So much has happened in the last couple of months (or really in the last year that has led up to the last couple). But basically, my wife, Sarah (yes, really) and I will be travelling in South America and Southeast Asia for the next 10-or-so months. We will be posting most of our details at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/A-Year-to-Moon-Honey, but if I want to write from more of an "I" perspective, I'll post here.

Phew, I've made it up to Vancouver, where I am typing this at my girlfriend's apartment. It's nice to have our own place for a couple of months. So much has changed over the last year and so much always seems to be going on. Adulthood never seemed as complicated when I was a child, but of course, that was when I felt as if I had all the time in the world. Of course, adulthood is as complicated as you make it. I could continue simply, easily, and boringly, or I can strive for this adventure.

For those of you that don't know, my girlfriend, Sarah, and I will be taking off for a year-long trip - four months in South America (not entirely planned) and then 5 months in Southeast Asia. This will be my first time outside of North America or Europe.

I do not and will not have any health insurance until I return home. Can you recommend any providers of travel insurance. World Nomads and STA seem to be the most common. Many have mentioned that the World Nomads claiming process isn't the best, but it's less expensive than the STA coverage. Can you provide any recommendations?

Thanks

while talking on my cell phone on the balcony just outside my cubicle, a bee stung my hand. usually, bees only sting when they feel threatened, and I was just standing there. I'm convinced that the decline in the honeybee population may have something to do with the radiation given off by cell phone use. Others apparently feel this as well - http://bsalert.com/news/1779/Cell_Phones_Destroying_Bee_Colonies_No_Bees_%3D_No_Pollination.html

impactful - thankfully, this work gobbledygook only appears in our internal communications material

when did deliverable become a noun?

so, yesterday, I happened to use the word "indian" to describe two different Native American things: sitting Indian-style and indian casinos, which disappointed my girlfriend (who insists on using less ethnocentric terms).

And I was thinking: do pre-school and elementary school teachers still tell their pupils to sit Indian style?

so, as i become more and more bored with my job and start taking a look at more and more message boards with postings from random yahoos, I've started to develop a disdain for a couple of words (or maybe they have just started to annoy me to no end):

ghetto - why does your rich ass have to flaunt its superiority?

sammich - what's wrong with the good ol' ndw. of course, i also like my lower calorie beers with "ght." can anybody tell me the origination of this shortening? a kalx dj (whose real first name is sam) has gone by the name since 1999 or so. When I first heard his name, I had no idea that anybody over the age of 5 used the word non-jokingly. Apparently, a sammich is now an "especially yummy sandwich." In fact, I even came across a shop yesterday that uses the term as part of its official name.

descendents references in the motley fool - whoa!

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/05/03/the-time-bomb-in-your-portfolio.aspx

is it just me, or is the ennui-filled, not-good-in-scrabble adjective of "meh" becoming overused on internet message boards.

my friend andy used to say the word quite a bit back in 2001 and 2002, and I thought that it was just one of his own phrases. it was almost like his catchphrase, just as homer simpson's is "d'oh."

i realize that it's also simpsons derived (and where my friend andy initially took the word from), but for some reason, it's just not as funny.

the guardian has an article on the phenomenon: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2026533,00.html

so, my girlfriend and i are heading to coachella this year. this being my first time, we thought we'd be able to procrastinate and find a hotel/condo rental in the area for the weekend. So, we haven't bought camping passes, nor do we have anything resembling lodging.

If anybody you know lives anywhere near indio, ca and has a spare room, a backyard, or anywhere we can sleep for the weekend of 4/27-4/29, let me know.
-Matt

i wonder what percentage of females on Yelp.com list New Kids on the Block as their first concert.

I was chatting with my girlfriend and made the following comments:

"i just wish i could turn fantasy baseball into a career
so do hundreds of other men
if not thousands"

to which she replied:

"and women too
jeez
sexist
just joking by the way"

and I proclaimed: "i'd say maybe 99 percent of fantasy baseball players are men"

which truly led us to question what the precise percentage of fantasy baseball teams are run by women. Any thoughts?

Sometimes the internet movie database userbase just befuddles me. How can this be a better movie than this . Of course, they are two completely different movies with completely different reviewers, but still? Were critics and everybody I know who actually saw the thing just way off (it only has a 51% on the tomatometer)?

i didn't realize that finding a roommate would be so difficult, considering that when I was trying to find rooms in san francisco a little over a year ago, it was quite difficult to impress the others who were looking for rooms.

so basically, if you know anybody who is looking for medium sized room in the city who greatly enjoys cooking, let me know. i have a vacant room for $900 a month in a nice place with a top-notch kitchen.

I had somebody take the room yesterday, pay me a deposit and first month's rent, and then decided to flake out on me (and I was nice and decided not to deposit the check).

and on an unrelated note, i don't think that Dreamgirls was robbed. while well done, I don't think it ever had the potential to be great, due to the source material. of course, i'm a finicky fussbudget when it comes to music and generally can't stand much broadway music. and i find most of the music in dreamgirls to be as hammy as your average simpsons faux-musical.

is it just me, or does this video remind you of something from the early 90s' that beavis and butt-head would have watched while mooning the screen, banging their heads, screaming "yesss" and placing at least one of their hands in the air and making devil's horns.

gotta love those heavy metal camera filters

is it just me, or does this video remind you of something from the early 90s' that beavis and butt-head would have watched while mooning the screen, banging their heads, screaming "yesss" and placing at least one of their hands in the air and making devil's horns.

gotta love those heavy metal camera filters

i think that it's a bad sign when a tv show uses a character's last name as the primary source of laughter.

i just noticed that the title of the fergie album is "the dutchess" (sic). first she polluted the airwaves with "my humps" and now she pollutes the world with improper spelling (unless she's referring to the upstate new york county).

let's just hope we don't fuck up the next couple of years

i've noticed that black women in ads use the word "classy" to describe themselves, yet I've never seen a white woman do the same.

also, i had no idea that lenny and carl were not from Springfield.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5945086