Curious Souls

Several people have asked us how we picked Fort Collins as a place to live so I thought I would share the story with all of you. Or rather, the Matrix. Because that is how we decided. We called it the Prospective City Analysis and this is what it looked like (click to enlarge): Once we were mostly done filling in the Matrix (we had a hard time finding some city data), we sat on it for awhile and "tried out" the front runners in our heads. That would be why we told some of you that we were going to live in Durango...or Prescott...or Seattle...or Manitou Springs (a late entry after the Matrix was completed). But each time, something didn't feel quite right to us so we would move on to the next place on our radar, hoping something would stick.  And Fort Collins did. It didn't wither under the intense scrutiny that I put it under and when we got here to do our final "walk through", it felt right.  And that feeling hasn't gone away. I love that I can ge...

The number "20" has been a bit charmed for us along our journey. Our Bon Voyage party for leaving Phoenix was on February 20. After tricking out the van, we left Loveland, CO on March 20. And today, eight months later, on October 20, we received the news that our rental application was approved for our new home in Fort Collins, CO! We get to move in on Saturday and we're super excited about our new home and our new city!  You should totally come visit us right away. We'll have an extra bed ready. And if quality time with Jon and Ellen is not enough incentive, check out all the stuff we're already in love with... Fort Collins has over 280 miles of designated bike routes in the city. We live only 1.5 miles from downtown . When you come visit, we'll check out some extra bikes from the Bike Library  for you to use. We can take a nice bike ride alongside the Poudre River . When we get thirsty, we can grab a beer straight from the source at New Bel...

Before there was you , there was debt For me And then there was freedom Financial, you see But then there was Canada Duplicate downloads And I got upset about that Bad things it did bode So I went and tried Mint Cause it's free, don't you know? But it wasn't as easy And my spending did grow So I came back to you Just recently and I am so relieved I could really just pee Because this I now know You are truly the best And you're back on my side As I plan my next quest

I have a question for all of you Americans: have you ever seen hot dogs packaged like this? Disclaimer: this photo was actually taken in England on a different trip but we did see and photograph several examples of this exact product on this trip. I was just too lazy to go and find our more recent photos. No! Our hotdogs come in non-recyclable plastic shrinkrap, duh! And despite our reputation of boiling hot dogs (as confessed to us by a very nice Danish hot dog vendor), I suspect most of the hot dogs consumed by Americans are cooked for 45 seconds in the microwave. We are not patient people. This grievous representation of American hot dogs got me thinking about what kinds of things/food that we attribute to other cultures and how many of those are probably wrong or at least misguided and warped. Here is my list. Feel free to add to it and to point out which items fall in the above mentioned wrong/misguided/warped category. FRANCE French onion soup (this one is actually ser...

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After a long day at "the office..." we seriously broke the bank at Meat Bingo. Sweet, delicious victory.

We are currently visiting some friends, Chris and Hilary, in Manhattan Beach. Friends who are not only letting us stay at their completely awesome place with it's gorgeous unobstructed view of the beach but who are also giving us a car . Yeah, they're pretty awesome.* So how do I repay this kindness? I make a $100 bet with Chris (ok, maybe it was a $1 bet), and publicize my win on our blog! The bet was this: Chris thought that California had the highest percentage of people using their bicycles to commute to work and I thought he was wrong. You lose , Chris. Pay up! ~~~~~~~~~~~ *They also have a super awesome friend named Daigle. Hi Daigle!

As you know, I thought a lot about what beauty items I needed to bring with me on this trip: And I revisited this topic later on the US portion of the trip: Then we went to Europe. Women seem to use a whole lot less makeup and hair products in Europe. All of a sudden, I didn't feel odd for not wearing makeup. I was surrounded by beautiful, natural women who looked like they got up in the morning, took a shower, put on nice clothes and walked out the door just like men .* So not only did it make me feel normalized to be surrounded by women with seemingly similar beauty regimens, but it changed the way I viewed women. They became more real and more beautiful to me. This got me thinking seriously about the "beauty" requirements in our country** and I came up with a system to help me decipher which ones are one sided. I am calling it WMDT:   Would Men Do This ? Let's give it a try, shall we?*** Women, what did I miss? Oh, I remember another one: shavi...