By the time most of you read this, I will be in Reykjavik for the Food & Fun Fest, contemplating the myriad of Norse words for snow (forecast for this week: "Cold. Mix of rain, frozen rain, sleet and snow"...I guess people with a dozen words for frozen ice don't sugar coat natural phenomena with cozy phrases like "wintry mix," nor do they believe frozen rain and sleet to be the same thing!). The excitement is bittersweet because the trip is work-related and work has been pretty stress-related lately. Mostly it's bittersweet because Icelanders tend not to perish early from working themselves to death like Americans (and, more specifically, New Yorkers) do, so I didn't receive my full itinerary until Saturday morning (we leave in 2.5 hours). We have a wonderful detour to a breathtaking geothermal pool spa which means I get to see my boss in a Speedo. Here is my boss:



Other than this--er--wrinkle and the prospect of eating rancid shark meat (Iceland's national delicacy) to be hospitable, I am pretty stoked! I'll post photos from Bjork's motherland soon! Yay!!

I heard the following at Oakland International Airport on Monday as I waited to board my NYC-bound plane:

"Mr. Sharif, please come to Jet Blue Gate 3. That is Mr. Anwar Sharif--S as in Sam, H as in Happy, A as in Apple, R as in Rat, I as in Inch, F as in...Fugly."

I sh-t you not!!!

i thought this was beautifully appropriate for today...