Welcome to the Research Rabbit Hole

By trade (and likely by nature) I am a researcher. All this means is that I am given a question (or one pops into my head) and I dig through any sources at my disposal to answer it.

I love learning these answers.

Researching allows me to satisfy my natural curiosity and love of learning. On my own time, I can spend hours going through documentaries, books, and websites on any number of subjects.

In simple terms: I am a wealth of useless information.


My range of research varies greatly from the mundane (what are good eco-friendly cleaning products to use/buy), to the fan based (at one point I knew way more than I needed to about the Transformers franchise), to the bizarre (I am a proud deathling and learning about what happens after a person dies is really interesting), to the down right depressing (unsolved mysteries are heart breaking).

The need to look anything up typically starts with the phrase: I wonder...?

For example: I wonder why the English language became the garbage disposal of European Languages? This led to an entire afternoon going through a ton of websites on the English language, which led to me reading on several invasions of England that I hadn't previously known about, which led to a "brief" history on the Normandy region in France, which led to me realizing it was dinner time and I had spent half a day on research that I wasn't going to do anything with.


I don't know if you've noticed readers, but there are a lot of run on sentences in this post. Probably because that's my feeling on research. Once I start, I just go until I remember to return to the real world.

My current ear worm question is: would aliens use a different base system than we humans do to do math and are there any examples in science fiction of this happening?

Basically, we use a base 10 system (our number scales are "based" on units of 10) for most of our number systems. Exceptions are the base 12 system we use for our clocks and the base 2 system (also known as binary) used for computers. The main reason human use base 10 as the base for the majority of our number systems is because we have ten toes and ten fingers. So, by that logic, if an alien species say had 8 fingers or toes, would they also have a base 8 math system?

I can't think of any examples of science fiction where this problem arises. Not even in Star Trek or Doctor Who, which are two series I would think would explore this idea. I mean there's one episode of Star Trek where binary is super important to one alien species, but that's not as out there as my previously mentioned base 8 system (or even more arbitrary a base 17 system).

If you guys know of any examples, please let me know.

But to bring this blog back on topic, I can easily get lost doing research. I can't make a decision without first doing research on all my options. If I'm planning a trip or event, I have to look up everything before hand.

The down side is that I can become indecisive or even anxious about my research. Fun fact: there is a point where a lot of research turns into too much research. Instead of writing a good solid story, too much research can cause me to not write a single word or be too afraid of taking literary license as I might get a ton of "um actually..." emails. One of the first tips I got as a writer was to never write about trains because people who do work on trains will call you out on your inaccuracies.

So, what is the balance between just enough research, not enough, and way too much to keep a person sane?

There isn't an answer.

I'm off to discover if any science fiction movies, book, or TV shows ever had aliens use a different number system than us humans. Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Information Overload

I don't think it's any coincidence that my chosen day job profession is as a Market Researcher. I love doing research and information gathering. I able to learn make better choices.

Of course I might go a little overboard with my research on occasion.

I have a hard time making decisions and choices if I can't count for every possible variable. Since many of these possible variables are unknown, the possible starts to turn into the impossible. It sort of feeds into my own fears and self doubt. It's the primal fear of the unknown (well in my case unknown consequences of my actions).

It doesn't help that in this day in age, there are more sources to obtain information. The Internet is a wonderful tool that allows all of us to find out about obscure facts, the best restaurants, and places to go. We're able to document our experiences and promote the things we like best to a wider audience that generations couldn't. We can do this instantly.

Not only can we find out about world events we might not otherwise hear about on the news or facts that might not be taught in schools, we are also exposed to many new and different opinions. Behind the anonymity of our computer screens, we can engage in discussions that we might not otherwise have participated in.

The Internet often feels like the ultimate freedom of expression.

The downside to all of this information is that it can be overwhelming, easily taken out of context, and extremely misleading. Many of us are already seeing the effects of this.

Bias is always present in any source of information. The phrase "history is written by the winners" can be found in almost every history documentary. Facts and numbers can easily be manipulated to show the outcome that someone wants.

That phrase "there are two sides to every story" has also been tossed around a lot. I think this one in particular is too simplistic for the reality we live in. There are usually dozens of different perspectives each based on past knowledge and future outcomes.

What does this mean for me as a person who needs as much information as possible to make a decision?

Well, it can mean that it takes me far longer than necessary to make choices, perhaps a missed opportunity, and the constant feeling that what ever choice I end up making is the wrong choice. It creates a need for perfection and a fear of failure. It makes me constantly compare myself to my peers and those who have already succeeded, while I hesitate to take the next step in my own life.

There's a lot of information to be gathered. There are a lot of things I still need to learn. I will continue doing research because it's what I do best. However, I'll have to work on stopping myself from becoming overwhelmed by all of it.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.

Welcome to Solo Travel

My final post on my adventure in Iceland is going to focus traveling solo. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous about going to a new country by myself. Part of the reason I decided to go to Iceland was because it was highly recommended for first time solo travelers.

Solo travel might not be for everyone, but I definitely recommend trying it. I personally think that solo travel is best for people who like to spend a good amount of time by themselves. There were plenty of opportunities for me to talk to people, but the majority of my time was very quiet. I was able to just be imaginative for a while.

I had heard that doing a solo trip was something people should put on their bucket lists. I don't really remember where I heard this from (probably a travel blog on Facebook or from one of my really adventurous friends). Still I put it on my bucket list of things I should think about doing. Then I randomly brought round trip tickets to Iceland. Suddenly I went from thinking about doing it to actually doing it.

To prepare, I did a lot of research. I then chucked most of that research out the window when one of my friends got so excited for me that they basically became my travel agent. This friend had also never been to Iceland, but they had been on solo trips before. They helped talk me into staying at a hostel, which I'm really glad I did. They talked me into going to the Blue Lagoon and the Golden Circle Tour. This friend later decided to also go to Iceland, so I've given them all my tips for when they are there in a few weeks.

I am so glad my friend gave me some of the pushes that they did, otherwise I might not have made some great new friends or done some of the amazing things I did (Golden Circle Tour).

My mom was also a big help finding out information and bouncing ideas off of. She has done a good bit of traveling and she said agreed with my friend on a lot of the things they told me. My mom also gave me the best price of advice. She said that its okay to not have a set plan until you get there because you might find an opportunity you wouldn't have known about until you get there.

It was really good advice for me. I ended up not booking anything (except the Blue Lagoon) until after I arrived. If I had made plans for each day I probably wouldn't have gone to Videy Island or found out about the "free" city walking tour. I only found out about them after arriving*.

I might have been okay with that (non)plan if someone had come with me, but it might not have worked out. Some people just need a plan when they go on vacation. It's not a bad thing to want a solid plan, but it's not for everyone.

So here is my list of why I enjoyed traveling solo. It might not be everyone's reasons for going solo and you can probably do some of them while traveling with one or two friends, but that's why it's my list.

1) Quiet reflection while letting the imagination go wild - I spend a lot of time in my own head just thinking and being in a new place really let my thoughts go wild.

2) Change plans without compromising - this happened several times while I was in Iceland (for example I got lost going to one museum and went to a different one instead). I also sometimes would stumble across an interesting place (the cemetery) and spend time there.

3) Make new friends and talk to new people - yes this can be done with a group of people too, but there's something fun about being asked if I'd like to hang out with someone I had just met.

4) Take my time - since I was setting my own pace I could take as much or as little time as I wanted somewhere. I could also have as much down time as I wanted.

5) Say I traveled solo - a few of my friends said that they wouldn't have had the guts to traveling explore a new country by themselves. It felt like an accomplishment to do it.

Again these are my reasons for taking a solo vacation. I definitely recommend trying it once in your life. You never know who you might meet or what adventures you'll find.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really passed you of) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Hopefully I'll be off on my next adventure sooner rather than later.

*I had known about Videy Island before going, but I wasn't sure if I would visit it or not. It wasn't until another person in my hostel room said that they were going too that I officially decided to go. We hiked for four hours and got some of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.