them and can now at least enjoy one.  

Cheers and I don't necessarily recommend mixing the two things this post is about.

Higher Education: what does it mean?

In recent months I've noticed that University life is often visually represented by sports.  Namely football games.  This has started to bother me because it makes me ask the question, "is this how America is starting to look at getting a higher education?  As a mere excuse to go to a sporting event?" 

Universities started out in ancient Greece.  The students at many of these Universities would study philosophy.  Namely certain writings of Plato that we call the Socratic Dialogues.  In these writings Plato wrote down "conversations" Socrates would have with people where he would question things they thought they knew to the point of them realizing that they really don't know as much as they thought they did.  This is a Readers Digest explanation but seriously, the thought process in many of these dialogues is amazing to read through.  So, you take something that started out with people analyzing texts that were designed to make us question the world around us and think very hard about what we are presented with as "fact" and "reality".  Then you fast forward to today and we are told that University life is nothing more than parties and sporting events.  Or, if nothing else, just a way to get paid more.  It seems very sad to me. It seems that a deeper meaning has been lost.

In my experience I've found that the University experience is still a life examining, thought provoking, and mentally challenging experience.  But society seems to want to change that.  The process I just described is a difficult one.  It's a sleep deprived, hard working, self "checking" life that is often uncomfortable.   So maybe the reason society depicts higher education the way it does is to make it seem easy.  Going to a football game is much easier than studying for hours, not to pass a test, but to gain knowledge about something you are interested in.  Passing the test is a reward for your thirst for knowledge.  The world says "Go to college.  The foot ball games are awesome parties.  And if you aren't into that whole partying thing well at least you can get paid more when you are done."  Sure College will be this for many people.  But if that's all it is to you, you will graduate having short changed yourself so drastically that the experience will have hardly been worth it.  And the worse part is you won't even have learned enough to realize that. 

Party on Wayne.
Party on Garth.