Dear Internet,

When, at age 14, I had the opportunity to choose whether to study Spanish or German at school, I chose German. This was pretty much for two reasons: first of all, I think German accents are quite possibly the funniest thing in the world and I knew I´d have a lot of opportunity to hear the word ¨vodka¨pronounced ¨wodka¨ if I chose to spend the next four years of my life studying the language. (I was right.

We arrived home last night, tired and hungry, after a six-hour layover in Houston. Have you ever been to the airport in Houston? My god, that airport. Why is there nothing to eat there that wouldn't be out of place in a fourth-rate mall food court?

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth." --Kurt Vonnegut.

Ecuador was pretty much exactly how I thought it would be, but also nothing like I thought it would be at all. Wow, would you look at that sentence? Cliche central! I might as well have just started off with "it was a dark and stormy night...."

File this under Vaguely Embarrassing Things About Me That I Feel The Need To Share With The Internet: around this time of year, when summer is sloping out and Fall is creeping in, I wear sunscreen just because I like the way it smells. And I'm not talking about any old sunscreen; it has to be Coppertone. Preferably, it has to be the spray kind, and then I can just spritz it on like perfume.

Psst, here's a confession: we've lived in San Francisco since December 29th of last year---that's a few days shy of nine months in case you're counting---and in that time I've only driven twice.