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Shower thoughts: Travel tips, cryptocurrency and country music

Dec 1, 2017, 12:55 PM | Updated: Dec 4, 2017, 1:55 pm

I was in the shower today, and I realized we didn’t do Shower Thoughts on Wednesday. My bad. So let’s do this thing.

RELATED: Reflecting on my travels through Portugal

Anyone out there a jet lag expert? I’ve been back in Seattle for almost a week now after visiting Europe, and I’m still waking up at 3:30 a.m. That’s less than optimal.

Travel tips

A few more travel tips that I’ve been thinking about. First, you should probably wear a shirt while on a train. That tip goes out to the shirtless dude sleeping on the Eurorail. Second, if you’re going farther than five time zones in either direction, limit yourself to one backpack and some really good running shoes. It’s painful when you’re packing, but you’ll thank me later. You’re going to think, “Whatever Ron. I have a cool roller suitcase.” But listen to me: One backpack. Seriously.

The iPad might be the best travel boredom device ever invented. Books, movies, music and internet in a perfectly-sized device. Thanks Steve Jobs!

Battery revolution 

While we’re talking tech moguls, shoutout to Elon Musk. His battery company just turned on the world’s largest battery array in Australia today. It’s the size of three football fields and can power 30,000 homes.

If you are a tree hugger, this is a very big deal. I think we can safely say that big coal is definitely not making a comeback. He gets more press for the Tesla car company, but the battery and solar divisions might change the world.

Cryptocurrency

Our talk this week about Bitcoin caused me to do a deeper dive on cryptocurrency. It’s hard to find good information about it, so I’ll recommend the Tim Ferriss podcast with Nick Szabo. It’s a good place to start that’s not trying to sell you some scammy guide. Our lawyers would want me to tell you that this is not investment advice, but I don’t know of any other category that saw more than a 1000 percent increase in 2017. That’s crazy. It’s the wild west out there, but I find it very interesting.

The president

I think the President of the United States is showing many signs of mental illness.

Country music

And finally, if you’re a country music fan — and even if you’re not a country music fan — the new Chris Stapleton album is out today. In my opinion, he’s a once in a generation talent. He’s the full package — great guitarist, phenomenal song writer, and an unreal singing voice. So check that out.

It’s especially good on the waterproof speaker in the shower.

Have a good weekend. Go do something that scares you a little bit.

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Shower thoughts: Travel tips, cryptocurrency and country music