disempowered and ill-applied. skills lie fallow, time and effort squandered. quests charged already entrusted elsewhere. initiative quashed, despondence formented. what is worst is that no one notices.

Occasionally, nature throws little obstacles in your path that totally throw off your rhythm: This is what I encountered about 3 miles into my trail ride yesterday afternoon (and then again about 8 miles in, because it’s a five mile loop)…a very large tree fallen over the path, pretty much right after a blind turn. [...]

Today in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by [...]

I’ve had the seeds of a post on the whole “Ground Zero mosque” (which is really neither at “ground zero” nor a mosque) controversy for, heck, a couple of weeks now, but haven’t come up with anything I’ve been happy with. Which is just as well, because this person just wrote what I feel is [...]

There comes a time in every man’s life when he leaves his mobile phone at home when he leaves in the morning. That time is exactly like the seven hundred other times he’s done it. Happy Friday the 13th everyone. Remember, when fleeing from unstoppable machete-weilding murderers, you really only have to outrun the stoner [...]

I’ve been doing a lot of heavy writing about VERY IMPORTANT THINGS™ in the social and political arenas lately, so today I’m simply going to make mention of a few of the little things that don’t necessarily have earth-shattering importance. This weekend, for example, I finally stumbled upon the missing element to cooking so-called “authentic” [...]

Just a quick little note to commemorate my rolling over 300 riding miles on a bike this summer. No reason, other than I’m rather proud of myself for the accomplishment, and am looking to keep the counter ticking upwards. Yay me.

…I was brave enough, or enlightened enough to come up with something like this when I was in this kid’s position, rather than the by-the-numbers crap ‘n platitudes speech I did end up giving. Outside of a little bit of tone that only a terribly bright eighteen year-old who hasn’t seen much of the world [...]

Spam is a fact of life on the internet…thank $diety for filters and moderation queues; they make maintenance a lot easier. Of course, blog admin tools have the unfortunate side effect of presenting moderated comments out of the context of the post they’re attached to. Some of them are really actually quite flattering, giving me [...]

Last year (YiB 2009, #5), I went against my better judgment and read Twilight to see what all the fuss was about. Based on what I’d gleaned from the pop culture currents, I was pretty sure it wasn’t something that was going to appeal to me. And, I was basically right. For many reasons, I [...]