Keep Each Other Here
I want to share a song with you that I have really liked ever since first hearing it six weeks ago on The Bob Edwards Show. Edwards was interviewing Boston musician-poet (and former subway busker) Meg Hutchinson about her song “Gatekeeper.” It’s inspired by a man named Kevin Briggs, whom Hutchinson had read about in [...]
Tags: Boston, Golden Gate Bridge, Meg Hutchinson, San Francisco, suicide, tragedy
Square Foot Gardening for Dummies
Mar 16, 2010 personal
I decided to do some gardening this Spring and was inspired by Frugal Dad to make a “square foot garden.” These are gardens “invented” by Mel Bartholomew, whose website is so unusable that I can only assume it was designed for Windows ’95 and Netscape Navigator. But basically S.F.G. is for people who can’t be [...]
Tags: carpentry, frugality, fruit, gardening, Ginny, lulz, Remy, vegetables
Yanks in Yangon
Nov 23, 2009 personal, reading
Last week my father & I made a quick two-day jaunt to Myanmar to visit some local pastors and see their seminary in Yangon. It was a bit of a shock going from Bangkok to Yangon, a city which feels about 30 years behind the times (LCD TV stores notwithstanding). I couldn’t shake the feeling [...]
Tags: Buddhism, Denis Johnson, Myanmar, Philippines, Shwedagon Pagoda, Thailand, TinTin, Vietnam, Yangon
Koko Wa Doko Desuka?
Oct 22, 2009 personal
We’re in Japan! Konbanwa! A week ago I realized that my Thai visa would expire the very next day so I made a 12-hour round-trip journey to Poipet, Cambodia to get a new stamp on my passport. Since I only spent all of 10 minutes actually in Cambodia, the obvious choice was to scratch my [...]
Tags: aquarium, Cambodia, Churaumi, curry, dolphins, Japan, jet ski, Mike, N64, Okinawa, Okuma, visa
All Beard Things Must Come to an End
When I hit puberty about three years ago, I decided two very important things. 1. I need to try and graduate college in under 10 years. 2. I will never, ever grow a beard. Apologies to my brethren, but red beards are a terrible idea for 99% of gingers. But because I’m a man of [...]
Tags: beard, goatee, hitchhiking, metal
I’m Like a Nok
Last weekend my parents, their boss, and I took a whirlwind four-day trip to the southern & northern ends of Thailand to see family friends and colleagues. Down south we visited the Phang Nga province, an area that was totally devastated by the tsunami of December, 2004. This is a famous patrol boat that was [...]
Tags: cats, Chiang Rai, disaster, earthquake, Phuket, Thailand, tsunami
Home Stretch Drag
Sep 8, 2009 Argentina, TEFL, personal
Sorry for the lack of updates — I was in bed all weekend, knocked out by flu-like symptoms that appear to be a mild version of Swine ’09. Things were looking up a little yesterday, but today I’m feeling awful again. Unfortunately I have to keep lesson planning and keep on teaching. Tonight I’m working [...]
Tags: Bangkok, brothels, Korea, prostitution, student loans, swine flu, Thailand
This City is Controlled by Pigeons
Aug 16, 2009 Argentina, personal
Buenos Aires is incredible. I arrived on schedule at 10.20am on Saturday, but have been unable to blog because I lacked a 110-220v outlet adapter… which — GREAT SUCCESS — I have finally managed to miraculously procure at seemingly the only electronics store open on Sunday. Tomorrow is the St. Martin’s holiday so I’m relieved [...]
Last Post from North America
Aug 13, 2009 personal
My great South American adventure starts in 8 hours. For the curious, here’s my itinerary: Drive from Ft. Wayne to Detroit, fly American Airlines to La Guardia. Then I transfer via shuttle from La Guardia to J.F.K. where I have an 8-hour layover before heading straight from J.F.K. to Ministro Pistarini International, Buenos Aires on [...]
Cole-Lee Wedding
My brother got married this past Friday! The wedding was at Benham’s Grove in Centerville, and they’re now on their honeymoon somewhere in Mexico. This whole past week has been a blur, but a lot of fun. Photos courtesy of Katie & Ken Cole.
Decluttering Blues
Jul 10, 2009 personal
In the midst of packing I’m also making an effort to throw out the piles upon piles of junk I’ve collected. I was/am something of a packrat, but I’ve decided that it might not be a bad idea to finally throw out broken knickknacks and receipts from 1994. Hard to believe some of the ridiculous [...]
Tags: Faith Academy, pacifism, poetry
Goodbye PokerStars
So I’ve quit poker for good in anticipation of my impending move to Argentina. It was extremely bittersweet for me to cash out my entire PokerStars account today; happy for the money, sad to leave it all behind, disappointed I didn’t win more. But poker has enabled me to have a life that wouldn’t have [...]
Tags: gambling, hold'em, poker, PokerStars
National City Bank Sucks
I’ve had a lot of problems with National City in the past month. In one case, I’d done a lot transactions recently and needed an electronic copy of my bank statement — but was informed by two “specialists” that this was impossible and that hard copies sent via snail mail were the only option. It [...]
Tags: National City
My Bloody Bike Rampage
Jun 9, 2009 personal
I just ran over a chipmunk on my bike. I was listening to Michel Thomas on my iPod when this cute furball appeared out of nowhere. ¿Maté el chipmunk? No mueras por favor, señor Chipmunk! I thought I only bumped him, maybe nipped his nail — but when I looked back, poor dude was flopping [...]
Tags: biking, Chip n Dale, chipmunk, Disney, Michel Thomas
Strangelife: How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Become a Porteño
Tengo un aviso emocionante: Me estoy trasladando a Buenos Aires en agosto! In other words, I’m starting a new life in Buenos Aires, Argentina starting mid-August. I received acceptance today into a TESOL certification course and after graduating in September I will hopefully get a job teaching English in Argentina or thereabouts. This has happened [...]
Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Spanish, TEFL, TESOL
No Limit Kitten Hold’Em
May 13, 2009 personal
On Sunday Scott, Kraig, & I took in a stray cat, henceforth known as Lady Macbeth. She was black & white and a little gimpy, with one deformed ear and one hairless patch on her tail. Ms. Macbeth was starved for affection and food, both of which we lavished on her unceasingly — even cobbling [...]
Dumpster Diving for Fun & Profit
May 4, 2009 Cedarville, personal
This weekend was busy: finally graduated college, hung out with frieds & family, threw out my arm playing Wii rowing, watched Celtics mop up Bulls, then watched Manny Pacquaio flatten Ricky Hatton in under 6 minutes (“I didn’t know it’d be so easy,” said Manny before leaving for hours of celebratory karaoke). I also spent [...]
Tags: capitalism, Cedarville, consumerism, dumpster diving, garbage, Kraig, Laura, Scott, trash
My Pocket Mammon Shrine
Apr 18, 2009 personal
When I was finishing up elementary school, I got a leather wallet for my birthday. Fifteen years later, as I’m finishing up college, that same wallet has finally failed me. I used it every day, so now it’s immaculate seams have burst. This is obviously a monumental catastrophe worth breaking my blog silence for. Tomorrow [...]
Miscellany
1. Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. I am shocked to see 3-0 bearing down on me. 2. Congrats to my little brother Kraig for getting engaged to Laura last Saturday. He will be the first Cole to get married and nobody’s surprised. 3. Kraig & I took the GRE on Wednesday. That [...]
Tags: Arcade Fire, GRE, Kraig, Laura, Miroir Noir, Neon Bible
The Culture of Fear
Nov 4, 2008 personal, politics, reading
I read Barry Glassner’s The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things about a year ago. It comes in handy when I read things like this: Tragic Mistake in Halloween Shooting SUMTER, S.C. (Nov. 1) – An ex-convict who thought he was being robbed gunned down a 12-year-old trick-or-treater, spraying nearly [...]