The following is my favorite excerpt in Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

This past week I was making the stroll down memory lane. Since I did not bring my laptop along for the ride, I found myself unable to update the blog. First off because I could not remember my password and second because it seemed the free internet available in the hotels I went to made it impossible to spend any time not frustrated. So I decided to take the time off. The good news is you will get a lot of stuff today, the bad news is you will get a lot of stuff today and may end up hating me. Either way I have a better idea of how I want to proceed.

Since I spent the weekend off-line for the most part, I took lots of notes and decided that I would rearrange the schedule for the blog that I set up last week.

The smallest street in Prague, complete with traffic light.

Monday - Working on the Blog - an update of what is going on here

Tuesday - Travel Journal

Wednesday - WanderFood Wednesdays or Poetry Wednesday

Thursday - Photo of the Week!

Friday - Poetry Wednesday on Friday or another post.

As things progress, hopefully I can find more use for Friday’s post as I don’t intend it to be just a dumping ground. For now, that’s what it will be. Other things I am working on is moving this site to a more manageable location and a better background and visual format. As I said before this is a work in progress. Thank you for being patient.

Because we participated in WanderFood Wednesdays earlier this week, Poetry Wednesday is moved temporarily to Friday this week.

When we two are parted
Lord Byron

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sank chill on my brow
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o’er me
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.

As things progress with my writing, I hope to look back at these entries and chart my progress from the beginning. This is after all a journey of sorts, not sure where it is going to end up but I look forward to getting there. Just as with my book I think this is a great way to work on my craft. I am working on a business plan and a white paper to see where I can and want to go with this. For the moment however I am looking at a basic 5 day a week plan and taking the weekends off.

in Berkeley Square Park doing some thinking

Monday - an update on what is going on here.

Tuedsday - Travel Journal

Wednesday - Wanderfood Wednesdays

Thursday - Weekly Photo based on the Journal of the Week

Friday - Poetry Friday

Either way from Monday to Friday there will be a post here. Like I said before some will be good some will not. I know for a fact I am too hard on myself, hopefully this exercise will change that. If you made it this far, thank you.

This Poster hung on my wall in boarding school

Ah yes the dreaded word, it strikes when you are not looking and always always gets it’s target. For those of you who do not know, I am a champion procrastinator. Back in the day or who am I kidding even now I can convince myself not to do something until 5 minutes from now or 30 or an hour or tomorrow, you get the idea. Anyway the reason I bring this up is that one of the things you can not do when starting out your own blog is to procrastinate. It is downright critical they tell me to write at least something everyday that makes people keep wanting to come back for more. When I started this, I told you all that some posts would be good, some would be bad, some would be long and some would be short. I am however doing my best to stick to writing something each day.

Another issue with starting a blog is what do you say, and can you say something different every day. Most blogs are specifically designed for a purpose, whether it be a travel blog, a news blog, a picture blog, a recipe blog etc. For now this will will be a little of everything and we will see where we go from there. In the meantime I spent the day writing, working on a book and some blog posts for other sites.

Also working on a few collaborations with others and maybe at one point hopefully finding myself on the road again full time and writing on the road.

Back in the day, a group of people and I had this tradition, Poetry Monday. Recently I have shared a poem written by me to someone. So Starting today, and every wednesday following I am going to start posting favorite poems of mine and hopefully work up the nerve to post some of my own work. Okay here we go.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

So how about you? Any favorite poems?

Or the more things change, the more they stay the same after all…This is so not true as you will see…This is only a one year in comparison. The list below is reflective of what a difference a year can make. So here we go…

Yesterday vs. Today

A Year Ago - I was gainfully employed and having a great time in Charlotte meeting people and burning the midnight oil 4 nights a week and going to work the next day or blowing off early to play golf.

* Today - Not employed and definitely NOT burning the midnight oil, and I have not touched my clubs since late June… LOL

A Year Ago - I was emerging from my long standing debt hole and starting to save money

* Today - Starting to go back in debt and no saving being done LOL

A Year Ago - I was once again driving people crazy with my yearly “I am going to Europe” remark.

* Today - I have returned from my 5 plus months away with many stories and pictures and experiences to last…well until the next trip anyway LOL

A Year Ago - I was getting on a plane twice a week to “commute” to work

* Today - the only work I have had to commute to was the 10 minute walk to Starbuck’s to use the internet or the 15 minute drive to Barnes and Noble or the Library…my new Offices. LOL at least the locations are good.

A Year Ago - I was living in Charlotte most of the Week/Month in a 2 Bedroom House w/Garage and a new rental car every week and flying 1st class

* Today - Well I still fly 1st Class when I fly but the 2 bedroom house and the rental cars are just a really good memory LOL

A Year Ago - If you had told me I would have a blog that I would write in more than once a week, I would have laughed at you.

* Today - I not only have a blog but two, yes TWO websites and something that is called a Tumblr blog (yeah I don’t know what it is either but I like it)

A Year Ago - I was reading travel sites

* Today - I write reviews for some articles posted. How about that? And I submitted a travel pitch a day for the month of April

A Year Ago - I had a myspace page with 35 or so friends

* Today - I have a Facebook page with almost 400 friends

A Year Ago - Heights were my biggest fear, and planes sometimes scared me.

* Today - They are not as bad, seeing that I climbed some pretty tall buildings and cliffs while in Europe and of course the aforementioned two plane trip a week, now the plane ride only bothers me if I ate RIGHT before getting on the plane…LOL silly I know

A Year Ago - I watched tv every day of the week

* Today - Only a few shows are really worth my time and I watch them on my own schedule

A Year Ago - If you would have told me that I would spend over 3 months in hostels and what not I would have laughed you.

* Today - I know that some hostels are very worth it and the people you meet there are both interesting and strange and sometimes both.

A Year Ago - my big europe trips to Europe were to London (Twice) and to Tuscany (once)

* Today - I can add Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon, United Kingdom/Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Bohemia Switzerland and Olomuc, Czech Republic/Krakow and Gdansk, Poland/Budapest, Hungary/Copenhagen, Roskilde, Helsingor, Fredercia, Veijle and Billund, Denmark/Helsingborg and Malmo, Sweden/Hamburg and Berlin, Germany/Vienna, Austria/Pisa, Cinque Terra, Florence, Siena, Lucca, San Gimigniano, Orvieto, Naples, Pompeii, Salerno, Amalfi Coast (minus Positano) and Rome, Italy. And I went on cruise of the Western Caribbean. Not bad eh?

A Year Ago - I had written, and rewritten many many many times the same 30 pages in a book for the past 15 years.

* Today - I have not only put those aside but I have started over and I like the new direction.

A Year Ago - I HATED taking pictures, being in them, you name it.

* Today - I own a new camera and a tripod and made it my mission to take pictures everywhere I go on a trip from now on. That and I have a pretty impressive collection of clocktower pictures and sunsets. I have also become quite the photographer.

A Year Ago - I was a PC guy, have been since the Fall of ‘96, when I gave up my Mac Powerbook 145b for a computer I built myself from scratch. Till that point I had always been an Apple guy. Just to tell you that PC lasted 6 six years and only died cause I let the wrong person play with it.

* Today - I am Mac guy again, thanks to my MacBook Pro and let me tell you it’s like I never left. Love my Mac and am trying to get as many people converted as I can.

A Year Ago - I was sort of seeing someone but not really it was more of a convenience and it was complicated even though we were in the same place.

* Today - I am currently not seeing someone, though am talking to a few people and going on dates. So we shall see

A Year Ago - Sleeping till noon on my days off was a norm

* Today - No matter the day @ 6:30 I wake and by 9am, I am up and out of bed writing, it’s uncanny, I can’t seem to sleep any later except on the weekends.

So as you can see…the person I was last year…is not the person I am now. So I can truly say, WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES…How about you?

It seems everywhere we look these days, people are starting blogs. From what their day is like to the traveling they have done, there is a blog on just about everything. Still though, the first thing I have learned about writing a blog is that though despite the fact that you want to make it a daily thing, if you don’t stick to that it can very easily get away from you. I have found in previous attempts at starting a blog that when that happens I overcompensate with extra long posts. Whereas this does give one the sense of accomplishment, it is a false sense as posts are then sporadic.

Back in my College days and for a little while after, I, like many of my friends started using LiveJournal. In many cases some of the oldest blogs out there came from people doing the same thing. But as blogging exploded, I becamed less eager to write something everyday. Today I was re-reading an article by a “friend” of mine Chris Guillebeau. Although we have never met, we have corresponded and his The Art of Nonconformity was really one of the catalysts to my taking my trip to Europe. Anyway the article I was reading was called Creating a Legacy Project. It is a long article but definitely worth the read.

It got me to thinking about a few things, like what is it I want to do. No small task I assure you, just ask anyone that knows me. More importantly it made me think what do I want this blog to reflect, and who I am hoping to reach. Some you may like it, some you may not and that is ok. I think part of the reason I have been so hesitant to start writing this is because I was putting way too much thought into each post. So I tell you here and now, not every post is gonna be good, some will be longer than others.

It also got me to thinking about what kind of message I want to be spreading and how to properly convey this message. In the coming days, I will be fleshing out what I expect of this blog and what you can expect to see in the posts. I know because I have been following a few of the travel blogs myself both while I was traveling in Europe and now that I am back,  I jotted down notes of all my travels in Europe and will start posting them once a week with some pictures and things I learned along the way.

Thank You and bear with me as I find my footing and figure this blogging thing out.