Author Archives: Lynn

About Lynn

o Writer and Editor o Computer Technologist o Composer o Ultrarunner

The Tempest

My base of operations At 9:00 a.m. on December 29, 2010, I began to run the 72-hour race at Across the Years. By 5:30 p.m., after completing only 81 laps (40.5 km, 25.166 miles), I was packed up and on … Continue reading

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Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition

Placeholder for a review soon to come.

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Having a Thing

People will say “Such-and-such is not my thing.” People with “a thing” have too few things.

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Acquiring Wealth As a Writer

If I had a nickel for every time I said, “Schmork flump verwissenschatz und geheimlichen zonderfloozles,” I’d have one nickel.

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Living in a Caboose

Image via Wikipedia When I learned that a high school classmate moved to Israel to live in a caboose after we graduated, I thought that was a pretty weird choice. It was not until years later that I learned it … Continue reading

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Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself

Image via Wikipedia I’ve just finished reading a new book (2010) by David Lipsky, the title of this post. It’s about a five-day road trip author David Foster Wallace took in 1995 at the behest of Wallace’s publisher Little, Brown … Continue reading

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Moby Dick

Never read it. Continue reading

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Jefferson the Neologist

Image via Wikipedia In answer to some people who stodgily protested certain Americanisms that had crept into the writing of Jefferson’s founding requirements regarding the University of Virginia, he defended himself by asserting that as new discoveries are made, new … Continue reading

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Take the Money and Run

Image via Wikipedia Wise and experienced persons ones solemnly proclaim, fingers a-wagging, that money and material prosperity do not bring happiness. Duhh! Everyone knows that, but some who preach this less than profound truth seem to opine from the point … Continue reading

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The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis — Columbus Museum of Art

We were present at the Columbus Museum of Art on October 7, 2010, for the members only opening of the exhibit “The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis.” If you are unfamiliar with the world of comic book and … Continue reading

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Daughters Are Good —
Columbus Half Marathon 2010

Last spring our daughter Cyra-Lea wrote to ask if I’d be willing to pick out and run a half marathon with her this fall. I hadn’t done that sort of running for several years. My last half marathon race was … Continue reading

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Columbus Half Marathon 2010

I Coulda Had a Medal

It was not until August 25, 2010, that I decided to run the 2010 North Coast 24-Hour Endurance Run (NC24) in Cleveland, Ohio. Up until the day before, I assumed that I would not be able to participate, and have … Continue reading

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Pale Fire — Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov‘s 1963 novel Pale Fire appears on a number of lists purporting to identify the greatest novels of the twentieth century. I wouldn’t dare to attempt a literary analysis of Pale Fire. It’s been a staple of literature classes … Continue reading

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Can You Guess How Oold I Am?

Have you ever noticed how some older people like to tell you their age? It seems I’ve reached that point in life where I’m anxious to tell people my age, sometimes looking for excuses to do so. It’s a pretty … Continue reading

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Metropolis — 2010 Restoration

Last night we saw the recently restored version of Franz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece silent film Metropolis, the progenitor of almost every later science fiction action film. The venue was one of my favorite places in Columbus, the Wexner Center for … Continue reading

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Julie & Julia

Last night we watched Julie & Julia. Yes, we’re behind everyone else. All the movies we watch are borrowed from the library, so we have to wait until they are available. We haven’t rented a movie in nearly three years. … Continue reading

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Bright Star

Last night we watched the movie Bright Star, about the (short) life of John Keats — or at least about the last part of it. It’s a good movie. The dialog is captivating, particularly the snippy repartee between Keats’s romantic … Continue reading

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Ultrarunning Hyperbole

Certain tainted words occur repeatedly in journalism about ultrarunning, all of which cause noisy alarms to go off in my head whenever I see them. The four most frequent culprits are: crazy grueling test[ing] limits extreme Rarely have I ever … Continue reading

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My Grandma

My Grandma Newton had no automobile; had no television; had no radio; had no telephone; had an ice box instead of a refrigerator until 1952; had no modern record player; didn’t own a book except a Bible; didn’t think much … Continue reading

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Why Boys Fail — Richard Whitmire

Last week I stumbled across a newly published book displayed on a book stand next to a terminal in the Bexley library: Why Boys Fail, by education reporter Richard Whitmire. Intrigued, I snatched it up and read it in two … Continue reading

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Bone — Jeff Smith

Cover of Crown of Horns (Bone, Vol. 9) Exactly one year ago today Suzy and I attended the world premiere of a documentary about comic book artist Jeff Smith, who is from Columbus area, and a graduate of The Ohio … Continue reading

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House — Tracy Kidder

This morning I finished reading House, by literary non-fiction author Tracy Kidder, still most famous for his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Soul of a New Machine, written a couple of years before House. The book was published in 1985. … Continue reading

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Subtle Is the Lord — A Reflection

Cover via Amazon Albert Einstein is such an iconic personage that Time magazine named him Person of the Century in 2000. Despite this, few people can explain what it was this singularly independent, rumpled man did to earn the world’s … Continue reading

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My Buddy Mozart

A friend approached me one evening, an older (but not ancient) woman, wanting to know if she correctly understood what she had heard — that I had at one time been a professional photographer in New York City. Having no … Continue reading

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Festivus 50K 2009

On Saturday, December 12, I ran the Festivus 50K for the second time. The race is an out and back, mostly on the Olentangy River bike path, starting at its northern extremity in Worthington, Ohio, through the streets of downtown … Continue reading

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The Real Inventor of the Internet

An urban legend that circulated in 2000, one that persists today as a standing joke, was that Al Gore, then running for the office President of the United States, made the wild claim to have “invented the Internet.” Although Gore … Continue reading

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North Coast 24-Hour Endurance Run 2009

The North Coast 24-Hour Endurance Run (NC24) in Cleveland, Ohio made a spectacular debut in its first edition on October 3–4, 2009. As host to the USA Track and Field/American Ultrarunning Association national championship, it drew a total of 107 … Continue reading

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Rubber Baby Buffer Dumpers

Can you say “rubber baby buffer dumpers” ten times real fast? It is not without reason that this blog has not been updated regularly for the last year. I apologize to all zero readers who have missed it. Once an … Continue reading

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Real Men Love Work

Author’s Note: I wrote this piece in February 2002, but never got around to publishing it. It seems particularly appropriate in these times of economic crisis to do so now. Some people work for pleasure, others for money. It’s a fact … Continue reading

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Life in Skool

News from the Land of Educationville is not good. Children of parents who neglect to take a personal hand in the education of their progeny have little hope for any sort of meaningful future, and may as well resign themselves … Continue reading

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Self Improvement

One day in 1972, while browsing in a book store in Manhattan, I stumbled across a 246-page, cartoon-filled, self-help pocket book with the eyebrow-raising title How to Develop Your Thinking Ability—A Guide to Sound Decisions by Kenneth S. Keyes, Jr., … Continue reading

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Mr. Sniff

My seventh grade assistant principal’s name was Mr. Sniff. The man was as ludicrous as his name. As an underling administrator, Mr. Sniff’s primary duty was to render discipline to recalcitrant students, inevitably boys who wreaked havoc and disturbed the … Continue reading

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Elliott Carter at One Hundred

On December 8, 2008 Elliott Carter celebrated his one-hundredth birthday, in good health and spirits. He still works several hours and goes for walks daily. This milestone was observed along with a flurry of accolades and honorary concerts, including a … Continue reading

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My Last Race

Introduction This, my longest race report ever, is the story of my last race—Across the Years 2008. Whether the title means “last ever” or simply “most recent” you will have to read to find out. Were I to list the … Continue reading

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My Last Race

Introduction This, my longest race report ever, is the story of my last race—Across the Years 2008. Whether the title means “last ever” or simply “most recent” you will have to read to find out. Were I to list the … Continue reading

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Nuggets

As I prepare to move in a few days into our new house in the Berwick community of Columbus, these thoughts cross my mind. Long ago I attended a church service on Communion Sunday, when they pass around bread and … Continue reading

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Life at Fancy Dan’s

The drought is over. Today, for the first time, I walked into Fancy Dan’s Hotsy Totsy Downtown Athletic Club, more commonly known as the Athletic Club of Columbus (ACC), as a fully sanctified, card-carrying member. Finally — I can begin … Continue reading

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MANLY Sports

There have been far too many sissy sports allowed into the Olympics, and personally, I’m weary of it. I say it’s time to beef up the agenda a bit with a few more MANLY sports. Here are some suggestions. Hitting … Continue reading

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The Power of Negative Thinking

Some time ago there was a Dilbert strip wherein, when charged with having a bad attitude, Dilbert responds: “My attitude is proof that I am thinking clearly.” In one of the conference rooms at the now defunct Motorola Computer Group … Continue reading

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How to Tell the Difference

On a long walk though Columbus, as I headed up Neil Street, I saw an earnest looking young man sitting on the front steps of his Victorian home. He was holding something close and rocking back and forth rhythmically. As … Continue reading

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On Civility

Today I visited the local Social Security office in order to offer proof in person that I had been born. My life has just entered a new phase, as I have formally enrolled for Medicare. Perhaps I should also be … Continue reading

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Two Running Vignettes

Part One Most every Saturday of my life that I can arrange it, I spend the morning teaching others about the Bible, and then devote the afternoon or more engaged in long runs of varying dimension. At least that was … Continue reading

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Coping with Incompetent Authority

As a freshman at University of Illinois, I took a boring required course. The instructor was an insufferable moron, a graduate liberal arts student. Early in the semester there was a big snow storm. It was an early morning class, … Continue reading

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Drivel

Here are some thoughts I’ve wanted to express for a long time. Yesterday I thought of a great mnemonic device, but I forgot what it was. I’m fully aware of the irony of this situation. Or maybe I was just … Continue reading

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Famous Last Words

Dad conducting On the morning my father died, he woke up and told my mother that he didn’t feel well and needed to get to the hospital right away. It did not take long to get him to where he … Continue reading

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On TV

We often hear people say dismissively: “Yeah, most of what’s on TV these days is junk, not worth watching.” The point-of-view seems to imply that the ones saying it have actually watched “most of what’s on TV these days’” so … Continue reading

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Newbie Is as Newbie Does

No one rises to an opportunity to make fun of newbies more quickly than someone, usually young and male, who was himself a newbie just last week and now knows everything. These people like to be alert to opportunities to … Continue reading

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Life’s Great Ironies

Did you know that M O T H E R   I N   L A W is an anagram for W O M A N     H I T L E R That charming coincidence certainly applied well to my first one. To her daughter too, come to think of it.

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Adena Mounds

So—yesterday I drove up to Highbanks Park, in the north end of the city, and because I’ve been sick for two weeks straight, opted not to do a long run, but wanted at least a token excursion to get some … Continue reading

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Across the Years 2007

On Wednesday, January 2, 2008, I returned to my hole in the wall in Columbus, Ohio, from my ninth annual running of Across the Years, my seventh consecutive year in the 72-hour race, where the question most commonly asked by … Continue reading

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