Costa Rica-Bound
Dec 24, 2005 in Travel
Tomorrow, excessively early, I’m off to Costa Rica for a bit more than a week’s vacation. I’ll be traveling to the Pacific Coast towns of Playa Tamarindo and Montezuma, maybe… Read on…
Tha Nogg
Dec 24, 2005 in Food
Egg Nog was quite the tradition in my family; I loved, my grandmother loved it, and, well, with those two powerful votes in favor, my parents would drink it too. But, add in a milk allergy and, starting a few years ago, a few glasses poured from a carton from the supermarket became nothing more than a nice memory. Read on…
Regiftification
Dec 23, 2005 in True Life Stories
Every year, thousands, if not millions, fall victim to the social faux-pas called “regifting.” These poor souls get gifts given to others, gifts which were unsatisfying to the original recipient and thus have been passed along to the next unwitting giftee. There is wholesale gift-related recycling in my family, but it’s not of the content of the brightly-wrapped boxes under each year’s tree; it’s of the brightly-colored wrapping itself. Read on…
RSS Feed Broken
Dec 23, 2005 in Meta
Yes, I know my RSS feed is broken. No, I don’t know why. I’ll figure it out when I get home from Costa Rica. Darn it, this was supposed to… Read on…
Symbiosis
Dec 22, 2005 in True Life Stories
My grandmother’s best friend is 97. My grandmother, who is quite mobile but mostly blind, is 93; Juanita* has limited mobility but can see better than most people half her age. They go out together, Juanita driving, my grandmother helping Juanita walk, then they have lunch together and gossip about people long gone, reminiscing together about the scandals and achievments that once excited and amused them. Listening to them, it’s like fans watching a favorite movie again, appreciating new details of every scene even as it’s replayed the forty-seventh time. Read on…
Cuisine Non Minceur
Dec 21, 2005 in Food
I know you all, my beloved readers, know me as Wade, but you can just call me fatty fat fat. That’s right, I’m portly, I’m rotund, I’m disgusting, I can no longer see my belt buckle, I am unattractive to the other sex and I’m now unable to fit into some of the coture in my closet. Read on…
The Wonder Of Coach Class
Dec 20, 2005 in Travel
It’s fairly well-known that I’m weird, but this common knowledge doesn’t necessarily extend to the realization that I actually prefer flying coach. Despite my bad knee, despite my long legs, despite my penchant for horribly overpacked carry-ons, I like being squeezed in like a sardine. Why? Well, it’s the company. You meet the most interesting people in coach. Read on…
The Inertia of Indolence
Dec 18, 2005 in
One thing about vacation: it’s tempting to follow the path of sheer indolence, but life generally expects some fairly high level of activity to complete socially-accepted activities. The other half of that is that, once one indulges that temptation towards indolence, there’s an intertia that virtually demands continuing — if not growing — levels of indolence. As Newton says, objects at rest stay at rest. Read on…
Mmmm, Ice Cream
Dec 16, 2005 in Food
Since I can’t eat cow’s milk, my life has been rather ice cream-free lately. Sure, there are soy- and rice-based substitutes, but, with a few exceptions, they’re pretty mediocre. My… Read on…
Attack of the Killer Cockatoo of Death
Dec 11, 2005 in Junior
Junior may have finally done it; he’s always been (like any cockatoo) a bit of a destroyer of precious posessions, but he may have finally destroyed the one thing I love more than him. Yes, that’s right, my bird ate TiVo. Read on…
Back When I Was Your Age, Sonny...
Dec 10, 2005 in True Life Stories
Actual conversation heard outside the Baja Fresh: Read on…
Camera Pr0n
Dec 9, 2005 in Photos
I have this theory that I have four types of readers: those who prefer true life stories, those who like to hear about food, those who like my photos, and those who come here for my technical articles from their searches on Google, etc. I know I haven’t provided much for my photo-focused readers lately, but, since Juniorbird.com is all about serving you and catering to your interests, I thought I’d put something together for you all. And that something is: my new 70-300mm telephoto. Read on…
Merry Xmas to Me!
Dec 7, 2005 in Food
Three years ago, I got a Sur La Table gift certificate for Christmas. I’d always meant to use it for cooking classes but I only managed to use it once and, as much fun as that one experience was, it hardly drained the gift card. Throughout the year since I’ve looked at the calendar and tried to make time for the classes I wanted to take, but I never seemed to be able to schedule them in. As it got closer to Christmas and I started thinking of food-related gifts for some of my friends, I started to feel guilty about my unspent gift card. After a few days of bouncing back and forth, I finally decided to blow the cards on kitchen stuff. After all, who doesn’t need kitchen stuff? Read on…
A Sudden Epidemic
Dec 6, 2005 in Otherwise Uncategorized
After years of thinking it was apocryphal, I’ve finally fallen victim to that most feared — and stereotypcial — affliction of suburbia: bellybutton lint. Yes, all of a sudden, after… Read on…
Dear Cingular
Dec 3, 2005 in Dear So-And-So
Thank you for upgrading my voice mail system. I very much appreciate that you managed to replace a simple, effective old system with something that is new, annoying, and not nearly as well-suited to the usage patterns of any conceivable user of your services. Read on…
How Did I Get This E-Mail?
Dec 2, 2005 in Otherwise Uncategorized
The following appeared in my inbox; note the school mentioned in the signature:
Read on…