Bad Apples

Dearest Rachel – In the game of Cards Against Humanity that we used to enjoy playing together in large groups, there is a black card that reads “________: Awesome in theory, kind of a mess in practice,” to which the players submit their best white cards with one outlandish concept or another. The point, ofContinue reading “Bad Apples”

To Practical Use

Dearest Rachel – I honestly don’t know if I’m boring you with my latest obsession with artificial intelligence and pictures of you. Despite your degree in computer science (which you earned essentially pre-internet, so it was practically worthless within a few years of your graduation), you rarely seemed as interested in the ins and outsContinue reading “To Practical Use”

A Look at Younger You

Dearest Rachel – Since I’m insistent on being home when Kris is coming in to clean the house – not to supervise her, mind you (indeed, between eating breakfast, brushing my teeth and doing several loads of laundry as she’s trying to make her way through each room in the house, I worry that IContinue reading “A Look at Younger You”

What You Get Out of It

Dearest Rachel – Even the most inspirational saying can be rendered ridiculous with the wrong (or, if you’re a comedian, the right) preface. Life is like a sewer; what you get out of it depends on what you put into it Tom Lehrer Such was what’s been going through my mind as I’ve been experimentingContinue reading “What You Get Out of It”

A Hundred Blurry Photographs

Dearest Rachel – There’s a certain joy in having a project that feels like I could really make something out of it for a change. After having my plans for a YouTube channel derailed, first by a lack of talent (both my own and trying to recruit skilled assistance) and then by outside events (includingContinue reading “A Hundred Blurry Photographs”

Opened A Little Early

Dearest Rachel – It seems a bit inappropriate to make such a comparison, especially considering that it involves you – the idea of thinking of a person as a toy or plaything, when expressed in that way, seems repugnant – but I feel like a kid who has just gotten the chance to open oneContinue reading “Opened A Little Early”

The Sacred and the Secular in the City of the Savior

Dearest Rachel – We hear the bleat of a horn (and I’m not kidding – it drops a tone mid-honk) as we step off the bus this morning. It’s normal for the inhabitants, but it’s odd for us to land on an angle this steep. At least it’s easy to make our way out ofContinue reading “The Sacred and the Secular in the City of the Savior”

A Rest Arrested, A Connection Made

Dearest Rachel – I really thought I’d be better at this; given that I was yawning like crazy even as the folks were driving Daniel and I to the airport, I assumed I’d be able to fall asleep on the plane without any difficulty. It was certainly late enough in the evening, and I hadContinue reading “A Rest Arrested, A Connection Made”

A Wish to Return

Dearest Rachel – Last night, I found myself dreaming about our trip to San Antonio, and wishing we could go back there. I’m not entirely sure why. Oh, don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of good reasons to want to. The place we stayed at was really quite something, with its expansive room andContinue reading “A Wish to Return”

Milling About of a Midday… Maskless

Dearest Rachel – I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting that Daniel would have a lot of fun here in any event, given the restrictions that they seem to have in their rules and regulations. But so far, that doesn’t seem to have been nearly as bad as we feared. The only real problem he seemsContinue reading “Milling About of a Midday… Maskless”

I Wish I Had Taken More Pictures

Dearest Rachel – So, last night we met the girls for dinner. I’m not gonna lie, it was a bit of a fire drill; not gonna specify, either, because I’m not sure which nationality applies here – Chinese, Bavarian, or some other – and regardless, it’d probably be racist, or at least ethnist, to doContinue reading “I Wish I Had Taken More Pictures”

You’re Going With That?

Dearest Rachel – You know that I try to avoid politics in these letters if I can; we always understood each other and our political positions (although I couldn’t help but be amused as you and Daniel changed position around me during that last year and a half, taking me from being the most conservativeContinue reading “You’re Going With That?”

Pictures of Better Days

Dearest Rachel – Sometimes, I don’t know how my folks deal with it. Now, I have photos of you throughout the house; it’s a result of finding them in the process of cleaning the place out (not to mention cleaning off places for them to sit). That should be understandable; in fact, what would beContinue reading “Pictures of Better Days”

One Last Walk Around

Dearest Rachel – When I got back to the hotel yesterday, after standing, exhausted, in the middle of Marktplatz, and settled in to update you on my travels for the morning, it was at that moment the sun deigned to stick his head out. I swear the old boy was mocking me. But it justContinue reading “One Last Walk Around”

Abt-titude Check

Dearest Rachel – As promised, I went to this appliance showroom this morning to figure out what to get for the to-be remodeled kitchen and laundry room. And I took pictures. When we got inside, dad went to the main desk, and asked for Joe K, the representative that generally works with Detail on theirContinue reading “Abt-titude Check”

Digital Cache

Dearest Rachel – I keep wondering when the time will come when I’ve found the last remnant of your memory. After all, everything in life is finite, and you were here for only a limited amount of time. Surely at some point, I will run out of photographs to ruminate over, music or other recordingsContinue reading “Digital Cache”

Three Hundred

Dearest Rachel – This is the second week in a row that Jan‘s charges for her time have amounted to three hundred dollars exactly. And like I told her last week, the thought immediately runs through my head as I look at the room that we’ve been working on for the past few hours: This!Continue reading “Three Hundred”

Of Madness And Memories

Dearest Rachel – In literature, the color yellow seems to be associated very closely with madness. There’s The King in Yellow referenced by Lovecraft, the story of “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Gilman, and so forth. I think that, in some way, it’s why Ellen chose it to serve as the color of what weContinue reading “Of Madness And Memories”