I’m not a packrat, but I have an eye for memorabilia, socking away strange little keepsakes that would otherwise land in a dumpster. Examples include circuit boards from the PDP-11 system I managed in college, and the brass corporate mission plaque from MediQual, my first post-college employer.

Another such item is a poster-sized oil painting that ( Read more... )

If I were to choose the destination for a birthday trip, I probably wouldn’t choose Cleveland. However, that’s what Inna wanted. At least it’s easily accessible from home. Here’s a quick trip report.

( Read more... )

Do you remember eating Post Alpha-Bits cereal when you were a kid? I certainly do.

One thing I distinctly remember was taking a ‘D’ or an ‘M’ or a ‘P’ and nibbling the serifs off. Mind you, this was a good quarter-century before I learned what a serif was. I must have been a typographer prodigy!

( Read more... )

unicornpearlz asked: How the heck did you get so good at marketing?

I’d say there are probably three factors.

The first is just simple observation. Since no one can escape being ( Read more... )

Well, now I can officially say that I’m a paid photographer.

Today I received a check that covers the purchase of four photos and the contracted location photo shoot where three of the four were taken. The other photo was the one that originally caught the attention of the buyer when she saw it in my Flickr photostream.

My photographic journey ( Read more... )

Okay, you want to talk about eerie? I’ve got this brother who’s fifteen years older than me. He left home about the time I graduated from toddlertude, and he’s never lived closer than half a continent away. So we grew up almost completely independently.

Despite that, I find myself following in his footsteps in some ways: a quiet, introspective ( Read more... )

Some more recent pix, to amuse your captain.
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So it’s been a couple weeks since the 2006 Dargon Writers’ Summit, which this year took place in Cincinnati. What follows is a highly-hacked up version of the summary I posted to our discussion list.

Typically, I’d say this posting would only be of interest to me, but you ( Read more... )

I know it’s tedious to read about everyone’s end-of-year natterings, so I’ll keep mine brief.

Having just gone through a very difficult period, I’m naturally inclined to write 2005 off as just a series of very painful events. However, when I went to make a list of the good and the bad, I discovered a very ( Read more... )

Every so often you have to do the Friday Five. Or two, since there’s two of them going now…

thefridayfive:
What is the oldest object in the room with you? Probably an early Waltham 8-day deck watch / marine chronometer, in its ( Read more... )