Kid-A's VirtualTourist Home Page

welcome to my homepage :)

it's under construction a bit at the moment, sorry about that.

A little about me:
I'm now 32 years old (it sounds old to me, but I guess it's not??); my friends and co-workers find I play an exorbitant amount of tennis -- I guess I do, but I really enjoy it. In my spare time, I also teach tennis as well as guitar.

I was born in the United States (in Michigan), and I'm proud of some aspects of my country, one thing being that it's still semi-ok to show criticism for my fellow citizens. Did you know that less than 10% of United States citizens have a passport? Could this be a contributing factor in the dumbing down of my country? I think so. Americans in the U.S. have become so insular in the past few decades, but I still hold out hope that the global society being enabled by things such as the internet will awake everyone to the larger world. After all, the more we travel, the more we learn to see the bigger picture.

Routine: I have a love/hate relationship with my daily routines: Love, in that I depend on routine to keep me from forgetting important things while I mentally "check out" during times when I'm working a lot; and hate, as I try to take time off from work as often as possible to escape to new places. And relax.

I live with my girlfriend in a small city called Kaiserslautern (population of about 100,000) located in the German state of Rheinland Pfalz. Check out my KL page -- it's beginning to take shape. So many people have such nice pages for their hometowns on VT -- I felt like I should add some things as well.

Much of the traveling I've done was pre-VT, and I don't have many photos to add for a lot of the places I've been. Take Greenland, for example. I spent a week there for work about 8 years ago, and I don't have a single photo to show for! They exist, but as hard copy only, and packed away in a box somewhere... but in my most recent travels (such as Turkey), I always make sure to get plenty of photos for VT!

I hope you enjoy my pages.

With warm regards,

Brian

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January 9, 2009
Happy New Year everyone!!! I've been slacking on VT for the past few months -- honestly though, haven't been doing much traveling though either! Hopefully I'll rectify that in 2009...

September 19, 2008
I'm about to go out the door to the airport to catch a flight to Denver, Colorado, USA for a 3-week trip. I love Colorado in the fall!

August 11, 2008
Read about the saga of the secret spinach on my newest page from my recent vacation in Italy! And will someone please explain to me how to add hyperlinks to my text?? It would be a whole lot easier for people if I could just say <click here> to see that page. Thanks!

July 30, 2008
In Saint Louis and enjoying the warm, sunny weather. Spending a lot of time at the pool -- working on my tan!

July 14, 2008
Getting ready to fly back to the states next week. I will visit my mother and sister in Saint Louis for about 10 days -- looking forward to that very much!

June 23, 2008
I added some photos from tennis this weekend. The weather was pretty warm and sunny and we got in some great tennis!

May 26, 2008
I just returned late last night from a road trip through central Italy: went through Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Assisi, and then hiking through the mountains near Amandola. Finally ending up coming back and stopping for a night in Como on the way home. It was a great time! I have lots of photos and info to post -- hopefully I'll have some time this week...

April 25, 2008
Ok, it's Friday, the weekend is beginning and as a bonus, it's sunny and warm outside! I've decided to try to un-clutter my homepage, so everything is kinda messed up at the moment. I'll work on it a bit more later. Gotta go play a tennis match. bye

April 24, 2008: Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this! Time is flying. Spring is here in Germany, and with it lots and lots of rain :( But, there are also some really nice, sunny days as well. The clay tennis courts are just about ready, and I'm looking forward to getting back to outdoor tennis! After a short, work-related trip to Trier next week, my girlfriend and I will probably be heading down to Italy. I've not been yet, and she's been many times. So she'll be showing me around. I've been looking at all the VT pages on Rome and Naples (the Amalfi coast). It looks amazing! For now though, I sit in my office and look out the window at the blue sky and sunshine...

March 12, 2008: This past weekend, I went to Mannheim to see John McEnroe play Boris Becker in an exhibition match. It was great to see these guys still play such high-level tennis! Lots of fun...

March 4, 2008: It's snowing in Kaiserslautern this morning -- a nice (and rare) little event to wake up to. Pity I had to drive in it though...

February 25, 2008: My Gaborone page is now nearly complete, finally! The weather here in Germany has been unseasonally warm the past few days. It's nice and weird at the same time... but I was able to get in some outdoor tennis this weekend.

February 6, 2008: I've had some time to build my Cape Town page -- check it out. Also, I put together a travelogue on tennis in Zambia. It's on my Lusaka page. Please have a look. It was such a great experience!

February 4, 2008: Back in Germany. It's good to be home, despite the fact that it's back to work; and back to a gloomy, cloudy, rainy, cold Monday morning. And South African Airways lost my luggage!!! Hope to hear from them tomorrow...

Live in the present -- not the past, and not the future.

Now is only now for now.

Time is all man-made.