I’m almost to the point where I can say “just three miles” again. After an excellent running year in 2010, last year was an abject disappointment. I had a bout with bronchitis in the early spring, followed by back problems (herniated disc) that kept my mileage way down all summer. I went to physical...
The Ugliest Touchdown
(Click here to see an NFL Films presentation about the Giants’ final drive in the Super Bowl, which culminated in the touchdown discussed below. This space was originally occupied by a YouTube video of the touchdown, but the NFL’s lawyers blitzed whoever’s YouTube account it was and sacked them, so I’m going straight to...
List: Top V Reasons I’m Rooting For The Giants In The Super Bowl
It’s not really that I love the Giants: it’s just that I don’t hate them. As a sports fan (and I’m a pretty moderate version of a sports fan, let me tell you), you develop sometimes-irrational likes and hates. For instance, I really hate the Cubs when they’re a threat to the Cardinals; the...
Reading List: January 2012
My Last—And Next—Five Books Three months ago, I posted a list of the five books I’d read most recently, and a guess at the next five I would read. It seemed like a good idea at the time … and it still seems like a good idea; I think I’ll keep going with it....
Pictures Of 2011
Last year was something of an off year for me, photography-wise. I took a lot of pictures, but nowhere near as many as I’ve taken in some previous years. And a big bunch of photos, some of my favorites, were lost to a computer crash. But life goes on, and here are some of...
“You Are Welcome Here”
I guess we all have our Sunday-morning rituals. For me, the last couple of years, it has included a trip to Manor Grove nursing home in Kirkwood to spend time with my mom, who lived there in the late stages of her fight with Alzheimer’s, and with my dad, who came directly from church...
Music For The Winter Solstice
I do NOT recommend that you watch this video: Seriously, don’t watch it. It will ruin your day. I only include it to demonstrate what I think is the absolute worst example of an awful genre, the pop Christmas song. Every year, more and more artists get the idea that they can make a...
A Day Of Remembering
There was a surprise for me on Facebook this morning: a message from Sinan in Provincetown, asking if I had any digital pictures of my brother Jim. I met Sinan through Jim, before Jim died of AIDS in 1987. Today was World AIDS Day, and Sinan wanted to post a remembrance of him in...
The Pilgrims’ Pastor
I received the following e-mail on December 23 of last year. It hit me like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky. The e-mail was from my cousin Beth, who lives in Maryland, and who I haven’t seen in many years. She has a deep interest in genealogy, as you’ll see...
New Mexico Steam
During our trip to Santa Fe last week, we took a day trip to Abiquiu, where we had some excellent green chile cheeseburgers at Body’s, and then drove on up to the Ghost Ranch, and then further north, to Chama. The latter is a nice little town that seems to specialize in tourism, but...