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Back from the Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was a four-day affair for the Islander household (I took Friday off) . But before you curse me for a lazy lout, listen up. We had houseguests. Now, we love these guests. These guests are more like family than guests. We got to spend hours talking late into the night with people we love and respect. And yet. As I drove into work this morning I came around the Island's last hill and saw the ferry loading line stretching back a half-mile. At least an hour's wait. At first I felt chagrin--I was late for work as it was. But then I realized I was alone in the car with the radio off. As I coasted to a stop, put on the parking break, and switched off the engine, I drank in the silence. Mrs. Islander and I have begun adapting to the life of a couple again. All the Islander children have grown and are raising their own families. Some evenings we sit and watch a favorite movie on DVD. Sometimes we just sit and read or watch the sunset over the Olympic Mountains. But ...
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The Rule of Engagement

CBS's foray into the blogosphere, The Public Eye , has a neat little sidebar called The Rules of Engagement . It's so neat, I'd like to take it home and adopt it for my own: Public Eye is going to have some pretty strict rules of public etiquette. People who want to post comments on Public Eye and join in our debates and conversations are going to have to follow our rules. We know that not all Web logs are like that, but this one is. If it's any comfort, the Public Eye team promises to follow the same rules. And we'll try our best to be clear about what the rules are. When they change -- and they will -- we'll let you know. There’s legal language nearby. Here's the plain English: no libel, slander, no lying, no fabricating, no swearing at all, no words that teenagers use a lot that some people think aren't swearing but we do, no insulting groups or individuals, no ethnic slurs and/or epithets, no religious bigotry, no threats of any kind, no bathroom ...
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Outgeeked

This Christmastide we had as guests my wife's sister and her husband, Jim. As guys do, we sniffed around a couple of topics to see if we were from the same tribe. He mentioned that he liked classic Sci-Fi, and I asked him to name a couple of favorite authors. (Think of that scene in The Commitments : "Who are your influences?" Jim allowed that he used to be a big Piers Anthony fan. I asked him if he liked my favorite Anthony novel, Omnivore . Without a word he rolled up his shirt sleeve to reveal a tattoo of the fungal carnivore. I was completely outgeeked.
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