b.rox

We finally got her surname correct on that pesky birth certificate. See, at the hospital they only permitted the mother’s name, the father’s name, or a hyphenation of the two. Dangerblond told me of that’s the law. So we knew we’d have to go through a legal procedure. It sure has taken a while to [...]

What’s that floating in the water? Yes, it’s a portable toilet! This picture was taken on the entrance ramp to the basement of the Lindy Boggs Medical Center on September 24, 2008. This is not Katrina flooding. Apparently all the Katrina water was pumped out. But the basment has filled back up with water since [...]

As noted by the inimitable Oyster, our only daily paper is raising its rates. As of October 1st, a subscription to the Times-Picayune will cost $16.00 per month. That seems like a lot. I certainly have many complaints I could lodge against the paper. Some of my more ardent activist friends refer to the paper [...]

Here’s the top ten referrers to this blog since, um, well whenever it was I installed this new stats package. adrastos.blog-city.com 274 michaelhoman.blogspot.com 185 librarychronicles.blogspot.com 154 righthandthief.blogspot.com 136 tanque.org 98 toulousestreet.wordpress.com 72 google.com/ig 71 mcno.org 66 flickr.com/photos/editor 56 howieluvzus.com 54 Respect!

I first heard the phrase “digital natives” at the New Media Consortium’s 2007 Regional Conference. I enjoyed the conference a great deal and found the majority of the sessions enlightening. However, there was one session in particular which fell way, way below the mark. I can sum up this presentation as follows: Kids today sure [...]

After Xy left for school this morning, I discovered Persephone had a fever. She also seemed to have a rattle in her chest, quite loud, every time she breathed. So I called our doctor. It was early, and her clinic wasn’t open yet. The voice message instructed me to hold the line, if the matter [...]

Today as I took the girl to school, I spotted a pile of furniture on the curb, on Iberville just past Jeff Davis. Flooded furniture. The flood was three years ago. And it struck me the houses here are like patrons at a party where poison punch has been passed. They stand for a while. [...]

It’s gone. So that only took three years. Check out the photoset.

I’ve often fantasized about organizing a cleanup of the Jeff Davis bike path. (For some reason I thought tribal drumming would provide a good accompaniment to the task.) It seems the Big Easy Roller Girls are actually doing it. Now I can fulfill two fantasies in one fell swoop.

The autumnal equinox takes place today at 10:44 AM Central Time. It seems to be like the autumnal equinox gets short shrift. The solstices are celebrated (Christmas, Midsummer) and of course the vernal equinox is the subject of an enduring myth. But the poor old autumnal equinox gets no traction in the popular mind. I [...]

You’re seven months old today. I’d heard the first three months, or the first six, might be the hardest, but as I’ve mentioned before you’ve been remarkably easy so far. This last month, your seventh, has been the hardest by far. You’ve been crankier than ever. The reason: Apparently you don’t like the feeling of [...]

What I’ve been listening to the most over the last week: Death in June Dead Can Dance Tzolk’in Zoviet France Radiohead Sven Grahn Alpha Blondy David & Steve Gordon Jonathan Richman Bohren & der Club of Gore And here’s a mix featuring all these artists via 8tracks:

My cousin Leslie and her family in Houston went to Austin for a wedding around the time of Ike; they are still waiting for power so they can return. But this news from Mom in Indiana threw me for a loop: The remnants of Ike hit Indiana pretty hard. Nothing compared to Texas, of course. [...]

It should be noted: These are not book reviews. I think of them more as reading notes.

I’ve been playing around with a relatively new music-sharing website called 8tracks. It allows you to create and share playlists legally. Here’s a silly little playlist I uploaded this morning: Using their nifty new Mac app I was able to upload this playlist directly from iTunes. It contains eight songs — one for each day [...]

I just learned that Coleen Salley, the “Grocery Cart Queen,” passed away yesterday. I never met her, but I did encounter her (and her krewe) on Mardi Gras, 2007, and I took this picture, which I offer now as a tribute: Rest in peace, Coleen.

I am 500 months old today. It’s been 500 months since the date of my birth. I have been alive for 500 months. I really don’t know how else to put it. It seems like a simple (if somewhat silly) concept, but some people seem to have difficulty grasping it. They ask: “What do you [...]

Next to my web browser, I guess iTunes is the most-used application on my system. Come to think of it, I may actually use iTunes more than my web browser. I use it to play music, at work and at home, all day and all night. I’m happy with it, but I view each new [...]

A cold front came through yesterday, pushing rain before it. Now the weather here is distinctly cooler and drier. The oppressive heat and humidity of summer is gone, at least for a little while. Furthermore, we’re over the hump of hurricane season. After the 10th of September, I think, the historical record indicates a dramatic [...]

Man, I thought it was rough when those bottom two teeth came in. Now there’s some dental action up top and the girl’s really been feeling it. When I picked her up Thursday the daycare staff said she’d had a “rough day” — her very first. I guess that’s why she had a little fever [...]