40th High School Reunion
I graduated from my rural Iowa high school in 1983 with 48 others in a standard, uneventful, and completely forgettable ceremony, so - holy shit - I've now been a…
Random Learnings #11
Did you know that a German, and therefore a European Union, enclave within Switzerland? Neither did I. It turns out that the Basel Badischer Banhof in Basel, Switzerland - just…
Pavek Museum
Originally the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting, the Pavek Museum is primarily known for its extensive collection of vintage radio, television, and broadcasting equipment. The initial museum was created from the…
Random Learnings #10
I'm not British and therefore haven't really understood the details about Windrush immigrants, though it's been front-and-center in the news for both its 75th anniversary and the attempts by the…
Random Learnings #9
Yesterday (July 28, 2023), a threatening storm went through Central Iowa. The storm had everything: winds, lightening, ominous clouds, rain potential, and storm warnings. Coralville was hosting fifty thousand RAGBRAI…
Where The Mississippi River Starts
I first met the Mississippi River in 1972 when my mom moved - with me and my two siblings from Brooklyn, NY to rural Iowa. We first arrived in Clinton,…
My Personal United Airlines Horror Story
Context Summer 2023 finds United Airlines once again in the news for poor service, canceling thousands of flights just prior to a major holiday weekend and blaming the FAA. Their…
The Bonsais of Omiya
If your visions or memories of Japan lead to thoughts of bonsai trees, you should visit Omiya, Japan, a town specifically founded for bonsai growers. Omiya Though mentioned as if…
Travel and Phone Data
Using your mobile phone during international travel has always been expensive. Pre-smartphone, you'd carefully ration how often you make/take calls because the per-minute charges ratcheted up substantially once out of…
The Asian Gardens of Portland
In our first visit to Portland, Oregon, my wife and I visited the Portland Japanese Garden in Washington Park and the Lan Su Chinese Garden in the Old Town Chinatown…