How on earth did two month's in Ukraine go by in what seemed like 1 week? It was just a whisper and then it was over.

Ukraine was full of parties and get-togethers at my apartment.

Which included a few Nerts games!

And forcing Ukrainians to try "authentic American food" like deviled eggs and ants on a log.

And making some of...

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Dangit. So this is what happens when you're having a great time. Time flies and you realize you haven't updated your friends and family in over a week. Lots has happened, here it is in a nutshell.

Kiev, Ukraine has really grown on me. At times I feel like I'm walking through Reykjavik in Iceland, and at other times I feel like I'm walking...

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It seems like the nearly 4 weeks in Thailand lasted about 6 days.

There are some serious fires going on in northern Thailand. It's so bad that you can barely see through the haze caused by the smoke.

And sometimes small pieces of ash will float down and land next to you even though the fires are miles and miles away. The other day it rained...

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I'm Monking It Now (sort of)
I'm officially on the 8 precepts:

1) Refrain from causing harm to any living creature.
2) Refrain from taking what is not given.
3) Refrain from sexual immorality.
4) Refrain from false speech.
5) Refrain from becoming intoxicated.
6) Refrain from eating at the wrong time.
7) Refrain from dancing, singing or beautifying...

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Today is Saturday and I'm supposed to have a bald head by now. Unfortunately the novice monk "barber" in charge of shaving heads decided to spend a few extra days out-of-town. So I still have my full head of hair. But as soon as he comes back, it's gone!

I recently had the opportunity to witness the novice monks during their chanting exercise...

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The uncomfortable 2.5 hour bus ride came to a stop in front of the temple gates just outside of Fang, Thailand.

I was greeted at the gate by Graham, a Scottish buddhist in charge of the Monk For A Month program. He grabbed one of my bags and lead me inside the temple walls.

I had to lean in to hear what he was saying despite the fact that...

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I'm Back In Travel Mode
After almost 6 months staying in my hometown, I'm back out and traveling the world again. Looks like I'm a bit addicted to new places.

But I'm starting out with a familiar country - Thailand. I was here this time last year with my buddy William.

For the first few days here in Chiang Mai, I've settled down into the same...

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I've owned SamPowers.NET for quite some time... about 8 years now. And for that 8 years it's been rocking on a beast server - a Dell Poweredge 1550.

This thing is a beast not because it's got the latest hardware or has a powerhouse CPU, no. It's a beast because back in 2001 when I purchased it, I took it downtown to the co-loc room at QX.net...

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My travel website Two Guys Around The World was just nominated into the top five video blogs of the Lonely Planet 2009 Travel Blogger Awards.

Lonely Planet is is one of the largest travel guidebook publishers in the world so this is a pretty big deal.

Help me out by giving me a vote (with two clicks of your mouse). Just go to the Lonely...

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The teaser to our upcoming video podcast: Episode 13 - Torres del Paine.

It comes out on November 24th at our travel website.

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Our plans to travel all around the world under $10,000 made it to the local news. Check this out:

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If while you are packing up your house to move one of your boxes starts to vibrate, you should be concerned. Especially if one of your friends finds it first.

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I never posted any pics of when I bought my new MacBook Pro. Here they are.

I'm still using it. It runs like a beast. It's a rockstar. I still haven't heard back from Lenovo even though I sent them my computer over a week ago. So they have my computer and my $1,700 still. They suck.

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I just bought me some MediaTemple hosting. For the past several years I have been hosting all my sites on my own server. It's been co-located in downtown Lexington with Intelliwire which is a sister company to eLink Design where I had worked for five years. Intelliwire has been awesome to me - providing super-fast connectivity for my server....

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I've been practicing a song for Maudie's wedding in August. My fingers are raw since it's been so long since I have played the guitar. These guys have been my inspiration for the song:

This past Wednesday was the last West Coast Wednesday for me. It's sad. I loved busting into some 3 hours of non-stop West Coast Swing. Paula from Grand...

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This weekend was full of excitement. It started off on Friday night with a little movie night at the apartment with the projector that we have set up.

On Saturday I headed to Fowlerville, MI to go to a friend's farm (Kayla) and went horseback ridding. I was ridding the horse Kayla calls Grandpa. He was stubborn and didn't like having a bridle...

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Lenovo finally approved my request to return my broken laptop after going through PC Hell. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Samuel "SammyK" Powers has now officially made the switch. I am now the proud new owner of a MacBook Pro. It's something that I have been wanting to do for a long time, but have never done. Mainly because of the fact that I...

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ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!! I am so.... argh! I can't believe this farce. I now officially hate Lenovo because of this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and finally this. And now THIS:

This is to inform you that your request to return system in order number has been approved contingent of a rebook or replacement order. You may place a new order in...

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Steve and Brandon were talking smack. They are guys. You know what happens when two guys talk smack and a camera is introduced? Well, see below.

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I got to be Rex at Cornerstone 2008 this year. Rex is the XXXChurch mascot. He is the answer to the playboy bunny.

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I had really hoped that all my troubles with my Lenovo were over. I sent it in and they replaced the motherboard, but just a few moments ago it completely locked up again. I forsaw this from the very beginning of all the drama - "I have read many posts from users who have sent their laptops in to get them fixed only to get them back in the...

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I got my Lenovo laptop back today. It was very strange. I sent it off to them several days ago and never received a phone call or email or anything of that nature. Then suddenly today it shows up on my doorstep. They replaced the motherboard. I really hope that fixed the issue. I won't know until I work on it for a few hours if it's fixed. Part...

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Today we moved from one temporary living situation to another. The old place was a house that was up for sale and we were allowed to stay there until it sold. It sold within one week of us moving into it. But we were able to stay there for almost a month. That month has come and gone and now we are living in a fully furnished apartment. We'll...

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The return box for my broken laptop came in from Lenovo this morning. Wow - it was here less than 24 hours from when I called Lenovo. That's some fast shipping on DHL's part. I packaged the laptop in it and dropped it off at a DHL shipper. So now I'm just waiting on a Lenovo technician's phone call or email.

Let's make some predictions about...

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Last night I was feeling pretty good about my brand-new dysfunctional Lenovo laptop because it looked like things were finally starting to take a turn for the best. After formatting and restoring the laptop back to the factory defaults completely, I began installing all the software I needed. I used it all night last night without even a hint...

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After sleeping on it and cooling off from my outrage with Lenovo, I have decided to give Lenovo another chance. I called up their tech support and got some lady who attempted to fix my Blue Screen of Death error I was getting when Windows was booting.

The first thing she had me do was reset the BIOS to the original settings. "That'll do a...

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After all the IBM Thinkpad drama I have been going through, trying to return my laptop that doesn't even work, I just got the following email from Lenovo support.

"In regards to your recent return request pertaining to order #******, our returns team has researched the situtation and at this time has denied a return for your Lenovo 6459CTO...

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After much frustration with my new IBM Thinkpad Lenovo T61, I called up their returns people again today and got a lady named Jessica who said that she'd have to send the return request to some committee that would make the decision of whether or not to take the laptop back without charging me a restocking fee. They were going to be notifying...

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CONSUMER WARNING: DO NOT PURCHASE AN IBM Thinkpad Lenovo T61.

I just purchased a pimped-out laptop from IBM that has all the latest and greatest hardware. And I don't know why I didn't see this before I purchased it. Review after review on that page tells the story of someone who purchased the Lenovo T61 and immediately had problems with it -...

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I have thought about getting a tattoo for a long time now. I think 2008 is the year I will get one. Actually, I'm going to get one right before I leave on my world journey around the world with William in September. For me it will be symbolic of the year of travel that will no doubt change my life. It will be my "christening" for the trip. I...

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