Pithy Title Here

Almost without fail, when I check Twitter at night, I see one of my friends noting that they cannot sleep. I've noticed it even more since moving to the west coast since when I'm lounging on the couch, my east coast friends are already in bed. Or should be. And it's not me seeing them make updates and then interpreting it as insomnia. These folks actually discuss how they have insomnia. And I can't help but wonder... why? You have to understand that my average night involves me fading quickly into sleep once the 11 o'clock hour hits. I sleep like crazy. I sleep through just about anything. My wife stays up far later than me, but I would stay up later, too, if I had her schedule. I'm up at 6:15 every morning. She gets at least two more hours of sleep. Bottom line, though... neither of us are struggling to get our 40 winks. Many of our friends are, though. I am neither a doctor, nor a psychologist. But I don't think you need to be one to know that the inabili...

I spend a lot of time on the road. And this leads to any number moments where I complain about clueless travelers, crowded airports and other hilarity. I realized I haven't relayed a lot of the things that can make your day of travel better... and maybe even help make those around you get where they're going more smoothly. I am hardly the be-all-end-all of travel advice, but I've found a few practical things to be very helpful. Packing - I have no major packing tips. I stuff socks in my shoes. I fold, but I know that anywhere I go will have an iron. And when my trip involves multiple cities, I totally recycle a shirt. I'm not some slob that gets every shirt dirty every day. Big ground rule... if I think I might need something, I usually don't pack it. For example, I might need my swim trunks. I can think of exactly one business trip in my life where they've been used. Leave 'em. Hanging at the pool with coworkers can be done in any attire. Check in the night...

I drive a Camry. Probably will for a lot longer, too. You don't buy a Toyota because you want a four-year car. You buy a Toyota Camry because you want a reliable car. And you know, not only that, but my Camry is quiet. It has 6-cylinder giddyup in a 4-cylinder engine. It gets 600 miles to the damn tank at highway speed. The worst problem it ever had was needing a new battery. You could say I am not one to go overboard about a car. And then I got to LAX last night. I take whatever car Avis gives me on business trips unless it is an atrocity (looking at you PT Cruiser...). If asked, I prefer a car with satellite radio, sun roof and, if in the Northeast, EZPass . Last night, at LAX, I had a convertible Sebring waiting for me. Tonight, I decided to see what that was really like. After a looooong day of work throughout Southern California (picture filming, in the desert, in searing heat, in dress clothes and then still having to drive to LA), I met a friend for dinner downtown. A s...

Since moving to the Northwest, Sarah and I have been doing all we to explore out new neck of the woods. We're trying to explore all Seattle has to offer (and maybe at least learn whether Spring St. or Seneca St. comes first when traveling through downtown). And, as you might expect, I've been trying to take advantage of hiking in this area since you can barely drive 10 miles without passing a trailhead . Sarah has been going with me on a few of them as we're both gearing up for an August trip up Mt. Katahdin back east. Knowing that Katahdin is a 4,000-foot ascent, I decided it would be wise of me to start going uphill on some hikes. Since moving to Seattle I've has some steep climbs up to the Rattlesnake Ledges and at Wallace Falls State Park . But I hadn't done anything that was a true mountain hike, going out above the timber line into exposed areas and all the trimmings. That changed today, when I walked up Bandera Mountain, a 5,100-foot mountain near Snoqua...

Yesterday's commute home was really just about the antithesis of my old one. In Charlotte, it involved a lot of sitting on I-485 on a 2-mile stretch of North Carolina highway that somehow turns into Los Angeles for 90 minutes every day at 5:00. Thank heavens for NPR. Anyhow, yesterday's commute went as follows: Walk out of office Walk two blocks to Cascade Farmers Market Purchase two pints of strawberries and a pint of raspberries, all picked earlier in the day in Mt. Vernon, WA . (Buy local!) Walk 3-4 more blocks into my apartment. Can't say I was spent. Still, if I was yearning for a taste of my old commute, I got it. Because almost as soon as I got home we jumped in the car to head to Cougar Mountain ... because why go to the gym when you can hike? After a spell of stop-and-go on I-90 through Bellevue , the wilderness awaited. I'm not trying to brag. I am trying to note the virtues of the urban lifestyle, though. The way I see it, life throws enough at you... why gi...

The World Cup presents an interesting sociological study of Americans. Granted, I am no sociologist, so anything after that first sentence deserves your criticism, but think about it. More Americans play soccer than any other sport. It would stand to reason that soccer should be more popular than anything here. But by traditional metrics, it's tough to make anything close to that claim. Our national soccer league barely registers with most people (except here in Seattle, where tens of thousands turn up for Sounders games). But every two years, when either the Euro or World Cup takes place, soccer is front-and-center. When most major U.S. sports Web sites are leading with soccer, we start to see that people are into this stuff. Interestingly, when the USA is playing in the CONCACAF championships - our version of the Euro with vastly lower overall talent - it doesn't get nearly the same attention. So, observation #1: Americans love good soccer, but don't pay mediocre soccer ...

Have you heard? People are quitting Facebook in droves! I was CNN. com's lead story Thursday! Let's see: Concerns over Facebook's new privacy policy and the online social network's recent efforts to spread its information across the Web have led some of the site's faithful to delete their accounts Whoa! That's a big development. Tell me... how big is this trend? It's unclear how many people have chosen to delete their Facebook accounts in recent weeks. ... Seriously? We can now report on trends with no quantitative backing in reality? Awesome. Looking forward to the following headlines: Fewer eating at McDonald's. You can just tell. More people than ever sleeping on their backs, says guy who thinks it's comfy Everyone agrees my blog is the best blog ever. Because. It's a great day for journalism.