wendy {dot} blog

A Renaissance Soul blogging on traveling, books, work, miscellany, and enjoying life.

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Good News for Bookworms: Science Says Reading is Good for Your Health

[note – reference previous re-blogged post on benefits of writing] Benefits of Reading Reading has been linked to an amazing array of benefits, including these: Just six minutes of reading is enough to reduce stress by 68%, and numerous studies have shown that reading keeps your brain functioning effectively as you age. One study even found that elderly individuals who read regularly are 2.5 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than their peers. But there could […]

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A man, a plan, a canal – Panama!

I drafted this post back in June when I was actually in Panama but I never finished it…until now. Better late then never? I’m in Panama for a conference and of course I had to escape from the conference venue to go see the Panama Canal while I was here. I had some unscheduled time the day I arrived, before the conference got going, so I met up with some […]

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Love

I don’t normally write about certain personal details about my family or marriage, but this blew me away so totally that I feel compelled to shout out what a lucky woman I am to have such a fantastic man to share my life with. I am well and truly blessed.

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Mobility

My daughter recently tore her ACL and was in a wheelchair for the better part of a couple of weeks while it healed enough for her to walk for longer periods of time on crutches and then finally on her own. It’s never a good time to tear your ACL but there are certainly worse times. This felt somewhat in the middle, leaning towards “worse times”. She tore it while […]

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Unglamorous Travel: Vancouver Edition

Seems I struck a chord with my recent post on the unglamorous side of travel, so I figured I would write one based on the trip I’m just got back from.

My “unglamorous” experiences on this trip weren’t traumatizing like my last trip, so I’m not complaining at all. Nonetheless, it still falls decidedly short of the sort of travel experiences that typically make it to social media. All the more reason to share, I guess. 🙂

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Sabbatical

Folks, I work for a pretty great company. Every 5 years, all employees get a 2-3 month paid sabbatical, which is almost unheard of outside of academia, at least in the US. The idea is to give employees a chance to disconnect, take a break from routine, and recharge. Time has flown and I’m eligible for mine this year. Hard to believe. Anyway, it was a little surreal to me […]

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Facebook use: less is more (for me)

Facebook has a long track record and sordid history of abusing their users’ trust and privacy, including the most recent and egregious cases currently making headlines with Cambridge Analytica as well as election meddling in the US and Britain. As if that wasn’t enough, it then came to light that they have also been tracking and storing users’ phone call and text message data, including “who contacted whom, what time, […]

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