I'd like to start off with a couple sayings... One I wrote myself on the plane to Vegas and the other I saw in a book I was reading.

"Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art". - Maya Angelou, Poet.

As I was reading my book, it was spurring on notions and ideas that I had to write down in my journal. So then I came up with my own little saying. I feel like it's been said before or I read it somewhere else, but at the time it's just something I wrote down.

"Traveling is like reading a book, you have to go on an adventure to turn the page". -Gary Winberg, Some dude.

I used to travel all the time for my last job. Actually, I was probably traveling more than staying in one place. It opened my eyes to so many different things but mostly to different types of people. Social interaction and personal stories fascinate me. I heard once that you can measure how well one lived by the number of stories they can tell. I truly believe in that.

So the last 7 months I've been grounded and staying in Seattle for the most part. It's been nice but I was excited to see a bunch of friends I hadn't seen since I left my old job. The trip started off by bumping into my friend Murray Wais, co-founder of the film company Matchstick Productions. I was sitting in a restaurant on a layover at the SFO airport, trying to watch the NFL playoffs when he just happened to walk under the TV. We sat down and caught up on life. That's a picture of Murray in the opening of the blog.

Then when we landed in the Las Vegas airport and there were tons of other people I knew. Both in the hustle and bustle of finding luggage and then in the cattle herding taxi line. Some peoples faces I remembered but struggled to recall their names. Every time we'd do a switch back in the line I'd see somebody else I hadn't seen in a while. It was nice, kind of like a high school reunion.

Same thing happened while at the trade show. I had no idea I had made so many connections and friends through my past travels. Every time I left the booth to go to the restroom or grab a bite to eat, I would see somebody and have to chat. I mean, it literally took me an hour to get from the booth to the restroom one time.

I know I don't want to travel as much as I did before, but I realized I missed the experience. I missed meeting and talking to the diverse group of people. There is no place on earth where you can be exposed to so many different kinds of people. The airport is the best place for 'people watching' and a flight where you may sit next to a stranger, the best place to hear a life story.

On my flight home, I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I could tell the person next to me wanted to converse. I had contemplated just putting my headphones on and going to sleep, but then decided I might as well see what he had to say. He then told me about his life long struggle with addiction, losing his wife and family, going into rehab and getting clean, and now his dream of moving to the Olympic National Forest to photograph the old growth in an effort to help the environment. As other people had helped him and clean his environment, he figured the only way he could give back is to help the people who'll inherit the earth.

It wasn't much effort on my part. I just had to listen to him, wish him good luck, and supply a little hope to fuel his dream. So next time your on a flight, don't bother the person you're sitting next to, but be willing to listen to a story.

I leave you with one more saying, "Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I can remember and remember more than I've seen." - Benjamin Disraeli, British Satesman

Oh, I guess that wasn't the last thing. Just wanted to say sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Just been trying to help some friends. I appreciate the emails and a couple phone messages asking about the next entry and when I was going to get around to it. Thanks for your patience and I'll try to catch up. Thanks also to those concerned about my lack of sleep. I emptied my brain and am sleeping again. Cheers.