G.K. Chesterton on Humility in the Wrong Place

I think this is what made the election season so hard for me:

"What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert--himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt - the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it's practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . . The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table."

HT: Josh Harris

Travel round up part 3

Things that weren't obvious to me, but might be to you:


Free wireless is very hard to find internationally. . . . . Especially at European airports :) It's like 6 euros an hour (around 10 dollars). So, be ready for that, with a credit card.


Have trident chewing gum on you at all times while you're en route. It helps with a) bad breath after breathing airplane air for 12 hours. b) lack of ear pain for takeoffs/landings c) able to kiss your wife most of the time, even if you've woken up from a 3 hour "nap" on an airplane. Always a good idea.

Either have a fanny pack (hopelessly lame) or one of these new "neckstrap pouch/holder things" for passport/boarding pass/a little cash/etc. . .. . It's good to just have those things on your person, they can fall out of your carry-on sometimes. :) I wish I had a picture of ours. . but it's like a large wallet attached to a long neckstrap (so it goes under your shirt). Very handy.

Don't eat fresh food/drinks anywhere in a 3rd world country. By fresh I mean. . . . vegetables/unbottled water/tea/fruits/salad. If it's not water. . .it's washed in water and not cooked. (vegetables have alot of local water in them)

I'm often ridiculed for my diet. . . . some of it is warranted. :) But, I ate chicken and bread for 5 days in Ethiopia and never even felt sick. hate the game, don't hate the player. . . . . .


Figure out when you should sleep/stay awake based on where you are headed. Try to sleep on planes/layovers/etc. . . . .to keep yourself on a schedule. The first day you arrive at a destination, try to just power through until normal sleeping hours, local time. The next day you'll be good to go (even though that first night will probably not be your best night of sleep). I've been bitten by this in the past as I've flown to Europe all the way to Australia. . . .it's important to think through this.

You can't pay for advice like this . . . . .

Crazy Aaron.
Crazy Aaron. . .

Travel round up part 2

Here's some of the things we bought for the trip. . . . . .



Rocketfish portable power source: B



This is a nice little gadget. It's like a mini-generator for small electronics. It gives 40 hours to an I-Pod, 4 hours to a DVD player, and 2 hours to a laptop.

It worked really well, and because of this little gadget, Jody and I were able to watch the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy on my laptop during our trip. It has US power and USB hookups.

The only problem, is it doesn't work really well in small intervals You have to charge it all night. . and it works great. If you use it a bit, turn it off and then come back. . etc. . . . it seemed to not have alot of juice left.


Sony Extended Life Battery: A -


This battery gives you about 3 1/2 hours of power on your laptop. If you're a non-Mac user (and not an elitist :) ) It's the best thing for your PC. As stated earlier, we watched some pretty long movies via Windows Media Center (not wmplayer. . . it's way nicer).

It does get pretty hot. . .thus the A -


Canon PowerShot A 590: A +

This is a ridiculous camera. We bought it with an 8 gig memory card and it takes video up to like 5 or 6 minutes at a time, has a vast array of photo presets, and the batteries seem to last a long time.

I actually like shorter videos better than going the traditional camcorder/dad/annoying birthday party route :). It's good accountability to have to limit your video length :)

I obviously can't take a picture of the camera or memory card. . .but check it out, it's great!


Monster Headphone splitter: A ++



If you're like me, you've tried to jerry-rig headphone inputs for years. . stereo to mono, pulling the plug half way out, 1/8-1/4 adapters, shorting out cables. . . .etc

This does all the work for you, there's independent volume control for both sides. Both sides are in stereo, and Monster connections are the best in the business. ( I have them for all my guitar stuff).

It's great if you're traveling with someone else because of the different volume controls and flexibility of the cable.

Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate: A -

This is a little free trial video compressor/converter. It makes putting videos on facebook/blogger/wordpress/youtube, etc. . . very easy by compressing your videos for you. It works very fast, and you set the quality and size perameters before it converts. It literally takes 5 minutes to upload a video all the way to blogger from your camera.

The only bummer is that your free trial version cuts every video in half. But, if you have a nice camera you can just film what you want and then point the camera towards the floor until you've doubled the length of your video. . . then it cuts the video perfectly! (I'm all about rednecking the video compression :) )



Ok, enough of my evaluations. . I'll stop boring all of you. . . here's a video of Malachi (and Eden) working on the quads. Enjoy!

Crazy Aaron's Travel Round-Up

Hi everyone.

So, we've been back for two weeks now. Things are going really well; I wish I wasn't coming back to an insanely busy work season, finishing off the new album, and the madness of the Holidays. . . . but that's ok. We're adjusting well to Malachi, and he's doing really well with us. I'm learning that it's harder to wake up for the early morning feedings when you're in your 30's as opposed to your 20's. :)

When I used to wake up and feed Providence, I was 22. . . .yikes, the years go fast.

Anyway, Malachi is a blessing, and he's brought alot of joy to our house.

I thought I could be of service to some of you by offering my opinions on all things related to world travel.

Perhaps not. . . . .but here goes anyway. . .

CRAZY AARON'S TRAVEL ROUND UP!!!!!

(I think I'll get my own show on PBS, I'll get you, Rick Stevens!!)

Airports:

We flew into 5 different airports and stopped for gas in The Sudan and Syria. .

(apparently the only places to get gas in the eastern hemisphere are really dangerous countries. . .but it was the middle of the night both times. And, they didn't print that on our tickets :) (for obvious reasons)
Here's the rundown:

Denver: B. Still looks like new, and operates pretty swiftly as airports go. Downgraded because of over eager security/immigration/agricultural personnel. But, I guess that's for the best . . . .

Calgary: B+. Very nice airport. Nice little mall area for the international terminal. Jody and I got massages before our overnight trip to London. Downgraded for lack of good restaurants, distance from the city, and lack of power outlets for my laptop. (much more on this in the next post)

London Heathrow: A -. This airport is bigger than my hometown. It's a small city and you have to take buses to get around to the different terminals. But, it's kind of cool because you feel like you're in London with the cool buses and all. The international terminal is great because there's a pretty large mall with a few restaurant choices. The only bad part was the smell of fresh fish and calamari next to the coffee shop at 6 a.m. Small downgrade for the power outlets in the wall not working.

Addis Ababa (Bole international airport, Ethiopia): A -. Big international area. There were a multitude of restaurants. . but none seemed to be stellar. Big upgrades for many Islamic and Orthodox Christian clerics walking around in full dress (with posse in tow).

Frankfurt: D Very few restaurants (I remember 1). . . . long "death star-esque" terminal walkways. . .some rude German people.

Airlines:

United: C Still just the worst airline to work with. They have good planes and they own the Denver airport. . . but that doesn't mean that they can be unhelpful, terse, and pompous. (ok, I'm done, sorry)

BMI, Air Canada: B They have some cool media centers on the back of the seat in front of you. British Midland even has video games with a controller.

Lufthansa: A++++. This is the most ridiculously nice airline I've ever worked with. Their planes are huge, their staff is helpful and friendly, they have hi-end media centers on the seats in front of you. . where you pick movies, tv shows, music, etc. . . I got to watch a documentary on Leonard Bernstein and then "30 Rock". Who knew?
A Lufthansa phone operator upgraded me to a bulkhead/basinet(crib) seat with no extra charge and no hassle. And, the steward (is that what the man-stewardesses are called???) kept warming up cold water for Malachi's bottle. Very helpful. . .
The planes have a downstairs bathroom area with 7 (roomy) bathrooms, two of which had changing tables for the baby. The whole company is a class act. If you're flying to Europe (especially from Denver), you gotta fly Lufthansa. By the 2nd flight, I was actually looking forward to getting on the plane. Well, I guess i was coming out of the Frankfurt airport :) but still. . . .


My next post will evaluate some of the travel gadgets that Jody and I came across. . . .

Crazy Aaron

Bittersweet

We started to get a little sad for Malachi that he was leaving his country, perhaps forever, . . but at least for a long time. Here's some of his last moments in the Ethiopian airport with his amazing mother. . . . .

Play time

So, besides governmental appointments and eating. . . this is what we did alot in Ethiopia. We got to know Malachi a bit. He wanted to do this by plaing with us. . .so we did! Here's a video of he and Jody from the hotel room.

Aaron

Starting early

Here's a video of me and Malachi learning the basics of sports. . . . good times.

Aaron