So last week I posted a scan of an old mimeograph of the rules for first grade; these rules indicated that there would be in-school parties for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day, and I mentioned that I remembered the Halloween parties and the distribution of Valentine’s Day cards from everyone to everyone, but that I didn’t really remember the Christmas parties. Because my folks read the blog—they were, of course, the source of the giant pile of elementary school era documents from which I pull my posts for “The Early Years”—my father sent along a few pictures of some of those long-ago festivities. I don’t know if these are specifically from first grade or not (I’m no good at figuring out how old kids [including my past self] are just by looking at them), but they’re definitely from elementary school, I can tell that much …
Continue reading “The Early Years: Party Time! Excellent!”The Early Years: Old School (Rules)
It’s been quite a while since I went poking around in the stack of paperwork and whatnot from my elementary school days (a document trove even larger than my pile of rejection letters), so I thought that this week I would go fishing in there and see what I came up with. And lo! I found an ancient mimeograph of the ancient Rules for First Grade from many years ago. It’s not quite as old as the Code of Hammurabi, but on the other hand, it’s not as well preserved. Let’s have a look!
Continue reading “The Early Years: Old School (Rules)”Sing Us A Song You’re The Piano Man
So as I’ve mentioned before, our current go-to show is Halt and Catch Fire, which is largely a dramatic program (although the drama is punctuated by some very funny moments). However, we also like to keep something a little lighter—variously referred to as “fluff”, “dessert”, and/or “a marzipan confection”—as an antidote to all the heaviness. One recent auditionee was the longrunning sitcom Community, which I’d heard of but never watched. It came up a lot in discussions/reviews of Mad Men due to sharing an actress, Alison Brie, with that show, as well as with another show that I watched but was never able to get my wife interested in, despite its being set in the 80s and featuring lots of 80s music:
Continue reading “Sing Us A Song You’re The Piano Man”Wife: “Hey, isn’t that Pete’s wife? Wasn’t she in that weird wrestling thing you used to like?”
Teaser Tuesday: “Space Opera”
So this week I was reading Space Opera, by one of my favorite authors, Catherynne M. Valente:
Continue reading “Teaser Tuesday: “Space Opera””
Spamcommentology: Well That’s Suspiciously Specific
Those who frequent the excellently time-wasting site TV Tropes may be familiar with the trope “Suspiciously Specific Denial“:
More Odds & Ends From This & That
So this week I’ve got a few more bits and pieces of things we’ve watched that don’t individually rise to the level of a “Not a Review“, but that, taken together, add up to a post.* This includes a television show and a couple of movies, including one which, astonishingly, my wife not only asked about**, but which she stayed up for in its entirety***.
Continue reading “More Odds & Ends From This & That”Teaser Tuesday: “The Seventh Sword” Collection
So this week, and likely for several weeks yet to come*, I have been reading The Seventh Sword, an omnibus collecting the four books in “The Seventh Sword” series, by Dave Duncan:
That Was The Year That Was (In Music): 2021 Edition
Last week I posted my 2021 reading report from Goodreads; this week, it’s time for my 2021 listening report from Last.fm. Not surprisingly, it looks a lot like last year’s. After all, I’m nothing if not predictable.
Continue reading “That Was The Year That Was (In Music): 2021 Edition”That Was The Year That Was (In Books): 2021 Edition
So this year, as it does every year, Goodreads compiled a list of the books I read, making a nice little ― or not so little ― tapestry of covers, along with a few details. You can check out the list at Goodreads here, or, if you like to spend a lot of time watching a huge* image load, you can wait for the screen capture below. But first, a few notes on this year’s list:
Continue reading “That Was The Year That Was (In Books): 2021 Edition”Spamcommentology: When The Windshield Doesn’t Know What The Doors Are Doing
You can’t please all of the van all of the time, but apparently you can please some of the van some of the time. And sometimes at the same time.
Hmm, I wonder if the van is carpeted inside … 🤔
Viscosity 