I am de-lurking on my own blog to say two things and to ask one thing.

1. I have taken GKB’s blog and comments off of my bloglines account as a result of a recent realization: It has grown tiring and predictable to me. The whole thing feels like a conversation between those AIM chat-bots that people used to program to try to sound like real humans. The whole thing feels stuck in a rut of stereotypical communications, and one can almost predict what each of the regulars is going to say before they actually say it. So I’m out for now. (Although I generally enjoy watching GKB’s work as agent provocateur, I can’t bring myself to delete the comments feed without also deleting the feed for the original articles…I don’t want to be accused of liberal bias.)

2. I had chocolate stout this week and, for me, it didn’t compare at all to the pink fruity beer that I love.

3. One of the things I find interesting about GKB’s blog and (elrod’s as well…and the present blog, too, I guess) is how people get all worked up about our shared alma mater. In my experience, most people speak all warmly and fuzzily about good ol’ Wesleyan or Amherst or beloved State U., but many of the HU alumni I know complain mightily and say that they don’t want to send their kid(s) there. (Full disclosure: I would probably include myself among the alumni I know.) Why do you think that is? Typically, when one devotes several years and many dollars to an institution or goal, one either sincerely believes (or post-hoc rationalizes) that they made a wise choice.

So, why the seemingly disproportionate negativity? And, why not just let it go? Why not tell the alumni fundraisers to quit calling, and then just move on—and even give our money to a school that feels more in line with our beliefs about higher education? Life is short.

[Pardonnez moi, svp: I’m disabling comments b/c I don’t think it’s fair for me to ask a question and then not pay any attention to how anyone responds. That is, my computer is going to be turned off for a couple days due to various work/family obligations. So, please think of the above as a rhetorical question, or greg and jeremy can do with it as they wish. ]