At this point, I have an intimacy with the Marriott Courtyard that is likely registered in my DNA. I could be blindfolded and tossed into the lobby of a Courtyard, and I’d be in my room, ironing my shirts, and drinking a Coors Light from the mini-bar within 5 minutes. Every once in a while the business travel stars align, and we get to stay in a place like the Ames Hotel in Boston. Not only are the rooms deeluxe (pictured above), but the building itself is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the doorman told me that it was Boston’s “first skyscraper.” And Wikipedia agrees. Not pictured here is the nicest component of my room: A huge arched window that looked south over the Old City Hall, the Old South Meeting House, and no doubt lots of other old things. No Coors Light, of course, but pretty killer otherwise.

Walking around the Maxwell Food Market near Singapore’s Chinatown reminded of Wong Kar Wai’s excellent movie about Hong Kong in the early 60’s In the Mood for Love. After I watched it last night, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to actually travel back in time, or just walk inside an imagined version of the past.

A formula for determining your NPR name:

You take your middle initial and insert it somewhere into your first name. Then you add on the smallest foreign town you’ve ever visited.

Yelapa is a tiny village near Sayulita, Mexico, and the naming formula was concocted by Liana Maeby.

If you haven’t been to San Juan Bautista, you need to go. It’s a little ways south of San Jose, an hour east of Big Sur, a long but not impossible trip from San Francisco. Mara and I were there last winter, and I keep meaning to spread the word. It’s a real getaway with good old-fashioned California heritage and big cacti and a nice bakery and a good vibe.

Chickens running around.

What can you say? SJB got style.

It’s also got a mission, and it’s in the heart of artichoke country. They say that hard times are when the big ideas really take hold. Maybe it’s time to get that marimba you’ve always wanted.

It’s kinda strange (and thrilling) to browse through the many alleyways and avenues of Flickr and suddenly unearth a photo of ... yourself. Just now I came across this picture of myself and a shadowy figure, who I suspect is UX it-guy Jan Chipchase taken last summer during UX Week. My hazy recollection: We met and hung out during a late-night trek through the Mall to the Washington Monument, a epic walk that included UX Week speakers, the entire event staff, and the multi-talented Maggie Mason of Mighty Goods (and, more recently it seems, Mighty Junior), who recorded the journey here. We left late, got back *really* late, and somehow Jan looked none the worse for wear during his keynote the next morning; epic, indeed.

This is an incredible mosaic in the bathroom of the New Museum of Contemporary art in New York. It is also EASILY the most impressive thing in the whole museum.

New York was filled with good times, as usual, but a couple of the things that totally blew my mind (and that are link-friendly) were Jamaican beef patties at a place called Christie’s in Flatbush and an offshoot of San Francisco’s Blue Bottle juggernaut that recently opened in New York, Abraco [a nice NY mag review]. Yoshi insisted that we stop at Christie’s even though we’d just eaten a big brunch, and we got a couple of warm, spicy patties to share on a walk through chilly Prospect Park. The first thing I noticed is that they’re not really “patties” in the sense of hamburger patties. They’re like hot pockets, but freshly baked, with an amazing crust and filled with super-spicy beef. Pretty much the perfect walking food.

On an unrelated note, last week’s This American Life was the best I’ve heard in a long time. Every segment is good, but the third is about what happens to chimpanzees after they “retire” from movies, and it reveals that Cheeta — the chimp from the 40’s-era Tarzan movies — is still alive, living in Palm Springs, enjoys drinking Diet Iced Tea, and was once quite fond of beer and cigars. There’s more in this funny National Geo piece from 2003, awkwardly titled Tarzan’s Cheeta’s Life as a Retired Movie Star.

Inspired by the list-makers here and here.

• San Francisco
• Kailua, Hawaii
• Hilo, Hawaii
• Hamburg, Germany
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Eindhoven, Netherlands
• Munich, Germany*
• London, England*
• Cardiff, Wales
• Washington DC
• (A small town in the Italian Alps)
• Alicante, Spain
• Hong Kong
• Sydney, Australia
• Adelaide, Australia
• Melbourne, Australia
• Tokyo, Japan
• Warsaw, Indiana
• Chicago, Illinois
• Kansas City, Missouri*
• Leawood, Kansas
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• McKeesport, Pennsylvania
• Buffalo, New York
• Niagara Falls
• Toronto, Canada
• Detroit, Michigan
• Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Kalamazoo, Michigan
• Portland, Oregon*
• Seattle, Washington
• Austin, Texas
• Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• Sayulita, Mexico
• Peoria, Illinois
• Gainesville, Florida
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Minneapolis, Minnesota*
• Newark, New Jersey*
• Basking Ridge, NJ
• Springfield, Missouri
• Las Vegas, NV

Holy crap. I had no idea that there were so many. Qualifying cities had at least one overnight stay, except Hong Kong, Pittsburgh and Detroit, where I spent most of a day and then escaped before night fell. Actually, I’m kidding; I really loved both of those cities, which is why I wanted to put them on the list. * indicates that I visited the city multiple times, usually in totally unrelated contexts.