by Brian Crawford | Jul 8, 2024 | family, personal, travel
I’m back from visiting my parents in Linville Land Harbor, a private community nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. We went on some hikes, toured the area, celebrated the 4th of July, and even got a few games of pickleball in (okay, maybe more...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 27, 2024 | personal, travel
Today Callum and I took a day trip to Karlovy Vary, a popular spa town in the Czech Republic. It took two hours to get there by bus, and it only cost 140 Czech crowns for a two-way trip (on top of our PID annual pass), so it was definitely worth doing. It was a...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 25, 2024 | personal, travel
We spent the past week in the southeast of France in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, by far one of my favorite part of France. We started the week in Antibes, exploring some of the cities there, continued our visit in the walled city of Avignon, then...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 14, 2024 | personal, photography
It’s springtime here in Prague, and the weather has been wonderful. I find that the spring season is a great time to be in Europe; people seem to go out of their way to clean away the grey of winter and replace it with color and life. The tulips have been...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 3, 2024 | art, personal, tech
I’m not going to get into the habit of posting AI art pictures, but it’s been really fun seeing what I can come up with, and I have a feeling that as time goes on, the fact that so much AI art breaks copyright will cause significant changes in what...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 20, 2023 | art, personal, tech
I realize AI-generated art is old news by now, but it’s new to me. For the past several days I’ve been playing with the Bing image generator (https://www.bing.com/images/create). I started by exploring potential covers for a book I’ve written, but...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 4, 2023 | language, personal
December has arrived, and Duolingo has posted its 2023 Year in Review statistics for its language learners. I figured I’d join in and post my stats, and offer a few quick words about Duolingo. For the past year and a half or so I have used Duolingo (almost)...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 30, 2023 | personal, writing
Two days ago I completed NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for 2023 by writing 50,000 words of a book during this chilly month of November. Now it’s time to go back and start editing what I’ve written; much of what I wrote was composed without...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 17, 2023 | personal, travel
Today some friends and I visited the Convent of Saint Agnes of Bohemia. The building itself was founded around 1231, while the art gallery within it contains medieval and very early Renaissance art spanning from the late 1200s until the early 1400s. Nearly all of the...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 21, 2023 | nature, personal, travel
Today we hiked the area around Karlštejn Castle, a Gothic castle built in the French style and founded in 1348 by King Charles IV. On our hike we also visited two quarries that were worked by prisoners of war during the late 1940s and early 1950s. I’m not sure how far...
by Brian Crawford | Aug 7, 2023 | personal, travel
Yesterday and today I walked around Prague Castle, the largest ancient castle in the world. It features palaces, gardens, a monastery, a Romanesque basilica, and a Gothic cathedral founded in the year 930. There are also plenty of exhibits demonstrating what life was...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 20, 2023 | personal, photography
I got up at 5 something this morning and decided to go for a walk north along the Vltava River to the Charles Bridge, a medieval stone arch bridge in the center of Prague. It was a beautiful morning, and only a handful of people were on the bridge itself –...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 10, 2023 | disney, personal
Today some friends and I went on a preview ride of the Tron Lightcycle Power Run at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. It was quite neat! You ride on the ride like a motorcycle (sorry, lightcycle) and go through a simulated lightcycle race both inside and outside the...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 22, 2022 | family, personal
Picking up Callum from school on a beautiful Saturday morning.
by Brian Crawford | Sep 20, 2022 | disney, personal
Today I went to Epcot with some friends from the neighborhood for the 2022 Wine and Food Festival. While we were there of course we did some “drinking” around the world (I put that in quotes because I offered to drive and didn’t do any drinking...
by Brian Crawford | Aug 27, 2022 | family, personal, travel
I am in Manhattan with Amelia for a few days to get her settled at her new school, so we caught a performance of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Very cool! Getting seated at the Lyric Theater before the show. Amelia and I in Times Square. We found a hotel right off...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 8, 2022 | disney, personal
Unsolicited duck pic.
by Brian Crawford | Jan 27, 2022 | disney, personal
My Uber has arrived. y
by Brian Crawford | Jan 4, 2022 | nature, personal, photography
It was a nice evening to take a walk around Lake Rianhard in Celebration, Florida.
by Brian Crawford | Oct 25, 2021 | personal, travel
Hiking through Divoká Šárka with friends to see the autumn leaves and hunt for studánka (natural springs).
by Brian Crawford | Oct 13, 2021 | travel
Adventures from the past month or so: Walking in Prague Hiking with friends near Kutná Hora A stopover in Bratislava Exploring Vienna Vyšehrad. Vyšehrad Trams at I.P. Pavlova in Prague. Hiking near Kutná Hora, east of Prague. Hiking near Kutná Hora. An abandoned mill...
by Brian Crawford | Aug 15, 2021 | travel
This evening I went for a low-key 6.5 mile run to the Prague Metronome, a 75-foot-tall metronome overlooking the Vltava River in Letná Park. There were quite a few people at the top, mostly young adults sitting on the concrete wall overlooking the city, while to the...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 16, 2021 | photography
Forced myself out of the apartment this evening to come to this cool spot.
by Brian Crawford | Jun 2, 2021 | thoughts
I posted this thought essay on my business and project management site a month ago, but really, this seems like much more of a personal exploration than a purely business-related post. So I’m cross-posting it here. Here’s a hypothetical story for you. When Josh...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 13, 2021 | thoughts
Two doors down from our building you will find three small bronze plaques on the ground outside the door. They’re called “Stolpersteine” and there are over 70,000 of them placed throughout Europe. Together they comprise one of the largest Holocaust...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 3, 2021 | thoughts, writing
To celebrate a year+ of sheltering at home, here’s me, my Kindle Paperwhite, and Callum’s (now my) Nyan Cat pillow. The Czech Republic has the highest COVID infection and death rates in the world, so this situation is unlikely to change anytime soon (unless we can...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 26, 2021 | nature
Yvonne literally took a snowball to the face for this clip.
by Brian Crawford | Dec 22, 2020 | personal
It’s Christmastime in the Czech Republic, though to be honest, I haven’t really noticed due to the ongoing pandemic. In fact, aside than staying in the apartment and going for runs and walks in nearby Folimanka Park and Vyšehrad, I haven’t been...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 1, 2020 | travel
I’m back in the Czech Republic, and have been in quarantine for the past week and a half or so. I figured now would be a good time to post a few pictures from those times Amelia and I toured Vancouver Island this past summer and fall. During the summer, Amelia...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 13, 2020 | thoughts
The sun popped out from behind the clouds here on the we(s)t coast long enough for me to walk to the drug store to get a flu shot. And it was free, because Canada has universal health care. I want to talk about something people seem to have missed in the discussion...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 15, 2020 | thoughts
I‘ve been feeling stressed today due to the uncertainty of what the coming months may bring, concerns about my family, and the worsening COVID situation in Prague. 2020 is turning out to be Murphy’s Year. In fact, the other day my uncle informed us that London Bridge...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 5, 2020 | writing
“Kibbles, come here.” Maria places her crochet on the small glass table beneath the warm glow of the reading lamp and beckons with frail hands. “Here, kitty.” Kibbles jumps 26 inches at an angle of 64 degrees to land squarely in Maria’s lap. She lets out a delighted...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 28, 2020 | nature
Ran through Beacon Hill Park today. I had to stop to take a quick picture of the peachick! And also the world’s tallest free-standing totem.
by Brian Crawford | Jul 6, 2020 | nature
by Brian Crawford | Jun 25, 2020 | writing
I’m writing a quick post to let you know that after today, I won’t be around. I’m not moving, or getting a new job, or taking a “social media break”. I’m headed back to where I came from. Our enemy has declared war on us – again – and my family has been...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 22, 2020 | family
One week of quarantine down! They say that on average, people display signs of COVID-19 five or six days after catching it. We are on day eight. Which doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet (we are literally in the woods), but it’s a good sign. It’s been surreal...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 5, 2020 | thoughts
I don’t know about you, but I love paths like this one. Callum and I encountered it while taking a long walk in Prague near the Botanical Garden of the Faculty of Science at Charles University. To me, this path speaks of grand adventure – that traveling up...
by Brian Crawford | May 30, 2020 | fitness
This morning was a beautiful morning for a leisurely run! On the other hand, I’m not sure what convinced me it should involve running up and down these stairs…
by Brian Crawford | Apr 24, 2020 | family
Cases of COVID-19 first officially started to appear here in the Czech Republic in early March – in fact, it was March 1st, 2020 when the first case was identified at a hospital in Prague. All of the cases were connected with people going for winter break in...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 10, 2020 | school, technology
The kids’ school has been closed since early March (classes have continued online), so Callum and a few of his friends made a virtual version in Minecraft for students to hang out in. Having visited the kids’ school numerous times, I think this Minecraft...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 24, 2020 | writing
Back in late March of 2018 Yvonne, Amelia and I went to Universal Orlando to spend the day as extras for a TV commercial they were filming. It was quite the experience. When we got to the casting area we learned that they needed more people to film a different...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 18, 2020 | personal
Things have escalated quickly here in Prague where the novel (though now maybe not quite so novel) coronavirus has been gradually spreading. On Sunday we took a family walk along the riverbank to Vyšehrad, a historic fort in the southeast of Prague. It was lovely out....
by Brian Crawford | Mar 11, 2020 | personal
Today is the first day that all schools are closed in the Czech Republic for the next two weeks due to the global spread of the coronavirus. Our kids’ school is continuing with schoolwork, but all communication will be conducted online for the duration....
by Brian Crawford | Mar 9, 2020 | travel
Here’s something that for some reason (probably time) I didn’t post about when it happened. This past New Year’s Day, when we were staying in Tokyo, we visited Sanrio Puroland, an indoor theme park devoted to Hello Kitty and her friends. It was...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 8, 2020 | fitness
I’m a big fan of trying new experiences, so when we were invited by some friends to join them in trying aerial yoga (or flying yoga, or aero yoga, I’m not quite sure which is right) at a studio here in Prague, I agreed to give it a shot. It turns out it...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 29, 2020 | personal, tech
Portal and Portal 2 have remained two of Callum’s favorite video games since he was 7 years old (here he is at 11 years old in a Star Trek uniform playing Portal 2 – yup, he’s my kid). For those not in the know, Portal is a first-person...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 15, 2020 | travel
Today Callum and I took a father-and-son trip to Dresden. As soon as we walked out of the train station we stumbled upon a huge protest of far-right demonstrators, as well as a matching counter-protest, for the 75th anniversary of the bombing of the city in 1945....
by Brian Crawford | Jan 26, 2020 | tech
This afternoon Callum and I visited the Apple Museum, which has the largest private collection of Apple products in the world. When I was a kid in the 80s my dad worked as a tech executive at Bell Canada, and he used to bring home different computers from that era for...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 31, 2019 | personal, travel
I’ve been to Gen Con, and I’ve been to Dragon Con, and I thought they were pretty crowded. But today, Callum and I went to Comiket, the biggest fan convention in the world, along with half a million other people. To get some idea of how long the line was to get in,...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 30, 2019 | travel
Last New Year’s Day I made a resolution to break the mould and try out some new places. This evening we went to a “maid café” in Akihabara, Tokyo’s “Electric Town”, where the servers were dressed as maids and performed little shows for the guests as...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 29, 2019 | travel
Osaka Castle. At Shitennoji Buddhist Temple. Comparing my height to a bunch of anime characters I’ve never heard of at the HEP FIVE mall. The doorway to a great late-night dumplings joint 😄
by Brian Crawford | Dec 27, 2019 | travel
Traditional hotel room with tatami floors. We had to get futons from the closet. It was raining when we arrived at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, but that meant there was a pretty cool rainbow over the area afterward. I got Callum to take a rare picture with me by...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 25, 2019 | disney, travel
Tokyo Disneyland on Christmas Eve, and Ginza, Asakusa, and the Tokyo Skytree with Callum today. It’s been fun 🎄 I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday season. The Haunted Mansion was completely revamped for the season with a Nightmare Before Christmas...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 23, 2019 | disney, travel
Tokyo DisneySea at Christmastime. Tokyo DisneySea is pretty impressive. The Nautilus at Mysterious Island. All theme parks should have hand-washing stations like these placed throughout the park. Not the best picture, but this is the lobby of our hotel, the Tokyo Bay...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 21, 2019 | travel
Amelia took several dance lessons with Lia Kim, a well-known choreographer, at 1MILLION Dance Studios in Gangnam. Gundam Base at Lotte Young Plaza near our hotel. As we were walking to Gyeonbokgung Palace, we happened upon a protest. Gyeonbokgung Palace. Amelia and I...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 14, 2019 | travel
Found R2-D2 on our walk this morning. He’s painted on an old Cold War nuclear bunker in Folimanka Park, not far from our flat. He looks a bit bedraggled, like he just got fished out of the swamp in Dagobah and tagged by some renegade bogwings. Incidentally, the term...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 28, 2019 | personal
Say what? A Frozen advent calendar?? ❄️👸🏼⛄️🦌❤️
by Brian Crawford | Nov 27, 2019 | family, travel
One of my favorite things about living in Europe is the markets that spring up around many European towns around Christmastime. This evening Callum and I went to Náměstí Míru, a city square near where we live in Prague. The square is currently full of wooden Christmas...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 2, 2019 | travel
We’re in Helsinki in Finland, and it’s very cold and drizzly! Nonetheless, we’ve had a good visit, and toured some interesting places. We did a lot of walking of the city and stopped by most of the various must-see historic sites. None of the...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 2, 2019 | travel
After touring Riga for a few days we took a plane to Tallinn in Estonia. I was somewhat surprised by Tallinn – I wasn’t expecting it to be as large or as modern as it appears to be. The city has a really nice old town that we explored for a while before...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 29, 2019 | travel
We’ve been staying in Riga’s Old Town for four days, and it’s been a neat place to visit. The best part about the trip is that before our arrival I knew next to nothing about Latvia. I knew it was once part of the Soviet Union, and since the...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 26, 2019 | travel
We’re in Latvia and Amelia and I just went out for Indian food and it was amazing. It reminded me of the many times I had Indian food with my own dad in Ottawa, and it made me happy to continue the tradition. It also reminded me of the time Yvonne and I went to...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 24, 2019 | writing
Last week after downing a bottle of soju I made a pact with Amelia to participate in NaNoWriMo and write 50,000 words during the month of November. So now I have to. Plus, I’m posting about it here, so now I doubly have to. I already have a book plotted, which I...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 23, 2019 | writing
I am quite confident the smelliest person in all of Prague lives in this apartment building. Every morning between when I leave the building to walk Lilou at 7:30 and when I return at 8 he (or she?) has used the elevator and left behind a festering cloud of noxious...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 17, 2019 | food
Tried soju for the first time this evening. The (Korean) server brought out the traditional glasses only after the other (non-Korean) server had already served it with a normal glass, so I ended up drinking it like a big glass of water 🤣 but hey, I had no...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 9, 2019 | personal
Before you freak out, nobody was injured. In fact, I wasn’t even there. But two weeks ago a friend was driving the car when a pickup truck (whose driver was on the phone) ran a red light and took out the front end. It had some frame damage, making repairs...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 30, 2019 | disney
Today I checked out the Disney Skyliner (aka gondola) with a friend. There are actually two gondolas on the system; we started our trip at Hollywood Studios, transferred once, and ended it just behind the World Showcase, near the France pavilion. The views from the...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 28, 2019 | food
Last night I went with a group of friends to ICEBAR Orlando, a place on International Drive where one of the bars is located inside a sub-zero temperature room, featuring ice sculptures, ice stools and chairs, and glasses made out of ice. The other section of the...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 22, 2019 | disney, family
Amelia ran her second half marathon this morning, at Disneyland Paris! Looking forward to seeing her soon and hearing all about it!
by Brian Crawford | Sep 19, 2019 | family
Two guys have been working on fixing up the outside of the house here in Florida for the past week or two. Here’s one of them today, repairing a cracked pipe. I don’t speak much Spanish, and he speaks even less English, so I haven’t been able to talk to him much. He...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 17, 2019 | writing
Last night I attended a meeting of the Celebration Writers’ Group at the library here in town. It was the third Monday of the month, which meant one of the group members led writing activities for the other members to everyone could practice their writing skills...
by Brian Crawford | Aug 7, 2019 | family
Went to opening night of the new BTS (K-pop) movie this evening at Disney Springs. I even brought the kids along.
by Brian Crawford | Jul 30, 2019 | family, travel
Earlier this month I traveled with the family to (as the title indicates) my hometown of Toronto, and also to Niagara Falls, Ontario, which is an only an hour and a half away from the city. It was a great trip! Yvonne initially traveled with the kids to meet up with...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 29, 2019 | family
Today while going through some boxes I found my grandfather’s old cribbage board he gave me before he passed away. You might notice that it’s been very, very well used. It made me miss him, and the many games of cribbage we played when I was in high school. I’m not so...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 24, 2019 | travel
Found a picture of me at Paudash Lake when I was four years old. I’m happy that my own kids are able to continue the tradition of spending summer days up at the cottage!
by Brian Crawford | May 1, 2019 | travel
This afternoon I went for a walk in Charleston, South Carolina. We lived here for quite a few years, so it was nice to be able to see the city after several years away.
by Brian Crawford | Feb 23, 2019 | travel
This afternoon Callum and I visited the Žižkov Television Tower, a striking example of communist-era architecture in Prague. One online site referred to this particular tower as “the second ugliest building in the world”. It certainly stands out from all...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 19, 2019 | disney, family, travel, vacation
I’ve been staying in Prague in the Czech Republic since late January… sort of. Two weeks ago we traveled to France to spend 10 days in Paris during the kids’ spring break. So in a way, I’ve had a trip within a trip, which is kind of neat. This...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 8, 2019 | thoughts
Unloading the dishwasher and trying to figure out which of the plastic cups spark the most joy.
by Brian Crawford | Dec 26, 2018 | personal
Happy Boxing Day! 📦📦📦 People often ask me if I still celebrate Boxing Day now that I’m here in the States. Growing up, Boxing Day wasn’t something you celebrated. In fact, I still don’t know what the heck Boxing Day is really supposed to be all...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 17, 2018 | personal
This past Halloween, and for the third year in a row, I dressed in an obscure costume that I doubted anybody would recognize – a groundhog keeper on Groundhog Day. If you’ve seen or experienced how Groundhog Day is celebrated in the town of Punxsutawney,...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 16, 2018 | thoughts
So of course I took a selfie 🚙🚌🚗🚛🚕
by Brian Crawford | Aug 8, 2018 | family, nature, travel
Last month, after visiting friends in Toronto, Callum and I headed to our cottage on Paudash Lake, in the Highlands East region of Ontario’s cottage country. Yvonne and I bought the place back in August of 2005 when we thought we were going to be moving to...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 25, 2018 | travel
Callum and I are in Toronto, the city where I grew up. We’re staying with my friend Peter, who has been one of my closest friends since the fourth grade. He and his wife Heather live in a condo at Harbourfront, right near Rogers Centre and the CN Tower. So...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 21, 2018 | family
Amelia is on a War Canoe crew at her girl’s camp in the Texas Hill Country this summer, which is apparently quite an achievement. This is her third time trying out for the team, and the first time she’s made it on – and not only that, she is actually...
by Brian Crawford | May 26, 2018 | fitness
Today, Yvonne and I ran the Friends of Lake Louisa State Park 5k in Clermont, Florida with a couple of friends from here in town. Lake Louisa State Park is quite nice, featuring a large lake (of course), some swampy areas (I love those), and a variety of nature...
by Brian Crawford | May 25, 2018 | disney
Last night Yvonne and I visited Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto and Tiki Bar at Disney’s Polynesian Resort. We started off the evening with dinner (and for me, a bit of late-night French press coffee) at the nearby Kona Café, then headed to Trader Sam’s...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 7, 2018 | family
Today we went to Kpoppin USA Shop, a store in Orlando that sells K-pop (South Korean pop music) and anime merchandise. As I’m not huge into K-pop I was a bit out of my element, but it was certainly an interesting place, and very, very niche, which is kind of...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 23, 2018 | family
It’s been a relatively busy end to the winter season. A few weeks ago I went to the father-daughter dance at Celebration School with Amelia, some of her friends, and of course their dads. It was pretty fun. I’ve seen a lot of father-daughter dance photos...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 26, 2017 | disney
On Christmas Eve the family and I went to Disney Springs to check out the Christmas Tree Trail. This is a path with different Christmas trees decorated in the theme of various Walt Disney characters or movies. I was going to take a few pictures of the various trees...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 30, 2017 | disney, family
So it’s not much of a secret that we go to Disney World a lot. Considering we live right next door and have annual passes (including to the waterparks), it only makes sense to hang out there. When you live next to Disney World, the best times to go are in the...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 5, 2017 | thoughts
I’ve recently switched from coffee back to tea. I find the caffeine from tea is not quite as electrifying as that from coffee, which helps to even out energy levels. And since I used to drink a lot of Earl Grey tea before I switched to coffee, the scent of...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 2, 2017 | thoughts
I could spend hours in a craft store making up stories about the people in picture frame stock photos.
by Brian Crawford | Sep 10, 2017 | travel
We’re currently at home in Central Florida, where Hurricane Irma is just now starting to make things very windy and rainy. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like the storm is going to hit the Orlando area with too much ferocity, though I feel very badly for all...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 24, 2017 | travel
Callum and I are in Sugar Mountain, North Carolina. We’re staying at a condo my parents have rented for the summer up in the mountains. It is a beautiful area! And the weather is beautiful – quite a change from the heat and humidity of Central Florida this...
by Brian Crawford | May 29, 2017 | tech
Last week I took a trip with some former co-workers to Merritt Island, Florida, home of the Kennedy Space Center. We visited the park, learned about rockets, watched an IMAX movie, and checked out the Atlantis exhibit. When we got to the park we learned that that...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 13, 2017 | personal, thoughts
Everyone went all freaky-nuts when they said Pluto wasn’t a planet, but when they started telling us indigo wasn’t a color of the rainbow, who complained? Nobody, that’s who. Well, whatever. I still love you, you crazy, mysterious non-color.
by Brian Crawford | Jan 5, 2017 | family
Lilou is unsure about her present from Switzerland. 🐶 🐮 🔔
by Brian Crawford | Dec 18, 2016 | fitness
Yesterday I went and got myself a tricycle. Truth be told, I haven’t ridden tricycles since I was a toddler. And more truth be told, I was never really into tricycles anyway. I preferred those little plastic cars you straddle and push along with both feet. But I...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 2, 2016 | personal
I’m thankful for many things, and since November is a popular month to recognize those things we’re thankful for, I thought I’d… wait, it’s December already? Oh. At any rate, I visited my parents over Thanksgiving, and while I was there I...
