The Osceola Inn had been Reed City's shining jewel in my hometown's long-gone boomtown days, lying as it did astride both the Traverse City-Grand Rapids highway and a rail crossroads. The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad and the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad intersected there, as did US 10 and old US 131, and both intersections were within ( Read more... )

My second batch of fillings is now done; this time they used a laser called "the bug zapper" to blow away the parts of my teeth that they didn't like. Given the smell of burning that accompanied it, I think I prefer the drill. The left side and newer fillings seem to have healed more rapidly, but the deeper ones on the right are still really ( Read more... )

When I went in for the first batch of fillings, the dental assistants were searching their trash cans for a pair of teeth they'd just pulled. Granted, it was so they could be mounted in a presentation frame for a class they were taking, but it was still a disconcerting way to begin the session, especially given how nervous I was ( Read more... )

Well, yesterday was certainly a strange day ( Read more... )

I always get a bit depressed when I host family at my place (nearly always my parents) and they leave ( Read more... )

I'd been worried about turning 30 for some time because of the way these big anniversaries are built up in our culture. Anyone who hasn't met certain milestones before 30 is a loser, it represents the end of the free and easy and hedonistic twenties, it's the first stage to getting old, and so on and so forth. Especially with 29 and thereabouts ( Read more... )

They've chosen a new pope, and rather quickly. I don't know much about their choice, but I could more or less have accurately predicted the response I saw on the internet and from many of my friends. Mostly mockery mixed with complaints. I think it's as good an occasion as any to set some thoughts to paper ( Read more... )

I haven't written since Jamaica, but I will weigh in here with my annual breakdown of the Oxford Film Festival offerings. I did not volunteer this year, partly because I forgot about it and party because last year was such a miserable experience for me and the organizers who had to replace me when it became apparent that a single person was ( Read more... )

Last day in Jamaica; flight schedules mean that this year's vacation is one day shorter than the others. Naturally, this means that there was quite a bit of late-vacation panic to be had, with some activities crammed in wherever they'd fit ( Read more... )

I've been trying to become more involved with the English librarian section of the American Library Association these last few years, both as a good opportunity to network and to satisfy my tenure requirement for participation on the national level. This year, we decided to run a virtual (i.e. over the internet) midwinter conference rather than ( Read more... )