Someone is flying a plane from South America to Miami. They land in Oregon to ask directions. This is analogous to the situation I was in this afternoon. A young, yuppie couple pull up next to me in a two year old BMW. They have plates which indicate they are from south of here. We are at a red light and we have about thirty seconds before the light changes. There are about 15 miles and a half a…
My daughter has a peanut allergy, which means we have no peanut products in our house. I like eating peanut products, which means I do without a lot. This morning I was hungry. Not an “I could use a little something to snack on” hungry; more like an “all you can eat buffet, eat until you puke” hungry. Normally I would snack on a couple of saltines, but that would not do…
It is shaping up to be another drawn out, depressing presidential campaign. We are a little more than two years into the current president’s term, and Democratic candidates have been running since last year. I know it’s early yet, but it seems like none of them have anything interesting to contribute to the dialogue. Once again, it seems like the party is positioning itself as the…
Are we lazy? Do we take too much for granted? According to the Federal Election Commission, voter turnout prior to 1970 was over 60% in presidential elections and around 50% in mid-term congressional elections. Since 1970 that rate has fallen to around 50% in presidential elections and under 40% in mid-term congressional elections (percentages = turnout / voting age population). Now for an…
I’ve used this space to discuss the frustration of our computers going down at work. Today we suffered something worse: a network slowdown. When the network goes down, there’s just nothing to do, so you give up and amuse yourself some other way. When the network is merely slow it’s a whole new ball game. Now there is something to do, it just takes a maddening amount of time.
I went to the coolest wedding reception this past weekend. What better way to entertain your guests while you are taking pictures with the photographer than letting them wander around a museum? Yes, the reception was held at an art museum. I chatted up the folks until the grub was served, then gave the snack line a once over. Once the bride and groom arrived they put on the customary American…
One thing that makes it easier for me to stay home with Beth is that I can usually do some work at home. Let me tell you, working from home is kind of like mowing the lawn. It’s really cool when your father let’s you do it for the first time, and afterwards you wish you had never asked. My problem is that I’m a little too comfortable at home. When you were in school, where did…