Maps of Our Lives

Much of what I write are complex emotions, stories or ideas that aren't easily translated into visuals, but in my professional work, I advocate for the power of visual management and I realize it's something I do in my personal life as well sometimes. 

The first really cool map I made was for my epic road trip to visit theme parks and ride roller coasters and knock some fun things off my Life List. I even pre-planned my social media posts by creating multiple maps showing the progression of our trip along the way. I thought it was a fun way to keep my friends aware of our status, and could be especially helpful for the people who don't always see my posts and may get confused as to why I'm in Canada one day and in New Jersey the next. 

My first trip to the land down under had been planned for a decade before I actually got to go. The wait was well worth it, as we visited all but two of the Australian states and many Australian tourists we talked with on our various excursions were impressed that we were seeing more of their country than they had. While I accomplished just about everything on my Life List for Australia on that whirlwind of a trip, I fell in love with Australia, and have wanted to go back. 

I had the opportunity to go back twice in the last year, once for personal travel which included Tasmania, a state I hadn't yet been in, and once for work, which I extended into a personal vacation - partially to return to Tasmania in pursuit of the elusive and lesser-known Southern Lights, taking advantage of the timing of my work trip taking place in the winter. Many of my Australian colleagues have never been to Tasmania, and I've been twice! I highly recommend it, and my actions show! And since I didn't get a great Aurora Australis, I plan to go back and try again in the next solar cycle!

I did another fun map for a European vacation I went on with my sister, nephew, and boyfriend. I am admittedly bad at geography, so I think the map was five times as much for me as it was for anyone else, but I think everyone appreciated the visualization a little bit. Since we were doing a Disney cruise as a large part of the trip, I made Mickey ears for all of us with this map on the back of one of the ears, so we had the visual with us at all times (at least on the cruise). 

There had been a lot going on in my life at that time, as I had already interviewed for jobs in Dallas and Panama City, Florida. Knowing I'd be leaving Connecticut one way or another very soon, my parents came to visit shortly before the Europe vacation (my first time in Europe). So I held off on telling the facebook world we were moving until we returned, and were a week away. Hilariously, I used a map for that post also, captioning it with, "We're doing a thing next week." 

My ex- bought me a cool woodcut map of America with bottle cap-sized holes to put beer caps in it, intending to represent the beers from the different regions of the country. It was cool in theory, but in practice, most of my favorite beers were from a the southwest, and I had very few beers from other parts of the country. 

Today, I saw a silly post of a guy who lives in the UK who mapped out the furthest in each direction he had been, creating a little square around his hometown - he has not traveled far beyond Europe. While I was a little sad that he shared how little he's gotten out of that Euro bubble, I did like the idea, and was curious what my map would look like.

While technically the International Date Line should be the boundary of how far one could go west, I considered the direction of my travel. Going to Asia and Australia, I've flown west, not east. Thus, there's a box east of the European countries I've visited and west of the Asian countries which I can say I have not been in, and of course, I haven't been to the poles so there's a section of north and south which I haven't crossed into. 

I mapped the locations where I've lived, including my birthplace (green) and my current home (red), and the places I've visited that are those furthest points in each direction. To the north, the farthest I've gone is Fairbanks, Alaska, which I've gone to twice now, once with family to explore my Dad's birthplace, and once to chase the aurora. Tasmania wins the medal for being as far south as I've been. Going east, it was a close call between Italy and Poland, but Krakow wins (for now).

Of course, I could hardly stop there. I mapped out many of my favorite places I visited, and it is interesting to see those, too. Sort of like those maps with pins in them, except again I have a clustering issue which I think may be represented better with this digital visual. I've been to Japan multiple times, including studying abroad in Hiroshima, and have been to China twice, once for martial arts and once for my MBA, but the furthest west from the US was when I studied kung fu with the warrior monks at the Shaolin Temple in Zhangzou, China - which never gets old in how cool it is to say that. 

I took it just a little bit further, and put dream clouds to represent where I want to go in the near future. Based on this, I can see that my desire to go to Santorini, Greece will push my boundary a little further east from Krakow, Poland, which I visited just this year. Additionally, my desire to go to Vietnam and Thailand will push my westward travel point further.  Denmark and obviously the destinations in the continental US won't have any effect on my boundaries. Parts of New Zealand extend further south than my current southern-most point in Tasmania, but my current tentative plans don't include going that far south. I will, someday, try to visit Antarctica, which of course, will be the ultimate southern border push. As far as going further north, I think I'm good - no need to go further north than Fairbanks, although I wouldn't mind returning in another decade to see the Northern Lights again! 

Chasing the Aurora: Chena Hot Springs Resort

I stumbled upon this place while researching tours to check off Life List #7: See an Aurora. I was on the fence about booking a multi-day tour with the premium price it punched, versus winging it and not having the complimentary aurora phone call in the middle of the night. But as I perused their itineraries, I stole shamelessly what sounded like fun - including and probably most importantly, the Chena Hot Springs Resort. Now, those tours only did a day visit or one night stay, whereas doing it on my own meant I could stay for multiple nights. So when I finally decided to make the trip, that's exactly what I did. Unfortunately, the rooms with bathrooms were booked up except for one or two nights so I ended up mixing and matching a little - one room for one night and another room for two more nights. But, that afforded me the opportunity to stay in two different lodges, albeit similar.

Before even arriving at the resort, I got pretty excited because the lady at the rental car counter told me she goes regularly for an evening soak, dinner at the restaurant and aurora viewing after. And she said the Northern Lights had been great recently, which I was thrilled to hear, of course. Anyways, always a good sign for the locals to praise a place.

Getting there from the Fairbanks Airport was quite easy in a rental car - its mostly straight on one road for about an hour through wooded landscapes spotted with ponds, lakes and rivers. Signs warn of moose, horses and even dog sled teams.

The first thing that impressed me when I pulled in through the one-lane bridge was how little it felt gimmicky or tourist-trappy. It was sprawling and there were a couple well-placed signs directing where to go, but other than that, it could almost have been a private residence or a simple small business from the looks of it.

I checked in easily and was given a real key (not a key card), which I actually prefer because I've had too many instances of the key card getting demagnetized or just not working and it's such a hassle! I decided to check out the lodge and locate my room before lugging all my stuff in, so I stopped in at the Moose Lodge first. My room was on the second floor so I walked the length of the floor hoping to find an elevator. With no such luck, I knew I'd have to carry my suitcase up the steps. Not my favorite thing to do, but that's why I packed lightly. Actually in hindsight, since I'd be moving rooms after the first night, I should have just packed what I needed for the one night into my backpack. But I wasn't really sure what I'd need in all fairness, so here we are.

 

The hallway was very warm, like they were overcompensating for the cold by pumping extra heat into the lodge. I wasn't going to complain, though. I did think it was funny when I got to my room and the fan was on and the window was cracked. I got settled into my room and responded to some messages while I debated what to do first. But it was clear, I couldn't wait to get into the hot springs! I slipped into my bathing suit but then faced a funny dilemma - how does one dress appropriately to go swimming but also not freeze while in transit to the pool when its 44 outside? So I basically put back on the clothes I'd been wearing all day over my swimsuit.

After signing the required waiver, I got my towel and headed to the women's locker room. I wasn't sure what I could or should bring into the pool with me, so I left my phone and pretty much everything in the locker, bringing just a bottle of water and the towel. I showered in my bathing suit real quick and then headed outside - wow that's a cold walk! I made it worse by going to the wrong way despite signs that are fairly clear - I got myself to the outdoor hot tub first and it was quite crowded and not what I wanted anyways, so I got myself turned around and headed to the big outdoor hot spring pool.

Stepping in, the water was HOT! It turns out, the whole pool is not that hot, but by certain rocks it is much hotter, including the ramp entering the pool. The pool was very large - probably 4 or 5 times the size of my backyard pool. There were maybe 20 people in there in their little groups and it felt very spacious. What I didn't expect was that the floor of the pool was loose rocks. Not pokey, thank goodness, although some parts were harder.

The soak was glorious! Getting out was rough because you have to once again subject yourself to the biting cold of the outdoors, and those tiny towels were not blocking any of the wind. I decided at a later time that the key was just to soak in the heat for so long that your body maintains the heat and is happy for the cool, crisp air.

After showering, I headed back to my room to get ready for dinner. The restaurant does not take reservations and the wait has been consistent in my experience here, but there is thankfully plenty of comfortable seating in the lobby, bathrooms and a gift shop to make the wait time more bearable or even productive. The food is pretty average - not bad but not anything to rave about. But they have a wide selection, which is great, and you're kind of a captive audience with very few options (if any - I couldn't find any on Google) nearby. If you're on a bit of a budget, it is definitely worth it to bring your own food, especially non-perishable items. There is a microwave in the Activities Center, although the rooms do not have fridges or microwaves.

I was so tired I could barely stay up to do anything, so I called it a night but set my alarm clock for 1:30 am with hopes of seeing the Northern Lights then. I got up dutifully when my alarm went off, although I could see nothing promising out my window. I took my car keys and drove out about 8 miles or so to one of the trailhead parking lots to see if I getting away from the resort would yield any sightings. However, not being totally committed, I was wearing flip-flops and did not have too many layers on, and I got cold quickly. It didn't help that in the total darkness next to the woods, hearing noises behind me totally creeped me out - is it a bear? A wolf? So I gladly got back in the car, but rolled down the window and sat there for a little while longer to give myself a little more time to see something. No dice, and not really even sure if I was in a good position or "doing it right", I gave up and headed back to the hotel. I crashed back into bed with my next alarm set for 6:30.

I woke up the next morning and got ready to go back to the hot springs pool which opens at 7. I wasn't the first one in, but there were only about five or six of us for the first few hours of the morning. Having engaged in a conversation with a local, Rufus, who may or may not have been trying to woo me, I stayed in about two and a half hours - whoops! Instead of going back to my room to shower and get ready, I had brought a fresh set of clothes and toiletries with me, so I basically did all my getting ready there in the locker room. I never ended up using the shower in my hotel room!

Before returning to my room, I stopped by the Activities Center and booked the Aurora Tour from 9:30 pm to 2:30 am that night, as well as the Ice Museum tour for 1 pm. The latter would give me something to do while being "roomless", and the former gave me a much better chance of seeing whatever there was to be seen in the night's sky.

Back at my room, I packed up my stuff and brought it to my car just in time to check out of that room. I left my stuff in the car which actually was quite convenient as I didn't have to go all the way back to my room when I wanted to grab something or drop things off.  

I bought a soda and Gatorade from the cafe and hung out in the Activity Center which was actually quite entertaining and informative. The staff there were really knowledgeable and I learned that there is a dog sledding excursion but you can also just go to the dog yard and pet the dogs. They provided recommendations for hikes of varying lengths and abilities, and talked about the wildlife one may encounter. One activity I passed on but sounded somewhat interesting is the Geothermal Plant Tour.

In preparation for the Ice Museum Tour, I grabbed some extra layers and gloves from my car and returned to the Activity Center to pick up the tour there. The sculptures and architecture sculpted from ice was quite impressive, although to be honest, I was expecting more statues like the award-winning horse sculpture that was in there. Still, it was a fun time, and very cold, as promised. The optional add-on of an Apple Martini served in an ice glass was one of my favorite parts, perhaps because I was quite dehydrated from the hot springs soak that morning (Rufus had offered me water but I declined) and started biting my empty ice glass to get some water. Nevertheless, those of us with glasses partook in the tradition we were informed of, to take the glass out to the parking lot, make a wish, and throw the glasses down to shatter. 

I dropped a couple layers back at my car, and spent some time wandering around the nature trail and then to the dog yard. Unfortunately, the dogs we were allowed to pet were limited to those up for adoption and only if they showed interest. I walked around and most of them were just sleepy and bored looking. One seemed interested but when I approached to pet the pup he or she cowered away. Then one finally got excited about me and tried jumping on me. So I got her to jump up on the box they all have as a little home, and gave her lots of love. In trying to take a selfie, she gave me kisses.

Check in time is technically 4 pm but around 2:30 I headed over to the front desk and asked if it was possible to check in early and sure enough my new room was ready. My thought was to get settled and try to nap all afternoon so as to be able to stay awake for the Aurora Tour. I lugged my suitcase to the room in the far building for the Fox Lodges. Each building is just four rooms connected by one small corridor from the entrance. The nice thing is that there are no stairs. But the rooms are definitely more basic than the Moose Lodge. Still, it was sufficient and I was glad to have a bathroom. Of course, as it seems to go for me, I laid down for my nap and struggled for about two hours during which I don't think I ever got to sleep. I finally relented and got up. I went for a late dinner but started to get anxious as it got closer to tour time since I still needed to added my layers back on (and then some). It worked out, though, I had plenty of time and got to the Activities Center to claim a seat on the bench while I waited with 64 new friends.

I joke, but truthfully I feel I did make some friends on that long and exhilarating tour. First of all, humorously, during role call, my name was called, "Laura, party of 1," and the young woman next to me raised her hand, then "Laura P, party of 1," and I was acknowledged, although obviously I was the first Laura party of 1. Both of us were put into the Bear vehicle with the leading tour guide Alexi (I think?), along with Vanessa and Ethan from Kentucky whom I had met on the Ice Museum Tour earlier that day, a couple from Guatemala, a couple from Mexico City, and another couple. With a half hour trek crammed in these arctic tanks, and a half hour back, plus time in the yurt together, we definitely got to know each other. But I am getting ahead of myself.

So obviously we loaded into the little arctic tanks (I'm not sure what they're called but that seems fitting enough) and it was a bit of a bumpy ride with no snow to soften the lack of shocks. But it was warm
enough, especially with the body heat of my fellow passengers in such tight quarters. I think the worst part of the trip is that we were seated perpendicular to the direction of travel and going uphill, so I felt like I was using one oblique side of my abs only and it was wearing me out. There were bars on the ceiling which seemed secure enough, although I wasn't entirely sure if they were meant to be grab bars. But they were cold so you didn't want to grip them for long, plus gripping them puts your arms in an uncomfortable position and blocks your conversation a bit. Nevertheless, not a bad trip, and at least we can chalk it up to an experience!

I had no idea what to expect on this tour - if we'd be going to multiple spots, for example. Turns out, no, they just take us to a specific spot where they have two large yurts set up and nicely heated, with folding chairs. There were two portapotties which were spacious, heated and had nice smelly candles. Once they gave us the rundown, they set us loose to basically do what we wanted for several hours. They played music in the "main" yurt and served complimentary hot beverages and noodles at request. Obviously, the main attraction would be if/when the Aurora appeared, and they said they would make it obvious so we didn't have to be out there watching. We were allowed to bring our chairs out if we wanted. Once we were set loose, many people lined up for beverages or headed outside.

I decided to just sit for a bit and buckle down until I decided to do something different. I don't think it was ten minutes, maybe not even five, before our driver popped his head through the door and said, "Umm, yeah so the Northern Lights have started." So non-chalantly! I thought they'd be yelling it triumphantly!

It wasn't much when it started, but it lasted for the remainder of the time we were out there, putting on more of a show after midnight and even more so right as we left. The first few times I went out with my chair and set up my tripod and made a time of it. But it was really cold and getting colder, so each time I went in and back out again, I brought less, until it was just me and my tripod, leaving my bag and chair in the yurt. At one break from the cold, I had some hot chocolate, and another, I had the noodles, adding Sriracha to my liking. There were periodic meteors shooting also, which made me wonder what the chances would be of capturing one in my pictures of the Aurora.

Imagine my joy when, and I'm not even sure how this happened, my phone captured a one second video of the Aurora dancing and a meteor shooting! It was absolutely beautiful, and if I wasn't already elated from just seeing the Northern Lights, that just quadrupled my excitement. I was so excited when I saw it as I was looking at my pictures in the yurt, but then I looked around and didn't see anyone to share it with. Finally, some of my group came in and I got to show them what I had captured excitedly. They all agreed it was pretty awesome and we exchanged contact info so I could share it with them once we were back in a service area.

Ethan and Vanessa admired all my photos and were struggling to take decent ones holding their iPhone in their hands. I encouraged them to take my tripod and use that, and they were grateful at how much better their pictures turned out and even took some pictures of themselves. I joined them and they were able to get a couple pictures of me and then I did some better ones of them on my phone.

On the way back, those from my group who hadn't yet seen my pictures got to see them, especially the meteor one, and they all shared in my excitement. It was a bit colder so we turned on the heater and while some of them seemed cold still, I was quite comfy in my layers. We got back to the Activity Center and wearily bid adieu and I headed to my cabin to go to bed. I was surprised at how awake I was and that I hadn't nodded off once - I supposed to adrenaline of the experience had kept me going. I couldn't wait to post the pictures so I got the post started, knowing on the slow wifi it would take a while to post, and finally went to bed.

And well, mission accomplished! For the short remainder of my stay, I enjoyed more of the hot springs and the outdoor hot tub, ate at the restaurant and mostly kicked back in my room, reading, napping and writing.  

If you're considering a trip to the Fairbanks area to see the Northern Lights, definitely plan to come during the peak season. And if you aren't a fan of the cold, the hot springs resort is an incredible option. The tour was great, too! 

The Arguments Against UBI

You've seen the headlines. This crazy Asian entrepreneur wants to run for President so he can give everyone in the US $1000 per month. It's crazy, right? Nothing is free. It can't work. It's just a headline. 

But actually, the concept of UBI is older than our great nation. And it's not just a crazy theory, it actually has some teeth and solid evidence behind it. Below are some of the biggest arguments I've heard against UBI, and what the evidence and experts actually say about those arguments. My intention here is not to necessarily convince you that UBI is the right solution, because there's actually a lot more content out there to do that. My intention is to show that it's not just some crazy idea that will never work in reality, to prompt further questions and challenges, and to ultimately learn together if this is a feasible idea to implement in the US. 

Landlords will just increase rent by $1000 per month / UBI will cause inflation and the number will just have to keep increasing
Actually, we're in a deflationary period in terms of consumer goods. Technology has delivered the goods on improving our lives and making things more affordable. Remember, there was a time when only the richest households could afford a refrigerator or a car. Those things are much more commonplace now, taken for granted by most households. Clothes are cheaper, you can buy fruits and vegetables from all over the world instead of just what is in season in your local area, and the list goes on. The reason these things have become more affordable is competition. Housing is also subject to competition; if one apartment complex, or let's say even most apartment complexes in a given area, decide to increase the rent because their renters now have $1000 more in their pockets, the prices will go up initially. But all it takes is one complex to not price gouge, or even undercut the price gouging by just enough, and that introduces competition. Then the other complexes would eventually need to lower prices until they are once again at a place where they are competitive. With an additional $12000 per year, renters can choose to live further away if that makes sense to them, perhaps spending a little more on their commute but saving substantially more on their rent. Or, they could choose to just get up and move to a more affordable place and get a different job altogether. Yang calls his UBI the "Freedom Dividend" because it gives people the freedom of choice. People will be "less stuck" and more free to make the decisions that want to make about their lives. Ultimately, UBI is capitalism where the bottom isn't zero. So no, there is no evidence or logical argument that supports a long term rise in rent increases that would negate the UBI.

The two bills in our lives that are most shielded from competition are college education and healthcare. These are also the two places where we see inflationary growth in prices. These are big hairy issues, so I'm only going to scrape the surface here and go in a couple different directions.

First of all, college is overprescribed in this country. We have been telling the last few generations that they have to go to college to be successful. That may have been good advice when college was more affordable and college graduates were more rare, but now students are racking up 2.5 times more debt in student loans, and graduating with fewer job prospects. This idea that everyone can and should go to college is toxic, and creates a stigma around the good work done by mechanics and technicians and other high-skilled labor fields. The irony is that some of the highest-paid college graduate jobs are some of those being targeted first for automation: legal work, examining x-rays, even surgical operations are seeing technology excel beyond human capability. Even journalism (yikes!!) is being automated. Hey, as a college grad, I will say that college was great - it was fun, I learned a lot, I expanded my mind and horizons, had valuable experiences - but I also saw a lot of my peers fall by the wayside; it was tough and it's not for everyone. Bernie Sanders came up with this free college scheme, and that sounds great if you believe that college is the way to a better life. Unfortunately, it's just not the right path for 100% of our people, so sure, maybe a free a college education would benefit some really smart but underfunded young people, but all in all, it addresses only a portion of our society. UBI addresses 100% of adults in the US, period. Now, there's nothing stopping a motivated student to spend their $12000 on college courses, so the trick is getting college to be affordable enough that the UBI can pay for most or all of it, if that's how a person chooses to spend it. College affordability, then, needs to be addressed, and I'll leave it at that, except to say that the UBI proponent Andrew Yang has a really well-thought-out plan for this on his website here: https://www.yang2020.com/policies/controlling-cost-higher-education/

Healthcare is another whole bag of worms. I've been blessed with healthcare tied to my job for my entire adulthood, and was on my father's work's healthcare before that, so I've only seen that side of things. But I can tell you, it is infuriating at times. A recent example comes to mind: I have exercise-induced asthma, and so from time to time I take a hit off my rescue inhaler. I recently realized my inhaler was out of pumps, so I called my Teledoc, which is a neat service where you talk to a doctor on the phone, no travel needed or waiting in the lobby for your appointment, and if they can diagnose or assist you over the phone, they do. You still a pay a copay for it ($40 does seem like a lot for what amounted to about 45 seconds of discussion), but it is exponentially more convenient than going to a regular doctor. It was Sunday. I hadn't used this Teledoc yet because I just started my job back in July, so I had to go through a few extra steps to set up my account. It took maybe ten minutes or so. But once we got to actually scheduling the appointment, I was informed that my insurance was not eligible for Teledoc. I thought to myself, "Hmm, I guess I should have paid attention to the changes they said were coming to our healthcare this year…" So I had the option of paying the non-insured price, or hanging up and sorting it out with my insurance company. I ended the call and attempted to call my insurance, but it was Sunday and they didn't answer the phone. Frankly, a couple weeks went by because I can never remember to do these things during working hours, because I'm, you know, working. I finally carved out some time at work and called my insurer. They assured me I was qualified for Teledoc, so I asked them to make a call and clear it up. They did and got Teledoc back on the phone, and they kept asking me why I wasn't allowed to set up my account before. I don't freaking know, you guys were the ones telling me I wasn't qualified!! Deep breath. I forged on, asked them to go ahead and set me up my account (again), so I could have a call with a doctor that day. I spent 40 minutes on the phone in total on that day, before getting the call from the doctor. So now I've spent close to an hour on the phone just to establish that I can talk to a doctor. I set the call up for asap, and the doctor called me just a few minutes later. The conversation went like this:
    "Hi, I'm Dr. [So-and-So], how can I help you today?"
    "Hi, I have exercise-induced asthma and my inhaler is out. I'd like to get it a new prescription for it."
    "Ok, what inhaler do you use?"
    "I use [Pro-Air]."
    "Do you have any other symptoms?"
    "No."
    "Has your asthma gotten worse?"
    "No."
    "Do you want two refills or three?"
    "Three would be great."
    "Ok, I will send three refills to your pharmacy."
    "Ok thank you."
    "Good bye."
Brilliant, right? Now I don't have to make an appointment with a doctor, carve out time in my day to go over there, drive the distance to the doctor, wait in the lobby, check out, drive home, etc. This is something all Americans should have, really. It's amazing. But then, I went to my pharmacy, and after waiting several minutes for someone to talk to me (there was no one in line ahead of me) I was told it wasn't filled yet, and to come back in 10 minutes. I did some shopping at Target and came back. Then I was told they thought they had had the inhaler but they were out. I waited another 10 minutes or so for them to find an inhaler at a different pharmacy. I had an appointment to get to, and didn't have time to drive over to that pharmacy before it closed, so I had to go the following day. I got there, waited in line behind one person, they were swamped, they had a line at the drive thru, people waiting in chairs, and were barely acknowledging the people in line. An overhead voice chimed every 10 seconds or so, "Call on the pharmacy line," but nobody picked up the phone. The person ahead of me in line finally was greeted and talked with the pharmacist, got what he needed and was on his way. Another few minutes passed, and I was greeted. I got my inhaler and was on my way. It took about a half hour to get home from that pharmacy, not because it was far, but because of the spring break traffic that has set in on my area. So all in all, I spent about 2 hours getting my inhaler, and the most critical step, the doctor prescribing it, lasted less than a minute. If there was better competition, these inefficiencies would be knocked out. The Teledoc agent I first spoke to should have recognized that I was qualified for the program, that would have eliminated the additional 40 minute phone call. The inventory of inhalers should have been accurate, that would have eliminated the need for me to go to a second pharmacy. In fact, something like an inhaler, which doesn't need to be measured, could be just as easily shipped to me, or alternatively, at least picked automatically and made available in a vending machine type device for me to retrieve with my insurance card or something similar. We can get cupcakes out of "Cupcake ATMs" but we can't figure out how to get people the medicine they need in an efficient manner. Besides the doctor, there really was no need for any interaction with a human, it's all just red tape. And really, a robot could have asked me the same questions that the doctor did, too.

That was a long-winded story to show why competition is needed in healthcare. I’m an advocate for applying the same technological advances Amazon and Google use to healthcare. The problem is how to get everyone to comply. Frankly, I don't know the answer here. Yang's answer is Single-Payer Healthcare, and I can't say whether I'm for or against it, it makes a lot of sense, but I just don't know. The point is, the healthcare system is broken. What's neat about UBI is that it gives people a minimum income no matter what they do, a backstop against poverty. With such a cushion, it is possible that more people will become entrepreneurs, because the risk is reduced. I think some really brilliant people working low-paying jobs in healthcare might take that UBI and address the problems they see in healthcare, and could come up with some brilliant solutions. We don't need to legislate it necessarily; I believe in the American ingenuity, and when you remove or reduce the barriers and risk, you open up a world of possibilities.
This looks like socialism, it will never work in America
Actually, this is a very American idea, dating back to Thomas Paine in 1796, and was passed by the House under Nixon's administration before failing to pass the Senate because they didn't think it was enough money. It's not taking over the means of production and giving everyone an equal amount of the total pie. It's capitalism where the bottom isn't zero, plain and simple. Yang proposes we fund it with a VAT tax, which is something that has been implemented in every advanced economy except the US, and he's proposing it at about half that of the European VAT level. People will have more money to spend on what they need, and there are no strings attached like there is with food stamps, housing subsidies, disability and other welfare programs.

Reference: https://basicincome.org/basic-income/history/

Poor people will just spend it on stupid things
This is a misconception that we've had engrained in our heads, and I’m not entirely sure why or where it came from. Perhaps it is just wealthy people's way of rationalizing why they are better off than the homeless beggars on the street. If I'm fundamentally superior to them, then I don't have to pay attention to them or try to help them. The thing is, the overwhelming evidence is that this is simply not true. Giving poor people free money with no strings attached has led to reduced homelessness, reduced crime, better mental and physical health, and so much more. I am not sure I can speak to it better than Rutger Bregman in his TED Talk that first changed my mind about it, so I'm going to say that if you have any inkling that poor people will spend the UBI on stupid things, you need to take the 20 minutes to watch this video. Like, seriously, stop reading this blog and go watch it, I'll wait.

Rutger Bregman: Poverty isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of cash



People will quit their jobs and be more lazy
Again, this is where we have actual data that proves this to be incorrect. $12k is just enough to get every American adult above the poverty line. If Joe Smith is making $50k and the government says, hey, I'm going to give you another $12k on top, Joe's probably not going to quit his job and live off that $12k. But, if Sue Banner is working two jobs for a net of $24k and has a kid at home, and can't seem to find the time to go back to school to make a better life for herself, she might take that $12k, quit her second job and either spend more time with her child or start night classes, or both. UBI gives people choices. It gives minimum wage earners more bargaining power - when you are at a negotiation table and you have no alternative, then you don't have leverage. But now everyone has the option of quitting their jobs and spending time finding better jobs or better ways to spend their time, which means employers will have to pay what the market demands because people won't be so desperate for the jobs. The two groups of people that are shown to quit jobs when given a UBI are people who will stay home to spend time and take care of kids or elderly relatives, and young people who go to school. 

You should just make college free
I've already addressed this above, that college isn't for everyone, and it's not the answer to long-term technological unemployment or underemployment. Making college free would only help a subset of the country in the short term, which would be great for those people for that timeframe. UBI is for everyone, and makes college that much more affordable for those who do want to go.

It doesn't fix the inequality
This is a fair argument, and I agree to an extent. But I would actually say, fixing inequality shouldn't be the goal. If you want everyone to have exactly the same amount of everything, you're no longer talking about a capitalist society, and you're not talking about America. We want people to innovate and create and excel, and to be motivated with rewards for doing so. That is what has made America one of the most (if not the most) creative and innovative countries in the world. If we said to those creators and inventors that what you do won't make a big difference in your life, merely that it will subtly improve the lives of everyone, they may not be interested in spending their time, energy and effort on creating and inventing. People who create amazing things should be rewarded! But, we have enough wealth in our country that we don't necessarily need people in poverty in order to reward innovation. So UBI actually just fixes the very fringes of inequality. Under a UBI plan with the VAT that Yang is proposing, nobody would be under the poverty line, and the people at the top reaping the benefits of the amazing technology they developed would have a thin slice shaved off. But it does even more than that, because it gives people more choice.

Government can't be trusted (to not take it away)
This may be the most compelling reason a UBI may not be successful. The idea that we could be promised $1000 per month, make adjustments to our lives with that cushion in mind, and then have the UBI program cancelled because a new administration decides it doesn't work is even more terrifying than not addressing the need for the UBI in the first place. So perhaps this is more of a caution than anything else: we need to make sure we do it correctly so that it can't be removed. But, I don't think that's an impossible task, and the data supports it. Social Security, while not being properly funded for years and being the flawed system that it is, has continued well beyond its feasible life. We also have an example of something much more closely related to UBI to use as a model: the Alaskan Permanent Fund Dividend, which is funded by oil. This has not only succeeded many changes in government, it has done so in a very deep red state.

$12000 per year isn't enough
My response to this rebuttal is, "Enough for what? Enough to make you rich? You're right!" Look, the $12k wasn't plucked out of the air, it targets the poverty line directly. The thing about UBI is that it is not contingent. It does not keep people down at the $12000 wage line, it lifts people out of poverty and boosts people by $12k. If you're making $6k, then you're now getting $18k. If you're making $20k, then you're now getting $32k. And if you're making $100k, you're now making $112k. It's elegant in how simple it is. It doesn't get taken away from you at some level. It doesn't require that Taco Bell pay high school students a livable wage. It allows the market to work, but ensures that nobody is suffering from poverty.
The technological unemployment thing is a myth - we'll have new and different jobs to replace the ones that are lost to automation
This goes back to the rationale of why we need UBI. It's true that history has shown us a fear of technological unemployment that hasn't come true in past revolutions. In those instances, jobs we couldn't have imagined were created, like Social Media Manager and Airbnb host. The argument is that this time is fundamentally different, because the robots and AI and automation are no longer enhancing humans, they're replacing them. And it's not people on the fringe of society crying wolf and then crawling back to the rock they live under, these are the intelligent entrepreneurs, technologists and job creators who are saying this is going to happen: Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Yang. Andy Stern's book called "Raising the Floor" has some good insights on this topic, as do "The Future of the Professions", "Four Futures" and "What To Do When Machines Do Everything". There's a great fiction book, also, that's a quick read and so completely out there it's a little crazy, but I like it for the way it lays out paths to dystopia and utopia that are near-real, and I've been referring to it because I think it's a great thought exercise for this kind of discussion; it's called "Manna: Two Visions of Humanity's Future". 

Yang talks about this a little more urgently. He says we're in the third inning of this automation revolution already! Self-driving trucks are being tested, and truck driving is the most common job in 28 states. Food service and checkout counters are being automated, we see those things already, and retail and food service jobs make up a huge portion of the population currently. The typical response from nay-sayers, then, is we'll just re-train them to be programmers. There's some logical fallacy here, and then there's some numerical problems here. First, re-training programs have shown to be 0-15% effective, meaning some are 0% effective, and at best, 1 in 10 people would be successful. Second, truck drivers likely started driving trucks because they weren't really big fans of school to begin with, what makes you think they'd want to go back to school 10 or 20 years later? Third, only about 8% of jobs are in STEM fields, where we put a lot of value. If 100% of the population tried to go for those jobs, somewhere around 90-92% would fail to find employment. And technology will only worsen this problem - AI is getting better at writing code. Finally, programming is hard! I consider myself to be a pretty smart person, and I've learned basic coding, but at some point, it gets too confusing to me. Programming is not something everyone can do, and I include myself in that, so as to say I'm not belittling the intelligence of non-programmers.  

The truth is, nobody has a crystal ball, not even Musk or Zuck. Maybe they've got it all wrong, and it will be a laughable mistake akin to when the president of IBM said in 1943, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." 80 years from now we may just as well laughingly say, "Ha ha ha, Elon Musk, thinking that AI was going to take our jobs away. We have more well-paying jobs now than we could ever fill! Silly Elon!" Even if that were to be the case, there's nothing inherently wrong with having a UBI to usher us in to this new unforeseeable age. Afterall, if its good enough for Alaska, why can't the whole country benefit?

On the other hand, the benefits of UBI are amazing, and evidence that shows these benefits will happen whether or not technology drives us all out of jobs. Yang lists many in his book, and I'll summarize what hits home most for me: UBI reduces financial stress, allowing people to make better decisions based on an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity mindset. UBI supports parents and caretakers which will mostly lift up women. UBI will help maintain order, protecting us against riots and chaos from mass unemployment. UBI reduces mental health issues, suicides, drug addiction and incarceration. A side note here, did you know that the life expectancy of Americans has dropped for the last three years?  I didn't realize this fact until recently. Suicides and overdoses have overtaken the previous number one cause of deaths: car accidents. You know who is prone to suicide and overdosing? Middle-aged men who have lost their jobs and feel societal pressure to provide for their families. So even if today is the absolute worst case scenario for the country as a whole, and we'll get back to a higher labor participation rate.





We can't afford it
The affordability is a big issue in UBI. The neat thing is that a lot of people have been working on this, and the same books that I've referenced above will tell you a lot about some proposals. Google just about any video of interviews with Andrew Yang, and he talks about it very simply. In essence, he says, the headline figure is about $2 trillion, against an economy of $19 trillion and a federal budget of $4 trillion. But it starts to become much more affordable when you realize that some welfare programs could be replaced by the UBI, which could mean up to $500 billion already being spent would just shift into UBI. The big game changer is the Value Added Tax, or VAT, which is something that every developed country has except the US. At just half the VAT of the European level, we would generate $800 billion in additional tax revenue. This is like the oil dividend in Alaska, except its taxing the technology and automation, which is the oil of the 21st century. "The beauty" of UBI that Yang talks about is how much we spend on homelessness, hospitalizations, incarceration, healthcare for people falling between the cracks that adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars also. Once a UBI is provided, health and education increase and incarceration and crime decrease. This isn't theoretical, these results have been proven out in real cases. Finally, by putting $1000 per month into the hands of every American, it grows the economy. "The Roosevelt Institute projected that the economy would grow by approximately $2.5 trillion and create 4.6 million new jobs.  This would generate approximately $500 – 600 billion in new revenue from economic growth and activity." When every other developed country is utilizing a VAT, and caring for their people's health, it feels like, actually, we can't afford NOT to implement a UBI. 


These are the arguments against UBI and the counterpoints I've found. What other downsides, pitfalls or problems are there? Let's keep the conversation going, let's vet this thing, and if the benefits outweigh the negatives significantly (VAT tax at half the standard of other advanced countries), as it seems like they do right now, let's implement this thing.

Revisiting My Life List

Sometimes I get in a rut, as I'm sure most people do, where it just feels like life is taking forever to happen; like I'm in a holding pattern until this can happen.  I don't know if there is an always effective cure to this rut, but I know it helps me often to plan my next trip, whether big or small, whether it will actually happen or not.  I'm actually having an exciting time in my life, I just got back from a two-week vacation in Japan, and am starting a new job on Monday.  But I am still anxiously awaiting other things to happen.  I thought I would take a few minutes to rehash what I've done recently, in the more distant past, and what I still have yet to do, by way of my Life List, to help me recall my good fortune and reinvigorate my passion for life.  

Life List Achievements in 2016 

To keep myself on track, I always aspire to accomplish at least two things on my Life List each year.  This is often completed on one big vacation, which I intentionally plan in order to accomplish a few things on my Life List.  2016 is almost half over, but I have already checked off four items because of our recent trip to Japan.  Those are (in order of accomplishment):

#129 - Watch a Sumo wrestling match - Checked off May 18, 2016

After two days of trouncing around Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea, I welcomed a day spent primarily on our butts, drinking draft beer and eating

yakitori (meat on a stick) while watching sports.  Neither of us knew anything about this particular sport, but we picked it up pretty quickly - sport transcends language and cultural barriers.  I had pre-ordered my tickets months in advance, and was glad I did when I saw disappointed tourists turned away at the ticket counters - the tournament was completely sold out.  Not only did I get tickets, but I apparently did the "posh" thing to do, which is to get a box fit for four people, but only have two people in it.  I was glad, too, because these boxes were tiny, and had we had two others with us, we would have been eating our knees.  Later in the evening, a business-oriented tour group from Europe came in and sat in the boxes in front of us, four to a box, and they were terribly uncomfortable.  There was some information about the tournament in English; one of the staff was quick to identify that we may need this and gave us the English brochure before helping us find our box.  Sumo tournaments run all day, from about 8:30 in the morning until the top matches kicking off around 6:30 pm.  We didn't get there right at the start, but we got there shortly before noon and started to follow the rhythm of the rituals and matches.  We popped outside around 2 pm to gawk among the other fans and amateur paparazzi at the champions and top competitors as they made their way into the stadium.  Then we returned to watch the mid-rank wrestlers and finally the big show.  The Japanese tour guide escorted the European group had made a handy Engrish-riddled guide to the top matches, with ages, weights, countries of origin, little known facts, and who the favorites were.  Our neighbors, a woman from Italy married to an Australian man who was celebrated his birthday, had snatched up a copy of this guide, and shared it with us.  My favorite notation was that there was a wrestler nicknamed Nicholas Cage, and sure enough, if Mr. Cage put on 300 pounds, they'd be twins.  The wrestler Nicholas Cage won his match.  I had been concerned that we would be bored at the Sumo tournament, not understanding the customs and language.  But quite to the contrary, I was in high-heaven, sitting with my shoes off (no shoes allowed in the box), eating yakitori and drinking beer.

#24 - Sleep in a capsule hotel - Checked off May 19 - 20, 2016 

I actually dedicated a complete blog post to my terrific stay at the capsule hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo, but I will share a brief summary here.  This experience surprised me, I suppose, because people focus so much on the capsule that is your bed, and I don't think the unexperienced have any idea that the hotel is a whole experience, so much more than just a locker you shove yourself into.  I loved just about every aspect of the hotel, but especially being served very inexpensive draft beer while in my pjs and slippers.  As soon as I checked this item off my list, I wanted to do it again.  

#19 - Ride a bullet train - Checked off May 21, 2016

We actually rode the Shinkansen, or bullet train, three times: (1) from Tokyo to Hiroshima, (2) from Hiroshima to Kyoto, and (3) from Kyoto back to Tokyo.  I was terribly underwhelmed by the experience, which I suppose is probably a

positive testament to just how smooth the Shinkansen are.  I was kind of hoping for an acceleration more closely related to that of an airplane or roller coaster, but we were whisked along on a quiet, uneventful ride.  Jaiman pointed out that when we went over small hills, there was a subtle moment of less than 1 G, and I'm glad he did because I don't think I would have noticed it otherwise.  Our ears popped a few times, but other than that, it felt very much like we were virtually motionless.  I would say it was like riding any other train, but most trains are actually less smooth than the Shinkansen.  The experience was much like that of an airplane - of course without the turbulence, acceleration and landing - the seats reclined a bit, but not too much, there were lavatories onboard and optional food service for a small price.  There was also a vending machine, which seemed odd at first, but also very fitting considering their prevalence in Japan.  I would say if you are looking at options between flying and taking a bullet train, the bullet train is probably less time overall (they leave about every 15 minutes, so boarding is really fast), afford incredible flexibility (you buy a ticket for the day, and can leave whenever you'd like) and just as comfortable, if not moreso, than economy flying.  Plus, it's a bullet train!  

#48 - Eat a fugu - Checked off May 21, 2016

May 21st was my oldest sister's 40th birthday.  It was also a big day for me, having gone on our first bullet train and then checking into the beautiful hotel in Miyajima.  I had every intention to look for and perhaps observe at a fugu

restaurant, but wasn't sure if I'd actually take a bite.  I joked that I should wait until the end of our trip to try fugu, because then if I died, at least Jaiman wouldn't have to trounce around Japan without me for long.  For those unfamiliar, fugu is blowfish, and is deadly poisonous unless prepared properly.  Many restaurants and even whole cities have banned it or refused to prepare it because of the implications and liability.  But it is also supposedly quite delicious, and in the proper serving, just a tiny bit of the poison is left to leave the consumer in a slightly high or drunken state.  Hey, I have plenty of things to check off my Life List, so I was not ready to die.  But, fugu was served to us as part of our first dinner in Miyajima, and I unwittingly ate it, having a determined attitude that I would at least try everything served to us that evening.  It was Jaiman who googled it later and assessed the presentation of fugu, deciding that we had indeed eaten it that night.  This is one thing I will gladly check off my list with no need to repeat it.  

Life List Achievements in 2015

#23 - Confront a cadaver - March 28, 2015

This may be one of the most disturbing items on my Life List, so I feel it warrants an explanation.  I think the movie, "My Girl" made a big impact on my childhood, and I spent a good deal of time thinking about ghosts and dead bodies and mortality.  I was also a bit of a tom boy, maybe relating to the main character in the movie more than I realized, and used to dissect mice or collect grasshoppers for fun.  In school, I was all for dissecting a cow's heart, and was the only one in my class that would touch it.  In high school I was triumphant in putting a frog to sleep, slitting its chest, pulling its heart out and separating it completely from its body, but maintaining it so that it kept pumping for maybe 30 minutes or so.  And then I remember my classmate and friend, Carrie, telling me about going to medical school where she would have to work on cadavers, and the thought struck me.  It didn't give me immediate chills, nor did it excite me.  I felt like I should know how I would react if I came across a dead body, whether it be in a clinical setting or not.  So, I decided, the only way to know how I would feel would be to actually put myself into the situation.  Now, I also knew full well that this wasn't something I would necessarily be able to plan, unless I actually enlisted in medical school.  The chance came when an elderly man in Jaiman's family passed away, and they planned to have a viewing.  Checking this off was not my priority, by any means, but the situation presented itself, and I was glad to be there to support the grieving family, meet members of the family I hadn't met yet, and pay my respects to Jaiman's great uncle.  My reaction was exactly what I suppose I knew it would be - it didn't freak me out, but I didn't love it either - I felt it is was it is.  

The summer of '15 was when we took off on our #epicroadtrip, what some believed would be a test of our relationship, but I knew we'd be just fine.  The road trip had taken shape from when I scored really inexpensive season passes to Six Flags, and commented that they were valid at all parks, not just our closest one.  I had initially looked into making separate trips throughout the year to visit different parks, and the costs of flights just kept adding up.  So I proposed that we drive around the country instead of flying, and Jaiman was sold on it.  Not wanting it to be all about Jaiman's passions - roller coasters and theme parks - I then started incorporating my Life List activities that could be accomplished along the way.  In all, we hit 5 Six Flags parks, Busch Gardens and Hershey Park, and hit a total of 61 unique roller coasters.  Jaiman and I both hit our own personal 100 Roller Coaster marks, his 100th was Goliath in Chicago, and mine was Sky Rush in Hershey.  We drove 6607.8 miles on that trip, in Jaiman's brand-spanking-new blue Fit we lovingly call Blue Jay.  Perhaps more impressive, among the coasters and long hauls in the car, I checked off four things from my Life List:

#134 - Drink at the Taste of Chicago - Checked off July 8, 2015

Having grown up in the Chicago suburbs, the Taste was always a big deal and lots of fun.  But it is just as much a party as it is a foodie festival, and I was always too young to drink when I was there.  Thus, this got added to my Life List and I've looked for ways to accomplish it year after year, but it never seemed to work out with my timing.  My relationship with Jaiman revealed to me that we were both major foodies, so this event was perfect for our road trip.  Because it was the only thing that had really sensitive timing, it steered when we could start and end our trip.  I didn't really get hammered at the Taste or anything like that, but we did enjoy several local beers, and we didn't have to drive anywhere or even take a cab because our hotel was just feet from the festival.  In fact, the hotel served us better than expected, because we ended up leaving the festival to nap and sleep off some of the food, and then return rejuvenated and ready to devour more of Chicago's best.  

#84 - Tour Niagara Falls - Checked off July 10, 2015

This is just one of those things I think everyone has on a Life List even if they don't write it down.  I could have spent more time at the Falls; they were so beautiful and there were so many different activities you can do to enjoy them.  But nothing beat our hotel on the Canadian side, with a perfect angle to watch the falls from our super fancy dinner table and from the ginormous suite of a room with panoramic windows.  We got a fireworks shows and then cuddled in bed watching Canadian Amazing Race on TV while the Falls were lit up by varying colors of lights.  Oh yeah, and of course we did the boat thing, Maiden of the Mist, and wow, I mean, really.  Not to mention our detour up to Niagara on the Lake, which introduced us to the sweet, sweet world of ice wine!  Yep, we did this one with style!

#6 - Walk the Boardwalk in Atlantic City - Checked off July 11, 2015

Happy birthday to me!  We spent my birthday meandering the sad, underwhelming boardwalk of Atlantic City.  My sister had visited just the year before and had told me it wasn't much, so I wasn't all that surprised, but at one point earlier in my life it had struck my fancy, so it was on the list.  We made the most of it, having yet another indulgent hotel room with a giant hot tub, and taking silly pictures along the boardwalk.  It was an okay time overall, but I wouldn't recommend it if it is not already on your list.  

#59 - Tour the Hershey Chocolate Factory in PA - Checked off July 13, 2015

A great challenge with Life Lists is that life does not wait for you to check them off, and sometimes things change that make it impossible to "truly" check something off, in which case I try to find the most suitable replacement.  Watching a space shuttle launch was one of these, since the shuttle program was shut down before I could see a launch.  The Hershey Factory, too, has been shut down to visitors for some time.  So the closest I could get was visited Hershey World in Hershey, PA, where they have a ride that gives you a somewhat cartoonish idea of how the factory operates.  At the end of the tour, every person gets a piece of chocolate, and the tour is free, so you can ride it again and again - and we did.  The amusement park was pretty awesome, but I think my favorite thing I took away from Hershey was the chocolate tasting we did.  It was less than $10 per person, and they walk you through how a professional taster (there's a real name for it but it escapes me right now) considers chocolate.  

Life List Achievements in 2014

Unlike in 2013, 2015 and 2016, my experiences in 2014 were not all clustered in giant epic vacations.  We did, however, have a great time in Hawaii, and there I checked off just one thing from my Life List (and re-checked a couple others). 

#76 - See a lunar eclipse - Checked off April 16, 2014 

I seem to miss these a lot, so I finally got the date in my calendar and remembered to go out to actually see the thing.  No amazing story to tell, but I saw it, and can happily check it off now! 

#110 - Swim with giant sea turtles - Checked off July 22, 2014

An extraordinary guided experience in Hawaii!  Being a lover of swimming, I was the first to plop into the water with my fins and gear, and I was all alone waiting for the others to join me, when I heard someone coming up behind me.  I turned to see who it was, and was face-to-face with a beautiful giant sea turtle.  It was one of those truly breathtaking moments of my life.  As we got more comfortable with them, and they with us, I would dive down into the water to watch them swim, so elegant and careless.  

#68 - Spot a wild javalina - Checked off on Christmas Day, 2014

I officially feel like an Arizonan, now!  How it took me this long to see one, I don't know, but my whole family knew how important it was that I see one, and I got a "Christmas miracle" when my sis went to take the trash out and called to me to come running.  A whole family with little babies was prancing around the cul-de-sac outside my parents' house in Vail.  

Life List Achievements in 2013

Wow, looking back at my notes, 2013 was a really big year for me and my Life List.  A good part of that was the Alaskan cruise and road trip my family took in May, which gave us just an incredible, unforgettable family experience.  I don't know if we'll ever all be together on an adventure quite like that again (although I certainly hope so)!  On top of the cruise, I also had the chance to fly out to Florida to see the SpaceX rocket launch, I met up with a friend who gave me a legit Cuban cigar to smoke, and I met Jaiman and we danced in the rain together, and we went on a surfing adventure to California.  So yeah, really a great year all around.  Look at what I accomplished!  

#124 - Watch the launch of a space shuttle - Checked off March 1, 2013 at Cape Canaveral, FL

#38 - Smoke a real Cuban cigar - Checked off April 1, 2013 in Mesa, AZ

#104 - Dance with someone in the rain - Checked off May 1, 2013 in Vail, AZ

#37 - Go on a vacation cruise with my parents

#2 - Go to Alaska

#65 - See an iceberg

#69 - Sing in a karaoke competition

#58 - Ride in a helicopter

#41 - Go dog sledding

#131 - Learn to surf and catch some waves - Checked off July 16, 2013 in San Diego, CA

Life List Achievements prior to 2013

#21 - Ride a cable car in San Francisco - Checked off March 21, 2012

#61 - Ride a horse - Checked off February 6, 2012

#106 - Order over-priced room service in a 5 star hotel - Checked off October 31, 2011

#105 - Go to a rodeo - Checked off November 6, 2010

#118 - Slide down the evacuation slide of an airplane - Checked off November 3, 2010

#140 - Make out in a waterfall - Checked off September 18, 2010

#143 - Go wine tasting in California - Checked off September 1, 2010

#139 - Climb an active volcano - Checked off August 3, 2010

#91 - Visit Pearl Harbor - Checked off August 2, 2010

#75 - Luau in Hawaii - Checked off August 1, 2010

#128 - Ride in a submarine - Checked off August 1, 2010

#47 - Join a flash mob - Checked off January 10, 2010

#137 - See the ball drop on New Years Eve in Time Square - Checked off January 1, 2010

#126 - Visit the Statue of Liberty - Checked off December 31, 2009

#72 - Bring mom to Las Vegas - Checked off September 6, 2009

#99 - Carve a pumpkin - Checked off August 31, 2009

#54 - Walk the Great Wall of China - Checked off July 6, 2009

#79 - Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans - Checked off February 25, 2009

#44 - Watch a movie at a drive-in theater - Checked off February 10, 2009

#16 - See a musical on Broadway - Checked off July 6, 2008

#55 - See Ground Zero - Checked off July 4, 2008

#123 - Have dinner at the top of the Space Needle - Checked off May 1, 2008

#141 - Go whale watching and see a whale - Checked off May 1, 2008

#62 - Go up in a hot-air balloon - Checked off May 6, 2006

#109 - Build a real sand castle - Checked off July 6, 2005

#50 - Hike the Grand Canyon - Checked off March 15, 2004

Stay Tuned - Still to Do!

So, I have checked off 48 of the 150 marvelous things on my Life List.  Many of those remaining require travel to new continents, namely Europe, Australia, South America and Africa (okay, and Asia, there's still a couple things left to do there, too).  The others are just trickier in their own ways.  I've got a lot of this living still to do!  

#1 - View Athens from the Acropolis

#3 - Float along the Amazon

#4 - Dance the tango in Argentina

#5 - See my art in a gallery or store

#7 - See an aurora

#8 - Drive the Autobahn

#9 - Bathe in the Ganges

#10 - Ride a penny-farthing bicycle

#11 - Ride a tandem bicycle

#12 - Ride a recumbent bicycle

#13 - Ride in a blimp

#14 - Race a bobsled

#15 - Publish a book

#17 - Watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace

#18 - Build a custom house with "secret" architectural features

#20 - Watch a fire-dancing show at Burning Man

#22 - Golf in Cabo

#25 - Go to Carnival of Venice

#26 - Participate in a Carnival parade in Brazil

#27 - Spend the night in a castle

#28 - Tour Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

#29 - Read Catch 22

#30 - Catch a fish

#31 - Walk the Champs-Élysées

#32 - Ride through the Chunnel

#33 - Go cliff diving

#34 - See the Colisseum

#35 - Visit a concentration camp

#36 - Road trip in a convertible with the top down and music blaring

#39 - Float in the Dead Sea

#40 - Help dig for dinosaur bones

#42 - Swim with a dolphin

#43 - Ride on a red double decker bus in the UK

#45 - Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

#46 - Have dinner with someone famous

#49 - Ride a gondola

#51 - Attend a performance at the Grand Ole Opry

#52 - Press grapes into wine with my bare feet

#53 - Snorkel or Scuba through the Great Barrier Reef

#56 - Stay at the Hamptons

#57 - Spend a night in a haunted house (or hotel, or castle, etc)

#60 - Make a hole-in-one

#63 - Design my own house, and see it constructed

#64 - Ice skate outside while its snowing

#66 - Travel India by train

#67 - Be interviewed by a reputable journalist in person

#70 - Kayak through the jungle

#71 - Drink a mint julep at the Kentucky Derby

#73 - Look for the Loch Ness Monster

#74 - Go on the London Eye

#77 - Hike the Inca Trail in Machu Picchu

#78 - Tap a maple tree for sap

#80 - Find a message in a bottle

#81 - Be an extra in a movie

#82 - Go to a red-carpet film premiere

#83 - Have something named after me

#85 - Float along the Nile

#86 - Golf through Nullarbor Links

#87 - Drink in Germany for Oktoberfest

#88 - Be a spectator at an Olympic event

#89 - Cruise through the Panama Canal

#90 - Be awarded a patent

#92 - See Petra, Jordan

#93 - Photograph an endangered species

#94 - Try pole vaulting

#95 - Participate in a police lineup

#96 - Walk the ruins of Pompeii

#97 - Have my portrait painted

#98 - Send in a postsecret

#100 - See the pyramids of Egypt

#101 - See the Louvre Pyramid

#102 - See the pyramids of Chichen Itza

#103 - Drive a race car around a real track

#107 - Walk a runway

#108 - Learn to sail

#111 - Give a person a second chance on life

#112 - Set foot on each of the seven continents

#113 - Shake hands with someone who has truly changed a country.

#114 - Eat at a Shenanigans

#115 - Go water skiing

#116 - Ski or snowboard in Colorado

#117 - Ski in Dubai

#119 - Learn to use a slide rule

#120 - Drive a snowmobile

#121 - Be in the stands when two rival South American club teams play each other in soccer.

#122 - Go into orbit/outer space

#125 - Visit the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Corcovado

#127 - See Stonehenge

#130 - Attend the Super Bowl

#132 - Watch a show at the Sydney Opera House

#133 - See the Taj Mahal

#135 - Attend a tea party during the cherry blossoms

#136 - Ride a camel in Timbuktu

#138 - Stay at an underwater hotel

#142 - Go white water rafting

#144 - Go wine tasting in Europe

#145 - Eat at a Wingers

#146 - Write that "one song"

#147 - Time Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park

#148 - Do the Dirty Dancing lift

#149 - Help set a world record

#150 - Open a million dollar hot dog stand