by Mike Wood | Dec 2, 2025
Duolingo has been great for learning languages. I just wish that it started with words and phrases that you actually need to know. For instance, In Duolingo, Swahili, “He is wiping the window.” Is not a sentence that I would probably need to use. Here is what would...
by Mike Wood | Nov 30, 2025
Dollal in the Danakil Depression, Ethiopia. Way off the beaten path and you’re not getting here without being on a tour. Crappy food for three days, no bathrooms for three days (if you can squat without anything to rest your butt on and poop while being half obscured...
by Mike Wood | Nov 30, 2025
“Every day I stay in this room, I get weaker; and every day Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger.” – Captain Willard, Apocalypse Now. In this case, “Charlie”, represents other runners I am in competition with and my fitness level in general. Well, that’s...
by Mike Wood | Nov 27, 2025
For all the countries we are visiting, we have had ChatGPT summarize travel guide recommendations of places to visit. And we supplemented that information with Guide books and recommendations from people we have talked to. But, we have come to find that it is easy to...
by Mike Wood | Nov 16, 2025
We’ve been in Africa for eight weeks. Thus far we’ve had four major problems. The first one was when our train from Dar Es Salaam to Mbeya had everyone disembark in the middle of nowhere because the train in front of us had crashed. We were left scrambling to find a...