Traveling Insights: An Inside Perspective

Hi there, It hasn't been long since my last post, and for good reason!  I've been busy learning about the best management tools for market farmers, and compiling all of my notes to share.  Even if you're not into farming, I found many of the over-arching themes of my two days in Bonner Springs to be applicable to my own personal life and finances.  While I know that you probably won't be able to grasp as much as I did, I hope that these notes and reflections will make you think twice about your current organizational systems and future planning. The best way I decided to organize my 19 pages for you was to create a list at the top of my typing of the most meaningful sentences I wrote.  I'll try not to go too in-depth on each one.  :) You aren't entitled to the business you want--Seth Godin Basically, farming is work.  It's not going to just be handed to you.   Production without profit it just work. I liked this because it made me think...

So...it's been a little while since I got back from San Francisco, and I had planned on posting once more the night that I got back into Kansas, typing away at the airport. However, what ended up happening was I spent almost my entire flight from Denver to KC writing.  Like real writing.  With a pen and paper and everything.  I ended up filling three pages front and back, and afterwards I just felt calm.  I haven't done that much writing in a long time. I've decided to include some excerpts from my entry for the day that I felt were representative of how I felt in the moment and how I feel now. "I think that reading my book before leaving for San Francisco was perfect timing.  I had this fear that all of my alone time and reflection would make me want to just be 100% independent again, but it actually made me realize how much I take people for granted and that I should cherish the good people in my life." "I've always sort of disregarded teaching...

Before I get into yesterday's post, I'm going to include the pictures that I didn't before from the Mission District. This was the coolest laundromat I have ever seen.  The inside had chandeliers and cool black and white art all over the walls.  Plus, everything was trimmed with teal, my favorite color!  Found this on my late-night walk on Dolores Street. The first rain barrels I had seen in the Mission District. More succulents! This image reminds me of a movie my sister and I used to watch all the time as kids, The Cobbler and the Thief. Oldest building on UC Berkeley's campus. This is one of the tallest clock towers in the world.  The third tallest, I believe. Giant library with  most of its area actually underground!  I wanted to come back to this after the group tour, but my hunger distracted me from accomplishing that. Central area on the campus.  Newly renovated.  All the build...

Today has been long.  I can't really remember what I did this morning other than possibly eating a burrito leftover from yesterday and then leaving for Berkeley.  Actually, that line just triggered a bunch of memories!  Today was awesome.  I visited the UC Berkeley campus and went on a guided walking tour, grabbed some lunch at a thai restaurant, then met up with Leslie Lindo with BALLE. Thoughts from those moments: Lawrence is small.  :)  I keep saying this, but the more time I spend here, the more I realize how small it is!  I had a lovely conversation about homeless people today that solidified this in my mind. Berkeley would be a nice place to come for a graduate degree.  I think I would like to get my official studying abroad out of the way before I undertake a graduate degree and do it cheaply, because out-of-state sounds expensive.  Also, I talked to a guy who just might've convinced me to work for an airline in the future. ...

I wrote a note in my journal today that I should write about homeless people in my blog post.  So here I am.  Writing about homeless people.  There is definitely a difference here in the crazies versus those in Lawrence.  I had an up-close and personal encounter with one at the BART station today while I was asking a guy at the information desk a question.  I had just watched the officer walk back to his booth after having told the homeless guy to get out of there or else he would call someone.  But the guy...actually it could have been a woman for all I know...started saying incomprehensible things.  It wasn't even wearing proper bottoms.  Just a sweatshirt tied around their waist.  Sometimes I wonder what it must be like, having grown up or developed a mental disorder. There are certain characteristics that I have noticed about many of the SF homeless: They use luggage bags to carry around their stuff.  Or a modified cart of some...

I hope that the title of yesterday's post (because technically I'm behind in typing this up on the day-of) made you laugh.  I know I certainly did when I heard it from a stranger talking on the phone behind me.  We were walking down Market street at around 7:00 p.m. and I just knew that as soon as I heard his voice he was having an interesting conversation.  I'm not sure I want to know what was being said on the other line, but phrases like "hardened baby arm" sometimes make you snap out of your own thoughts. Monday.  I can't believe I made it that far without something really catastrophic occurring.  It probably helps that every time I stand up I check my pockets and double-check that I've got my camera...let's just say that Lawrence is a very safe town.  Too safe, I would say, because I am comfortable leaving my bookbag at the table when I go to the restroom at the library.  That, my friends, is a sign of too much safety.  Traveling to San Fr...