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Category Archives: self-indulgence
Books I Would Read If I Were
I’ve read a few books in my life, and I hope to read a few more. But there are many that I’ll never be able to get through, even if I’d really like to. The big irony of recent years is that while book sales are going up, reading is going down. At least, that’s what I’ve read.
So, here is my list of books–some I’ve already bought, some I haven’t–that I probably will never read. They are books I *would* read if only I were…
Changes in Site
The time seemed right to change the site, so that is what I am doing…
Also posted in technology
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English Rules Snubbed at the Bloggies
In what is widely considered a stunning fulfillment of expectations, the English Rules blog–along with its companion sites Photography, Word of the Day, and Writing Guide–did not win any of 2005’s prestigious Bloggies(tm). In fact, the collection of blogs at englishrules.com was not even *nominated* for an award.
Early this morning, site owner and editor Karl Swedberg released a prepared statement to the press, denying any hard feelings…
Also posted in technology
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Things Left Undone
Since nothing else has worked, I’ve decided to publicly shame myself into doing a litany of things that I have put off for too long. So here is my list, in no particular order, of things left undone. Next to each item is the approximate time that it has been on my “to do” list…
Where Is the Life?
Sometimes I feel as if these lines from T.S. Eliot’s 1934 poem “Choruses from The Rock,” while pretty much summing up the 21st century, are an especially apt description of my situation…
Pundits, Diarists, and Egoists
In a speech she gave last summer in Vienna, Mena Trott, co-founder of the Movable Type Publishing Platform (which powers this blog), divided bloggers into three distinct groups: “the pundits, the diarists and the egoists.” …
Extraction
This morning I went to the oral surgeon to have my four wisdom teeth pulled. The procedure was painless because they knocked me out with some general anaesthesia. The last time I had general anaesthesia, 15 years ago for a knee injury, I woke up crying and mumbling…
Dead Battery Day
Technology is not my friend today. While taking pictures of a friend’s baby, the battery in my Nikon digital camera ran out. No problem, I thought, I’ll just switch to my 35mm camera while I recharge the digital camera’s battery. But when I tried to turn on the Nikon N80, its batteries were dead, too. I ran to the closet where Sara keeps a huge stash of extra batteries in case one of our kids’ 5,328 toys that require batteries is in need of a new set, put the new batteries in the camera, and attached the flash. Guess what…
Also posted in technology
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Home Roasting
For the past six months or so I’ve been roasting my own coffee in earnest, using green coffee beans that I buy from sweetmarias.com and a popcorn popper that I bought from eBay for $15. There are small, personal machines on the market for genuiune home coffee roasting, but they’re mostly in the triple-digit range, and I wasn’t sure if I would take a shine to this thing when I started it, so I went the cheap route to minimize my potential losses. My friend Steve, who lives around the corner, got me started with this business. He started with a popcorn popper, too, but since has rigged up a little rotisserie thing on his gas grill so he can roast five pounds at a time. The guy is an animal! …
Computer Time Limit
A friend of mine recently challenged me to limit my time on the computer, outside of work, to one hour or less each day. He didn’t think I could do it for a month. So I’ve accepted the challenge, which means that I’ll probably be posting fewer entries on this site and I’ll definitely be reading fewer online magazines and newspapers.
Maybe that’s okay, though…
Also posted in technology
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