Category: Blog

I like Godzilla movies and 49ers football. Donica likes massages and spas. What can I say? We’re very different people. As you can imagine, when my wife asks me if I want to visit this high-end spa facility with her while in Rotorua, New Zealand, I’m a wee bit skeptical. “It seems kind of expensive, […]

Zorbing looked SO fun when we booked it online from the safe confines of our living room couch. My wife and I figured, while traveling in New Zealand, the land that invented adventure sports, what could be more audacious, more “Kiwi” than climbing into a giant, inflatable, plastic ball and rolling down a hillside! Weeks […]

Hey everyone. Well, I’m back from 3 fantastic weeks on the North Island of New Zealand, with lots of stories to tell. Given the demands of work and life in general, I suspect I won’t be able to keep up with my daily posts, but I’ll definitely be writing as much as I can, up […]

Wham!  That’s the sound of my chest slamming into the ground at mach speed — knocking my breath out, bruising my ribs and delivering a bloody scratch to the side of my nose.  One second, I’m jogging along, enjoying the fresh air and gorgeous nature of Annadel State Park (in Santa Rosa, CA), the next […]

Are You A Collector? By Dave Blum.   What have you collected in your life? When I was a kid—I collected pretty much everything. Most of it was pretty normal: Stamps, Coins, Stickers. That kind of thing. And then there were the “odder” items. For example, my friend Mike and I went through a long […]

Be the Indy Jones of Your Life   By Dave Blum “Hi.   My name is Indiana Jones!” Okay, I’m not really Indiana Jones who is, of course, a fictional character played by a real actor (Harrison Ford) in a fictional movie (Raiders of the Lost Ark). But wouldn’t it be great to somehow be […]

Trust me By Dave Blum What is it about trust that is so hard to gain and so easy to lose?   It’s 1971 and my Mom is tucking me into bed. I’m wearing my Speed Racer pajamas, my childhood afro spilling out over my pillow.  I’ve got my favorite stuffed animal, Tigery, tucked under […]

You are you wherever you go. By Dave Blum A wise man once told me, “You are you wherever you go.”    Little did I know how true that might be — until disaster struck. It’s 2001, a warm muggy day in southwest Costa Rica.  My travel partner, Donna, and I have just finished our walking […]

“How ya doing, how ya doing?” says the giant as he lumbers into my cramped San Francisco apartment, extending his right hand. “Gre—at.  You must be Mike.” “That’s me!” At 6 foot 5, 250 pounds, his shaven head as shiny as a mirror, Mike Franklin is a man who commands attention. He’s the kind of […]

If I asked you to guess what’s inside this chest, what would you answer? –Jewels? –Golden doubloons? –A Faberge egg? Regardless of what’s actually inside the box, opening it is exciting to think about, isn’t it?  “What could it be?” Your heart beats faster.  Adrenaline floods your system. Your breath catches in anticipation.  For this […]