• Girls, September 2010

    A quick update on the girls. M. is now a month into her real Catholic school experience. All continues to go well, although she is crankier in the morning than she was the first couple weeks. She has a BFF, and they’ve hosted each other for post-school playdates. Obviously a lot can change, but I keep thinking that my wife…

  • NFL Wrap

    If I’ve learned one thing following the Colts over the past seven seasons, it’s that you don’t overreact to how they look in the preseason. They’re a well-oiled machine and will always bring it when the games matter. So pay no attention if the defense is porous, the offensive line weak, the running game non-existent. Thus my confidence in picking…

  • Top Five Weekend

    I expected my weekend in Kansas City to be good. A surprising performance by the KU football team made it even better. First off, thanks to the R’s and B’s for hosting me last week. And thanks to Mary Y for insisting I attend her 30th birthday blowout. That alone would have made for a fine weekend. I was not…

  • NFL Preview – We’ve Seen This Before

    Another professional football season has arrived. I must log my guesses, um, picks for all to see. It is a required part of owning a blog. AFC East: Each year there is a team that gets too much hype, generally based on a small window of their previous season, rather than their entire body of work. Don’t the Jets feel…

  • Reader’s Notebook, August 2010, Part 2

    And now the books of August. Star Wars: The Lost Tribe of the Sith – John Jackson Miller. These sucked. They were actually four small mini-books strung together to tell another story in the endless Star Wars novel world. They were free, so I figured what the hell. Sometimes you get what you pay for. There was nothing compelling about…

  • Reader’s Notebook, August 2010, Part 1

    August was a busy month, reading-wise. I threw a wrinkle in my reading, as well, so the month gets two Reader’s Notebook posts. In Part 1, I discuss why I read what I read. Part 2 will cover the books themselves. I’ve begun running into the big downside of the Kindle: the expense. I had been rolling through books so…

  • Something To Get Excited About

    There’s something pretty cool going on just a couple hours from my house. The Cincinnati Reds have survived the summer and are poised to enter baseball’s final month with a comfortable lead in the National League Central. Some writers picked the Reds as a team with the potential to surprise last spring. But after they stumbled out of the gate,…

  • On Having Less

    During my summer blog redesign project, I added a number of design websites – both general design and web-specific – to my daily reading list. Through them, I’ve learned more about what I’ll call the Cult of Minimalism.1 Minimalist web design puts an emphasis on strong, simple design elements that easily convey a site’s message to the reader. That means…

  • Bringing The Old To The New

    Scene: A father and his three daughters are cruising in the family Swagger Wagon. Father is flipping through radio stations and passes the local retro station, which is playing DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night.” M: “Oooh, dad, turn it back.” Dad: “OK. You like this song?” M: “Yes! Is it the same man who sings the werewolf song?” D: Laughing…

  • Week One

    We survived week one of school. M. did fantastic, for the most part. We had a few challenges with afternoon pickup once she began full days, but those were all parental errors and we had smoothed them out by Friday. S. was off last week, so hopefully things continue as smoothly this week when I’m on my own. M. seemed…