I’ve spent a few hours over the last couple of weeks wandering near various of the “occupy” protests in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. On Friday, I grabbed a chunk of curbside next to the Boston encampment. I sat, listening to the babble, and tried…
I write this from the Northbound Acela, returning home to Boston at the end of – I think – my third trip in as many weeks. Perhaps it’s the fourth. I’ve learned that it’s better to not spend too much time counting the little wounds,…
I see a lot of things in the world that could be better than they are. I’m not talking about the part where we will all get sick and weak and die eventually. That’s unavoidable. I’m talking about the crappy systems that we build for…
The four noble truths of buddhism, restated: 1) The vast majority of us are suffering.2) More than likely, you are suffering because you are an idiot.3) If you were less of an idiot, you would probably suffer less.4) Just keep going along those lines. It’s…
Nearly a year ago, I received a very nice present of a Groupon certificate to “drive a ferrari for an hour.” Here’s the groupon ad. The company is The Motorsport Lab. They had substantial scheduling issues. Between their flaky website, limited availability, and the fact…
Greetings from the business center of the Shigatze hotel. Shigatze is a complete dust bowl right now. Every sidewalk is ripped up in preparations for the celebrations in early July. Based on my casual assessment, I don’t think they’re going to make it. They still…
The trip is going really well so far, and there are too many incredible experiences going on to try to squeeze them into blog posts through this soda straw of an internet connection. I do wish to report, however, on the local hooch: “Chaang.” This…
I write from the upscale “pay-in shower lounge” at the Hong Kong international airport. At first we were confused about the setup, but it all became simple very quickly. The key is to accept that we’re from the backwater sticks of the world, and that…
Jen and I are taking a trip to Tibet, and I’ve been asked more than a few times: “Why Tibet?” It’s one of those difficult questions because it’s absolutely simple and clear to me why we’re going – but for a dozen different reasons. Teasing…
My brother in law, Doug, teaches at a middle school west of Philadelphia. For years, he’s been suggesting that I would have fun presenting at their career day. This year I had a tiny bit of space in my schedule, so I snuck down and…