Are you sitting in a big fat meeting? Where there are, I'm sure, massively important things being discussed, but still it kind of sounds...

Today, I read this in the New York Times  and it resonated hardcore: Failure is big right now — a subject of commencement speeches and bu...

From the Lonely Planet Guidebook for Shaanxi: To see a library made of stone: yes. We wandered through the gal...

I picture the end of the Roman occupation of Britain like this: somewhere around the late fourth century A.D., people looked around themselv...

It is inevitable, is it not, when one is in another country, the way we remark upon our differences, large and small? Huh, noodles for bre...

You guys need to decide what you want to do when you come , said my son. He sent us the link to the Lonely Planet  guide, which we perused a...

1. Finish book review. 2. Write e-mails to x, y, z, and also a, b, and c 3. What should I read en route? Do I want an actual, you know, bo...

You are flighty, aren't you? For days, you're gray and rainy, chilly, austere. And yet your light--the light lasting longer is a tem...

Who shops for dinner, and how is that shopping done? That is the question. I still have in my possession a small red clothbound book from tw...

1. Lie down. You really should. You deserve it. Lie down and finish your novel, or if you are not reading a novel, start one. 2. Review yo...

This morning I woke up at the same time as usual, 6:48 a.m., twelve minutes in advance of my alarm. I lay there and let all the indicators d...

Okay, first of all: first of all, this is the last day of classes, the last day of classes of the semester that almost nigh unto killed me, ...

I just thought you'd all like to know--you, the reading public--that my lack of posting, or postage, or whatever nominalization you pref...

It's Monday! Here's something I treasure: a day with no big plans, or no big plans that require me to be somewhere on time, or dis...

Abstract: The English language is still going to hell in a hand basket. Evidence: people are still using the lovely noun "gift" a...

Recently on the Facebooks, a friend posted the following: to which I replied: This weekend, I found myself at Target. (I kn...

with heels? be serious. ( via La Mimi ) 1. Wear overalls as a fashion statement.  I had a pair of overalls when I was in college. I b...

"I'm going to make chocolate banana bread when we get back," I announced at 10:15 p.m. That's right: P to the Mizzo, as in...

I should be grading. This is perhaps the existential fact of my existence.  There is no time  at which  I should  not  be grading.   ...