February 2011

How to Eat Like a King on the Appalachian Trail


Nature will do all that it can to restrict your ability to eat like the rightful monarch that you are.  That’s why in this lengthy 35 second video not only do you learn how to eat like a king, but you learn what a beetle/dinosaur looks like in the process.

Just so you know eating like a king on the Appalachian Trail isn’t as easy as what’s demonstrated in this video.  This particular skill requires years of meditation and heightened beetle/dinosaur attracting skills.  I trained with a monk based out of Cincinnati, considered one of the top 4 beetle attractors in all of Western Ohio, and in that time I obtained the skills necessary for the advanced tactics you’ve just witnessed.  This video is not CGI and this beetle/dinosaur is not a paid actor, this is real life drama unfolding before your very eyes.  Some call it a miracle.  Others aren’t paying close enough attention.

I know what you’re saying to yourself: “but his beard is so rustic that it could drive a monster truck through the fiery gates of hell and not slow down as it plowed over rage infested demons.”  I agree with you.  Good point.

Point/Counter-Point: Anxiety vs. Adventure ft. The Dusty Camel

The Good Badger & The Dusty Camel | Anxiety versus Adventure
For those who read the Good Badger regularly, you’ve probably noticed that I deal a good amount of grief to my poor, poor, Jewish mother. On top of the constant state of near self-defecation I have placed upon her with my upcoming journey, I also take every opportunity I get to take jabs at her highly anxious nature (see: the first part of this very same sentence).

Well, a little known fact about coming from someone else’s insides, is you tend to take some of their DNA with you in the process (I was a biology professor in another lifetime).   As much as I try to deny it, I have acquired many of the same high-alert qualities from my poor, poor, Jewish mother.  My playful jabs at her are 1) my sick way of expressing love and 2) what Freud refers to as “projection”.

I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to dull the over-active flight or flight response portion of my brain.  If 2,200 miles of disease, bears, and snow/lightning storms doesn’t finally finish the job, there’s no hope for me.

That’s why I’m very excited to have my friend, Ian Mangiardi, help co-author this post.  Ian is the founder of The Dusty Camel (the Good Badger’s trail posts will be syndicated here), a website dedicated to all-things backpacking with an emphasis on gear reviews. Ian has also successfully thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, and is preparing for his 2011 trek up the Pacific Crest Trail.  Ian is a true adventurer.

For the last few weeks, Ian and I have been exchanging e-mails in where he is saddled with the task of repeatedly talking me off of AT ledge. Instead of hoarding all of his wisdom to myself, we agreed to make this discourse more public.

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Fables and Fortune Hunters

The following is an excerpt from Timothy Ferriss’ The Four Hour Work Week, a book very instrumental in my decision to go for an extended wander.  I recommend his blog.  Always very inspirational and insightful.

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Fables and Fortune Hunters

An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor’s orders.  Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head.  A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna.  The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

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7 Appalachian Trail Facts You Probably Don’t Know (But Should)

Appalachian Trail Facts

The title for today’s post is derived from the things that I’ve learned during my preparation (H) for the Appalachian Trail.  It’s very possible you already knew all seven of these facts.  I just didn’t think, “7 things you already knew” was as grabby.

I know present to you:

7 Appalachian Trail Facts You Probably Don’t Know (but should)

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That Pre-College Feeling

that pre college feeling

If your pre-college experience was anything like mine, then the following trip down memory lane might feel so real as to get you car sick…This post is brought to you by Pepto Bismol.  Pepto Bismol, preventing mind diarrhea since 1935™

It was August 2004, the last month of my life as a “high school student.”  Although it was the summer, until you step foot onto a college campus, you’re a high school student.  There’s no other way to interpret it.  You live in your high school town.  You hang out with your high school friends.  You do high school things (if in the Midwest, perhaps in corn fields).

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the Good Badger: Interviewed

Today, my friends over at The Urban Dater posted an interview with yours truly.  If you’re interested digging a little bit deeper into the dark space that is my brain, I encourage you to check out the article.

The Good Badger: Interviewed.

Also, expect a new App Trail prep video due out next week.

Subject:  I focus on my mental health.  At the expense of my physical health.