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I spent the summer after my sophomore year at college in Brownsville, Texas, spending the summer working with World Servants. World Servants is a Christian organization that put together packaged service camps for American church youth groups. I was on the “Holy Sweat” team, having missed the cooler “SWAT” team appellation by a year. World…

Kate’s dad and I went to see a preview day at the William Bunch Vintage Motorcycle Auction in Chadds Ford. The organizer of the auction, John Lawless, is trying to get a “Philadelphia bike week” together, with lots of motorcycle events — like Sturgis or Daytona. Anyhow, the motorcycles were really cool, and I met…

You’re gonna rule the world, eh? I had a dream last night that Canadian scientists in the future had succesfully developed time travel, so they were traveling back in time to give important agricultural and industrial developments to people in order to avoid famines, plagues and war. And also to increase the importance of Canada.…

Sometimes a buzz saw is just a goddamn buzz saw. Also: Insane Japanese Miniature Knitting There was a train derailment south of Trenton last night, which meant that I and all the other Amtrak Keystone commuters “got SEPTA-ed”; we missed our Philadelphia connection, and had to take the local train home. Like many minor hardships,…

It’s like matching your bag to your shoes, except different, because… …okay, it’s like matching your bag to your shoes. I have a five-day road trip window in July. Also, Kate’s dad and I are going to ride up to a family wedding in Bar Harbor this August. So, obviously, it’s time to purchase the…

Like a Tom Clancy novel, but all the details are about suburban life: I am now the proud owner of a Scotts SpeedyGreen®1000 Broadcast Spreader, which I used on Sunday morning to distribute 20 pounds of Agway Greenlawn 31-3-5 Weed Control and Fertilizer. In order to combat an outbreak of Ranunculus Ficaria L. Which is…

Mister Kurtz Barnes, he dead A few weeks ago, Kate suggested that we visit the Barnes Foundation before it closes, moves, sells its collection, or otherwise ceases to be the cloistered entity it is today. Things I knew about the Barnes (which wasn’t much): It was founded by an eccentric visionary who believed that his…

The devil finds work for all hands It’s been slower than usual at [My employer], with Passover and Easter: many of our clients took off early on Wednesday, and won’t be returning until Monday morning. So, naturally, my cube-neighbor Jeremy Fain decided to put on his bunny suit and distribute candy around the office. Jeremy…

Kate’s dad is immensely proud of the shorts she made for him: he wears them to races and rallies, and struts around secure in the knowledge that he’s the best dressed fellow around: Kate’s Blog

Twelve-minute pace: I must break you. Stout-hearted woodcutters and crafty satraps may have been the cultural archetypes for Jung and Bruno Bettelheim, but where in the hierarchy of feudal Bavarian culture can we find the archetype for the Giant-Blond-Russian-Who-Uses-Science-to-Crush-America? I’ll tell you: nowhere, and that’s why Rocky IV’s Ivan Drago is such an important fictional…