My brother has posted his thoughts on last night’s rioting in Vancouver. I think we’re mostly on the same page about how this mess came about: the riots happened because people expected a riot to happen. The anarchists and the assholes showed up, dragged a few fence-sitting drunkards in with them, and the party was [...]
Vancouver Riots
June 16, 2011
Taking a Five-Year-Old to Paris
April 13, 2011
Ruby and I returned yesterday from a 12-day trip to Paris (with a dogleg to London). The vacation was amazing: Ruby is an energetic, enthusiastic, resilient and amiable travel partner. Planning a trip like this with Ruby was a little daunting. I was excited to take her away to a foreign culture and experience it [...]
Who We Are
November 7, 2010
Ruby and I stand on the warm sand beside the ocean, the sweet swells breaking mildly before us. I crouch before her, get her attention, and tell her this: When you enter the water, walk straight out. As that first wave swirls around your knees reach down and grab a handful of that foamy stuff and [...]
On Poppies
November 10, 2007
I spotted a poppy pin lying on the ground today. Serendipitous! Poppies are a Canadian tradition — nobody wears them here — and the pin was probably accidentally dropped by a Canadian shopper taking advantage of the exchange rate. I’m excited to be able to celebrate Remembrance Day properly. In the US it’s Veteran’s Day; [...]
10 out of 10
November 10, 2007
An article in today’s paper discussed your carbon footprint. They talk about some cars, and how each one gets an EPA “greenhouse gas score” out of 10 (higher is better). A GMC Yukon gets a 3 out of 10; a Prius gets 10 out of 10. A perfect score? For a car which only reduces [...]
Swarthy Choice
November 2, 2007
There’s an ad on the bus warning everyone to be vigilant of stray packages. These ads are sad and ultimately destructive of the society they’re supposed to protect. I wish we could learn to think more rationally about risk. But anyway, that’s not what prompted this post. The ad has a picture of a suitcase-like [...]
Ruby’s 2nd Hallowe’en
November 1, 2007
Ruby had a good time. She loved her costume and walked from house to house like a pro. She quickly figured out that it was all about the candy, even though she’s never really had any candy before. “Trick or Treat” is still a mouthful for her, but at least she said please, thank you, [...]
Steve’s Rules For Hallowe’en
October 31, 2007
Carving silhouetted pictures into a pumpkin is lame. Pumpkins should be faces. Costumes which place a head on top of your head are not allowed. Costumes which are not really costumes but instead just a big bag of walking product placement are not allowed. If you want to be a Power Ranger, then be one [...]
How the mighty have fallen
April 20, 2007
The NHL playoffs may be all-consuming up in Canada, but to get a sense of how far hockey has dropped off the radar here in the US, let me present the lineup for the channel that is showing the majority of the games: 4:00pm: major indoor soccer league 6:30pm: professional bull riding 8:00pm: NHL playoff [...]
Don’t Think Pink
November 30, 2006
We’re anti-pink in our household. It’s not just that we don’t like the color (which, for the most part, we don’t). It’s also one front in our battle against the princessification of our daughter. We want Ruby to be an independent thinker. We want her to experience every color of the rainbow, and then decide [...]