Author Archives: Joel

Computer works just fine, but I have noticed from time to time I’ll boot up and not be able to find my DVD drive or any of the USB slots. Generally goes away if I reboot. This time it’s not … Continue reading →

Ghost is an independent soul. Always has been. When he was young he was part of a larger pack, and it wasn’t my pack so he rarely paid any attention to me even though I lived right there. And even … Continue reading →

…and I have mine. The desert is a very dusty place. The Secret Lair is in the desert. And I’m not exactly Martha Stewart, which means in a syllogistic sort of way that the Secret Lair is, for the most … Continue reading →

Because under these circumstances, why would it want to continue? A library patron asked the library’s materials review committee to pull “Hop on Pop,” a children’s classic written in 1963, because of the book’s violent themes. “The complaint was that … Continue reading →

Spent the morning schlepping concrete with D. We’ve got the last of the pier foundations poured, and I think he miscalculated how much mud it would take because we emptied one of the two pallets and the piers themselves will … Continue reading →

Right here.

Yes, we sit around talking about one another’s dogs. Because dogs are important. I was over at D&L’s yesterday helping pour the first concrete pads for their new column piers when L came home. She and my other neighbor H … Continue reading →

Trust the Internet to have replaced it…

…”Joel got new glasses” is big news. Reactions are of two types: “You look like you again! I missed the glasses,” and “They look so ordinary. They’re not super-thick or anything.” The world has taken on a wonderment of new … Continue reading →

1: Celebrity trivia Q. Did you know Ronan Farrow’s blue eyes are fake? A. Who the *&^% is Ronan Farrow?

Got the new glasses, and this puts an official end to the whole cataract episode at long last. Only took about a year and a half. 🙂 Still need to keep up with the glaucoma meds, of course, that won’t … Continue reading →

Right here. It’s by Vanderboegh, who is of course the hero of the tale so take that with a grain of salt if you wish. Unlike a lot of the threeper hyperventilating from a few days ago, though, most of … Continue reading →

My financial arrangements can be exceedingly complex considering the small sums involved. I have no bank account. Heaven knows I have no credit cards. I have no post office box, let alone a physical address that would make any sense … Continue reading →

“It’s always the same damn tire!” Yeah, well, maybe there’s a reason for that, Joel. There comes a time in the life cycle of a set of tires where you start getting a lot of punctures. It’s the time known … Continue reading →

If I do it ironically, does that make me a hipster? Okay, I’m on record as disliking the term “gun culture.” I’m a member of it if anybody is, I just think it’s a dumb descriptor. But if that’s the … Continue reading →

…no sooner had I accomplished that, than I heard something about “transmasculine.” And of course I have no idea what that is*. Cisgender – it turns out I are one, and it’s only meant as an insult in certain contexts. … Continue reading →

I had the oddest dream this morning. It was odd because I remember it completely, it was a coherent story from beginning to end, and it involved civic duty which is something ol’ Hermit Joel doesn’t normally give a lot … Continue reading →

Bill St. Clair has made a complete copy of George’s last book Bad Patterns available here. It’s a pretty good idea for immortalizing a book when you just have the dead-tree version available and there won’t be any more. I … Continue reading →

Yup. Landlady and Ian come up for the weekend and the weather goes completely to hell. Big wind, rain and slushy attempts at snow yesterday. This morning it dawned as cold as it has in…well, only about four days, actually, … Continue reading →

Heh. Also, sad. Stolen from Firehand.