tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-216713232010-06-15T16:45:33.638-07:00Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-53624470749593579092008-10-28T11:56:00.000-07:002008-10-28T12:38:04.026-07:00

I heard this on the radio this morning driving to work, and it really resonated with me (pun not intended, but apt nonetheless). Paul, this post is for you.Tuning by Christine Rhein. Reprinted from the Writer's Almanac.I try to tune out the boom! boom! boom! from the shooting range two miles from my house, and think of the people who live next doorto the targets, or in the din of London and

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-16912521606881077802008-09-25T10:34:00.000-07:002008-09-25T10:43:32.919-07:00

Earlier this week I requested a refund for some software I'd mistakenly purchased. The refund terms included the following:If you need a refund on a downloadable product, please click here to request a refund. You will then be emailed a Letter of Destruction. You must accept the terms of the Letter of Destruction in order to receive your refund.If I were to collect several of these notices, could

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-28645326639841243302008-09-11T06:31:00.000-07:002008-09-11T06:40:31.099-07:00

The J to K transition in my DVD library reads like a testament to the powers of abstinence-based sex education: Juno Killer Condom Knocked Up

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-91219360728998030462008-09-09T19:49:00.000-07:002008-09-11T06:41:08.548-07:00

Hellboy 2's Angel of Death and The Lord of the Ring's Mouth of Sauron

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-39646052010887239542008-09-08T07:03:00.000-07:002008-09-08T07:56:05.497-07:00

I don't have much in the way of excuses, it's just I haven't felt much like writing. It's as if I've settled in well enough here now that I'm busy living life, rather than thinking about how to write about it, and actually that's been pretty nice.Summer has flown by faster than I'd ever imagined possible, but my schedule has been flexible enough that I've been able to really enjoy it. I've had

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-43847325174587296082008-05-02T10:25:00.000-07:002008-05-02T07:38:13.517-07:00

It seemed like a good idea at the time, attaching flexible magnetic backing to three or four of my favorite bumper stickers so I could arrange them on the back door of the MINI without actually gluing them to the paint or bumper. But I realized this week that sometime over the past couple of months, they've all disappeared. Doh!Surely, a malicious petty theft such as this would never happen here

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-59563058608169331762008-05-01T07:07:00.000-07:002008-05-02T07:25:09.964-07:00

Who said that annotated Jane Austen has to be stuffy?£800 was a fabulous price for a chimney piece.No, this is not Thom Filicia throwing in his two pence - just a historical backgound note from editor Vivien Jones in my Penguin Classics edition of Pride and Prejudice, written in response to one of Mr. Collins' sycophantic raptures on Rosings Park. But it made me chuckle all the same.Can't you

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-42534267709906168572008-03-25T16:32:00.000-07:002008-03-25T20:44:46.765-07:00

So, it's going on seven years now since I've stopped watching television. Don't get me wrong: we do own a TV and DVD player. We just decided we'd rather max out our Netflix queue than have any kind of cable subscription. Overall, it's been great. I can get all the news I want from NPR and the BBC, and the best TV shows eventually show up on DVD, blessedly commercial-free. So I'm only now working

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-59659704522748559832008-03-20T07:48:00.000-07:002008-03-20T07:56:09.581-07:00

As the snow begins turning to mud and the local wildlife begins to perk up a bit, we've been suddenly seeing seeing these ginormous ravens wandering around our place lately. I'm talking Tower of London snacks on gibbets kind of ravens. Daphne DuMaurier/Alfred Hitchcock kind of ravens. Perched upon the bust of Pallas kind of ravens. They give me the shivers.I've told the dog to steer clear of them

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-13944902722239080292008-03-16T19:45:00.000-07:002008-03-20T07:46:48.588-07:00

Best winter afternoon lunch ever!

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-53801853307557716592008-01-17T06:31:00.001-08:002008-01-17T07:21:49.244-08:00

So, this morning I woke up at about 7 am, after the first great night's sleep in about a week, with this single line inexplicably looping in my head:"I use antlers in all of my DE-co-ra-ting"Just that. Over and over again."I use antlers in all of my DE-co-ra-ting""I use antlers in all of my DE-co-ra-ting""I use antlers in all of my DE-co-ra-ting"OK, fine! So you do. We know. Antler it up. My dad

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-79753296351847991572008-01-04T18:28:00.000-08:002008-01-04T18:55:55.882-08:00

It’s about eight p.m., and I’m here on the couch having just turned on the heater to take some of the chill out the air. The dog is curled into a tight ball on the floor inside a fleece-lined sleeping bag kind of thing that has become his place to be in the evenings, and he’s mostly unconscious after a busy weekend. Every once in a while he gives one of those puppy groans and twitches in his

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-69241595624334385752007-10-29T07:12:00.001-07:002007-10-29T07:21:05.396-07:00

I constructed this happy guy yesterday at the foot of our driveway, in an inspired fit of harvest-time effigy building. There was something vaguely "Children of the Corn" about the whole experience, but it was a lot of fun. Who knows how long his hollow ol' punkin head is going to last?I had to rearrange his limbs a couple of times, 'cause it seemed no matter what I did he looked positively

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-56604191365113786372007-10-29T07:09:00.000-07:002007-10-29T07:11:16.381-07:00

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-26254262643504258142007-10-22T06:35:00.000-07:002007-10-22T08:52:41.380-07:00

From today's Writer's Almanac, by Ron Koertge. (Reprinted without permission.) I really liked this one!Merely pretty, she made up for it with vim.And she got to say things like, "But, gosh,what if these plans should fall into the wronghands?" And it was pretty clear she didn't meanplans for a party or a trip to the museum, but something involving espionage and a Nazi or two.In fact, the handsome

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-40209921162372570402007-10-18T12:17:00.001-07:002007-10-18T12:59:16.987-07:00

This is just freakin' fantastic!Improv Everywhere is a performance group in NYC whose mission is to cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Yesterday they gathered over 100 men of many shapes, ages and sizes and staged a mass de-shirting at the flagship Abercrombie & Fitch store in Manhattan. Mind you, this is a 3 or 4 story A&F that employs their own shirtless male model outside the

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-6740111471768657082007-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:002007-10-17T07:44:08.815-07:00

Autumn is here! After years going without, we are being treated to what's being called the most beautiful fall northern VT has seen in three or four years. I'd forgotten what the air could smell like - it is so crisp and clean. And for some reason the skies are clearing in the wee hours of the morning. If you get up at 5 or so and look out the window, the stars are just incredible.Paul's folks,

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-88330108272906093372007-10-13T08:36:00.001-07:002007-10-14T07:39:40.678-07:00

So, Mark and I have triple-downward-dog-dared each other into taking a weekly yoga class for beginners. We're only one week into it, so neither of us is twisting our limbs into pretzel shapes just yet - that make take a few more classes, I suppose. Really, I'd be perfectly happy with just loosening the steel bands in my legs enough to actually touch my toes. Simple goals.Mark makes a great cohort

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-28656044357989493632007-10-13T08:16:00.000-07:002007-10-13T09:39:03.743-07:00

Courtesy of Michele Madrigal's inspiration. The now classic font, if you are curious, is Phenix American.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-33731047451990050622007-09-30T17:55:00.000-07:002007-10-04T09:45:04.350-07:00

So, I've been working for the past month or so on getting my one-man business planned, formalized, and well, in business. Been learning about the kind of stuff I never imagined I'd need to know: LLCs, C Corporations, Sole Proprietorships, DBAs, Tax Law, Accounting, the works. Good grief. Well, learning about it as in I mostly know what these things are now. It's a start. I'm actually learning to

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-89341712083798900172007-09-14T08:08:00.000-07:002007-09-14T08:16:44.377-07:00

I've been a fairly long-time public radio listener, but it's only recently that I've started hearing The Writer's Almanac. VPR plays at 8:30 am and lately I've been catching it on my way to work.Call me a geek, but I love it. Garrison Keillor's voice is a lot more soothing and introspective in this context, and seeing as I no longer enjoy the pleasure of the FileMaker lunch table gang, this short

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-11310837617136038952007-09-14T08:01:00.000-07:002007-09-14T08:17:31.712-07:00

Paul went to the library last week and came home with a book in large, easy-to-read type.The book was crap, but he liked the large type so much he came home yesterday with another one. I always thought that was for people in their eighties, or those wearing eye-glasses with lenses the size of veal medallions.That's it. He's getting a Reader's Digest subscription for Christmas. Go for it. Laughter

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-23650237651102316112007-09-06T06:26:00.000-07:002007-09-06T07:05:13.720-07:00

Woke up this morning at 6 to steady, pouring rain. It was such a soothing, comfortable sound. Burrowed under the covers for another half hour, then read for a bit before padding out of bed and letting the dog out. Of course, he didn't want to go out in the rain. (The little turkey has NO IDEA what he is in for.) So he danced around the house with his legs crossed while we tried three different

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-13849998851469759332007-09-05T06:36:00.000-07:002007-09-06T07:00:44.385-07:00

So, the grey in my beard continues to spread. How about that? It's on my head as well, but not quite as evident there. I like it, but I'm wondering how quickly it's going to take over. Will it be a slow, gradual change, or am I going to look in the mirror on my 40th birthday and find myself grey with the occasional fleck of brown or red? Who knows? My dad has taken his time, but his sideburns

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671323.post-1603146332612863352007-09-04T12:13:00.000-07:002007-09-04T12:33:21.710-07:00

When I was in kindergarten or first grade (or maybe both) I won a Dyno label maker selling Tootsie Rolls and salt-water taffy door-to-door to as a school fundraiser. Do you remember those things? They were the best! It came with three different dials, each with a different type face, and a few colors of tape, and it all fit into compartments inside the nice plastic case.A place for everything,

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08615982838648024422noreply@blogger.com1