Blog Review: Meaghan to the Max

Photo courtesy of http://meaghantothemax.wordpress.com/

Imagine that you are drinking coffee in a café when you suddenly strike a conversation with an interesting stranger.  "My name is Meaghan and I work at Foreign Affairs Canada," the woman tells you, as you observe the numerous tattoos on her arm and just below her neck.  Intrigued by her intelligence,  you begin a conversation about authors, the best restaurants in Ottawa, and Meaghan's upcoming move to Jordan with her husband, where she will be posted at the Canadian embassy in Amman.

Welcome to the blog Meaghan to the Max by Meaghan King, who self-describes as a lover of making lists ("I probably think too much about the future"), an owner of a great Dane, and a person who enjoys, "scientific studies that support my level of coffee consumption."  Reading through her posts, Meaghan strikes me as someone with a great sense of humour and who is not shy about expressing her wit.  For instance, consider this review of the novel Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore:

This book is everything that Douglas Coupland isn’t, by which I mean it’s excellent and references technology and young people without making those young people sound vapid and incompetent. It’s also about books, and secret societies, and weird smart girls.

You should probably read it.

She can also poke fun at herself, while making no apologies for who she is. "The tattoos, of course, are cool for now, although I’ve been told by many an older person that I’ll regret them, so check back," she writes on her blog bio.

In terms of content, the posts are a random collection of Meaghan's interests. There are posts about her upcoming posting in Amman, in which she will also spend time in Baghdad, the rare recipe, her list of favourite food eateries in Ottawa, (I found myself nodding in agreement as I read through her choices), thoughts on a recent trip to Mexico, posts on books she's reading, and an answer to the question about how her work colleagues will react to her tattoos.

Given that The Ottawa Blogging Library is dedicated to bloggers from the National Capital Region, it's fair to ask if I will include this blog on the blogroll once Meaghan moves to Jordan.  The answer is obvious: Of course I will.  Given that I regularly follow a blogger who lives in Nunavut, I see no reason why we can't follow the adventures of an awesome Canadian diplomat from the Middle East.  Which is my unsubtle way of telling Meaghan that I hope she continues blogging from Jordan and Iraq.