I’m becoming more willing to offer to double in hopes of making the computer resign in backgammon. Case in point: I thought a double-and-resign was my best chance at victory, frankly, as my position was not a good one. I was unlikely to get those two pieces out of white’s home quadrant, and it wasContinue reading “A Satisfying Victory”
Monthly Archives: December 2025
And So It Ends
This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.– T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men” Today, Diamond Comic Distributors shutters its doors. Lance Woods retires today, and today is President Chuck Parker’s last day as well. LanceContinue reading “And So It Ends”
Holiday Road Photos IV
It was a rainy, windy, and warm day in North Carolina today. I’ve applied for jobs with the town of Cary (where I worked twenty years ago with EB Games) and Wake Tech. If anyone knows anyone who knows anyone who can put in a good word for me, I would greatly appreciate it. NotContinue reading “Holiday Road Photos IV”
Holiday Road Photos III
More photos from my road trip. My sister’s family’s dog, taking up the sofa Christmas morning. He likes to bark at me. He also likes to bark at the cats, who live upstairs, safe behind a gate. On a walk around the neighborhood this morning, there was a pirate statue. Before going to look atContinue reading “Holiday Road Photos III”
Holiday Road Photos II
Today was the second stage of my holiday adventures, going from Lynchburg to Raleigh. My siblings and I had discussed with my dad the possibility of me bringing him to North Carolina, and while he was receptive Sunday and Monday, yesterday he didn’t feel up to the trip. He’s eighty-four and frail, and it’s aContinue reading “Holiday Road Photos II”
People Showing Who They Are
I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but sometimes it’s very, vary hard. Several years ago a friend from high school posted an anti-Semitic meme on Facebook. I read it several times — maybe I was misreading it, maybe there was a charitable reading — but no, it was, no matter howContinue reading “People Showing Who They Are”
Holiday Road Photos
Some random photos from a week of holiday travelling. As I write this, I’m in Lynchburg, Virginia, as my dad had a doctor’s appointment this morning, and he needed someone to take him. We had a minor disagreement over when my mom died. It was last Sunday. He told someone at the office it wasContinue reading “Holiday Road Photos”
The Road Less Taken
Somewhere south of Culpeper, just after sunset, a slim sliver of the moon hung in the wetern sky. I drove south to Lynchburg on a bit of a leisurely, scenic route. I started out as many of these trips start, heading north to Harrisburg then turning south down Interstate 81. I got off to aContinue reading “The Road Less Taken”
Christmas Tree Lane
Every Christmas, Lancaster’s baseball team holds something they call “Christmas Tree Lane,” a display of decorated trees on the stadium concourse. There’s also a drive-through Christmas lights display on the field. I went tonight, even though it was bitterly cold and hellishly windy — temperature of 26 degrees right now, with a wind chill ofContinue reading “Christmas Tree Lane”
We Four Kings
“We four kings of Orient are…” Little did the fourth magus know that what the Baby Jesus really wanted was LEGO Rivendell. His failure to read the proper signs in the stars is why he has been relegated to non-canonical, apocryphal writings for two thousand years that were only accepted by a sect declared hereticalContinue reading “We Four Kings”