My Hovercraft is Full of Eels

I really don’t know what to make of this, but I’m glad it exists. People throw sticks into the water from the upstream side of the bridge, and cross the bridge to see the sticks come out the other side (just like Winnie the Pooh did). The World Championships is Sunday, in about 10 days [...]

In the spirit of adventure, I responded to a forwarded email from a friend – their colleague was offering a free photo-shoot consisting of black and white headshots (and nothing more, I know what all my male friends are thinking).

I went, lights were setup, photos were taken, and until today that was all [...]

I’m always been appreciative of forgiving friends, and I feel this isn’t by coincidence, given my personality. So it was a great relief when Jeff was so gracious after I tried to kill his four-year old daughter, Siena.

It wasn’t purposeful – I was at their house eating a chocolate cookie when Siena walked by and [...]

I was invited to a brilliant and inventive party by a friend of mine, and what made it so great, beyond the great company and vast quantities of smoked ham and soft cheeses I ate, was the gingerbread man competition. We had different shapes, different colored icing, and little sugary decorations – our only constraint [...]

London’s TimeOut magazine suggested, and I obeyed, a free tour of the Victorian Nunhead cemetery.

Lots of headstones and monuments burried under vines and overgrowth, with a crypt full of disintegrating coffins. Very cool.

Looking around for a gym, I ended up joining a Bikram Yoga studio. I figured this was just one more variation of yoga, and had no idea what I was getting myself in for. The studio was 105 Fahrenheit, and humid.

After the shock of the first session, I went back, enjoying each class more than [...]

On day four of my German class, the teacher asked us our professions, and one student replied a chef.

If you are learning English, chef is pretty easy, like most nouns. Plurals and definite/indefinite articles follow basic rules. That’s it. Just like German . . . almost.

The German word for chef is der Koch. Simple, right? [...]

Precision is great, especially when you build cars, but a reasonable person can see that such precision should have limits.

I got in an elevator in Germany, and saw that the floors were not demarcated as 1, 2, 3, but instead as 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc.

Is this really necessary? There were no half floors, or anything [...]

Every time I travel I’m always presented with so many questions. Few of them are profound, but they press on me nonetheless.

Why is beer so different (and so much better) in some places? Why does the same hold true for pretty girls?

Why do some countries insist on the light-switch being inside the bathroom, and other [...]

It’s a very frustrating process, arguing with Germans, because even when they are not right, they usually aren’t wrong, either.

The backdrop: I’m at my step brother’s in Germany, talking to his wife, Steffi, about German Chimney sweeps, a slightly unnusual organization with monopoly power and the right to enter your home at least once a [...]