Category: long story short

Christian and Jesse Garrett Originally uploaded by jonl. The party itself was kind of like a bad college mixer, with kegs of Miller Lite and a silly cover band in a large cement warehouse loading dock. I did have the chance to chat (or shout) with some interesting people there. This picture was taken by…

I’ve been jotting down a partial list of the people I’ve been meeting (some old friends, some for the first time) in the halls and at the parties here in Austin. I’m sure I’m forgetting various cool somebodies and I’ll update the list when my memory coughs up new names (and when I go through…

The telegram is dead: Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative.

This sentence structure may not really deserve to be criticized, but it is still always fun to misread: Philip Jackson, who studies brain systems responsible for empathy at the University of Laval in Quebec City in Canada, said he found the sex differences intriguing and worth following up on. Article

“In 2004, the USA executed more people than any country except China, Iran and Vietnam. But last year’s 59 executions were down 40% from a peak in 1999.” USA Today There is twice the chance of death in a bad year. This kind of giddy predilection used to be compared to hem-lines, Power Ties, and…

B landed safely in London and sent me email from her hosts there. I’ll call her mom and dad today to let them know she got there ok and has had a chance to rest and relax before her strenuous trip to Sicily. (Pout.) I’ve been watching a bunch of movies that I don’t think…

I don’t know what’s in the air but for the last two days my eyes have been dry and itchy. I’m trying not to be irritable about it and I’m trying not to rub my eyes, because that’s just been making it worse. Next I’ll scratch my cornea with an eyelash or something. Too melodramatic?

What makes someone park their big-ass 4×4 across two spaces clearly marked “COMPACT” in the parking lot of my office building? Probably the same thing that would make someone write ASSWIPE on a post-it and put it under their windshield wiper facing in.

Traffic was light today on the way to San Mateo, so my commute took only about 35 minutes instead of the usual 40 to 50. First Sunday of the summer. I snapped this photo from my window with my new phone (just switched from Verizon to Cingular and will save money in the process).

Not that I can take any credit for it, but Extractable has a spanking new web site launching today with a slicker look and some updated content. Congratulations to the crew who did the redesign!

B and I can never cram a full celebration into one single day a year, so we like to celebrate birthday months, with gifts and special events appropriate at any time for a loosely defined month surrounding the birthday in question. B’s birthmonth got off to a good start this past weekend with a wonderful…

A few weeks ago when I was in New York for the PDF conference, Halley Suitt (rhymes with Sally Root) was offering to give tarot readings at the cocktail party the night before the conference. I’ve always been a fan of divination and the subconscious so I asked her to read me. Mary Hodder took…

A few excerpts from The Friday Flush at the Whiskey Bar: Talk Left notes the release (in the now standard late Friday document dump) of a Pentagon report confirming at least five different cases of Quran desecration at the Guantanamo Gulag, including kicking, stepping and pissing (supposedly by accident) on the book — but not…

Twice in the past two days I’ve been mistaken for Craig Newmark. It’s kinda flattering in a way. Maybe he and I share a sense of style?

I’m jetbluin’ it to JFK later today for PDF 2 on Monday and I’m trying to figure out a few last-minute packing decisions. It looks like it will be mildly warm and rainy while I’m there, so I’ll pack my raincoat. I guess I’ll bring my leather jacket since it won’t be too hot and…

Up out of my sickbed yesterday I ran down to Lake Shore Avenue to pick up some Peet’s coffee to send to New York to arrive there before me and to grab a light-baked Arizmendi pizza for dinner. Police cars and an ambulance had the street blocked off, which made crossing easy for once. The…

It’s also 5/5/5, eh… kewl! I’ve still got a nasty headcold, makes me want to sleep a lot. The Mediajunkie server had a major crash the other day, but thankfully our fantastic sysadmin, Jeff Tiedrich managed to replace the munged drive and preserve everything we care about and transfer it all over. Now I’m in…

I’ve really been enjoying reading new stuff from Levi Asher nearly every day now that LitKicks has an subscribable feed. His piece today called Found Poetry reminds me how I always care what the text is everywhere. I don’t like web addresses that have “template.php?query=splunge” in them. I like the words to make sense, to…

Maybe I deserve to be struck down after a nearly weeklong run of bliss and fine weather in New Orleans but I find myself coughing up something nasty and feeling like napping today.

B and I are headed down to NOLA for our annual Jazz Fest pilgrimage tomorrow, and none too soon, given how stressful life has been for both of us, but especially B, lately. Last year I ended up not posting any of my notes from the fairgrounds, but the year before I posted a lot…