"Some nights the fridge is full and still nothing gets cooked. On cereal, willpower, and the slow build of knowledge that makes healthy eating less of a fight."

Have you ever wanted to escape from television instead of into it? Well, join me on how I did this which led to escaping into reading.

We should throw out the word success when talking about our lives. My issue is that it feels fleeting and external.

I quit caffeine, missed everything about coffee except the caffeine, and found my way to decaf — and then to a balance built on making the caffeinated cup a deliberate, out-of-the-house choice.

A spontaneous two-night escape to Portland — food trucks and a World Cup watch party, Powell's, Hockney on an iPad, and the best mango of my life.

The Taste Northwest returned to the fairgrounds, a dollar pricier and a little muted. Then, to lift the spirits, Turkish coffee at a Yemeni café in Tacoma.

Does riding public transit make us more compassionate, or just better at avoiding eye contact? A thought exercise on buses, bus shelters, and one cramped Italian bus ride — plus an argument that airplanes might be the exception.

Three days of wandering Sacramento solo — coffee shop hopping, a museum mishap with a backpack, and a math book I never should have packed.

My wife and I landed in Sacramento with no itinerary and no agenda — just a hotel address and an appetite for whatever came next. Including the best udon we've had in years.