I’m not sure why I find linguistics and language so fascinating, but I do. I started reading Steven Pinker’s Words and Rules this morning and quickly discovered what the book was about. Quote from the preface: This book tries to illuminate the nature of language and mind by choosing a single phenomenon and examining it…
Pretty productive day overall: Move-related I called Washington Gas and had the gas service transferred to the new place beginning July 25. I also called WSSC to discontinue water service, but apparently I am supposed to call on the day I move out. I may try for a little more packing later this evening. We’ll…
I wrote about 500 words of the second draft of my new story, which as of yet doesn’t have a title, but which I think of in my head as the “TV” story. I am taking scottedelman‘s advice on this one. I wrote a first draft that was perhaps 1,500 words, very rough, almost outline…
I finished Steven Pinker’s The Language Instinct this afternoon and I thought it was terrific. I never thought I would find grammar and language so fascinating, but Pinker hooked me and I am eager to start the next book, Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language. The Language Instinct convinced me to ease up on…
Back at it today. I did a full arms and shoulders workout, lifting a total of 17,250 lbs. which is a 2% improvement over last time. The workout felt very good and also very efficient. It usually takes me a little over an hour to do a full arms/shoulders workout, but it took me an…
Back at it today. I did a full arms and shoulders workout, lifting a total of 17,250 lbs. which is a 2% improvement over last time. The workout felt very good and also very efficient. It usually takes me a little over an hour to do a full arms/shoulders workout, but it took me an…
It was reported over the weekend that Thomas M. Disch committed suicide over the holiday weekend. I read only one of his books, Camp Concentration way back in October 2000, while sitting in a jury pool in a Hollywood courthouse. I was never called to server that day. According to my list, I wasn’t that…
Kelly couldn’t go to the Orioles game today because she had other stuff she had to work on, so I left her at my house around 11 AM and headed up to Camden Yards. The Orioles have lost something like 8 of their last 9 home games and the team was offering a special today.…
We got off to a productive start to our day. First, we headed over to the bank, hauling a bunch of change that I had collected. We used the change machine and when all was said and done, we got more than $160 for the change. After that, we headed to Goodwill where we dropped…
Today was the first time since living in the D.C. area that I actually went to the National Mall to watch the fireworks. Kelly and I headed over to her place around noon. We took care of a few things there (and I managed a nice nap) and then, around 3 PM, we headed over…