The Myth & The Majesty

Massive nerd freakout. I'll respect copyrights and not post a picture. But you should click on this . Especially if you're into Harry Potter. Or Legos. Or both, like me. That is all.

Today's xkcd is the perfect follow-up to my last post.  

A switch was flipped. It seems this week I am overly sensitive about my age.. It hasn't always been this way. I have spent a good chunk of my twenties getting carded and getting reeeeeally annoyed with that. It's not like it's a huge hassle to get out my ID, but there has always been a part of me that wondered if I really didn't look 21 or if someone was just trying to flatter me. And for that matter, I take it as a matter of pride that I don't (yet) dye my hair. Sure, I have a couple of grey ones. But it's nothing to freak out about. However, this last week someone called the camp. She'd been here the weekend before and made a reference that she thought I'd know. "You're about the same age as my son, you'd understand." "No, I think that was a bit before my time." A beat. "Really? He's only 35." It's not a big deal. Really. But I'm not 30 yet and ... well, maybe I'm starting to get sensitive ...

... I have had very little to say this week. Two things. 1. Today came with an in-my-face reminder of where I live. I stepped outside and immediately regretted not wearing sunglasses because the sun mixed with the falling snow was so dang bright. (Note: we got half an inch of snow without the sun ever going away. Because that's just what happens out here.) 2. Valentine's Day is worth it if only for watching grown men walk out of stores holding extra-large teddy bears. It really is the simple joys in life. So ... happy Thursday, all. ***EDIT LATER IN THE DAY: Who decided Liquid Plumr needed to tap into the sex appeal ads? Don't get me wrong -- they're hilarious. I just worry about the person who came up with them.

2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the release of Pride & Prejudice , and rather coincidentally, I've been on a bit of an Austen-athon. Compared to a lot of people, I'm a fairly recent convert. Mia Sorella first introduced me right before I took a selected authors course at Mines where we covered P&P and Persuasion (which happens to be my personal favorite of hers). In the last seven years (holy cow, it's been longer than I thought) I've read, watched, listened (I love audio books) and even visited. In 2009, I got to roam Bath during my venture to England and have tea at the Jane Austen Centre. I wandered the gravel walk, saw the Roman baths, and pondered the dreary weather.  This and other stills were Facelifted from the Jane Austen Facebook fan page.  They're all from the 1995 BBC production of Pride & Prejudice . And tonight, when I needed to get some work done around the house, I popped the 1995 BBC version of P&P into the DVD pla...

When I decided to start writing this series, I had no idea where I would be two months later. However, given my attitude toward beer , I've decided to continue it, as much for my own reference as anything. I'm actually a couple batches behind at this point, but I still wanted to get this out there. As some of you might not be totally familiar with the process, I thought I'd give it step-by-step this time -- later posts may just summarize the "interesting" points. As I said before, this isn't exactly my first rodeo. But that doesn't make me experienced in any way; when I was little I got to help fill bottles, and when I was in college I mostly just ... observed. So with this first batch, it was time to get down and dirty. Kit: Muntons Connoisseurs Nut Brown Ale , which we'll call a "starter kit." Step 1: Sanitation. This is probably the most important step, and in our case it wasn't fun. We used bleach (not necessarily the re...