Month: July 2004

Saw the surgeon today: Verdict was basically the beginnings of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Ergo, I won’t be using the computer much for the next six weeks and so won’t be posting here much. I’m to remain splint-ed up for the whole period and he injected my wrists/hands with cortisone and an anesthetic which made things…

John Kerry’s speech had its eye-rolling moments, but it also had it’s total kick-ass ones too. He’ll have to keep hammering these points home if he expects to decisively send the Boy Emperor packing in November, but it’s a good start. Excerpts: ‘We can do better and we will. We’re the optimists. For us, this…

Warning to the untutored: Do not try to tie a firecracker to a bunny rabbit, fail in your attempt to explode said rodent, and then post the photographs of the spectacle to the World Wide Web, as some teenage lifeguard apparently did recently in Castro Valley, CA (and knowing that he was from Castro Valley…

Yesterday I saw a campus tour guide leading a large group through the Diag, attempting to make her comments about the Physics Building heard over the monologue of a preaching regular who was standing on one of the short stone walls surrounding the Diag and delivering a sermon to thin air about how you can…

I don’t know why, but in addition to the lazier-than-usual vibe around town, these all feel like signs that summer is starting to enter its waning stage (even though the season’s only been here five weeks, it’s been here much longer in terms of the academic calendar): Lots of students gradually making their way back…

There’s another thing I don’t understand. I freely admit I’m not yet with it when it comes to cell phones. I use them when they’re necessary, but not much otherwise. And I just don’t get why people use them in places like theaters and libraries. A security guard apparently maced a couple of kids who…

Okay, I’ve lost the ability to understand what it ws that I’m supposed to do in an elevator when it stops on a floor and there are people waiting to get in and I’m waiting to get out. It used to be that the normal behavior was for the people outside to wait to get…

« President Al Gore spoke to the Democratic National Convention this evening »: ’”I sincerely ask those watching at home who supported [The Boy Emperor] four years ago: Did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for?” Gore said. “Is our country more united today? Or more divided?” Gore asked. “Has…

« Gay bicyclists camp torched in northern Michigan »: ’ Dozens of sleeping gay cyclists scrambled for their lives as an arsonist set fire to their campsite. About 75 members of Friends North were on a summer bike outing. Twenty in the group set up camp near the town of Honor and bedded down for…

A driver on Stadium honks impatiently at a car in front of him/her who was trying to turn right onto a side street. It was rush hour, but so what? I mean, I can understand honking in certain limited circumstances. Someone cuts you off. Someone jams on his or her brakes abruptly. But this? Ridiculous.

I don’t normally quote politicians in this blog, but I have to say amen to these words from John Kerry, spoken in the Columbus neighborhood of Park Ridge Village today: I’m proud to hear the voices of democracy. Sometimes they’re a little loud, but that’s the nature of democracy and we welcome that. What we…

One of my favorite parts of the summer so far has been the way the light looks at dusk, especially when the fireflies come out and start lighting up the backyard with their silent fireworks. That and the very noisy small group of cicadas that has set up shop somewhere in many trees behind the…

There weren’t any out-of-the-ordinary explanations for the temperature drop late last week. According to the Ann Arbor News, a cold front made it way through southeastern Michigan on Friday. The low temperature on Saturday morning matched a record set in 1904 (the temperature got down to 49 degrees both days).

We were walking the dog in a completely deserted Frisinger Park this afternoon when I looked up into a tree and saw what must have been a downy woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) doing a strange little woodpecker dance as it hung onto one of the branches of the tree with its feet and circled the branch…

I’ve started reading the new book, The Anatomy of Facism, by Robert O. Paxton, so I’ll probably have plenty to add to my entry on Fascism below. So far, it’s a good overview of fascism as a phenomenon and takes a better approach; namely, that merely defining fascism (if that’s even possible) isn’t enough to…

While helping a (female) friend shop at the mall last night, I witnessed something rather odd for the midwest: two early twenty-something guys (with 70s hair and tattoos and sunglasses) in the women’s department of a store trying on size 4 women’s jeans. Inexplicably. And they seemed to be having a pretty good time. And…

There’s a lot of debate these days about how “polarized” the country is. If you were to base your conclusions simply on perusing the list of new non-fiction titles at the Ann Arbor District Library (or any other good-sized library, for that matter), you would have enough fuel to argue about the phenomenon (and isn’t…

As a followup to the post below about a white woman’s encounter with a group of suspicious swarthy men on a flight to L.A., « the truth is finally coming out »: ‘Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, overreacted, to…

What fun the Fair was! Lots of good food … crowds of strangers carrying artsy things on sticks … fiddling boys playing for tips … an earnest young woman pressing a brochure into my hand that proclaimed that ‘Jesus was the greatest Artist of all time.’ And as I was walking east on Liberty at…

The one really enjoyable part of yesterday’s Fair was the weather. After five days or so of high-80s temps and punishing humidity, the temperature and the humidity both just suddenly dropped into the cellar (the cellar for July, anyway). It was probably no higher than 72 degrees and the humidity never got near 50%. There…

Well ….. the Friday crowds were definitely way bigger than the first two days. It was a little overwhelming at times, actually. Not completely claustrophobic; if you wanted to get away you could still move to the areas beyond the booths and find some open space. But very difficult to take photographs or do much…

The most frequent conversation I overheard at the Fair was along the lines of the following: TEENAGER: I wanna go hooooome! MOM: No, we’re not going home. Or: KID: I don’t wanna waaaaalk anymore! MOM: We’re gonna keep walking.

Just three pics today … « Ann Arbor Art Fair ‘04: Day Three »

First, it started with a first-person account of a « white woman’s scary encounter with swarthy scary Ay-rabs »: It seems that 14 scary swarthy men did mighty suspicious things on a flight to L.A. The incident apparently was scary enough that she thinks we should chuck civil liberties out the window (as evidenced in…

The second day of the Fair(s) was more crowded than the first, but there was still plenty of elbow room. I started out at the area around Fifth and Liberty and made my way east and south to campus, taking a few photos as I went along and getting rapidly done in by the humidity….

I see that « some local reporters have more chutzpah than the national press »: ’… as reporters in Omaha, Neb., proved last week. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz visited the area, where he observed a military ceremony and gave a July 9 speech sponsored by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce. Wolfowitz’s office invited…

« Dear America », ‘On November 2nd, please elect a new government. Signed, Your Friends in Canada …’

Frank took more really great pics of day two of the Ann Arbor Art Fair: « Ann Arbor Art Fair ‘04: Day Two » Again … so very Ann Arbor!

Thanks to Steve for posting the photos. The one of the spray-painted “ART NOT WAR” sign was actually not “technically” part of the fair(s); it’s been in that bus shelter on South U for weeks. But I thought it captured the zeitgeist well. I biked to campus. It took all of 15-18 minutes, discounting time…

Frank took some pics of the first day of Art Fair around campus today: « Ann Arbor Art Fair ‘04: Day One » Love that first one … so very Ann Arbor.

For the average child born in 1999, the department estimates it will cost $160,140 for food, shelter and other necessities in the first 17 years of life. For you sticklers out there, the department estimates that the inflation-adjusted amount will be $237,000.??

I guess I’m still shaking my head over the blurb in the Ann Arbor News police blotter yesterday: A motorist who stopped to allow ducks to cross the road in Ann Arbor Saturday evening said a passenger of a nearby vehicle became enraged and began striking his vehicle and spitting at him, Ann Arbor Police…

Today, I took the longest ride yet: 10 miles roundtrip on the Bobcat. We won’t talk about what it did to my hands, even though my splints took most of the shock and I really haven’t had much trouble, post-ride. We won’t talk about the right knee, either, which seems to be stiffening somewhat as…

Say hello to The Hearse, which you’ll enjoy if you also enjoy Six Feet Under.

… except that they’re not in Iraq, but in « North Korea »: ‘North Korea is likely to be producing nuclear bombs even as it conducts negotiations with the United States and four other countries on ending its weapons programs, the senior U.S. official responsible for those talks told Congress yesterday. “Time is certainly a…

I see that Amazon.com has now adopted something called a “plog®.” The “plog” is apparently yet another marketing scheme, although Amazon touts it as: a diary of events that will enhance your shopping experience, helping you discover products that have just been released, track changes to your orders, and many other things. Just like a…

We took a very nice five-mile roundtrip to the library today, the first time we had done a double ride together. The M30 is rougher and tougher on me than the Bobcat, but performed fine, wonky crank and all. I need to raise the seat. But it’s not bad for a garage sale bike. The…

Not having biked in almost five years (my last bike rides were through rough neighborhoods in East Oakland, and while nothing ever happened to me there, I came to realize that there were probably smarter things to do than to ride through those hard streets on a new bike, not to mention more efficient public…

Page Six reports on a contest in which 25 celeb-writers were asked by BlackBook Magazine to write a short story in no more than six words. (This was evidently a follow-up on an episode in which Ernest Hemingway, given the same challenge, wrote: “For sale: Baby shoes, never used.”) Here’s Rick Moody’s response: “Grass, cow,…

My hands hurt worse than ever. I don’t understand it. They were fine before May and then grew steadily worse in June. And now I’m beyond frustrated with the situation. I’ve never felt this kind of consistent pain and achiness before. Have appointments with physical therapy and the surgeon in two weeks. Can’t wait, believe…

Much more temperate today than it’s been the past few days. I enjoy the sunlight and the warmth as long as there’s a dip in the humidity and there’s a breeze, or even a wind. I had lunch at Frank’s today and the waitress/customer chatter was all about the upcoming Fair onslaught. There are actually…

Bush was today driven in a campaign bus around the UP. The first appearance of a president in that part of the state since Howard Taft visited in 1911, according to the Washington Post. (Fact-checked though that factoid must have been by the researchers at the Post, I wonder ….. Gerald Ford’s never been up…

The announcer deriding the American pronunciation of the word “soccer” (“sah-kuh”), a word which is already in itself apparently an object of derision because the word the rest of the world uses is “football.” (And then he says “George W. Bush played rugby. What on earth was he doing playing that?”)

According to a brief article on the back of the front section of today’s Ann Arbor News, a recent poll by EPIC/MRA found that 61% of Michigan residents favor amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Such an amendment is under way, since the Lansing-based group that is pushing the issue (after having lost…

Whoever said that Ann Arbor is deserted in the summer? If anything, it seems more hectic during the summer than it does during the winter, when everybody’s indoors unless they absolutely have to go outdoors. There are all kinds of businessy conferences going on around the area of Michigan Union, there are hordes upon hordes…

Like I said, I’ll never understand Michigan drivers, no matter how long I live here. This afternoon I was waiting to cross the street (at Division and William, I think) and a driver of a sports car stamped his accelerator and sped through the green light as though it had just turned yellow or red….

A list of all posts since April (when we switched from Movable Type to Textpattern) is now up and running. Now if I can salvage all the MT entries from April back through last August, we’ll be in bidness.

RSS and Atom feeds are working again; you can find links to them in the ‘Remember’ section of the navigation list on the left. Let me know if there’s a problem with them. I’m still working on the ‘Ask’ and ‘Contact’ sections of all the journals, as well as an archives page listing all entries….