b.rox

There’s a lot of presidential poll data flying around these days, but I’ve noticed very little of it mentions the electoral college. That’s kind of dumb, considering we don’t directly elect the president, more’s the pity.
The Electoral Vote Predictor website breaks it down the way it needs to be done: electoral vote count. It currently [...]

It’s getting a little itchy from time to time. I’ve noticed the scab changes color when I bathe. It turns almost white.
This is the seventh day of healing. It really doesn’t look much different than it did two days ago. I assume the interesting stuff is going on underneath the scab now.
Xy and I made [...]

I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday.
Turns out he had a bunch of guests there for a big party, so I called back a little later and caught him just when the last guest had left.
Turns out it’s not just any birthday party… It’s his 70th birthday.
I had no idea.
I’m a bad [...]

Friend MF, who has been living and working in China for a few years now, recently sent a query to Xy via e-mail:

I’m working at a teachers’ college now, and a lot of my students are doctoral students in education. Could you write a little something about your life as a teacher, about issues [...]

The scab’s much better established now.

On Thursday the scab was still forming. It oozed and changed colors all day, and got sorer and sorer. By the time I got home I was running a slight fever. Now it’s much less tender. It hurts only when I stand up for a long time.

Pledge week began this morning on my local NPR affiliate. Their goal was to raise an entire day’s funds in just one hour. They did it, and then they shut up. I think that’s great, because I hate pledge week, and I’d gladly contribute more money if it meant fewer interruptions in programming. In fact, [...]

Xy had her sixth graders write poetry. They were to write cinquains, somewhat in the style invented by Adelaide Crapsey, but simplified: one word for the first line, two for the second, three, four, then back to the one word for the last line.
Here are three examples, which I offer — after some reflection — [...]

The wound on my knee is now completely scabbed over. It is sore as a motherfucker, especially around the edges where the skin that’s left has turned pink.

The North County Times is running a story titled “For local atheist, Southwest County no paradise” about an activist in California. I’m sure this is what many people have in mind when they think of an atheist: a guy with inflammatory bumperstickers who puts the kybosh on prayers at the city council meeting.
Yet it’s interesting [...]

Wiped out just as I started my morning jog — tripped over an uneven sidewalk and went down hard.

That’s my knee. Actually it’s not as bad as it might appear to be. Xy thought it looked fake, like a veggie bacon strip. My other knee and my elbow and hands are a little raw, but [...]

Xy and I were at Tyler’s for beer and 10 cent oysters — typical Monday night. We met an old-time local guy who had last set foot in the bar back in 1967, roundabouts the time I was being born. We talked about how things had changed since then. One thing he said that struck [...]

Christopher Reeve died yesterday.
He was an atheist.

Tonight I attended the first meeting of an eight-week anarchist study group organized by John Clark, a former disciple of Murray Bookchin. (It appears they are now arch-rivals.) The subject is the “History and Theory of Anarchism,” and it looks as if it will be quite interesting. I’m hoping to gain some insights that might [...]

The rain has not been constant. But almost. Turns out it’s Tropical Storm Matthew.
I’d said it rains a lot here in New Orleans. This is true in terms of inches (approx. 60″ per year) but we tend to have a fair amount of sunny days. We get torrential downpours, but we also get lots of [...]

If I was in this town hall debate tonight and I got to put a question to Kerry, this is what I’d ask:
Back when we were gearing up for the invasion of Iraq, and the drums of war were beating, I and just about everyone I knew could plainly see the whole thing was a [...]

It’s raining in New Orleans. Nothing unusual about that; we get half again as much rain annually as famously rainy Seattle. But it’s been dry here for a couple weeks, and this morning’s steady drizzle (which actually began last night) is forecast to continue for the next three days.
Strangely enough, rain rarely seems to interfere [...]

The school year usually starts with a flurry of activity and a burst of optimism. Then everybody gets in their groove and things chug along for a few weeks.
Now it’s mid-semester. Midterm exams are being given and graded. Faculty and students are beginning to feel the pressure of time — the semester is half over! [...]

I set up a blog for MF.
(She had tried using Blogger’s free hosting service, at my suggestion, but discovered that it’s blocked by the Chinese government.)

Xy’s string of bad luck continues…

On Monday she got a parking ticket while at the library, getting books for her students.
On Tuesday she got a black eye during Phys. Ed.
This morning she called me on her cellphone to say she’d gotten a speeding ticket just blocks from our house, on her way to work. Since [...]