Recent Articles
Dog Life
March 2, 2010No Comments
I think I am spoiling the dogs. We adopted Simon (an oversized American Labrador) at the age of 15 months. We were living in Peru at the time and an engineer who worked for my father brought him back from Bolivia and could not keep him. After seeing his picture for the first time, I fell in love with him immediately. His face was so childlike and innocent when he grinned at the camera. When he arrived he was all doped up from the flight (a practice I do not endorse) and slept for a day and a half. My maternal instincts kicked in and I stayed by his side [...]
Beard Life
March 2, 2010No Comments
With the entire world on its toes, the 2009 bi-annual World Beard and Moustache Contest kicked off on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska. The American team who was hosting the event for the second time this decade had lofty goals going into the weekend. When the smoke cleared the United States emerged as the new world facial hair super power sweeping twelve of eighteen categories. With home field advantage the US dethroned the German team who had dominated the competition since its inception. Home town hero David Traver [...]
Coffee Life
March 2, 2010No Comments
I was at the fish market today (Pike’s Market) which houses the first Starbuck’s café and it dawned on me as my lust for a soy chai latte overcame my desire not to stand in line with a bunch of noisy tourists. What a cultural phenomenon coffee shops are! For me it’s something I do on the weekends mostly. I’m usually out doing errands or running around when I see that green Starbucks sign and I’m helpless against it. During a conversation about spending habits last Thanksgiving my brother-in-law (the accountant) forced me to calculate [...]
Vacation Life
March 2, 20102 Comments
Vacations, there is nothing quite like them. But sometimes it’s hard to check out of your life to take one. I am writing this after a 9-day holiday in Brazil that I was unsure about before I left. I know, boo hoo, it sounds so pretentious but it’s true I was on the fence about whether I wanted or could leave. There were difficulties with the company; there was the expense of international travel; there were problems with the visas required by US citizens traveling to Brazil. It all seemed to be more stressful than relaxing. But in the end my wife dragged me kicking and screaming to [...]
