Weekend excitement

From the newspaper : -The awfulness of Penn Station is difficult to convey, but Lawrence Downes has done a fine job of it . -One step forwar...

A feast for the senses

Today, in the alleged quiet car, these two dudes behind me held forth, I mean held forth , almost the entire way from Penn Station to Prince...

The day thus far UPDATED

-Car and train trouble, both likely weather-related, but somehow made it to class on time. -Not just in time, but with time enough to inhal...

Serge Gainsbourg is not my style icon

Day 1 of 2 of oral exams. Most are today. Stamina so far so good, to be improved with (more) caffeine. Happier than usual not to be a Mormon...

Until further notice

It was Monday, October 29th in my French class (and all students showed up!), is Halloween in New Jersey, and is evidently November 5th on t...

Class, politics, class

All is back to normal-ish in these parts. Tree limbs are looking a bit less precarious, and I've calmed down some from my maniacal cooki...

Report from the woods

Mooching, legitimately, off some Ivy wireless. Still none of that at home, although it turns out I miss hot water much more. For the obvious...

About those napping Greek islanders

Well good for them . Olive oil, sure, wine, why not, longevity, OK. No goats'-milk for me, thanks unless it's been turned into a che...

Are you being served?

-The tipping wars have been rekindled , with a horde of commenters furious at a stingy blogger who had the gall to confess to only tipping ...

With age, the freedom to frown

Today I have: sat next to the smelliest person ever to sit in the NJ Transit quiet car; heard a slender female passerby of a certain age tel...

If I were dictator of NJ Transit, I would:

-Lower the prices by so very, very, much. -Insist on a week-long orientation in public transit, during which commuters ride the NYC subways ...

"[T]hey really cut out a lot of the hard work, time and sweat that I put into D.J.’ing."

I now have exactly the cold I should have seen coming given my invincible approach to public transportation (deciding hand sanitizer is all...

A full day

-Pastry success: this morning's croissant did not (as far as I know) make contact with the floor . Next stage of becoming an early-morni...

On having lost the capacity for embarrassment

Today, I insisted that I could totally feed and walk Bisou before leaving in the middle of the night (or so it feels like) to go on the bike...