Writing comes down to two parts: Color the white paper dark Trim your initial scribbles into meaningful sentences. That first step is where many of us quit. No matter how many ideas we have they can dissolve into the great whiteness of the blank page. The answer here is to write. Just write. Write about… Read More


Today I drove to church to practice the bass guitar. I arrived, plugged into the amp, and heard . . . silence. I swapped cables, since they are often the first to go. Unfortunately that didn’t fix the problem. The guitarist plugged into the amp and filled the sanctuary with sound. That meant the problem… Read More


I have been making knives recently. Last night I finally completed the karambit I have been working on for over a month. The karambit originates somewhere in Southeast Asia and has been found in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sumatra, and many other places. People think that it started as a farming implement before becoming a knife that… Read More


I just began playing a startup game with Joel Miller. We each will take $100 and try to double it. Whoever doubles their money first wins. The winner takes 1/2 of whatever profit the loser has made over the initial $100 investment. The game started last Friday and it will end on Aug 23. If… Read More


Today I ran into a strange error when I attempted to install a package on a debian server. When I tried to run apt-get install I encountered this error: Media change: please insert the disc labeled ‘Debian GNU/Linux 9.3.0 _Stretch_ – Official amd64 xfce-CD Binary-1 20171209-12:11’ in the drive ‘/media/cdrom/’ and press [Enter] Essentially what… Read More


The sun has finally moved enough so that the dead cockroach lies in shadow. This seems appropriate, though I couldn’t say why. We are in the library, the cockroach and I. We are surrounded by books, paperback, casebound, and hardcover. We are surrounded by book browsers (the book readers all seem to be at home).… Read More


I have an old pair of headphones that I love. They don’t sound good but they use an aux jack as the input cord. This means that I have been able to use these as a headset for making calls. While I have a bluetooth headset, they always seem to run out of battery when… Read More


I made my bed this morning. That may be normal for some, but it is definitely strange for me. I never before saw the point–I’m just going to sleep in this bed and make it messy again, making it doesn’t seem to help its primary function, so why would I make it? It is a… Read More


I couldn’t find my phone this morning. I looked on the table, the desk, various pockets, the kitchen counter. It was not any of the normal places. I continued on with my morning priorities–that means coffee, no more, no less–but I was troubled. Where was my phone? Finally I looked out of the window and… Read More


Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque Persuasion by Jane Austen Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown… Read More