My Sabbatical » Scott

Photo of the Week: Brasilia, Brazil

Scott — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:15:36 +0000

Source: me

Taken in Brasilia, Brazil on November 13, 2011. On top of the TV Tower, looking down the boulevard to the Parliament Buildings in the distance.

Photo of the Week: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Scott — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:56:31 +0000

Picture taken by me, Oct 29, 2011. Los Congressos, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Traveling, Writing and Programming

Scott — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:53:08 +0000

I just read a very inspiring post by Alex MacCaw on a round-the-world trip he took, during which time he wrote two books, hacked some code, and landed a job at Twitter. And in between surfed, hiked, and partied his way around the world.

The peculiar thing about programmers is that they’re the one profession that can easily work remotely and travel, and yet they’re the one profession that doesn’t. Of course there are exceptions, but on my travels I didn’t meet another programmer doing anything similar; a sad state of affairs. My message to fellow programmers is stop making excuses, man up and do it. You only live once, and I guarantee that you will have the time of your life.

Sigh. I should do this. I write book, I program, I love to travel. I should do it all.

Traveling in an Economic Crisis

The Sabbatical.Me Contest

Scott — Sat, 14 May 2011 20:31:58 +0000

Source: Giorgio Montersino at flickr

As a thank you to those that visit sabbatical.me, I’ve decided to run a little contest to give away an Amazon.com gift card to one lucky person.

Either leave a comment to this post, answering the question “Where in the world would you like to spend 6 months if you can choose anywhere?”, OR like this post on Facebook, OR like this site on Facebook (OR all 3), and at the end of July I will choose one lucky person to receive a $20 gift card from Amazon.com. Make sure to leave your email address on the comment (not displayed) or I will contact you through Facebook to arrange the prize.

The Dan Plan and Deliberate Practice

Scott — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:59:27 +0000

Source: jurvetson at flickr

Last year, I wrote an article on the book Talent Is Overrated, and specifically how deliberate practice is required in order to be great at anything.

I recently read about a guy named Dan McLaughlin who bought into this philosophy, and has got a goal to obtain his PGA Tour Card in the next 5 years. He had never played golf before, and he quit his job to do this. Almost a year after he started practicing (1500 hours of practice), he still had not played 18 holes of golf. That is exactly what deliberate practice is – not playing the game, just practicing the components in isolation.

An inspiring story of just waking up one day and deciding you want to do something, and not letting anyone say “you can’t”.

Deliberate Practice and the Art of Getting Better

On The Road: Interesting Differences Between Brazil and Canada

Scott — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:31:16 +0000

Source: Milton Jung at flickr

I just got home from two amazing weeks in Brazil, and I still need to get my head around many of the things that I saw and experienced there. But it’s always interesting to me to contrast and compare differences between life in Brazil and the life I am used to here in Canada.

1. Food By The Kilo

If you go to a food court in a mall, one of the most common types of fast food places is called “Kilo“. Literally, it is a buffet restaurant that sells food by the kilogram (or pound if you will). In a typical mall food court, you might have 3 or 4 of these types of restaurants.

Essentially, similar to the all-you-can-eat style American buffet, at these places they weigh your plate before you eat it, and charge you based on weight. The food is above average, and based on your preferences you can get steak, pasta, rice, noodles, and everything in between. Why don’t we have this here, outside of grocery stores?

2. Traffic? I Don’t KNOW Traffic

I live in a big city. As such, I already know it’s crazy to try to leave the downtown area at 6pm, and you’re looking at 90 minutes of slow moving traffic to get to the outer suburbs. Having spent 3 hours trying to get to the airport to pick some friends up in Sao Paulo at 5pm (and arriving closer to 7pm), I have seen real traffic. Canada doesn’t have Brazilian traffic. I am glad I don’t have to experience that on a daily basis. How do people do that?

In Sao Paulo, traffic is measured in Kilometers. The other day in Sao Paulo, the radio announced there was 200 kilometers (120 miles) of traffic congestion. That’s not 200 kilometers on a single road (sum of the major roads), but compare that Toronto has a maximum East-West distance of 46 kilometers. It might take you an hour (more or less) to cross the city during rush hour. Do we even HAVE 200 kilometers of major roads here?

3. Speed Bumps

On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many speed bumps in my life. You can be travelling down a highway at 80 kph (50 mph), and then suddenly there is a huge speed bump and you have to reduce speed drastically. You speed up again, and another speed bump a few hundred meters later. Perhaps that’s better than having traffic lights in minor intersections, but you cannot take your eyes off the road for even a moment. Perhaps three or four times during my trip, I did not notice a speed bump on a road (say, at night), and went over it hard.

4. Favelas

It is certainly an interesting feature of Brazil that there are conclaves of extreme poverty in the big cities, called Favelas. In some places you might call them slums. But they’re an undeniable fact of life there.

I did a lot of driving in Brazil which was fun. But I did get lost a few times. One time, after borrowing a friend’s GPS, I turned off of the wrong exit from the highway. Well, I bet “I got off of the wrong exit” is the start of many scary stories all around the world. I found myself driving through a neighborhood that was undeniably a favela. At one point, I came across what looked like a giant trash dump. Except this trash dump was on fire – a big big fire. I wish I could have stopped and took a picture. But I am not that dumb.

Even without bonfires, there are cars without tires, windows or engines parked on the side of the road. People who own cars don’t leave them parked outside a locked garage.

5. Living With Violence

I watched a movie before going that highlighted kidnappings in Sao Paulo. (Yikes.) On the plane on the way down there, the guy sitting next to me said, “The first time I was robbed, it was 12 noon.” And in talking with some friends once I arrived, it seems common to be kidnapped, mugged, or car-jacked. The murder rate is about 5 times that of Toronto. But even with that huge difference, I don’t think the real risk is murder. I think that robbery is the real fear people live with.

That being said, I didn’t get robbed, and never felt in danger at any time. Even as I was driving through the favela with fires and tireless cars, I felt safe as the streets were filled with children, students, and normal working people coming home for lunch. But I wouldn’t want to be lost there at night.

6. It Rains In The Rainforest

Most of Brazil is covered by rainforest. Do you know what it does quite regularly in the rainforest? It rains. Now Sao Paulo has a rainy season (October to March more or less), but that covers most of the spring and summer! It’s now fall in Brazil, and although the rainy season is over, it’s getting cold. Wait, did I say cold?

7. It Gets Cold In Brazil

My head is still not able to process this fact. I saw the thermometer say 15 degrees Celsius during the day when I was there. And it didn’t FEEL like 15, it felt like 10 or less. It was cold. I wore pants. And a long sleeve shirt! In Brazil! Ai ai. That’s not a difference between Brazil and Canada I guess, but it is a surprising fact I discovered on my trip.

8. It’s Not Cheaper

Perhaps you think Canada, the United States, and Western Europe are the most expensive places to live and the rest of the world is cheap by comparison. Well, Brazil seems more expensive to live if you can believe it. Gas is R$3 a litre. That’s C$1.80 a litre, or US$6.81 per gallon!

Televisions? Double the price. Video games? Three times the price. I don’t know why the price of imported things are so much more expensive than Canada, but they are. If you can live your life avoiding imported food and products, and without driving, you can live cheaper than in Toronto. But when you see things so much more than you are used to, you certainly feel like you’re being ripped off.

Anyways, I’ll write some more posts on Brazil in the coming days. Many thanks to all my friends there for their wonderful hospitality and taking good care of me. I did love my trip there, and I will be looking at the calendar shortly to pick a date to come back.

Two Weeks In Sunny Brazil

Scott — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:58:51 +0000

Just like that, two and three months have passed since I decided to go to Brazil for my next adventure. And here I am on Wednesday, getting on a plane on Friday. I haven’t really packed – haven’t even decided what luggage to take. Before I know it, I will be off.

My destination for this trip is Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is a city of 11 million inhabitants (up to 19 million if you count the suburbs), and is the largest city in the southern hemisphere, the second largest in all of the Americas, and the seventh largest city in the world.

The top 10 largest cities in the world are:

Shanghai, 13.8 MM (visited in 2010)
Istanbul, 13.1 MM
Karachi, 12.9 MM
Delhi, 12.5 MM
Mumbai, 12.4 MM
Moscow, 11.5 MM
Sao Paulo, 11.2 MM (visiting in 2011)
Seoul, 10.4 MM
Beijing, 10.1 MM (visted in 2010)
Jakarta, 9.5 MM

So in terms of large cities, I have only been to a few.

Of course, I will post thoughts and pictures up after my trip (and perhaps during if I can get reliable internet coverage.) Take care all, and see you soon!

Vogels In Usuhia

Scott — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:51:59 +0000

I’m happy to hear that the Vogel family, mentioned in my last post about bicycling from Alaska to Argentina, actually made it to Usuhia. That’s amazing!

From Alaska to Argentina By Bike

Scott — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:07:29 +0000

Source: Poldavo (Alex) at flickr

For the last two years, I have been avidly following the Family on Bikes, as they made their way from northern Alaska, down through Canada and the United States, all the way down to the southern tip of South America. They are almost there. They started cycling in June 2008, and have about 10 days left on their journey. It’s an amazing feat for any athlete, but a family – mother and father with two young boys – it’s a truly incredible feat. My hats off to them.

That is two and a half years of cycling many hours per day – only a few days off here and there to combat illness and bike repairs. Dusty roads, no roads, rain, heat, cold. Having to carry all your possessions with you. Wearing the same clothes over and over again – how many shirts would they pack with them? Pulling over to the side of uncountable roads and camping for the night. I almost want to say, two and a half years of being uncomfortable. All the things we take for granted – including hot food and hot showers – were luxuries for them. But at the end, I am sure they made a lot of friends, learned a lot, saw a lot, and have memories for a lifetime.

Thanks for Netflix, I recently watched a series by Michael Palin, the Monty Python actor turned world traveller, who tried to go from the North Pole to the South. Not by bike, but by train, boat and car. That was a multi-month ordeal as well. Finding himself in Africa, where the “once-a-week” train hasn’t shown up for 6 weeks. That’s still quite an adventure, I won’t take anything away from him travelling a bit more comfortably. Some of the trains and hotels did not look all that comfortable.

I wonder if I can do something similar. Perhaps biking is not in the cards for me. I was never much of a bicyclist. But can I get a motorcycle and travel the same stretch – Alaska to South America? Can I do it by car even?

Of course it has been done before. I read an interesting account of two friends that did it. It took them 7 months from Connecticut to the southern tip of Argentina although it seems there were long breaks in their journey. Part of me would say, I wonder how long it would take “non-stop”. But then another part of me says, why would you want to do a trip like that non-stop? I think I would need a week or two in various places. Seeing the sights, learning the language, and just enjoying myself.

Who knows. Maybe one day I will be able to do that. The next time I find myself with a lot of time on my hands, perhaps I might.

Photo of the Week: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Bem Dia! Oi Brasil!

Scott — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:30:59 +0000

Source: Mathieu Struck at flickr

Maybe I am not much of a world traveler. After all, despite the 19 countries I have visited in the past, I have only had to apply for a tourist visa once before in my life. But I just got back from the Consulate to apply for my second visa, and country number 20. Brazil, here I come!

Sonia could not crack a smile. She was unhappy, impatient, and clearly all these tourists wanting to visit her country were disturbing her. “Bem dia!”, I exclaimed. Nothing from Sonia. She took the papers from my hands, without even asking how I was or what she can do to help me. She was fast and efficient, I will give her that. A few checkmarks, a stamp, and she filled out a receipt for me. And just like that, my visa application was in process. “Obrigado!”, I said, in one last attempt to get a response from her. Nothing.

Now I know for a fact that Brazilians are friendly and welcoming. Perhaps the Brazilian Consulate of Toronto should consider hiring some of those people.

So the plane ticket has been purchased for a mid-April departure. Two weeks in sunny South America – my fourth continent. Damn, two years ago I could have stepped a toe on Africa for a few hours and this would have been number five. I should have.

Anyways, watch out meus amigos do Brasil. I am on my way. Keep a beer cold for me.

How Long Can You Stay in One Place?