In my life, I've made a few interesting and exciting trips, including a couple out of the country. Lately that hasn't been an option, as health issues, deaths, and an unpleasant meteorological event called Hurricane Ike have turned the lives of my wife and I upside down. But 2009 will be different -- this I pray.

What brought all this to mind? Well, the impending new year, of course -- but also a couple of YouTube videos that I came across. Both are humorous takes on what can happen when one goes on vacation. I could easily see myself being this Americans in Paris, given my success with building and rebuilding things. Hopefully i would not be the cause of any sort of international demolition -- and I certainly would not get myself into the sort of jam that teh fellow in their Brazillianvideo did -- clearly he needs to be on the internaional equivalent of jerry Springer.

Of course, these videos are quite fun, but vacationing is a serious business. Like they say, what happens on vaction is, in the end, your own business (well, maybe not for the folks in these videos). All I know is that they have helped reignite my wanderlust, and perhaps they will inspire my darling wife and I to travel to our preferred destination this year -- probably some place with a glacier to beat the Texas heat.