A Very Happy Thought

There is some conventional wisdom that experience brings a certain necessary cynicism. That having seen it all before removes the shine from life. That there are always some disappointments, and they accrete over time into a dull patina between us and our experience of the world. Me, I think that’s certainly understandable, but not necessary. And today, I think that… Read more →

From Russell’s Autobiography

I am learning much about growing old. Thirty-five years ago I was lately married, childless, very happy, and beginning to taste the joys of success. Family appeared to me as an external power hampering to freedom: the world, to me, was a world of individual adventure. I wanted to think my own thoughts, find my own friends. … I felt… Read more →

Frii Time

Not a ton of time for blogging tonight, due to the little birthday presentTechnically not until next Monday. I bought for myself: a Wii with some accessories and a couple of games. This is the first console I’ve ever owned. From childhood, when I visited friends to play Atari or Intellivision (I did eventually get a Vic 20, which was… Read more →

Nemi

Two months ago I had never heard of Nemi. I had no idea that she was apparently known all over Europe, and especially a hit with her Norwegian countrymen, and across the UK. And then I was browsing through Previews looking for stuff to order at my local comic shopI try to always do a pass through the “back” of… Read more →

Monday Misc. Music

To help me get through another annoying Monday, I have composed a short playlist of five songs that I like, which bear no relationship to each other whatsoever. Additionally, I am reasonably certain that anyone reading this will most likely not have heard any of these songs, and I can state with some certainty that no one reading this will… Read more →

Learning Google Gadgets

I decided tonight to learn how to write a Google gadget. I figured something simple, like a configurable RSS feed reader (with a little shiny chrome) would probably be enough to learn the skeleton of what I would need to know. So I whipped up a gadget for the Shadow Unit feed, since I’m still chewing over the first episode… Read more →

I mean it: Go read this.

You may recall my mention earlier of how excited I was at the announcement of Shadow Unit? Well, the “first episode” is now live on the site, and I encourage you in the strongest possible terms to go and check it out. If you’re a book person, think of this as a free new Emma Bull story for you to… Read more →

En Passant

I’ve got a three-year-old arriving in half an hour, and I’ve got a remote controlled car that I’ve just assembled, so I don’t have a lot of time for blogging today. Let’s see how many of my 20 or so “quickies” I can get through, in passing, before she gets home… Recent experiments with Hemmingway‘s recipe for Death In The… Read more →

If I can find chestnuts…

It appears that I failed to get tickets to the Savour Food & Wine show before it sold out. Consequently, it appears I will not be getting to taste: Slow roasted pork ribs with mango salsa, Buttermilk stilton biscuit with roasted duck and mini doughnuts with warm mocha chocolate Shaved Smoked BBQ Brisket on Rosemary Crouton with Grainy Mustard Aioli… Read more →

Musings In Advance

When I turned 20, I was one of the youngest of my group of friends. I had watched them all make a big deal out of it, and I laughed. 20 was no problem. When i turned 30, I was one of the youngest of my group of friends., although I had made a number of friends who were substantially… Read more →

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada
This work by Chris McLaren is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada.