We've all heard the advice to follow our dream, to find a job we are passionate about. In an ideal world, we would all find a job that we love, that pays well, that challenges us, and has great co-workers. But unfortunately life doesn't always work that way. We may find a job that we … Continue reading Maybe You Don’t Have to Love Your Job →

The picture on the front page should have told me what to expect inside, but I grabbed a copy of the Metro daily newspaper anyway (it was free). Upon opening the paper I was greeted by a two page spread about Harry, Meghan, and a Krankie Pony. The sub-heading was "Mascot aims to nip prince's … Continue reading A Potpourri of News Stories from London →

The title is the beginning of one of Winston Churchill's famous quotes; here is the full quote: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. The quote appears at the end of the movie "Darkest Hour", which we saw today at the theater. The movie focuses on the early … Continue reading Success Is Not Final. Failure Is Not Fatal →

Three years ago I wrote a post about DC Rainmaker. DC was an IT consultant who also happened to be incredibly passionate about triathlons, technology, and travel, and he managed to create an unbelievably informative and entertaining web site that blended all of these passions together. Today he focuses on his blog full-time, still providing the … Continue reading Profiles in Passion – The Man in Seat 61 →

By all accounts, it seems to be a pretty bad year for the flu, America’s worst in a decade. It has taken the U.S. by surprise, pitting a weak flu vaccine against particularly virulent strains. But for one industry, a bad year for the flu can be good - the orange juice industry. Orange juice sales … Continue reading How a Bad Year for the Flu Can Be Good →

Today was the day I've been waiting for - the results of my 23andMe genetic testing. Since I had been given both the Health and Ancestry testing kit, my results are broken down into five categories. If you only purchase the Ancestry kit, I assume you only get the Ancestry set of reports. I am … Continue reading The Results Are In! →

The BBC had a story today about Norway's Olympic team that received 15,000 eggs, instead of the 1,500 they thought they had ordered. While some of the Norwegians claimed it was a translation error from Norwegian to Korean, the most likely culprit simply seems to be a typo, accidentally adding on an extra 0 at … Continue reading Just One More in a Long History of Costly Typos →

Merriam-Webster’s Time Traveler tool allows the user to discover the words that were born (or at least appeared in print) the same year you were. For the year 1957, of the 155 new words, a few of them are either words that I use somewhat frequently, or words that are in the news these days: chronic traumatic … Continue reading Words That Were Born (or first appeared in print) the Same Year as You →

A colleague at Villanova (one much more cultured than myself) suggested that I attend an Evensong service at St. Paul's while I was in London. Well tonight was the night we had the opportunity to go, and it was beautiful. Before I share the Evensong experience, I thought it might be helpful to offer a … Continue reading Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral →

The weather in London has been relatively mild, at least compared to the weather back home in Philadelphia. Temperatures typically reach a high in the mid 40s, and the lows are in the upper 30s. But it's still winter. We are outside quite a bit, and I bundle up as much as I can. I … Continue reading The Brits Are a Hardy People →