I like the stuff that Russell Johnson does. The Connected Traveler
site is a great one to visit now and then. Johnson posts many of his stories as MP3s, podcasts, sort of. In this peice
he heads to CEBIT, the yearly expo of technology in Hanover, Germany. He finds the city HUGE and spends some
time, as any good visitor to Germany should, in the famous beer halls. Apparently he did not start a putsch, but
instead found the shenanigans of the visiting Taiwanese, Russians and Lithuanians quite amusing.
Taste-Drive: An Estonian Cuisine Experiment
This one is all over the map, but great! Some clever folks decided to take five lucky participants
from different parts of the globe to taste test some popular
Estonian dishes. The participants
weren’t given the details of what they would be eating until after they were finished as not to influence the opinion
of the foods flavor. Their thoughts were recorded on each dish before and after finding out that they had just
tasted such items like blood sausage, jellied meat, tongue, and marinated eel. Oh Yum!
A really good read to learn more about Estonia’s foods, where to dine in Estonia and how to prepare the
dishes at home as well. Still, I think my favorite quote comes Martin of Germany who at first says the
tongue looks like the sole of a shoe, but is probably some big animal’s heart. He gave the dish two thumbs
up.
Got No Plans This Summer…Work in Alaska
Sure you can sit at your desk, type up your memos and let the bleat of the fax machine be your sparrow song…but
wouldn’t it be great to pick up and go to, say, Alaska?
Here’s a site where you can get the suummer job of your dreams in the
nation’s largest state (unless, of course, your dream job is to make Powerpoint presentations).
The seasonal jobs are based on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. The positions generally require skills and experience
in natural history interpretation, guiding, outdoor leadership and recreation, fish guiding, rafting, maintenance
and/or hospitality. Surely you can finesse your resume, right? Walks in Central Park = Outdoor leadership.
Employment for these seasonal jobs runs from mid-May through mid-September.
Snow Goose Restaurant
Sometimes I forget about good old Alaska, but the site found here reminds me about just one of
the many reasons to keep it in mind. No seafood is probably fresher than Alaska’s and
the Snow Goose restaurant out of Anchorage, seems like a nice
stop for some fresh catch of the day. Imagine a little live Alaskan entertainment while you start off with
a delicious coconut prawn appetizer. Then you work your way to a King Crab dish or maybe the wild Alaskan Salmon
smothered in an Old Whiskey River Bourbon-Peach BBQ sauce. That’s a mouthful. If you happen to be in or
near Alaska, this sounds like an excellent place to fill up.
Fortune Cookie Predicts Surf Vacation
As luck would have it, a week before Brent
Thrash was to depart on his wicked surf hideaway in
Raglan, New Zealand he opened a fortune cookie that told him what he already
knew. “An enjoyable vacation is awaiting you.” I suppose that’s pretty cool. What’s better than his
cookie fortune is his awesome adventure down under. After meeting up with tour guide Blair Dods and a second surf
enthusiast, Morgan Johns from Canada, they head to the west coast to surf Raglan.
What they encounter - not so happening waves at first, but with the turn of the tide and a wait into the
evening produced a tremendously different scenario. Along with exquisite New Zealand countryside and waves,
waves, waves, it sounds like his fortune this cookie was on point.