One Stupid Decision

FAQ - Questions People Keep Asking You got questions. I got answers. Dave's FAQ card My uncle recently broke his elbow. He was looking at his phone and tripped over a curb and fell. A pretty fitting way for that to happen if you know Dave. When he showed up at Thanksgiving dinner, he was obviously foreseeing the barrage of questions about the injury and decided to get ahead of the curve. Upon walking in, he gave out notecards explaining all the questions people would have about it. I was impressed by the simplicity and ingenuity; "Great, now that's out of the way. How have you been?" In a similar spirit, I thought to make a post explaining everything people want to know about how my trip has gone. This isn't about being annoyed by the questions; I'm glad people want to hear about it. Rather, it's simply a matter of efficiency in covering the basics. Also, I can go into more detail in written form than I otherwise would in conversation. Q: What was your rou...

What I'm Grateful For This Year I'll try not to get too cheesy The holiday season is here. As I write this, I've just arrived back in Chicago after spending Thanksgiving in Kansas City with my dad's extended family. In all effects, the 3-month cross-country road trip is finished. I've gone through a lot this year—some good, some not-so-good—but I've tried to reframe my mindset to savor the good and take the not-so-good in stride. Yosemite National Park I've been (relatively) open about my mental health on this blog in the past , but one practice I've found particularly helpful has been gratitude. I've kept 'gratitude entries' in my journal, in which I literally just list a bunch of stuff that I'm grateful for. It ranges from big things, like 'family support', to little/silly things, like 'whoever invented hammocks'. And to be honest, these entries are relatively infrequent—mostly when I'm bored or in a writing mood but...

PNW: Embracing the Wet Highlights from a turbulent 3 weeks in the Pacific Northwest Black bear at Glacier NP Let's turn back the clocks to mid-Septemer. I was 3 weeks into this great adventure, coming off an almost euophoric high of Grand Teton and Yellowstone , which blew away all my expectations. I had been catapulted into a world I’d had little exposure to prior; pristine lakes & rivers, stunning mountain ranges, and throngs of wildlife in quantities that I thought only existed in the 1600s.  And I was exhausted. The aforementioned destinations had so much to see, and I strained myself to keep the pace I envisioned to get the most out of my time. It was inevitable that I had a bit of a crash. The 3 days I spent at Glacier National Park, while delivering some of the most gorgeous scenery yet, failed to capture the elation of the previous week-plus. Mostly, I just didn’t have the energy to fully experience the park. Nevertheless, I had a good time—I even saw a black bear up c...

Old Band Obsessions: Still Slappage™ Power Rankings And a musical history of Ryan Hodes If you’ve known me for more than 5 minutes, you know how passionate I am about music. Saying that sounds funny since I don’t play any instruments. Believe me, I’ve tried; piano, trombone, and guitar have all been failed musical endeavors. But every other aspect of music I can’t get enough of. I listen to it while I work (I used to get in arguments with my dad about its “distracting” capabilities; I eventually won). I listen to records when I need some “me-time”. I play it at parties, obviously. I look into lyrics when I have time to sit with a meaningful album. I see it live at shows and festivals and share its power with others. the iPod in question Music has filled my life since I was a wee lad. I have fond memories of my dad’s gold iPod nano and its playlist, containing chilled out 90's alt-rock—think Counting Crows, Coldplay, Blues Traveler,  Red Hot Chili Peppers,  and the Cranberries....

Part 2: How I Worked on my Mental to Improve my Physical And How the Hell do I Hike with Neuropathy? –– Disclaimer: this is a long and personal story. Many of you know parts of it; very few know the whole thing. I'm not putting this out to start a pity party, I've done enough of that on my own. This is the story of my life, for better or worse, since 2017, and I feel it is important context to understand where I'm at and why I'm doing what I'm doing. Additionally, I'll discuss my own mental health in part 2, and I believe that the more stories like this are shared, the more people will feel comfortable addressing their own mental health. I've separated this post into 2 parts. Part 1 – " My feet are fucked up" –  might be considered a bit of a "downer", but it provides background on what you're about to read. Part 2 will sum up part 1 and delve into my journey over the  past couple years, leading to this trip. –– I have neuropathy in ...