How to Be Happy in 2015

Pre-AT Good Badger would be lecturing on some sort of New Year’s Resolution path toward mastery right about now.  My feelings toward goals haven’t changed. They’re the single most important factor for creating success.  Instead, my preoccupation with success has taken a backseat to happiness.  Success without happiness is hollow.  It’s a car without an […]

How Morning Chili Could Be Ruining Your Life

(This post is an adapted version of one I recently posted to Appalachian Trials.  If you prefer the PG version I encourage you to head there.  If not, you’ve come to the right fucking place.) Yesterday, I woke up to a crockpot full of steamy-hot, delicious grass-fed beef and bison chili.  The night before, I […]

Q&A: How Do I Get Over Writer’s Block?

We’re introducing a new series to the Good Badger called: “Q&A”, which is short for question and answer.  After a thorough investigation (conducted by me), the conclusion has been reached that I am the unquestioned coiner of this phrase.  You know this claim is valid because you’re reading it on the Internet.   If you […]

3 Reasons Why I Love Backpacking (And You Should Too)

Warning: the following post uses the f-word (fuck, not filibuster) 15 times.  If you’re looking for some wholesome reading, you’re fuck out of luck.  Make that 16. Most people in this country don’t backpack, and quite frankly, that’s a good thing.  Backpacking is rewarding in large part because of this fact- it’s where you go […]

Redefining Pain

A hundred billion neurons.  Ten trillion cells.  One hundred trillion bacteria.  All of this influenced by an immeasurable number of environmental and biological factors. Human beings are complex creatures, aren’t they? If you look through a microscope, perhaps.  If you take a step back, however, human behavior can be summarized in one sentence. We move […]

How to Vacation to Europe on the Cheap

A Western-European vacation is bacon for the soul. Few places on earth provide such a magical combination of history, beauty (in landscapes, architecture, people, and accents), FOOD, and culture without sacrificing any of the first-world luxuries that Americans tend to get itchy without.  The lone downside also happens to be a devastating one: the tornado-like […]

Why You Need to Be Eating Bone Broth Right Now

Why You Need to Be Eating Bone Broth Right Now Primer: if you’d prefer a much more intellectual take on why bone broth needs to be in you, check out this Weston A Price article.  This article is a perfect representation of why I (instantly) bowed out from the health blogging game: it’s a crowded […]

I quit…

Blogging rule #1A: never acknowledge how long it’s been since you’ve last posted. Man has it been a long time since I’ve last posted!  So many things have happened.  Barack Obama was elected as our first black president, dick pics become easier than ever, and the government took a two week siesta. What’s that?  Literally none […]

Running with the Bulls: With Concussions, Without Repercussions

I recently returned from a three week backpacking trip of Spain with a pair of good friends.  In a nutshell, it was bananas (bananas come in nut shells, everyone knows that).  Below is part one of a two part story from the trip.   Wednesday, July 9th, 2013 9:30pm: We arrive to Pamplona, the location of […]

Ian Mangiardi of The Dusty Camel on His PCT Documentary, As It Happens

Next to cat farts, Ian Mangiardi is the most commonly used phrase on this website.  That is because Ian was the Good Badger’s Appalachian Trail Mr. Miyagi.  He outlined my gear list, calmed my nerves, and set my expectations.  Although it’s too speculative to say that I would or wouldn’t have finished without his guidance, […]

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