Category: Daft Musings

I’ve never taken my children to a circus, and we’ve only been to the San Francisco Zoo and the Oakland Zoo once each. I sometimes wonder if I’m depriving them of one of the requirements for a full and memorable childhood, but the recent news that a tiger got loose on Christmas day at the…

For about 10 years now, a treasure hunt for Christmas presents has been part of our family tradition. Peter and I take turns planning one for each other. Neil, who loves puzzles has gotten in on the action and has been requesting a hunt for himself as well for the past few years. Well, this…

For the last two weeks (if not longer), Kelly’s been jumping into our bed early in the morning, asking “is it Christmas yet?” No, I have to tell her, not yet… But thanks to Mental Floss, I found something that may keep her at bay: Norad’s 2007 Santa Tracker. If you’re anxious about Santa’s route,…

Mount Holyoke used to have a January session: two weeks in which you took a specialized course you’d never think of taking during the regular academic semester. I loved it, and even dropped in on courses that weren’t mine for the lectures. The courses, such as an overview of Film Noir, were essentially exactly the…

It’s quite obvious that we have a lot of immigrants from Mexico and South America, and in the capitalist way, many businesses have sprung up to service them: we have locally-produced Spanish radio, television, and newspapers; many businesses advertise that their staff speaks Spanish; and most non-perishable grocery items are labelled in both English and…

Lately, Peter and I have been enjoying digital video. We can watch foreign shows without having to worry about regional DVD formatting; we can pick up TV shows we forgot to schedule on our PVR (or which weren’t recorded because of power failure); and we don’t have to go anywhere or wait for the mailman…

Everyone has their own favorite Christmas movies. Peter loves A Christmas Story; I adore The Grinch Who Stole Christmas; and Neil and Kelly see A Charlie Brown Christmas every year. A a few weeks ago, at the Teeny Manolo, Glinda the Good made a list of her top ten Christmas movies, all of which I’d…

My usual way of getting around within a European country has been via rail. It may be a little slow, but it’s sociable and almost always, even in 2nd class, comfortable. This week, a company called Tchibo is having a sale on special “Tchibo tickets” which is two one-way tickets for train travel within Germany,…

One of the disadvantages of widespread vaccinations is that people tend to forget how really bad the diseases they’re preventing are. Increasingly, well-meaning parents are opting out of vaccinations, partly because they may have mild side-effects, and partly because of a superstition that they may cause more serious damage, like autism. Why take the risk,…

Oh, it’s another internet contest I couldn’t resist. My favorite fashion blogger, the Manolo, told us to go to his sibling site, Teeny Manolo, for a chance to win some prizes. Essentially, it’s a blog for being a superfantastic parent. Well, I do have two superfantastic children, and Kelly does love the shoes, so I…