Upswing

A rare and welcome day off in which Simon got his weekly dog-park trip. We met brother-Doug and Katy there. Their new pup, Tucker, as handsome as he is big, saw Simon from across the park and ran to him. At five months old, he is now bigger than Simon who is about 56 pounds. [...]

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It wasn’t that Madonna was just awful yesterday, though she was. It wasn’t just that she lip-synched her songs, which she did. Poorly. It wasn’t just that her dance moves were more a kind of sclerotic senior citizen’s attempt to be hip, without breaking one. Those things could essentially be excused, or at least laughed [...]

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The Santa Ana winds always put me in a funk and today was no different. Last year was a gloriously rainy and cold year, but this year is more typically dry, windy and warmer. Not happy. Want to move to Idaho–or something like that. It’s a singular thing these days that I seem to be [...]

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Long and languid weekend with plenty of family time. Simon got a run at the T.O. dog park and he was grateful for the chance to chase the birds above the grass while Santa Ana winds blew strong to the west and kicked up dust in our eyes. Friday was what is known as “semester-break” [...]

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I remember Ian, a student of mine in 2000 and 2001, who came back from Iraq and Afghanistan where he was with the U.S. Army. He was in the 82nd Airborne when they went into Baghdad and the 101st Airborne when they went into the mountains to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He came back [...]

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Yes, Newt Gingrich won South Carolina. The news isn’t that–it’s that people thought he wouldn’t. All kinds of fun news this week, I suppose. Or not so fun, when you think about it. It’s just that for the first time in a long time, I’m not paying that much attention to it. The epiphany I [...]

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Rarely do I get activist, but this story is big and I’m thrilled. Rubio and others are backing away from support. From the BBC-key graphs: The list of senators no longer backing Pipa includes Mr Rubio and Mr Blunt, and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, all Republicans, as well as Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland. In [...]

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Well, it’s not mono that Sue has. We’re glad. But, of course, there’s the next question. What is it? Symptoms persist-but blood work has proven normal and fairly good, but issues persist. It’s a little scary, but again, there’s faith here and we’ll cling to that. Sue says she’s just frustrated that she doesn’t know [...]

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Regrets are a most human thing. Some are healthy. It’s good to regret the way you treated someone when you were in a temper. It’s also good to regret bad choices you made which, when faced with similar situations in the future, you’ll change. But, buyer’s remorse, particularly on big-ticket items, is almost universally destructive. [...]

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My favorite band, Rush-has a song called “Faithless.” I don’t have faith in faith I don’t believe in belief You can call me faithless I just can’t get behind it. My friend Jarvis, a Lutheran Pastor and professor of Theology, who is dealing with serious health issues–says he attributes atheism to a conscience rejection of [...]

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