Reflections on an Odd Life

Off to Denver

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:55:38 -0400

I wish I could always be as productive as I managed to be in the last 48 hours—I’ve finished a ton of chores/work. I’ve had the luxury of being home for the last 3.5 weeks, my longest time at home since last fall. It’s been a real luxury; I’ve loved doing things like grocery shopping and cooking at home, sitting outside reading on weekends, and actually seeing friends. Now I’m off for nine days, Denver and then Nashville, and I’m not sure that I’ll be home for more than two weeks straight the rest of the year. Goodbye kitchen and Marriott garden/patio! It’s been nice knowing you.

Sderot

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:53:21 -0400

Barack Obama was in Sderot on the Gaza border this week, which reminded me of my visit there just about a year ago. What an amazing trip.

Life Advice

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:44:19 -0400

One of my coworkers just walked in with this piece of advice: “If you don’t like paperwork, don’t get divorced.”

Fair enough. I’ll try to remember that.

Five Bites from Austin

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:36:00 -0400

In a nod to Amanda at Metrocurean and in recognition of just how much delicious food I consumed last week in Austin, I wanted to offer my own five bites:

1) Pulled pork bbq at Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue — Stubb’s may have the name, but the new-ish Lamberth’s is vastly superior.

2) Jerk chicken salad at Z’Tejas — The only vegetables I ingested during my entire visit to Austin, if you don’t count the peppers in fajitas or the bacon-soaked collard greens.

3) Fish tacos at Marisco Grill — This are so good that I remembered them from two years ago, sought them out, and was pleased to find they’re still delicious.

4) Baked macaroni and cheese at Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue — Yes, this place deserves two separate entries on this list of deliciousness. I ate lunch here on two consecutive days just to maximize the deliciousness.

5) Migas con queso (with corn tortillas) at Las Manitas — An old standby, I’ve had Las Manitas’ migas on nearly every visit to Austin I’ve ever made. My first time there, sitting on the back patio, the only other people on the patio were Lyle Lovett and Paul Reiser.

Also: I wanted to give an honorable mention to the mint chocolate chip milkshake at the java bar in the Hilton Austin. Texas’s Blue Bell ice cream does make a mean milkshake.

The Making of the President

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:58:17 -0400

Teddy White’s masterful series, The Making of the President, is one of the greatest works of literature of the 20th Century. I’m currently reading the third volume (1968). There’s more insight and truth packed into a single paragraph of writing than in most books I read today.

Early Adopting

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:18:35 -0400

I’m flying to Austin this week for a story and to go to two net/politics conferences. Since I love Continental and am on it back to IAH today, I thought I’d experiment with their paperless boarding pass. You can get a super-special barcode emailed to your PDA instead of printing a boarding pass. This morning I ran into two problems with it at DCA: First, the barcode wouldn’t load on my Blackberry, which meant I couldn’t get through security; then when it did load, security couldn’t find the special scanner they need to use to read the barcode. All-in-all, it held me up at security about ten minutes. Right now, the TSA guy said, they’re only seeing one or two paperless passengers a day so there’s not a high demand. My advice for now: Keep printing those boarding passes.

Sorry I've ignored you lately

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:12:38 -0400

I haven’t been traveling as much lately and so haven’t been Tumblr-ing as much — plus I’ve been writing the last few months and generally find that I have trouble doing both short-form and long-form at the same time. I’m back on the road this week and so back Tumblr-ing.

Nicco Mele my wife is now a columnist for the Guardian: http://snurl.com/2rn67.

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:51:20 -0400

Nicco Mele my wife is now a columnist for the Guardian: http://snurl.com/2rn67.

Afghanistan

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:33:55 -0400

I just had a somewhat sad breakfast with my best friend from high school—he’s in the Army, West Point grad, and is about to ship out to Afghanistan with his unit for a deployment of between 12 and 15 months. He’s already been to Iraq for a year (where he came home with a Bronze Star) and his brother, who is two years older, has already been to Afghanistan once and Iraq twice. I can’t imagine what that burden must be like for his family.

This time my friend will be commanding a company of nearly 100 soldiers and I can’t imagine what that burden must be like for him—to keep them all safe for a year in the not-good portion of Afghanistan.

Good luck and godspeed.

Civilization

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:23:38 -0400

If anyone can propose something more civilized than sitting in an elegant hotel lobby, listening to a live piano, and sipping a mint julep—as I’m doing now—then I’m all ears.

Ribs

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:05:58 -0400

Last night, while in Memphis for the City & Regional Magazine Association annual meeting, I went with five other guys from various magazines to a hole-in-the-wall ribs joint on Beale Street.

We asked the snarky waitress to describe the size of the “full rack,” she gestured to her own rack.

We all ordered a half rack.

Just for the record....

Sat, 31 May 2008 15:50:12 -0400

I just hopped in a cab and ordered: “We’re going to Graceland.” [In Memphis for a magazine conference, just finished ribs at Rendezvous.]

New Haven

Fri, 23 May 2008 16:51:32 -0400

I’m just leaving Yale after three days at a conference and realized that I bought very little here. For those who know me, the complete list of my New Haven purchases (in chronological order) won’t be a surprise: milkshake, coffee and two donuts, milkshake, coffee and two donuts. That’s all. Healthy, huh?

The double rainbow outside my hotel window in New Haven last...

Fri, 23 May 2008 08:29:58 -0400

The double rainbow outside my hotel window in New Haven last night.

I’ve never been to Yale before so I took the opportunity...

Fri, 23 May 2008 08:29:16 -0400

I’ve never been to Yale before so I took the opportunity of a lull in the conference I’m attending this week to wander around campus yesterday. It’s pretty but that does nothing to change it sucking.

I really am at sea

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:06:56 -0400

I really am at sea

One of my problems

Thu, 22 May 2008 14:10:20 -0400

I love being a generalist. I think there’s way too much specialization in life today. I understand the whole Paradox of Choice and the Long Tail and all that, but I think we’ve swung much too far in the other direction. Too many people today (especially in academia) don’t know enough about enough. One of the joys of being a journalist is the ability to jump from one topic to another each day. My section in Washingtonian each month includes some sports, some media, some politics, some books, some food/drink, some entertainment, and some gossip.

One effect of my wide-ranging interests is that I end up wanting to write books about too many different things. Easily once a month I come up with a book topic that I’d love to do and spend a year researching and writing. This year already I’ve had serious conversations about six different book ideas and have three more kicking around now, even though I think I’m settling down on one of them now. Sometimes I wish I was interested in less things so I could be more focused in my professional life.

Sigh.

Um, yes, I would love to replace “Normal.” How do I...

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:40:15 -0400

Um, yes, I would love to replace “Normal.” How do I go about doing that?

Quote of the Day

Wed, 14 May 2008 15:56:54 -0400

On a door of an Eisenhower era White House official: “Have you come with a solution or are you part of the problem?”

Too many early mornings

Wed, 14 May 2008 07:33:00 -0400

It’s a commentary on just how many early mornings I spend at Tryst that, when I rounded Calvert Street coming down to 18th and Columbia Road this morning at 7:25 a.m. and noticed a McDonalds truck unloading supplies, my first thought was: “Oh, they’re late and off schedule this week. That normally happens on Mondays and they’re normally done by 7 a.m.”