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This is how geeky I am (as if you all needed another example). For years, I've bemoaned the fact that I've been unable to find a good college-level grammar class to take. All of the college-level grammar classes around here are remedial. I don't want a remedial grammar class. I want an advanced grammar class that really gets into the nuts and bolts of the stuff. As you may know, I'm a huge fan of...

"You know our house isn't really cluttered, right?" Kris said last night. "What do you mean?" I asked. "When you write about your battle with clutter, it makes it sound like we live in a house filled with junk. We don't. Our house is pretty clean. You've just got a lot of stuff you're holding onto that you don't know how to get rid of." "That's true," I said. Our house isn't cluttered....

While Mom was in the hospital, Kris and I spent several hours at her house cleaning. I've noticed before that it's easy to see the clutter in another person's house, and this time was no different. The trouble is that it's difficult to see the clutter in your own house. Coming home from our cleaning trips, I could look around and see that there was too much Stuff around us. I could see that there...

I find NBC's Olympic coverage maddening. Asinine, really. I've always been a huge fan of the Olympics, and I like Bob Costas. So I'm willing to watch television for the first time since the Academy Awards last winter. But NBC doesn't seem to care. Everything here in Portland is tape-delayed. Events that could be live — like the women's gymnastic all-around competition — are instead...

I have an editor. Each week one of my posts from Get Rich Slowly is reprinted at MSN Money's personal finance blog, Smart Spending. I work with a woman named Karen Datko, whom I admire a great deal. She's funny and helpful and full of advice. Karen and I have a difference of opinion on commas, especially as they relate to quotations. I follow standard usage for dialogue, but I cannot bring myself...

Kris' parents were in town last week. While they were here, we took them to some of our favorite restaurants. (We didn't get to Pok Pok — maybe next time.) On Sunday night, we dined at South Park for the first time in two or three years. South Park has altered its menu a little since the last time we were there. There are fewer choices, but each one seems more interesting than before. They...

This has sort of turned into the "dumb things J.D. does" blog. Here's yesterday's dumb thing. I drove to Eugene to participate in a neuroeconomics study. I spent an hour inside an MRI scanner answering questions about personal finance. For this, I was paid $120. Because I knew I might fall asleep, I had a diet soda for lunch. Lying on my back for an hour (or more) is a recipe for slumber, even if...