Stuck in an Elevator

Scott Eric Kaufman, inspired by this piece in The New Yorker, relates his own tale of being stuck in an elevator: At this point I was about five minutes into my own hanging. The damn thing wouldn’t settle and so I panicked. I started pacing frantically and I checked my watch and I knew I… Continue reading Stuck in an Elevator

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Beer Run

I drank the last of the Dogfish Head Raison d’Etre last night (I don’t go through beer very quickly these days), which means the fridge is nearly empty, and it’s time for a beer run. Which, of course, is a great excuse for a filler-iffic audience participation question: What sort of beer should I buy?… Continue reading Beer Run

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Six, If You Live in a Trailer Park

In honor of my weekend, here’s Larry Miller on the Five Stages of Drinking. This is one of my all-time favorite comedy bits, and it’s defintiely in the “funny ’cause it’s true” category. Details will, of course, need to remain scarce to protect the political careers of those involved, but it was a great weekend.… Continue reading Six, If You Live in a Trailer Park

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Let’s Zen!

Wow. I’m cranky today. I really need to be more Zen about things. Here’s a picture to meditate on: This is the famous “Crane and Turtle” garden at Konchi-in in Kyoto. It’s one of very few gardens absolutely known to have been designed by the great garden-desing master Kobori Enshu, out of the huge number… Continue reading Let’s Zen!

Baby Advice Open Thread

Most of my best ideas come from Kate, so I’ll steal this one, too: If you could only give me one piece of advice [regarding FutureBaby, due in July], what would it be? If you’ve been itching to provide child-bearing or -rearing advice (and I know some of you have), here’s your chance. Please limit… Continue reading Baby Advice Open Thread

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Happy Easter

Today is Easter Sunday, which I will be celebrating in the traditional manner: by, um, driving across half of New York and Pennsylvania… OK, maybe that’s not the usual tradition… I’m giving a talk tomorrow at Bucknell, so I need to get to Lewisburg, PA tonight. This will allow me to stop through Scenic Whitney… Continue reading Happy Easter

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Young and Photogenic

Ladies and gentemen, one of the three worst pictures ever taken of me: There is, of course, a story behind this. It’s not a particularly good story, but there is one…

It Snows In Detroit, Right?

I’m very happy with my 2007 Ford Freestyle, but there’s one major design flaw that drives me nuts. It’s only a problem in the winter, though, which makes me wonder what the hell the folks in Detroit are smoking. If you look at the picture, you can just make out the antenna, on the passenger… Continue reading It Snows In Detroit, Right?

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Roller Coaster Pregnancy

Thanks again to all the people who left congratulations and well-wishes on last week’s ultrasound picture post. The positive thoughts are much appreciated, especially since it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster here in Chateau Steelypips. As you can guess from the fact that the ultrasound looks fairly baby-ish, we’ve known about this for quite… Continue reading Roller Coaster Pregnancy

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