So. Tonight, exactly 25 years ago - on Wed, 12 Feb 1997, at 22:26:44 EST - I sent out my very first dispatch....   (read more)

I'm happy and grateful to report that today is the exact 10th anniversary of Dispatch from the Razor's Edge. In these lovely and strange ten years I have published 517 dispatches, 10,955 images, and 372 movies....   (read more)

The passport has definitely made it feel a lot realer than the (admittedly lovely) citizenship ceremony....   (read more)

A few days from now, Fourth of July celebrations will be held in small towns and big cities all across America. At the same time, halfway around the world, 170,000 brave young men and women will demonstrate their patriotism in another way: by putting their lives at risk to defend everything America stands for....   (read more)

Add in the F&^%ing Royal Mail to the equation - as the only way to get your irreplaceable documents to, or back from, the F&^%ing Home Office....   (read more)

So, exactly two years ago, I was thirty-three-thousand feet over the Atlantic. Down in the hold, I had one big trekking bag, filled with my terrifically pared-down earthly possessions. Incidentally, I used that same bag tonight to carry over 24 kilos of ice from the grocery store, so it's held up pretty well. [laughter] ...   (read more)

This could lead to excellence / Or serious injury / Only one way to know / Go, go, go...   (read more)

Michael, Welcome to the world of the properly-shorn, ya hippie bitch! "Razor's Edge" is *obviously* a reference to your deeply-seated homoerotic bald-head attraction. :)...   (read more)

Oh, Yeah, and What Exactly Am I Doing Anyway? (aka THE SCOOP): I'm closing out my apartment, putting all my stuff in storage, bidding the Bay Area adieu, and flying Back East...   (read more)

Sunday evening, and swinging by Walgreens I picked up: * A new, black, 200-page, 5.5x3.5 Mead "Fat 'Lil Notebook." * Another $3.99 chrono sports watch, with alarm! Yeah! These are two of the top pieces of gear that got me through Europe last year....   (read more)

Saturday, and it's REI run time. Yeah, boeeyyy . . . Picked up: Microfiber Pack Towel: 25"x54" - but folds up to the size of a small paperback and weighs in at 8oz. Ultra-absorbant, and mega-fast drying....   (read more)

So today was bookmarked as the Day of Irrevocable Actions. (Not a bad numerical date for it at all - as my (quarter-)Irish mum might point out.)...   (read more)

Tried out my new MP3 player today. I can't really recommend this device - a Treo 10 with somewhat limited (and frequently perverse) functionality...   (read more)

In the Whole Foods produce section, I happened to see a strapping guy with a smoking brush cut. Intrepidly approaching him, I asked,...   (read more)

Going through the process of radically thinning out the contents of the ole domocile, you start to realize the magnitude of all the things you keep simply because you have them....   (read more)