Monday Melange, May 2021

Lately, the PiN household has joined the modern, electronically connected world. By that, I mean, I have started forwarding articles to Mr. PiN that I think he would enjoy. Or that I want him to do something about.

I thought I might share some of the articles that I thought interesting enough to forward. After going through all the links, I will concentrate on the personal finance and travel-related articles I sent in the past year.

Personal Finance

Mr. PiN loves sports (though he claimed otherwise during our courtship). So what could be better than using a sports analogy to point out that in personal finance, everyone has different skills and different goals? I tried to tell him about Morgan Housel’s post Play Your Own Game on a walk, and ended up just sending him the link.

I love reading about what is going on in other countries. I was surprised yesterday by this post from The Woke Salaryman: COVID Measures Have Retightened, Now What? I wasn’t so shocked that COVID is getting worse (though it was news to me that things are getting worse in Singapore); I was shocked to hear that people are borrowing money to invest. I went over this with Mr. PiN, who also couldn’t believe people would do that.

This post from a few months ago made the round up posts at other blogs already, but I think it is so I good I will bring it up again. It is one of the few financial posts I send to Mr. PiN. From We Want Guac: After Being Poor, Your Financial Anxiety Remains.

Mr. PiN has had an interest in the exchange rate and currency trading for years. Every time we go, and then return, from foreign lands, he will ask me for months to look up the strength of the USD. I thought he would be interested in this article on Forex Trading Scams. He wasn’t really. Maybe you will like it instead?

Stories from around the world

Mr. PiN and I love to travel, and hope to do so again. I am not sure when will be able to do so comfortably, so reading about travel makes me happy while I have to stay home. Some of these articles are about attractions to visit, but what makes them special is usually the human stories attached.

A link from a travel board sent me to this 2017 article from Town and Country about a small museum in Paris, the Musee Nissim de Camondo. I do not know if I will want to see the museum, should I ever return to Paris, but the article about the de Camondo family left me a lot to think about.

If we go to France, we may consider going to this estate with some crazy gardens, illustrated in this article from Dwell.

Going a little further South, I loved this article from Berkeley News, COVID tales: Restoring a 17th century manor in Spain. Hometown kid buys the big (old, derelict) property in town and works to bring it back.

From the Southern Hemisphere, I was inspired by 43BlueDoors’ post, 25 Stunning Places to See: a Western Australia Road trip. (Their articles on flying during the pandemic was also very interesting, culminating in a real doozy, Finding a way home.)

This photo may be behind the firewall at the New York Times, but it shows how art can save us–not in a metaphorical way, but a real practical one.

I will stop here, and save the rest of the links for another post. Let me know if you have any favorites!