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The Baldwin Family Thanksgiving I have a five-string banjo mothballed in my closet, a gift from my three folkie uncles when I was a teenager. It’s a beautiful old banjo, made by Star in the 1890s, and perfect for playing mountain-style clawhammer, which is the style I learned from them. Like all banjos, it worked…

I moved on monday, after an exile of several weeks to the second floor, [My employer]’ equivalent of the Island of Lost Toys. I once again have a real cube, with solid walls of fabric-covered styrofoam (verily, a tower of adamant after a year of Herman Miller pods.) The Web cam is back up and…

I’m moving my pod to the fifth floor at [My employer], location 545D, yaaay! So the webcam won’t be live for a little while.

Fencing class was fun last night: once again, I had Szilvia Gyore all to myself again. Spent the night practicing half-retreats, then sudden lunges; parries, then sudden lunges. All around me, teenagers were practicing the same moves, but with what seemed like steel springs in their legs. Me, I should have a dump truck buzzer…

I just applied to a certificate program at Columbia University’s Center For Computer Technology and Applications. Specifically, I applied to the “Java Development for E-Commerce” program, which consists of eight courses in Java programming and application development management. I’ve been looking for ways to establish my bona fides in the Internet industry, and I think…

I also went to my friend and sometime AIM buddy Lily Saint’s new magazine launch last night. Lily quit her job as an HTML-er at [My employer] this summer, choosing instead to be a part-time English professor at Parsons and to pursue her own literary career. The bravery of which decision, combined with her Dublin…

I had my second class at the Fencers’ Club of New York last night. I was the only adult beginner there, so I had a private lesson with Szilvia Gyore, a young Hungarian woman with large diamond earrings. I started learning more about how to hold the foil (with your elbow in and your hand…

A draught of diminutives? On Saturday night, Kate and I helped out Kate’s mom at the Chester County Historical Society‘s gala fund raiser. There are fund-raisers and fund-raisers, depending on the organization’s priorities; some raise money, some break even, some lose money in a magnificent welter of rented bathroom trailers and high-pole tents that contain…

How much is ten bucks worth in 1750? While doing some research for my book project, I came across a really interesting sitelet put together by Robert Sahr, a political science professor at Oregon State University. He’s gathered enough data to create a historical currency calculator, which compares year-2000 dollars with any other year as…

So I went to the New York Fencers’ Club last night to sign up for five introductory lessons, and it kicked ass. Let me explain: The New York Fencers’ Club was started in 1883, as an “elite association of prominent New York Socialites” (according to their website). According to the framed pen and ink sketches…