I figured I’d share a few favorite things I’ve discovered since I last posted on something other than current events. In no particular order, here they are:
- If you are trying to decide between the 20 million charities that are currently asking for donations for Haiti right now, consider Partners In Health. They have, thus far, been making the best use of funds donated for disaster relief in Haiti, have an established network in the country, and are a pretty fantastic organization all around. If you want to know more, go check out their website, or read this book by Tracy Kidder, which is well written (as are all Tracy Kidder’s books, but that’s another story). They are one of those organizations that actually has an effective, efficient, sensible plan for accomplishing their mission, which is one of the main things I look for when I’m choosing an organization to donate to, and they’ve been working in Haiti for decades.
- The White Mountains are amazing, especially in winter. We just made our second trip up there, and managed to summit Mt. Lafayette. It was worth every bit of muscle pain. I only wish we had summit pictures to show you; we’re still waiting on those from friends, as our camera did not like the cold one bit. The photo above is from the Falling Waters trail in Franconia Notch, which I highly recommend, but only if you have the gear. If you go up Brindle Path and down Falling Waters during winter, you can slide down the mountain most of the way!
- Snow is actually pretty fantastic if you take full advantage of it.
- Radish kimchi goes with EVERYTHING (er… maybe not chocolate, but that’s another experiment). If you haven’t tried it, go! Now! You don’t know what you’re missing. I had a breakfast burrito with kimchi, New Zealand cheddar, and fried eggs this morning, and have been known to put kimchi on nachos after a late night at the lab…
- If you’re stuck in a wine shop trying to decide between the cutesy lizard label and the adorable kangaroos, ask if they have a rioja. Spanish wines are cheap for the quality, and I think they’re worth trying at least once. Reservas are even better, if they are in your price range. Barring that, try a Malbec. These are Argentinian reds that are also generally pretty good for the price, though they aren’t quite as reliable as the riojas seem to be, in my experience. Reservas are also a good bet for Malbecs.
- Steep and Cheap is worth checking out if you’re interested in mountaineering gear.
- The CSS upgrade on wordpress is worth it. If you’ve noticed (aka still don’t read blogs in some sort of RSS feed), my site has gotten somewhat ugly since I got cheap on you and stopped paying the $15/year upgrade. I may have to do something about that one of these night shifts.
- Two tv shows I really should stop watching on netflix but cannot: Spooks / MI-5, which is a BBC series, and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. Clearly I’m about the last person on earth to start watching the second show, but having watched some horrible cooking shows and the shows he’s featured on places I’ve actually lived, I really think he actually tries to treat each place he visits with respect. That’s hard to find on television these days.
And that’s all for now. I have an experiment setup to supervise next week and a life to sort out, so we’ll see when I return…
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