My Annual Summer Injury

I spend most summers with my family on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.  This year, we haven’t spent much time at the “Lake,” but this hasn’t disrupted my pattern of yearly visits to the local hospital in Wolfeboro.  There was the summer with the broken neck (a smith machine fell over on me at [...]

I’m Likin’ Bing

While I’m addicted to search like most people, I’m not married to a particular provider.  I have a load of search engines in my Firefox search drop-down list which, conceptually, lets me choose the most appropriate one to get the fastest access to the best results.  That said, Google has been my default search [...]

Wrong Direction Parking

So, I was in Cambridge, MA last week and parked in a public lot while attending the TechStars Boston Mentor Dinner (really great group, BTW).  I searched the 10,000 little signs around the lot to find out if I needed to fill a meter somewhere and felt fairly secure that I didn’t [...]

Spring Haiku

Here in New England, the mercury in thermometers is reaching renewed heights and the great winter cleanup is taking place.  Seeing people poking at the ground with various forms of pointy sticks made me think of this haiku.

Winter turns to Spring.

Trading snow shovels for rakes,

man urges life back.

Special thanks to [...]

When I Grow Up . . .

Like many a household this time of year, mine is consumed with angst waiting to hear which colleges my kid has gotten into.  And like many parents in a similar situation, I’m caught by how the educational system in the US forces many kids to pick a path before they really [...]

Really, Really Short Stories

Perhaps the most famous piece of very short fiction is the story Ernest Hemingway apparently considered his best prose:

"For sale: baby shoes, never used."

Like most things Hemingway, the few words expand into a massive picture in one’s mind.  A real work of art and, in this case, very sad.

While cruising around [...]

Age Metrics

While I joke a lot about being old, I neither feel old nor think old.  A couple of hundred years ago, I’d be at the end of my life.  One hundred years ago, I’d actually be old.  Today, though, who knows?  I might actually still be young.  The story ain’t completely written ‘til it’s [...]

Bill Richardson’s Spanish Acceptance Speech

Yesterday, I listened to President-elect Obama’s nomination of Bill Richardson as Commerce Secretary.  Since I was just listening and wasn’t watching what was going on, I was very focused on the words used by both men and what was behind them.  First, I was struck by how casual the President-elect has become when talking [...]

Intelsat’s Marisat-F2 Decommissioned after 32 Years – How Long will Your Engineering Project Hold Up?

On October 29th, Intelsat Ltd. announced that their Marisat-F2 satellite, designed to provide communication for ships at sea and scientists on the South Pole, was finally dying after 32 years of service.  That’s pretty impressive.  What makes it even more impressive, though, is that it was originally only designed for five years of service [...]

James Bond in HD

Comcast is currently running an ad stating that they are offering up all 21 James Bond films in HD On Demand through November 30.  To entice you and me (yeah, like I need to be enticed to watch a James Bond film), they have made said advertisement totally gadget and “Q”-esque.  A must see [...]