Bloggy McBlog Face and the 45th parallel

So what’s up with the blog title?
For a few months now, Brent and I have debated what to name the blog of our New Zealand adventures.  

In my mind I’ve tried to balance several considerations - an aspirational title that alludes to the feeling of freedom and adventure.  I also wanted something that connotes what Brent and I have done - quit our tech jobs after a health scare  in order to reset our life’s priorities and do some soul searching.  I had a fantasy of recreating a portion of one of Jules Verne’s “Search for the Castaways” where he has the children of a shipwrecked captain circumnavigate the globe alongside the 37th parallel. Queenstown in New Zealand is a bit further south - its latitude is 45degrees 01 minute.  45 is also Brent’s age, how old he turned right after he was hospitalized at the end of September.  His 45th birthday marked the beginning of a new cycle in both of our lives, one that opens the door to new experiences, new skills and adventures.  We traded in our corporate MacBook pros and our work-filled nights for backcountry backpacks, climbing shoes and ice axes.  

By contrast, Brent’s idea of a blog name was Bloggy McBlog Face.  While quite cute, I’ll leave it to the reader to decide which is the more appropriate title.   As the official author and manager of the blog, I am sticking with “Dispatches from the 45th” - meaning, from the 45th parallel, as well as from the 45th year of Brent’s life.