Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
I run, dance, and eat healthy for a lot of reasons. One of the most important is that all those activities help me feel strong and capable. I have a good understanding of what my body can do, what my strengths and limitations are. I have pushed my body to be as close to its peak potential…
The New York Times reported recently that researchers had found that running for as little as five minutes a day may add years to your life span. Scientists scrutinized several health studies conducted at the Cooper Institute in Dallas and found that runners tend to live longer, up to three years longer, than comparable non-runners,…
Going on an African safari is something that has long been on my bucket list. Finally getting to South Africa to see animals in their native habitat was beyond amazing! Here's some of the highlights. Penguins We saw African penguins on the beach! (In case you didn’t know, African penguins are a thing.) Just a…
As part of the benefits of a fancy new credit card I got recently, I now have access to hundreds of lounges at airports throughout the world. When I got my airport lounge access card in the mail, I thought to myself, "now I've arrived!" I've been flying for most of my life, always the…
I knew a little about South African politics and Apartheid before coming there. But being there in person brought home the brutality of Apartheid and the continuing challenges South Africans face as a multi-racial society. Historic Sites On our second day in Johannesburg, we visited the Apartheid Museum. The museum presents in rich and compelling detail…
I realized today that one of unexpectedly hard parts of changing my eating patterns has nothing to do with what I eat, it's communicating what I want. Tim Ferriss writes about how important it is when eating out to modify your typical food order to make it healthier. Like substituting roast veggies for french fries, or…
I had few expectations about food when I was planning my trip to South Africa. I knew a little about South African cuisine, from having visited a couple of restaurants in the East Coast. But otherwise, I was pretty open. To start with, there is no one South African cuisine. It’s too diverse of a country,…
Last night, I got to see a sneak preview of the new swing dance documentary "Alive and Kicking" at the Brava Theater in San Francisco. A labor of love by director (and swing dancer) Susan Glatzer, the film "explores the culture surrounding swing dance from the emergence of the Lindy Hop to the modern…
My main inspiration for coming to South Africa at this time of year was a dance camp going on in Cape Town called Mother City Hop. Last summer, I met a Swedish woman in Herrang who kvelled about what a great event Mother City Hop was. So I did some research into it and it seemed…
I’m just back from Africa, a bit browner, a bit fatter, and excited to share about all I experienced. There’s so much to write about my two week trip to South Africa, it’s hard to know where to start. So instead of trying to write a huge magnum opus that few people would be interested…