The Power of Persistence: The Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb
The balcony of my third floor apartment was so close to Sydney Harbor that with a running start from the living room I could plant my foot on the rail and dive into the murky waters below. Directly across was the Opera House and to my right was the Sydney Harbor Bridge, affectionately known as […]
In Honor of Memorial Day: The Forgotten Sailors
In honor of Memorial Day I’m re-running this post about men who made the ultimate sacrifice in a lonely stretch of the Pacific Ocean. On a personal note, I did “process [the] advice” from the publisher I mentioned and have made some significant progress. On a narrow canal in a Midwestern city lies a memorial to […]
Almost English
Years ago I worked on a project for ING Bank in Sydney, Australia. Due to a happy coincidence I lived in a million dollar apartment for the two month duration of the gig with a systems engineer from my company. The apartment belonged to the family of the ING program manager and he made it available […]
The Language of Coffee
It may be hard to believe, but there was a day in the not too distant past when coffee came only in black, or with cream or sugar. Several years before an upstart coffee company from Seattle planted their first outpost in New York City, Laurie and I were living in New Jersey—a land without […]
Everyday is Valentine’s Day?
Ten months after Laurie and I started dating we had our first Valentine’s Day together. We were both freshman at the University of Washington and commuted together to the campus. During a break between classes she presented me with a card to celebrate the occasion. Like a typical clueless college boy, I had neglected to […]
A Season for Pirates
Here in Seattle tis the season for pirates, and not just the kind that prey on Microsoft. Our big Seafair festival which ended on Sunday with hydroplane races and performances by the Blue Angels, features a group called the Seafair pirates at many events. Our office even had a pirate day at the office last Thursday. […]
The Christmas Eve Death March
“I feel sorry for people who have no real Christmas traditions and wonder if they sometimes feel as though the holiday is just another hectic, confusing, and stressful time of year; rather than a peaceful and serene season.” Mike Huckabee in A Simple Christmas No series on my Christmas traditions would be complete without covering […]
The Forgotten Sailors: A Veterans Day Story
On a narrow canal in a Midwestern city lies a memorial to men who fought for our freedom, and then their own survival, on a wide ocean. Last September while attending a writers conference in that city I opted to skip breakfast and take a run, so that I could process some advice I’d received […]
Snack for a Killer Whale?
Before a recent kayaking trip to the Canadian Gulf Islands near Victoria, BC, I asked a question that’s puzzled me for a long time: “Why don’t killer whales think of humans as just another snack?” These spectacular marine mammals sometimes feed on great white sharks or whales. They’re even aggressive enough to snake their way […]
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