Posts

For such a dangerous fruit, durian sure is a big business. An article in the NY Times leads with this: “lust for durian is creating fortunes in Southeast Asia”. The value of durian exported from SE Asia into China was $6.

I was up early this morning to write a newsletter. I heard the intermittent sound of firecrackers out the window while I was writing. After I finished writing, I decided to go for a run before the midday heat.

These are the books I finished reading, for the first time, in 2023. I’ve included a few notes. Breasts and Eggs, by Mieko Kawakami. I quite enjoyed this one. It was my favorite this year.

By my recent standards, I’ve been playing a lot of golf. I started off my golf in 2023 with that round in July on a business trip. Two birdies. Then in November, I played my second round, at New South Wales Golf Club.

When you are out for a run, and when you encounter this sign, and when the only part of it you can read is クマ and the exclamation mark, it’s a bit scary.

I’ve been making a lot of business trips. About fifteen years ago, my business trips sometimes included golf. Recent business trips have included a lot of meetings, hotel changes, train rides, early mornings, seminars, data collection, and writing.

Occasional readers of this blog might be surprised to see me writing about something other than potato chips. Or seaweed. Regular readers of this blog,1 friends, family, and traveling companions may be expecting to see some pad kee mao.

When I took a hard fall down a rocky slope while descending through a rubber orchard, I didn’t realize all the places I’d been injured. The 31 km trail race I was running yesterday started an hour before sunrise.

I had a lunch meeting with an old friend today. Jeff and I used to eat lunch together on a regular basis. That was halfway around the world, and 25 years ago.

I saw BLɅϽKPIИK oreos at the store a few weeks ago, and bought a roll of the chocolate cookie with strawberry cream flavor. At the time of that purchase, I did not realize there were actually multiple flavors.