Chisel Chips

What is revealed by what is removed

  • What this site is about
  • Reach me
  • Blog
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  • Driving and Drinking with Dracula
  • What this site is about
  • Reach me
  • Blog
  • Publications
  • Going Places
  • Driving and Drinking with Dracula

Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy writing
Life as we know it

Do smoke detectors ruin more lives than they save?

My wife was shaking me. Up, up, up from a dead sleep, I emerged into a room full of smoke … alarm beeps. Shrill and insistent and echoing through the…

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July 24, 2019
fiction, Life as we know it, relationships, slacker bullshit, Uncategorized, writing

It’s not that hard to just do nothing — and enjoy it

Even though I am what is called “retired,” my life often reflects a frenetic quality. Not yesterday. On Monday, April 12, 2021 — a day that shall go down in…

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April 13, 2021
Uncategorized

Pedro, you’re my kind of guy

Too many people approach travel like a to-do list. Read the guidebooks and brochures. Then go, go, go. Tick them off to say you did, and … what of it?…

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April 22, 2019

Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy writing
  • Uncategorized

    Close encounters of the marvelous kind

    chiselch / April 18, 2019

    When the world gives you rain, it also gives you museums. Who wants to be inside when the weather is glorious, no matter how glorious the weather inside? The interior of a building…

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  • Uncategorized

    Travel sucks, travel rocks

    chiselch / April 17, 2019

    We slept 12 hours last night. After not sleeping at all for the previous 29. After sitting in cramped airline seats for 9 hours between Portland and Amsterdam. After blasting eastward through a…

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  • Life,  Uncategorized

    My wife’s nearly brilliant future career in futzing

    chiselch / November 10, 2018

    My wife loves food. Cooking it, and eating it. She hates futzing, even though she’s pretty good at doing it. Expert cooks build temples to their talent — restaurants. What if expert futzers…

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  • Life,  Uncategorized

    The looming threat of the DIY real estate sales person (i.e. the owner)

    chiselch / July 15, 2018

    Some of my best friends are Realtors. I just might be less than happy if my daughter were to marry one. Had to share a link with y’all. This came to my attention,…

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  • Uncategorized

    RIP, Mom, this life was not for you

    chiselch / March 20, 2018

    My greatest teacher died the other day, at age 91. For the last 34 years of her life — since retirement — Mom became increasingly angry and bitter. Her disdain for humanity and…

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  • Uncategorized

    The clues all point to Holmes

    chiselch / January 6, 2018

    The young woman checking me in to the Quality Inn & Suites in Twin Falls, Idaho, asks my name. “Watson.” “Hmm, I had a Moriarty earlier today.” “Sherlock Holmes fan?” “Yep.” “Cumberbatch or…

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Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy writing

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