Author Archives: Ben

Yesterday was sunny*. I’d heard that Seattlites feel an absolute imperative to Go and Do on sunny days during the rainy season, but yesterday was my first real personal experience. First, I started my dryer and dishwasher, both of which … Continue reading →

Six months ago, when I moved into this apartment, I got a brand new set of matching “Spanish Brown” towels and hand-drying-towel-things from Target. I was feeling luxurious, for me, so I didn’t even get the cheapest ones there. As … Continue reading →

For me, growing up, Friday night was always family shabbat dinner night, which is like normal dinner but with sweeter bread, and candles, and orange juice. And usually, tacos. Mom would dice tomatoes and grate cheese, and we would each … Continue reading →

I got an eye exam today, quite possibly my first in 10 years. That was the easy part (especially since the optometrist is on the same block as my office). Then I had to pick out glasses. That turned out … Continue reading →

It’s Purim, so last night I went to a celebration put on by the local maybe-still-kind-of-young Jews group. These groups have an interesting conundrum, being nominally non-denominational. They are tasked with preaching to a heterogeneous congregation whose only common thread … Continue reading →

Looks like superglue glasses repair only buys about 10 days. I’m just glad it failed one second before I got on the bus, and not one second after … and that I still had contacts left from that time in … Continue reading →

I went out to dinner tonight at Cafe Juanita, which seems like a pretty good example of the pattern (if not a trend) of misnamed restaurants. Cafe Juanita is not a cafe by any reasonable definition. It’s a sophisticated Italian … Continue reading →

For the record, let it be known that given enough olive oil and salt even week-and-a-half-old wilted kale will crisp perfectly in 25 minutes at 300 degrees. Unfortunately, let it also be known that it is really easy to oversalt … Continue reading →

Hey Taco Bell, I saw your new commercials with slogan Live Más, and I said to myself “well I kind of speak Spanish and that kind of sounds like your new burritos promote life extension.”. Then I saw your superbowl … Continue reading →

At some unremembered point long ago, maybe in high school, I read Vernor Vinge’s Marooned in Realtime, without realizing that it was part of a series. This week, mostly on buses until I couldn’t stand to wait any longer, I … Continue reading →