»»» Lost Wanderlust    September 29th, 2005:
  Wanderlust is an unpredictable emotion. Like love, you really don't know when it might creep into your heart and start factoring into every decision you make. You can't control it but if you're not careful it can control you. It was very unfortunate for me that my wanderlust seemed to leave with each throb of my toothache. By the time I was about to leave work and begin my two-week vacation - time off I requested three months prior - I had absolutely no desire to go anywhere except to see a dentist.

  I just reread my last entry and feel a bit embarrassed. This blog thing is a new experience for me and I tend to just let it flow onto the "paper" and not hold anything back. Nevertheless, I'm feeling a lot better now. That terrible tooth really affected my life! The pain made me feel miserable and very grumpy. Being inside for days at a time, working until the early mornings by the light of my computer screen brought me lower and lower. My mood festered and I fell into an addictive routine of sleeping in until 11am, working all day on the computer or watching TV, and then making my way back to bed around two, three, sometimes even four in the morning.

  Thankfully, I broke out of it and forced myself to return to work. Throughout the day, as I was welcomed back by one coworker after another, I began to realize that my time off was sort of an anti-vacation. Instead of leaving work to find happiness at some happy and relaxing place, I had inadvertently fallen into the mental version of Dante's purgatory for a week. When I finally freed myself, I returned to work to surprisingly discover that I enjoyed it. In the afternoon, I actually was "caught" by a co-worker walking the halls of work with a Cheshire cat grin on my face.

  I can feel my wanderlust starting to come back. Although I wasn't able to go to the Grand Canyon or see Utah, I still have my trip to the Mohave Desert. I will be leading a three-day expedition through Death Valley next weekend, pointing out the filming locations used in the original Star Wars trilogy to a dozen or so uber-Star Wars fans. A lifetime ago, I was once a huge Star Wars fan myself, but this journey was a promise for a friend of mine. I look forward to sharing some good times with him and the others camping under the stars.

  Thank you for your emails of support today. It is always nice to hear from you and your feedback. A few of you had questions about the artwork and design of my new section, Favorite Photos of My First Pilgrimage. Other than a few exceptions, the collages were made using scans and photographs of items I collected in Europe on my 2001 trip. There are 60+ pages, but only two templates: one for verticle photos and one for horizontal photos:

  Many of the items are used on both layouts. The clover in the bottom right corner was plucked from the ruins of Pompeii, Italy and currently rests inside the pages of my journal, which is also pictured. The strange bronze coin with the fetus in the center was given as change in a small shop in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and was released to commemorate the millennium. The map shaped like an envelope with the French postmarks is the letter I brought with me to Europe to complete a goal I had made in 1997. The red lava rock was pocketed when I was atop the sleeping giant of Mount Vesuvius in Naples, Italy.

  I wish all of the items were from my trip, but I wanted to use a couple things that I thought would look cool on my webpage. I frequently peruse eBay for items that might look good incorporated into my website design or artwork. For instance, the broken white clock highlighted on the opening page as well as every page of this section was found for a few bucks on eBay. Same goes for the old map measuring device from Germany. The maps running along the bottom half of both layouts in the background were scanned from the pages of my collection of old Baedeker's Guidebooks. The "horizontal photos" template has a map of central Paris from a 1907 guide to Paris and It's Environs. You might recognize the city on the other map as that of Rome, which came from Baedeker's Central Italy published in 1909.

Link of the Day: Holy Squid! Photos Offer First Glimpse of Live Deep-Sea Giant ~ One of the coolest news stories of the week comes from Japan. For the first time ever, a living giant squid has been captured on film! Although the elusive sea monsters of the deep aren't considered rare, they have been extremely camera shy. In fact, only beached ten-armed cephalopods have ever been studied. The article states that the squid lost one of its arms when struggling to free itself from the scientist's baited hook. The photographed giant squid measures 18 feet (5.5 meters) long and "analysis of the tentacle confirmed it came from a giant squid and allowed the researchers to estimate the total length of the animal. But the researchers caution that their data assume the tentacle was severed at its base. If not, the squid may have been considerably larger. The longest giant squid on record measured 59 feet (18 meters), including its two elongated tentacles." To see more photos of the elusive sea monster of the deep, head over to NationalGeographic.com.