These legislators are my heroes. The short version of the story is this: Republicans urged the Texas state legislature to redraw the Congressional districts in Texas in such a way that Democrats would loose 5 seats in Congress. Redistricting had just occurred 2 years ago, and is usually only done every 10 years when census […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
X2 – not worth squat. Sappier and cheesier than the first, fewer redeeming scenes. ‘Nough said. In case you have any influence, it’d be great if it didn’t rain for frisbee tomorrow. Thanks.
The new car is getting great mileage these days – I’ve gone well over 500 miles on the current tank of gas, with a couple gallons (80 miles!) left. It does make me happy…
I watched The Quiet American last night and quite liked it. Brendan Fraser is surprisingly well-cast, and Michael Caine is spot on. A little more subtle than, for example, Good Morning, Vietnam, this film hits home none-the-less the atrocities and sheer magnitude of war as well as the large influence a handful of people can […]
I went to Boston Billiards last night – my first foray into the bars/clubs of Boston since all workplaces went smoke free. Oh the delight of being able to breathe and smell (and hence taste my drink) in a bar! When does Somerville sign up?
Anna & Rif made some tasty dinner last night: spelt elbows (spelbows?), homemade pesto, mozzarella & tomato salad and to-die-for individual chocolate cakes. I left full and happy. Some more work on the coffee table is due this weekend, as is some frisbee. Also on the list of things to do is visit the Somerville […]
I took a frisbee full of change to the Coin$tar machine this morning. Wanna guess how much it was? Here’s some info: It was a regulation ultimate frisbee disc It was an equal mix of coins (quarters, dimes, nickels & pennies) A frisbee holds a lot! The frisbee was heaping with coins (can you have […]
It’s spring! At least, every other day is spring. The other half of the days are blustery, cold and rainy. I guess in Boston, that qualifies as spring. Using the info I got from AR2 robotics, I powered up some of the servo motors from the robot arm – they run great! There’s still lots […]
It’s a sad day. Nina Simone was quite an accomplished artist, and will be missed.
Check out pictures from this weekend’s frisbee escapade here. I also added some new pictures to the robot arm project page. I’m trying to figure out what parts of the old controller electronics I need to keep and what can be junked. Needless to say, I’m not gonna junk the sweet instrument panels. Those’ll make […]
I played with X-Mojo (yep, not Love Child) yesterday at the Nor’easterns 2003 ultimate tournament in Falmouth. We did well! Check out the results here (note: although they conveniently left out our score for the last game, it was close – 13-9). Look for a few pictures soon.
I put up some pictures from the Chicago trip – you can check ’em out here. It’s a great place, and I wish we’d had more time there.
Two good links: The Straight Dope – Cecil tackles such questions as “Is uranium added to false teeth to give them a natural glow?” and “How do I go about creating a zombie?”. But really, there are some good questions answered there. Sky Scrapers – All the info (and pictures) on sky scrapers you could […]
I’m back from a wonderful weekend in Chicago. I think the recorded voice on the CTA subway said it best when it said, “This is Grand.” Some highlights: the weather was beautiful the Doubletree Suites downtown was fantastic, as well as reasonably priced with the stay-free-Sunday-night deal I’d highly recommend the architectural tour by boat […]
Inspired by AWAD, here’s a clerihew for ‘W’: President G. W. Bush has cronies and a life quite cush. Deep in the jungle we glimpse W at home with the chimps.
Someone left a magazine lying around the office this morning, something like Harley World or Harley Davidson Fan Club Magazine or Motorcycle Rider by Day, Organ Donor by Night Weekly. There was an advertisement in the back for this company. Yikes! As you might have guessed, I’m pretty anti-motorcycle – basically I think you’re asking […]
In the past few days, something “clicked” (not literally, thankfully) in my car, and the mileage has really improved. The average has been steadily increasing, and this morning appeared to be around 50 MPG on the highway. Sweet!
I added some pictures of the new car and a few links to the car page. I still find myself thrilled with the car, which I’ve dubbed ‘Bridget (hy-brid => ‘brid => ‘Bridget), and I’m also getting much better quickly at driving a manual shift car. My mileage is around 40 miles per gallon, and […]
I picked up my new car last night! I put up just a few of my initial impressions here – I’ll post some pictures and more information soon. So far, 40 MPG and improving!
Even The Onion is against this war. It’s a rare thing that the Pope, the Dixie Chicks and the Onion are all on the same side about a particular issue – Bush should take this (among tons of other things) as a sign he might not be right.
I get my new car today! I can’t wait! Only seven and a half more hours to go…
Bingos from Scrabble last night: PrINTER LOoPING SHADiER PLANERS I started a page on the site for my new car yesterday, though the car doesn’t arrive ’til Thursday. Check it out here.
I did some more car shopping this weekend, and have some more advice as follows: These guys (Herb Chambers, Boston) are not the people from whom you want to buy your car. Trust me, not them. In stark contrast, these folks (Honda Cars of Boston) have been nothing but nice, honest and upfront in their […]
Perhaps I’m preaching to the choir, but this war stuff gets me so riled up… How is it possible for politicians to sleep at night when they pull crap like this (especially after taking money from certain parties involved)? It’s truly pitiful that this man can only think about what kind of cell phone service […]
Bingos from tonight’s games at the Scrabble club (lower-case letters mean I used a blank): CHANNELS RELATION DAILIeS STIFLER I went 1-2 again – one game I had sucky letters, one I should have lost, the last I did win. Good times…
CD Collins was on my friend Rif’s radio show last night – she’s a hoot! Listen at her website or check her out in person sometime, ’cause it’s great entertainment.
I had a very strange attempted car-buying experience last night: After test driving the Civic Hybrid, I sat down with the salesman to start working out a deal. After he told me the sticker price, I said, “I’m not interested in paying that much for the car.” So he asked what I wanted to pay. […]
After a week’s delay, there are some great pictures from the Pi(e) Party here. Especially impressive was the chocolate cake Anna & Danielle made. See?
Is this real? I hope not. I fared quite a bit worse at this month’s Scrabble tournament, but still had a good time. Between bad letters and a bad day, I went 1-4 with a pretty bad point spread. There’s always next month…
Bingos (words using all seven letters) I played at the Scrabble club tonight: GROANED FAiREST AERiEST ANGERING I missed RITARDS – plural of the musical denotation ritard – but it’s not clear I had a place to play it. I had fun, winning one game and losing two. By the way, we’re at war! I’m […]
In the mall at lunchtime, I heard some of the worst muzak ever: Madonna. I’ve got nothing against Madonna. Heck, I’ve even been known belt my poor falsetto along with ‘Like A Prayer’. However, Muzak versions of ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ proved bad enough to send me from the mall like […]
Well, there was no singing at the Pi party on Saturday, but there was lots of pie and some amazing other desserts. Look for pictures soon, but not too soon, as I left my digital camera in New York on Sunday night. I’ll have it back this weekend… Happy Purim! Someone (the Purim Fairy?) left […]
Happy Pi Day! Also today (technically sometime around 8 PM), I am one quarter century old. It’s nice to know that rental car companies can no longer gouge me for being young, instead they can only gouge me for returning cars without gas, etc. Some festivities are in order, so I’m having a small dinner […]
Bob Levey, a columnist for the Washington Post, hosted an online interview/discussion with John Williams, director of the National Scrabble Association. Check it out here.
I added some more links to the diversions page. Enjoy. Can you believe this crap? Leaders of our country, my ass…
It’s not like I live under a rock, but I just found out this morning that amount you’re allowed to contribute to your IRA has been increased to $3000 from $2000. Sign me up! I’ve been playing some correspondance Scrabble lately. If you want real-time play, go to the ISC.
I’ve gotten some great feedback on the piano bench – great as in positive, but also great as in helpful. A few folks mentioned that if, indeed, the bench is flipped over, the surface that gets put on the floor will most likely get scratched up without protection of some sort. Also, the open shelves […]
I put up some pictures of a plan for a piano bench I designed for Rif. Check it out here.
My hankerin’ for bi bim bab has been addressed. Thanks to all of you who wrote in concerned. I had this great experience the other night after watching Say Anything (a great film, by the way). All through the movie, I kept having this feeling that I knew someone who spoke (with a cute lisp) […]
Some great buzzwords & phrases heard in an executive speech: the word repurpose the word mythologize (which is real, but not really used) the phrase take-away used as a noun (e.g. “The take-away of this meeting is…”) the if I got hit by a bus today story about spreading information the phrase inflection point (which […]
I actually wrote in an email this morning “I’ve got a hankerin’ for bi bim bab.” How you do think the Koreans or the cowboys feel about that? I feel like I’m back in my elementary school cafeteria, but instead of mystery meat for lunch, I’ve got a mystery meeting this morning.
It looks like I’ll be going to Chicago in a month or so. I want to take one of the architectural boat tours (architecture of the city by boat, rather than the architecture of boats, which might also be interesting). Any idea if they’ll be running yet (or worth doing) in mid-April? I went climbing […]
I finally found a new route home from the gym that avoids the dreaded Route 3 entirely. Woohoo! In other news, I test-drove a hybrid Civic last night. All in all, it’s quite nice. It drives a lot like a normal car, and the acceleration is decent considering it’s such a small gas engine. One […]
For finishing the coffee table I’m building (look for pictures soon), I bought an electric sander. We use them extensively at work, and the Porter-Cable’s seem to hold up under near-constant use. I’ll let you know how things go. Thanks to mom & dad for another great birthday gift. The Enormous Room was fun & […]
Off to dinner at the Enormous Room tonight (caution: bizarre website ahead) for Jo’s birthday. They’ve got a tasty vegetarian platter and a funky atmosphere. Check it out sometime. It’s sad that the lists section at McSweeney’s doesn’t get updated much anymore. Why is that?
Well, I played in the Scrabble tournament on Saturday in Somerville – you can see some pictures and (not many) results here. Though it doesn’t say it, I played in Division C and went 4-1 (same as the winner of the division, but my point spread was smaller). I came in second, and won $12 […]
I got around to putting up some pictures from my recent Seattle trip – check ’em out here.
I went last night to a meeting of the Lexington Area Scrabble Club. They were quite hospitable, and I had a good time. Some differences between their competitive games and a living room game include: Only two people play at once. Use of a chess clock to impose a time limit on games to 50 […]
Last weekend, I saw the original Lolita at a great art-house theater in Seattle called the Grand Illusion. What an amazing movie! Just as gripping and intense as the book with some incredible acting and cinemetography. Kubrick & Nabakov were geniuses, and if you haven’t seen this movie, you should.
My bag finally returned itself to me (I truly believe American Airlines had little to do with it), and all is right in the world. Well, except for the whole war thing, which stinks of something (or someone) rotten. While in the Seattle, I revisited a great woodworking store. You can see them on the […]
I’m back from Seattle, in spite of the snow. I was kind of hoping to get stuck out there for another day or two, but it was nice to sleep in my own bed, too. Unfortunately, though I made it home, my bag did not. It’s probably happily traipsing across the country, having all kinds […]
Seattle’s great – it’s practically spring here! The cherry trees are in bloom, and everything is so green. It’s sunny, 60° and beautiful. How’s Boston these days?
I received some more questions from enterprising drivers on Route 3 – apparently I didn’t cover all the bases last week. 1. Is it okay to fling many lit cigarette butts from my car? Absolutely. We encourage you to make the drive interesting for others, and giving them a “light show” of the butt hitting […]
Do you think eating mall food court Chinese restaurant orange chicken has the same vitamin C content as some orange juice? According to this recipe, the orange (zest) is optional anyway. There goes that plan to stay healthy…
I’m off to Seattle this weekend. And I can’t wait. Is it Saturday yet? Are you sure?
A midday-Monday Catch-22 for you: I drive my brother’s car to work. He doesn’t use it during the week, so I pay him for the mileage, commute to work, and then return it on the weekends. According to Somerville (where I live), I have to register a car in Somerville to park it there. According […]
Cheers to Simone for putting me on to this: Laura Bush recently postponed a poetry event at the White House because “some invited guests wanted to turn what is intended to be a literary event into a political forum.” As if literature and politics are independent entities?! One of the poets to be celebrated at […]
I spent some time on the road last night, and, being the thoughtful citizen I am, decided to create a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) regarding the stretch of Route 3 between Lowell and Route 95. Without further ado: 1. Do I have to obey the speed limit? Heavens no! In fact, we suggest […]
I posted some pictures from our cross-country skiing outing the other night – you can find them here. I also put up some of the sketches I’ve done as part of my life drawing class at the CCAE. A brief word to note that the models were nude when I drew them, hence the sketches […]
Yesterday I bore witness to one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen: a clerk at the supermarket actually asked someone to leave the “12 items or fewer” lane because they had more than 12 items. I shed a single tear.
What’s with the pet names? I’ve had a few incidents recently, and am starting to wonder if there’s something about my voice or appearance that warrants the pet name calling. In dealing with one of our electronics suppliers in New Jersey, my now good friend Mort called me both “Daveluh” (said in the finest NY/NJ […]
I went shopping tonight at REI in Reading and got all outfitted for a cross-country ski trip in Weston. Among other things, I bought a good fleece and a shell to keep the wind out. My mom and grandmother would be proud, as I made out like a bandit on the shell – marked down […]
If you like Alexander Calder, check out his website, which has plenty of pictures and info to keep you occupied while you surf at work. You’re surfing at work, aren’t you. I knew it.
I posted some pictures from the frisbee tournament this weekend. Check ’em out here.
Oh yeah, it’s gonna be a piratical Superbowl Sunday. Can you believe there was a time in my life (not too long ago) when I thought “piratical” wasn’t a real word? Pitiful.
High temperature in Florida today? 72°. High temperature in Boston today? 18°. Yikes! The weekend was fun, though the tournament wasn’t the best. The organizers seem not to hold co-ed frisbee in as high a regard as they do men’s play, and we were relegated to some pretty crappy fields for most of the weekend. […]
Off to Tampa, FL again for the annual Janus frisbee tournament. Last year was a blast, and this year promises to be fun, too. The temperature’s only supposed to be in the sixties down there, but compared to single digit temperatures in Boston, I won’t complain.
I posted some pictures of the Harvard Bridge and a red-tailed hawk I saw a few weeks ago here. Hope ya like ’em. I also moved the pictures from First Night here – sorry for the switch.
I’m starting a drawing class at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education tonight entitled Creative Anatomy. I’m excited.
I went skiing up at Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire this weekend, and had a blast. The snow was the best I’d ever seen on the east coast, and the mountain was pretty empty. Absolutely couldn’t have been better. In the course of the morning, I went to riding the lift up with my roommate. […]
As one parting gift, my old boss & colleagues bought me a copy of The Illustrated Sourcebook of Mechanical Components, a 1000 plus page behemoth of a book detailing all kinds of mechanical goodies. Hmm, I now have a desire to go build things with lots of gears, springs, cams, etc. Go figure. Home Depot, […]
My search for employment has ended happily, and it looks like I’ll be starting a new job on Monday. This round of retirement wasn’t sitting as well with me as the last (which lasted five months and included a trip to Paris), and the work appears pretty interesting, so overall I’m quite excited about things. […]
I asked at the Star Market in Porter Square in Cambridge yesterday for some anchovy paste, and they looked at me as if I had walked into their market without pants or had grown horns (or both). Now I understand that not everyone uses anchovy paste, but it’s not that foreign a concept, and for […]
I posted some pictures from my dino-tastic New Year’s Eve – check ’em out here. My apologies for the water drops in some of the photos – it was so misty that the flash reflected off the droplets and clouded the pictures. I also put up a page (resurrected from the old site) about the […]
I was part of the First Night procession/parade last night as a member of the Dino Man team. We manhandled a few inflated dinosaurs through the streets of Boston, wreaking havoc left and right (okay, only the really little kids were scared). Gil’s New Year’s party was a blast, and I’m thankful not many pictures […]
I spent some time earlier this week in Arlington, VA visiting my folks. It was my first time back to DC in about two years, though I see my parents quite frequently in New York and elsewhere. On my way home, I had some time to kill at the train station, so I took these […]
I’m an action hero! Okay, not quite, but I did have an action hero moment last night. I was trying to head out to Lowell to meet Simone & Danielle for our regular Thursday night climbing, but the ever-so-slow Green Line wasn’t helping me at all. It took almost twenty minutes to go 8 stops, […]
The duck-speriment was a great success. This recipe worked wonders, and our Super 88 duck was delish. Why a duck in the first place? Read on… My grandmother – my mom’s mom – used to make us duck when we’d visit. She’d take me shopping with her to buy the birds, and always observed the […]
Katja posted some more pictures from Get HoHoHo – check ’em out here. I ended up needing to buy a duck (dead, not alive) yesterday – it turns out it’s not that easy to find a duck in Boston. Plenty of places (even Star Market) had frozen, sorry looking ducks, but I wanted something a […]
I’m going out tonight to the Milky Way Lounge to see The Either/Orchestra. Check ’em out if you’re in the city. It’s project weekend chez moi, so I’ll be working out in the garage on some holiday gifts and my coffee table. Stop by if you wanna help or just visit.
I’m job searchin’ these days, so if you know anyone looking for a mechanical engineer or product designer, send ’em my way, or just send them my resume.
I played yesterday at Get Ho Ho Ho with a great team (created for this tournament) called Bowl Full of Jelly. We played five games, the first of which in five inches of snow, the last of which in five inches of cold mud and had an absolute blast. Though we were seeded last we […]
It’s still snowing. That wasn’t supposed to happen at all – I’m playing frisbee tomorrow! Outside! I put up some pictures of a project Rif & I finished almost a year ago. Check out his plexiglass shelves. My brother, Dad and I spent some time last night investigating the feasability of recreating a device my […]
It’s snowing here, and I’d rather be frolicking outside than working indoors. Check out the interview with Junior Mance on Yehoodi. He’s an amazing piano player, and an interesting character with plenty to say about jazz, blues and even dancing.
Well, the interim solution to my Kinko’s woes is to put something on the web. So here’s my portfolio (note that it’s probably not what most people consider a portfolio – rather it’s a piece to spark discussion on work I’ve done to date). Just imagine it’s printed up on nice, glossy paper in a […]
There used to be a big department store in Cambridge called Lechmere (now there’s just a T stop). They were known around MIT for their lax return policy – they’d take anything back in any condition, up to 30 days later. The students took to using the word as a verb. To “lechmere” something was […]
I added some new pictures to the Art page and the Machining page. The only piece that’s actually new is the trivet; the others I finished some time ago and just neglected to post. Check ’em out. As anticipated, the move in the snow last week was unpleasant, but everything seemed to go as well […]
I took some nice pictures of the snow this morning – check ’em out here. It’s still snowing. And my company’s moving today. In the snow. Without movers. Ugh. I saw several amusing things on my walk from Harvard Square to Porter last night, including: A sign that read: “No parking. Violators will be towed […]
This weekend I bought some funky new shoes. (note that the color is more of an oxblood rather than brown). Color me excited! Craft Day was quite a success, with candy making, painting, soldering & metalwork abounding. I finally took some pictures, so check back soon.
I got this email from a friend of mine. It’s sadly not a useful way to protest terrorism/bad foreign policy in the Middle East, but there are some easy ways that you can change things instead: Buy less gas. Duh. Try not to drive everywhere. Sell your car if you can, drive it less if […]
I made a sweet potato pie last night for a dinner party, and everyone I talked to about it mentioned how it was just like pumpkin pie. I know they’re both orange & squishy, but they’re really quite different in my mind – pumpkin pie’s associated with New England and Thanksgiving, etc. and sweet potato […]
I updated the Projects page with a new project: the Homemade Yarn Swift. Ta-da! In other news, I’ve spent about a day working on my home computer (an iMac). Figuring I should be at least close to up-to-date, I installed Mac OS X. This was not, however, a trivial undertaking. In moving from version 9.0 […]
I went out this morning (at 4 AM!) to watch the Leonid meteor shower; ’twas fun, but it paled in comparison to last year’s show, which was simply spectacular. Even though the gathering was organized by astronomers (from Harvard), there were plenty of inconsiderate people shining their flashlights and car headlights at the people watching […]
I put up some more pictures on the Robot Arm page. I’ve also managed to extract one of the motors and have taken it to the testing lab (a.k.a. my office at work) for analysis – some of the E.E.’s at work have been helping me out, and it looks pretty straightforward to get this […]
I watched Bowling for Columbine last night, a great film by Michael Moore. Though sometimes lacking subtlety, the film hits home with some startling statistics and candid interviews. Check out the one at the end of the film with Charlton Heston, NRA spokesperson extraordinaire – truly shameful. I’m signed up to play at Get HoHoHo! […]
I put up some pictures from Amanda’s Celebrity Impersonation party (which doubled as Ben & Danielle’s birthday party) – it was good fun. I also added a new project to the projects page: a crepe spreader I recently made. Enjoy. I ended up (after a visit to the yogurt factory) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It’s […]
Surprisingly, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at work lately, as we had a big project to finish up today. It all got done, and now I’m surfing the web all day. Any suggestions for time-wasters? I finished Seabiscuit a few days ago – what a great book! It’s a very engaging, well-told […]