Places to See Before I Die

I recently changed my homepage on iGoogle and took off all the news feeds. (BBC/CNN/WSJ) Although the BBC is one of my favorites – not limited to inane American newsflashes such as: "Superstar ****** seen leaving 7-11 with large Slurpee – what about the diet??!!" , it's too much. I want to know what's going on but the news feeds distract me and don't inspire me. I get the WSJ and CNN Breaking newsflashes on email as well (they're about to bite the dust too) but enough is enough. I want to be inspired!

What better way than to have added Places to See Before You Die as a tab! Fantastic pictures of places I have been or want to have been keep popping up! Carnival in Venice; Shingo-La Pass, Lakakh, India; Pyramids of Gizeh, Cairo, Egypt; Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands; Half Dome, Yosemite NP, California…you get the idea.

Two things come from this virtual stroll through the world.

1). I am grateful for the amount of travel I have had in the world. And how often I am pleasantly surprised to see a place I have been and can now add to the "it's ok to die now" side of the list.

2). I love the fact that the world is so diverse and beautiful – and I am motivated to work – knowing that by being successful I will have the chance to visit all of the places that intrigue me, or return to those places that bring me joy.

Information overload is overrated. I get the news often enough through the paper and NPR radio that I'm truly enjoying my refreshed iGoogle home page. I've also noticed when I've traveled with very little English speaking TV available, I can usually get CNN The World. They cover the news of the world and if I try to get too much, I'm suddenly watching the same news stories two hours later. There's only so much that's truly newsworthy – and well covered, it doesn't have to take over my day (or screen). Now back to my regularly scheduled Sunday.