Apparently the Iditarod is going to start drug testing mushers in 2010, and Lance Mackey, the superhuman, eight-fingered, possibly crazy repeat Iditaquest champion, thinks it’s because other mushers don’t like the fact that he’s been beating them soundly the past few years while toking — or, excuse me, dosing — [...]
I read “Going Rogue” this week. Well, speed-read, more like. Let’s call it an intense skim with my sharper microscope.
One of the women from our business office was showing a new graphics contractor around the newsroom this week. The contractor spotted my dogeared, marked-up copy of “Going [...]
I had one of those “Oh yeah, I’m a grown-up now” moments last night in the grocery store. As I was walking out with the ingredients for a compromise dinner (Side Note: Cooking reasonably nutritious meals that a reformed semi-vegan and a man who doesn’t eat vegetables can agree on [...]
I realized something last night: I missed my own anniversary. It’s hard to believe, but yesterday marked the fifth birthday of Own The Sidewalk and my entree into what has become known as the blogosphere. (Side Note: Can I just say I really don’t like the word “blog”? I mean, [...]
I told Candidate Berkowitz that if these photos had come out in an earlier election, he would have made the cut for Alaska’s Dreamiest Politicians for sure. (Also, it’s a good thing for me that he, like so many other local politicians, has a good sense of humor.) [...]
Last night I took the dog out to the yard to take care of some errands she had. (Side Note: Did I mention we’ve moved? Well, we have. I’ll tell you the whole story in due time. For now, all you need to know is we no longer have a [...]
Maybe I’m the last person in America to have stumbled upon this (considering they have something like eleventy billion views on YouTube), but have you heard the P.S. 22 choir?
If elementary school students singing The Cure doesn’t turn your crank, perhaps you’d prefer some [...]
Cooper Landing, the Kenai Peninsula town that, back in the 1990s, capitalized on the popularity of the television show “Northern Exposure” by erecting along the Sterling Highway (where all the tourists would see it on their way to the Kenai Princess Lodge) a sign bearing the town’s name in the [...]
See, it all started a few weeks ago when we had this party, before which I stood in the kitchen cooking and cleaning for two days. The kitchen has hardwood floors, and I don’t wear shoes in the house. At about four [...]
I got an irritated e-mail from Brendan this morning. Your "job" seems to be really interfering with your blogging girl... I already read the damn Naughty Monkey post...Why I’m taking abuse from someone whose own “job” appears to be (a) going to Hawaii and (b) scanning for typos in my [...]
Attention Naughty Monkey contest judges: If Sarah Palin does not win this contest, we will know for sure that either (a) she didn’t bother to enter because she assumed — as she should — [...]
Remember back in March when we met Nils Andreassen, the brainiac behind Candidate Speed Dating? Here’s what I should have realized when I met Nils for coffee that day: If you make eye contact with this man, you will be locked into his tractor beam of civic engagement. Which [...]
My friend Vik has complained — on multiple occasions — about the fact that I never mention him on this blog. I mean, honestly, a lot of my friends complain about not being mentioned here, but most of them don’t then run out and decide to become stand-up comics in [...]
At last, someone else who gets it: Of all the current assaults on our noble republic, perhaps none is more dangerous than the public option - specifically, the public library option.Read the rest at SFGate. (Side Note: If you didn’t “get” my post Monday about “Annie,” don’t bother. [...]
I was listening to show tunes and painting the bathroom tonight (because, honestly, what else would I be doing on a Monday night?) when I became aware of a dangerous cultural phenomenon the treachery of which I feel morally obligated to inform the American people — or at least the [...]
I was over at B-Dice’s house yesterday afternoon, cleaning his oven. (Side Note: Yes, I will explain later this week why I would clean B-Dice’s oven.) Here’s a sampling of our exchanges as I cleaned and he didn’t pretend to contain his amusement:
As a Red Sox fan, I liked Curt Schilling more when he was playing baseball and staying out of politics. But I have to take issue with this piece by Boston Channel commentator Ted Reinstein, who advises Schilling against running for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat, saying: You [...]
I think I’ve made no bones about the fact that I’m Team Bristol all the way (not to be confused with Team Sarah, which is a horse of a completely different color). That doesn’t mean I’m not as excited as anyone else about Levi’s tell-all Vanity Fair article, which won’t [...]
I was all set to write a big reflective post about the Palin nomination one year later, how it changed Alaska, blah blah blah, but after getting about seventy-five words down I realized I just couldn’t do it. So if you’re dying for some Palin anniversary insight, here are my [...]
This week Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed the ordinance that would have added sexual orientation to the Municpality of Anchorage’s anti-discrimination laws. But believe it or not, that is not necessarily the saddest story I’ve heard this week. Here’s what it’s up against:
With most people, if you were to ask them to act out a scene from a movie and then give them twenty minutes to put it together, you’d get some lines from “Star Wars” or maybe a reenactment of the deli scene from “When Harry Met Sally.” With camp people, [...]
I’ve been out of bed for just under an hour, and already I’ve managed to correctly operate the public address system and solve a printer drivers problem on my MacBook that had me running around camp yesterday afternoon with a flash drive in my hand, frantically trying to print celebrity [...]
I was told last night by a family friend that when I talk about the former governor I look just like my dad looked at an anti-Trans Alaska Pipeline System protest on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus in the early 1970s. Apparently my dad, who organized the rally, was [...]
MLB and I are making the rounds of New England this week. So far, we’ve experienced: The most picturesque country inn in Vermont.The Ben & Jerry’s factory tour. The most perfect wedding of all time. (Not ours.)An Adam Sandler sighting on Newbury Street. Yawkey Way on game day.MLB’s [...]
Apparently someone in the Begich administration didn’t remove Own The Sidewalk from their RSS feed before moving out of City Hall. That has to be it, because I can’t think of any other reason for the mayor’s communications director to be reading (unless, of course, she enjoys things that are [...]
Despite the derision ex-Gov. Sarah Palin has drawn for her use of Twitter, many politicians and public figures are using the microblogging service successfully and appropriately to spread their messages and communicate with their supporters. I would imagine that it was in this spirit that Mayor Dan [...]
There's a long list of Jobs Somebody Has To Do But I'm Glad I Don't Have. The list includes such items as "garbage collector," "proctology resident," "professor of chemistry," and "spokesperson for either of last year's vice presidential candidates." But at the top of the list right now is "Mayor" [...]
Apparently Ethan Berkowitz isn’t the only politician who lives his life with flagrant disregard for the rules of the road; alert reader Laz spotted Mayor Dan Sullivan jaywalking at the very same spot in front of City Hall earlier this week. You can’t tell by looking at him, [...]
I’m kind of over Sarah Palin and I’m way stoked to be moving on to more interesting subjects. But before we kiss the ex-Gov goodbye for good, I have a few parting remarks: Girlfriend was definitely rocking a Bumpit at the Governor’s Picnic in Fairbanks. Check the photographic [...]
It almost seems unfair that a day that begins with two Sunday newspapers and then includes such events as (a) one’s boyfriend coming home from Las Vegas with a bag from Tiffany & Co. tucked into his carry-on and (b) being complemented complimented on one’s fine taste by the lady [...]
A little over a year ago, when Nephew was born and he and Geneva were still in the hospital, Geneva, the Brubster and I whiled away a few hours at this Irish baby names Web site. I think they already knew they were going to name Nephew after the [...]
I was on my way to meet a friend for coffee yesterday when I spotted former legislator and once-and-future-candidate-for-stuff Ethan Berkowitz dashing across Fifth Avenue... against the signal. And I’m not talking about a flashing red hand or a yellow light, kids; this was a steady “don’t walk” red hand. [...]
Oh. Hello. Do I have a blog? Perhaps I should post something on it now and then so you don’t forget I’m alive. That way when I finally sell my novel I can be sure at least six people will check it out from the library.
This morning our good pal Gov. Sarah Palin shocked the heck out of everyone by announcing she’ll step down in a few weeks. Her reasoning goes, in part: Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional “Lame Duck” status in this [...]
Southeast Alaska is buzzing with rumors of Johnny Depp sightings. Among the rumors in the air: He’s hanging out in Juneau. His sailboat is moored in Auke Bay.He was at a Ketchikan restaurant until 4 a.m. so he tipped the waiter $4,000. Johnny Depp, if you happen to be reading [...]
This just in: Hollis French is thinking about running for governor. In other news, the sky is blue, Dan Sullivan drinks beer, and Friendster is totally over.
There has been some disappointing news out of the 2010 gubernatorial race, however; apparently, APOC is reporting that failed mayoral candidate (and [...]