Author: Jon

Since the year is now three-quarters over, I thought I’d post about some of the best books I’ve read so far for 2008. Yes, I’m keeping track (again). Fiction: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. So, so messed up. Really curious to see how the movie turns out. World War Z, by Max Brooks. Really well-done… Continue reading Books thus far

Snickers Charged: with caffeine, taurine, and "other B vitamins"—essentially the same stuff they put into energy drinks like Red Bull. Really? Was Snickers not… I don’t know… "loaded" enough? Next thing you know, they’ll be putting guarana and ginseng and who knows what else into them. No, I haven’t tried one. There’s a review here,… Continue reading Weird things that I’ve seen lately

Pretty much it can be summed up thusly: I got a job. (Background.) No, I won’t keep you in suspense about it, and get straight to the reveal-disclaimer of who it is: Smart Solutions. They’re a web and software development company and, well, I’m doing web development work (again). The job started the 3rd, right… Continue reading What I did the first half of September

I had actually hoped to start writing a lot more here since my last post, but August slipped away and September is here with all its changes. But before I get to those, here’s how the rest of August went. The week following the 8th, we had to travel to Florida for unavoidable family business.… Continue reading What I did for the rest of my August

Seems like everybody’s talking about the "08/08/08" calendar conjunction moreso than other years that I remember; somehow it’s supposed to be lucky or something. (I can’t remember; is there a name for this sort of numerical calendar occurrence?) Of course, it’s also a Friday, and you’re never supposed to start a trip on a Friday… Continue reading 08/08/08

We saw "The Dark Knight" a little over a week ago, and bottom line, it’s not only the best movie I’ve seen this year, it’s also the best Batman movie ever made. Without spoilers, here are some of the pluses: No origin story for the Joker. I’ve said before, these things work when not bogged… Continue reading The Dark Knight

That secret being: I’ve been "officially" unemployed since mid-June. I use "officially" in quotes because the Dire Employment Situation began earlier than that, but it wasn’t until June that I was entirely laid off. What happened was, well, I was working for a builder, and we all know how the local economy has been treating… Continue reading In which I let you all in on the secret

Finally, some pictures to accompany my Oregon Coast travelogue post from the beginning of this month. Nothing earth-shaking here, just what you’d expect. Their big sign on Highway 101. You can’t miss it. Click through for the rest of the pictures The packaging production line at Tillamook Cheese. It doesn’t run on weekends. Big blocks… Continue reading Pictures to accompany my Coast notes

The Mount Rushmore Of… is a new blog that is one of those obvious-in-hindsight ideas I wish I’d thought up, because it satisfies the "Top X List" jones of twitchy web surfers everywhere. Everyone knows what Mount Rushmore is, right?  Mount Rushmore is a National Memorial featuring the sculptures of the heads of the most… Continue reading One of those ideas I wish I’d thought up

I’m referring to Ashland, Oregon, naturally, and something I found out from this article (via Jack Bog) (emphasis mine): Ashland city ordinances allow nudity anywhere in town, but genitalia must be covered in city parks and the downtown commercial district. I was pretty surprised when I read that; I don’t remember a single naked person… Continue reading Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about Ashland…