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What I do when I'm bored
I downloaded Windows 7 a few weeks ago and installed it over spring break. Aside from the somewhat noticeable improvement in speed over Vista and visual tweaks, Windows 7 offers many subtle improvements that I don't really notice. One such superficial change they made is the optional automatic shuffling of your wallpaper directory. So instead of ( Read more... ) -
Tomorrow I get a day off. God bless you, Cesar Chavez!
I get into a semi-conscious trance when I watch a movie, read a book or a really lengthy article, a difficult problem. Okay, maybe when I lose myself into anything immersive. Time slows and bends as the narrative dictates, and when I get out of it, my head feels light, my knees a little weak, my extremities numb. Is this love (or anemia)?
I half ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
I never read John Updike, and maybe I should, since he's one of those towering, modern literary figures whom everyone respects. Listening to A Prairie Home Companion tonight, Garrison Keillor described Updike as a spiritual descendant of people such as Dickens, whose body of work is so immense that you'll never finish it, and if you do, you'll want ( Read more... ) -
Another link to JFK
Some of you probably know that my first name comes from JFK's middle name. I don't really know why I wasn't named John, or for someone more literary, since people usually assume I'm named after F. Scott Fitzgerald (still not a first name). I don't think my parents were familiar with his work back in Vietnam. Anyway, Fitzgerald stuck and I'm fine ( Read more... ) -
Tried and true
I'm not sure if "intelligent" humor is as reliable as slapstick for a good belly-laugh, but what matters is that I'm laughing inside, right? This was in Fierce Pajamas, a collection of humor pieces from The New Yorker. There are other really cerebral corkers, like "Ainmosni," by Roger Angell, written largely in palindrome, and one that imagines ( Read more... ) -
Mr. Rogers
Once upon a time, a little boy with a big sword went into battle against Mister Rogers.
Or maybe, if the truth be told, Mister Rogers went into battle against a little boy with a big sword, for Mister Rogers didn’t like the big sword. It was one of those swords that really isn’t a sword at all; it was a big plastic contraption with lights and sound ( Read more... )
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