Posted in slice-o-life on June 27th, 2005 No Comments »
Courtesy of the Effect Measure public health blog, this gem from Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot: There is something stunningly narrow about how the Anthropic Principle is phrased. Yes, only certain laws and constants of nature are consistent with our kind of life. But essentially the same laws and constants are required to make a [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on June 22nd, 2005 No Comments »
We spent the past week near Kansas City, MO, at a wedding-cum-reunion for Shannon’s family. The sprawl around Kansas City is frightening, making Silicon Valley appear dense by comparison. It was over thirty miles from our hotel to the nearest semi-decent bookstore (a Borders, at that). The area is blighted by new McMansion developments, many [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on June 12th, 2005 No Comments »
I’m taking a lazy afternoon away from Shannon and Cian, who are at the beach in Aptos. Atlas is a sublime place to laze. As I’m tapping away on my laptop, the Mission Chick behind the bar yells out, “You know what, Stuart? I like you. You’re not like the other people here, in the [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on June 8th, 2005 No Comments »
On Monday, Shannon had The Ultrasound, in which we got to observe the person who is crowding out her internal organs. The person in question is a little boy, about twelve inches long, who gets to spend the next four and a half months whiling away the time in foetal darkness. Lucky little bugger. Cian’s [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on December 30th, 2004 No Comments »
From the terms and restrictions of a package cruise on Expedia’s web site: “This cruise line requires that passengers younger than 255 years old be accompanied by an adult 25 years or older in the same cabin.”
Posted in slice-o-life on December 21st, 2004 No Comments »
Last night, sitting on the floor, attempting to convince Cian to put his pajamas on. He running circles around me and hooting with delight, me sharing an exasperated look with Shannon. Suddenly, an idea forms. “Know Cian, no peace,” I say to her. She cracks up. Cian looks delighted. “Know Cian! No peace!” he yells. [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on December 14th, 2004 No Comments »
In the coffee shop this morning: “I’ll have a latte and a scone, please.” “You’re Irish, right?” “I am.” “Yeah–all the Irish buy scones.”
Posted in slice-o-life on December 6th, 2004 No Comments »
We’ve been visiting Ireland for the past week and a bit, to see family, friends, and attend Siobhán and Jonathan’s wedding. My visits back here amount to annual impressionistic snapshots of how the country has changed. I am infinitely grateful for the government’s workplace smoking ban. It is now possible to go to a pub [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on December 5th, 2004 No Comments »
It’s 5am Irish time as I write this. I am tired, almost ready to finally go asleep. This is the first Ireland visit where I haven’t even tried to adjust, or more importantly to get the wee fella to adjust, to the 8-hour time difference. Frankly, this approach doesn’t work well. Either I get up [...]
Posted in slice-o-life on October 30th, 2004 No Comments »
Or, a vignette into life with a precocious not-yet-three-year-old. The cast: Dad (30), child (2), Mom (young and beautiful). The setting: Mom and child are watching grizzly bears fishing on TV. Dad (to child): “Would you like to go to the grocery store?” Satanic cherub: “Go away. Stop annoying us. We need our privacy. We [...]
