December 2011
6 posts
Polytechnic = institute of technology
In order to access my online classroom at this polytechnic university, I must:
Print out a non-writeable PDF;
fill it out by hand;
fax it to the IT department.
Seriously.
Writing the thank you notes may be favorite part...
Dear Mason,
That bamboo log house kit is awesome, but I have some concerns about its ability to withstand severe weather events. My dog knocked over my first creation with a single swipe of his tail. Total destruction! I’m having a blast building things, but I think I’ll keep my action figures housed safely in the toy box for now. Thanks for coming to my party.
Your pal, Wes
Remember
How lovely it was Water fresh Forest thick Fragrant, full of green
I remember My hometown beach My foreign namesake river Once so lovely Safe Cared for Utterly magnificent
You too remember Air Waters Land Your home
Somewhere We forgot To check our breathing To watch our steps To notice The clouds in our mouths The grease under our feet
We forgot We screwed up
Mistakes...
November 2011
8 posts
I made a thing! →
This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I knew how to make things.
punkassjim:
Please share it around, for those who may like such things. I’ve only got two listed on Etsy right now, but I’ve got a the fixins to make about a dozen more. All hand-made by me
Embossed leather “Electric Library” cover for iPad 2
on marriage
Wes and his buddy Payton were eating dinner in our kitchen last night, when Payton asked about the wedding photo on the wall. I told him it’s a photo from the day we got married.
Payton: “What’s ‘married’?”
Wes: “When there are two persons … that stay together … that really stay … every day … that means they’re married.”
I may have to frame...
3 tags
I GET TO TEACH AGAIN!
I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN! I GET TO TEACH AGAIN!
1 tag
“… a few minutes ago the president sent the pipeline back to the State...”
– !!!
“When we began our study, we felt that skeptics had raised legitimate issues, and...”
– In case you missed it, here is the WSJ article where Richard Muller (the physicist who managed to turn a scientific certainty into a climate change “debate”) acknowledges that “global warming is real” after all.
October 2011
10 posts
“Our goal, obviously, isn’t to cause injury to...
dwineman:
the Oakland Chief of Police said, as a thin golden arc erupted gracefully into the air, bending ever so slightly downward and finally coming to rest on the moist, ruined form of the word “obviously.”
The Chief wiped his dick on a lamppost and grinned, teeth like rubber bullets.
‘Write for us for no pay — but be sure to follow... →
I got the same email this morning. It’s been bothering me all day because, wow, is it possible that some aspiring writer will think it’s a reasonable offer?
Writing “for exposure” is a scam. When you provide free content to a money-making publication, no one but your mom cares that you’re the one who wrote it.
Every time you let someone else profit without...
1 tag
“There is more hope than you would think,” says Upod founder and moderator David...”
– From a surprisingly optimistic story on pay rates for freelance writers; includes submission links to some publications that pay up to $2 per word (but mostly less).
Anybody want to borrow my Aquanet?
Closure
I can pinpoint the beginning of my social demise.
Jenny Radford passed me a note in 8th grade math: “Want to eat lunch with me & Lori?” I glared as I handed her my reply: “You mean the ‘cool’ kids?” She wrote back: “Is there something wrong with that?”
I must have decided that there was nothing wrong with that, because I ate lunch with Jenny...
Want to change the emotional tenor of your day? →
texburgher:
Add this to your dashboard for 24 hours. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Step two: Get angry enough to make a phone call to the leaders we elected to represent us. Ask them why they are blocking this bill. Make them understand that pandering to the 1% will no longer get them re-elected. Then, jesus fucking christ, STOP RE-ELECTING THEM.
WatchMy kid’s got some pretty sweet moves.
Those big guys doing spins in the background may look like they’re playing it cool, but they were totally taking notes.
September 2011
3 posts
December 9, 1972
A “sunshine/mustard” colored VW minibus named Ruth Busey broke down on a dirt road in Baja during a rainstorm. Its two passengers were stranded …
all …
night …
long ……
Nine months and 38 years later, I made a promise to my son: He will never learn the story of his conception.
1 tag
August 2011
4 posts
1 tag
“[NASA climate scientist James] Hansen, a controversial and highly vocal...”
– In case anyone is wondering why Hansen is “controversial,” it’s because Fox said he is.
American Drink: New Orleans - Steve →
I just wanted to be sure y’all didn’t miss this one, because Albert’s post about the New Orleans service experience is so spot on, it smells like gumbo.
americandrink:
The maitre ‘d asked if we have a preferred waiter. We didn’t and that’s how we met Steve, a quiet, square headed man with a linebacker’s shoulders and a barely expressed smile. Quiet but impossible to ignore....
July 2011
8 posts
2 tags
We’re at the Auckland airport, waiting for...
“Listening to what supposedly serious people say about the economy, you’d think...”
– No, We Can’t? Or Won’t? - NYTimes.com (via agreatnation)
June 2011
4 posts
1 tag
American Drink: 1 →
americandrink:
American Drink is a year old today!
First, thanks to all you likers, rebloggers, linkers, subscribers and just plain ol’ readers. It’s our hope that we helped you become better drinkers vs. better-than-you drinkers.
For those of you who are new to newish to AD, here are a few posts to help…
I can’t believe it’s been a year since Albert gave me the opportunity...
May 2011
6 posts
4 tags
It was a freak thing, getting kicked in the...
Wes had started crying—bad dream or something—so I went to his room. Just as I leaned over the bed, his foot jerked upward, and in the dark I couldn’t see to blink. The force of the kick was impressive. I went into shock—passed out, threw up, passed out again. But after a while we settled down and all went back to sleep.
My eyeball looked like cherry tomato in the morning,...
Liquor, but with burnt cats
For a country that allows home distilling, New Zealand produces surprisingly few commercial spirits. There’s enough beer and wine here to inebriate the whole hemisphere, but local liquor stores stock just two Kiwi vodkas, one gin, and very little else.
That may explain why I took a chance an apertif called Purple Death, whose makers brag that it that smells of “horse-shit and old...
