Less than 365!

WOW! The count down clock on our website now shows less than 365 days! This time next year, we could be pushing off from a dock and starting the adventure of a lifetime! We have 10 more months to get the boat ready, and that's it. This journey has been going on for over 2 years, and we have 1 more to go. Happy December everyone! Thank you for following and supporting us.

How To Know What Makes You Happy

November is closing out, and we are hitting the less than "365 days until we can set sail" day. Other than the massive amount of work we still have to do to make this trip a reality, I'm confidently going forward. I've shed any vestige of personal doubts about our happiness with taking this trip. Why? Because I know what makes me happy. Do you know what makes you happy?

There are 3 sources of information that will help you know what makes you happy.

Fantasy. Do you let your mind wander? If not, you should. As your mind meanders (also known as day dreaming), what do you day dream about? For me, I fantasize about sharing with my children new things, traveling to new locations to face the unknown, and watching my wife's eyes light up when she sees something new.

History. Sit down for a few hours and look back over your life. Start at your earliest memories ... walk year by year, season by season, scouring your historical landscape for those moments that brought you the most joy. Catalog them. For me, it involved going to new places, like the ghost town my mother tried to find on a trip and visiting china town in San Francisco and flying to Hawaii when I was 8 to live with my aunt and uncle for 3 months. The excitement of the newness and discovery excites me deep inside.

Experiments. Try new things ... new things that seem way out of character. The experience will highlight 1 of 2 things for you. Either you were right in avoiding them before, in which case you've validated your stance, or you find joy in them. People change over time, so don't be shy about trying something again that a few years ago seemed appauling, boring, or otherwise unpleasant.

Based on the above, I've concluded that traveling around the world with my family will bring me the most joy. Consequently, I'm confident that this is the right thing to do at this moment in my life.

Should we get a Radar?

Sticking with our KISS strategy, our minimization of electronics strategy, and our self-reliance strategy has helped us keep at bay a number of "extras" that we really don't need for our journey. One item that seems to come into discussion every 2 months or so is the usage of a Radar. On the one hand, it becomes another piece of electronics that needs to be maintained, it adds some complexity to the set up, and if it breaks down it isn't likely that we will be able to fix it without help. On the other, it is an incredible piece of technology that can greatly increase our safety when the visibility is reduced (fog, rain, night).

Looking radars over, the prices vary from $1,000 to $10,000+, new. Used, an old one can be had for $400-$500.

Debating new and used is often tricky, especially with electronics. When electronics die, they die suddenly and the odds of death go up with age. Another issue with buying a used older radar is that power consumption efficiency of electroncis improve with time. That is, a piece of electronics from the 80s or 90s tends to consume more power, for the same capability, than one made in the 2000s. Given our push to minimize electrical drain, this would also push us towards a newer radar.

So how much do we spend?

Like all gadgets, you get more whizbang for the money .... but how much whizbang do we need?

Given that we are considering not having any radar whatsoever, any radar capability (the identification of an object) is the minimum entry criteria. Another nice feature for us would be the capability of a "watchman" mode. That is, a mode that lets us tell the device to periodically turn on, check the surrounding area, and then beep if there is something we should look at. This would not replace the best practice of getting up every few hours to check the lines and look around, but it would be a nice safety feature to have. Further, running in watchman mode reduces the amount of juice consumption of the radar system itself when compared to a continuous operation mode. These are the 2 minimum features. Color display isn't required, nor is object tracking.

Another area of consideration is range. Again, the extreme case is not having a radar, so any distance is better than nothing. The distances for the units start around 20 nautical miles! That is a long way. The further they see, the more power they will have to consume.

With all this taken into consideration, a lower end unit in terms of capability will do. Something like the Furuno 1715 LCD Radar (pictured here). This unit combo we can acquire for $1600.

Another unit that is worthy of considertation, and doesn't cost much more is the Raymarine C-70, Classic (pictured below). This unit goes from LCD to Color, but still only consumes about 0.75 Amps / Hr. Other neat features can be added on, if we find we need them, so expandability becomes a feature maybe we should consider. We can get the Raymarine unit plus Radar dome for about $1800.

Going with a lower end units, like these, has another interesting advantage. If the unit becomes disabled, the replacement cost is lower and we won't have become overly reliant on all the other "features."

Ahh, decisions decisions. We will post to let you know what we end up choosing.

Jury Duty - Another Positive Experience

Earlier this month, I went to have my first jury duty experience. So many people told me how it would be. It would be long, drawn out, the system wouldn't want to hear anything about my impending business trip, I'd be board, I would sit for days, I would have some stupid petty crime to decide on, are examples of things I was told. I had NONE of these experiences.

My court experience was fantastic, and this entire experience (being told what it would be like versus what it was) highlights again to me that you can carry in the baggage of others and experience the world their way, or go into an experience boldly with zero preconceived notions and create your own experience.

The summons said to be at the DeKalb court house at 8:15 AM. I took the local train (MARTA) to the court house since there is a MARTA terminal is literally 150 feet from the jury duty location. I arrived at 7:30 and found the building locked, so I made my way to chick-fil-a for coffee and a breakfast burrito. At 8 I made my way back to the court house and did the registration. It took all of 3 minutes to get signed in. I was given a sticker that said Juror and was seated in a large, but comfortable room. It seated maybe 200 people.

Around 8:30 the court clerks explained the procedures of the day, which included a swearing in.

By 9 am the names of people were being called out for particular cases. I wasn't selected in the first case, but by 9:10 I was selected for the second case.

As the group of 48 of us made our way to our court, 5D, the tension of "what's next?" kept building. It was exciting and the jurors were all very quiet. We were all lined up in numerical order (we were given juror numbers) and brought in. My number put me right in the 12 person jury box!

The judge came in (and we did the whole "please stand" thing), and the process went to the next round.

I was very impressed with the judge and his ability to command the court room. His presence was that of an executive at any large firm. His name is Judge Gregory A. Adams.

Articulate, commanding, clear, and precise. All things I admire.

Judge Adams is a superior court Judge; I had been picked for a superior court case. While I don't know all the court things, I knew superior meant something better than inferior.

The judge then read the incitement. His tone was even, and his voice very clear. As the counts were read, my thoughts went, "Holy Sht! This is a murder trial!" The defendant sat in the court room, and remained emotionless. It was pretty intense for me. I may be sitting in judgement of another person, a young person, for murder. The judge made it clear that this wouldn't be a death penalty case.

After all this was read, the judge announced he expected the trial to last about a week and then asked if any of us jurors had any conflicts with the case due to prior commitments. I raised my hand, and was the first to be called. I stood up (which turned out to be the right thing), and in as clear as possible voice, with all the confidence I put out for speaking engagements, told the judge and the court of my pending trip to Russia.

I was the first juror to speak, and yet others didn't pay close attention to how I handled it. When other spoke, for various reasons, some didn't stand up or were not clear or only shook their heads. The judge had to correct their behavior, and based on how respectful they were, he tailored his message.

A series of questions were asked of all of us, in front of all of us. Questions like, have you ever seen a murder, do you know anyone who was murdered, etc. It was all very surreal.

By noon, the jury was picked and I wasn't on the duty. I know the judge spoke with the lawyers and made sure I wasn't in the pool. I would assume that if there were an issue and they needed one more qualified juror, then it may have been me but many folks were more than qualified.

In DeKalb county, they have a "1 day 1 trial" approach. In this method, you are processed for 1 trial only. If you don't fit, you are done (like I was). If you are not selected the entire 1 day, then you are done. Very easy.

The court clerks were gracious, and even cracked jokes.

I still can't get over the judge. He was a very impressive man. His respect for the jurors and the system itself oozed out of him. While I have no idea how the whole trial meted out, I have no doubt it was done in accordance to the laws of the nation and the state of Georgia.

Composting Toilet Arrived

We received our new Nature's Head Composting Toilet! We will spend part of this Thanksgiving weekend removing the boat's old sanitation system and installing the composting toilet. FUN!