Land Jan 17, 2007
For a little while now, I've been realizing one of my desires is to own land.  Not land in a convenient location or with fancy landscaping.  Not land I can sell for a profit.  Not land to build a huge house on.  Just land.  Pure, unadulterated, ugly, muddy, rocky, tree-filled, unkempt, overgrown land.  With no neighbors for miles.  Near no major roads or highways.  Not on the way to anything.  Just land. 

I'm reminded of this desire quite often.  Driving through Virginia, Pennsylvania, Vermont.  Hiking.  Visiting people who live in really rural areas.  Watching nature shows on TV.  Basically, whenever there's a feeling of "Wow, this is really the middle of nowhere," I'm pretty psyched. 

I haven't always had this desire.  I grew up in a pretty rural area, and it was ok.  I currently live in a less rural area, and it's ok.  I've lived in cities and towns, and I enjoy visiting places with lots of people and buildings.  I've considered living in a major city and doing the whole city life thing.  Who knows, I might still do it at some point. 

I guess this desire goes back to an experience I had as a kid/teenager.  My neighbor's family owned some land next to a farm (or partially owned the farm; something like that), and it was basically exactly what I'm describing.  Rocky, muddy, tree-covered, ugly.  And it was awesome.  We used to go ride four wheelers and shoot guns (not at the same time).  It was basically as hick-ish as you can possibly get.  And I loved it.  There was a shack with some basic necessities, like running water and electricity (heck, that's a novelty).  Other than that, it was just a bunch of untamed land with few to no restrictions (except the hunting club next door). 

This is somewhat similar to my need for survival.  It's a little less hardcore, but it's along the same lines. #nature
90s flowchart Jan 17, 2007
From xkcd: 
(via Mental Floss) #entertainment
Geni Jan 17, 2007
Geni is a really cool online genealogy organizer.  I'm not really into the whole genealogy thing, and it's partly because I'm a mutt as far back as anyone can remember, and partly because I find it difficult to organize my family tree.  I'm a geek, so everything must be electronic.  This website takes the complication out of it and makes it easy enough for a caveman (sorry, cavemen).  Plus, it's easy for other people to add information without them even signing up or logging in (I think).  If you visit my family tree and you're a member of my family, you can probably add some information about yourself or some people you know.  (via TechCrunch) #technology