vacation – Page 2

Eustace Conway and Crisitunity

Eustace Conway is one of my heroes. The word crisitunity comes from a Simpsons episode wherein Homer, after hearing from Lisa that the Chinese use one word for both “crisis” and “opportunity”, says “Crisitunity!” Crisitunity is the act of using a problem to make a solution.

Eustace Conway practices crisitunity. In his colorful life, he has met and mastered many challenges, challenges that others looked on as impossible. To Eustace, nothing is impossible, and anyone can do anything they set their mind to. He is an avid student of life and is fully alive in the world. He first left home with nothing for the woods at age twelve, and at age seventeen he moved, with little more than nothing, into a tipi in the Blue Ridge mountains. Continue reading →

Is Your Vacation Killing You?

TIME Magazine is the latest to kill your summer vacay buzz. They report on an interactive map from the American Trauma Society that allows you to determine how quickly you could access potentially life saving trauma care. As this helpful article points out, the areas suffering a dearth of trauma centers encompass a bunch of popular vacation destinations.

Actually the article is mostly about disparities in care in urban and rural centers, particularly with high risk emergencies – not just accidents, but strokes, heart attacks, etc. It’s sad that to make this point, we need to appeal to wealthy vacationing urbanites and their fears of not being able to access emergency care. Too often, we forget about the folks that live in our favorite vacation spots year round – often in near or outright poverty.

And now I’ve killed your buzz too.

Three Easy Steps to Have a Great Vacation

It’s that time of year again, summer is officially (according to the unofficial calendar) upon us.

Can you sense my excitement? No? Have a seat, let me explain.

I grew up in, and currently live in a beach resort – America’s Favorite Family Resort, to be exact. It’s a small island where 9 months out of the year the population hovers around 15,300. The streets are quiet, the stores and restaurants (the few that remain open, anyway) are easily accessible (no wait times!) and you rarely hear a police or fire siren. The population trends older (or at least if feels that way) and sometimes, when the wind blows just right, I swear I’m living on the set of Gilmore Girls … just a little more Jersey-er. As boring as it can be – I have grown to really appreciate and enjoy it; and by the time the last weekend of May passes, I’m clinging to those “happy thoughts” with every fiber of my being. Continue reading →