Music
I was up early both days this weekend to weed the backyard before the sun cleared the neighbor's trees (9am, more or less). Too hot this weekend to weed in the sun. I time my weeding by using the Steely Dan albums on my iPod. A short weeding
Life
When I was in 1st and 2nd grade, I would look at the kids who had allergies—struggling to breathe, wrestling with their inhalers—and think, "I'm so glad I don't have allergies." It seemed like the most miserable fate in the world. Somewhere
Yardwork
Pulled ivy that has sat in 100-degree heat for a couple of days smells like tea.
Life
There seems to be a hierarchy in the computer world, with the elite programmers as the superstars and the help desk and documentation folks as the untouchables. The principle seems to be that those who can make the machines do their will are those most worthy of our applause. In
LIS + DataSci
On July 20, I renewed my membership in the American Library Association online, and had that renewal confirmed by e-mail. On August 11, I got a letter and a renewal form from the ALA, urging me to renew my membership soon. The letter asks me to "renew online…
Food
For the first time since moving to Portland, I ate at McDonald's, today for lunch. (When I lived in Houston, I would go to the McDonald's at Westheimer and Commonwealth about once a year for what you could call anthropological purposes.) The Southern Style Chicken Sandwich
A few days ago, I wrote about how difficult it can be to learn about cultures that are unconnected to one's own; how we lack a context in which to understand what we are trying to learn. Part of my difficulty in this kind of learning is that
Life
One positive to riding home this evening on a packed, slow-moving TriMet bus in 102-degree heat while wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt: When I got home, weeding the shaded side yard in 90-to-95-degree heat for an hour and a half seemed like a
Books
In the post immediately below, I note how good British commentaries on the United States can be. One example: Henry Fairlie was a British journalist who worked in the United States from the mid-1960s until his death in 1990. If you like American political history and ever have the
I regret the lack of histories of the United States available in English by writers from non-Anglophone countries. Someone from another culture who approaches the subject using a different set of assumptions can provide insights that a native would never reach on his own. British commentaries can be bracing
Music
While I'm on the subject of mishearing things (see post below)... Nina Simone's Little Girl Blue album has been slowly growing on me, and you should give it a try yourself. However, her enunciation on "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands&
Portland
One of the entertaining side effects of getting older is that I sometimes mishear things in amusing ways. I could swear that I heard someone say "strange is in the air" (as opposed to the usual "change is in the air"). What a lovely slogan for