The 40th annual Walk for Hunger takes place this Sunday, May 4, 2008. It's a 20-mile walk through Boston, Brookline, Newton, Watertown and Cambridge. It's the oldest continually running pledge walk in the country. Last year, the event raised $3.4 million for hungry families. You can go here to make an easy online donation to me or my team. Or, if you want to help hungry people but don't like me, please go to the Project Bread page and make a general donation. Hungry families thank you! Amusing f...

I was messing with my cat Dexter just now, because, really, what else are cats for? I've always known that he's particularly smart (makes up for the other two stupid cats in this household), but he surprised me just now. He'll answer to "Dexter" consistently, which I knew, but I discovered that he won't answer to "Hamster!" or "Dumpster!" in the same intonation. That's good to know; at least he won't go crashing through the window if someone is screaming outside chasing their runaway trash conta...

This little work of satire summarizes how-not-to-fuck-up-the-internet better than any actualguidelines could. ...

There should be like a $5000 fine for jaywalking with a child in one's care. (Or an adult who has a guardian appointed.) I see people doing this just about every day. It's about one of the most irresponsible things a person can do, and it isn't like speeding or drifting in your lane or something where one can legitimately say that it happened accidentally. It isn't like you just space out for a second and look up and realize the place you're leading your child is the middle of the fucking road. ...

Purple Roofs is a worldwide directory of queer-friendly lodging. I use it to find my accommodations pretty much every time I travel. Each listing contains the basic overview of price range and amenities, along with whether the place is either "gay owned," "lesbian owned," or "gay friendly. The "gay friendly" designation appears to mean "gay" in the broad sense, and every property that isn't gay or lesbian owned is listed as "gay friendly." I've not yet come across one that's bi-owned or trans-ow...

Overall, it was really interesting. I enjoyed seeing how the process works (never mind how there's no reason whatsoever that we're still using the electoral college system instead of popular-vote-by-phone or similar). It was kind of intriguing to me to think about how really pointless the process is when you're talking about a district that's made up of Somerville, Cambridge, and most of Boston. Basically, we spent four hours trying to choose delegates from a pool of big-name politicians who hav...

One of the families I work with is very politically active, and they've convinced me to go to the caucus tomorrow afternoon. I didn't know much about the process either, but it sounds really interesting, and it's of course for a good cause. The caucus for Barack Obama is at Jordan Hall on Saturday April 5, and the doors are locked at 1:00pm, so be there before then. There's more info here about the process, as well as the locations of the caucuses for those of you who aren't in the 8th congressi...

But since you're reading this, chances are pretty good. Anyway, I seem to be nearing the homestretch in my bathroom renovation repairs. (See, the City of Boston doesn't like renovations, because those add to the value of your house, so then they want to come out and assess them. Repairs seem to be fine though, even though they inevitably also will add to the value of your house. Mortgage lenders, on the other hand, consider periodic replacement of fixtures and so forth to be "maintenance" and do...

I was driving on the Pike back into Boston this morning with my friend Brian. As we approached the Allston/Brighton tolls, we noticed that one booth had a red light, but people were lining up anyway. This of course resulted in the usual idiocy of people realizing they'd gotten into a closed lane and wanting out of that lane. They either did this by either being so timid that no one really believed they wanted to move over, or suddenly yanking the wheel and swerving out of the lane without lookin...

This is a little project I've been doing, in which I take photos of Houses of Pizza. The rules are simple: 1) The name on the sign must be "[Locality] House of Pizza," in that order, with no exceptions. Any sort of name of a nearby neighborhood or landmark qualifies as a locality. 2) The photo must be taken by me. Feel free to suggest houses for me to visit, but don't bother sending me photos of HoP that I didn't personally visit and photograph. Oh, and I suppose I'm limiting it to Massachusetts...

Available here. ...

Rundown of what happened when they took over Bell in Hand, here. ...

This website from care2.com links to a booklet using Christian principles to illustrate how environmentalism is a Christian issue and why followers of Christ need to care about the environment. The campaign is a great idea, except for one thing: the Care2 e-mails and website refer to the campaign being geared toward "people of faith" and "G-d's creations" and "believers in G-d." Christianity is not the only faith nor the only group of people who believe in G-d -- this is especially true consider...

I just got this letter from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue saying I owe personal income tax from 2004. Which has been accruing interest since 2004. Which they apparently need from me so badly that they waited three years to say anything. I checked my copy of my return, and I ended up owing tax in 2004, which I paid. No, the letter doesn't explain which figures from my return they're disputing or anything -- just that I owe them money, plus interest, and I need to pay it by next week. As...

Also, my last two posts seem to be about coffee places. Maybe I should start a weekly caffeine feature or something. ...

They've put a second Dunkin Donuts in at North Station. Like, inside the part of the station where the first one is. Like, 50 feet away from the other one. Like, you could throw a donut and hit the new Dunkies. I recommend this. ...

I'm in Starbucks right now trying to get some paperwork done. I'm pretty sure the woman who just sat down next to me is drinking a skunk latte. ...

I came across a Master-brand cheap combination padlock, one I've used on my gym locker, and realized that I don't know the combination for it. Once again, the internet proves to me that it knows everything. I first tried the old trick of holding it up to my ear and listening for the cylinders to click together, but as the internet will confirm, this doesn't work on newer locks. There doesn't seem to be an audible click. The cylinders also seem to have some sort of newer mechanism where you can't...

Molly and I were talking last night with our friend Patrick, a fellow member of our temple, and Molly said something about our temple's rabbi emeritus... Patrick: What the hell's an emeritus?Me: Pfft, and you're an English teacher?Patrick (immediately): Durrrrrrr, that's not English. ...

I was driving down Washington Street just now (because, chances are, if you're driving in Boston, you're probably either on Washington Street or damn near one) and I stopped for a school bus driving down Washington Street in the opposite direction, which was letting kids off with the red lights flashing and stop sign out. I was at the head of the line of cars stopped for the bus. From the same direction as the bus, an ambulance with lights and siren going pulled out from the lane the bus was in ...