Last night Downton Abbey returned to PBS for a two hour season premiere. Damn, I love that show. It can be incredibly cheesy at times, it’s not high drama, it wears its soap opera-ness on its sleeve; how to explain Matthew inheriting an insane fortune at the exact moment that Robert is ruined by bankruptcy?Continue reading “On the Return of Downton Abbey”
On a Lost Story
I have on my desk a composition book. It dates to 2001. There are things in it like notes from that year’s Shore Leave, directions to my friend Jason’s house in Arlington, notes from the Electronics Boutique vendor show in Las Vegas that year. Random stuff. It also has the first few pages of aContinue reading “On a Lost Story”
On Bernard Cornwell and Doctor Who
Yesterday, I made an odd, random little Tweet: Won’t happen, but I wish Bernard Cornwell would write a Doctor Who/Sharpe novel, preferably starring the eighth Doctor In truth, the tweet wasn’t that random; my commute read this week has been Cornwell’s Sharpe’s Gold. Nor was it that odd; I like Cornwell’s prose and find itContinue reading “On Bernard Cornwell and Doctor Who”
On Christmas Day
A few people have noticed that, sacre bleu, I changed my blog’s theme. It’s festive. There’s an Elf in the header. I made the change a few weeks ago. It’s just for the holidays, and after the New Year I’ll change it back. I’ve put up Christmas themes in the past, and this year IContinue reading “On Christmas Day”
On Things I’ve Been Reading
Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #8 IDW Publishing Written by Scott & David Tipton Pencils by Gordon Purcell Watercolors by J.K. Woodward Ten months ago, IDW Publishing announced the comic book I’d waited most of my life to read — a Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover. Yesterday, I read the eighth and final issue.Continue reading “On Things I’ve Been Reading”
On the Problem of Evil and the Comforting Lie
A few weeks ago a friend of mine from college wrote me. She was having a crisis of faith. There had been a particularly horrific murder of children somewhere, and she (the mother of two small children) was having a difficult time reconciling her faith in a loving god with the indifferent god that wouldContinue reading “On the Problem of Evil and the Comforting Lie”
On the Cost of LEGO and New Worlds to Explore
A few days ago on All Things Considered, NPR’s Planet Money wanted to know, “Why are Legos (sic) so expensive?” The segment compared LEGO to MegaBloks. While Mega’s products are less expensive, their annual global sales are only about 10 percent of LEGO’s. The segment pointed to several factors — better manufacturing techniques for LEGO,Continue reading “On the Cost of LEGO and New Worlds to Explore”
On Offensive Driving
In high school, in Driver’s Ed, they taught us “defensive driving.” I remember one of my classmates making a joke, “But what about offensive driving?” Or maybe that’s not a memory and just an obvious retort that should be made. In any case, tonight I witnessed firsthand a case of offensive driving. I needed toContinue reading “On Offensive Driving”
On Growing Pains
The day I long feared finally arrived. My website had outgrown my server space I took a radical step, one that I wouldn’t have done without a back-up. I nuked every post older than 2,000 days ago. In other words, the years 2001 to 2007 are now gone. They will return to the new siteContinue reading “On Growing Pains”
On the Annual Bowling Outing
I went bowling today. At the office we have a Christmas tradition. The department goes bowling in December. But then we stopped having the annual Christmas bowling outing. Two years ago we went for a laser tag outing with the Sales department. And last year we didn’t do any team-building activities at Christmas. Today, then,Continue reading “On the Annual Bowling Outing”