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So much for the well-intended hopes of keeping up frequent blog posts during vacation in Belgium and France. Alas, it was not meant to be. Or maybe a good thing too. It meant we had a great time, and were able to get fully unplugged.

I'm still planning on putting some more vacation pictures up later, so you're not done with the vacation-talk/torture yet. I like to reminisce.

Now back at work for 3 days, I'm still able to put things in perspective and keep my cool. Stress level is still low. I'd like to keep it that way.

I heard a wonderful little story on NPR the other day driving to work, which made me smile. It showed that newscasting doesn't always have to be about horrible wars, terrorism or religious fights.
This was the gist: Because of the travel restrictions, a small local business in Halifax, Nova Scotia was losing its livelihood. They specialize in airport lobster sales to travellers and normally use gel-packs to keep the (frozen or fresh) lobsters cool. With the restrictions, they were no longer allowed to provide the gel-packs in carry-on luggage, so had no takers anymore for their lobsters. After a couple of emergency brainstorming sessions they came up with an innovative solution: pack the lobsters with bags of frozen peas or corn. These meet the travel guidelines, keep the lobster cool, are inexpensive and easy to come by. As a gimmick, they can now market that they provide a whole meal too, instead of just the protein.....