Recent Entries
Shooting Fish in a Barrel
I know it’s churlish to complain about customer care representatives – it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Really I need a higher class of com... read more
Conspicuous Happiness
Two insightful views on happiness from two (more or less) modern sages. This first is from Jonathan Haidt’s new book The Happiness Hypothesis. Des... read more
A Little Emergency Rant
I spent Sunday night in the Emergency Room, which prompted reflections on gender identity, existence, hot dogs, and the color yellow.I went in to the ... read more
Your Call is Important to Us
Hailing from the age of the dinosaurs, I still have a phone that plugs into the wall. This means that I had a whole complicated set of arrangements w... read more
The Most Hideous Time of the Year
It’s the most hideous time of the year, that is, the time of writing student recommendations.I won’t even start about the completely unqualified s... read more
I Eat My Words
You know how sometimes arrogant and self-satisfied people have this way of pontificating about what you ought to like? Many years ago I had a friend ... read more
In the Annals of the Unlikely
I got an e-mail recently headed YOU HAVE WON!!!!What are the chances that this could be a legitimate e-mail? Particularly with that many exclamation ... read more
The Grouchier Pedant
Two things that make me grouchy as heck today:1. Got this e-mail from a student:Hello Professor,I'm ---. We've only met once, and it was quite brief. ... read more
The Grouchy Pedant
I got an unsolicited e-mail the other day, headed "Transcription and Editng Services." (You will notice that there is a vowel missing from "Editng.")... read more
The Film Director Method of Cleaning House
Books tell you how to clean house, but mysteriously they seldom address the real crux of the matter, which is how to get yourself motivated in the fir... read more
