Author: James McNally

Thoroughly Defeated

Well, here I am back from my jog, thoroughly defeated. My first stab at jogging since 1998, and I last precisely 5 minutes. The past two years have not been kind to my body. I’ve put on about 20 useless pounds, and in my zeal to avoid paying money to run on a treadmill beside the other lab rats, I decided to hit the pavement again. I hardly had time to break a sweat before my heart began pounding, my head began spinning, and my legs began turning to jelly. It’s humiliating. I guess now my grand goal of running a half hour each night will have to be scaled back, to about 10 minutes every two nights, at least until my heart and I get onto the same page.

I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled…

SxSW, Here I Come!

So I’ve gone and done it. I’ve registered for SxSW 2001. I don’t know how I’m getting to Austin, or where I’m staying, but I’m now committed to attending. I’ve put all my business info on the registration, as opposed to my “blog” activities, so I hope I won’t just blend into the corporate background. Now I’ll have to convince my boss to pay for part of my registration, or flight, or hotel, or not charge the time as vacation days or something. I’ll tell him I’ll be schmoozing for the company. Yeah, that’s right…

Also, should mention I’m back at work today for the first time in over two weeks. The jury I was on deliberated for just under an hour yesterday before delivering a verdict of “Not Guilty” on all 40 charges brought against the four defendants. There was just not nearly enough evidence to determine what happened. I feel good about the job we did.

Opening of the Evangelical Mind

Good article in this month’s Atlantic magazine, entitled “The Opening of the Evangelical Mind.” It’s nice to see some non-derogatory press about a subculture with which I’ve spent about half my life struggling. One of the colleges mentioned in the article, Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is where I attended teachers’ college. It is a fine example of a school where scholarship and faith are both treated with the highest respect.

Thanks Caterina!

Many thanks to Caterina for the link today. She also has an excellent blog, and I’m actually embarrassed that I haven’t added it to my little table of links. That is, until now. I really hope that I can meet some of you nice people at SxSW next year. It’s also thanks to Caterina that I discovered the comix genius of Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes. I’ve bought up a whole bunch of Eightball comics as well as Ghost World (Clowes) and also sprung for the hardcover Danny Corrigan (Ware). All excellent purchases and highly recommended, even to non-comix types such as myself (or maybe my former self, now…) And they will be doing a signing at local comix mecca The Beguiling next Saturday, September 30, from 3-5pm.

Also, on Sunday next week, I’ll be at Canzine 2000, a zine show being held at The Big Bop, at Queen and Bathurst. It runs from 1-8, with a huge fair of over 150 zine publishers. I’m there supporting Brooke and Jen’s new venture, Cherrymag. It will be live on that day, but bookmark it now! And drop down if you’re in T.O., and say Hi and get a Cherrymag sticker, and see our new iBook!