I had Ted Cruz’s announcement of Carly Fiorina as his Vice President pick running in the background while I worked with spreadsheets. This was a pure Hail Mary pass. Some immediate takeaways… First, Ted Cruz’s relationship to the Constitution is exactly like a fundamentalist Muslim’s relationship with the Qur’an. Both believe their Holy Writs areContinue reading “Ted Cruz Throws a Hail Mary Pass”
Monthly Archives: April 2016
Scenes from a Spring Weekend
Holy Father
The trouble with being a writer is that sometimes I can see exactly where a story is going. Listening to a radio drama, and ten minutes in I've already figured out the third act twist :-/ — Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) April 22, 2016 The story in question is “Holy Father,” a drama broadcast on BBCContinue reading “Holy Father”
Cal Ripken and My College Summer Job
Though I have never met a Baltimore Oriole, I have a brief, personal connection with one specific Oriole — Cal Ripken, Jr. In 1998, on summer break from the University of Richmond, I took a job with GEFA (formerly First Colony Life Insurance) in Lynchburg, Virginia. It was a job in their financial accounting department,Continue reading “Cal Ripken and My College Summer Job”
Springtime is for Baseball
Baseball. It’s been away, far too long. Spring has come, flowers are beginning to bloom, trees are starting to leaf, and on delicately maintaining fields of grass boys and men take up the ball, the bat, and play nine innings. Last night was my first baseball game of the year. The Reading Fightin’ Phils wereContinue reading “Springtime is for Baseball”
Unfairy Tales
I sat at my desk today and wept. My day at the office was spent writing; today I started on the text for my 108th catalog. I listened to minor league baseball games through the day as my background noise, and at four o’clock — and ten thousand words later — I’d wrapped up workContinue reading “Unfairy Tales”
The Beatles Anthology Podcast
Last week the Beatles released a new 3-part podcast that takes a look at Beatles Anthology project from twenty years ago — “British music journalists and Beatles experts Kevin Holwett and Mark Ellen discuss the classic Anthology releases, shining a light on the fascinating stories behind these albums which tell the story of the developmentContinue reading “The Beatles Anthology Podcast”
Opening Day
In honor of Opening Day, I’ve changed my desktop background at the office (which was the Rock of Cashel in Ireland) to this image of Swampoodle Grounds, a 19th-century baseball field that, as you can see, was quite close to the Capitol Building, roughly (about a block away) from where Union Station stands now. Here,Continue reading “Opening Day”
A New Viking Discovery in Canada
The potential discovery of another Viking settlement in Newfoundland is thrilling, especially because the site was found from space. It also doesn’t surprise me. The Vinland Sagas end around the year 1000. However, from other sources, such as the writings of Adam of Bremen, we know the Vikings’ activities in Vinland continued into the 13th-centuryContinue reading “A New Viking Discovery in Canada”