b.rox

I’m at work today. It is not a holiday here at the university. I’ve been told that it’s a Southern thing, or rather that Memorial Day is a “Yankee holiday,” since it was originally intended to honor soldiers who had died in the Civil War. Apparently Louisiana still observes Decoration Day on [...]

Someone hit the Jeff Davis statue again last night.

The last grafitti was cleaned up in a day or two. This morning, the red spray-painted “slave owner” tag was there again, in exactly the same place, plus a generous splash of Pepto-Bismol pink. By the time I came back with a camera, the “slave [...]

My office window lets me gaze upon such marvels as the Big Lots store across the street and the traffic jams on I-10. The view has never been particularly beautiful, and now it’s getting less so. Someone’s putting up a massive billboard next to the interstate.

I think I read about this in the [...]

My wrist was hurting this morning, and I was having a sneezing fit, so I took a hydrocodone tablet which was left over from my wisdom tooth debacle back in January.
OK, I’ll admit it: I took the tablet as much for recreational purposes as for these aches and pains.
I rode to work feeling fine, and [...]

I just read a quote in the San Jose Mercury News from Ben Manski, co-chair of the Green Party US, regarding the Green Party convention in Milwaukee next month:

It will be the only convention this summer that actually means anything.

It’s true. After all, Kerry and Bush have their nominations sewed up. But the [...]

Today I rode in my first Critical Mass. We rode from New Orleans to suburban Metairie where George W. Bush was having a fundraiser.

The main chant was: “No more Bush! No more war!” One sign said, “No more presidents.”

I agree with those sentiments, but I think a simpler anti-war message might [...]

One fun thing about my morning ride to work is checking the Jefferson Davis statue on Canal Street to see if it’s been defaced.
Looks like someone scored a major hit last night.

(The “Uproar” tag actually appeared the yesterday.)

A couple of weeks ago, PJ mentioned he’d recently tutored a mutual acquaintance of ours on some of the finer points of Web authoring.
“Yeah,” I said, “I’ve tutored him many times.”
“But I bet you’ve never gotten paid!”
And PJ pulled out his wallet. Sure enough, he had a personal check for $120. Then [...]

Gay people are getting married in Massachusetts today, and this straight, married man couldn’t be happier. I love weddings. In fact, the stories in the news today brought a tear to my eye. I can’t help but feel overwhelmingly positive about this development. Maybe I’m just starved for good news. [...]

There are two bills under consideration by the Louisiana legislature which have caught my interest. House Bill 1626 “prohibits wearing pants below the waist.” For obvious reasons, this bill has attracted the attention of people all over the country, and they are laughing at us. I even heard a segment on NPR [...]

Six months or so until our big presidential election. I’m going to be bold and predict Bush as the winner. This way, no matter what actually happens, I come out ahead. If Bush wins, I can say “told you so, knew it all along, saw it coming half a year ago.” [...]

Today, just after noon, a teenage boy was shot in the head just a block and a half from our house.

He’s dead now.
There have been so many shootings in the past 24 hours that this only merited 15 seconds on the nightly news. But since we live in the neighborhood, we know more than [...]

Our administrative assistant has affixed a “Harry Potter for President” bumper sticker to the top of her computer monitor.
She says a lot of people have commented that he’d be better than Kerry or Bush.

I’ve been off caffeine for six days or so. I feel generally run-down and tired, but I’m not, really. I seem to have the same amount of energy; it’s just my mood that’s tired. I’m a little grumpy and gloomy and irritable. I miss the sense of sharpness, a sense of [...]

Once I asked my dad what his favorite month was.
He thought about it and said, “Probably June.”
I found that I agreed with him. June in Indiana is a beautiful time of year. Late spring, early summer. School’s out, vacation begins. Even if you’re not in school, it’s easy to get a [...]

XY got a call last nite from “Crafting Coast to Coast,” which is a show for HGTV that is curently in production. Apparently they go around from city to city exploring people’s craft projects. They originally got turned on to XY through Greg “Pretty Pony” Der Arnanian.
Funny thing is, this is the third [...]

Here’s some things that happened over the last few days:
Got drenched to the skin on the way to work Friday morning. It rained real hard and it rained for a real long time. They cancelled Jazz Fest for the first time in thirteen years! I brought a change of clothes with me [...]