No more snow

Alas, the snow is gone. For now, at least. 

Copenhagen doesn't get as much snow as people tend to think. But a few recent snowfalls--along with an unseasonable run of brilliantly sunny days--made for an abundance of picturesque scenes out and about town. The snow even brought a touch of charm (but only a touch, mind you!) to the University of Copenhagen campus where I work--a thoroughly sleek and modern, but aesthetically sterile and, frankly dull, assemblage of drab hues and stark geometries that looks rather like a corporate campus instead of a university.

But for a short time last week, it was actually pretty. 

The Lives of Others

Few things in life are more compelling than looking at someone else's travel photographs. That said, some family members have noted that we're behind in posting pics from a spate of recent trips. Quite so.

The past few months alone, we've done a fair bit of bouncing around. I've had conferences in Pittsburgh (not too many pictures there, alas, as I was sick the whole time), Heidelberg, London, Paris, and Lugano. Robyn and I both went back to the states for conferences, and we spent time in Carlsbad and New Brunswick. We then took a quick, non-work-related trip to Berlin. 

Click the links to see pictures from each trip (if you dare, that is--or have absolutely nothing else to do). We have quite a bit more travel on the (relatively) near horizon, so there will be ample opportunity to repeat this exercise soon.

Shawarma love revisited

Regular readers of this blog know that I love shawarma. In fact, my last post talked about this love at some length. I could have said more. Believe me. 'cause I really love my shawarma, ya dig? 

Sadly, there is a dark side to love in all its myriad forms. And shawarma love is no exception. A friend recently drew my attention to a disturbing shawarma-related article, which can be found here.

(Live hyperlinks in this blog seem to "die" when published via Facebook notes, so those reading from Facebook can do things the old-fashioned way and cut 'n paste this URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7852168.stm)

The takeaway is this: "naked" shawarma--i.e., pre-mayonnaise, salad dressing, and all the other fixin's that make already-awesome shawarma even awesomer, not to mention the greasy fries needed to complete the meal--already contains nearly a day's worth of calories and two day's worth of salt and fat. Oh, and most of the time all sorts of unnamed "you don't wanna know about it" meats are unceremoniously crammed together into those sinewy slices of heaven that bring my life meaning and purpose. In other words, you're simultaneously munching on about five species with each bite. 

Love hurts. Shawarma love, evidently, really really hurts.