Okay, okay - I realize I live a great life. But it's exhausting having this much fun all the time! Uncomfortable Travel One wonderful thing that came out of COVID was really cheap airline tickets before the world really started opening back up. I had so many points saved from not going anywhere, and then … Continue reading Taking a Break From…?
Tag: food
Un Poquito de Todo (Argentina)
The Totally Random Let's kick off this post with random observations I've had while in Argentina. People here love to clap. Put a few Argentinians together in a group and they will find something to applaud. I appreciate being somewhere air conditioning is used to a normal level and not to turn indoors into winter. … Continue reading Un Poquito de Todo (Argentina)
Oh the Places You Can Go!
Argentina is enormous and has many different climates and landscapes and geographical features. You need at least a month to see it all, which is, of course, not feasible for most people. I've been based in Buenos Aires and have had a few three-day weekends off work that I took full advantage of to hop … Continue reading Oh the Places You Can Go!
The All-Mighty Dollar
Ecuador Earlier this year I went to Croatia, which is part of the EU but doesn't use the Euro, and Montenegro, which is not part of the EU but does use the Euro. Slightly annoying. Not the Euro part - I don't mind if I have leftover Euros because I'll use them eventually. But having … Continue reading The All-Mighty Dollar
Sixteen Things for Sixteen Years
Did you know that Montenegro (tied with Serbia) is the world's third most recent sovereign nation? Montenegro split off by a referendum in which 55.5 percent of people voted for independence. The threshold to approve was 55 percent. As you might imagine, people still hold many strong feelings about this decision on both sides of … Continue reading Sixteen Things for Sixteen Years
Chi-Town, Take Two
Despite my love of big cities, I somehow didn't make it to Chicago until I was 35 and then never made it back. So when Solar had a week long conference there—giving me a free place to stay right on the river—I decided to join. Why not? And when he suggested we extend the stay … Continue reading Chi-Town, Take Two
Turning 40: Lists, Part 1
Yesterday kicked off a week-long series of posts all about me as I'm about to turn 40. The next two posts contain lists. Factual, thoughtful, silly, defining, wishful, nostalgic - all sorts of lists about who I am at this point in my life. Something interesting to look back on in the coming decades as … Continue reading Turning 40: Lists, Part 1
On the Eighth Day of China: What Am I Eating?
Prior to my trip, I learned a bit of Mandarin, including the essentials like basic food and drink. So I knew how to read and say different kinds of meat, noodles, water, beer, and a few other key words. But what I didn't know were the words for the hundreds of different types of vegetables … Continue reading On the Eighth Day of China: What Am I Eating?
Being Dog’s Best Friend
When I was 21, I spent five months living in India. It was only the second foreign country I had ever been to, and the first was Australia, which didn't really prepare me for what I was about to encounter. The conditions people existed in—both their own physical bodies and the environment around them—were horrific. … Continue reading Being Dog’s Best Friend
The Design of Everyday Things
I shamelessly poached the title of this post from a book I'm reading for professional development: The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman. I don't include books I read for anything other than pleasure in my semi-annual book reports, but product and user experience design has been so much on my mind lately that … Continue reading The Design of Everyday Things
Jennifer A Swallow 