you're somethin' else

Voices in the Dark

2010-09-14T12:46:00.004-04:00

(凌岩，这是我给你的情书：) Last night Yan told me a story. Over the phone. Eight years ago -- when I was a grad student in Arkansas and Yan was still in Cleveland -- Yan would tell me stories in Chinese over the phone to help me sleep. Last night -- me in Cleveland and Yan in Colorado -- he told me a story in English. (Too tired for Chinese.) These moments when life circles back on itself have always

fire food and drink

2010-04-25T23:06:00.000-04:00

We had the opportunity to meet some friends for dinner last night at fire food and drink on Shaker Square. We discovered fire during last year's Restaurant Week, and have visited it several times since.fire is located where an Arabica coffee house use to be, one that I frequented during my high school years. The food offerings at fire can be described as a blend of American and European tastes,

Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T11:46:00.009-04:00

Happy Earth Day, everyone! It's been a year since my last Earth Day post, so I thought I'd give an update on what we've changed to live in a more environmentally sustainable manner over the past year. First, I had mentioned that I used to get many ideas from a very nice website and email newsletter called IdealBite. Unfortunately, they sold out to Disney Family this past year, so the newsletter

The start of an adventure, or something like it

2010-03-27T05:45:00.001-04:00

Our trip to Boston is starting off with a little hiccup.Starla and I arrived at the Amtrak station this morning to find that our train, the "Lakeshore Limited", is delayed. Apparently, there was a freight train derailment in Indiana overnight, which caused our train, coming from Chicago, to have to take a detour through Michigan and Toledo.What this means to us is that the train is currently

Check out my FLOTOgraph!

2010-01-29T10:05:00.005-05:00

Progressive put out a new web tool to merge your photo with that of Flo. Here's what I got.(Note: This doesn't seem to work properly in all browser versions. So if you don't see anything below, try a different browser.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T23:39:00.015-05:00

Update: 1/15/2010 with links to the recipes that Starla used along with other comments.This year, we decided to stay home for Thanksgiving and serve a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner to several friends who are from other countries.Starla started with the traditional foods, but used recipes that gave them a different twist. Here are what we served for Thanksgiving dinner at"Chez

The Elevator Social Experiment

2009-11-20T21:35:00.004-05:00

A while ago, at work, I conducted a mini social experiment on human behavior.A group of about ten people were gathered in front a bank of three elevators with me after a large presentation let out. We all stood in front of the elevator doors chatting with each other while waiting for one of the elevator doors to chime.The idea for this little experiment came to me. I stepped away from the group

The Buck Stops Here

2009-08-29T14:42:00.005-04:00

This morning, as I'm having my coffee, I looked out into our backyard, and lo and behold: a buck. By my count, he was a 6-pointer.When he saw my camera, he paused to look over at me casually.From you're somethin' elseI guess he was here to eat my weeds. If you're interested in this all-natural weed control solution, let me know. I would probably rent him to you for... wait for it... a buck. (

Parking Meters in Sweaters

2009-08-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

Every parking meter in the Cedar Lee retail district is now dressed in a knit sweater as a part of a Heights Arts public art project. Makes you want to feed it more quarters, doesn't it?

Over the Rhine at Cain Park

2009-08-10T11:56:00.003-04:00

This weekend, we got to see our favorite band, Over the Rhine in concert at Cain Park. You can read all about Over the Rhine on the web site and listen to some of their music. For those of you who attended our wedding, you may recall that Starla walked down the aisle to "Rapsodie" by none other than Over the Rhine.Cain Park's Evans AmphitheaterWe've probably seen them in various venues about a

The weekly farmer's market report

2009-07-07T11:43:00.003-04:00

So what's at the farmer's market today? I bought some:curly red lettucebok choytatsoiyellow squashred raspberriesgreen and yellow beansgreen pepperAlso available were:zucchiniblack raspberriesa variety of tomatoes, large and small, yellow to redcorn!honey in little bear bottles

What's in store for us today?

2009-06-23T15:24:00.003-04:00

From the Farmer's Market at the office, I got some fresh strawberries, tomatoes, snow peas that looks much better than the flabby stuff at the grocery stores, red and green leaf lettuce, zucchini and yellow squash, cilantro - Starla's mom's favorite herb, and asparagus, which unfortunately, I will not be sharing with Starla.

LOL

2009-06-16T12:56:00.004-04:00

This made us laugh out loud.In a recent NPR story about China, reporter Louisa Lim interviewed a young Chinese author, Guo Jingming, stating that "in person, Guo is a 5-foot-1 androgynous sprite." Ha! (This is what she says in the audio report. The written script differs slightly in wording.)If you watch Chinese television, especially the reality competition shows akin to American Idol,

A farmer's market right in your cubicle

2009-06-16T12:22:00.002-04:00

All right, not actually in my cubicle, but pretty close.Starting this week, my company is bringing a local farm, Rainbow Farms of Madison, Ohio, on site during lunch hours, offering their fresh produce of the season to employees.Rainbow Farms had set up a tent and tables right outside our building on the grass. And today, the weather was sunny and just beautiful - a perfect day to enjoy fresh

Fat Pooch

2009-05-19T16:53:00.006-04:00

Phoebe had her annual trip to the vet last week, and the diagnosis came back that she's overweight, by about two and a half pounds. She's weighing in at 14.85 pounds right now, but I guess she should be about 12 pounds. I wonder what her BMI is. They must have a chart for dogs.So Phoebe is going on a diet. We're cutting back a little bit on her food and giving her more exercise. The vet said

Me and Flo

2009-05-08T16:34:00.005-04:00

Here's me chillin' with Flo.I've also got my "I (heart) Insurance" button, just like Flo.

Best Job in the World - Filled!

2009-05-08T11:30:00.003-04:00

Earlier I mentioned in a post about what's called the "Best Job in the World."Well, that job has now been filled, by a bloke named Ben Southall from the UK. Now I can only read about his good fortune in his blog. I guess it shows that blonds do have more fun.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T09:48:00.010-04:00

Happy Earth Day, everyone! Earth Day is not just a once-a-year reminder to think about how we can help protect our planet and conserve our natural resources, it can be a starting point for a more sustainable style of living. Making lifestyle changes can be difficult and seem daunting, especially in a society that focuses so much on consumption. What we are trying to do in our daily living is to

Joined Twitter for no good reason

2009-04-16T13:59:00.003-04:00

I've just joined Twitter a few days ago for no good reason, and I've become quite fascinated by some of the status updates from some of the people I'm following. It does feel like I'm watching every move of some of these people. I do feel mildly embarrassed by this, for some reason.At least we're still resisting using Facebook or MySpace.

All of our lights will be off on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 pm, will yours?

2009-03-27T22:54:00.008-04:00

UPDATE 3/28/2009 10:14pm: Photos from around the world as people observe Earth Hour.----Turn off all of your lights at 8:30 pm your local time, March 28 - that's this Saturday, for Earth Hour.Pledge to turn off your lights at http://www.earthhour.org, and get Earth Hour updates and tips. Check out a video and photos for last year's celebration of Earth Hour.

Coyote vs. Gosling

2009-03-20T12:42:00.003-04:00

An update on the rubber coyotes that have been placed around our office park to scare away the Canadian geese.Based on this photo, I'd say that it's not really working.

Staycation

2009-03-17T12:28:00.006-04:00

Continuing on the theme established in a previous post, I will be writing a few posts on our upcoming "staycation". I know this word is causing many people to groan and roll their eyes, but I think it's a perfect neologism to describe what we're about to do next week. Starla will be on Spring Break, and I'm taking the week off from work. We won't be holed up in our house the whole week, however,

Update on ooma

2009-03-10T22:35:00.003-04:00

In a previous post, I described switching to the ooma VoIP service to replace our home phone service. It's been about 2 months, so here's an update.After trying it ooma out for a few weeks, we decided to take the next step and port our home phone number to ooma. I guess I should have separated our home phone number from our DSL service before starting the porting process, because the porting

Lent

2009-03-06T16:30:00.003-05:00

Every year for Lent, we try to commit to giving up something or actively do something in the hopes that it will spur us to become better disciples. We do better in some years than others.During Lent of the year that I moved to Arkansas, we gave up watching TV. I was very resistant to the idea at first because I had really enjoyed watching TV, especially cable news. I was a TV news junkie. After

Coyote Ugly

2009-03-06T13:46:00.007-05:00

The area around my office building is also an unofficial habitat for Canadian Geese. We often see them walk across the office park, resting on the greenspace between office buildings, and sometimes stopping traffic as they waddle across the road. I've never felt that they are a bother - it kind of makes me feel as if I'm closer to nature when I see animals around. And I've never killed a goose