August 11, 2015

Don’t worry about the jetlag

sign that says don't try to sleep here

I woke up about 7 hours early for my alarm this morning. (This happens with international teachers. Read more here.) Since I had nothing more important to do than make it to the airport on time for a flight to Zurich, I decided to indulge in it. ‘Don’t worry about the jetlag and let it cure itself’. Of course, it’s not my go-to strategy for work days, but in the summer it works just fine. It’s interesting the places your mind will go with hours to think uninterrupted (or at least only moderately interrupted, by binge reading Amazon Unlimited best sellers such as “Maximum Insecurity: A Doctor in the supermax”….

July 26, 2015

How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog

phone with an analytics site pulled up on google

I am a curious person. One of the things I am most curious about is how to increase traffic to my blog.  The blogging life reminds me of a playground.  More specifically, the blogging life reminds me of a playground where all the popular girls are standing around the tire swing, loudly laughing and thoughtfully adjusting their adolescent “I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT” concert tee-shirts while I am lurking around the potted trees with the rabid squirrels, dying for someone to notice how awesome I am. Oh, the joys of childhood.  But I digress. The point is–ALL bloggers want to know how to get more people to read their blog.  I…

July 22, 2015

How to Buy Souvenirs

a lot of magnets

In my many neuroses about traveling, you may not be surprised that I think a lot about how to buy souvenirs.  For example, I was traveling with a friend in Bulgaria this year and we found an adorable handicraft shop (in the lobby of Bulgarian National Art Gallery and Ethnographic Museum in Sophia, in case anyone is interested). Turns out Bulgarians make delightful pottery, woven rugs and these adorable red thread friendship bracelets.  Who knew?    After a few minutes hours in the shop, we had our purchases lined up. After careful consideration, my friend bought an amazing set of dishes, mismatched in that purposeful, whimsical way and complete with…

July 20, 2015

Star Magazine is Ridiculous

magazines on a rack

I am I am a little late to this conclusion but here it is: Star magazine is ridiculous! The ridiculousness has gone somewhat over my head because I do not often read gossip magazines. No judgement, just not my thing. I generally actually don’t read any kind of magazines-I’m too cheap and prefer to spend my extra time and money in convenience stores and airport shops agonizing over which combination of candy will make me “least fat”. Not a lot of spare energy left for the whole “Jennifer is pregnant/not pregnant/overweight/now anorexic” cover wars.  Which Jennnifer, you ask? Not the point. (And…all of them).   The point is, even if…

May 18, 2015

99 Things On The Internet

to showcase the hilarious things on the internet

Nothing says HAPPY MONDAY like a heartfelt invitation to waste some time on the internet, right? Obviously, there are a lot more than 99 things on the Internet, but I believe Greg Rutter’s list has some of the BEST things. So, without further ado I bring you: Greg Rutter’s Definitive List of the 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced on the the Internet Unless You’re a Loser or Old or Something Actually, there is a small bit of ado.  Here is the catch: Since PRESUMABLY you are at some type of gainful employment, and let’s face it, I need more comments on this blog like Bruce Jenner needs…love and…

March 16, 2014

Datafication

Let’s talk about datafication. Statistics.  Moniters.  Metrics.  Whatever you want to call it, our society is rapidly becoming obsessed with crouching data. At work, we feed productivity numbers into a machine to track our progress.  WHAT progress, you may ask?  Well, don’t worry about it–if the numbers are green/orange/turquoise/whatever color you set to a positive collation on your spreadsheet, you’re making progress. At home, we get e-mail updates from social media websites, comparing our ability to type nonsensical satire into the internet with the ability of everyone else in the world. I got an email from Facebook last week about my SOCIAL METRICS.  So, my social relationships should not be…