With a high of -4°F, stayed in, continued my home energy review. All our lights are LED… except this holdout in the clothes dryer. Decided to keep the 10 watt incandescent bulb because it’s only on for a few minutes per week. Besides, it lets me healthily embrace imperfection.
Category: Wabi-Sabi
Wrong Tom Wilson
Sometimes I receive emails meant for other Tom Wilsons. Today, received a $100 Amazon digital gift from a complete stranger. Thinking it was a scam, pasted the code into my Amazon account: it worked. It took several emails to convince the sender she might want her money back.
A Week in Honolulu
The snow was piling up as we waited to ride the light rail to the airport. At Minneapolis/St. Paul MSP, snow-clearing crews were keeping ahead of the snow: across four departure boards, I saw only two cancellations, probably due to inbound cancellations. The weather delayed our departure. An engineer arrived to deal with a frozen… Continue reading A Week in Honolulu
Change of Plan
Airside at MSP. Learned our connecting flight was delayed, and wouldn’t arrive at our destination until almost midnight Pacific. Changed the flights at no cost via the Delta app to tomorrow morning, then rode the LRT back home.
An All-Expense-Spared Trip to Chicago
On Sunday I submitted my 2018 tax return. I’m eagerly awaiting a $2 refund from the Feds. The tax refund got me into a parsimonious frame of mind. I decided to assemble an inexpensive trip. Incentives for a cheap trip The stars were in alignment: An email from Hyatt Hotels warned me that a bunch… Continue reading An All-Expense-Spared Trip to Chicago
Travel Gear: Suitcase
This is our only suitcase. My parents bought it in the 1960’s, probably at the John Lewis “Bainbridge’s” department store in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. They understood durable quality, even though money was tight. It took me through my college days in the 1970’s and on to the United States in 1979. In my undergraduate… Continue reading Travel Gear: Suitcase
The Time I Sneaked onto a Night Train from Communist East Berlin to Prague
August 1972. My brother and I stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin. We had just arrived from London on our first flight ever. The flight was cheap by 1972 standards: just £14. In 2018 pounds that’s £181 (US$230), a lot of money for us: I was an undergraduate, and my brother… Continue reading The Time I Sneaked onto a Night Train from Communist East Berlin to Prague
Disaster Tourism
Posted Disaster Tourism.
Disaster Tourism
Hawaii Big Island, April 2009. My partner and I hiked across lava. A map on our GPS guided us along the invisible lines of streets buried beneath us. A school bus, trapped by lava, reminded us this is a disaster site where homes had once stood. Disaster Tourism can be distasteful. I think of people… Continue reading Disaster Tourism
In the Event of an Earthquake…
I’ve just received a message from the the Air Terminal Hotel at Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport, the main airport for Hokkaido, Japan: I had been expecting the message, as there was a similar announcement at the hotel’s Web site. As instructed, I went ahead and cancelled my reservation at the Air Terminal Hotel for next week.… Continue reading In the Event of an Earthquake…