Finding out That Discomfort is Better Than Fearing the Unknown — MY FIRST OUT OF THE ORDINARY TRAVEL EXPERIENCES The earliest I can remember traveling somewhere that took me a little out of my comfort zone is as a young adult. It was work-related and we traveled by minivan. Those trips allowed me to experience staying in hotels for the first…

You will find a mix of travel, crime-fighting, history, gods, and IQ — INTRODUCTION An investigative reporter who goes to exotic locations, a faster than his own shadow crime-stopping cowboy, a group of villagers who thwart the Roman Empire, and challenge the gods themselves, and a pretentious but gentlemanly intellectual. These are descriptions of some of the most famous and liked French-language comic…

The art of group conversations and forming lasting friendships — INTRODUCTION French is my first language. Years ago, when I lived in a suburb of Philadelphia, I got to thinking that I should try to find some people who are interested in learning to speak it and contribute my time to help them in that pursuit. After looking online for…

Do or Die — IMPORTANT: The subtitle reflects reality. I am not sensationalizing this incident at all. My jump on that day could well have ended up very badly. Also: if you haven’t read PART ONE, you should start there. SIDE NOTE Now, before I get to the actual jump, I need to add…

The 5 experiences that left me entirely disappointed and unimpressed — INTRODUCTION Paris, the City of Lights. Many couples’ idea of a romantic location. So why is it the only city on my sh*t list, then? Read on to find out. ARRIVING IN PARIS I was traveling with my girlfriend. Paris was one of the cities on our itinerary. …

Do you have your priorities in check? — INTRODUCTION It’s exciting to move to a new country. Heck, it can even be exciting to change homes when you’ve already been living there for a while! But you must have your priorities in check in order to come up with the most appropriate criteria for selecting your new residence. …

Watching TV on your computer in the 1990s… Good luck with that! — INTRODUCTION In this volume, you will learn what was involved with getting cable TV channels to play on your desktop computer in the mid-1990s when internet streaming was still much in its conception stage and before any TV broadcasting company had any sort of online presence. This series is of…

Don’t be misled by arguments where the premise includes the conclusion — The goal of this How To Bullet-proof Your Reasoning series is to equip the reader with a better understanding of how to use critical thinking in daily life. Today we examine what it means to be Begging The Question (making a circular argument). You must know how to recognize this…

Read the friggin’ manual (RTFM) — INTRODUCTION Buckle in for some honest-to-goodness life advice that is very practical. This is something that I learned back in my teens as I was getting into computers, and that has continued to be relevant throughout life in general. Folks like me who naturally do this on a regular basis…