All posts in category Fun Facts

Fun Fact: iPads are NOT machine-washable

Ciao Readers!  Happy (not) Daylight Savings!

If you’re thinking it’s been a while since I’ve posted, you are correct.  AND, if you’re thinking I am posting now because I may be headed off somewhere, you are two-for-two! So before (and after) I give the low-down, I have two embarrassing things (embarrassing for very different reasons) to admit.

First, I am running off to Italy for the second time this year (to Siena this time).  I guess I’m embarrassed to admit that because it sounds so privileged (don’t ya think?).  In my defense (if I need one), a trip to Italy is actually less expensive (and more delicious) than a stay at a mental health facility, so I see it as a win-win.  Also, as many of you know from past blog posts, I kinda have the miles/cheap apartments/etc. thing down to a science. Okay, enough justification – I’m going to Italy and purposely timed it to arrive in time for truffle season and specifically La Mostra del Tartufo in San Giovanni D’Asso (i.e. TRUFFLE FESTIVAL – YAY!!!).  I even found a language school that is going to take a trip to the festival (it is not reachable by train) – you can tell how serious my language studies are when I pick the school for the festival trip, not the reviews of the quality of the classes (the top rated school said “sorry” when I asked them if we could go to the festival)…

Which brings me to the second (more) embarrassing admission…  Since I planned this trip not long-ago, there’s TONS to get done/ready in a short amount of time.  The other day I was on a roll – multi-tasking like nobody’s business; I was getting my to-do list organized, charging my iPod, finding my travel documents, setting up my “out of office reply,” finding my Italy plug converters, cleaning, etc., and in the middle of all that scooped up all the laundry off the bed and threw in a load to wash….  Feeling VERY accomplished about an hour later, I decided to put the laundry in the dryer and make myself an ice cream sundae and watch the Good Place.  So, I get all the laundry out of the washing machine, and (you can tell where this is going I am sure)….there – at –  the – bottom – of – the – washer – is – MY iPAD!!!!   And in case the warning in the title of this post does not drive home the message clear enough, here is the visual:

Stay tuned for hopefully more funny, but less embarrassing (and costly) adventures!

 

 

4 Comments
by Newmexicotoitaly on November 6, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Fun Facts, Italy, here we come!, Musings, Trips In Italy
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Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on November 6, 2017

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2017/11/06/fun-fact-ipads-are-not-machine-washable/

Fun Fact (featuring a pasta-eating quiz)

Ciao Readers!

Sorry if the title threw you – no, I have not found a way to provide an actual eating experience on my blog (yet).  (Nor will the quiz, below, be consuming any pasta.)  Today’s fun fact is in the form of a poll about how much pasta Italians v. Americans eat.  Mind you, I did as much research as I could (also some taste-testing) and the answer to the quiz represents the numbers that appeared most frequently and in the most reliable sources (there’s just way too much info in cyberspace).  So, on with today’s quiz:

So, unfortunately, poll-daddy on wordpress is really for just for polls, not quizzes, so the only way for you to know if you got the answer right is for me to tell you.  If I just type it, it will take the fun out of taking the quiz, cause you’ll see the answer below.  Instead, take the quiz first.  (Yes, right now, before you read another word.)  Okay, have you taken it? Seriously?

Alright, now for the answer….I’ll give you a hint…it’s not the first, second or third option… (Yep, that’s about a pound a week for those of you doing the math!)

Thanks for playing along!  (I don’t know about you, but I am really enjoying these “fun facts,” though I just realized that unlike the others, this one is not based on a gripe…..and it’s making me kinda hungry.)

7 Comments
by Newmexicotoitaly on December 13, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Food, Fun Facts
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Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on December 13, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/12/13/fun-fact-pasta-eating-quiz/

Fun Fact (interactive poll edition!)

Ciao Readers!

Today I am attempting something new – an interactive “fun fact”!   I have my own personal guestimates of the varying waits at the post office between the U.S. and Italy, but google as I might, I can’t find any hard evidence.  So, I thought I’d let you all participate in a poll and see what we find out (for those of you in neither the U.S. nor Italy, feel free to use an experience you had in one or the other, or both; for those that have lived in the other at some time, feel free to vote in both polls as well):

Thanks for taking part!  By the way, if you’re interested in the psychology of waiting in line, the New York Times published an interesting article, “Why Waiting in Line is Torture.”  (And, yes, if you’re wondering, I wrote this after returning from the post office!)

4 Comments
by Newmexicotoitaly on December 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Culture Shock, Fun Facts
Tagged , ,

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on December 6, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/12/06/fun-fact-interactive-poll-edition/

“Fun Facts” (an exciting new blog feature!)

Ciao Readers!

So, as you sit there reading my posts about festivals and museums and pizza, I am actually sitting here shivering from walking all day in the rain and cold.  But, since I have decided not to use my blog to gripe (well, not too much), I have come up with an amusing new mini-series – “Fun Facts.”  In this way I will take my woes and turn them into something fun and educational (which I will post between the usual longer, photo-filled posts).  For example:

Fun Fact:  Florence usually gets about 4.5 inches of rain in the month of November, which is about half of what Albuquerque, NM gets in an entire year (9).  Florence also averages 15 rainy days in the month of November (yes, that means HALF the days it rains!).  This November (2012), according to the weather channel, the West Side of Albuquerque (drier side, where we lived) got .05 inches of rain, while Florence was drenched by at least 5 inches.  If I am doing my math correctly, that means we got one hundred (100) times more rain here than our house in Albuquerque did.

Who knew?

8 Comments
by Newmexicotoitaly on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Culture Shock, Fun Facts
Tagged , , ,

Posted by Newmexicotoitaly on December 4, 2012

https://newmexicotoitaly.com/2012/12/04/fun-facts-a-new-and-exciting-blog-feature/

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