Category: Personal

  • A Modest Proposal: just do away with “marriage” as a legal concept altogether

    I support gay marriage unequivocally.  There is no however.  Gay and lesbian couples should have all the same rights as my wife and I do, and it’s a shame on the United States that this still hasn’t happened. Right now, the Supreme Court is dancing on the head of a needle with two different cases…

  • Is there life after Harry (Potter)?

    I’m Single-Dadding it for a few days whilst Kathi is teaching down in L.A., and our seven-year-old son just made me so proud that I must share. Post school, post Tae Kwon Do, post dinner (pizza, because Dad’s a little under the weather and doesn’t want to cook), I offered him the chance to finish…

  • Cathedral, or “When My Pack Rat Tendencies Come in Handy”

    I surfaced from a recent spelunking expedition through boxes in our garage with “Cathedral, The Game of the Medieval City,” a strategy game that I discovered at a Renaissance Faire somewhere between 25 and 30 year ago, bought, played, loved and eventually stuffed into a box during a move… probably to my first year in…

  • Everybody’s a Muggle in Rowling’s “A Casual Vacancy”

    As I type these words I have reached page 160 of J. K. Rowling’s new novel, “A Casual Vacancy,” so I’m about one third done and have made enough progress to know that I’ll finish the book and that I can draw early conclusions. Note: there are no plot spoilers here past the first five…

  • Short Post: ToodleDo printing woes…

    Oh ToodleDo, Oh ToodleDo, you know I love you for your sensuous tagging and sorting, for your alluring ease of task capture, and for your promiscuous spreading of my tasks across the cloud to computer, laptop, tablet and smart phone alike– you saucy service, you.  I’ve trumpeted about my love for you here, and verily…

  • 11 “Change Your Life” Productivity Apps & How to Use Them

    Note: I’ve revised and updated this post here. Over the last year or two I’ve been tweaking the suite of applications and services I use to keep my head above water– here are my 11 “Change Your Life” apps and how I use them. Please tell me about new ones in the comments. In alphabetical…

  • Mom for a Day. Oy Vey!

    My wife Kathi left to teach in L.A. this morning and so I became the POD (Parent on Duty), also known as “Substitute Mom.” That was less than 12 hours ago & I’m totally frazzled. Unlike most of my posts, this has nothing to do with media– think of it as highly individualized anthropology.  Cue…

  • Netflix’s Big OOPS– didn’t these guys take Psych 101?

    Topline takeway for this post: Netflix has screwed up, turning unconsidered background choices into front-of-mind considerations. They don’t understand how pleasure and satisfaction work. I’m on vacation and somewhat unplugged, but I was still connected enought to receive a surprising email from Netflix yesterday saying that if I want to retain both unlimited streaming and…

  • From the Bizarre Question Department: Voice Page Turning for iPad?

    I love reading while on the elliptical machine at the gym, and it’s a handy time to plough through reports and PDFs using the iPad (gen 1).  However, if I’m tracking my heartrate I have to take my hands OFF the paddles in order to go to the next page on the document, book, PDF…

  • New Delhi arrival: first thoughts…

    I arrived in New Delhi last night to attend and MC our launch of ad:tech New Delhi later this week.  It was a pleasant trip (thank you Continental Airlines) if just a little over 24 hours in length.  In a few minutes I’ll wander down to the lobby at the gorgeous Leela hotel in order…