Reading Angle of Repose While Moving Back East: The Sequel

Was reading Angle of Repose when I was in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago (the house-hunting trip) and realized where/when I’d last read it: when I was moving to NYC back in 2005. I remember sitting in the airport in Cincinnati (where I was making a connection on Delta) reading it and thinking it was

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Describing the Carl’s Jr.-Hardee’s Line

If you’re not aware, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are owned by the same company. As such, you don’t find both restaurants in the same market. It’s hard to say how they’ve determined who gets what market in some cases. Obviously there’s historical precedent (Carl’s originated in California and had mostly California stores until some time in the 90’s, frex), but in the areas where neither chain had much of a presence… yeah, it’s like they just drew a line.

Some More Pittsburgh Photos

Just some more photos of Pittsburgh. Like of downtown and of driving around the city on the 376 a little.

Houses I’m Not Trying to Buy in Pittsburgh

This isn’t about Plan B. This is about my having looked at, like, seven houses today and most of them being variations on awful that I hadn’t necessarily considered possible. The sloped rooms and all. I mean, really. Here are the seven…

The House I’m Trying to Buy in Pittsburgh

Spent today looking at houses in the Pitt. It’s different here. For one thing, any house that seems too inexpensive for its specs is usually that way because the floors all slant different directions. I was in three houses today where — yeah. Felt like standing on a ship’s deck. The one I’m trying to buy is in the Lincoln Place neighborhood of Pittsburgh. I’m taking the offer paperwork over to the office in the morning.

Bathrooms in East German Apartments I Used to Live In

The real tragedy is that I only have photos of 3 1/2 of the bathrooms. And really not the good ones either. Man, but I’d *kill* for a picture of the Döbeln plumpskloh (sp?), especially if it showed off the mid-winter frozen condensation on the window and toilet seat. Man. Oh well. The upside of

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Three Hours in Balboa Park

Went to Balboa Park (in San Diego) ostensibly to visit the Museum of Photographic Arts there. They had some nice photos inside and, naturally, you’re not allowed to take any photographs yourself while there. Hypocrites.

I don’t think I’d ever been to Balboa Park before, though, aside from going to the zoo.

Crossing the Pacific in 1945 (A Letter My Grandpa Wrote)

My grandpa was in the Navy at the tail-end of World War II. A couple days ago, my brother sent me some page scans of a “letter” (it’s not a letter, but I’m not sure what else it is) my grandpa wrote while on board the fast attack transport USS Clinton. I’m not sure it

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Movie Review: District 9

Best Part: The first hour — nice occasional squickiness and the reveal of the backstory was, like, *interesting*. Biggest Question: Did the dude really think that he’d just fly up to the alien’s ship, get his hand fixed, then fly back home where everything would just be back to normal? Too Long By: 30 minutes.

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Origins: Family Photos from Before My Time

When I was back up in the Greater Seattle Area over Christmas, my dad was in the throes of a scanning-old-photos bender. So I ended up seeing a lot of old photos while I was up there. It’s interesting to see what your parents used to look like long before you ever knew them. Sort of makes the rest of the story to-date make more sense seeing what the beginning looked like.