When I found out that the pyramids of ancient Egypt were originally white but their limestone facing was taken off and reused during medieval times, I realized Peter, in making my birthday cake, revealed the secret for why the pyramids were built in the first place. After all, he’d muddled over what color to make…
Beach Volleyball Belgians
Kelly’s storytime hero, Andrew from Borders, instructed his fans to watch the Olympics after they began the following week. I didn’t intend to watch the Olympics, but for Kelly’s sake we did. And I am surprised at some of the Olympic sports. Kelly saw synchronized diving, which is cool, but who goes in for synchronized…
Another Breadmaker Bites the Dust
It seems that there are some household goods being made these days with the manufacturer’s expectation that the owner won’t use them for more than a few months. One example of this is Peter’s treadmill: within a month, the arms on it broke, and when I was using it, about 8 months after we bought…
John Carlson is a Poopyhead
I’m not sure all people are aware of it, but a little program on my blog (called Statcounter) shows me how often people look at my site, and quite often, what brought them to it. Mostly I write this blog for my friends and family, and, yes, for myself, but it’s nice if it serves…
Our Local Library Re-Opens
On Saturday, our family strolled down to take part in the re-opening of San Jose’s Pearl Avenue Branch library. Since 2005, we’d effectively been library orphans. It’s been hard on me, because I am quite the library rat. When it first closed, the nearest branch was the Vineland library, one of the first new (or…
A Day in San Jose with the Jazz Festival
When we went downtown to visit Peter and have fun on Friday, Kelly and I got off a different light rail stop to see if it was any different to get to the office. As it turned out, the sidewalks in front of the Tech Museum were being closed off an we had to wander…
Don McMillan at the Improv
Peter surprised me with tickets to see a new (well, new to me) comedian, Don McMillan, at San Jose’s spiffy Improv comedy club. You can always see the comedian well from any seat in the club, and it seems curiously heckle-proof. You can always hear what the person on stage is saying clearly, but anything…
What Does It Take To Stop Endless Nirvana?
My favorite radio station is XM Ethel, a satellite station that purports to play current alternative music. And about half the time they do. The other half of the time, they play Nirvana. It puzzles me, because Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1993, effectively ending the band fifteen years ago. And personally, I was already…
I Am Older
It was my birthday on Friday. In the afternoon, Peter came by to pick me up to party the rest of the day away. Once again, he had made me an amazing birthday cake, this one in the shape of a pyramid: I thought it was because Charybis & Scylla’s next unit of history is…
Comic-Con Recovery
I work out regularly and consider myself in pretty good physical shape, but I have to say Comic-Con kicked my butt, even though I was, at best, a part-time attendee. I’m swearing to myself that if I do this again, I should prepare myself for it physically and mentally specifically for the task. Off-hand, I…