January 2012
5 posts
5 tags
After Sam’s basketball game this morning, he and I went to the laundromat to wash a rug. Sam brought some coloring books and crayons, and while we coloring as we waited for the rug to dry, he looked at me and said, “I love this day!” I told him I loved it, too.
Jan 21st
3 tags
Jan 19th
2 notes
3 tags
Jan 16th
3 tags
Chicken + Bucket + You Put the Chicken Into the...
Sunday’s “Dining Out” section of the TFP features a profile of Chicken-w-Wings, which is one of the most beautifully simple concepts for a restaurant I’ve ever heard. “I wanted to start something Chattanooga doesn’t already have,” says Tim Bone, who is co-owner with his wife Melinda. He decided to start his own franchise, creating Chicken-w-Bones and opening the first...
Jan 16th
Jan 15th
1,178 notes
December 2011
1 post
Listen Yep, this pretty much sums it up. ...
Dec 22nd
November 2011
3 posts
Nov 27th
Right now, people are standing in line to fight other people for a chance to buy stuff that other people are just going to return anyway.
Nov 25th
I’ve always wanted to be a votivational speaker for the candle industry.
Nov 23rd
July 2011
1 post
2011 AltWeekly Awards Finalists for Media...
AAN’s 2011 AltWeekly Awards finalists have been announced. Here are the nominees in media reporting and criticism. Always an interesting category. MEDIA REPORTING / CRITICISM (circulation 50,000 and over) • Chicago Reader: “Opinionating Is Cheap, When Hyperlocal Journalism Does Its Job,” and “The Martyr and The Stool Pigeon” by Michael Miner • Creative Loafing...
Jul 5th
April 2011
1 post
News!
I have finally updated my NEWS page. There is news there now.
Apr 7th
March 2011
9 posts
2 tags
Listen A finalist for the theme song to my inner...
Mar 22nd
2 notes
Mar 16th
8,563 notes
4 tags
The Importance of Controlling the Message
From “Are Christians Obsessed with Gays and Abortion?” by David French: What is our real “obsession”? Historically, monetarily, and with our time and lives today, it is serving our fellow man. We fight the culture war, but largely as a defensive struggle—fighting against changes instigated by the Left, like legalized abortion, the redefinition of marriage, and attacks on...
Mar 16th
2 notes
5 tags
Mar 15th
3 notes
4 tags
Interesting in Light of Current Events
From a letter written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937: All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative ...
Mar 13th
1 note
5 tags
Mar 11th
5 tags
Mar 10th
2 notes
Mar 5th
Mar 2nd
2 tags
Mar 1st
2 notes
4 tags
WatchWatch
Joshua Rofé’s examination of why America is the only country on earth that allows juvenile offenders to be sentenced to life without parole is one of the more intriguing Kickstarter projects I’ve seen to date.
Mar 1st
February 2011
4 posts
2 tags
Emoticons You Don't Need
I composed this list a couple of years ago and then forgot all about it. (Technically, these are Droodles, but nobody knows what those are. So I called them emoticons instead.)
Feb 9th
1 note
2 tags
Feb 5th
January 2011
6 posts
Jan 30th
6 tags
My State of Mind on Last Night's State of the...
• On the surface, at least, President Obama’s speech sounded like something Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush would have given. It featured many items likely to appeal to Republicans and conservatives, including: reducing the corporate tax rate, eliminating pork barrel spending, and free trade and medical malpractice reform. This throws a wrench into the plans of those on the right whose lone...
Jan 26th
1 tag
While we waited as the lady who was cutting Sam’s hair answered a phone call, Sam and I had the following conversation… Me: “Sam, look at all that hair… That was on your head.” Sam: “Is the red part from the blood?” Me: “No, buddy, your hair is just kinda red. There isn’t any blood.” Sam: “Oh.”
Jan 24th
2 tags
We Have Divorced Sprint
A few days after Christmas, Melissa and I decided the drop the ever-nickel-and-diming-us Sprint and try WalMart’s Straight Talk cell phone service. So far, we are both very happy with it. The phones are nicer than the ones we had, and the online activation was practically instantaneous. It looks like we’ll have more call and text time than we’ll know what to do with, and we...
Jan 23rd
Jan 19th
Jan 12th
December 2010
5 posts
Dec 30th
My Ten Favorite Songs of 2010
1. “Play Myself Some Music” (R. Stevie Moore Cover) by Jason Falkner 2. “Grip” by Hume 3. “Shylight” by Soviet League 4. “Sunbeam Show” by Candy Claws 5. “Into Yr Mind” by Young Hunting 6. “Solitude Is Bliss” by Tame Impala 7. “Boyfriend” by Best Coast 8. “Round and Round” by Ariel Pink’s...
Dec 29th
“Stay out of politics. That’s a berserk junkie’s game. The more you learn about the way politics works, the less you want to know.” — John Cusack, when asked by Entertainment Weekly what advice he’d give his 1986 self
Dec 29th
I have fond memories of winters growing up in the northeast. Every time it snowed, we’d gather around the fireplace with a loaf of bread and make milk sandwiches.
Dec 29th
Dec 29th
November 2010
2 posts
“Into Yr Mind” by Young Hunting | mp3 “There’s a specific but maddeningly intangible skill in creating a song that seems to be without either beginning or end and yet is so hopelessly engaging.” — From a review by Joe Sparrow
Nov 9th
Great, just great. Jon Miller and Joe Morgan are not returning to ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” NOW who’s gonna tell me how great Derek Jeter is while I’m watching the Red Sox/Angels game?
Nov 9th
October 2010
5 posts
How a McRib Works
Step One: Four “ribs” (or strips of processed pork product) are glued to the top of a slab of processed pork product. Step Two: Processed pork product is smothered with same barbecue sauce served with Chicken McNuggets. Step Three: Sauce-smothered processed pork product is then placed on McRib bun. Pickles and onions are added, and the sandwich is heated. Step Four: Heated...
Oct 26th
WatchWatch
A gorgeous and haunting short film by Tony Blazejack made in tribute to bicyclist Christopher La Canne, who was killed last January by a drunk driver on Miami’s Key Biscayne Bridge. Original music by my niece, Jill Hartmann.
Oct 26th
Oct 25th
From the “I Didn’t See This Coming” file: According to John Cougar Mellencamp, Sarah Palin is not stupid. The legendary rocker says that while he doesn’t support her positions, he is impressed by the mark she’s made on the country since the 2008 election. Mellencamp says people get the wrong idea about her intellect “just because she says things and...
Oct 25th
Oct 21st