An update from outside the box

I realize that starting a business is technically NOT considered operating outside the box.  Probably more like creating another box, really.  My box is going to have to fit somewhere inside of or at least next to other boxes already in existence.
But I’ve never had a box before.  I feel like a toddler who, upon [...]

Pursuing happiness

Like with a harpoon.  Or a high-powered rifle.
It is a basic American right but we misread it with alarming regularity.  We translate “pursuit” as “sit on the couch and wait for it to be advertised.”
I was raised by great parents, don’t get me wrong, but ambition and go-getting were never part of my lesson plan. [...]

Vaccine hysteria

I’ve been following the controversy over immunizations for many years, and the only thing I have become 100% convinced of is, if you want to find people who are passionately, violently, even rabidly on one side of a fence or the other, start talking about vaccines.
Of all the issues which it seems we should be [...]

This is where I’m from

The land of the treesitters.
Good ol’ Cali-forn-eye-ay.
The land where we stand up for, or sit down for, what we believe in, even if it means living among the ticks and going showerless for a month.
Of course, normal folks can’t afford to live there, but damn it, there will be trees, and old ones too!  Miles [...]

Self-awareness

It never ceases to amaze me that at such a young age, we are aware that people are looking at us and that they think we are awesome.
Eventually it starts to mess with us, because when we go out into the world, we can’t be sure that people think we’re all that great.  Maybe we [...]

Lowering the drinking age

This topic from CNN news is one I’ve long debated over: should we lower the drinking age?  
On one side of the debate, the testimony from countries who allow kids to have a glass of wine with dinner, and they tend not to go nuts and die from binge drinking when they are suddenly let loose [...]

Dixie

We found Dixie.  Here she is with some of the people she will be ferrying.  
In a way it feels like I am moving in the opposite direction as the rest of the world.  I was a carless cyclist back before anyone gave a serious thought to global warming.  Then the public concern began, and I [...]

Tragic End to a New Life

I read a story online at CNN this morning about a baby who died from being shaken.  Normally I try to avoid these tragic tales because I empathize so deeply that it colors my whole day a dark depressing shade of gloomy.
But in this case I feel the need to give testimony from my own [...]

Police brutality?

There is an article in the paper about a recent Taser incident that ended with the suspect in intensive care.  Some claim it is the result of racism, and while I acknowledge that there are unfortunately still problems such as profiling, I cannot help but feel for the law enforcement officers.  When they are faced with situations [...]

Translation: The Ultimate Word Puzzle

I’ve started a new project that I’m liable never to finish, similar to most of the brilliant ideas I get.  I recently finished reading a book called “L’Oiseau de France” by Jean Jaussein, and I’ve now set about to translate it.  It is set in WWII and tells the story of a French soldier held [...]

A New Spin on Cannibalism

My whole life I have had a fairly common neurosis: chewing my fingernails.  Except that mine goes beyond the nail to include the skin at the side of the nail and a fair way down the finger, especially on my thumbs.
Euw.
Periodically I go into remission.  Up until just recently I had managed to keep nice [...]

Yummy!

Here is how the bread turned out.  We haven’t quality controlled it yet, I figure we will wait and eat it with the roast and veggies tonight.
See, I really am nutty enough to celebrate my lucky number!
When I told the kids I was making “8 bread” they all thought I said “ape bread” and proceeded [...]

The day of 8’s

Happy 8 Day to everyone!
In case you hadn’t read my previous post on the subject, today is the day of 8’s, which is special to me because when I was little I found 8 four-leaf clovers in my yard, and from that day on my lucky number has been 8.
I think I will make some [...]

Think Big

Occasionally my fantasies include teaching a high school English course.  (Is there any greater admission of nerdhood?)
I imagine how I would present the all-important lessons designed to develop a rich vocabulary, vital not only because an enhancement of one’s lexicon is generally recognized as a key to increasing intelligence, but also because I totally dig [...]

Success

Instead of believing that publication is the prerequisite of success, I now consider the act of submitting my work for publication as the indicator of accomplishment.  And I find that I have succeeded yet again!  :)
Thanks to the inspiration of Kweenmama, Joy and Kimmelin, I have finally composed and sent out the manuscript for a [...]

Insuring against reality

Ads for insurance assail us ceaselessly.  We discuss and debate the best companies, rates, deductibles.  We maneuver the labyrinth of policies and hope to emerge in a perfectly safe place where our lives are protected from any conceivable disaster.
But it’s the nature of insurance that gets me.  Doesn’t an insurance policy essentially reflect that the [...]

Will the REAL me please stand up?

I think we have all experienced a change of personality depending on where we are and who we are with.  I’m not the same potty-mouthed moron in front of my kids as I might be with friends after we’ve had a few.
But are all these situational personalities me?  Is there just one that’s “real?”  Are [...]