Pick-A-Day

March 2024
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I am not a Hoosier.

I’m fresh back from a trip to the USA, where paranoia about Covid is on a whole different level from Germany. Excluding Monroe County, Indiana, only three shops enforced a mask mandate: REI Fort Collins, REI Denver, and an art gallery on the court house square in Spencer, Indiana.

In some shops I was the […]

Whatchamacallit 147: Sony WH-1000XM3

Last year, after dumping my iPhone, I was suddenly in the market for a new noise canceling headphone that would (a) work with Bluetooth and (b) really work well. Compactness was desired.

After looking at the Bose and Sony offerings, I decided to go for the Sony WH-1000XM3 – a name that really rolls […]

Whatchamacallit 99: Parcs Québec Hat

Last fall I took a week off to explore and hike throughout The Gaspésie peninsula of Québec, Canada.

I extolled the virtues of my vacation last November – about a month after I got home. Even now, some 9 months after I was there, I miss that particular trip. My analysis of it in […]

Whatchamacallit 13: Wool from the Shetland Islands

Back in 2013, I went to the Shetland Islands, which was one of my top vacations of all time. From visiting the northern most point of the United Kingdom (Baltasound), where I ate some of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. Later, I slept in a lighthouse (Eshaness).

Overall, I generally had an amazing […]

Whatchamacallit 8: Longboard Beer

This is a six-pack carrier for Longboard Beer – which I drank when I visited Hawaii in 2014.

I’ve not really treated this with much respect: it sits on top of a bookcase in my living room collecting dust. But I look at it from across the room and it brings back memories of […]

Whatchamacallit 7: Alan Turing First Day Cover

This is a first day cover of a stamp honoring Alan Turing, cancelled at the Bletchley Park Post Office.

This is on my mostly gay wall of art in my bedroom. Strangely, I do not remember exactly how I acquired it, but it was likely shortly after issue in 2012, which was his centenary […]

Whatchamacallit 6: nackte männer

This is the first “annoyed” whatchamacallit – the poster of nackte männer that I look at each evening lying in bed. It’s at the foot of my bed, directly opposite my head.

Why am I annoyed?

Simple: because today, Friday, after work, my plans are to go to the airport, hop on Austrian (OS) […]

Mystery Solved: Barcelona

Drawing of Barcelona from 1972

For quite a few years, I have had a drawing on my living room wall of a street scene in Barcelona – it is the only piece of art I have that represents a place I had not been. Rather, it was a piece of art drawn by […]

Four Days in Lima

Earlier this month it was time to take a break from the cold and dark that is wintertime in Berlin – For reasons that are a bit unclear, even to me, I split my vacation in two, spending the first part in Lima, Peru, and the second part in South Carolina.

The Lima part […]

Bogotá for the holidays…

Earlier this year it dawned on me that the configuration of Christmas and New Year’s landing on Tuesdays meant that I could take from December 22nd through January 1st off – 11 days – using exactly two vacation days.

Surely anybody who knows me, knows that I look at this as an opportunity […]