This week I had friends from out of town visiting me. While they were here we spent a good amount of time eating out, going to bars and staying up late. Waking up this morning not feeling so wonderful got me thinking — When I look around at the women I’m friends with, I’ve noticed a disproportionate amount of them are usually healthier eaters than myself and my guy friends. They are usually in somewhat better shape too.

I want to change this.

Many people suggest things like “go vegan” or “go paleo”. The problem is, I like meat, dairy, and wheat. Whether it’s healthy or not to completely cut foods out of your diet can be debated until we’re blue in the face. The fact is I simply don’t want to stop eating these things. I enjoy them regardless of their health benefit or lack thereof.

What I’ve decided is that Starting Monday April 30th I, along with other friends and followers on Twitter, will be going on a self-imposed cleanse diet for at least one week, potentially the whole month. We are calling it #ManCleanse May.

The rules are as follows. From breakfast on Mondays until dinner on Friday:

• No Alcohol
• No Red Meat
• No Fried Foods
• No Soda
• No Coffee (optional)

The coffee is optional because I recognize that some people are dependent on it to do their jobs. For many it would be too hard to kick cold turkey. Besides the idea of this is to not cheat yourself of the things you love. Some people really enjoy their morning coffee. I already don’t drink coffee regularly so it’s no big deal for me. If you want to give it up, we support and applaud you. Those who don’t, we won’t judge.

My goal is to generally start living healthier in general without completely sacrificing the things I love. I imagine the benefits will be potential weight loss and increased energy.  You are welcome to join in for just one week or the whole month. You’re welcome to take this as an opportunity to give up other things as well if you see fit. If you think it’s time to quit smoking, we’ll get your back and cheer you on.

Who’s with me?

Men, if you are interested tweet out this article with the hashtag #ManCleanse, encourage your friends to join in and connect with and cheer on other men taking the challenge.

Women, while our goal is to promote healthier eating for men, you’re welcome to join in as well!  Your support is also welcomed to encourage and cheer on the men in your life to eat healthier.

If you are already a vegan or paleo dieter, props to you for your healthy eating choices. That said, you are still welcome to join in as well on the applicable parts of the #ManCleanse if you’d like. Just because we’ll be having a big burger and fries on Friday nights doesn’t mean you have to!

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated and my apologies for that. I’m at a bit of a crossroads for Subism.com. I greatly want to revamp the site to add a store, but I also want to integrate a responsive web design layout. Unfortunately,  things require learning a lot and I’ve been pre-occupied.

As you may recall, or if you scroll down approximately two entries, late last year I was working on a social media travel experiment. The gist of it was that I was backpacking through Europe via train. Along the way I was taking people’s suggestions and recommendations via social media or where to go, what to do with the intention of reporting it here and sharing the total findings at this year’s SXSW interactive festival.

For a while I was posting daily, then it crept down to posting once per city and then finally I found out that the SXSW panel had been rejected. While that took a lot of the wind out of my sails I intended to keep going regardless. I kept collecting data and working on it daily just the same. I have a Moleskine notebook filled with notes, a ton of “starred” Tweets and gigabytes of photos to share. However, the issue that remains is what to do with it all. Without the panel as a destination, how the data would be presented requires a dramatic rethinking. I will compile it with conclusions at some point but right now, I’m unsure exactly what that will look like.

Aside from the SXSW rejection my trip was suddenly cut short. This was due to a variety of personal reasons including a death in my family. Despite my abrupt return to the states, I had still planned to head back out towards Asia and Oceania. However after a little while it became clear that it simply wasn’t the right time for me to do so.

All that said, I’ve been busy since my return. I’, working on a few different projects that I will hope to share sometime soon. I’ve also been spending a lot more time over on my Tumblr.

One of the things I will elaborate on very soon is something I’m calling The Impossible Year. Feel free to check it out ahead of time if you wish.

Cheers!

PS – The book is still on sale!

UPDATE 4/15/12: ‘Standing But Not Operating’ is now on sale on Apple’s iBookstore.

I am pleased to announce that I now have a photography book on sale for the holidays!

The book is entitled “Standing But Not Operating” and is a compilation of shots of Six Flags New Orleans.

For those unfamiliar: Six Flags New Orleans was flooded under 9 feet of water and destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. The property was subsequently left to rot by Six Flags who cherry picked what they could from it and left the rest as a liability for the city.

James and I ventured down there in April and found our way into the park illegally, eventually being caught by the police for trespassing and graciously allowed to retain our images.

From the back cover:

“Standing But Not Operating” is a term used for an amusement park ride that is still standing in place but for whatever reason not operating.

Since being ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 the amusement park formerly known as “Six Flags New Orleans” has been standing but not operating after facing abandonment and an uncertain future.

For the few who have visited the park since it’s closure it has served as a place frozen in time. A haunting memorial to the devastation and perseverance of the city of New Orleans.

This is a 40 page 10″x8″ softcover book and includes 37 of my favorite shots from that trip which I am selling for $30. I am also making an iBooks compatible ePub available for $9.99 if you’d rather have that.

To date this is personally my most beloved photo project. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I do and I really appreciate your support.

You can pick up the book here: Standing But Not Operating

Of course the original photo set will continue to exist on Flickr at a lower resolution. If you’d like a preview of the images feel free to check them out here: Standing But Not Operating on Flickr.

Thank you!

On Sept 15th, 2011, I began the lifestyle that will define me for the next few months; that of a backpacker. My goal is to explore the world, learn about other cultures and meet new people all through the aid of digital tools and social media. Armed with an unlocked iPhone and 7 days worth of clothes I am making my way based on recommendations of friends and followers.

On my second day in Paris I gave up trying to find a constant connection for my devices and decided to knock as much off of my checklist as possible and planned to leave the next day. So I got up early and found my way to the Catacombs. Lis Rock and others were pretty adamant about it too

I had long heard about Paris’ dramatic underground tomb & tunnel system so I made it a point to get to it on this trip. The cost of entry was 8€ + 3€ for the audio guide. The walk through is entirely self paced through an unguided pathway. Any diversions in the tunnels have been gated off to prevent visitors from getting lost. The path has very few modern signs or notes in the tunnels and almost none of them are in English making the audio guide well worth it.

The combination of the calm voices of the audio guide and the long walk wound up being a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of the Paris streets. Kinda odd when you consider being surrounded by the remains of thousands of the dead.

After walking up the 83 steps back to the street level I immediately found the gift shop across the street (surprise, surprise). There I picked up some postcards and a bottle of Absinthe. On my way out I decided to ask the gentleman working there where in the area I could get a sandwich. Immediately after I asked I could see the excitement on his face, he then told me that his absolute favorite place in Paris was just three blocks away on a little corner by a roundabout. He quickly jotted down directions and emphasized “best sandwiches in Paris. No tourists.” This was exactly what I wanted to hear.

I took his advice and headed up the block and over to a little place called Le pPin d’Auguste (unfortunately not found on FourSquare) and found there was only one other customer. After she finished ordering I attempted to ask for a sandwich in the crudest most gratingly awful French ever spoken. The girl behind the counter laughed and told me, in English, that normally she wouldn’t have time to make a sandwich from scratch but she would for me since there was no one else around. A few minutes later I was eating the most delicious ham and cheese ever on the best French bread ever. Well done Catacombs gift-shop guy, well done.

After that I needed to recharge mentally and physically so I stopped at a Starbucks, got on Wifi for a bit, and caught up with the world and took suggestions for the evening.

From there I headed back to Notre Dame like the day before. This time I quietly explored the area while mass was in session and I marveled at the amazing stained glass work from the inside. I then relaxed in the plaza for a while and then decided to take the advice of Tim Dreyer on Twitter to check out the Musee de l’Orangerie and see their impressionist collection. With that in mind I used my map and found it to be on the other side of the Louvre courtyard area so I headed off that way. By the time I got there though it was closed, I looked at the signs and checked, and it wasn’t supposed to be for another hour. I don’t know why but they had closed early this evening. Damn. Out of luck and unsure what to do next I headed to the riverside to watch the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower.

Out of ideas for the evening and more exhausted and hungry again I took a walk along the riverside. Eventually I came to the Musee d’Orsay, which was also closed, but I stumbled upon a statue of Thomas Jefferson that caught my eye and a street vendor who was grilling some sausages. I stopped, bought a water and a sausage and just as I went to leave the guy asked me, in very broken english, if I had been to the Tower. Not wanting to get into semantics about when I was there (two years ago), I told him I had. He then handed my a silly purple souvenir Eiffel Tower keychain. I thanked him for his generosity and headed in for the night to work on photos and relax at the hostel as I was getting up early the next morning to head to Munich.

Full photo set.

As mentioned a few weeks back, I recently had the pleasure of staying with Jeremy and Jessica in their home in Brighton. On one of my last days in town Jeremy told me he was adding me to his “Bedroll” which is his blog roll (editors note for mom: set of links to other people’s sites you like) for people who have stayed in his home while visiting Brighton. It can be found on the lower right hand of his blog at http://adactio.com/journal/

That got me thinking, I’ve played around with having a blogroll here before but I’ve always wound up removing them. I’ve typically decided I didn’t feel there was a good semantic reason for me to include people on them, it always felt like a form of favoritism and I’d feel guilty not including some people over others. Jeremy’s solution hit me as a fair and fun way to handle it.

Sadly though, I don’t host a lot of travelers. It’s not that I’m opposed. It’s that usually I seem to do more traveling myself.

With that in mind I’ve stolen Jeremy’s idea, but flipped it. Instead of having a blog roll for people who have stayed with me, I am now going to have a blog roll for people whom I’ve stayed with while traveling or have traveled with me. I figure if you can tolerate me for any significant length of time there should be some form of badge of honor.

So check out these excellent people listed on the left, it’s the very least they deserve for all of there generosity.

Now if only I could figure out how to add “link category descriptions” in WordPress…