I’m not an economist; both my degrees included a basic economics component, I’m certified to teach econ at the high school level, I do my own taxes, and my checking account comes out balanced most months, but I don’t claim to be an expert on national and international economics issues. That’s not going to stop […]

So, today’s the day when we all get back to our regular things once again. I’m back at work (and on the road), the kids are back at school, the world returns to normal. While as a creature of routine, I mostly like “normal”, I’d honestly rather just be back sitting on my couch playing […]

I suspect I have lived in the mid-atlantic region a little too long. I’m out of practice in dealing with actual real winter temperatures when they do show. My dashboard said it was 23°F out there this morning. And it felt REALLY FREAKING COLD! Oh well, at least it feels like winter – a couple […]

I’ve been spending the last few months banging at Rogue Galaxy, a game that many consider the final great Japanese RPG for the Playstation 2 system. I agree, it’s pretty cool overall; applying all the classic tropes without feeling like a complete retread. It’s well put together, engaging (in the sense that level grinding doesn’t […]

I spent most of my waking time this Saturday doing my annual “clean the leaves from my front yard” ritual. I still have the back and side to go, but the front yard is the biggest chunk of the work, since all the blowing’s uphill, and the trees I have to work around are so […]

Just wrapped up another week on the road where I probably didn’t need to be on the road, which is a little frustrating – if it’s all the same, I’d rather sleep in my own bed, thanks. The only uniquely travel-necessary thing I accomplished is victory in the weekly “guess the song” trivia contest that […]

goes the water heater. thankfully, it was more of a slow trickle than a pop, sparing us a seriously flooded bathroom, but broken is still broken. Seriously, the poor sucker who buys my sad little house someday isn’t going to be that poor a sucker, because I will have fixed everything for them.

If all had gone perfectly, as I type this, I should have been arriving in Northern VA for a bitchin’ heavy metal show featuring Mike T.. But I’m not. Earlier this afternoon, I got a call indicating the show was off; no worries, this stuff sometimes happens. Oh well; there’d be less rushing around, and […]

…and various and sundry other non-consequential details. Free food and free internet this week (plus free alcohol if I so desire), which is kind of nice. No wonder I can never get into this place consistently. It is a little bit out of the way, but there’s some interesting stuff a few blocks’ walk from […]

During the usual Saturday-after-payday shopping, I was wandering through Costco, checking out the DVD shelf, and, Lo-And-Behold, out in plain sight, three days before official release, was a fresh case of “The Incredible Hulk” 3-disc special edition DVDs for reasonably cheap. So, of course, I grabbed one. Far be it from me to pass up […]