Day 0 | Welcome to ABA Abroad

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8ce6eb_56f0bec69e7c413b83859eeb95329152/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Day 0 | Welcome to ABA Abroad

This trip was not entirely on a whim. Heres a peek into the 7 months of prep:

The seed was planted into my brain on Black Friday 2025. As seen in the above aforementioned football blog; I was ubering early in the morning from Westchester, NY to JFK airport to catch the first flight back to Austin. This would ensure I would be home in time to tailgate for roughly 12 hours prior to the rivalry clash with the Texas A&M Aggies that evening. My uber driver would not allow me to sleep so I told him I’d go to Ghana if he’d stop talking to me/about it. Removing aversive stimuli can be our biggest motivators.

Yes, that is an actual Ghanian VISA, good through 2029. This makes all of the Mid-Atlantic and New England state fake ID's issued in the mid to late 2000s look like Amex Black cards. Who would have thought Maine would get a shoutout in a Ghana blog? The process of obtaining the VISA required significant documentation, travel itinerary, lodging booking, flight bookings, and reference letters from folks in Ghana and the U.S.

Josh receiving his final vaccinations needed for his trip. The final tally: Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Tetanus, Rabies 1 & 2, Cholera, Meningitis. This was a challenge as a non-vaccine guy. EDITOR’S NOTE: Everyone relax, this is strictly my opinion for myself as I have no commentary on vaccines for other people. The lady at Passport Health Austin started off hating but came to love me as I would ask no less than 10 questions upon each of my eight visits. Ex: “Ma’am, would my rabies shot be equally effective if I was bit at a dog park in Austin versus by a dog in Africa?”

This booklet contains all of my shot records which are required upon entry into the country.

Josh practicing doing a daily video. Believe it or not judging by the choppiness of my first post, I have been practice doing one of these daily videos every day since Thanksgiving. In applied behavior analysis we love tracking data so for those taking frequency data at home that means I have practiced these videos no less than 205 times. Creator of HBO's "The Rehearsal" just gave me a head nod and an air 'cheers.' My lovely sister in-law Jamie, of Kanssas City's KMBC news, told me the best way to get better at being on camera is to practice being on camera. I promise i was not flexing in this picture. Happy accident.

The modern mullet. As I have told many friends and colleagues; "many of ya'll are growing children and families.....I'm growing a mullet." Call it a quarter life crisis if you will. I like to think this hair style puts me into what we call in practice, H+R+E. If you or your client aren't in a Happy, Relaxed, Engaged state; overall production will diminish.

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