Let loose

A few weeks back, we visited my son at his university. This was significant – our first-born was graduating from college.

He gave us a tour of several significant sites, such as the classroom where he discovered that business was not the program of study to prepare him for a life of professional fulfillment.

Another site of significance was a building where he spent a huge number of hours studying. As we visited the top floor and looked into the courtyard, I was amused to see a large collection of paper airplanes sitting on nearly every surface that could not be easily reached.

And I laughed.

What better way to celebrate that vast interior space than watching a paper airplane take flight?

Sure, it may take quite a bit of effort to retrieve those planes. But maybe leaving them up on those lofty places will serve as a reminder that life is not all about studies and classes and achievements.

A moment of seeing a simple folded piece of paper float down and down can only bring delight.

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4×4 vs 2wd

quote about 4x4 vehicles

This quote, “Is there a 4WD in the range? Ask yourself if you really need it. You probably don’t” is from Top Gear magazine.

Top Gear is more than a popular British TV show – it started as a magazine and expanded into television, garnering a far wider audience than the magazine could ever hope for.

Back to the quote – you would never read that in an American magazine, but it makes sense in a British context because:

  1. It rarely snows in the parts of England where people actually live.
  2. Fuel economy is a smaller deal in the States, since fuel is (currently) so cheap.
  3. To an American, owning a front-wheel drive crossover or SUV is like drinking decaffeinated coffee.
  4. Because of these two reasons, 2WD crossovers and SUVs are very hard to sell – think of selling bags of ice to Eskimos. So if you buy one new, you are dooming yourself to a larger loss of money when it comes time to sell it on the used market.

Having said all that, if you are in the market for a new car and don’t live in a place that gets a ton of snow, I would urge you to consider a car that is front-wheel drive.

I live in a suburb of Denver and have never owned a 4WD vehicle. We get an average of 57 inches of snow a year. In my 20 years of commuting here, I have only gotten stuck in snow about two times.

We bought a set of snow tires and wheels for one of our cars and even take it up to ski. We’ve never gotten stuck.

I’m not condemning anyone who has a 4WD or AWD vehicle. They’re great. I’m just asking you to consider a car if you are in the market for a different vehicle. And if you like off-roading, you can rent a Jeep.

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You have to get it there

Krest Bitter Lemon bottle

Krest Bitter Lemon is a drink that’s widely available in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

While living in Kenya for five years, I developed a taste for the drink. It’s bright, refreshing and not too sweet.

But you can’t buy it in my town in Colorado, no matter how hard you try.


You need to travel. You’ll see, feel and taste things that you won’t experience in your hometown. Guaranteed, you will encounter life in ways you can’t where you live.

Travel can be expensive, but it’s a better way to hit the reset button than almost anything else I know.


Footnotes:

  1. My son Benjamin brought this plastic Krest bottle back after his time in Uganda during the summer of 2015. When he brought it, there was liquid inside. That wasn’t for long.
  2. Krest (and Schweppes) Bitter Lemon originally contained quinine, a malaria preventative substance.
  3. My post at My Part of Nairobi about Krest Bitter Lemon received more visits than any other post in history. Here’s why.
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Sometimes things do get better

a really nice road in Centennial, Colorado

Almost a month ago, I posted a rather pessimistic view of the way life sometimes plays out (link).

The irony of life is that not two weeks after I wrote that post and took the photo that illustrated my point, pavement engineers provided a wonderful velvety-smooth surface for that very same stretch of road.

Little did I know, they had planned the poor surface as a temporary fix until they had the weather, materials or time in their schedules to spread the new surface.

I thought that road would never improve. But things changed for the better – and much faster than I could have imagined.

Take heart.

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