Seeing as this was one of the least eventful weeks in recent memory, but in order to avoid this site from turning into nothing but a succession of “random ten” entries, I’m going to just play stream of consciousness and toss some random observations and links out into the aether for anyone who’s interested…. ♦If […]

We woke early this morning (even earlier than I wanted to, thanks to Catherine) to trek up to DC for the National Book Festival on the Mall in D.C., most specifically, to catch a reading and signing by one of our favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, who was just one of a ton of authors out […]

Exaggerated…but only slightly. No, I haven’t pulled a McCain and suspended all activities to duck out on the debate deal with the financial crisis; I merely got really, really, seriously, knocking on Death’s door sick with some evil flu-like virus this week. From Monday evening to Wednesday lunchtime, I think I was awake for maybe […]

After a day a somewhat better day at the office (one particular hour notwithstanding), this evening was actually really quite enjoyable. I took a nice evening walk through the neighborhood, stopping first at the local Olssons bookstore to browse the shelves and bullshit a little bit with the geeky, funky staff, who are always good […]

for free! For the next month or so, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is available for free online at the link you read past eleven words ago. It’s really quite a good book (as is pretty much everything Neil writes, so give it a read, if you feel moved. It’s really worth it, if you can […]

Today was another fine Sunday afternoon at the Central Virginia Comicon for Mary and I; poring through the fifty-cent longboxes for forgotten treasures worthy of an eight year old girl’s attention. This time, a bunch of Byrne She-Hulk (well, those were just as much for me, being the Jen Walters geek I am – thanks, […]

Going back to that post a while back about that study that says people don’t read any more, I wanted to see exactly how much I read, in some quanitifiable form. The first step was adding that “number of books read” count over to the left. The second, was to add a new page, where […]

Writer Steve Gerber died yesterday. A lot of you reading this site probably have no idea who I’m talking about, but this guy’s work has brought me a lot of entertainment over the years. Probably more than anyone, it was Gerber who shaped the aesthetic of the “back bench” of Marvel Comics in the 1970s; […]

Amanda over at Pandagon comments and indirectly links to this study from the National Endowment for the Arts, which highlights the decline in reading among Americans. According to this study’s statistics, in 2002, only about half of Americans 18-24 read a book that wasn’t required by work or school. Getting up into my age bracket […]

Wednesday. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Usually, our household goes non-traditional for the big feast, with reasonably good results (last year’s duck was excellent). This year, I was leaning toward something a little different – lamb or something; but the kids voiced their opinion for tradition. So, for the first time in years, I’m making a turkey. […]