​

​I just closed on a piece of land here in Thailand, so I thought I’d jot down a few notes.
 
My friends in the real estate and mortgage biz in the US will get a kick out of this, so enjoy part 2 of 3 (and click here to read part 1).
 
***

• I think the best part of this whole entire experience is that the Thai government let me name my corporation anything I wanted. 

 
Really? ANYTHING?
 
I settled on “Monkey Butt Holdings.” (T-shirts and swag coming soon.)

• I kept waiting for someone to stop me, pulling me aside and saying, “No, no, you can’t do that with a business here,” or the adult in the room to chastise me, but alas, Monkey Butt soon became official.

 

• Corporation formed (without having to look under bridges for homeless board members), the next step was to make an offer. The negotiation took place almost strictly between the two Thai wives, with all of us foreign dudes on the sidelines scratching our heads.

 

• I offered to put a 20% deposit down…but they wanted more! 

 

• Corporation formed (without having to look under bridges for homeless board members), the next step was to make an offer. The negotiation took place almost strictly between the two Thai wives, with all of us foreign dudes on the sidelines scratching our heads.

 

• I offered to put a 20% deposit down…but they wanted more! ​

There are no rules or standard to that, but they just wanted some quick cash up front. They even asked for a bigger down payment, to which my buddy’s Thai wife got heated and threatened to call the whole deal off. So, the seller’s wife acquiesced, and we settled on 20% down.

• There are no title or escrow companies here! The deal was registered through a local authority who is sort of like a village chieftain. But it’s not a primitive setup at all, as real estate attorneys and official documents are involved. 

 

• There’s no earnest money deposit with your original offer, you just hand over the whole deposit immediately once you agree on a price and then draw up a contract. 

 
That’s right, the sellers get to hold onto the deposit! If you back out of the deal for any reason, you better believe you lose that money.  

• Financing isn’t available for foreigners through Thai banks. It may be possible, but you’d probably have to have a ton of money in a Thai bank, a business and plenty of 

collateral here, official residency, etc. 
 
The rates would be sky high and the payment window very small by our standards. Some foreigners may get So, I had to pay cash.

• Remember that when many foreigners buy property in Thailand, they want to pay cash. As I mentioned, Thailand (and especially the Pattaya area where I live) is a huge bank/laundry mat for foreigners who want a safe place to park/clean their money, often times they scoop up condos, buildings, or businesses as quickly as possible. 

 
Property here is particularly popular with Chinese buyers and often Russian, Indian, etc.
 

• That’s especially true of new condos. I remember seeing a new condo development that was just in the presale stage. Driving by one morning, there were about 50 people in line, most of them holding duffel bags or designer bags. They were filled with cash! 

 
This group of people in line were mostly Chinese nationals who were holding bags of cash right there in the street to put down a deposit on a condo - or a few of them – sight unseen! They didn’t even need to go look at the units!
 

• Where else in the world can you hold a bag of cash on the street and not worried about getting jacked?!

• I did open a Thai bank account just to hold the money I saved in the three months before we closed on the deal. To open the account, they wanted my lease agreement and I had to go down to the immigration office to get an official form stamped as well as very awkward headshot photos that have me looking like I’m in a hostage video. 

• After my Thai company was formed and I had saved the needed funds, we could close on the property early. That meant taking out the money in cash and bringing it to the land office to hand to the sellers. 

• I was planning on going to the bank on my mountain bike, fill up my backpack with the cash, and pedal home as fast as possible. But, my good friend, Big John, here offered to pick me up in his truck and run security.

 

• John is 6’7” tall and served in the military all over the world in some really nasty shit, so he’s about the best person to have watching your back!

• At the bank, the teller handed me eight stacks with one hundred thousand Baht each without blinking, and John drove me on back home. We were scheduled at the land office early the next morning, so I was committed not to do something stupid in the next twelve hours that might jeopardize my life savings!

 
I could imagine just stepping out for “one beer” and stumbling back home around 5am sans money but with a brand new tattoo and wedding ring to show for it. 

• I didn’t want to be the dude who fumbles the ball heading into the end zone, so I forced myself to stay home.

 

• Once John dropped me off and I locked my door, I surveyed my apartment. Where should I hide the money? 

 
I needed a secure spot that wasn’t obvious like under my pillow, wouldn’t get thrown out, damaged in a plumbing leak, and could stand up to a fire in case the entire building lit into flames.

​

• I got it! I neatly placed the stacks of Thai Baht notes in a Tupperware container and placed it in my freezer. COLD hard cash, baby! 

 

• Believe it or not, it wasn’t my first rodeo storing copious stacks of cash in a freezer. 

 
Back in the day when I was a humble house painter in Connecticut, scraping and clawing my way through 80 hours per week of manual labor, I could put away some good cash by the end of the season.
 
I was completely unaware about how the whole “adulting thing” worked. I thought that if you put cash in the bank, the IRS would automatically know about it, and you’d be screwed come tax time. 
 
So, I took $75,000 in assorted bills and wrapped them in foil and put them in my mom’s freezer for safekeeping.
 
She even used to joke that one night, she’d accidentally take one of the foil packets out and defrost it for dinner.
 

• Fast forward about six months and I was ready to head west to Sacramento, California. I knew that it was not wise to be walking around with that much cash (nor could I fly with it), so one day after work, I took the foil packets out of the freezer and drive them down to the local bank branch.

 

• I walked up to the teller, still wearing my dirty and splattered painting clothes, looking like I’d just crawled out of a dumpster, and told her I wanted to make a deposit. 

 
I then slid her five foil packs containing $75,000 in frosted cash!
 

• The poor lady had no idea what to make of it. She called her manager over, who looked me up and down like I was actually robbing the bank, before finally just doing the transaction.

Look for part 3 of Monkey Butt Holdings: buying land in Thailand coming soon!

-Norm :-)

I just closed on a piece of land here in Thailand and the process was way different than buying real estate in the US, so, I thought I’d jot down a few notes.

I have a ton of friends in real estate and mortgage in the US, so I know they’ll get a kick out of this. 
 
***

• I’m currently living in Jomtien, Thailand and just bought a plot of land nearby.

 

• My best friend here, Scott, is a US dude who retired in Thailand. He’s pretty experienced with the real estate market here, having bought and sold several properties and even built a home. 

• The land is owned by a French guy who works as a SCUBA instructor (frightening scenes from that French SCUBA instructor in the movie Couples Retreat with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn come to mind!) and his Thai wife. They bought the land a long time ago and now are subdivided and selling smaller lots. 

 

• In a few years, my buddy Scott will start building his permanent home on his land, so I thought it would be cool to have the adjoining lot. In particular, I want us to build one giant pool, I’ll be able to play with his five dogs without having to do any cleanup or buy food, and I can show up at his front door around dinner time.

 

• Financially, it also makes sense – the land is only 1,000,000 Baht. 

 
What?! A million!?
 
Relax, big hitter – that’s only $29,500 USD or so. 
​ 

• I’ve been working my ass off like 70 hours per week, 7 days per week for the past three years, so I had a little money sitting in the bank. With a US inflation rate north of 9%, I didn’t feel like seeing my cash lose a bunch of value every year, so I thought a (small) real estate investment would be wise. 

 

• I’ve also been super interested in buying and investing in property abroad, and see people buying beautiful condos in Costa Rica, beachside bungalows in Nicaragua, posh flats in Medellin, Colombia, etc., and thought it was my time. (I almost bought a piece of land in Nicaragua this past spring for a great price but I snoozed on it too long. But I will look there again!)

 

• So, how does a real estate purchase work here in Thailand?

• Technically, foreigners aren’t even allowed to own land. If you’re not Thai, you can “buy air, not earth” freehold, which means it’s super easy to buy condos. 

• And so many foreigners do buy condos here. In fact, the area where I’m at is like a big bank where people from all over the world come to dump their money into Thai real estate, knowing that it’s stable, safe, and will never go down in value. 

 

• Thailand’s real estate is the easiest and safest avenue for people who don’t trust their banking system, government, economy, the strength of their currency, are running from tax collectors, or want to launder illicit money (a huge thing here!).

  

But I digress. 

So, you can buy condos all day long and own it free and clear, but buying land or property (like a house) is not accessible to foreigners…UNLESS they go through a convoluted and super risky process. 

• You have to first form a corporation which will hold ownership of the land. The corporation has 5 people on the Board of Directors and at least 3 need to be Thai. 

 

• But the real power of the corporation lies with the Director, who makes any important financial decisions. When you first form the corporation and buy the land under its umbrella, the Director has to be Thai. 

 

• That’s the risky part. You’re giving 100% control to a Thai person (as it would be risky with any person, but ripping off foreigners is an artform here), who could literally just take your land and there’s nothing you could do about it. 

 
That actually happens all the time here as foreign dudes buy land, houses, or businesses and put them in their girlfriend’s name. BIG mistake, and the dude often finds himself ass-out with no recourse.

• Thankfully, my best friend here is married to a Thai woman who is rock solid, and I trust her completely. (Let me say as many nice things about her as I can here!) 

 
So, she’s the temporary Director until after the deal closes. Then, after a week or whatever, the corporate charter can be legally changed and I will be the Director.

• To fill out the company’s board we found two “dummy” members– a couple of Thai people who will put their names on the corporation for a few bucks but have no involvement or even knowledge.

• The Philippines has a similar corporate and real estate setup where you need to trust a local person as the swing vote on the board of directors, but there you can’t install yourself as Director eventually.  

• So, I’ve heard of seasoned expats in the Philippines actually finding some random homeless dude under a bridge and giving them a few bucks to be on the board. They know the guy (or gal) will never have the knowledge or means to ever look up the company, find the land and the owner, hire an attorney, etc.

• However, I opted against this “random homeless guy under a bridge” method of real estate acquisition, as charming as it sounds.

***

-Norm :-)

P.S. Click here to read part 2!

"So much of our future lies in preserving our past."
-Peter Westbrook

I'm a huge geek for culture. To me, that's the vital essence of a place  - the well-mixed stew of its people; its customs; its workaday street language; its food and architecture and music; and definitely, its history.

​Therefore, having lived in Tamarindo, Costa Rica at two separate stints in my life ten years apart, I was shocked at how little has been documented and preserved from days past. 

All-to-soon, the only Tamarindo history left will be the mumbled barroom stories of a few salty dog expats or rocking chair recollections from Tico elders (sadly, who don't even live in Tamarindo anymore).  And once they are gone, Tamarindo's cultural heritage will be reduced to pure vida t-shirts and  Instagram photos. 

That would really be a shame, so I endeavored to collect as many old photos of Tamarindo as I could find and share them here.

Of course, the terms "old" or "historic" are relative in Tama, especially with photographic documentation. Even snapshots from the 1990s are increasingly rare.

However, I do feel this is a good start. 

Have fun looking through these photos and please drop me a line if you have any of your own or recognize the people, place, and timeline of the photos I've shared here. 

Your friend,

-Norm. :-)

Here are a bunch of photos I collected from the web and various people on Facebook but I don't have information about the year or exact subject matter. 

But it is pretty fun to look through and guess!

If you have any information on these photos, just email me and I'll add it! 

These are from a collection of my own photos when I lived in Tamarindo in 2010 and 2011. 

I'm sure a lot of you older-timers will recognize the places and even people, so hit me up if you have any comments or feedback! 

I hope you enjoyed this trip to Tamarindo of yesteryear as much as I have.

​If you have any old photos, videos, or even documents that shine a light on Tamarindo's history, please share them with me here. I'll post them with your permission and give you full credit.

Thanks and pura vida!

-Norm. :-)

Well, this is awkward.
 
Last month I sent you a long, detailed postcard about why I was moving to Las Vegas, Nevada to wait-out the winter/spring of Covid. 
 
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
 
Instead, I chose to relocate down to Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It’s actually a familiar locale, as I lived here from 2011 to 2012 in the land of surf, sun, and pura vida. ​

I even wrote a book about the experience, South of Normal.
 
And when Costa Rica opened up to all U.S. tourists on November 1st, I thought it was the healthiest and best place for me, mind, body, and soul.
 
I’m sure I’ll write about my new/old home, Tamarindo, a lot in the next few months, but here are 20 quick observations to get us started. After all, things move slowly in Tamarindo, and there's no need to rush or stress.

1. Tamarindo is actually named for a tree and the orange-like fruit here in Costa Rica. Tamarindo trees are found all over the Guanacaste province and look like the wide, leafy arbors with high canopies that you'll see in African landscapes. The pod's contents can be mashed to make an edible pulp and juice, which is perfect on a hot day on the beach. 

2. Tamarindo sits on the pacific northwestern coast of Costa Rica, in the province of Guanacaste and the Santa Cruz canton (the closest small city.) But I prefer to pinpoint Tamarindo just by its map coordinates of latitude: N 10° 18' 0.43" and longitude: E 85° 50' 24.47". 
​
Come to think of it, that would make a cool tattoo!

3. “Tama," as it's sometimes affectionally called, may be world-renowned, but it's a small village, or pueblo, that spends maybe a couple of miles by a mile at most. The last census accounted for only 6,000+ residents, and I've heard there are still only about 10,000 now. 

4. There are a good number of high-end condos and modern developments but they've also carefully curbed zoning, so it doesn't get too commercialized or the ocean view blocked out (with the exception of one monstrosity of a condo complex in the center of town that I have no idea how it was approved). 

​5. In Tamarindo, there are only two main roads through town and about half of them are unpaved. You won’t even find street names or street signs, but people give directions like, “200 meters north from the hotel Botella de Leche” or something like that. 

6. You’ll also see more bicycles, motorbikes, ATVs (many with surfboard racks!), and the rare horse on Tamarindo’s roads than you will cars!

7. The big draw to Tamarindo is the beach, of course, a 1.5 mile stretch of clean, near-white sand that’s level and sufficiently wide. Life in Tama revolves around the scenic beach, as just about everyone comes out in the early morning to walk their dogs, surf, exercise, or sit and enjoy coffee and brekkie. Surfers and sunbathers do their thing all day, and the beach becomes a social gathering point once again at sunset.

​8. Thanks to its close proximity to the equator, every day has about 12 hours of sunlight, with little seasonal changes (except for rain, of course). Likewise, the water temperature in the Pacific Ocean at Playa Tamarindo ranges between 77-86°F all year, which is never too chilly that you need a wet suit, even if you're in the water for hours.

9. Speaking of surfing, Tamarindo was put on the map by Robert August and Michael Hynson in the 1960s and 1970s with their iconic Endless Summer II surf film. Tamarindo took off as an international must-surf destination, and August became a legend. He still lives in Tamarindo, and you can see him strolling on the beach from time to time.

10. Costa Rica is known for its natural beauty, flora, and fauna. In fact, the Central American Nation contains only 0.4% of the world's landmass but holds 5% of its total biodiversity. And Tamarindo is no exception, with plenty of monkeys, sloths, lizards, Leatherback turtles, and a stunning array of bird and fish species. 

​11. You might even be able to catch sight of a whale off the coast of Tamarindo, and there are a few sharks from time to time. (But you’re more scared of them than they are of you.) If that makes you a little hesitant to swim or surf, rest assured that the plentiful crocodiles will probably getcha long before a shark will!

12. You don't find winter, fall, spring, and summer in Tamarindo (or Costa Rica). But you will find a hot and dry season from December to May, and the rainy or green season that culminates in a soaked October. 
​
13. While Guanacaste (where Tamarindo is located) is less humid than other jungle or coastal areas, the rainy season is NO JOKE! I write a lot about it in South of Normal, but life is completely different for the residents, Ticos (the name for Costa Ricans), and crazy people who stay during the wet months. 

14. The other thing you’ll find in Tamarindo is that prices spike during the high season from December through April (Easter). You might be able to rent an apartment for $1,000 per month during the slow season, but then they want $1,000 PER WEEK during the high season! It’s bonkers and leads to a lot of scrambling to keep rent reasonable for long-term residents.

15. This time around, I splurged for a condominium in Playa Langosta, a quiet residential neighborhood on a jungle peninsula adjacent to Tamarindo. There’s only one road in and out, and secluded strips of sand in between rocky crags, a few high-end resorts, and trees growing out of the beach. 

16. There are only a few small restaurants in Langosta and one small grocery store. My condo complex, Peninsula, is way too nice by my humble traveler standards haha, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the two swimming pools and view of the jungle from my balcony.

17. And there's even good Wi-Fi, something that's the bane of my existence because it's hard to find in tropical beach towns around the world. 

18. Although Tamarindo may be a little tropical hamlet, the food scene is vibrant, cosmopolitan, and international. There are plenty of pizza and Italian restaurants with purveyors and chefs straight from Italy, an Argentinian steak house, Caribbean joints, local fresh seafood, Japanese sushi and Asian fusion, and even Middle Eastern and Indian fare. There are also countless boutique hotels, food trucks, and cafes with creative chefs and plenty of vegan or healthy options like acai bowls and fresh fruit smoothies.  

19. Oh, and if you’re a coffee fanatic, Costa Rican java is some of the best in the world!  

20. Costa Rica has plenty of unique customs, like their national saying, pura vida (pure life). Well, Tamarindo has its own micro-culture as well, a blend of surfer, Rasta, skateboarder, hippie, yoga-d out, chillaxed beach vibe. In Tamarindo, shoes are never required, wearing a t-shirt with sleeves is dressing formally, and “manana” means why do it today when it can be put off until tomorrow!?  
​
***
I'll share a lot more about Tamarindo in coming months, but I'll leave you with this: after an incredibley stressful eight months in the U.S., it feels like I can finally breathe again down here by the beach in Tamarindo! 

Your friend,
Norm  :-)

“Nothing brings me more happiness than trying to help the most vulnerable people in society. It is a good and essential part of my life, a kind of destiny.”
-Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997
 

Can giving to others enrich our lives, keep us healthy, AND help the world? 

Things are not easy right now for many people, and it’s starting to dawn on us that it may be this way for a while.
 
And even if we’re not personally dealing with the loss of a loved one, financial difficulties, or food insecurity, the echoes of suffering in our world still reverberate within us since we are fundamentally good-hearted, empathetic human beings.
 
In fact, rates of anxiety and depression have reached unprecedented levels in the U.S. and across the world, up threefold since just the start of the year, before the pandemic. In a recent KFF tracking poll, 53% of U.S. respondents reported being increasingly anxious or depressed – and that was just in July. 
 
Likewise, the levels of substance abuse, suicide, and other health conditions due to the mental health crisis may eventually cause more long-term damage than the Coronavirus itself. 
 
So, whether it’s exercise, pursuing old hobbies or rekindling new passions, or endless Zoom chats with friends and family, we’re all struggling to stay mentally healthy and add some joy and light to our lives. 
 
(Note: online shopping may or may not be a positive coping mechanism, but it sure works great for me!)
 
But there’s another method of boosting our happiness and enriching our lives these days: giving.
 
Even before the pandemic, we were giving back, donating, and volunteering more than ever. In 2019, charitable giving reached $449.64 billion in the U.S., which was an increase of more than 5% since the previous year, 2018. 
 
And while corporations and foundations made up a significant portion of that total number, it was actually individual, hard-working Americans who gave the most. In fact, giving from individuals reached $309.66 billion in 2019 or 69% of total charitable gifts and donations.
 
And that just covers monetary donations or financial support. But remember that we’re seeing a whole host of ways people can give of themselves and help others: we’re offering our time, voices, focus, energy, and skills like never before. 
 
If there are any rays of hope during these times, it’s the small stories emerging the reconfirm our humanity:

• Giving a call to talk or going grocery shopping for a lonely senior who lives alone.
• Mentoring someone young, offering to teach them new skills online.
• Mowing the yard and taking out the trash cans for our neighbors.
• Using social media to raise awareness for different causes and charities in need.
• Children with lemonade stands to collect money not for themselves, but to give to their people in their communities.
• Supporting teachers, healthcare workers, and other front-liners who take risks every day to keep us all safe.

 
Of course, we know it feels good when we do something nice for someone else, even if it’s in a “warm and fuzzy” theoretical sense.
 
But it turns out there are some significant and proven benefits when we donate to charity, help someone in need, or just volunteer. 
 
According to numerous credible studies, the tangible benefits of giving include increases in:

1. Feelings of connection and engagement
2. Affirmation of our value to others
3. Levels of life satisfaction
4. Lasting improvements in overall happiness
5. Reduced mortality rates
6. Longevity rates
7. Levels of learning and mental awareness
8. Feelings of daily gratitude
9. Prosocial behaviors
10. Empathy

 
The physiology of charity

When we look at that list, I can't help but notice these benefits are some of the same offered by anti-depressant medications, exercise, or even being in a loving relationship.
 
That’s no coincidence, as scientists have mapped a neural connection in the part of the brain that registers reward processing, like when we eat our favorite food, win a sporting match, or even hit the lottery.
 
In a research study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, scientists tracked the brain images of participants, paying close attention to how their brain activity changed as a response to altruism.
They found that our brain activity is stimulated in two profound ways when we get in a philanthropic mood and give to others.
 
One is in the mesolimbic pathway, the area that dispenses "feel good" hormones and chemicals like dopamine. The second area of our brain that is stimulated by charitable giving is the subgenual region, which helps us form social attachments.
 
Why do people give?

Now that we understand the physiological basis for why we feel great when we help our fellow woman or man, let's look at the common motivations for doing so. And beware – it's not always just out of the goodness of our heart, but has a more primal or utilitarian basis.
 
One of the best studies into the topic comes from a Professor William Harbaugh at the University of Oregon, who isolated three theories as to why people give to charity or good causes:

1. People give to be altruistic, focusing on making a positive impact or solving a problem, like volunteering at a soup kitchen to help feed the hungry.  

2. The next theory may call into question our motivations, as Harbaugh claimed that some people enjoy the feeling of making “autonomous decisions” about who to help, when, and to what degree, experiencing pleasure from that control or even feelings of power.  

3. Thirdly, people also give to charities because it enhances their social value or boosts their social status. We see evidence of this when we donate to a cause and then share that fact on social media, feeling the reward two-fold.  

Who gives the most?

We mentioned that individuals gave almost $7 out of every $10 in 2019, but who among us gives the most? A study by the University of Notre Dame conducted a study and found these characteristics and demographics of the biggest givers:

• Higher levels of education
• More religious or faith-based
• Homeowners
• Married
• Live in smaller towns – not big cities
• The study also found that people are also far more likely to donate to charitable causes when they understand and can relate to the cause or organization they’re supporting.

 
Additionally, studies show that women tend to increase donations when they are single, the head of the household, or when they earn higher incomes.
 
When it comes to income distribution, you may be surprised to hear that lower-income brackets give a larger proportion of their assets than middle or upper-class households! 
 
The joy of giving never diminishes
​
No matter who you are, how you choose to help others, or what your motivation, there is some more good news about the psychology of altruism: it doesn’t diminish.
 
In fact, the pleasure center in our brain typically releases fewer feel-good hormones and chemicals as a good thing becomes routine. Such is the case when we stockpile nice material things, chase superficial goals, or do things simply because society tells us it should make us happy.
 
So, if we purchase that expensive sports car, win at the casino, or eat delicious food, the level of pleasure we receive diminishes as time goes on – and pretty rapidly, research shows. 
 
However, when donating to charity, volunteering, or giving to help others in some form, the opposite is true. The pleasurable effect and mental health benefits actually do not diminish, but maintain and even grow over time. 
 
I guess it’s true when they say the more love you give, the more you get back!  

***
Norm  :-)

PS This piece was originally written for my friend and mentor, Kelly Resendez and reposted with permission. You can follow Kelly at Big Voices Rise!

​This month, I wanted to bring you inside one of my favorite places on earth - and it's right outside my home town. We'll take a tour of The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library – quite a mouthful, but once you see it, the name will become an afterthought. 
 
Located in New Haven, Connecticut – the home of venerable and prestigious Yale University - ‘Beinecke is essentially where the Yale library system houses all of the good stuff. It’s also one of the largest libraries or buildings in the entire world dedicated to rare books, manuscripts, and historical documents.

In fact, the Beinecke Library houses more than one million books. But that’s just the beginning, as their collection also includes millions of pages of manuscripts, tens of thousands of papyri (scrolls), and countless photos, maps, drawings, paintings, other art and artifacts, and even digital and audio-visual content. 
 
It also hosts endless seminars, conferences, research projects, and visiting exhibits, including from modern and living authors.
 
The featured piece in Beinecke’s collection is The Gutenberg Bible, which was the first book ever created using movable type back in the 1450s (they actually have two in their collection). Only 48 of these bibles still exist, and they’re considered the most valuable books on earth. 

But its books and contents aside, the attraction of the Beinecke Library is the building itself, which is as unique and breathtaking as anything you’ll see in the world.  


Built in 1963, the building rises six stories from a stone-lined sunken courtyard that's typical for Yale University. But the structure is anything but typical, a rectangular white box that sits on inverted triangular "pylons." Those pylons only stand a few feet from the ground to the base of the library's structure, but they extend down a full 50 feet ​beneath the earth, all the way down to bedrock.

​Within the rectangular metal structure sits a honeycomb-like frame, with 15 individual frames running lengthwise, five vertically, and ten deep. The layout of these “cells” follows the Golden Ratio, which is prevalent in mathematics as well as the layout of early books: 3:1:2.
 
Within each of those frames is a piece of white translucent marble. ​

There are no windows and only one front entrance, the structure completely uniform and without variation otherwise. The veined marble façade is actually made of special marble and granite from a quarry in Danby Vermont. Although each piece is massive, they’re milled to a thickness of only 1.25 inches, allowing sunlight to filter through so they’re translucent when you’re standing inside. ​

​Depending on the time of day and how sunny it is, you'll see an endless array of colors and subtle patterns on each piece of marble, essentially glowing with natural light even though it's windowless.
 
Due to its aesthetics as much as its contents, the Beinecke Rare Book Library has been called a “jewel box” and “laboratory for the humanities.”
 
Inside the library, the visual is no less jaw-dropping, dominated by a massive central tower that runs the whole six stories from floor to ceiling, with glass walls encased in stark black metal frames.
 
This library-within-a-library safeguards 180,000 of the rarest and most precious volumes in the world.
​

The glass-encased central tower is perfectly climate controlled with the temperature/humidity etc. to preserve these ancient manuscripts.
 
Of course, if you’re the caretaker of a rare library, preventing fires is a special concern, but you definitely can’t just turn on the sprinklers. So, in the event of a blaze, that glass-enclosed central tower can also be flooded with a mixture of Halon 1301 and Inergen fire suppressant gas, squelching any fuel the fire needs to burn. 
 
At first, the central stack was flooded with a carbon dioxide mixture if the fire alarm went off, but they changed that with the realization that any unfortunate librarians working in that area would be instantly asphyxiated. ​

But fires aren’t the only threat. In 1977, an infestation of death watch beetles was discovered within the library, so they developed a unique method of controlling the pests before they are their way through invaluable tomes. In case of any insect outbreak, the library’s caretakers can actually freeze the books and other documents at −33 °F (−36 °C) for three days, a method that’s now been adopted for libraries with special collections around the world. 
 
Fires and pests accounted for; nefarious human intentions are sometimes harder to police. In 2005, a well-known antique dealer named Edward Forbes Smiley III was caught cutting maps from rare volumes with an X-acto knife! Since the library welcomes tens of thousands of scholars and special guests from academia every year, Smiley almost got away with cutting out these maps while in the reading room, which he intended to hide, smuggle out of the library, and sell on the black market. 

Thankfully, Smiley’s plot was foiled when he dropped the X-acto knife on his way out, and he was arrested and thrown in prison for several years. Of course, security was ramped up after the incident, and you can’t bring any objects, bags, or cell phones into the library. 
(Do I need to mention that you can't simply check out the first bible ever printed and just pay late fees if you don't return it?!)
 
While you think we may have all bases covered, remember that the library was built in the 1960s, the height of the Cold War and atomic age. At the time, there were real concerns about what would happen to humanity's most treasured books in case of a Soviet nuclear attack. So, the myth is that in the event of a nuclear bomb hitting nearby New York City, for instance, the whole central stack could be mechanically lowered into the ground and then sealed up, serving as a bomb shelter for the books.
 
However, that myth has since been dispelled. In reality, there are two levels of basement floors under the library that extend out under the Hewitt Quadrangle, containing secured reading and research rooms, offices, and storage areas. Further down, there's also an underground stream, so it seems impossible that the central tower lowers into the ground in the event of a nuclear attack!
 
So, you might be wondering where the name ‘Beinecke’ comes from? The library was a gift from three members of the Beinecke family who were Yale alumni, endowing the university and building to serve as “a source of learning and an inspiration to all who enter.”
 
I’d say they definitely succeeded, and I try to visit the Beinecke Library for inspiration every time I’m back visiting my hometown of Hamden, Ct, which is only a couple of miles away from Yale.
 
If you’re ever in the area, give it a visit! 
(And say ‘what’s up’ if I happen to be around, too!)
 
-Norm :-)

Watch this short video about the Beinecke Library or check out their website here.

​I’m trying to get back to the Philippines, but the universe really isn't cooperating.  
 
I’ve lived in the Southeast Asian nation of 7,500 islands for the last four years and was thoroughly settled in when the whole Coronavirus pandemic went from a back-page news story to overtaking our world.

My daily To-Do list included items like "Get water" and searching for a working ATM, since the banks, stores, and hotels were closing in large numbers every day.  I would take out as much cash as possible early every morning, full well expecting to get jumped or robbed, before running straight home.
 
It was time to get the hell out!
​

With an incredible amount of luck and the help of the lone travel agent still working, I grabbed the last seat on the last evacuation flight on March 21 before the airline shuttered for good.
 
I traveled from the Philippines to Dubai and then on to New York, landing on March 22, 2020. (Little did I know I’d land in the world’s Covid epicenter at the time, but that’s another sh*t show.)
 
Since then, I’ve been safe and healthy here with family in Connecticut, a little stir crazy but no worse for wear. I have no idea when they'll let tourists back into the Philippines, but I want to be ready.

​You see, my US passport is still perfectly valid…but just until April of 2021. I don't know if you're aware, but most countries have an entry requirement that your passport must be good for at least six months after you land, or they won't let you in. So, I thought this was either the best time or worst time in history to renew my passport!

The normal passport renewal offices are either closed or anticipating six-month turnaround times as a best-case scenario. (Hell no!)
 
My only other option is an expedited passport renewal service, which means paying big money to a private agency who reserves your line in queue and then processes your application for you.
 
I called about ten of them around the country and got a wide range of information and options, some of which were so scary how responsible and inaccurate they were. 
 
I ended up choosing a passport expediter agency in New York City because:
 
1) they actually had someone answering the phone, 

2) Haidy (we're on a first-name basis) was helpful and answered all of my 100 questions patiently, and 

3) New York is a short drive away if I have to go hunt them down if they disappear with my passport.
​

​The problem is that the US government still isn't processing expedited passports. In fact, they're just at Phase 2, and they need to be at Phase 3 for passport offices and expedited services to start again. Haidy is optimistic that will happen soon (and maybe even this week!), but the rest of the country seems to be playing a game of ten steps backward after rushing to take one step forward, so who knows?
 
Either way, since they have my passport application, new photos, plenty of my money, and my actual passport, I’ll at least be in line once they do open up, which is sure to bring a rush of thousands of eager travelers.
 
So, I estimate my brand-new passport will show up at my front door anywhere from mid-September to right before Christmas time, 2025. 
 
Since I have plenty of time to plot my grand escape from the US, I thought I’d do a little geeking-out on the whole concept of passports.
 
Here’s what I found: 

• Currently, about 147 million Americans have valid US passports, which is a major portion (about 45 percent) of our total 325 million population. For some reason, I have it in my mind that Americans don’t travel internationally a whole lot, but that’s an impressive number of passports.

• If you live in the United States and don't own a passport, don't despair – there are still plenty of places you can travel. In fact, you can Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, all thanks to your US citizenship.

• Our antiquated system of physical, paper passports also leaves the door open for fraud, theft, and counterfeiting. In fact, INTERPOL reports that more than 40 million US passports have been stolen (not lost) since 2002.   


 From identity thieves to immigration scammers to terrorists, a whole lot of illicit parties want to get their hands on a US passport. Of course, no one knows how many fake or altered US passports are out there, but the US government has had a whole passport crimes division, Diplomatic Security (DS), since 1916. They maintain an international database of lost or stolen passports or those shady persons who have been flagged.

• Living or traveling abroad a lot, I do know that you can get a counterfeit US passport for about $5,000 USD or so in places like Thailand or Cambodia. (I know a guy who knows a guy.)

 
Of course, we expect that North Korea is the largest producer of counterfeit US passports since that’s also true of our US currency.

You can actually be denied entry into a country or not allowed to board a flight if your passport doesn’t have enough blank pages left.

• Most countries now also require that your passport will be good for three to six months after your entry. So, even if your US passport does not expire for 5 months and 29 days, you may still be denied entry! 

 
A good number of people get caught with this little-known and unwritten rule, and they’re not allowed to board or forced to get on a plane and head home from their destination’s airport – at their own expense!

• Immigrations officials in any country can also deny entry if a passport is damaged. But it’s a completely subjective standard, and you can have a disgruntled or cranky immigration officer tell you that you can’t enter just because your passport is faded, ripped, worn, or damaged by water at one time. 

 
While this isn’t common (people usually get their passports renewed if they’re in bad shape), I did have this happen to a friend – he arrived in Costa Rica, but the contentious immigration officer wouldn’t let him in based on the condition of his US passport! He had to get on a flight right back to the US and wasted a ton of time and money.

• Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is the only person in the world who doesn’t need a passport to travel internationally. Even the Pope and the rest of the British royal family all need passports for travel, but not the Queen! 

 

• Presidents from around the world do need passports to travel, but they receive special diplomatic passports that allow them to travel freely to most countries without visas. In the US and other nations, these presidential passports are good for life and extend to their immediate families. ​​

• Do you remember the 2004 Steven Spielberg movie, The Terminal? In that flick, main character Tom Hanks is forced to live in an airport terminal for a while due to visa problems and the rouge status of his home nation.

 
Well, that plot is based on a real situation in which an Iranian man couldn’t present his passport to immigration officials in France’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. The Iranian refugee, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, had his travel documents stolen in 1988, so he was stuck inside the airport and not allowed to leave or pass immigration.
 
He ended up living in the airport terminal for 17 years until he had to be taken to a hospital in 2006. 17 Years – that's insane!

• Each year, a metric called the Henley Passport Index (HPI) ranks all 199 passports in the world based on how many countries you can enter without a visa. 

Update: On June 15th, 2021, Juneteenth was  declared an official federal holiday, a historic victory for the recognition of the plight of Black American history and racial equality. Please read on for some background info and context about the national holiday from a blog I wrote this time last year.

​***
​June 19th is an important date in American history, commonly known as Juneteenth. This cause for celebration marks the de facto independence day for African American slaves in the United States more than 150 years ago.
 
It was June 19, 1865, when US General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and shared the news that enslaved African Americans were now free.
 
That date still stands as a grand reason for celebration every year, often called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. Every June 19th in communities across the U.S. there are parades, pageants, festivals, concerts, plenty of traditional food, and lots of cultural and historical education, all in the name of freedom.