Category Archives: life

Notes on ethics, parenthood, books, travel, food and other tangible things.

Self-Reliant Veganism

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” When I first read “Self-Reliance,” these words sunk into me, but I must have skimmed the rest of the essay. Emerson’s style and vocabulary put me off, an experience which I attributed to 150 years of drift in the English language. The problem only got worse …

June 27, 2011 – 7:10 am | By Andrew | Posted in books, food, life | Comments Off

No More Supermarket Blues

A few weeks ago, Kim and I were riding home from our weekly trip to Fred Meyer, and I had an epiphany: I never wanted to go back. Kim wasn’t fond of Fred Meyer, either, so we hatched a plan to limit how much time we spent at the supermarket, and how much we bought, …

August 22, 2010 – 10:16 am | By Andrew | Posted in food, life | Comments Off

Riding the Springwater Corridor

This weekend, Kim and I rode bikes from our apartment in the Lloyd District of Portland to the Tacoma Bridge, following the Esplanade and the Springwater Corridor. The ride took a couple of hours at our mild, Sunday-morning pace, and it offered gorgeous views of the Willamette River and Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. Spring and …

May 9, 2010 – 4:10 pm | By Andrew | Posted in life | Comments Off

This Time It’s War

My favorite board game ever has to be Aliens, published in 1989 by Leading Edge Games. If you’ve never played it, there is a Flash adaptation available, which seems to be free. I was introduced to the game in the early 90s by the same guy who taught me how to play Dungeons & Dragons …

April 27, 2010 – 9:18 pm | By Andrew | Posted in games, life | Comments Off

Coastal Bookstores

Kim and I are heading to Coos Bay this week to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Davidson clan.  I am already thinking of books — is that wrong? My favorite thing to do on the Oregon coast, other than spend time with the in-laws and all of our super-adorable nieces, is trawl a couple of my …

November 22, 2009 – 9:59 am | By Andrew | Posted in books, life | Comments Off

Reading Murakami Five Years Later

Kim and I have been reading The Wind-up Bird Chronice, one of Haruki Murakami’s best-known novels, for the past couple of months.  It has taken us a long time to get half-way through the book.  This is my second reading, and I am surprised to find that the author’s style, themes and approach leave me …

November 20, 2009 – 10:47 pm | By Andrew | Posted in books, life | Comments Off