A Nightmare of Logistics

Had to return a day early from the ASA/ASQ Fall Technical Conference to attend to strange housing problems.  Ugh.  I did, however, meet all of my objectives, and visiting Jacksonville was nice.  And Natalie and I were able to have lunch with some of America’s leading living statisticians — they just happened to sit at the table we were at for the first-day luncheon.

On a side note, I ended up getting double-charged for the plane tickets to Las Vegas … grr.  Spirit Airlines will not refund the second booking, despite that it’s obviously an error (the same two people, the same two flights, booked mere minutes apart) resulting from a faulty timeout on Spirit’s Web site.  And the mean lady from India would only give me a travel voucher, not a refund.  The nice lady from America who works at my bank, however, cleared the auth hold and gave me advice for initiating a chargeback should the actual transaction hit my account.  Grrrrrrr.

The Inner Prayer Life of a Sex Offender

I just got home after having another 90-minute session with the “Catholic guys” in prison.  I chose to speak to them tonight about modes of prayer (contemplative, meditative, verbal) and the types of verbal prayer (supplication, thanksgiving, praise), with an eye toward challenging them to “shake it up” in terms of their daily prayer life. […]

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Bisexuality … A Public Health Problem?

During the 2004 campaign, when Michigan voters had to address a ballot initiative to outlaw same-sex marriage, the question of gay rights arose frequently in the Western Herald newsroom, and my editors spared no effort to persuade me as to what each thought was the right approach for the paper’s endorsements. I frequently raised the question […]

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Imagine That!

Picture it:  I’m sitting in my bathtub, soaking in the hot water to unwind some tense back muscles, when it hits me — I can walk and chew gum at the same time. By that, I mean that some of the tough decision-making I’ve been contemplating has been marked by a series of false dilemmas.  […]

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Talk to the Hand

No fracture, but the doctor urges restraint anyway. Funny thing — my X-ray tech was someone I hadn’t seen in 17 years, the younger sister of a guy I went to junior-high with. 

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Dating Quiz

I drafted a personals post, for fun, for Craigslist, but it keeps being rejected.  So, I’ll post it here for my five loyal readers to see, since I did enjoy putting it together. ** DATING QUIZ ** NAME:  ___________________________  SCORE:  _________ Please indicate which answer best matches your attitude/response to the question.  At the end of […]

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More updates!

More updates: I’m going to the doctor tomorrow morning to have my right hand examined.  About six weeks ago, I injured my wrist during karate, and it’s still not OK.  In fact, when I shake hands with anyone with a reasonably strong grip, my first instinct is to scream like a little girl.  So, on […]

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Hiding in Plain Sight

I just returned from watching Stardust, a delightful fantasy film (still in theaters) about a star that falls to earth and — having taken human form — helps a young man find his true love, liberate his mother, and slay the evil witches.  The little shop boy even becomes a king in the end! It […]

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