"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
It’s all stuff
Here’s an interesting article about supermarkets adopting “single line” policies. The idea is that customers, rather than lining up at individual cash registers, get in one long line instead; when customers reach the head of the line they go straight to whichever cash register is empty. Been there, done that. In the early 1980s the wife of General […]
Our Saturday morning bicycle ride gets earlier and earlier. In the winter we started at 9:00 AM. Today we started at 7:00 AM, but it was already 95 degrees by the time we finished, so next week we’re starting at 6:30 AM. I suppose by the time daily highs reach 110-115 degrees, we’ll be meeting […]
I drive a 1994 Ford pickup. It has two 18-gallon gas tanks, and with gas in Tucson at 2.85 cents per gallon (yes, I know it’s a lot more elsewhere in the States, never mind Europe, so spare me already), it takes more than a C-note to fill it up. There are a lot of […]
I use a portable satellite radio receiver to listen to the blues when I’m grilling on the patio. Last weekend the radio wouldn’t work – the antenna lead had been cut in half. I figured our yard guy must have accidentally severed it with a hoe. Since the lead’s coaxial, splicing and wrapping it with electrical tape wouldn’t work, so, for twenty […]
One tries to ignore pop culture, but it seeps through. Now Maine lobster and Chad have joined forces with the Ma Na Ma Na song to take over my brain. A seafood chain (Red Lobster, or is it Joe’s Crab Shack?) is advertising Maine lobster tail. Say what? What happened to the claws, antennae, head, body, and […]
My friends Darrell and Mary Anne took me on a garden train tour yesterday, an organized event where train nuts in and around Tucson put their outdoor G Gauge (G for garden, I guess) railroad setups on display. I visited three different homes; there were at least eight on the tour but I didn’t have time to […]
Woo-hoo, the Arizona no smoking proposition passed (the real one, not the one sponsored by R. J. Reynolds). I can hang around in bars again! As for the election in general, I, for one, welcome our new congressional overlords. Try not to screw up, okay? And while you’re at it, try not to screw us […]
When you ride over a nail on a motorcycle, the front tire flips it pointy-end up, perfectly positioned to penetrate the rear tire. I nailed a rear tire about a month ago, and a good friend loaned me a nearly-new tire to replace it. I hadn’t ridden more than 20 miles on the replacement tire when […]