Dan Dunn's Podium » friends http://www.dandunn.org/blog Arlington, Mass, and More Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:38:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 A Few Random Bits http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2008/05/a-few-random-bits/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2008/05/a-few-random-bits/#comments Mon, 26 May 2008 20:55:01 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/?p=361 Today’s theme: things I ran across while surfing away my holiday.

Ned points to the 55th best crossword puzzle solver in the world. His blow-by-blow analysis of the 5/25 NYTimes puzzle that is . . . . breathtaking in its detail. I can’t imagine spending that much time on a crossword puzzle, let along writing about it afterwards. I enjoy my glass house, though, and won’t throw any stones.

Andrew Sullivan has been on a kick about “Hallelujah” for some reason. I’ve been on a kick about this song since Jeff Buckley’s album Grace grabbed me in 1994, and refused to let me go. I didn’t know it was a Leonard Cohen cover until a year later when I played the album for a friend. He was younger than me, but Canadian, and immediately recognized the song. I listened to Cohen’s version, and to other Cohen songs, but I’m convinced the magic here is Buckley’s, not Cohen. Cohen was a necessary ingredient, of course, but Buckley is what moved the song so far beyond the ordinary. Anyway, Sullivan points to this deep history and analysis of the song. I found it fascinating.

So if I visited so many sites today (Firefox tells me it’s more than 100 so far), why point out these two? They both have incredibly rich detail and analysis. But I only find one of them interesting. Sure, the crossword post was a good scan – I’m glad to know that stuff like that is out there. But the “clap clap” post was devoured in its entirety. Different strokes, and all that.

To lighten things up a little, a much more bite-sized link sent by my friend Doug (fresh back from Hawaii – see the family photoalbums here). Doug points me to jacksonpollock.org. All you need is your mouse and the spacebar. What do you think – should I quit my day job?

dan\'s pollock effort

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2008/05/a-few-random-bits/feed/ 0 Kirby’s First Red Sox Game http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2008/04/kirbys-first-red-sox-game/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2008/04/kirbys-first-red-sox-game/#comments Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:14:57 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/archives/332
Tabblo: Kirby

See my Tabblo

]]> http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2008/04/kirbys-first-red-sox-game/feed/ 0 Doug and Darienne in Costa Rica http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2006/10/doug-and-darienne-in-costa-rica/ http://www.dandunn.org/blog/2006/10/doug-and-darienne-in-costa-rica/#comments Wed, 18 Oct 2006 04:05:44 +0000 dunster http://www.dandunn.org/blog/archives/58 A couple months ago, Doug sent me a random email. Really, that’s a Doug signature: suggesting we do something that is just not done, and suggesting it as if it is totally normal. He said: “I’m giving Darienne a surprise present of a trip to Costa Rica and I don’t talk to you guys enough so I think you should come to Costa Rica with us. Oh, and it’s the rainy season. It’ll be great.” Among other things, I struggled with the math – I knew Darienne was pregnant, but I couldn’t remember the due date. . . . would she really go to Costa Rica while 9 months pregnant?

I was still working at Symantec and a vacation sounded really appealing, but I wasn’t ready to commit. It was a good thing because I moved to Tabblo and it wouldn’t have been easy to take a week of vacation in my second month on the job. Now they’re back and I’m mildly jealous. It looks like it was great fun. You can read about the trip from his perspective and from her perspective. And, I’m happy to report, they are both making tabblos of their trip!

It turns out that Darienne is due in January so it was slightly less crazy of an idea that I thought.

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