Hiking Adventures in the San Francisco Peninsula and Beyond
It should bother me, perhaps, that in my late forties I have gotten no closer to visiting Brazil than these Mundo Novo beans (pictured above), from one of my favorite local roasters, Liminal Coffee, discovered earlier this year at the San Mateo, California farmers’ market. In response to my third posting in the past week of … Continue reading Morning Musings
In the past year, I have become a semi-prolific (day) hiker. A friend pointed out that real hikers go on multi-day treks. I do not disagree, but I am not much of a camper, and a one-day 10-mile loop suits me just me. A multi-day Alps trek is very tentatively planned for Fall 2022. Huts, not tents, … Continue reading San Francisco Days (and Other Ramblings)
Cholla Cactus Garden, Joshua Tree National Park Some time has passed since my last post. So, this is a longer one, but, be assured, worth your time. The confluence of middle age and a pandemic is an interesting one. Introspection upon introspection might be the best way to describe it. Time in the desert might be another … Continue reading Back to Normal?
A trip to Spain and the purpose of work
Good coffee stimulates good writing. El Vendaval, another gem from Verve Coffee Roasters (Santa Cruz, CA), with notes of golden raisin, stroopwafel, and cocoa, fits the bill. If I cannot travel freely, I might as well enjoy the next best thing: coffee from exotic locales, like Costa Rica. Why write? For work, it is an imperative. … Continue reading On Writing
If you want to see the future, visit Japan. Pepper, a semi-humanoid robot from Softbank Robotics, greeted us in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Shinjuku in October 2016. On it was mounted a tablet (iPad?), displaying information in an interactive manner. Unfortunately, we could not discern any other capability. About a week later, on our last full … Continue reading Future-Proofing Work
It's early November, a few days after the US elections, uncertainty in the air. Indian Summer is over in Northern California, and Fall is finally in the air, cool, sometimes windy, with Winter right around the corner. While 2021 is still a few months away, it is always useful to think ahead, to set goals … Continue reading Motivation Theory (and Practice)
Montecatini Alto, part of a 3-day visit to Tuscany last October, could not be farther from the current reality of 24-hour catastrophe TV, coronavirus memes, no live sports, shelter-in-place (house arrest), new (home-based) co-workers, distance learning (Zoom videoconferences and Google Hangouts Chat), social distancing (isolation), deep cleaning (usually reserved for unpleasant dental visits), hyper-local (neighborhood-based) … Continue reading Montecatini Alto
If I cannot travel, I might as well reminisce. Viareggio is a quintessentially Italian seaside town on the Tyrrhenian, equidistant from Pisa and Lucca (https://johnpavolotsky.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/lucca/), our base for a 3-day visit to Tuscany this past October. The vibe is art deco. A certain timelessness pervades Viareggio; it seems that little has changed, and but for … Continue reading Viareggio
The Peninsula Hiking Club 