no really, i forgot about you.
oh hiiiiiii there.
Yeah, so the truth is, I forgot about you.
No, really.
A lot of stuff has been happening in my life in the past 6 weeks, some of it related to Covid and why that’s not over at all yet (in the Southern Hemisphere where I am and most everywhere else, really). Life has been really, really weird in these trying times. But yeah, my new normal is here and I set up a second desk in my office now that I can stand and sit WITH WILD ABANDON so I’m back, baby.
(insert relevant emoticon)
On a related note, I DO NOT SUFFER FOOLS GLADLY. (But sometimes I am that fool.)
(insert second relevant emoticon)
Things
General Dumpster Fires
The fact that these bananas in South Korea are being sold as One-A-Day-Bananas is the 100% opposite of a dumpster fire:
Reading, shmeading.
What do I do in mild to extreme stress? READ. ALL THE THINGS. Clear your schedules (okay, mine) because I just got a new novel, Embassy Wife. I’m not a huge novel reader, but if there has ever been a book more written for me, then this is it.
Meet Persephone Wilder, a displaced genius posing as the wife of an American diplomat in Namibia. Persephone takes her job as a representative of her country seriously, coming up with an intricate set of rules to survive the problems she encounters: how to dress in hundred-degree weather without showing too much skin, how not to look drunk at embassy functions, and how to eat roasted oryx with grace. She also suspects her husband is not actually the ambassador’s legal counsel but a secret agent in the CIA. The consummate embassy wife, she takes the newest trailing spouse, Amanda Evans, under her wing.
Amanda arrives in Namibia mere weeks after giving up her Silicon Valley job so her husband, Mark, can have his family close by as he works on his Fulbright project. But once they’re settled in the sub-Saharan desert, Amanda sees clearly that Mark, who lived in Namibia two decades earlier, has other reasons for returning. Back in the safety of home, the marriage had seemed solid; in the glaring heat of the Kalahari, it feels tenuous. And the situation grows even more fraught when their daughter becomes involved in an international conflict and their own government won’t stand up for her.
How far will Amanda go to keep her family intact? How much corruption can Persephone ignore? And what, exactly, does it mean to be an American abroad when you’re not sure you understand your country anymore?
Best Espresso Machines of 2020. None of these ship to where I live. I cry. You make good coffee.
Plane Crash Complicates Documentary on Weight-Loss-Inspired Church.
Deconstructing Race and Gender for the African Traveler
Startups, et. al.
Welcome to working in tech, where some people are weird about reading quality journalism about the iconic companies of our times. Not me!
The Other Diversity Dividend: We know that varied teams make better decisions. A new study shows they also make better investments.
How to add a website to Chrome’s reading list and un-mire yourself from tab hell? Don’t bother with any other tab extensions. Just use this one.
Why You Need Two Types of Groups to Power Group Learning: A portfolio company of mine sent me this full-on deep dive into the world of online learning, both live-stream and recorded. Highly recommended if you fall into one of these categories and are interested:
“Who should read this?
Creators honing their craft through online learning. Group learning applies to any skill from writing to coding; from meditation to cooking.
Knowledge workers who want to move up in their careers and take on more senior roles.
Experts looking to fall in love with a new topic they’re still a novice in.”
That is all!
Goodbye.
Claire
P.S. Need an apron for cooking, crafting, gardening? Think you don’t really need an apron but would like to hide your “soft” pants because your country is emerging from lockdown? Don’t want to spend $100 on a fabulous one? Buy this. You’re welcome.