And Now For My Next Trick.......

I am currently living in Michigan at the Innovative Martial Arts dojo. The upside is that I have my kids 1/2 time and live and play with some of my closest friends (extended family really). The downside is that I'm living in Michigan where the economy has been terrible for years (it's also where the Big 3 Automakers are headquartered). If the Big 3 are allowed to collapse (and this seems likely), our economy will hemorrhage another 1.5 million jobs. The most solid hit will be on the chin of already punch-drunk and reeling Michigan.

I quit a solid contracting job in Ohio this summer (prompted by a demand by my ex-wife) and have been unemployed since. I loved the time with my kids this summer as well as my trip to South America, but with the economy in a tailspin I am starting to become seriously concerned for my family's future.

It looks like the U.S.A. is entering it's first depression since the 1930s. I am not going to bother pointing fingers here. Hopefully we can use this as an opportunity for retraining our workforce and redirecting our economy toward sustainable progress (this requires a governmental investment in education and sustainability) .

My personal story (and by extension my kids' story) is definitely complicated by this economic turmoil. I took a serious financial beating during and following my divorce and also had to leave the military to maintain custody of the Crumbgobblers. I had been trying to set up our family's finances to enable me to finally attend college, but lost everything with the divorce. Now with the unemployment rate locally approaching double digits, there are many people here with degrees (even advanced degrees) competing for underpaid work which they are overqualified for.

Many times now, I have been rejected out-of-hand for not having a degree. Most of these employers/recruiters have been unable to articulate what they were looking for that necessitated the formal credentialing (the majority do not even care what course of study was pursued). Of those that were able, most gave a list of traits and experiences that lined up with what I had gotten out of my military service. When I have pointed this out, most of them began looking at their feet and mumbling about policies and their hands being tied. It seems as if most people believe (consciously or not) that anyone who has bypassed college must lack the requisite intelligence or drive. It is amazing how little regard some people have for alternative forms of education, especially considering the number of people who have told me that college did not prepare them for their work or for real life. It's a head-scratcher.

Adding insult to this injury is my inability to simultaneously attend college and provide for my children (financially/ or if simultaneously working and attending school, with my time & attention). I served in 2 branches of the U.S. military (and am now considering a 3rd branch) with 3 specialties [USAF Security w/EST (SWAT) (inactive SECRET CLEARANCE), Army Infantryman, & Army Infantry Medic]. I have traveled extensively on 3 continents and have a very broad personal library exceeding 1100 volumes. After the military I have also been a welder, taxi driver, and salesman in addition to performing other miscellaneous work for fun and profit. For the past 11 years I've been raising children while riding this roller coaster. Recently I have been doing a bit of writing to begin sharing and documenting some of my research.

I would be absolutely thrilled to be able to finally attend college, but am having no luck in coming up with a way to make this a realistic possibility (financially) at present. My credit score is horrible due to the aftermath of my divorce, so loans aren't the answer. I am considering re-entering the military to reinstate my G.I. Bill benefits which expired while I was trying to recover from the divorce and raise small children. My hope is that I would be able to quickly earn a 2 year degree and improve my credit score while serving again. Then I would be able to go back into debt in order to get a bachelor's degree (or higher) and begin working full-time in the field of creative sustainability (my passion), rather than just volunteering and writing about the work of others.

I would love any advice or input on this. Hopefully it doesn't come across as whining, that is not my intent. Perhaps some of you know some things or people that I do not know, which could help me increase my positive impact.

A Quick Update Before Leaving South America

Oh my, where do I begin? A couple of months ago I gave my resignation notice at the project I was working on in Ohio so I could take the crumbgobblers to stay with my family for a few weeks. My sister has moved back home with her husband and baby and we all had a great time. Barring anything unforeseen, I will be back stateside in 2 days and hope to take my kids traveling again.

So, about my trip... I have been in South America for a month now and have been having a great time. I have focused primarily on southern Brasil with 1 week in Argentina and quick stops in Paraguay and Uruguay. This is a beautiful part of the world, but not without it´s share of problems. Traveling through everything from the world´s largest urban area (by population) Sao Paulo (29 million+), to isolated rain forest, I have seen the almost unbelievable wealth gap that exists in this society. I even had 2 young men try to rob me with a pistol in broad daylight in a heavily trafficked area in Buenos Aires (La Boca), but I had no problems walking some of the worst parts of Brasil at night, alone. Hmmmm...


Traveling lightly here is incredibly inexpensive owing largely to currency exchange rates and troubled South American economies. Argentina was very cheap with a 3 to 1 exchange for the US Dollar. My lunches were typically $3USD and very nice lodging was $12USD. I also discovered a great travel resource called couchsuring.com. I highly recommend it as a way to truly get the opportunity for cultural exchange as well as free lodging with a native guide (please pitch in with food purchases and chores).


I also spent time in youth hostels (for all ages) and had a great experience doing this. For anyone unfamiliar with the hosteling culture, I recommend checking it out. It would be very interesting to stay at hostels in unfamiliar parts of your own country to see the sights and interact with some of the most interesting travelers that can be found. The hostels cater to the backpacking crowd, so do not expect to have 5 Star accomodations and room service. It is reasonable to expect a comfortable bed in a dorm or even private room (at a fraction of the price of a hotel room) and some wonderful opportunities for conversation and various types of socializing with travelers from around the world (most of whom will speak English).

Today I arrived in Buenos Aires by bus (18 hours including 2 police searches). Staying in a youth hostel for now, but hoping to couchsurf with a local ambassador. (Photo taken in San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires with 2 couchsurfers.)

Much love,
Buddha

Update

I am currently on my way to Curitiba Brazil (a mecca for design students or those interested in public administration) from Sao Paulo. I love Brazil so far. Very busy, more later. I will include some pics (photo added 1 Oct. 2008) and my lessons from the trip. (see also my post on Curitiba from December 2007)

Much love.

Assault Awareness and Prevention 101

This weekend I will be traveling back to Grand Rapids, Michigan to see my kids and to help teach a self-defense workshop at Innovative Martial Arts (title link). You can go to the school's website for info, but here's a brief overview. Photo from a different seminar at the IMA dojo.

We begin with raising awareness of the psychological factors at play in a typical assault as well as environmental factors to be mindful of. We get people thinking about the little things in their routine life that may be risk factors, such as:walking alone, at night, across campus through the woods with a heavy backpack and headphones on. This is one very common scenario.

We typically split the day up with a combination of awareness training; both general and situation specific as well as some very simple and effective physical skills. We teach these skills primarily through instructor demonstration, followed by partner drills and some group drills performed under supervision, and with on-the-spot corrections. All of this is done with respect for the participants personal boundaries; but bear in mind that it is preparation for avoiding, or if necessary confronting an attacker.

This is a very good starting point and I believe that it offers a lot for the time and money. I encourage this type of workshop for anyone who is concerned about their own or their family's safety. These workshops can be tailored to fit the needs of a group. Recently we did one focused on ladies leaving home and entering college. (statistically this is a very at-risk group)

I recommend some form of awareness and personal-defense training for everyone. Look on-line for instruction in your area. Some keywords to look for are as follows: reality-based, practical, functional, street-based, or combatives. Unless you are looking to preserve an art form for the sake of preserving an art form you are looking for a reality-based system. Competence in all ranges of combat as well as an understanding of modern weapons (both purpose built and improvised) should be your goal with longer-term training. For short-term training, focus on avoidance of assault scenarios and also escaping them.

Honey I'm Home!!!!

My apologies to all 3 readers who've been awaiting fresh brain droppings from yours truly. I seem to have fallen in a hole here. I am living apart from my kids right now which is incredibly difficult for me (if you know me well then you understand this), I have had a rather uncertain situation with the duration of my current paying contract work (forcing me to constantly devise contingency plans), and I just needed to step back for a breather (I have a lot going on right now) and a fresh perspective.

I have recently met some incredible people around the world and have been putting a lot of my energy there. Some of this has been just standard networking (friendly exchanges of ideas and info) and some has been part of my slow and careful search for a best friend, partner, and lover, which is a long way to say "wife". There have been many scam attempts as I have opened my search worldwide, but recently I have found reason for optimism. I will continue gently with the communication and see where it goes, but it looks promising at this point. I am in no hurry though and need to regain a sense of balance, even if illusory.

With this renewed balance hopefully will come more consistent writing from me again. Much love and many blessings for you all.

Shell sets new UK profits record

I found this on BBC News UK edition (current). (excerpt with title link)(image added)

Much of the rise in profits has been attributed to rising oil prices, which currently stand at about $91 a barrel compared with $57 this time last year.

In dollar terms its earnings are up 9% on the previous year.

But there is concern among analysts that Shell has delayed publishing figures showing its oil reserves.

The oil reserves figure, which shows whether Shell found enough oil in the ground to replace the amount it was taking out, will not be published until the spring.

"The market really has taken this to imply that the figures aren't going to be great," said Nick MacGregor, an oil analyst from Redmayne Bentley.

"If they were that good Shell would be telling the world about it now."

(Buddha) For me this immediately brings up 2 huge issues. I will deal with them separately for now.

First is the issue of continuing record beating profits over and over for the oil companies. Bush and his cabinet set about making plans to invade oil-rich Iraq immediately upon usurping (oops, assuming) office. Now we have an even more unstable middle east, a devastated Iraq with tens of thousands of war casualties, thousands of dead G.I.s (and many times that permanently scarred or crippled), and thanks to the inconceivable monetary cost of the war we have a ravaged U.S. economy.

The oil companies are not the only ones breaking records. We are witnessing record numbers of home foreclosures in the U.S. in addition to record setting job losses. Bush changed the bankruptcy laws to protect the credit card companies from all of the people trying to get out from under crushing personal debt. Educational expenses are at an all-time high with many sane people questioning whether college is even a break-even venture at this point. Personally, I am doing pretty well handling my education on my own and not racking up tens of thousands of dollars in student loans and credit card debt.

I used to work as an insurance salesman and medical expenses were one of the top causes of personal bankruptcy and foreclosure in this country. Many of these bankruptcies were filed by people who had medical insurance which simply proved to be insufficient. How many are unable to obtain insurance in this country? I know that I am still among them.

The Fed (not a government agency by the way) has just lowered the prime to 3% in an effort to jumpstart our economy. This is akin to putting defibrillator paddles on the chest of a long dead person, yelling "clear", and pushing the button. There may be some activity and confusion, but you should expect no positive result. We need to fundamentally restructure our economy!

The second issue is that of sustainability. Shell hasn't disclosed it's oil reserve figures, presumably because they are not very reassuring.

We are at some point in the not too distant future, going to run out of oil for all practical purposes. It will become less and less plentiful and accessible. Due to these factors it will be priced out of reach of most people. It may be approaching that now at over $90 a barrel.

We have before us a crucial decision as to what we are going to base our economic system on. There are many viable alternatives to the oil economy. Many of these would alleviate other problems as well. I will not waste my time repeating much of what I've already posted. Please check out the links I've provided, watch some documentaries with friends, read some books on these topics, and discuss these ideas at your local markets and with your friends and families. If you were so inclined, you could even read some of my archived posts and introduce your network of contacts to my blog. Feel free to respond to my posts so I will know that these rants are serving as more than simply therapy for me.

Another successful crash landing.

Hey kids,

I'm in Cincinnati and I am scheduled to take a welding test tomorrow. I will be working on military field equipment and that's all I feel free to say about it at this time. This is a strange project for me, given my support of the troops, but absolute revulsion at the current administration's policies and actions, both at home and abroad. I was somewhat underwhelmed at first, but have connected with a sharp guy who's definitely more experienced than I am. He has been reasonably happy working here so far. He got here in September when they wanted me to start originally.

The weather here is much warmer and more clear than Michigan. I hope to come home for Christmas break or get the "Crumbgobblers" down here.

That's it for now,
Buddha

Just getting started.

I Buddha, am setting myself up (with assistance and an outdated long-haired photo) with a blog for my birthday. I am turning 32 as I type this post. Almost midnight now. This has been a long time coming, as I've had many friends try to convince me that I needed to start a blog. (Probably so that I would have an outlet and stop trying to save the world through them.)
The name TribalBuddha is a result of my strong desire to live in community with friends and family coupled with my interest in philosophy, self-awareness, and martial arts. I picked up the name Buddha over a dozen years ago while serving on active duty in the military. It evolved from Grasshopper to Cain (Kung-fu series) and then they settled on Buddha and it has followed me since. The name Buddha means the enlightened one. I make no such claim for myself, instead preferring to simply state that "I am awake".
This Monday I will be moving south for the winter for a short-term contract. Leaving my kids a.k.a. "The Crumbgobblers" behind feels incredibly strange as I fought like mad to maintain custody and have had them 1/2 time since the separation and subsequent divorce 6 years ago. Fortunately my ex-wife and I are friendly and this does not alter my legal standing. We will resume our standard arrangement on my return.
I don't yet have a clear direction that I want to take this site in. My best guess is that it will be as hard to pigeonhole as I have been. My hope is to use this as a vehicle to promote the vision I have of the world that is possible and the people and institutions (which interestingly enough are run by people) who are crazy enough to be traveling the same path. To those people I say "I love you all" (you know who you are). That said I do need to warn you that I am prone to rather intense 'save the planet' ramblings. Rest assured that my heart is in the right place, so if I offend you or post something that is incorrect or outdated (other than photos), by all means let me know. I hope that this will be more of an evolving discussion where we can all benefit, rather than just a madman's mountaintop monologue screamed into the wind. It's definitely gonna take a tribe to wrangle my stampeding herd of thoughts on sustainability, community, and myriad other topics. My thanks and /or apologies are offered up front.