Tales from the Raven

Our recent travels left me with a mental picture in my mind in which an airport bigwig is directing his subordinate. Bigwig: “We have a new rule.  No more liquids carried on to flights.” Peon: “Yes, sir.  Does that include water?” Bigwig: “Absolutely.  Water represents a grave threat to our national security.” Peon: “Even newly purchased, still sealed [...]

Am I the only one who doesn’t care a twit about the Oscars?  I’ve never watched them yet, and don’t plan to unless someone I know personally is nominated–so I’m pretty safe.  And while I did have an interest in movies/actors who won awards during the years that the LOTR movies were in the running, [...]

We’re hunting around the area for a good private school.  With a plethora of options, it ought to be easy but is in fact a difficult deciscion.  One factor complicating it for us is that our children are very different in their strengths and weaknesses, yet we’re hoping to put them in the same school.  [...]

Why do shortcuts never work out?  I don’t normally even attempt them–my track record is so bad. But this morning I caved to temptation. I was running a minute or two late in dropping my daughter off at preschool and hitting all the lights red.  I came to another red light, from which my usual route went straight.  To my right [...]

Last year we were building our house and not keen about having Thanksgiving in our itsy bitsy apartment, so we bought last minute tickets and took a cruise with Royal Caribbean.  Sounds fun, right?  Well . . . *Warning: Rant Alert* We stayed in one of the smaller cabins, deep in the bowels of the ship, and [...]

This morning, five minutes after I’m supposed to have taken the kids to school, the fridge had an emotional collapse.  Maybe it was the thought of all those Thanksgiving leftovers.  Maybe it just felt under-appreciated.  Whatever the cause, it decided that was a good time to drop a shelf–the one holding the milk jug, of [...]

I just finished a final exam in 35 minutes, and I should have a solid B, at least.  There were 79 questions, plus a questionare which probably took me, say . . . 3 minutes, and two small interuptions, so let’s say I was actually filling in the bubbles for 30 minutes.  That works out to [...]

One of the most misapplied statments in the English language.  ‘. . . a cozy little bed and breakfast within walking distance of downtown shops . . .’ Think: A three mile hike over back fields with rabid dogs chasing at your heels. ‘ . . . just a short walk from the metro station . . .’ Think: toiling [...]

Both the kids had games this morning.  The daughter’s at 9:00am, the son’s at 10:00, so both of them needed to be ready to roll by 8:30ish, and if it was up to me they’d have been practicing as well.  But these are kids we’re talking about, and not terribly ambitious kids, either.  I put thoughts [...]

I started my college math class today, and learned something, too:  There is a great math conspiracy bent on making the rest of us look like snivelling fools. Math really isn’t that complicated, so long as you stay in the reasonable levels of practical application.  Even beyond that I’ve heard it’s not so bad, and hey–how [...]