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Suspicious Activity. I brought a book to work with me the other day, called Ancient Tales in Modern Japan, selected and translated by Fanny Hagin Mayer. Sure enough, as I sat down to read it in the cafeteria during lunch, one of the security guys stopped by to ask me what I was reading and […]

Blah. Our house is full of sniffly people. Good thing the selfish urge to whine is counterbalanced by the urge to take care of people, or this might be a pretty grim household right now. “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a

Untitled Haiku. After that last postI should try writing somethingDeep. Yeah, whatever.

O Happy Stuff! The life of a fledgling freelance writer is often, surprisingly, dull and tedious. I try to stay away from that aspect of things, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Oh, you’re doing something you love, but it can lack that spark that purely creative writing possesses. Then come the days when you

Happy Father’s Day! In a nice bit of synchronicity, Paul McCartney turns sixty-four today, on Father’s Day. One story is that he wrote “When I’m Sixty-Four” for his own father. Lee will be sixty-four in…2030. Quotes: Two little girls, on their way home from Sunday school, were solemnly discussing the lesson. “Do you believe there

Meter Runs Backward. Short Popular Science article on a guy who puts power into the grid. I so want to do this… Update: And this is cool, too. A related article about using cellulosic ethanol, a type of ethanol produced when the cellulose in plants (wood chips, corn cobs) is processed by termites into sugars

Oz. I watched The Wizard of Oz with Ray last night. Here are the two points where she expressed the most dismay: –The professor took off in the balloon without Dorothy.–Dorothy wakes up in her own bed, and the shoes are gone. In fact, I think the movie may have to be rechristened “The Sparkly

Well, Now I Know. Many a day at my old job I thought to myself, “What would it be like if people actually did what they were supposed to do?” Now I know. It’s called “Government Beaurocracy.” My first week of work closely resembled a week spent at the DMV, filling out paperwork, waiting in

Baby update. I told Ray that Erica’s going to have a baby. “I know,” she said. “A girl baby.” “They don’t know yet,” I told her. “We just have to wait to find out.” “It’s a girl baby. But I will wait and find out,” she said. As if she wouldn’t be tickled pink either

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. theomania (thee-o-MAY-nee-uh, -MAIN-yuh) noun The belief that one is God or specially chosen by God on a mission. [From Greek theos (god) + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze).] (via A.Word.A.Day.) Jake: First you traded the Cadillac in for a microphone. Then you lied to me about the band. And now you’re gonna put me