Order: Newest at the top. Oldest at the bottom.
Frequency: Every 3-4 weeks.
#57: Swarovski
This blog is a continuation of #56: The Heart of the Alps in which we visited Innsbruck, Austria. To begin, a relevant and humorous scene from the popular series Yellowstone: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tprs0QrUthg In the early 1890s, Daniel Swarovski registered a patent for a state-of-the-art machine designed to cut crystal with unprecedented precision. Born into a glass…
#56: The Heart of the Alps
Success was found in Zurich, Switzerland in Blog #45, but unfortunately there was a bust in Hallstatt, Austria in Blog #48. What do you say we return to Europe and give Austria a second chance? After all, large foreign countries are no different from the United States in the sense that there are multiple regions…
#55: An Absence of Appropriations
The federal government of the United States of America has been closed for 40 days. This ongoing shutdown already set the record as the longest in history, and it is still going. Approximately 670,000 federal employees remain furloughed while another 730,000 continue working without pay. Those of us working in the latter category are known…
#54: UNGA 80
In September 2023, my coworkers and I experienced our first United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). To those unfamiliar with the foreign affairs conference that takes place annually in New York City, I wrote in Blog #27 about the opportunity I was given to explain the event to a curious young man and his family while…
#53: You Better Belize It (Part III: San Pedro)
This is the final in a three-part series that began with Blog #51: You Better Belize It (Part I: Mainland) and continued with Blog #52: You Better Belize It (Part II: Hopkins). Madonna’s famed hit La Isla Bonita (Spanish for “The Beautiful Island”) makes multiple references to the whimsical island of San Pedro, a place…
#52: You Better Belize It (Part II: Hopkins)
This is a continuation of Blog #51: You Better Belize It (Part I: Mainland). The mainland portion of Belize, as we discovered in Blog #51, is a jungle replete with ancient Maya relics. Majestic temples rise from the rainforest floor while spooky caves littered with human skeletons stretch deep below the surface. Lest we forget…
#51: You Better Belize It (Part I: Mainland)
A hop, skip, and a jump from the continental United States is the Central American nation of Belize. Snuggled between the Yucatan Peninsula and the Caribbean Sea, the country of Belize offers visitors equally easy access to ancient ruins, lush rainforests, and stunning beaches. Its growing popularity with North American tourists is evident at Philip…
#50: Oklahoma City: 30 Years Later
“But it is a sort of April-weather life that we lead in this world. A little sunshine is generally the prelude to a storm.” -William Cowper The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and the temperature is rising. Spring is in the air. The annual excitement surrounding the end of winter goes back thousands…
#49: Music City
Smashville, Nashvegas, the Buckle of the Bible Belt, Gnashville, the Birthplace of Country Music. Pack your boots, we’re headed to Nashville! The Union Station Nashville Yards, part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, ended up being the perfect selection for respite. The hotel has high enough ratings (4.6 on Google, 4.5 on Tripadvisor) while maintaining moderately low…
#48: Hallstatt
One or two pages worth of an internet query and it’s easy to understand why nearly 10,000 tourists flock to a town of barely 800 residents on a daily basis each summer. The fairytale Austrian village of Hallstatt has quite the reputation: “The most beautiful village in the world”, “One of the world’s prettiest places”,…
#47: Astoria (Part II)
This is a continuation of Blog 46: Astoria Part I. A walk through the city of Astoria, Oregon is a necessity when visiting during a period of bright blue skies that tend to be a rarity in the Pacific Northwest. Even without the blessing of great weather, a belly full of fried fish should be…
#46: Astoria (Part I)
The finale of my trio of trips to the Pacific Northwest in 2024 came to a close with the historic coastal town of Astoria, Oregon. I had already experienced the disappointment of seeing poor governance tarnish the beauty of Seattle and Portland, and was still holding onto hope that the delight of small town America…
#45: Zurich
As the largest city in Switzerland and a worldwide financial hub, Zurich lives up to a reputation described by one travel agency as “A sophisticated city with cosmopolitan luxury and an incredible atmosphere.” Statements like these are commonplace on the websites and brochures of hospitality industry businesses looking to claim a percentage of a person’s…
#44: Moonlight in Vermont
The “leaf peepers” hit New England in full force this October; and for better or worse, I ended up being one of them. My vulnerability to scenery is well-documented and no different than the next visually capable human. The autumn splendor begins when there are just enough rays of sunlight left peeking through the gray…
#43: City of Roses
The city of Portland, Oregon was the second in a multi-part Pacific Northwest travel series I undertook in 2024, with the first being Seattle, as told in Blog #35: Emerald City. Both trips were just as much social experiments as they were cities I had always wanted to explore. Sadly, both were also equally disappointing…
#42: Paris 2024 Olympics Team USA Recap
This blog is a follow up to #41: The 2024 Olympic Games. It was hardly a surprise that Team USA earned more medals than any other committee (country) in France this year. The same was true for past Games in Tokyo, Rio, and London. But for Paris 2024, it wasn’t the number of medals earned…
#41: The 2024 Olympic Games
In 1972, the “darkest day in Olympic history” occurred during the Summer Games in Munich. Largely in part to the criticism of government forces having killed numerous revolutionaries protesting the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, it was decided that the German police guarding Munich four years later would be unarmed and nonconfrontational. Taking advantage of this…
#40: Jordan
Considered by many historians to be the oldest continuously inhabited place in the world, present-day Amman is the capital and largest city of Jordan. Nearly half the population of the country lives in the immediate area of the Biblical city which was once known as Philadelphia thanks to Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) so humbly naming it…
#39: London
The center of the world. At least, that’s what it felt like. Coming from a relatively new country like the United States, the history of London England is too much to fathom. Experiencing the traditions and architecture of “The Square Mile”, as the City of London proper is occasionally referred to, is something one could…
#38: Niagara Falls
In between the faraway lands and exotic places we are fortunate enough to visit in this career are the more simple and close-to-home destinations. Sometimes these trips are for major events, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation my coworkers and I supported in San Francisco last year. Others revolve around a handful of low-key meetings…
#37: The 75-Year Flood (Part II)
This is a continuation of Blog 36: The 75-Year Flood Part I. While visiting the city of Dubai, I did manage to brave the desert heat and Gulf humidity to visit some outdoor attractions. The Dubai Miracle Garden is the world’s largest flower garden and serves as a sanctuary from the harsh natural environment of…
#36: The 75-Year Flood (Part I)
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a relatively new country as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Situated on the Arabian Peninsula directly across the Persian Gulf from Iran, its modern fortune arose from beneath its own desert floor in the form of oil and gas. UAE’s initial ruler quickly reinvested much…
#35: Emerald City
Those who frequently travel are aware of the way vacations and business trips tend to become social experiments rather than sightseeing expeditions. Sure, we all want to visit the world’s largest ball of twine or try to make the King’s Guard smile, but the purest form of adventure is comprised of what occurs in transit…
#34: Pretzels and Beer
Continued from Blog #33: Munich Security Conference Hallway reputation. Personal brand. Leadership shadow. Regardless of the buzzwords we use to describe the way others think about us in the workplace, a bad reputation can be hard to shake. The concept isn’t exclusive to humans, either. Amsterdam banned the smoking of cannabis in public in an…
#33: Munich Security Conference
“Rechts!” barked the man sitting in the backseat with me, craning his neck to look out the rear window. Upon hearing this, our driver firmly tugged the steering wheel with a smooth confidence that could only come from highly specialized government training. The vehicle lurched into the lane to our right and the engine revved…
#32: Ivy League Pizza
“How many world leaders do you think are just completely out of their mind?”“A pretty sizeable percent.”-President Obama answering a question from Jerry Seinfeld during an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Royals, political leaders, and even some diplomats routinely get placed onto a pedestal making them appear larger-than-life. Indeed, members of such distinction…
#31: San Francisco
“It is an odd thing, but every one who disappears is said to be seen at San Francisco.”-Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray This is a continuation of Blog #29: APEC Leaders’ Summit. Through a combination of work-related activity and downtime, my coworkers and I are fortunate enough to be able to explore…
#30: Operation Santa Claus
U.S. government employees who are experts in economics, politics, defense, agriculture, trade, security, technology, public relations, environmental issues, and other topics are dispersed in nearly 300 locales across the globe. But diplomacy is not a unilateral concept. In fact, it doesn’t work at all without reciprocity. This is precisely why there are a few thousand…
#29: APEC Leaders’ Summit
“San Francisco is a lot of things. It’s hippies, hipsters, vagrants, flagrants, artsy, fartsy, and more. You name it, and it probably lives here.” – The Bold Italic Magazine In 1989, the growing independence and importance of the Asia-Pacific region was brought to formal recognition by 12 countries intent on combining their successes, ideas, and…
#28: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The crack of a gunshot, followed by the footsteps of 50,000 people running. The noise could be heard for several blocks in each direction. It was even louder 26.2 miles away in Central Park where the New York City Marathon finish line was located on Sunday, November 5th, 2023. Fortunately, the gunshot was a starter…
#27: UNGA 78
Note: The events described below took place prior to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack in Israel and the ensuing actions of representatives at the United Nations Security Council meetings which have been the subject of much criticism. Nearly 200 flags stood waving in the cool September breeze coming off the East River which separates…
#26: Receive Your Life: Pack-In
“Anytime you reach out to someone for assistance in this organization, it’s going to seem like the first time it’s ever been asked.” – Common federal government credo Two seasons had passed since I watched my belongings being hauled away in an 18-wheeler through a process known as “Pack Out”. Similar to the way the…
#25: Black Gun
This is a follow-up to Blog #23: Red Gun, Blue Gun In the back half of the first millennium of the Common Era, Chinese alchemists seeking immortality created a dark powdery substance which they named huǒyào. Literally translated by character interpretation as “fire medicine”, huǒyào is the modern Chinese word for gunpowder. In the first…
#24: Tunnel to Towers
September 11th, 2001. FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller’s shift on the elite Squad 1 in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood had ended earlier that morning. He was looking forward to a day off, so much so that he was already on the way to the links to play golf with his brothers. That outing was interrupted by…
#23: Red Gun, Blue Gun
“To protect the sheep, you gotta catch the wolf. And it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.” -Alonzo Harris, played by Denzel Washington in the 2001 film Training Day. “We don’t need any accidents here” is a familiar sentiment woven into virtually all professional weapons training programs. It’s easy to avert hazards when shooters…
#22: Academy Life Part VI
“The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity…yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together…I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me.” -Dostoyevsky “How do…
#21: Switzerland…of America (Part II)
Continued from Blog #20: Switzerland…of America (Part I) “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” -Conrad Anker, former The North Face climbing team leader and three-time Everest summiteer. “Nothing like this.” I nervously replied. The question, asked by my guide, was whether I had climbing experience or not. In…
#20: Switzerland…of America (Part I)
As our training progresses through the heat and humidity of summer, this Throwback Thursday post revives a snow and ice filled adventure from a few years ago. Part I sets the scene, while Part II will be my personal experience. Nestled deep within the Rocky Mountains of Colorado is the mountain town of Ouray. Pronounced…
#19: Academy Life Part V
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson “How does it work for nights and weekends?” The amount of free time we have – and what we choose…
#18: The Perfect Storm Part II
Continued from Blog #17: The Perfect Storm Part I The quintessential tourist – wide-brimmed hat, floral button-down shirt, camera hanging from a neck lanyard, calf socks with sandals – is everything the seasoned traveler strives to avoid. It’s not that we care what other people think about us. After all, we’ll very likely never see…
#17: The Perfect Storm Part I
In the fall of 1991, six men boarded the 72-foot commercial fishing vessel Andrea Gail in Gloucester, Massachusetts and steamed towards the notoriously rich waters of the Grand Banks. It was late in the season, but Billy, Bobby, Murph, Sully, Bugsy, and Alfred Pierre needed the money from one last catch of swordfish. With a…
#16: Academy Life Part IV
“An army marches on its stomach.” Inconclusively and ironically attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. As outlined in Blog #15, our training facilities and amenities have relatively little consistency. The availability, proximity, and type of lodging are combined with budgetary limitations and enrollment quantity to be the driving force behind the accommodations offered to us at a…
#15: Academy Life Part III
Continued from Academy Life Part II “Do you live there?” Yes. Well, sometimes. We actually rotate through multiple locations in various U.S. states. Some are government training campuses with no-cost college style dormitories. Think of a university, small military base, or large business campus. It is common to find a convenience store, library full of…
#14: Academy Life Part II
Continued from Academy Life Part I “Is it physically difficult?” Actually, no. And that’s not just the athlete in me talking. We had to meet physical fitness standards to get here in the first place, and we’re not training for the Olympics. Accordingly, what little physical training (“PT”) we get is designed to keep us…
#13: Academy Life Part I
This is the first in a series of miniblogs that will expand upon certain generalized aspects of our lengthy training program. The topics are based on the questions I most often receive from all of you. “What is the training like?” The training program is roughly 60% classroom, 35% practical skills, 5% physical fitness. Remember…
#12: Leaving D.C.
“I think the tough times are finally behind me. There will always be bad things, but my life is good. It is as I want it to be. It’s good.” -Sera, played by Elizabeth Shue in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas. What is your travel style? I know men who refuse to check a…
#11: Where It All Began – Part 1
“Even though none of us had ever seen a Playboy magazine (which we constantly lied about), we figured going to the pool was the next best thing…” The Narrator of the 1993 film The Sandlot. Before I get to my story, a bit of encouragement for those of you who aren’t CPR certified: Heart disease…
#10: Vexillology
…continued from Blog #9 Upon completion of Orientation, my workgroup will spend much of the remainder of the year in what is known as follow-on training specific to our position. There remains a pass/fail component to this furthered education, much like how police officers, firefighters, and military personnel still need to pass basic training before…
#9: Orientation
“A 55-year-old garbage man is a million times smarter than a 28-year-old with three PhD’s. Especially smarter than him, because this idiot has been thinking about three things for like 15 years.” -Comedian Louis C.K. during his Oh My God special in 2013. …continued from Blog #7 Packed into a secure government auditorium is a…
#8: Sold!
“I’ve always felt very temporary about myself.” -John Cusack, portraying the character of Martin Blank in the 1997 dark humor film Grosse Pointe Blank. Several years ago one evening I was at the local grocery store after work, quietly debating with myself the importance of the word “organic”, when I received a call informing me…
#7: “What would you say…you do here?”
Title quote taken from the movie Office Space. Thousands of U.S. federal government employees, representing a very wide array of disciplines, are not just working but also living overseas at any given time. In over 175 countries there are U.S. citizens tasked with spreading peace and prosperity while preserving the American way of life. Many…
#6: A Close Up View of Our Nation’s Capital
“Wherever the American citizen may be a stranger, he is at home here.” -Frederick Douglass, speaking of Washington, D.C. in 1877 Nearly two decades ago this very week, I stood atop the marble steps of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial on a gloomy winter day in Washington, D.C. My thick jacket, gloves, and beanie felt foreign…
#5: Day 1…Or Day 776 – On Government Time
2 Years, 1 month, and 15 days. That’s how much time passed between the submission of my application and my first official day on the job. Federal government. I swear the clocks move slower and the calendars are longer in Washington, D.C. That being said, I know the next few years of my domestic assignment…
#4: Move Your Life: Packout
The doorbell rang at 8:00am sharp, but I didn’t need to look at the clock to know it was the movers. I could hear the massive 14.8-liter Detroit Diesel idling under the hood of the sparkling clean 2016 Freightliner Cascadia semitruck parked in front of my soon-to-be empty house. After the veteran driver gave me…
#3: Measure Your Life: Preparing for the Move
“And you’re really spread out now, you’ve got s—t all over the world! You’ve got stuff at home, stuff in storage, stuff in Honolulu, stuff in Maui, stuff in your pockets; supply lines are getting longer and harder to maintain.” -Comedian George Carlin at Comic Relief in 1986 They say you don’t realize how much…
#2: Happy [Unemployed] New Year!
Sixteen days of peace and quiet. That’s what I talked myself into as I closed the book on more than a dozen years of serving the community I grew up in. I figure that ought to be enough time to prepare for the sequel, which begins with uprooting several decades’ worth of a life I’ve…
#1: All Roads Led to Here
Euphoria. Because it all makes sense now. Every bad decision I’ve made has become a good one. Each mistake, a success. The relationships were not meant to be. All the jobs I weathered my way through were necessary for experience. Everything happened so I could reach this dream career. In psychology, this concept is called…
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The Dark Passport 