Trying to get to Einstein Bros. for lunch today, we saw some Clinton supporters at the corner of Hawthorne and Montrose. They were vigorously holding up signs and shouting out “Hillary!” at the passing cars, and they were getting a few honks. The first time we passed them (entering the parking lot), I simply shook [...]

On my way back to my car after teaching this morning, I noticed along the way that there was a trail of lost Gummi bears on the ground. Every few feet was another bear, rolled in dirt. They weren’t scattered like a whole bag had exploded; they were more like Hansel and Gretl’s breadcrumbs, one [...]

I got a phone call from my brother while I was at the library Saturday morning. He was calling to invite us to go to the zoo with them, but I informed him that I was working at least until lunchtime. His reaction: “Loser!” My response: “Grad student!”

Tomorrow in class, I’ll be talking to my students about framing the debate — how to control your reader’s reaction by selecting words, choosing which pieces of evidence to present, etc. I was looking this evening at the website for the Greater Houston Partnership, which is sponsoring presidential debates before the Texas primaries on March [...]

Thanks to Amanda, I have a new time-waster blog to mess around with: Ikea Hacker. They invite hacks from people around the world on how to improve upon Ikea’s already useful and elegantly simple designs. The most common hacks are ways to contain or maintain pets in a minimum of space with the maximum aesthetic [...]