Hitching a ride to his next job / Photos by Ian Mackenzie

IN CASE YOU’VE missed it, Sean’s been busy being featured in major news outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Time.com, and been on television shows such as the Rachael Ray Show and Canada AM. He’s come a long way since first coming up with the idea to try out 52 jobs over 52 weeks back in early 2007.

There’s been a lot of flack heaped onto Generation Y, but if they can adopt him as their spokesman, he’s bound to cast them in a whole different light.

5 Questions with Sean Aiken

1. How are you? What are you up to these days?

[Sean] I’m doing great, thanks for asking! Currently I’m speaking at high schools, colleges, and companies, sharing my experience and what I learned in making the transition from school into the big bad scary world.

2. OWJ seems to have grown exponentially from your “simple” idea of doing something different every week for a year: the book, the documentary, the presentations, the program. How much of this did you anticipate when you started out? Was any of it calculated? Or are you just taking things as they come?

Sean the mayor

[Sean] I didn’t anticipate much. During the project I was sharing my experience through the website, but it was difficult to take the time to reflect on the experience — what I was learning — and then communicate that with others through the blog.

Early on I thought it would be great to do this through writing a book, but I had no idea things would continue to develop as they have.

I also thought, wouldn’t it be cool if we could document this, and also if others were able to have a similar experience — the documentary and program came from this thinking.

3. On the One Week Job website, it says “Sean realized he hadn’t started on his own journey. He’d started a movement.” Any idea where this movement is headed?

[Sean] 
As the project continued to develop and more people became aware of what I was doing, I felt that it had become much bigger than myself. It was really amazing to hear from people who were inspired to make changes in their lives simply by hearing about my story. It’s as if there’s a shared sentiment bubbling under the surface and the one-week job project is just one of many things helping to shape this movement and put a voice to it.

I believe we’re all seeking the same thing: happiness. As we spend much of our lives at work, the importance of finding a meaningful career plays a huge role in this search. To me, the movement represents more and more people refusing to accept the old paradigm of “work” — that work is not something we’re supposed to enjoy — and are choosing to seek meaningful careers that match their skill set, that is in line with their passions and values, and ultimately that allows them to make a positive contribution to society.

Although perhaps I’m too idealistic.

4. Is this — OWJ — your passion?

[Sean] I believe our careers are merely one vehicle to fulfill our passions. I’m passionate about the OWJ project, but I don’t think it’s possible to say any one career is our passion. My passion is fulfilled by what the OWJ project allows me to do: explore, share, help others, and feel good that what I’m doing matters.

5. Finally, I just had to know: In your job as Association Executive (Week 50) in Austin, Texas, you say that your boss, Beth, is “not only the president, she was a member too.” When I read that, I immediately thought of those Hair Club for Men commercials where he says, “I’m not only the president, I’m also a member.” Was this a conscious reference? Or is pop culture just that pervasive?

[Sean] Sweet! You got the joke!

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Check out a review of the book, The One Week Job Project. The project was also documented on film. Ian Mackenzie is busy putting the final project together, but for a sneak preview of what you can expect, check out this trailer:

Emma Lundmark shows off some tunnbröd dough.

My first encounter with Tunnbröd (thin bread) came in the form of local street grub I’d quickly grabbed after a day at Vasamuseet a couple years ago. The concoction I’d ordered – soft thin bread rolled up funnel-style and filled with sausage, mashed potatoes, onions, mustard, lettuce, and other dubious condiments – was called Tunnbrödsrulle.

Integral to most meals in Sweden, I would later be introduced to varied and crispier versions of Tunnbröd. Thin bread topped with cheap caviar squeezed from a tube and cucumber slices adorn tables across the country. Crispy thin bread heavily smeared with butter regularly accompanies lunch and dinner. Crushed tunnbröd is eaten with sour milk and lingonberry jam cereal-style in a fashion called bryta (also known to Northerners as smolanedi).

Tunnbröd also plays supporting role to Surströmming (fermented Baltic herring), of which I have firsthand experience sampling.

While spending last summer up in Norrbotten (Northern Sweden), we’d convened at the local neighborhood joint for lunch – a small convenience store/pub/restaurant/bakery – all rolled into one in the small village of Klöverträsk; population – 260.

The only item on the menu that day – a pasta and meatballs with brown sauce dish – also happened to be the lunch special.

Young Emma Lundmark serves us our meal.

“You know Jonny makes his own tunnbröd,” someone chimes in just as we dig into baskets of freshly baked crispy bread.

I immediately set up a date with Emma, Jonny’s oldest daughter. She agreed to take me the very next morning behind the scenes of their bakery – Klöverträsk Bröd – an icon in the village for the last 40+ years.

1. Located in the village of Klöverträsk, The Lundmarks run their small one room bakery right next to the equally small convenience store where they sell groceries and toiletries. Their attached pub/restaurant is just a door away behind the store.

2. “It’s fun to work with your hands,” shares Emma as she kneads and prepares dough early in the morning. Each batch makes roughly 40 kg of tunnbröd so two batches are made per day.

3.A grooved roll pin is used to aerate the dough and to give it its texture look.

4.The bread is passed multiple times through a “kavelmaskin” – a machine that is used to stretch out the dough into a near paper-thin layer.

5.Once the dough has been stretched to the right weight, it is sliced into manageable pieces for baking.

6.The sliced up dough is then flash-baked for 20-25 seconds.

7.The baked crispy bread is cut into stackable pieces while still hot, and piled into boxes to continue their cooling down process.

8.Each box is weighed to make sure they meet the 400g (800g for larger boxes).

9.Simple clear cellophane tape is applied to seal the boxes up.

10.The freshly baked tunnbröd is ready to be delivered to local stores, including the Lundmarks’ own convenience store.

11.Another Lundmark specialty is cardamom-infused biscuits called Bettans Biscuits.

12.It takes about 20 minutes to mix and prepare each batch of dough.

13.The dough is left to rise for 45 minutes before baking for another 45 minutes.

14.Once the bread cools down and edges are cut away, they’re left to dry out for about two days. After that, they are put in a cutting machine to continue making smaller pieces which are baked one more time for close to two hours to give them their signature crispy taste.

15.Once ready, the biscuits are bagged and ready for sale. The Lundmarks also sell breadcrumbs accumulated from the baking process so that these cardamom-flavored breadcrumbs can be used for other baking purposes.

16.The finished products end up in the backyard pub and restaurant for guests.

17.The boxes and bags of thin bread and biscuits also end up in their convenience storefront for local customers to buy. The store is literally a door away that leads from the bakery.

18.Twice a month, the Lundmarks deliver tunnbröd and cardamom biscuits to roughly 60 local stores and supermarkets all across Swedish Lapland and in neighboring towns of Luleå, Piteå, Älvsbyn, and Boden.

More on Klöverträsk Bröd (Bread)

For more than 40 years, Klöverträsk Bröd has remained a family-owned business, providing fat free, sugar free, and milk free tunnbröd. The bakery was purchased roughly five years ago by The Lundmarks – Jonny, Monica, and their five children – from previous owner Robert Öhman who, after 18 years of running the business, was ready to move on.

In addition to Klöverträsk Bröd, the Lundmarks also purchased a 20+ year old recipe for old fashioned cardamom biscuits called Bettans Biscuits, which originated from a little village called Niemisel.

Since both purchases, Jonny has expanded the bakery’s offerings to include the following four products:

• Bettans Biscuits
• Bettans Breadcrumbs which can be used for baking
• Smaller 400g boxes of Klöverträsk tunnbröd
• 650g boxes of regular breadcrumbs

22 year old Emma continues to tend the bakery, shop, and restaurant alongside her parents.

Contact Information

Klöverträsk Bröd
Klöverträsk bya väg 21
975 91 Luleå
Phone: (46) 0920-85200
E-mail: jmltrading@telia.com

Photo courtesy of Loyd Auerbach

Ever wonder what it takes to become a serious ghostbuster? What sorts of skills are necessary in order to track down our fleshless friends?

Well, paranormal neophytes, Matador is here to help debunk erroneous myths and impart ghost-hunting advice.

Armed with a hefty set of questions and a burning curiosity, we sit down with professional ghost hunter and director of the Office of Paranormal Investigations, Loyd Auerbach, to get some serious knowledge from one of the most respected minds in all things paranormal.

Here are six myths Loyd typically encounters among lay people and junior investigators alike.

Myth #1: Ghosts only come out at night.

Truth: Most people experience paranormal encounters in well lit areas. Loyd tells us:

Not only is this unscientific, but it flies in the face of the vast majority of people’s ghostly encounters and experiences. Darkness allows our perceptions to be skewed. Most people have experiences with lights on or even during the day.

Tip: Carry a flashlight, turn on the lights, or investigate during the day.

Unnecessary / Photo: nym

Knowing what you are seeing is just as important as seeing something.

Myth #2: Scientific technology can detect the paranormal.

Truth: “Apparitions and hauntings are phenomena defined by human experience,” Loyd writes in his article, Technology and Ghost-Hunting.

He explains to us:

No technology has been designed that is confirmed as detecting anything paranormal or psychic with certainty. Such technology can’t even be designed at this point since we don’t know what exactly we’re trying to detect.

Tip: Don’t rely solely on gadgets. Use your senses when investigating and always consider the perceptions of the witnesses. Do research beforehand on psychic experiences to be aware of what you might experience. Consider working with a reputable psychic. Humans are the best detectors.

Myth #3: Ghost hunting is dangerous work.

Truth: Ghost hunting can be dangerous if you make it so. Loyd says:

If working in the darkness, you can trip over things or if you are heading into locations that are physically unsafe. Ghost hunting is not dangerous because of “evil” or “demonic” entities. My colleagues and I do sometimes find the living folks more of a worry than ghosts.

Tip: Use common sense. Don’t explore alone. Be careful in areas that may be physically dangerous and stay away from potentially dangerous people!

Photo: Allan Siew Official

Myth #4: Ghost stories are worthless. You need your own proof.

Truth: Eyewitness accounts are essential to your investigations.

“The very basic model of ghosts requires that some form of psychic communication and perception is happening. Hauntings may rely on some form of clairvoyance. Poltergeist cases cry out for an understanding of psychokinesis,” Loyd writes in his article, Things To Do (And Not To Do) When Ghost-Hunting.

To Matador readers, he says:

I’ve heard many ghost hunters make this type of statement. Anecdotal evidence is how we define the experience of apparitions, hauntings, poltergeists, and all psychic experiences. As these experiences are of the mind and the minds of the ghosts, it’s all about subjective experience. People’s experiences are essentially anecdotal evidence and important.

Tip: Listen up! Many times, people will tell you the very information you are looking for.

Myth #5: There are no experts on ghost hunting.

Truth: Actually, there are. Parapsychology has a formidable and rich history. Loyd shares this nugget of info with us:

Parapsychologists, and before them psychical researchers, have studied people’s experiences and the locations and environments where said experiences are reported, researched what could cause people to experience such things outside of paranormal explanations, applied laboratory research on ESP and psychokinesis to their field investigations, etc. for over 100 years.

Tip: Seek out sources and references through the parapsychological research centers and organizations.

Photo: skillzthatkillz21

Myth #6: There is no significant literature or study on ghosts before the 1990s.

Truth: Parapsychology literature on apparitions, hauntings, and poltergeists go all the way back to the mid-1800s. It is important to do adequate research in the field of parapsychology if you are serious about ghost hunting.

In addition to teaching classes in the San Francisco area, Loyd Auerbach provides a list of educational resources across the U.S. on his website as well as constructive advice for those seeking formal parapsychology training.

Tip: Do your research. Check the library, Google Books, and Mindreader.com.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Now that you’ve armed yourself with some real ghostbusting knowledge, head over to Carlo Alcos’s post at Trips to learn about 5 American Hauntings You Can Visit and Investigate First Hand.

All photos courtesy of Lynette Chiang

I “met” Lynette Chiang after snagging The Handsomest Man in Cuba from a New York Public Library bookshelf.

I approach narratives about travels in Cuba with one part interest, one part dread. So many of them sound alike– careful notations of the author’s observations about old cars, rum, music, and the famed congeniality of Cubans. And somehow, almost all of them fail to capture the ineffable moments and experiences that make Cuba Cuba.

But Chiang, a self-described Chinese Australian “adventurette,” managed to do what most chroniclers of Cuban journeys don’t, and perhaps that’s because her journey around the island was not like most people’s.

Chiang, who globe trots on a folding bike, tackled Cuba on two wheels. Between punishing heat and potholed roads, she managed to keep notes about her experiences, and while rum, music, and old cars aren’t absent from her travelogue, they’re certainly not the dominant images.

Chiang and I spoke over e-mail about ditching her job, traveling the world by folding bike, and our mutual love: Cuba.

(MT): You “fled a decent job, three-bedroom house, fast car, and a nice bloke in Sydney” for some Lycra bike shorts, a folding bike, and the open road. Lots of people dream of doing something similar (well, maybe not the Lycra shorts part), but are afraid to make the break from what they perceive to be the security and safety of a steady paycheck and benefits.

Two questions: First, what was your “Aha” moment when you made the decision to exit your predictable, stable life, and second, what advice do you have for people who say, “Great for you, but I’ll be slaving away in this cubicle until I pay off my debt or die?”

Two things happened:

Someone showed me a map of Great Britain – admittedly a small one – printed off the then-fairly new “internet.” That was around 1995, when it was still a novelty…. The map had a little dotted line going from the bottom to the top. The classic Land’s End to John O’Groats journey. My first reaction was, “I’m going to do that.” It was the first time in a long time I had such a decisive thought in my life…. I guess it was the decisiveness of the thought, rather than the trip itself, that was the turning point.

Second, I was getting more and more stressed in a job where I never felt I had any control – I was at the whim of a pyramid of people above me ready to squash my work for all kinds of spurious and reasonable/unreasonable reasons. That’s not uncommon in working life, but I always thought the ideal state where you can do your best is when you are “comfortably challenged….” Maybe psychologists would disagree with me, but that’s how I feel.

And all I can say is I have managed to pay off my condo in Sydney so my mother has somewhere to live for the rest of her life without fear, yet the highest I’ve earned is probably 40K a year or so since getting on the bike. Makes me think it’s actually cheaper to be on the road. You can’t accumulate STUFF – only the stuff you really need.

(MT): When you left Sydney, you headed for Latin America. Was there a reason you felt drawn to this region and what did you anticipate you’d experience in Cuba?

Actually, I headed for Latin America only after meeting a Costa Rican woman and her English husband in Windsor Station, near where I was paused after riding from end to end Britain and round and about Ireland. The three of us missed the train when it pulled away early, and shared outrage as the driver mockingly waved to us.

She said I should visit her family in San Jose, Costa Rica, as is the natural, embracing offer of many cultures excluding our WASPish kind. So I went to a bookstore, looked for a Lonely Planet to see where Costa Rica was and got a plane fare there. It was only when I got to Costa Rica did I start looking at maps of the area and noticed Cuba. I think that’s why we are naturally geocentric to where we happen to be. Far away is, well, just too damn far away.

(MT): Your primary mode of transportation is a folding bike. What have you learned about the world from the vantage point of a bike saddle? And what have you learned about yourself?

Things look a lot more interesting, because you notice more. Anyone who has ridden a bike for any distance will tell you that. I definitely had a higher level of internal frustration when I commuted 20 minutes to work each day in a Honda Accord as a cubicle dweller.

And I gained a lot more respect for my body after it hauled the pile of inanimate tubes and rubber from one end of Britain to the other. We celebrate superficial beauty and athletic prowess, really, there’s a lot to be admired in covering distance under your own power. A folding bike has the added cache of being strange. As one of our Bike Friday customers says, “When I don’t want anyone to talk to me, I ride my regular bike.”

(MT): When did you decide to write a travel memoir of your bike trip around Cuba?

I had no real intention at first. I just made bullet points each day in a Hyatt Regency Hotel diary…. After the trip I worked up a single story called “La Casa de Lolita” which was printed in the Tico Times, a Costa Rican English newspaper. I think it’s the only story I ever submitted to a print publication– I was always far more interested in the potential of the web….

It got read by a Latinophile and former bureau chief of the NYT Argentina, Barney Collier. He flew down from NY to locate me in the mountains of Costa Rica, where I was working as a cook and manager of Avalon Reserve, loaned me his “lucky Toshiba” Satellite brick of a laptop, and said “finish the story.” It meandered its way to where it is today, published by Random House Australia, me, Globe-Pequot USA and Piper-Verlag in Germany.

(MT): Every time I return from Cuba, I’m more confused than ever by its complexity and contradictions, many of which you convey so well in The Handsomest Man in Cuba. When you recall your experiences in Cuba, what remains most difficult for you to understand?

I feel there is nothing I did not “understand,” probably because I stopped trying to do do that a while ago. For me, “it is what it is….” If I tried to make sense of everything, like I did in my naive twenties, I’d go nuts. I remember railing at strip malls and manicured lawns when I first came to America and realized it was fruitless. I’m a failed hippie, hovering between being capitalist and socialist, seeking to integrate the best of both worlds but it’s impossible, because they just don’t mesh.

(MT): Could you share a bit with us about your process of pitching the book for publication?

I guess I never really pitched. Barney wrote an eloquent letter to a then-editorial head at Random House Australia and they asked to see it. A very successful Australian author, Brad Grieve, suggested I could have just picked up the phone and gotten the same result in a small place like Australia, but I’ve always honored people who try to help me along the way.

It sold OK downunder, maybe 7K copies; a Bill Bryson I’m certainly not, although I’ve been compared to him! Perhaps Cuba isn’t as top of mind downunder as other places, like India or Europe or Asia. Cuba out of earshot, out of buckshot.

In the USA, I made some halfhearted attempts to attract publishers. [I] went to the Willamette Writers Conference and soaked up all the encouragement which was probably more well-meaning than a means to an end, and decided to publish it myself. By that, I mean I learned Adobe Indesign Book, laid it all out, sent it to a printer and got a box of books back.

Because I was working for Bike Friday, the make of my folding bicycle, I saw that I had a bit of a market there. I figured I should at least be able to offload 1500 books. Despite 20,000 customers and an email every three days from someone who said they enjoyed it, it took almost three years to do that! So you can imagine what a massive achievement it is for a Grisham or a JK Rowling to sell half a million books in a matter of hours.

I mounted my own book tour, worked 24/7 making the collateral, calls, and PR – I think I had a nervous breakdown doing all the prep but didn’t notice.

I could do every part except get a lot of press and publicity. That’s why people pay PR agencies the big bucks. I had no real connections here. It’s all connections. Or a brilliant product, say, a Benjamin Button elixir in a bottle with no contraindications.

(MT): Do you have any plans to write another book?

I have penned a few chapters about my life in Costa Rica, my two years there working at a Saatchi & Saatchi office, and then at the hotel. It’s not about cloud forests or romantic walks along the beach. It has my trademark, ever so slightly ‘jaundiced’ eye, and is of course personal, like the Cuba book. It’ll never sell. But those who enjoyed the subtext of The Handsomest Man will like it.

(MT): In addition to your traveling and writing, you also make films. Can you tell us a bit about your “handlebar documentaries”?

I use a simple digital camera in movie mode, strung around my neck using a lanyard, shooting one-handedly. It’s really no different from taking a swig from your water bottle, except you’re talking to it and turning it on yourself. I download it to my 12″ Mac Powerbook and use iMovie, Quicktime Pro, or Garageband to put it all together.

What people don’t realize is that the resolution of most cameras is 640×480, same as a standard TV screen. So they blow up great and make excellent DVD movies – especially now they have image stabilization. “16,000 Feet on a Friday”, a movie about biking the world’s highest paved road, got the Boston Bike Film Festival Audience Choice gong one year– that was pre-image stabilization. I shot that on two 256 Mb cards at 320×240 on an old Canon Digital Elph 3.2 mpix and it still came out decent enough to be appreciated.

In 2006 I shot “Route 66 by Bicycle: Pedaling the Mother Road….” In addition, I am constantly uploading to the bikefriday and galfromdownunder YouTube accounts to illustrate my blogs. I’m not ever striving to be a Scorsese– I’m just interested in capturing the entertaining nuances of fact rather than fiction – it’s happening all around us.

(MT): Where are you cycling and filming these days, and what trips do you have coming up?

I’ve just come back from Colorado and Arizona. My title, Customer Evangelist at large, puts me all over the country, homestaying with customers. Right now I am in NYC filming the interesting city biking life there.

(MT): What’s your dream trip itinerary?

I actually don’t have dreams. I’ve lived almost every reality I never dreamed of after quitting my cubicle dwelling life some 12 years ago.

The trip to the corner store can be a microadventure, if you are open to whoever might approach you, or notice something you’ve not seen before. And oh how sustainable! Plenty of bang for your buck. If you press me about it, I might say the Eastern Bloc countries intrigue me now– Romania, Lithuania– and Japan. What a fascinating culture that is.

(MT): Those of us who travel and write are often asked how we fund our travels. So pardon the bluntness, but, how do you fund your travels?

Unless you live in a kibbutz or a monastery, you need a bit of money if you want to live life fully on or off the road. I used my background to get stints in two areas of work– my formerly professional life as an advertising copywriter, and a life I had an unprofessional interest in, food,– these two things funded my travels.

I’ve earned everything from $2 to $2K a month, for a week to six months work, at a time. There’s always something that pops up. You’re not in your usual situation at home, boxed in by well-meaning friends who say “What happens if xyz happens?” You are a beacon to these offers and for the first time you can avail yourself to them.

(MT): Back to the bike: What’s the gear that’s essential for you on a bike trip of any length?

…Pump. Spare tube. My traffic cone bag to stay alive.
And lights. If you’re out and about, your best laid plans can change if you meet someone or something interesting and end up shooting the breeze over an impromptu meal. You need to get home in the dark. It makes me really angry when I see a cyclist riding in the dark sans lights. Your life isn’t worth a $20 light?

Warm clothes to cover legs and arms are also essential. A bit of food, even a bar stashed away. I put an Emergen-C in my water bottle each day and a Rooibos tea-bag.

(MT): Do you think you’ll ever go back to corporate life? Do you think travel is a sustainable lifestyle?

I have always been in corporate life to a degree. Right now I am the Customer Evangelist for Bike Friday. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve done in the past– computing, advertising, food service (I cook for my homestay hosts!), networking. I’m just doing it in a way that is organic to the job.

I think many jobs could be done more effectively if they were really designed for people when they can be their best. Stuck in an office might not be the answer for all jobs, nor doing the same thing day in, day out. I actually think the ideal thing is to have two or three very different part time jobs, that give you physical and mental variety. That’s what travel does, and why many of us crave it. But do that all the time and it too becomes tiring….

Travel is not that sustainable. It does promote “I’m here I want to be there.” I have not owned a car for 20 years and have always always combined my folding bike with available transportation modes (bus, train, car, plane, banana truck), but I am not a martyr. I fly, but when I do, it’s one-way and I stay a while. Fossil fueled transport is not evil. It’s all how appropriately and sustainably you use it – it’s to be used, not abused.