tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1162672009-03-01T18:26:24.386-05:00Nednoreply@blogger.comBlogger374125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-17597386101116166342008-03-30T16:50:00.002-04:002008-03-30T17:06:30.638-04:00

Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird? Good question. I have been fortunate to see the bobolink a number of times here in Monroe County, most memorably at the Clear Creek Trail, where several bounced around in the trees above the bend in the river. I'd hate to see them go away. Skep has been kicking around an Indiana-only diet; this would be another of the good consequences. I hope he tries

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-17319142176506199572008-03-16T22:02:00.002-04:002008-03-16T22:13:28.216-04:00

Hi. Had an absolutely great time in Cancun with my mom and Becky. Usually, vacation with us means backpacks, tents, friend's couches, etc. "Posh" and "pampered" rarely come into the game. This was clearly how the other half lives. It was truly a vacation, in which everything was covered and provided. Quite, nice, actually. We did escape the resort to head to Chichen Itza for a day, and J

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-35643851496518090102008-03-04T19:20:00.003-05:002008-03-04T20:01:56.588-05:00

E. Gary Gygax died today. There's some controversy about who should share the credit for creating Dungeons and Dragons. Dave Arneson was clearly involved and probably should be noted as well, and there are definitely others. I guess it's a little like Stan Lee versus Ditko and Kirby. Stan and Gary just had better PR agents, I guess. What are geeks gonna do? I haven't rolled the dice in a

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-8382582373783734682008-02-18T19:02:00.002-05:002008-02-18T19:37:36.115-05:00

Last night was the 14th Annual Soup Bowl Benefit in Bloomington. The proceeds ($70K last night alone) go to the local food bank. It's such a great idea--you pay $25, and you get to pick out a donated bowl made by a local potter, and fill it up with soup from local restaurants. J and I have been going for years and our cupboard is filled with several unique bowls. Actually, maybe they need to

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-69922926084799014812008-02-04T11:18:00.000-05:002008-02-04T11:33:26.909-05:00

Uncertainty in the primaries dangles the tantalizing notion that there still may be a decision at hand when the race comes to Indiana in early May--but I won't get my hopes up. We don't elect presidents here in the Hoosier state, and there's no reason to start now. That said, I think I am on the Obama bandwagon now. I was hoping Edwards would come out ahead (and still like Kucinich), but Obama

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-22070409147366907642008-01-23T09:15:00.000-05:002008-01-23T09:19:55.158-05:00

My wife turns up her nose at cruddy coffee, and our pals out west are perfectly snobbish about the whole affair, so I am curious to hear what they say about siphon coffee. It sez there's some available in P-ville, so let's get some man-on-the-street feedback, dearies.Busy, busy, busy here in Hoosier land. But I do want to say congrats here to my sister Natalie and her new husband Craig, who were

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-35122854396973577752008-01-12T12:19:00.000-05:002008-01-12T12:33:05.171-05:00

I don't want to leave the discussion of presence and bread aside, but I have to share this story and video from last night. I left the house around 6p to go to class. Jennifer had started a fire and planning to curl up with a book all evening. We had recently had some work done on our chimney--most notably installing a cap up top--so Jennifer was quite excited to get to use the fireplace again

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-10277182848348491852008-01-09T08:57:00.000-05:002008-01-09T09:03:37.371-05:00

I seem obsessed with the weather these days, I know. Maybe it’s part of growing older. We had temperatures in the high 60s/low 70s the last few days, followed by thunderstorms. In January. The amount of rain we had was phenomenal for this time of year. They always say, “If this were snow, we’d have four feet!” I don’t know about that. But it was really wet yesterday. My basement is

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-7209059841631771952008-01-03T10:19:00.000-05:002008-01-03T10:33:11.477-05:00

We've finally received the first arctic blast of the year, with temps down in the single digits, and wind chills even lower. This first one is the one I look forward to, as I always forget just a little the bracing feeling of violation when I step out to get my papers in the morning, with the insides of my nose looking like the windshield of my truck parked in the street. Yikes. This one won't

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-67360067947498901332007-12-21T09:06:00.001-05:002007-12-21T09:10:11.264-05:00

Floyd is in trouble because he ruined a basket J was going to fill with fruit and give to her staff. Still, cats are better than many actual people, and are always better than dogs. Here's more about how cats are saving NY's delicatessens. You go, Oreo.

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-46078981685440619152007-12-18T10:34:00.000-05:002007-12-18T10:44:51.244-05:00

A colleague at my former high school sent this out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9oIts focus is college students, but it certainly applies to high school etc. Some of these sentiments are why a friend of ours is working to open a Bloomington branch of of this charter school:http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=26914...but I also not sure I think the notion of changing

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-19082222743593252572007-12-16T10:54:00.001-05:002007-12-16T10:55:22.359-05:00

Ned sez this might make my comments work again. I ain't too jazzed about this template, but until the content around here is better and more consistent, who am I to complain?

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-71509421486839141542007-12-06T13:50:00.000-05:002007-12-06T13:54:30.895-05:00

A while back, Peptide wrote about his new love of steel-cut oats—and with good reason. Tasty, unprocessed, easy-to-find in local stores, good at lowering cholesterol…The only drawback, of course, is the cooking time. You either have to bring it to a boil and let it steep overnight (and still have to reheat it the next morning), or you have to let it simmer for 20 minutes in the morning as you

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-91868133680171072812007-11-26T19:04:00.000-05:002007-11-26T19:22:33.950-05:00

The first--and only--concert I was never allowed to go to see was Quiet Riot--because my dad wanted to know more about them before he let me go. I had the foresight to show him the "Metal Health" video, which pretty much ended that notion. Bummer. I was never too clever back then.Well, it looks like Kevin Dubrow has moved to the great arena in the sky. Real bummer. I mean, what a cool band.

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-75237047070419273922007-11-02T11:08:00.000-04:002007-11-02T11:11:24.631-04:00

...are always hard for me to get any work done. And I have got work to do, don't get me wrong. I just keep finding ways to avoid it. It's really curved pattern--Mondays I start slow and get ramped up by Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday are always super productive, and then Friday the wind leaves the sails. Am I the only one?

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-39557804014588940412007-11-01T10:36:00.000-04:002007-11-01T10:42:31.828-04:00

(I hope). Thanks to Ned for fixing the update feature, but I certainly don't need to be taking up all that space on the links page.Nope. Didn't work. How do I make a title, Ned?

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-2574869377914888512007-10-27T00:51:00.000-04:002007-10-30T08:14:40.230-04:00

The law shifts, and educators watch, and wonder... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/education/27specialed.html?_r=1&hp&oref=sloginI don't know how to respond to this piece. My first voice says to ask our society to take the burden off of public schools, either through increased early intervention funding or by funding special education at the rate indicated by the law passed in 1975. Don't

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-36434219506173180422007-10-23T14:17:00.000-04:002007-10-23T14:18:02.530-04:00

The Dalai Lama is in town again. The city put a display of Tibetan art and cultural artifacts in the City Hall atrium to celebrate his visit. At least one piece contained Buddhist content, as you can imagine. So the next day, some folks from a conservative church nearby came down with some Ten Commandment tablets and left them there, demanding equal time. The city people took them down, and

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-86882585735760153772007-10-08T14:17:00.000-04:002007-10-08T14:21:21.416-04:00

I don’t sleep well in general. Sundays are particularly bad. Lucinda Williams was only partly right. It’s not just hard to make it through Sundays—it’s also closing them down and turning off the ol’ thinker. So I try to be fairly regimented; I don’t sleep late on Sunday morning, don’t eat/drink too late in the evening, go to bed at a regular time, read something good but not exciting. You

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-12742244662406388492007-07-19T10:10:00.000-04:002007-07-19T10:20:34.079-04:00

Happy July! Had a great time out in Portland--the wedding was lovely and engaging, and I was honored to be part of Pat's entourage as he enters married life. I adore Rachel, and I know the two of them will be happy for years to come. These events are mostly marked by the great chance to see so many folks whom I miss terribly, and this trip was no exception. I am humbled to have so many great

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-75409710389120330512007-06-22T14:54:00.001-04:002007-06-22T14:58:34.114-04:00

So here is one of my new nephews about two months ago. Finn and Henry came a little early, but they are quite healthy now...and getting bigger. We forgot the camera last time we went, but we'll fix that next time. Go to my album to see more pix...Also, Gentleman Caller is playing with Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos at the Vogue next Friday (the 29th). Tix are online...should be plenty of

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-39334521924627930692007-01-10T15:44:00.000-05:002007-01-10T15:53:37.042-05:00

Hi. Long time, no posting. Probably won't post again for a while, if my trends hold up. My main reason to be here is to link to this great address Bill Moyers gave in October to the Council of Great City Schools. It really hits on much of what I think about schools, and this country in general. It's long, but you should read it anyway, because I said so.It was thoroughly grand seeing so

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-1161975946425193042006-10-27T14:49:00.000-04:002006-10-27T15:05:46.433-04:00

On Fridays at South High School, it's fairly common for music to be piped through the PA during passing periods. It's more common on "big game" days, and the music tends to be of the "let's get pumped up" variety (as opposed to the E. Costello "Pump It Up" variety). I generally try to ignore it, but I can't honestly say that I take issue with the idea of music in the halls--generally. Recently

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-1154021993478451682006-07-27T13:34:00.000-04:002006-07-27T13:39:53.543-04:00

Has anybody ever been to Ann Arbor, Michigan? J and I are heading in that direction for a few days this weekend, and would gladly take any recommendations? Otherwise, no major excitement here. Summer winds itself down early this year, but it seems like some of the old guard will be heading in around the 27th of August to extend things a bit. I'll look forward to seeing all them, including

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116267.post-1153485673477793042006-07-21T08:18:00.000-04:002006-07-21T08:42:33.273-04:00

Ned links to yesterday's statement from our local school board and superintendent announcing his negotiated resignation. The H-T has a story, but it's password protected--I think Ned has been keeping some of these stories on file; maybe he can tell us where to go (ahem.). At any rate, I find this to be a situation in which there are nothing but losers. I personally found the superintendant to

JimmyRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10679859975494977142noreply@blogger.com0