b.rox

Yesterday Xy’s school informed her that she would be attending a workshop today, rather than teaching, so she had to stay late making plans for a substitute. This morning she felt so poorly she decided to stay home. She almost never takes a sick day. Actually she’s been sick all month, but she keeps working, [...]

So the daycare calls me at 10:15 this morning to let me know the girl somehow bumped her nose on a shelf, pretty hard. Even after the blood stopped flowing, she would not stop crying. They suggested maybe I should come by, maybe she needed to see a doctor. I explained I didn’t have the [...]

I was putting up posters last week for the Beyond Jena forum. I thought to myself, “New Orleans East always gets left out of the mix these days. I’m going to start out there.” So I drove out there and started looking around for a little coffeeshop or some such where I could put a [...]

I was recently castigated for not posting enough cute baby pictures here. Hopefully that will assuage my critics for the time being. The girl’s just learned to stand up on her own for a few seconds, but alas I haven’t managed to snap a picture of that yet. I should also give a shout out [...]

We are gearing up for the Beyond Jena forum on Saturday. We’ll be closing registration soon, but there is still a little room left, so if you want to attend please hurry up and register. We just reached our maximum capacity and registration is now closed. I’m moderating the first panel, “The Rise of Blogging [...]

Thanks to my friend Jason Neville for bringing this choice piece of research to my attention: “We put rats in relatively large areas with objects and routes resembling those in Manhattan,” explains Prof. Eilam. The rats, he found, do the same things humans do: They establish a grid system to orient themselves. Using the grid, [...]

I was tagged with one of those viral memes that I recall were ricocheting around the blogosphere a few years back. But this one happened on Facebook, and the difference is that on Facebook I’m connected to some old college and high school friends who aren’t necessarily bloggers and who don’t read this blog. I [...]

A new restaurant has opened on Bienville at N. Rendon, just a couple blocks from our house. Of course Xy and I went to check it out as soon as we noticed, and as it turns out we were there on opening night. Ed’s Sandwich Shop is nothing fancy. It’s down-home cookin’ on the real [...]

You make eleven months today. I just made 42 years myself. Such a difference. Every month is a milestone for you, but I can’t even get excited about my annual birthday anymore. Still I try to cherish each day. I’m well aware of the fragility of life. An old friend’s father just died in a [...]

It’s stunning for me to realize: Today is a great day in American history. I can recall plenty of dark days. September 11th and Hurricane Katrina come immediately to mind. But I’ve been racking my mind to come up with a day on which I felt a sense of pride like today. Can’t think of [...]

Every year I see further evidence that Dr. King’s legacy is not being honored so much as perverted. I got this spam e-mail last week advertising an event in downtown New Orleans: You really need to view the full-size original to soak in every little detail. That the ad refers to “the King” and uses [...]

I don’t like to make a big deal out of my birthday. I kind of agree with the brilliant Patton Oswalt, that you really only get about twenty or so legitimate birthday parties in your life, mostly when you’re a kid, and also the big decade markers. But when you turn 42? Who cares? I [...]

It’s my birthday today. So, a quick quiz. What do I have in common with the Superbowl, the Krewe of Endymion, Fairport Convention and electronic ATMs?

I’m feeling better, though by no means 100%, and I’m back at work today. Ironically, as I’ve gotten over my cold, the weather here’s colder than ever. Yes, a cold front swept through overnight, and it’s mighty chilly in New Orleans. (Strangely enough our car has started without problems despite the recent cold weather.) How [...]

Perhaps I spoke too quickly yesterday. This is feeling like regular full-blown cold. I stayed home again today, but I think I am over the worst of it and expect to be back tomorrow. By special request, here’s instructions for making chicken soup, Xy style. This is simple, crude and effective. Take a bunch of [...]

My sore throat of a couple days developed into something that seemed more like a cold last night, so today I am staying home, resting, hydrating, and eating plenty of Xy’s patented chicken soup. Seems like I’ve had lots of little ailments over the last year that seem like mini-colds — a little briefer and [...]

I mentioned earlier that I was working on the Beyond Jena forum, which is rapidly approaching on the last day of this month. We’re still working on some loose ends, but the event is coming together and I have every reason to believe it will be a success. I’m excited about this because it brings [...]

Rather than express my obligatory outrage over Bush’s remarks yesterday on Hurricane Katrina, I’ll simply link to Darwin Bond Graham’s rather excellent rebuttal.

Once again, these are not reviews, just some scattered reading notes. Title: 334 Author: Thomas M. Disch Published: 1974 Like Nova, this is a good novel by an author capable of greatness. I admire Disch, and was saddened when he took his life last year. I have a collection of his stories, entitled Fun with [...]

Somehow last week got away from me, and I failed to record some happenings here. For example, on Thursday morning the car refused to start again. We waited ten minutes and then it started up fine. (Well, almost fine. Xy still couldn’t get it to start so I tried, and succeeded. Therefore Xy drove to [...]