Not Such an Anticlimax as All That

Dearest Rachel – I’m sure we’d seen the aurora borealis once or twice since the time we did on the night I proposed to you (and you took it as the heavens themselves blessing the moment, as I recall), but you’d think I’d be able to remember and point to the night, especially since it’sContinue reading “Not Such an Anticlimax as All That”

The Glasgow Experience

Dearest Rachel – They say that it takes one day for every time zone to acclimatize yourself to your destination when you travel.  It’s another reason to appreciate cruising; the travel is so slow and gentle that you can only go across a single time zone on any given day at its fastest. However, inContinue reading “The Glasgow Experience”

Finally Back Into The Weeds

Dearest Rachel – No, this doesn’t have anything to do with the yard; I don’t even get out there anymore to mow, now that I’ve enlisted a service to take care of that for me (and I admit, I’m not entirely sure what you would think about that. Would you be as reluctant to doContinue reading “Finally Back Into The Weeds”

A Chair For You

Dearest Rachel – I’ve been trying to find the photo for the last hour, with no success; it happens, when I’m away from home and don’t have access to every single photo I’ve stored on every single hard drive in my possession. So I guess I’ll just have to write about it without showing you,Continue reading “A Chair For You”

Fade Prevention

Dearest Rachel – I would have at least started this letter earlier, but for the last couple of hours, the ship’s internet connection has been out, for reasons unknown to me – and now that it is up and running, I guess there’s really no reason to pursue the matter any further. I did killContinue reading “Fade Prevention”

Does it Count When You’re Already There?

Dearest Rachel – Mom and Dad would often talk about our first family cruise that we took back in 1999. Dad and his cousin Dennis had helped organize a trip with the entire extended family, a few years prior, and for arranging that much business, when we got to Vancouver, we were upgraded to roomsContinue reading “Does it Count When You’re Already There?”

What the Camera Can’t Catch

Dearest Rachel – I think it was one of the early Torchwood episodes – you’d actually remember it better than I would, since you were the Doctor Who fan of the family – that had a character wear a pair of contact lenses that would essentially livestream what they were seeing to the main groupContinue reading “What the Camera Can’t Catch”

Cheating With Side Dishes

Dearest Rachel – Considering our interpersonal vocabulary, I’ll bet you saw this title and thought the topic might be a little salacious, no? And maybe I’ll touch on that in more detail later on, now that I think about it (or not). But for the moment, bear in mind that today is Thanksgiving, with allContinue reading “Cheating With Side Dishes”

The Effects of Bingeing

Dearest Rachel – I think I’ve filled you in several times already about my new tradition of fasting on Sunday on the weekends when I’m working in the booth. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve gotten tired of hearing about it; there are times when I get tired of describing what I haveContinue reading “The Effects of Bingeing”

Little Things in the Morning

Dearest Rachel – You’ve heard tell from me on one day or another about how I have so little to write to you, and that’s still quite true; in the nine hundred days since your departure, some of them have simply run together, and offered nothing in particular to set them apart in terms ofContinue reading “Little Things in the Morning”

The Irresponsibility of Responsibility

Dearest Rachel – You know how Dad has always been so enthusiastic about learning everything about our travels, while we (partly due to my experiences a year and a half ago in Basel) have tried to remain reasonably indifferent? Yeah, I think that’s catching up to me. It would seem that my unconscious mind isContinue reading “The Irresponsibility of Responsibility”

In Lieu of Conscience

Dearest Rachel – The other day, I was reading an article about the reliability of one’s conscience, and how – despite being pointed to as a rationale for faith (by no less than the apostle Paul himself!) and the proof of a fairly universal standard of good and evil – it is no substitute forContinue reading “In Lieu of Conscience”

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”

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”

Lessons from Logan

Dearest Rachel – When I agreed to allow Logan to move in with us, there were a few things that I was considering in the back of my mind. It certainly wasn’t that we needed the rent money – although, with that being said, we may well have deprived someone else that needed it moreContinue reading “Lessons from Logan”

Too Much Like an Angel

Dearest Rachel – Late last week, I received a rather large envelope in the mail from a location that didn’t register with me. To be sure, most mail that arrives comes from such locations; even the bills that I process regularly come from addresses that I forget from month to month – the only reasonContinue reading “Too Much Like an Angel”

Dakimakura

Dearest Rachel – I don’t know if you remember it, but even before we were separated, I recall looking at websites that offered to create a custom dakimakura, or body pillow. You know the type I’m talking about; there’s always at least one or two vendors in every anime convention dealer room hawking these things.Continue reading “Dakimakura”

Shooting Elk

Dearest Rachel – Don’t worry; even though I’m probably the only non-hunter in the entire group, we’re hewing to the current dictum when dealing with nature: “take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints.” So, photographs it is. Assuming we can find any elk to shoot. The last couple of days, we’ve only seen aContinue reading “Shooting Elk”