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I had a housewarming party last week, and I wanted to post something about it. Unfortunately, what I really want to do requires time and effort so I probably won't have it ready to post till this weekend. So, just to keep people sated for the time being, here is a brief post on a totally unrelated topic. Fig. 1: The most inexpensive glass cleaner in Switzerland I bought the bottle of glass cleaner pictured above at Migros. It is generic brand and it was the cheapest thing I could find (I think it was about 4 CHF for that tiny bottle). If you look at the little label on the top of the bottle, it informs you that the spray works equally well rightside-up and upside-down. Why does a bottle of window cleaner need to spray while it is upside down? Further, why is this particular bit of advanced technology available in the cheapest store-brand bottle? Why couldn't I have gotten a cheaper product that only works when you hold it upright? These are questions for which there are...

Here's the deal: everyone here skis. Unlike in the US, where skiing is (rightly) seen as an effete, elitist pastime for the aristocracy, skiing in Switzerland is part of the national identity and thus enjoyed by everyone. By the time they can walk, most Swiss are expert skiers (see previous posts on this topic) and it isn't uncommon for people to go skiing nearly every weekend from December to March. This year, we've had an exceptionally heavy snowfall, so conditions are excellent. The incredible popularity of skiing here has a number of both positive and negative consequences. First, it means that going skiing is not very expensive; by Swiss standards, it is downright cheap. Although there are some big name resorts (Verbier, Zermatt, Gstaad) that cater to Russian petro-billionaires, the vast majority are small, family-friendly, and affordable. Second, the skiing is very close by. From my apartment, I could be on the piste in less than 2 hours, using only public trans...

Sorry that I haven't been writing much lately, the reality is that there just hasn't been all that much to write. This is due to a couple of reasons. First, I have not been up to a whole heck of a lot: lots of work, not a lot of exciting social activity. Second, all of the things that I used to find really weird about Switzerland -- and thus worthy of posting on this blog -- have become somewhat commonplace and unremarkable now that I've been here almost six months. For example, there was an election (or referendum or whatever) a couple weeks ago having to do with extending travel and job rights to Romanians and Bulgarians now that they've joined the European Union. As far as I can tell, only the really conservative parties were against this, since if it had failed it would have put a huge strain on the relationship between Switzerland and the EU and caused all sorts of problems. Anyway, the posters that they put up to try to convince people to vote against the m...

As a general rule, I think it is a good idea that everyone keep a mental list of things they would like to accomplish in life. Nothing formal or complicated; just a few things (easy or difficult) that would really make you happy to do. For example, one of my goals in life is to form an all-ukulele all-David-Bowie cover band called "We can be Bowie -- just for one day." I'm still working on that -- I will keep you informed of my progress. Why do I bring this up? Well, after last weekend I can cross off one of my dreams in life. I'll get straight to the photographic evidence. Fig. 1: Pretty much the happiest I will ever be in a photo, ever. Last weekend, my good friends from Stanford, Rafael and Pin-pin, flew down from the dreary United Kingdom (where they are both doing post-docs) to visit Switzerland. As they were more interested in hitting the slopes than seeing the sights in Lausanne, it was up to me to plan some sort of outdoor adventure. After consulting wi...