Category Trials and Tribulations
Two Weeks
I can sustain a hard-driving pace for a long time and perform really well. I actually kind of thrive on it. In part, I think it’s because the push to get something done under pressure — and then getting it done well — is enormously satisfying to me (even more so if I happen to get praise from […]
It’s not easy being green!
I hate the environment. I’ve been living in an apartment fitted out exclusively with super eco-friendly, energy saver CFL light bulbs for barely three months and already I’ve had enough! If there were a baby seal here right now, I would hold it hostage and threaten violence until someone brought me a 100 watt light bulb. […]
Mollified (a little bit)
Check for cracks in the universe. Or flying pigs. Or freezing temperatures in hell. Something’s clearly afoot. Since when does an airline put its stranded passengers up in a hotel and give them meal vouchers? Whatever happened to the good old days when we were kicked to the curb and told to fend for ourselves? […]
So, so mad
It never fails. Late-summer travel from the east coast to or through the midwest is always an absolute nightmare — especially when I try to do do a long weekend with family or friends. One year I spent 12 hours sitting in JFK and then slept on the floor of the Salt Lake Airport on my […]
No Public Vomiting
A gentleman (or, in my case, someone who is trying to behave in a more gentlemanlike manner) ought never to vomit in public. One should hope to avoid vomiting altogether — but at the very least public vomiting should be out of the question. Alas, I find myself in violation of this principle with alarming frequency. Indeed, in the […]
Puno – Lake Titicaca
Yesterday was a mixed bag, with some high points and some really low points. The first two-thirds were pretty miserable. I woke up at 4:45am (an hour before the alarm was to sound) and could not go back to sleep. At firs, it was just a question of needing to use the facilities. But I contunued […]
So cold!
As I type I am lying in a little posada in Puno, Peru (12,420 ft) under five woolen blankets (plus the topsheet), wearing three pairs of pants, two shirts, two sweaters, two pairs of socks, and the “sun thing” that Heather and Jordan gave me for Christmas on my head. I look like a cross […]
Merde!
Amanda is standing in line at the domestic departures gate of the Lima airport. Our flight leaves in an hour.I’m sitting in a shiny black Toyota taxi, worming my way through the traffic-clogged streets of Lima, choking on clouds of unfiltered exhaust. I’ve got another two hours (at least) of traffic and fumes (for a […]
Moving – Part 2
We lived a little more than a mile (1.2 miles, to be exact) from the high school in La Grande, Oregon. For some reason we didn’t qualify for bus service, and I wasn’t always able to get a ride with Dad on his way to work. So, during those years before I got a drivers […]
Flood! (A Tale of Woe)
I got home from work around midnight last night, looking forward to going right to bed. I dropped my briefcase by my desk in the sunroom, changed into pajamas, and went to turn down the covers — but found myself instead splashing through a good half-inch of water. That’s right: SPLASHING. At first, it didn’t register. […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 