I’m feeling slightly guilty about not having huge amounts to say in this space. Suffice it to say that life and otherwise is keeping me occupied largely in meatspace. Running kids around and stepping up to cover for the spouse as she’s currently mired in some pretty intensive responsibilities lately, vehicle maintenance, headaches of electronic […]

As I do most years around this time, I shall present the following quote from the U.S. Constitution: He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. -Article II, section 3 Tonight is this […]

As is my family’s habit on a particular weekend in mid-January, we packed up and hauled ourselves to Williamsburg VA for Marscon, perhaps the premiere fan convention in the general Mid-Atlantic region, and rapidly becoming my favorite con that I get to each year. It’s a great chance to share an experience with like-minded people, […]

So, we all wandered back to the grind this week after a couple of weeks; off, and in most cases, off the grid. The smartphone spent a lot of time in a drawer, and I largely ignored the telephone and the email and the internet (except to grind a bit on Marvel Heroes and pick […]

If you’ve been following me this year, or talked to me, or lived with me, or saw me at all until perhaps late September, the story of the year has been “Don’t you think he looks tired?”. Odds are it was true – because I was totally knackered. But I survived, and found a more […]

…If you’re so inclined. If you are, I hope you enjoyed your holiday, whether it was celebratory or sacred for you. ‘Round these parts, it was a relatively sedate affair; some gifts exchanged in the morning (though we tried things a bit differently this year, doing a bit of gift exchange on the Solstice -December […]

As it is December 17, today we begin the celebration Saturnalia, the Roman festival for Saturn, god of the harvest, running through December 23, and landing, as most winter celebrations do, around the time of the winter solstice. Saturnalia, of course, is the pagan observance from which many modern Christmas traditions are derived, including the […]

Beyond the usual modest slate of individual gifts, our household traditionally also manages to find a collective gift for the whole family to enjoy; it’s a nice little reward for getting ourselves through the year. This year, rather than grabbing some large entertainment purchase (We’ll wait a while on a next-gen console, for example), we […]

My friend Steve is a very talented musician and songwriter. He’s played all kinds of interesting venues from honky tonks to places of worship. He builds beautiful native american flutes, and plays upright bass (airbrushed with gorgeous Betty Page pinup artwork) in a Rockabilly cowpunk band. He’s written and released lots of material over the […]

So yes, I only work four days per week (never mind that it’s ten hours per day). Doesn’t matter, I sit here on Friday morning, paying my bills, and I can’t help but reflect that this was one long week, at least from the point of view of this observer. Relativity in action, folks, look […]