What was more, I also found my tastes had changed: After tasting new spices and flavors abroad, the food at home often seemed bland.

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But strangely, when they started in on their presentation, zipping in and out of the various gestures that are really required to operate Surface and Windows 8, I found myself more than a bit bewildered at how much had changed and how much users were being asked to learn.

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In the weeks that followed, I changed my Facebook settings multiple times to block the status updates, but they somehow found a way to keep coming.

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