Month: February 2012
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choo-choo
I bought a diesel engine choo-choo at the train show last weekend and it’s taken me until tonight to finally put it on the track and run it back and forth. With that lack of commitment I have to ask myself: Do I really deserve this? But after listening to that engine purr and watching… Read.
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reptile
The president is a lizard. Not in the metaphorical sense, like being cold-blooded as a way of saying he coolly calculates his political moves, or he blends in with the background, or he’s shifty or whatever else it is lizards are. He’s an actual, two-legged lizard. This is no big secret. Many, many people with… Read.
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plug
It was a warm summer’s day, so I was sitting on the back stoop soaking up the sunshine with a book in one hand and a cool, refreshing drink in the other. Birds sang from the trees. Clouds danced across the skies. A really annoying bug flew into my ear, or that’s what it felt… Read.
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physical
I had a physical on Friday, mostly because my last physical was just before I retired from the Air Force seven years ago. Kids, don’t try this at home. You should probably see a doctor a little more regularly than your Unka Dave does. It was the whole kit and kaboodle, starting with an exhaustive… Read.
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spirit
Oh, what a night! We spent yesterday evening at the Edgewater Hotel, soaking up some delicious spirits at Distill America, the annual exhibition of local (and a few not-so-local) distillers. I was very pleasantly surprised by how many distillers are right here in the Midwest. Off the top of my head, I can think of… Read.
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collapse
OMFG: Some Wall Street investors made money as the mortgage market boomed; others profited when it fell apart. Having reaped big gains during both of those turns, Greg Lippmann, a former star trader at Deutsche Bank, is now catching the next upswing: buying the same securities built from mortgages that he bet against before the… Read.
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broken
I’ve just come home from my annual trip to the Madison model train show, where I was doing a pretty good job of sticking to my promise to myself not to spend a lot of dough in spite of all the tempting toys. In a room as big as two football fields, I found a… Read.
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bell
Modern diesel locomotives have working brass bells on them, same as steam engines from the old days. Nobody knows why – it’s probably because there’s an ancient federal law on the books that nobody’s bothered to delete, or it could be just because it’s an old railroad tradition. Instead of being mounted on the top… Read.
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dating
As we were settling into a staff meeting this afternoon, Carolann made reference to a pop tune that I didn’t recognize. Aaron caught the reference, though, and commented on it, to which Carolann replied, “Yeah, I’m guess I’m dating myself with that one.” “It’s Valentine’s Day,” Aaron answered. “If you can’t date yourself, who can… Read.
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classic
“No gin tonight son … unless it’s Hendrick’s!” On the advice of a good friend, we splurged on a bottle of Hendrick’s so we could enjoy classic cocktail night with a classic gin. The before-dinner gimlet was delicious, and the after-dinner perfect martini was, well, perfect. Best thirty dollars we ever spent. Read.
This Is Drivel 