Articles

Imperative Happiness

November 17, 2009 –

A great antidote to unhappiness is the occasional chit-chat with someone older and wiser – who’s seen it all before and knows a simple way to make everything better. But what to do when things go awry, it’s half past midnight, and your therapeutic elder is snoozing?!

The Steeps Of San Francisco

November 10, 2009 –

Ask a San Franciscan about the City’s steepest streets, and four out of five times, he’ll say something like “Great for scaring the bejeezus out of tourists!”

The Hungry Midwest

October 20, 2009 –

Say what you may about Midwesterners, but one thing is for certain: they love to eat. With that in mind, I proudly unveil the first in a series of zooms of the McDistance Map – the Midwest United States as visualized by the distance to the nearest McDonald’s:

Of Mason And Dixon

October 7, 2009 –

The six formative years that I spent in the Southern U.S. gave me many things: a deep understanding of cockroaches, impeccable water skills, and a year-round tan. And, last but not least, the precious, lingering gift of the word y’all.

Where The Buffalo Roamed

September 22, 2009 –

This summer, cruising down the I-5 through California’s Central Valley to the Los Angeles Basin, I unwittingly stumbled upon a most exasperating development: the country strip mall.

Haiku For The Financial Meltdown

August 18, 2009 –

Now that our little macroeconomic bobble is like, so totally “over”, I’d like to memorialize it with a grid of nine haiku (in traditional non-rhyming 5-7-5 format):

Coins Of Wrath

July 2, 2009 –

I must confess that I am an unintentional change hoarder. When I pay for something, I prefer to use a round amount of bills, sparing everyone the infuriating experience of myself canvassing my pocket detritus for the exact amount of miscellaneous currency.