I travel a lot. I go on a lot of international trips for business, I travel to see Philip Glass performances, and I travel to see family and friends. I love to travel, but like Marley with his heavy chains, I am getting more and more concerned about my enormous carbon footprint.
If I travel four times in one year, that is a very light year. in 2019 I had 13 trips that involved getting on a plane, and in 2018 I had 7. While I hope not to repeat that 2019 schedule again, let’s just say this: I travel a lot. After your first half-dozen flights, you tend to… Read More »
I replaced NPR news with audio books in my morning routine when, in 2019, I decided the news was a depressing way to start my day. I decided to focus my listening to non-fiction, and, at least at first, science books. This post lists what I’ve been listening to.
Back in the 70s, there was a band of merry Grateful Dead fans who traveled the world following their favorite band. These were the devoted Dead Heads. I am a Glass Head. I try to temper my obsession with Philip Glass a bit so as to not spend too much dough on travel, but whenever I can, I… Read More »
Every morning, Dave and I go to McDonald’s for breakfast.
When a matched set of LDS missionaries came to our door last year, my wonderful Dave invited them inside for a long chat. They kept in touch for a while after that, but eventually gave up on coaxing him into their fold. The exchange below was so lovely that I asked Dave’s permission to share it here. The… Read More »
Following five days in New York City with my brother and then my sister, it was time for me to start the next leg of my trip: a week in Lisbon for client meetings. This was my first time to Portugal and I was looking forward to seeing it.
Early in 2019 I purchased tickets for me and my brother, Tim, to attend Philip Glass’ Akhnaten in New York in December. I saw this opera a few years earlier in Los Angeles, but it was the last of Philip Glass’ Trilogy that Tim still needed to see, so of course I had to see it again.
Most blogs contain posts which are discrete stories or articles that, while they might share common topics, are intended to be read on their own, not as part of a linear progression. For these blogs, unless you have set up some order, the posts are in an unstructured row that your users can either read linearly or search… Read More »
When voting, the calculation everyone seems to make is: “Will this make my life better?” I think that’s a problem. Yes, I want my vote to make my life better. But I also want it to make your life better, and his, and her’s, and their’s. Sometimes to make everyone’s life better, it means that it won’t be… Read More »
I recently watched the film Up in the Air, in which George Clooney’s seasoned traveller character, Ryan, bullies Anna Kendrick’s newbie character to switch to smaller, better-wheeled luggage at the airport. As she is on the floor in a corner of the airport, transferring the contents of one suitcase into another, we see that she has taken up… Read More »
We’re all used to opening a can when we want refried beans at home — but once you have tasted how delicious this is from scratch you’ll never go back! Full disclosure: I didn’t take a picture of Dave’s beans, but, well, they look pretty much just like this picture from Wikimedia Commons.
I travel to a US city every November to set up and manage a booth for one or more of my clients at the Supercomputing trade show. This huge show, which I have been going to since 2008, is held in the week prior to the week of [US] Thanksgiving every year, moving between a small handful of… Read More »
If you are traveling to NW Oregon or SW Washington, you’ll be flying into the Portland International Airport: PDX. It has frequently been voted the “best US airport,” and whenever I travel, I always plan on at least one extra hour just to hang out at the airport — it’s that nice. The carpet Portlanders are *fiercely*… Read More »
I spent a week in The Hague in mid-September for client meetings. This was such an enjoyable trip. I was at a hotel next to the main train station (Den Haag Centraal), by the edge of Koekamp park, and a not-too-long walk from the heart of the historic city with many beautiful things to see.