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For me, freedom is traveling light with just one change of clothes. That still translates into wearing clean clothes every day. The downside is doing a bit of laundry each day. The upside is traveling with just a carry-on: I walk past the check-in lines and straight to Security. My 35 liter backpack easily fits… Continue reading Travel Gear: Clean Clothes

Much of the early wealth of Minneapolis came from grain. This grain legacy translates into locally headquartered companies like Cargill and General Mills. Cargill, the largest privately held company in the country, manages 25% of US grain exports. General Mills manages ubiquitous brands like Betty Crocker and Pillsbury. The first flour mill in what is… Continue reading Urban Bike: Mill City

Google Voice and a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) adapter give us free dial tone on all our landline phones. Almost all calls within the US and Canada are free. International calls are near enough free. We use our home landline phones the same way we have always used them. People continue to call our… Continue reading Freekin’ Cheap: Free Landline Phone Service

Today I’m off on my bicycle to visit every lake in Minneapolis, City of Lakes. It took some effort to draw up a list of 16 Minneapolis lakes, or, to be more precise, lakes and other notable bodies of water.   The Minnesota DNR (Department of Natural Resources) defines a lake as follows: A lake… Continue reading Urban Bike: City of Lakes

I love to fly, even in Economy. Fellow passengers are almost always considerate, showing respect for personal space. They might even have interesting stories to tell.But I do have a few requests for my seat-mates. Please do not tug on my seat. If you only follow one request please follow this one: when getting out… Continue reading Personal Space in Economy

Navigating Japan is not for the faint-hearted. Most overseas visitors arrive in Tokyo, only to enter a world of alphabets they cannot read, streets with non-consecutive house numbers, and train stations that are the world’s busiest. In my previous My Kagoshima posts: I emphasized the need to “chunk it.” Kagoshima Prefecture is a manageable chunk… Continue reading My Kagoshima: Getting Around the Region

I see things from my bicycle I don’t see from a bus or car.  It might be an old guy on his bicycle, stovepipe hat, bushy beard, archaic black clothes, a character from a Dickens novel. Or a bearded guy cycling the Midtown Greenway in a girlie dress.  They seek attention, or inhabit an alternate… Continue reading Urban Bike: Yard Art in a Civil Society

An unassuming meadow on a sunny day in October 2014. I had gone out of my way to walk across this field. Earlier that day I had traveled to the town of Staines, a short distance from London’s Heathrow Airport. Next morning I would catch a flight to Athens, Greece, the cradle of democracy. After… Continue reading A Field by the River Thames