nerd's eye view

Thanks for Nothing, Julie Andrews

July 31, 2008October 4, 2006

Note – July 31, 2008: I recorded this piece in October of 2006 when I was really hating expat life. Currently, we’re in Seattle and while my feelings about expat life haven’t changed all that much, I’m not in that place anymore. Heads up, there’s profanity in the audio, you can’t miss it. I thought …

Fish Wednesday, Snobby Westerner Edition

October 12, 2010October 4, 2006

When you are in a landlocked nation, it is easy to become snobby about seafood – especially if you are from a port city. Once, I dined with a fellow immigrant to Austria (he was from Acapulco) at a seafood meal. “THIS IS NOT FISH!” we declared, a bilateral front of West Coast supremacy. “Face …

Austria, 1923

October 3, 2006October 2, 2006

“Hey, is there a time machine back there or something?” Yes, I was being a smartass, as usual. But the people coming from that side of the alley had nothing modern about them. The hunter with the heavy wood-stocked rifle hanging over his shoulder. The woman in the elaborate headdress and shiny purple dirndl. The …

Rocky Mountain. High.

April 8, 2017September 30, 2006

Backcountry in Austria comes with services.

Gun Control

September 28, 2006September 28, 2006

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I really think we should implement gun control in the US.

Doctor My Eyes

October 2, 2006September 27, 2006

We were sitting with the parents in the lovely garden of the Stift’s Cafe at Klosterneuburg. The place was fairly empty – it was Monday and the museum was closed. The wind was swirling the first brown leaves across the plaza but we were protected by the garden’s walls. The waiter was kind and spoke excellent English and the food wasn’t bad either. We were talking about travel fatigue which right now, I have in spades.