Monthly Archives: October 2004

Return of the Signs

October 30, 2004
Our neighbors refuse to give up, even after seven of their signs have been stolen. I wrote about these Kerry supporters a couple weeks ago when all they had remaining on their yard was a single homemade sign decrying the thefts. Now they have five or six signs of various sizes, as well as a few flags and a “support our troops” poster in the front window…
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Douglas Day

October 29, 2004
Scanning through the New York Times Books section, I came across an article about the death of one of my grad school professors, Douglas Day…
Posted in miscellany | 6 Comments

CoffCo

October 25, 2004
A couple people at work tipped me off to a new product that CostCo is selling through its web site: caskets. Priced from $924.99 to $4,699.99, these caskets come in a variety of styles. The names are a little disconcerting…
Posted in miscellany | 4 Comments

Verbal Energy

October 24, 2004
While the Word Spy site is great in theory, there hasn’t been a new word posted to it since I integrated the RSS feed into the englishrules.com Writing Resources page a few months ago. So, I’m stripping it from the page to make way for my new favorite grammar blog, Verbal Energy, which appears as a column in the Christian Science Monitor, written by Ruth Walker. Now, whenever a new article from Verbal Energy is posted, its title will automatically appear in the right-hand column of my Writing Resources page… According to the Christian Science Monitor’s web site, Verbal Energy is a “blog about words and grammar from the Monitor’s copy editor extraordinaire.” It’s fun and witty and perceptive. So visit it, bookmark it, and read it with glee. Here is an excerpt from one of her recent articles…
Posted in language | 4 Comments

Republican Turncoats

October 23, 2004
Why are so many conservative Republicans feeling disenchanted with the current Bush administration? Why are some so frustrated that they’re planning to abandon their party in the upcoming election? Read what they themselves have to say…
Posted in society | 8 Comments

God, Religion, and Presidential Politics

October 22, 2004
Never mind what we’re told about avoiding religion and politics at the dinner table; we’ve been getting plenty of both from the press these past few weeks, often in the same article…
Posted in society | 4 Comments

Fall Colors

October 20, 2004
Grand Rapids can be really gorgeous this time of year, with an eyeful of yellows and oranges and reds wherever you look. It’s hard not to take pictures these days. Maybe in a way I’m trying to store up some color for the long, bleak winter that lies ahead…
Posted in photography | 2 Comments

Seven Stolen Signs

October 17, 2004
Our poor neighbors have had seven Kerry-Edwards signs stolen out of their front yard so far. They’re not giving up, though. This morning when I walked the kids by their house, they had two new signs proudly planted. They also … Continue reading →
Posted in society | 4 Comments

Across America at 10 mph

October 13, 2004
Here’s another story to make my life seem mundane. A group of guys quit their jobs and decide to travel across the country. On their Segways. At 10 miles per hour. Oh, and they have a film crew tagging along … Continue reading →
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New Book by a Literary Master

October 10, 2004
Jose Saramago, the Portuguese novelist and winner of a Nobel Prize for literature, has just published a new book, The Double. A New York Times book review describes it as “clever, alarming and blackly funny.” Click on the link to read more…
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