As Far As You Know

Year Of The Dragon

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:19:13 -0500

Today is the Chinese New Year, marking the beginning of the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac. I was born in the Year of the Dragon, so hopefully this will be a sign of good things to come in 2012!

11/11/11

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 11:11:11 -0500

It's one louder.

The New Steve Jobs Biography

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:07:38 -0500

My copy of Steve Jobs arrived from Amazon this morning. (For the record, I ordered this when the publication date was announced, long before the death of the Apple executive.) I won't have time to do much more than leaf through it quickly before the weekend, though. Perhaps good reading while on the bus to NMH Saturday?

Airline Upgrades

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:58:26 -0500

A month or two ago Delta Airlines anointed me as a Silver Medallion member of its SkyMiles program. Not a bad deal, as it made me eligible for free upgrades to first class seating from time to time. I got such an upgrade Sunday between Atlanta and New Orleans. The problem, of course, is keeping them down on the farm after they've seen Paree! In other words, it's pretty hard to go back to coach class once you have a taste of first class. Today, my first segment back to Atlanta from the Big Easy I was one away on the upgrade list from great comfort. And now on the connection to Hartford, I narrowly missed the upgrade again. Then again, as Louis CK points out to those who whine about air travel, remember you are sitting in a chair in the sky! So no complaints.

The Guardian On iPad

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:50:17 -0500

I love that the difference in time zones means Tuesday morning's edition of The Guardian arrives on my iPad Monday night. So I get a late evening paper from Britain to read before bed. And the new iPad version of this newspaper is beautifully designed: a triumph of journalism in a digital format. The Guardian iPad edition is free for the first couple months after one downloads the app; i wonder if I'll be suckered into paying for it come December?

Has Palpatine Seized London?

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:56:44 -0500

Looks like London may have fallen into the hands of the Empire . . . and I don't mean the British Empire!

Fresh Tracks From Coldplay

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:02:44 -0500

New albums tend to be released on Mondays in the U.K. and on Tuesdays in the U.S., but I guess in the age of globalization and digital distribution, separate release dates no longer make much sense. So Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto, which I had pre-ordered, arrived on my MacBook Air iTunes this morning and simultaneously popped up on my iPad and iPhone 4S too, thanks to the iCloud/Lion/iOS 5 support for syncing such purchases.

Bourbon Street

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:49:29 -0500

I walked the length of Bourbon Street today and it was pretty lively on a Sunday afternoon, especially as the Saints were playing. My conclusion: Bourbon Street is all about loud music, neon signs, football memorabilia, strip clubs, and moronic souvenir T-shirts--in other words, heaven for the average 19-year-old American male.

Café Du Monde and the Beignet

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:49:38 -0500

One of the "authentic" experiences in New Orleans is sampling the beignets at Café Du Monde. For a few bucks you get three French doughnuts absolutely smothered in powdered sugar. (The other traditional item on the menus here is café au lait--no thanks!) A totally unhealthy treat, but anyone who comes here should try the beignets at least once.

Back To The Blog

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:39:10 -0500

So after about a year of neglect, I have resolved to return to a regular routine of posting to this blog. No particular reason for the time away, other than a busy day-to-day existence and some fatigue from a more or less daily habit of writing entries. Right now I am enjoying a bit of a getaway during the school fall long weekend break. I left Hartford early this morning to fly to New Orleans (via Atlanta) and have a couple days to explore the city and decompress from boarding school life. This being the digital age, it is easy to take work along with me, and I have some projects to tackle while here: finishing the stats and producing a highlights email from yesterday's cross country meet, making progress in The Odyssey for my grad school class at Harvard (and beginning the draft of a short paper due Thursday), getting back up-to-date in my French class after missing a few meetings this past week, tweaking my Modern Japan course syllabus for the closing weeks of the fall term, and prepping an AP political science course for the winter that I have not taught before. So anyway, stay tuned to this site and I'll aspire to produce occasional nuggets of insight about whatever tickles my fancy.

Wouldn't Have Guessed That

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:00:57 -0500

While the kids in my American Politics class were taking a test this morning, I stumbled across the "I Write Like" website and submitted a sample of my prose and here is the result:

I write like
J. D. Salinger

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Fire And Ice

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 08:46:08 -0500

This morning I watched the HBO documentary "McEnroe/Borg: Fire And Ice" and enjoyed the rarely-seen film clips and photos, as well as excerpts from the NBC feed of the classic 1980 Wimbledon men's singles final. Truly this was the golden age of professional tennis!

Streaming Sports Coverage

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:44:20 -0500

ESPN3 is offering terrific Wimbledon coverage over the Internet to supplement the traditional on-air programming on ESPN2. While away from the television, I can sit in my office and take my pick of virtually any court at the All-England Club and have a match--or up to four matches, in fact--on as I work. Since I moved a 27" iMac to my office desk, I can do other things on my MacBook Pro while the tennis plays in the background. Commentary is pretty solid, too, with the likes of John McEnroe and John Lloyd covering some of the men's matches. Here is a screenshot from a few minutes ago:

In Brightest Day . . .

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:46:58 -0500

Since I was on the other side of the Atlantic when Green Lantern came out stateside, I knew the movie had been getting mixed reviews, so I watched it tonight (in 2D, by the way) with appropriately lowered expectations. Good thing. The film is no great shakes, but not as horrible as some detractors would have you believe. It lacks a bit of heart--which often happens when the real star of the show is CGI visuals. And yet there were some nice touches, too. Maybe this will be like the 1979 Star Trek big screen debut: a set-up for a much better sequel?

Re-Entry

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:23:27 -0500

Ah, jet lag! Got home to Wallingford a bit after 6pm last night. Intended to head out for dinner and perhaps catch the new Green Lantern flick, but I crashed in my bed with the lights on by 6:30 and slept straight through for the next nine hours!