If you haven’t been following it, there are a few good comments in response to my article here on ThrillingHeroics.com, but it also gained some traction on Digg and StumbleUpon, and Jun Loayza and others have graciously promoted my article across the web! This comment comes from my friend John Carey, via Digg:

“Thank you for writing this article. It inspired me to actually log into my Digg account and make one of my first comments. You summarized with eloquence many of the stories we have been seeing on sites like Digg, connecting them in a way which draws the picture plain. This is a runaway government on the verge of becoming despotic. We are closer to fascism than we have ever seen. The citizens remain the last check and balance on a government who is not looking out for the good of the country and its people, but for whatever special interests pump the most lobbying dollars into the halls of Congress.

However this is OUR country. The leaders will listen when the citizens are outraged, and the companies will bend when our dollar support is removed. You or I or any one of us can leverage the anger of injustice to great heights, if we are willing to lead. The leaders aren’t doing their job, and its up to the younger, educated, and patriotic (not nationalistic) leaders to emerge.

As your article states, there is no innocent party in this mess. We are all responsible. Thank you for reminding us that finger pointing is useless, and unless one has the resolve to go after his or her truth, we will be bound to the fate that follows from inaction.

Side note- Religious organizations have no right to force their beliefs into our State government. To my fellow Californians, vote No on 8.”

Thanks to John and Robb especially for your thoughtful responses. It’s rewarding to get heartfelt responses from people and know that it was worthwhile to put the effort into this article and publish it for the world to see!

Also, a few people disliked my conclusion. When I said “I’m not asking you to vote for Obama. Vote for Bob Barr. Or better yet, write in Ron Paul. Vote for Stephen Colbert. Or vote for me! …” some people felt that I was asking readers to throw their votes away. My point though, was to encourage you to vote with your principles. Although I respect my conservative friends and family, I think a McCain presidency will be bad for this country and for the world right now. But I really am not expecting conservatives to vote for Obama if he’s not what they believe in. I think there are a lot of smart conservatives out there who aren’t represented accurately by the McCain/Palin ticket and I think you should make that clear with your vote. I also really want people to show the world that there is a large portion of the American people that are craving for a third-party voice. If you were a hardcore Ron Paul supporter, then I think you should write him in. If you align with the Libertarian party, then give your vote to Bob Barr, and so on. I think Obama stands a really good chance to win this year, and I think that will be good for us in many ways. He isn’t anywhere near perfect, but I think he is better than the alternative. I think at the same time we can also stop playing this game of the “lesser of two evils.”

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have much of a conclusion—unfortunately, I don’t know what the solutions are; all that I know is how many friends of mine feel powerless and frustrated that we are not getting closer to any solutions with the way we do politics right now. Above all else, I put this out there to spark discussion and get people actually thinking about and debating the issues, and encourage people to make up their own minds and draw their own conclusions.  Please, even if you disagree with me, keep the comments coming.

If you enjoyed the post, please help vote for it on Digg and StumbleUpon. Thank you guys for all of your support and for starting such great talking points!

I also wanted to share a few last articles and links from around the web this week. Many of these writers express their points much more eloquently than I ever could:

• How to pick a president – Scott Berkun discusses the need for us to look at restructuring elections, debates, and the whole game. He also gives readers some fantastic pointers to evaluate the actual merit of a political candidate (something I think may be useful to you in future election years too).
• What Sarah Palin is Saying – Anil Dash discusses, much more effectively than I, the danger that lies in Sarah Palin’s approach and in the subtle fear- and hate-based rhetoric being used by the parts of Republican party this year.
• How these gibbering numbskulls came to dominate Washington – George Monbiot asks why education and intellectual sharpness have been demonized in politics.
• CNN and Rolling Stone look at the GOP’s campaign to deter new voters this year. Looks scary, but hopefully all votes will be counted accurately.
• Engage ’08 is a good site to see how your opinions on the issues align with the major presidential candidates (Nader and Barr included!)

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Looks Like My Political Rant Provoked Some Good Discussions

I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!

Howard Beale’s “mad as hell” speech in the film Network is a famous one. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend this movie. Many of the themes in director Sydney Lumet’s 1976 film, about a fictional news network struggling with ratings, are surprisingly relevant today:

That was written over 32 years ago, and we’re still worrying about the banks, inflation, the Russians, and the oil crisis. What the hell has the government done for us in 32 years! What have they accomplished?!

As the economic crisis unfolds and especially as this presidential campaign plays out, I’ve struggled with a lot of disappointment in some of the people of this great country, and although I try not to be too political on this blog, it’s well past time for me to school some of you. As November approaches, I actually have plans to move abroad for a year, and in this post I’ll share some thoughts on why I’m eager to hightail it out of the U.S. for a while at this moment in history. I won’t even dance around the issue: this post is certain to be divisive and get some of your panties in a bunch, and I promise to offend! If you can stand it, please stick with me through the end of the post, where I’ll try to share some solutions to the questions I raise in this article.

First, This Bailout Business

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have been hard at work spending your tax dollars for the last several months. Not only my tax dollars and your tax dollars, but they’ve been spending future generations’ tax dollars, and spending Monopoly money we don’t even have! First it was AIG, then Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now most recently a nearly $807 billion package to bail out nine of the largest banks in the country—including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Wall Street has been making poor decisions for a while now, foremost with the subprime mortgage mess, and now it should be paying the consequences. But a free market doesn’t exist in this country and never truly has. If the market were allowed to function freely, the banks would suffer and in some cases even go bankrupt through the forces of free competition. (If you or I were going bankrupt, or your friendly neighborhood small business, you wouldn’t see Congress running around trying to help bail us out.)

Instead, the deregulatory, so-called “free-market conservatives” have turned us all into socialists to keep the banks afloat. And somehow they want to do all of this while at the same time lowering your taxes! Erica Douglass wrote a great summary of the banks’ poor moves in the long history leading up to this credit crisis. She quotes Henry Hazlitt on the economics of a bailout: ‘“The taxpayers must lose precisely as much as the people in X industry gained.” $700 billion is a little over $2000 for every taxpayer in the United States. That $2000 must come out of your pocket at some point. That is $2000 less than you had before, to spend, save, or invest.’ Meanwhile the Fed also flooded the market with another $620 billion in U.S. dollars worldwide, on top of the Congress-approved bailout package. So seriously, where does all this funny-money come from?! As Larry Edelson said: “The biggest cost is going to be the sheer destruction of the purchasing power of your money, an outright devaluation of the dollar that’s going to occur, no matter what.”

Boston Gal says it will discourage consumer saving, pointing out that the government is forcing individual workers pay for their retirement twice, “first by saving what [they] can in the individual accounts, then again as a tax payer by bailing out these companies. A horrible deal for the individual worker.”

Now let’s look at what we’re actually making this sacrifice for. At first it was a $700 billion plan, but to pass the House of Representatives, the legislation grew from three pages to 452, and over $100 billion in special interest earmarks were added to the bill:

• $109 million for Nascar race track builders.
• $200,000 a year for the manufacturers of wooden arrows for children.
• $192 million for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
• $19 billion over two years for companies who do research.
• $478 million for film and television producers over 10 years.
• $62 billion for 24 million households excluded from the alternative minimum tax this year.
• $17 billion for alternative energy producers.
• $8 billion for Americans affected by hurricanes and floods.

All of this was enough to make hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde leave the business, with his own finger-wagging resignation letter: “[L]egislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. […] Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt.”

Lies, Rhetoric, and Incompetence

Now who was there to lead the charge, heroically suspending his campaign and seeking to postpone presidential debates to go back to Washington and “save the nation” from economic crisis? Senator John McCain, just two weeks after being quoted as saying that he didn’t think U.S. taxpayers should be on the hook for bailing out AIG or anyone else!

The McCain campaign publicized on the Wall Street Journal online that he had won the first debate before it even took place (let alone before he had even clarified whether or not he would be there). Then McCain himself prematurely claimed responsibility for the bailout plan’s success, saying he had helped “bring everyone to the table” and agree on legislation, when it later turned out he couldn’t even secure the votes of his own Republican colleagues. McCain is quick to take credit, but his empty words mean nothing.

Then again, when you’re on TV, if you say something often enough and loud enough, people will believe it. McCain positions himself as a “maverick” who wants to end our oil addiction and clean up Wall Street. He loves to say what people want to hear, and he will pander to any audience you put him in front of (watch John Cafferty give a good summary of his flip-flops on oil taxes, offshore drilling, the Bush tax cuts, Guantanamo Bay, and torture).

Then there’s the Palin pick. It was as if John McCain turned this entire presidential race into a joke, at all of our expense, when he chose an inexperienced crony cheerleader from a backwater Alaskan town to be his VP. Time columnist Joe Klein summed up what a lot of people have been thinking—conservative and liberal alike—when he said “It was a gimmick. It was one of the most disastrous decisions I have seen in a presidential campaign since I’ve begun covering them.”

Palin sounds like a teenager who didn’t study the night before the big essay test, stringing together extraneous topics and peppering her answers with buzzwords, pretending as best she can like she read last night’s assignment. But there’s no substance. In her interviews with Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric, and even with Sean Hannity, as well as her performance at the Vice Presidential debate, it is clear that the woman is not fit for the job. She doesn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is! She claims Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign relations experience. She thinks the bailout plan is about healthcare and job creation. She can’t name a single news source she reads regularly. She had never been outside of the country before 2007! (Here are a few more interview clips that should confuse and/or frighten the hell out of you.) The campaign claims that her “executive experience” as a mayor and a governor qualify her for the second highest seat in the government—though Wasilla is a town of only 6,000, and the Alaskan constituency is only about 680,000 [source]. That’s smaller than population of the city I’ve grown up in, just one moderately-sized city in California.

Michael J. Cecchin is calling November 4th a national IQ test, citing that the folks in charge of running our federal government should be the cream of the crop:

“[W]ith the introduction of  hick-ish religious zealot and uninformed hockey mom Sarah Palin as the VP candidate, the rules have changed.  The prospect of having a future Vice-President with so many  fundamental cognitive loop holes and personality defects sends a terrifying shudder through most thinking Americans. It leads us to believe that if selecting Palin is the McCain administration’s first major decision its likely just the start in a line-up of future disasters.”

McCain has shown poor judgment with his selection of Palin as his running mate, and when he stalled presidential debates during the bailout talks. I admire McCain’s service to this country, but he’s quick to take sole credit for Congress’ successes, and he has demonstrated a strong tendency to be reactionary, aggressive, divisive, and out of touch—with the internet generation, with the majority of the American public, and with his own Republican colleagues in Congress. His ideas are old and exhausted: when he talks about foreign relations, he boils it down to military bullying. When he talks about energy policy, the only solution he can offer is to give big oil even more subsidy money and less regulation. When John McCain talks about “change,” he’s not talking about progress. He’s talking about maintaining the status quo, and giving even more power to the people who already have it.

The Politics of Hate

Together, McCain and Palin have been playing on the fears and hatred of American voters. The campaign has repeatedly incited racial, religious, and nationalistic hatred among supporters, at times accusing Barack Obama of fraternizing with terrorists. When General Colin Powell appeared on Meet the Press, he spoke of how McCain supporters have been allowed to call Obama a Muslim and link him with radical Islam and gone unchallenged by the candidates:

“Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, ‘He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.’ This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”

He then goes on to tell the story of 20-year-old Kareem Rashad Sultan Kahn, an American Muslim who went to fight in the Iraq war after 9/11 and gave his life for the American people, making an appeal for religious equality and respect.

“Those kinds of images going out on al-Jazeera are killing us around the world… we have got to say to the world, it doesn’t matter who you are—if you’re American, you’re an American.”

A similar issue on the California ballot this year is Proposition 8. Prop 8 would change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California, and provide that only marriage between a man and a woman would be valid or recognized in California. Ben Casnocha did a very thorough evaluation of both sides of the argument and comes to the conclusion that we should act to “keep out actively homophobic and discriminatory language from our constitution and keep in the state the people and culture which make this place so great.”

So, why is there such a strong push to repeal the decision that was made just months ago to award equal rights to gays and lesbians? I may disagree, but I can respect and understand other people’s individual moral and spiritual beliefs. I have no problem with a person’s right to feel however they choose about homosexuality and their right to define marriage as they see fit, but religious and spiritual beliefs of that nature are a very private domain. It’s time we stop allowing the conservative Right to determine civil rights for the Left and the Middle. Nobody should force others to adopt their religious ethics—biblical teachings are to be kept by the believer, not enforced upon the non-believer. And except in cases where someone’s well-being is in danger, I don’t think the government is suited to enforce a moral code, because there are as many different ideas about morality as there are people on this planet. When it comes to one’s rights in the eyes of the law, it’s well past time for everyone to be on the same playing field. This is no different than the civil rights or women’s rights movements.

Rick Jacobs, a homosexual columnist who grew up in the Orthodox Jewish tradition, says that “those speaking in the name of their God and prophets, led principally by out-of-state Mormons and joined by evangelical Christians, have made the removal of my rights a holy war for the new century.” He continues:

“I feel laid bare that people I do not know can vote secretly to remove my rights. This is, unfortunately, reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws that led to Kristallnacht, that horrible event 70 years ago next month that resulted in the burning of over 200 synagogues and countless other Jewish-owned establishments. The Nazis stripped rights from Jews piecemeal until finally Jews lost the right to eat and then to live.”

A young woman I know has to deal with the hard fact that her own father would vote to deny his daughter equal rights, because she is a lesbian. What does that say about our society?

It is funny in this country how many people claim that a vote for Barack Obama will lead to socialism. The media and Republican talking heads throw that word around a lot. But in fact, this nation is much further to the right than many people are willing to admit, and for some reason no one is comfortable to use the word “Fascism” when they speak about the Neoconservative agenda or the many constitutional trespasses of the current administration. I fear a move from the Right towards Fascism much more so than I fear a move to socialism from the Left in this country. When I look at how this government has chipped away at the Constitution in the last eight years, I see things aligning similarly to how they did just before Germany’s Third Reich—extreme social conservatism, civil rights abuses, a surveillance state, propaganda in the media, the looming threat of hyperinflation, imprisonment without charge, institutionalized torture, even internment camps!

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not a huge supporter of Barack Obama either. On the FISA bill in June, Obama went from opposing warrantless domestic wiretapping to giving President Bush and the telecoms full retroactive immunity for the administration’s illegal wiretapping program. He also supported the $807 billion bailout mess just like McCain did. Nobody’s very fiscally conservative, no matter what they tell you. It’s business as usual, and Obama really is the lesser of two evils.

Both political parties offer us the same mediocre results. This two-party system has utterly failed us. It has devolved into a mindless back-and-forth popularity contest. They keep any third-party contenders out—intelligent folks like Ron Paul who actually want to discuss real change and restore our Constitution to its former supremacy. Big government and big business strive to keep the masses ignorant, because the rich prosper off of a large, stupid populace. As long as we have our flatscreen TVs and our gas-guzzling Escalades, the American people won’t ask questions. They fill our heads with myths about a “liberal media” and the necessity to stay involved in a war that costs us many, many lives and billions of dollars each month with no clear end goals. They frame everything as black and white, good versus evil, red states versus blue states, and you buy it. The political climate we live in is no different than the medieval Crusades. We still buy into an “us versus them” mentality, but it’s just not true. The world is not that simple.

I would have hoped that the human race would have evolved by now. I would have hoped that we would could get beyond wars as the solution to our problems. I would have hoped that we’d be a bit more intelligent, and realize that, like Colin Powell so eloquently said, “We have got to stop this nonsense, pull ourselves together, and remember that our great strength is in our unity, in our diversity.”

Really Nation?

Must we learn the same lessons over and over again? Must we really revisit a woman’s right to choose? Gay rights? Freedom of religion? Must we really let the Democratic and Republican parties distract us as usual with issues that were decided upon 30 years ago, while our young men and women are dying overseas and the value of the dollar is freefalling? It’s all a bait-and-switch. They are keeping us distracted from the issues that really matter.

As the election draws near, I have this growing fear that all of our worst qualities will become blatantly clear to the world on November 4th—the fear, ignorance, racism, hatred, bigotry—and the United States will show itself for what it really is: an uneducated, divided, fearful nation. I fear that if John McCain is elected President, it will seal our fate for another four years of poor judgment, gross mismanagement, poor international relations, economic recession, and perhaps much worse.

America was supposed to be the Great Experiment. This was supposed to be the most democratic, progressive, tolerant nation in the world. We pride ourselves on being the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. But we’re acting like the Land of the Fearful and the Home of the Bigots. Who did this to my country? Who’s responsible?

Every one of us is responsible. I’m not asking you to vote for Obama. Vote for Bob Barr. Or better yet, write in Ron Paul. Vote for Stephen Colbert. Or vote for me! I don’t care who you vote for. (Click here for the full list of candidates.) All that is clear, in this writer’s opinion, is which candidate you should NOT vote for. Smart Republicans are walking away. Take my advice or don’t, but whatever you do, don’t bury your head in the goddamn sand! Don’t ignore the issues. These topics will affect your life, and the lives of your children and your childrens’ children. Please make your voice heard, and please use your vote wisely.

If you agree with my sentiments, pass this article along to friends and family or vote for it on Digg or StumbleUpon. If you disagree, then call me names in the comments! But whatever you do, get fuckin’ angry, and get yourself to the polls on November 4th.

So what can you do? Well here are a few great articles by other writers (to get you thinking) and a few resources to make the most of this election and rough economic times ahead:

• Learn why many Republicans and Conservatives are voting for Obama at ConservativesForChange.com
• Read and share Ben Casnocha’s thorough evaluation of Prop 8 on the California Ballot
• Why I’m voting Obama by Andrea Zak
• Why You Should Vote for Obama, Even If You Don’t Agree on the Issues by Holly Hoffman
• Maximize Your Influence in the Election – Lifehacker
  
• How Do I Help Fight Prop 8 and Keep Same-Sex Marriage Legal in California? – Huffington Post
  
• What Can You Do To Help Solve The Credit Crisis? by Erica Douglass
• Stash your cash in an ING DIRECT Orange Savings or Emigrant Direct American Dream Savings account
• AARP’s Divided We Fail site
• DeclareYourself.com, where you can get state-by-state ballot info

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: I’m Mad As Hell and I’m Not Gonna Take It Anymore! This Government Is An Unprecedented Failure. It’s Time For Change!

Jan 3: Thursday, while trekking across town for Paul’s misplaced passport, he and I met the El Diablo himself on La Rambla. The Devil first tried to fool with us, but then kindly gave us directions to the Picasso museum. However, as it started to rain, we retired back to the hotel for the night.

Jan 4: Friday, Paul and I enjoyed a café con leche across the street from the towering Sagrada Familia church, a Gaudi design that has been under construction for 125 years through the contributions of the public. Paul treated us to a fun bus tour that circles the entire city. But, it’s eye-opening how much of the city we had seen already with a few locals as our guides! We got off on Diagonal avenue for an €8 buffet (way cheap for 3 plates of food!), and later that night we met up with Tim and his French friend Nathalie at an Irish Pub in the Ramblas. Besides two others, there was a red-headed American gal tending the bar—turned out she was an expat from Southern California working to finance her stay here in Catalonia. Again, it’s funny how many people you find from back home when you’re half-way across the globe! Late that night, it was too late to catch the metro, so on our walk home, after all the Guinness had made my stomach rumble, I decided to give a Spanish Burger King a try. Can you believe a simple whopper will cost you the equivalent of about 5 bucks in Spain! No fries, no drink…just a whopper.

Jan 5: Saturday was Three Kings Day as the locals refer to it, the Catholic Epiphany. We completed the second leg of our city tour, scoping out Parc Guell again, the Palau Reial, the F.C. Barcelona Stadium (a.k.a. where BC’s soccer team plays, for you beginners), Montjuic mountain, the facilities built for the 1992 Summer Olympics, and the Palau Naçional museum.

I guess that traditionally, in Spain, Three Kings Day is when children would receive their Christmas gifts. It makes more sense really, framed within a Christian viewpoint, that the three kings would bring gifts, as opposed to a jolly old fat man in a red suit. I don’t really remember him in the nativity story! So, we joined a few local Catalonian gals—Meye , Iva, Joanna, Núria—that evening for the Three King’s Day parade that snakes through Plaça Catalunya. It’s more for kids really, but around here it’s apparently huge, and pretty fun to see, as a visitor.

Later, we all enjoyed the finest sampling of local Spanish tapas and wine that €20 can buy, at La Vinateria del Call in the Barri Gottic (Meye knows all the best local spots!), followed by a few drinks at the popular nearby DJ bar and disco.

Jan 6: Sunday morning was Tim and Paul’s time to say goodbye and catch their planes home. It was a pretty decent day, so I voyaged over to the beach near Villa Olympica for a while, then I strolled through the Museu Picasso, with great collections not only of his own work, but also many pieces from his private collection of other artists’ work. It was very interesting to see where he got his inspiration! Finally, I enjoyed some prime people watching in the nearby Parc de la Ciutadella. It’s a huge city park—the kind I only wish we had back home. There are people walking dogs of all breeds, lovers basking together, joggers, bicyclers, elderly men enjoying a quiet solitary walk, peddlers, ganja dealers, parrots, peacocks, and a city zoo! Parents playing tag with their kids, young men playing soccer in the wide alleys, a father playfully wrestling with his toddler son, hippies jamming in music circles, and street performers practicing their juggling techniques. It’s an interesting collage of people of all different demographics. Much like Balboa Park in San Diego, it’s the kind of peaceful, pretty, lively place you want to spend all your lazy Sundays!

Later that night, I met Meye at Plaça Molina near her home at north end of city. As a Barcelona native, she had said earlier that the lookout point atop Mount Tibidabo is the best place to see the whole city, so we made the drive to the top to see Barcelona glowing in the night. Tibidabo mountain overlooks the entire city, and has a glimmering church at its summit. It was a great spot to take some of my last photos of Spain. Afterward, we chatted more about travels and business (she operates her own business called MascotRaceClub) and enjoyed some warm coffee at the Mirablau cafe on the hillside overlooking the city streets below.

Jan 7: For my final day in Barcelona, I spent the afternoon sunbathing, reading, and trying not to stare at the topless runner that kept racing back-and-forth across the beach at Villa Olympica! Later, I continued my book from the park bench and did some more people watching at the vast Parc de la Ciutadella again. Not as many people playing and enjoying the sun’s rays as a Sunday, but still a great place to enjoy the good weather. But, I couldn’t stay long; I had to catch the Renfe train across town to get to the airport. It’s time to go back home.

Jan 8: Originally, I’d hoped to catch a friend or two as I passed through London on my way home, perhaps grab a pint with Sarah and crash with Farmer Tom. But, unfortunately engine trouble set us back two hours, and by the time I got through the customs queue in London, I knew it was too late. They have university and work in the morning, so I gave up and spent a long, sleepless night at a Heathrow airport cafe. I finally arrived in Washington, D.C., where my cousin Ian was awaiting my arrival at Georgetown University. We borrowed his housemate’s SUV, drove over to Capitol Mall, and checked out the Lincoln and FDR memorials by night.

Jan 10: I got the chance to meet my colleague Karen Seeh, a successful nonprofit and sustainability consultant who I’ve worked with online several times but never met in person yet. Later I joined Ian and his friends for a fun evening at the nearby Georgetown pub and piano bar with fellow grad students.

Jan 11: Ian and I explore Capitol Mall, including the White House, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the Nation’s Capital, and the Washington Monument. Later, we go for some great music and good vibes in the Adams Morgan neighborhood with Karin and Amanda, a few lady friends we made at the piano bar the night before. Nicole, who spent a year in D.C. as an intern for National Geographic, gave me all the hip tips about the nightlife and music scene in town, and the Adams Morgan is a trendy part of town with great dub music and lots of hoppin’ night spots.

###

Also, I just couldn’t help but share Nicole Pefley’s awesome list of awesome things to do in Washington, D.C., because it should benefit others just as it benefited me! I didn’t have time enough to utilize the whole list, but all her hard work shouldn’t go wasted. Let me know if you try out any of these places and enjoy it! Signing off. Here it is:

Top 12 Badass Washington, D.C. Nightspots

by Nicole Pefley

1. Tryst – Adams Morgan (on the main drag 18th st.) -Chill coffee
   house by day with cozy furniture, hip bar with great dub by night.
2. The Diner – Open 24/7, great alternative if you still haven’t eaten
   (they’ve got whatever you’re craving, I guarantee it), cousin and
   neighbor of Tryst. There’s a whole slough of sweet brunch places on
   18th, as well as where most of the Ethiopian restaurants are. GO TO
   ONE. They’re cheap, tasty, and have amazing jazz. Just ask your cab
   driver.
3. Old Glory – Georgetown. Good atmosphere
4. Blues Alley – GTown. Solid blues joint with great jazz too. Show up
   in advance (1 day prior) to buy tix (See also Madam’s Organ in Adams
   Morgan)
5. 18th St. Lounge – Fruit Loop (Dupont Circle) – Tucked in a narrow
   doorway by a mattress store. The best lounge in D.C. Period. Dress for
   it.
6. Cafe St.Ex (as in St. Exupery, author of Le Petit Prince) – 1847
   14th st. NW. Great Belgian beer, Samba and Bossa Nova beats
   sometimes–great vibes always.
7. Cafe Citron – Dupont – nice happy hour that turns into a hot salsa
   club later
   (see also Habana Village in Adams Morgan)
8. Capitol City Brewing Co. – Cap. Hill – Great brewpub with a good
   happy hour, inexpensive and extensive menu, across from Union Station
   in the historic Post Office Building
9. Hawk and Dove – Cap. Hill – Free food at happy hour and good
   political buzz- need I say more?
10. The Front Page – Dupont – Waaaay too many nights here. Another
    killer happy hour hang.
11. Union Pub – Cap Hill – 201 Mass Ave NW, Where I got my first DC
    buzz. Every night has a different happy hour deal. The brews are
    great, like the food, and on thurs. when I was there any beer was $1
    for the ladies. Worth investigating!
12. Tune Inn – Cap Hill – 331 Penn Ave SE – My favorite D.C. dive, bar
    none. Which is appropriate, since it’s really not much of a bar.
    Dingy, with good late night burgers. And check OUT those bathroom
    walls! Scary, but good times:)

And would it be an email from me to someone traveling to one of my
favorite cities without recommending at least one (ah hell I can’t
help myself) restaurant?

• Mai Thai – my fav Thai place in D.C., in Dupont on P st if I
  recall. Lovely interior, bitchin drinks and ridiculously good prices
  for the stylish and beautiful Thai interior. Enjoy what tastes like a
  $40 dinner for $20.
• Les Halles – 1101 K St. – A French bistro place serving those
  working-class unforgettables, steak, fries, salad, anything else
  French you may be craving, and even the finer things like pate foie
  gras with calvados. Won’t break your wallet either. Did I mention the
  great wine list? I should.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Our Journey Through Spain Comes to an End; and a Brief Visit to the Nation’s Capital

Mon Dec 24: Munich is completely frosted over, but the pilot made the softest landing I’ve ever felt. I had to double check whether we had even touched ground yet! Thank goodness for German perfection. This was a quick one-hour layover, so I was happy that we weren’t set back in Washington. The next flight was a very quick jaunt to London, during which every crew member spoke German to me, even though it was quite obvious that at least 60% of the passengers were British!

Upon arrival at Heathrow, I had a four-hour window in which to get my boarding passes and eat a decent meal before the last leg of the trip. Unfortunately I was met with what looked to be about a five-hour queue at the British Airways desk. Making the best of it, I met a friendly Romanian student, Mircea, doing an IBM internship in New York. The poor guy had gotten stuck in London on his way back home for Christmas, but we had a lot to chat about — very nice fellow!

On the final flight to Barcelona, I met a couple from Seattle on their way to see their parents in the south of Spain, and spoke at length with my neighbor, a kind older British gentleman, who told me of all his travels and shared that he was moving to Spain. After wandering around aimlessly for a short while, I met Paul at the BCN airport and we happened across a very nice local who pointed us in the right direction to catch the train into the heart of Barcelona. We followed Tim’s directions toward La Rambla, the mainstreet through downtown Barca, but the local tel # didn’t work at the payphone, so Paul and I had to guess our own way to the apartment. =)

The flat is AMAZING — it IS as awesome as the pictures, thankfully! Tim and Ryan have some impressive stories to share about their time traveling through Morocco and Spain so far. The four of us went for a beer at a little tavern on La Rambla, where we met a friendly German traveler who let us chat with him for a while. We then stopped in to witness the midnight mass at La Catedral — a good way to spend Christmas Eve. This seems like a fun place to spend Christmas — almost every street is literally decked out in lights and decorations that span across from building to building! At about 2AM, we did the Spanish thing and headed over to Fellini, a dance club just around the corner from our flat. The clubs here don’t really get going until around 1 or 2AM, and on party nights, the party goes until 6 in the morning. (Then apparently, some of the girls say, people go to work around 10 or so and then real hardcore purists take a siesta break around 2 – 5!) The club had a great selection of top hits and electronic music, and Tim and I kept it going to some energetic house and trance until about 6:30! It was probably the most intense dance club experience of my life! And this is only day 1 in Spain! But what better way to start off Christmas Day?

One of the rooms in our posh flat.

Ryan, Tim, and Paul standin’ on stuff at Fellini.

Tues Dec 25: I woke to the sounds of Tim’s Moroccan drums at about 3:30 this afternoon. I know that makes me sound like a lazy slob, but hey, it was a looong trip, followed by a long night! It’s okay, we can get a chance to catch up during the afternoon siesta, and dinner around here isn’t until about 10PM or later. My kinda place! =)

Paul, Tim, and I wandered up La Rambla a ways to Plaça Catalunya and grabbed a cafe con leche. We later stopped in a take-away Asian food restaurant for some Christmas fried rice across the street from our flat, where I chatted at length with Tim about his travels through Thailand, his leadership retreats that he has given around the world, and his first book on personal development and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, coming out soon. I crashed again for an hour or two, but awoke to the whole gang back at the place, and Ryan was busy whipping up an awesome meal for us all. The four of us enjoyed some marinated pork, spicy ravioli, Catalan peppers, salad, and champaign for Christmas dinner, and shared more adventures while listening to some peppy Berber pop music! It’s my first time meeting Tim and Ryan, and Paul’s first time meeting Ryan as well, so it’s fun to all get to know each other at the same time, and to have such interesting and fun-spirited travel partners! Tim lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and runs Grand Dynamics, while Ryan is a physician’s assistant in SF.

Tim, Paul, and myself at Plaça Catalunya.

Sitting down for a great Christmas dinner.

Post dinner-time, we all had a caipirhana at a packed little bar down our side street, and then Paul and I wandered down toward the marina. We walked around the city for a few hours and saw Port Valle and Port Olympia, where we’ll stay on our way back through Barcelona the second half of the trip. One unfortunate thing about European nightlife is that there IS NO escape from smelling like cigarettes! My sweaty airplane shirt smells better than any of the clothes I’ve worn out since! Haha. That, and the fact that my whole body is now thoroughly sore from yesterday’s five hours of dancing and todays hours of walking, so I took the opportunity to use the other guys’ shower for my first HOT rinse in four days! (One drawback to renting a place as opposed to staying in a hotel — the plumbing on our side of the apartment is out of whack.) Now I’ve been up typing and listening to the soothing sounds of Mallorca on the TV, and I think it’s like 5:40 or something crazy in the morning again, so I better get some rest before tomorrow!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Spain for the Holidays, Part I

Tim and Paul are experienced globetrotters, so I’m really looking forward to this trip as a great “training wheels” experience before I go conquer Thailand all on my own! Tim Walther is president of Grand Dynamics, an awesome company that does corporate retreats and team building adventures. He’s also an accomplished rock climber, and he and his buddy Ryan have already been traveling across Morocco and Spain this month doing climbs. Check this site to see some of their recent adventures — these are the guys I’m going with! So far this December, they’ve already ventured to desert kasbahs and been bitten by camels, climbed with a 7-time female Spanish climbing champion, attended a Barça v. Stuttgard futbol match, and more! So I know this is gonna be unforgettable!

Tim and Ryan will be awaiting our arrival on the 24th in Barcelona, where we’ve already booked this incredible executive apartment — 4 bed/3 bath in the heart of the city center on La Rambla. Look at these photos — it’s incredible what you can find at such a decent price when you know where to look.

After the 29th, the plan is to hit up Ibiza, one of Spanish Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is home to the biggest night club in the world and is best known for its intense summer parties, with thousands of European vacationers flooding in for beach raves and foam parties. But it also has a softer side — winter is the off-season, and though several of the clubs close down, the locals say it’s the best time of year, with blooming almond trees, relatively warm-ish temperatures (highs of 61-62), and space to enjoy the beautiful beaches.

We might do Pacha for their giant NYE bash, maybe Amnesia, and DC-10 for their all-day after party. These Ibiza clubs have become the center of the worldwide electronic music movement — tons of house and trance and others of my favorite eclectic musical tastes all come out of this spot, so I’m super excited! The “Balearic Beat” sound in the 80s and 90s was typified by heavy, slow, R&B-influenced beats, with drum ‘n bass, laid-back swing-beat patterns, soul, Latin, African, funk, and dub ingredients. DJ Paul Oakenfold imported this awesome sound to London and it influenced electronic music around the world. Ibiza is also a haven to artists like Sasha, John Digweed, David Guetta, New Order, and the ambient chill-out music of Café del Mar.

I’ll do my best to keep you all updated with some fun travel journals while I’m abroad, so keep an eye on this site. On my way back, I hope to check in with a friend or two in London for a night (I’ll being staying January 7th if anyone’s reading), and then visit my cousin Ian Achimore for a few days in Washington, D.C. (where he’s attending Georgetown) before I return home.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Invading Spain for the Holidays!

You describe yourself as a Corporate Sustainability Strategist and a Social Enterprise Creation and Ideation consultant, which sounds very interesting! So, in layman’s terms, what do you do?

Well, as this field barely existed when I started my career 12 years ago and is still in the process of formation — I’ve done a lot of things to get to where I am today. Currently, I operate as an independent consultant providing business and non-profit development services (marketing/communications, fundraising/sales, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and strategy) to corporate social responsibility (CSR) ventures and social enterprises. I really enjoy laying the groundwork, connecting people, integrating ideas and data, and publicizing to get these ventures launched and/or scaled. And I most enjoy it when I can draw upon my experience in information technology/technology innovation, the environment, and small business and entrepreneurial development.

What does “business sustainability” mean to you?

Figuring out how to avoid the risks and take advantage of the opportunities presented to a business while still balancing economic, environmental (and human health!), and social considerations. All too often businesses focus on taking advantage of economic opportunities and only pursuing a risk management approach in terms of environmental and social considerations. This is probably not the best long-term strategy (but then how many businesses think long-term?). On the flip side, I think there is real value to be created when businesses start to think creatively about how to turn environmental and social challenges into a business opportunity.

When I say “social enterprise” in this context, I mean that the enterprise is “mission driven” — the founders have a passion for addressing a societal or environmental problem with a particular approach, service, or product. And then they just form the most appropriate vehicle around that solution (non-profit, for-profit, etc.) to accomplish the mission. Money is still important, but secondary to the mission. Especially in the case of the non-profit structure, they are often just seeking enough money to keep themselves self-financed.

Your most recent position was consulting for Envirofit International. Walk us through what a typical project like this looks like.

Envirofit is a growing clean tech non-profit in need of “expansion stage” funding. I developed a fundraising strategy and kickstarted it building relationships with government agencies, international development organizations and banks, social venture capital firms and foundations, as well as pursuing additional opportunities such as competitions, strategic partnerships, and low-cost publicity. Developing a fundraising strategy is a lot like developing a sales and marketing plan — you identify your prospects and determine your approach with each group. It’s just that non-profit fundraising is probably a lot more regimented than private sector sales and marketing; there are certain prescribed formats for letters and proposals.

You’ve worked in non-profit, government, and private business. Describe what that experience has been like, and how you got to be where you are now.

I never realized how unusual that was until I lived outside of Washington, D.C. as a professional. I formed my career in Washington, where it’s very commonplace for people to be “multi-sectoral.” It’s my sense that, at least within the space of CSR and social enterprise, the lines between these groups are increasingly becoming blurred. It was already clear to me 12 years ago when I started my career that there is no “us against them,” and the wave of the future was multi-stakeholder partnerships. Unfortunately, despite the popularity of such partnerships, they are often not as successful as they can be without mutual understanding. I think that my background enables me to provide this unique perspective.

What got you interested in sustainable development and sustainable growth?

I think it was a combination of things: many summers trips to Alaska during my high school years — was there the summer before and the summer after Exxon Valdez; saw the dried up Midwest from a plane during the summer drought of 1988. My father also worked for a large energy company, so growing up I was very aware of where my power came from — I was taught to conserve energy at a young age. Many people in my family, too, have been Peace Corps volunteers, so at a young age I was exposed to their stories about life in developing countries. I latched onto environmental issues and became a vegetarian somewhere around the age of 15…and it all evolved from there.

Do you feel like you make a positive impact with your career?

I think just about every career can be seen to have a positive impact, and some of us are more driven by impact than other motivators. I am definitely strongly driven by impact, and I do think that my career makes a positive impact at least in the short term. I cannot predict the impacts that I’ll have in the long-term. The impact that I value has changed over the years. I think it’s easy to get caught up in pursuing impact that is of national or international significance. However, all too often, such impacts lack a human connection. You may begin to wonder who did you really help. Because of this, I now gravitate toward opportunities where I can have a large impact on a small group of people or on one enterprise. Not that one way is better than the other, but you have to know what really gives you satisfaction.

When the job gets tough, what keeps you going?

I don’t know if I even think about work being “tough.” If there’s a problem that needs to be solved, it’s all I can think about to get to the bottom of it and move on. Work needs to be viewed in perspective: Think how lucky we are to even be given the opportunity of having work that also brings us great personal satisfaction. My parents and grandparents certainly did not have this. So, what on Earth do I have to complain about?

What do you recommend to students who want to get into your line of work?

I’m not quite sure if I know what “my line of work” is! I personally think it’s important to be a multi-sectoral professional and to be able to think “integratively” and creatively about business opportunities — to be able to flip an environmental challenge into a business opportunity by tapping into the resources of government agency X. But I’m not sure if a multi-sectoral career path is possible for all people, and I’m not sure if creativity is teachable.

International experience is always valuable even if you don’t intend to work internationally because it will test and change your ways of thinking about the world if you allow it to. An MBA degree helps to open doors, and these days is in demand by government, non-profit, and the private sector alike.

There are also many ways to have an impact — you don’t have to be a CSR or social enterprise professional. You can be a marketing manager who works for a green products company. You can make a bundle of money on Wall Street and then start your own foundation. There are many paths, and it’s not my place to value one over the other.

Karen, again, thank you so much for your willingness to share your incredible professional experience in corporate social responsibility and sustainability with us. For consulting inquiries, you can contact Karen at karen@jihiconsulting.com.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Karen Seeh, Corporate Sustainability Strategist