Saturday, August 11, 2007

Good stuff

More things I've enjoyed reading lately:

When I was growing up, we weren't allowed to eat sugar cereals except for maybe once a year if our Mom went out of town, in which case my brother and I could choose one sugar cereal. One of the joys of going away to college was discovering that the cafeteria had cereals like Captain Crunch available around the clock--and I didn't hesitate to eat it at any meal. So I really enjoyed this nostalgic piece about the lessons learned as a child from choosing sugar cereals.

Since Baby was born, Gretchen and I have not been able to go out on a date. This should hopefully change soon, but in the meantime we hadn't considered one babysitting option: a doggy caregiver (especially since Baby and Grady are getting along so well these days).

There was an article in last week's New York Times Magazine about the war in Iraq by a former-Harvard-professor-turned-Canadian-politician. I got through about half of it until I put it down because it just irritated me for reasons I couldn't put my finger on--I guess it just seemed condescending, cliched, etc. Far better was this brilliant and funny critique I stumbled across. You have to like anything that can somehow mention Canadian politics, Thomas Jefferson, Rush, bus drivers, Kenny Rogers, the Coen Brothers, Isiah Thomas, Mary Lou Retton and, best of all, the writing of Cormac McCarthy--and it somehow makes sense.

Being an occasional pessimist, I loved this Garrison Keillor piece on the potential perils of vacation. And this piece on the difference between the younger and older generations in the workplace.

Evidently some of New York's finest restaurants aren't immune from drunk-and-disorderly customers.

A Brit hilariously reports on his trip on a cruise ship with a group of far-right activists.