As you can see, things are getting pretty festive here at the Rasmussen household.

One of my parents’ dogs is named Blue. He’s a border collie with blue merle hair color, hence his name. So naturally when they found a bottle of wine called Our Dog Blue, they had to purchase it and keep it, unopened, for display. Perhaps one of them can share how they [...]

When I was stateside in February, I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to check about what I should do about my soon-to-expire driver license. For some reason, all driver licenses in the US (or just North Carolina?) expire on your birthday. I explained that I was living in Spain, and that [...]

Right at bedtime, I came across Lawrence Lessig being interviewed on Charlie Rose, went to his blip.tv site, and got caught up watching this hour-long video about copyright and creativity sharing. I’ve seen some videos of Lessig online before, and possibly a TED talk. But this video perfectly demonstrates his arguments and the [...]

It’s been seven years since I spent Thanksgiving with my family, and Marga has never partaken of the celebratory feast beyond my little traditions of eating turkey on the day. This year, I’m looking forward to showing her what Thanksgiving means in my mind: turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pumpkin pie at my grandmother’s house. [...]

A few days after finding out that we’d be having a daughter, a thought came to me, I laughed out loud and told Marga, “You know, the main reason Americans want to know the sex of their fetus is to paint the nursery, the kid’s room, a gender-appropriate color. So that’s one less thing to [...]

The other day, I stumbled upon some photos I took last February of some old PC World magazines that I found lying around my parents’ house. They really bring back memories. The hardware and software that was thought to be really cool and revolutionary back then looks so quaint and silly now. [...]

I make a lot of salads, more in summer months, but probably at least 50 per year. I also have been known to, on occasion, blog about salads. One of our favorite salad ingredients is peas. We buy them frozen in a bag, pour a few into a glass, and add warm [...]

I am really enjoying this book I’m currently reading, especially the parts about visiting and fitting in to foreign cultures.
One of the major differences imposed by Display Rules is the degree of ‘dampening’ of particular actions that occurs from region to region. In some cultures it may be usual to underplay the smile, even when [...]

It’s that time of year again, as the hour hand approaches the six, my computer screen is showered with sunshine, forcing me to lower the shutters. During the warmer months, there is a building blocking the sun from entering my office, but the analemma of the sun has moved it far enough south at [...]