Helen has posted her answers and they are, as expected, really great. Go forth and read them! Thanks for playing, Helen!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

John is someone I like very much and so, when he came in late on the responses, I told him that I'd be happy to make an exception for him and throw some questions his way.

So, I will ask John five questions below and he will respond on his blog, let me know, and I will link to his answers. Actually, though, I'm posing six questions in case he doesn't want to answer any one question. So, John, you can pick and choose or answer them all. I leave it up to you, entirely.

Anyway, here are the questions and a link to the rules, which John has to include on his page:

1. You are on the desert island. What three books would you have to have and what would you want to be able to drink while reading them?

2. WhatÂ’s your opinion on the designated hitter? Ruined baseball or extended the careers of some great players?

3. What is the most iconic song to come out of the 1980's?

4. What did you want to be when you were growing up? Did you become it? Are you ok with not becoming it? If you did become it, has it been all you hoped?

5. Describe the best performance youÂ’ve ever given and tell me why it was the best. Was it the crowd? The technical aspects? What made it great?

6. Describe your perfect, self-indulgent, guilty escape from work/family day. Even if it is just a fantasy.

John, it was only with the greatest restraint that I refrained from asking you: where is the oddest place youÂ’ve ever had sex (and I donÂ’t mean on/in your body by place)?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 289 words, total size 2 kb.

Helen is our fifth, but not final, interview. I must say that I'm both delighted that she stepped forward and feeling a little constrained by interviewing someone for whom I have such affection and admiration. Plus, I'd really hate to piss Angus off with my questions. I like Angus. One of these days, soon, I have to write a bit about dinner with the two of them!

So, I will ask Helen five questions below and she will respond on her blog, let me know, and I will link to her answers. Actually, though, I'm posing six questions in case she doesn't want to answer any one question. So, Helen, you can pick and choose or answer them all. I leave it up to you, entirely.

Anyway, here are the questions and a link to the rules, which Helen has to include on her page:

1. You live in London and have lived in Sweden. Has living abroad changed your understanding of your own native country? Do you sometimes feel as if you are the designated American representative on all issues?

2. You are on death row and it is time to pick your last meal. What is it and what would you drink with it. Assume no limits.

3. YouÂ’ve won the lottery and are going back to school to do a doctorate. In what field and why?

4. If you could go back in time and apologize to someone, who would it be and why?

5. Do you think that men who prefer woman who shave their pubic hair are threatened by real women?

6. Why do you blog? What do you get out of it?

Helen, I had several other questions I wanted to pose, too! So, if you don't like these, let me know. Although the others might be worse! For instance, which cartoon character do you identify more with, Tom or Jerry?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 07:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 323 words, total size 2 kb.

Hannah has posted her answers to the interview questions and they were full and detailed. Some very cool explanations of things like the Dutch educational system. Go check 'em out!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

Say hello to Angie, our fourth interview.

I will ask her five questions below and she will respond on her blog, let me know, and I will link to her answers. Actually, though, I'm posing six questions in case she doesn't want to answer any one question. So, Angie, you can pick and choose or answer them all. I leave it up to you, entirely.

Anyway, here are the questions and a link to the rules, which Angie has to include on her page:

1. If you could pick one world affliction to end, which would it be and why? What bad effect on the world at large do you think your choice might have?

2. What is your biggest disappointment to date? How have you rebounded from it, assuming you have?

3. How is it to work in a traditionally male dominated profession? Do you find it different from other jobs you have held?

4. What is your favorite room in your house and why? How is it furnished?

5. What was the most unexpectedly great class youÂ’ve ever taken?

6. Why do you blog? What do you get out of it?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 07:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 199 words, total size 1 kb.

Wow, Dee, that was really fast! Thanks for playing. If you'd like to go see Dee's answers, and I'm sure you do, go check 'em out here!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 02:12 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

I have way too much going on right now to impose the kind of intellectual rigor required to produce a good, or at least decent, coherent post, so, as is my wont from time to time, I give you the following disconnected observations and thoughts that are rattling around in my head:

*I'm sorry that the Pope appears to be dying. On balance, I think he was a force for good and that the world will be a poorer place without him. That isn't to say I agreed with everything he did, or every position he took, because that would likely be impossible. But still, I'm sorry.

*I have not blogged about the elections in Zimbabwe. As you may know, the situation there has concerned me for many years. However, the regular media is paying lots of attention and I have nothing new to add. When the NY Times and the rest of the world goes away, I'll be back poking at it with a sharp stick.

*I read the newspaper on the train in the morning and then watch television news while working out. Does the television news channel rely almost entirely on the print media who, my issues with them to one side, do an outstanding job in comparison to the television types?

*There is something so relaxing about bringing a cup of coffee into the steam room after working out that it verges on the obscene.

*Putting your house together to sell is an exercise in small deceptions as you try to erase most, if not all, evidence of the fact that you live there. I will be keeping that in mind as I return on Saturday to the house my wife and I will most likely be buying. In the meantime, I hope nothing major happens to my house *fingers crossed*.

*Being a parent, any kind of parent (working, stay at home, whatever), is an exercise in applied guilt. Always being torn between different obligations, always trying to be patient with children, always feeling like you are short changing someone or something. Guilt. Learn to live with it because it ain't going away.

*Helen has had a birthday and is changing demographic groups. She might appreciate a happy birthday wish.

*Elizabeth is having a particularly tough time these days. If you have a moment, I suspect a kind word, while not helping any, would at least not go amiss.

*How can you not be impressed with the way Simon is kicking butt on readership? Congratulations to you, Simon, on a great blog!

*The heavens are supposed to open up this weeked and dump 3-5 inches of rain on us in a roughly 24 hour period. I've had better news, but, at least it ain't snow.

*I yearn for summer, for the shirt off on the beach, for making sand castles with my kids, for the smell of sun screen, for chlorine in the kiddy pool, and for rum drinks.

*Finally, I have put my tax information together. Those rum drinks sure sound good right about now.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:31 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 523 words, total size 3 kb.

Dee is the newest person under the lens today.

I will ask her five questions below and she will respond on her blog, let me know, and I will link to her answers. Actually, though, I'm posing six questions in case she doesn't want to answer any one question. So, Dee, you can pick and choose or answer them all. I leave it up to you, entirely.

Anyway, here are the questions and a link to the rules, which Dee has to include on her page:

1. What is the one food you cannot abide and why? If there isnÂ’t one, what is the oddest thing youÂ’ve ever eaten?

2. What is the single most impulsive thing youÂ’ve ever done? How did it turn out for you?

3. What piece of art moves you more than anything, and why?

4. How did you come to find yourself living a submissive lifestyle? Was the transition very difficult? Do your children know?

5. If you could pack up in live in any other city in the world, which one and why?

6. Why do you blog? What do you get out of it?

Tune in later for Dee's answers!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 203 words, total size 1 kb.