Yesterday would have been our first day outside of Dublin on our grand Irish sojourn. Instead, in Chicago, we had breakfast in bed, ordered in pizza, and played Scrabble. … More Covid-19: Vacation Day Five
Something that I do on every vacation: Ransack a bookstore till I can barely fit my backpack under the seat in front of me. … More Covid-19: Vacation Day Four
Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day. It was to be the centerpiece of our vacation in Ireland: Marching in the Dublin parade with the bagpipe band, taking in the spectacle. Instead, of course, Tess and I stayed home. … More Covid-19: Vacation Day Three
We’re hunkered down in our apartment, debating on whether we still take a vacation here at home. … More Covid-19: Vacation Day Two
Saturday, November 23-Tuesday, November 26, 2019: Berlin, Germany Late November 2019 found me in Berlin: Fresh off of a backbreaking week at Dreamforce in San Francisco followed by two consecutive nights on a plane and sporting a murderous upper respiratory infection. Every description of Berlin seems to feature a word starting with “gr”: Grimy, gritty, … More Just Can’t Get Enough
Monday, May 15, 2017: New York, New York 9:20am – I am crunched in the backseat of my parents’ station wagon, which is sitting in traffic. We are within in the LaGuardia Airport complex in Queens, New York, but still on main-ish roads and far from Departures. This place has been undergoing an enormous, perpetual … More Endless Construction and Disappearing Packets
Thursday, April 13, 2017: Los Angeles, California
Downtown Los Angeles has not the glamour of Hollywood, the pomp of Beverly Hills and Malibu, or the edge of Venice, but it has your big city skyscrapers and what feels to a humble Midwesterner like a hint of California cool. I spent a day and a night here en route to Coachella in 2017, sun(bur)ning myself on a hotel deck, riding a slide 1000 feet above the ground, and of course, bookshopping. … More Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday, January 14-Monday, January 16, 2017: Park City, Utah
Over Martin Luther King weekend 2017, I tried learning to ski in Park City, Utah . Park City is a quaint old mining town above Salt Lake City centered around two sizable, connected ski resorts and a pleasant downtown area. The friends I joined for the quick trip were all moderate-to-good skiiers, and I am not, so I spent all Sunday in lessons and fell a lot. Below are reviews of the places I hit in Park City and the time I spent there. … More The Bruise on my Left Hip
Monday, January 16, 2017: Salt Lake City, Utah
I went to Park City, Utah to meet some friends and learn to ski over MLK weekend. My flight out of Salt Lake City (the closest major airport) left Monday night, so I headed in to check out Salt Lake, a sparse city surrounded by breathtaking mountain views with grand Mormon monuments in its center. … More Everywhere is Cold
Irish Fanta is fine but it’s more than a bit of a letdown once you’ve had Club Orange. … More On Irish Fanta
Gummies and Orange Soda 