"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Our vanishing money
Home again, winding down from the elevated level of tension that comes with staying alert while driving long distances and dealing with traffic. How much distance? About 2,500 miles. How much traffic? Be glad you don’t live or work in Los Angeles. Yes, we were there, and yes, it’s that bad. It’s that bad in […]
Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary recently wrote a column titled “Not All College Majors Are Created Equal.” You can click the link and read the whole thing, but if you’re in a hurry, the first few lines say it all: I have this game I play when I meet college students. “What’s your major?” I […]
We’re spending Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with our son and his family. We won’t hit the road until next Wednesday … which means we weren’t there yesterday for our grandson Quentin’s 9th birthday. Gregory and Beth hired an animal wrangler to entertain Quentin and his guests. What a great idea! There were snakes, snapping turtles, […]
What’s new? An Australian friend from Perth, traveling around the States on a two-month sojourn, dropped by to spend the weekend. Since John’s a fellow Hash House Harrier I took him hashing Saturday night. The hash started an hour late and trail took two and a half hours to finish, and of course we went […]
Just back from my Tuesday morning bicycle ride, a 12.5 mile loop through neighborhoods near my house. When I ride from home I take one of two routes, both mapped out so that I get 9-10 miles in before stopping at the coffee shop 2.5 miles south of here. I’m one of those people who […]
Just heard NPR Morning Edition correspondent Steve Inskeep cut Rep. Barney Frank off in mid-sentence (audio link here). Inskeep says (at 4:13 on the tape) “the biggest part of the federal budget is entitlements.” Frank says “No, wrong, I’m sorry, the defense budget is bigger than Medicare, and Social Security is in fact self-financing, and […]
Blog neglect again? By way of lame excuses, I’ve been busy with historical articles for my hashing blog and working on recipes for my cooking blog. Fat lot of good that does you, dear Paul’s Thing reader, right? I’ll try to make up for it with some random Friday observations. ——————– I may not drink […]
The scandal du jour is how the gathering of tabloid gossip has escalated from eavesdropping on insider chitchat to outright espionage. In Britain, reporters from Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World are accused of trying to get the dirt on royals, politicians, and sports stars by bribing bodyguards and household staff, hacking phone lines, and […]