Freedom in a Can: Adventures with Hamlet

A year is 365 1/4 rotations of the Earth, making one solar lap and returning to the same relative position to the sun.   Early civilizations around the world had this figured out, centuries before the Gregorian Calendar of 1582 .  Many of the impressively elaborate buildings from 850-1250 CE at  Chaco Culture National Historical Park had astrological designs integrated into their walls, so that on certain days of the year light shown through to illuminate a given spot.   On a larger scale, this deliberate and relentless pull of gravity, billions of years stuck on repeat and billions yet to go, makes one year feel relatively insignificant.  What difference does a year make?  And why did we choose to start it on January 1st, at this point in our spaceship's elliptical path? Each year we're drawn to reflect upon these last 365 1/4 days.  Because, while this arbitrary set of localized astrological phenomena is actually quite small, we humans g...

After listening to a former university colleague loudly complain about the state of affairs at our institution for far too long, I finally asked, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”  He replied, “Complain for 16 more years and then retire, of course!”  Perhaps you’ve heard a similar line echoing around your employer’s break room, perhaps you’ve uttered something like it yourself?  Perhaps it’s time to take your show on the road, as it were? Since we hit the road in 2012, we’ve gotten a ton of questions about working from the road, and powering our lives with solar.  While we love to travel, we hate the idea (and expense) of staying in RV parks with electrical service just to do our work.  Solar has literally saved us tens of thousands of dollars and freed us to be and work anywhere we want.  We are currently sitting in a national wildlife refuge in central New Mexico, surrounded by tens of thousands of birds coming to roost for the winter! If you’ve ...

" Let's open up a restaurant in Santa Fe! " The characters of the 1996 Broadway Mus ical, " Rent , " dream of an idyllic paradise far away from the cold, mean streets of the late '80's Alphabet City neighborhood in the East Village of New York. Indeed, sunny Santa Fe would be nice -- and it was.  This city, with thousands of years of indigenous history before the Spanish first arrived nearly 500 years ago, is like no other we've explored before.  It's an art city, a government city, a living monument to the Pueblo people, walkable, bikeable, without the same ubiquitous suburban sprawl serving the population of 75,000 people. It's a pretty small place, actually, and it defies definition but demands exploration.  Art, here, is viewed as a public good, as important as public transit, bike lanes, rec centers, and libraries.  From the wonderfully immersive Meow Wolf , to the Indian Arts and Culture Museum, where Shari grabbed the photo above, to t...

Balloon Fiesta - Volunteering Our Way Through the Ever-Growing Bucket List I cannot remember the first time I saw someone's video showing the staggering number of brightly colored and uniquely shaped hot air balloons floating across a desert landscape.  Someone in their RV simply flung open their door to catch all the morning action at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  At that same moment, it went on the bucket list. You don't have to look really hard to find someone inspiring you to travel to a new destination, to keep adding to that bucket list.  But dreaming it and doing it, on a budget, are two different things entirely.  As the premier ballooning event in the world, and Albuquerque's largest event,  the Balloon Fiesta caters to a wide range of attendees, many of whom won't flinch at the VIP ticket and lodging prices, even to park their RV.  Folks can spend up to $250 per night for the pleasure of overlooking the launch field in the Preside...