I’m poking my way through The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century; a collection of short stories that looks a bit like an unabridged dictionary. I read Damon Runyon’s short story Sense of Humour while I was making dinner tonight. The characters made me think of Looney Toons’ Rocky and Mugsy, but I guess the inspiration went the other way 'round.

While there is still time to debate it all: my wife and I are probably bailing on all the usual holidays this winter. How controversial is it to just not show up for Thanksgiving or Christmas? In our case each consists of five or six events each, some on the same day. We’ve been making the run of it all for ten years together.

At work, Making Plans for Nigel came up on the ipod, which I blast through a Tivoli Model Two in our six-cube windowless office with the overhead flourescent’s off because we are all nerds.

We went down early January before the wedding to scope out the area and to meet with the folks at Weeping Radish. They just happened to not only be happy to provide us with kegs but also to print labels for a few custom cases.

An eight year old picture I took as part of a portfolio review requirement for UMBC. It’s the bell tower in Baker Park in Frederick, MD.

In my basement:

Amanda wants a puppy in a few years. As much as I yell at my cat when he jumps on her cats with claws out, biting for their necks, it is nothing compared to the amount of yelling “NO!” it takes to poorly train a dog. I don’t know if I’m up to the challenge yet.

A book of Fugazi photographs by Glen Friedman is available for pre-order for $30.

The Hipster Olympics.