Yesterday night I stayed up too late reading Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, the first in the Sally Lockhart trilogy of mysteries. Today I finished Vernor Vinge's The Peace War. Early on in …

"Which Side Are You On" is one of the very few things about which Leonard and I conversed on the ride home. I started it with my accidental mix-up of the (false?) dichotomies: "They say …

Back in NorCal, after a bad drive: lots of traffic and a passenger (Leonard) who couldn't talk because his stomach hurt. Now to start packing for my impending move...

For some reason it's more satisfying to meet someone who dislikes the same widely-liked thing that I dislike than to meet someone who likes the same widely-disliked thing that I like. I found this out …

Leonard is still ill. On the up side, he's almost finished Mark Twain's wonderful The Innocents Abroad, I finished Mikahil Bulgakov's off-the-rails The Master and Margarita, Adam and Kim came over for a short personal …

Leonard and I went to a wedding yesterday, a short but moving ceremony in which his friends Adam and Kim got married. Congratulations and best wishes! Unfortunately, Leonard and I had to leave the reception …

I'm reading The Master and Margarita, which is quite fun, and which mentions the Solovki Islands, which instantly endeared it to me. However, one incident in the story moves me to both remember an episode …

Overheard on BART on the way to SF Pride: A man, with the woman he's dating: "We share a Salon.com subscription. It's good." Also, the same man detailed how his girlfriend has "good car karma" …

Analogies I discovered yesterday: I have, for no good reason, a stuffy nose and occasional sneezing. Once in a while the nose-blowing gets kind of yucky, like scooping skeins of scum out of the fish …

My Independence Day Story: I woke up earlier than I had to, as per usual on days when I anticipate something big. I listened to some DDT while getting ready, which was easier since I'd …