Because: This reminds me of how Buenos Aires bus drivers decorate their buses, though it’s not to attract passengers because people are practically throwing themselves in front of the buses (which sometimes do and sometimes don’t pause for passengers at the designated stops) to get on board. It’s more just for fun, I suppose is how one could describe the fuzzy red covers that encase some of the the card swiping machines, or the incandescent lights that at night can make the buses look like glowing, seedy clubs rolling along the streets. 

Also, the other week I was walking in the Belgrano neighborhood and saw a “Pimp My Ride” decal on the back of a decidedly un-“pimped” hatchback silver auto. 

Because:Freelancing is lonesome work, as I found out when I almost went crazy my first few weeks in Argentina giving the fulltime freelancing, work-from-home gig a try. I ended up finding a fulltime job in recruiting and social media, though we worked out of a shared workspace called Urban Station in the Palermo Soho neighborhood of Buenos Aires. This idea of collaborative, co-working sites takes it a step further. I think working in such an environment is the only way I could envision myself working freelance or “from home” fulltime.

Related: Why Working at Home is Awesome and Horrible, from The Oatmeal

Because: If this is the case, Argentines are doomed. Still, can smothering a steak in a spice-laden sauce like chimichurri make a difference, as this study I read about the day before this piece suggests?

In my totally non-expert opinion, it’s all good for you, it’s all bad for you. Qué sé yo.

Because: No! Please don’t go there, Argentina. We have the pampas, and the history of beefy excellence. Let’s not ruin it.

Because: Happy Thanksgiving! Today is my favorite holiday. I love that the secular holiday is so important in the U.S. and to those from the U.S., that it’s such a pure holiday. Sure, tomorrow is Black Friday or whatever and consumerism rears its money-hungry head, but today is Thanksgiving and all that is on the agenda is eating, time with family and counting blessings. Everyone’s doing their best impression of recreating their own version of a Norman Rockwell painting.

This fourth Thursday in November 2011 is my third international Thanksgiving. The first of the holiday abroad was during study abroad in Barcelona, and it was the only day in my four months of that Barcelona utopia that I was homesick. I sobbed on video chat before going out to dinner with about 12 other U.S. students to an Argentine restaurant and making toasts of thanks for about three hours straight. Then I ended up in Argentina, thought not in an Argentine restaurant, for Thanksgiving 2010. The day began with me waiting on a corner at 8 am (which is, like, SO early for Argentime) for a friend to drop off a turkey that we were pretty certain he was going to have shot and plucked himself. Then the majority of that day, for which the weather was a hot, hot precursor to the oppressive Buenos Aires summer climate, I ran around the greater Palermo area in desperate search of a bird thermometer because we were going to cook that turkey for 20 people and do it well, gosh darn it, even though the only temperature options on our retro stove were one, two or three squiggly lines. Bird thermometers apparently don’t exist here; you just have to know when it’s done (test the leg!) and serve it with a generous helping of hope that you’re not poisoning anyone. In the end, I ate too much, gave a lot of thanks and no one got sick. 

This year I’m working most of the day, then running home to roast vegetables for a Thanksgiving potluck at a place I’m still trying to locate on a map. Last night I had a mini pumpkin pie topped with caramelized pecans, thanks to Chef Mun’s event at the Oasis Clubhouse, so I’m already feeling a little festive. The distance is hitting me harder this year than last, probably because I’m just sitting here thinking about how in two weeks I’ll be home, and I’ll be there through Christmas and that’s wonderful, but it would have been perfect had I been able to swing my traditional celebrations for both holidays. So close yet so far. Still, with tradition I think it’s not the actual act of carrying them out that brings the joy or comfort, but the knowing that they’re there. 

Because: If you have the time, listen to the radio show rather than read the story. Or, do both, but the Fresh Air episode is excellent. David Carr is a really interesting dude and comes across as such in every subject upon which he expounds. In this case, much of the subject of his conversation is about what the above title suggests, specifically Twitter. A non-tweeting (and Fresh Air fan) friend sent me this link with a note saying she is now totally re-thinking her perspective on the social media platform. Give it a shot; “it” as in the article, the episode, Twitter or any combination thereof.

Also, I love listening to NPR. Good radio reminds me that there’s a place for all types of media, even when the meaning or importance of them shift. Fresh Air is so soothing, in part because it brings me back to the morning commutes of my childhood when my mom or dad would turn NPR on in the car. I thought talk radio was soooo boring then. I’m glad my parents rarely let me change the station to Top 40, just like my dad would pump Creedence Clearwater Revival, or my mom Carole King, through the house on Saturday mornings.

Also, the friend who sent me this article said she used to listen to it when studying abroad for a year during college because in many ways it made her feel closer to home.