Just a short note to say that if you're not reading Endtown you should be. I don't really ever recommend comics because they're such a subjective thing, but this one is worth reading. Plus it updates five times a week.

Also while I'm on the subject, Prequel Adventure is much better than it has any right to be.

I guess that's it.

    Two slaves circulated among them carrying trays of brandy. The English ladies refused. The Lord Chamberlain expressed his concern. Would they have preferred whisky; no doubt some could be produced? Or beer ( Read more... )

Selection from the book of the moment ( Read more... )

In honor of the old man's bicentennial, I'm giving all of you, out there in reader land, the finest short story I've ever read about Dickens. I enjoy it immensely, and I hope it may amuse some of you out there as well.

Then Man Liked Dickens, by Evelyn Waugh

Although Mr. McMaster had lived in Amazonas for nearly sixty years, no one except a few ( Read more... )

This is just a post for the sake of posting, because there's really nothing to say, just the general ephemera of being. But still I shall write, because it's something I need to do more of.

It's always good to visit Arizona. I'm fond of my family, and enjoy visiting with them. I cooked some delicious food, and marveled at the urban sprawl. I was ( Read more... )

I'm back in the land of my nativity for the Christmastide, as happens most years. This year it feels particularly indulgent though, as I was just out here in November for Thanksgiving (my parents were in country, and thought it would be just as easy to fly me here, as for them to fly to where I was ( Read more... )

I've been hiking over the past week. It's the first time I've been out for a multiple day hike since the late nineties, when I hiked into Island Lake in Wyoming, and spent several contented days fishing and taking day hikes from that point. It's something I've missed doing. Indeed, it made up such a large part of who I was for such a long time that ( Read more... )

Tonight I made coq au vin, and it was delicious. It's amazing how tender chicken can become when you cook it in a whole bottle of red wine, but it's the other bits that make the dish: browned pearl onions sauteed in butter, then baked with parsley and thyme; baby mudrooms stir-fried with green onions; bacon that you blanch, and then saute in butter ( Read more... )

I've been eyeing bicycles for awhile, on and off. Partly because Madison is very bicycle friendly, and partly because I'm cheap, and gas is expensive. I didn't want much. Just something that I could use to scoot around town and run errands on, to ride for pleasure, when the mood struck, and maybe, to make myself a little less soft in the middle. ( Read more... )

I feel a little dirty. I've started reading Forbes.

Well, one column in Forbes, anyway. It's pretty good. You should check it out, if it's your thing.

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/

I like the fact that he calls people out in the comments.