I have probably only been to Cheesecake Factory 3-4 times in the last ten years, and only because one of my book club friends keeps suggesting it whenever it’s her turn to choose. Anyway, if you can get past the horrid Skinnylicious name, there are a few things on there that can help you not eat 3,000 calories in one s…

I am constitutionally unable to pass up larb whenever I see it on a menu. I don’t understand people who don’t want to eat larb every day. 

I’m sorry for your family, too. Thanks for your kind words. So much about this whole thing sucks, and commiserating with internet strangers is oddly comforting.

God, your wife and I are basically in the same boat. Before the pandemic, I was on the verge of really hitting the job market. I’ve got a part time, online gig that was keeping me afloat while I finished my doctorate. Then the pandemic hits and my sister and her husband (essential workers) have to take their kids of…

I had the same reaction. In what world is Delta not out of control here already? That ship has sailed.

Yep. People are gonna do what they’re gonna do, damn the rest of us. I feel completely held hostage by anti-vaxxers at this point, because I am a primary caregiver for my niece and nephew who are too young to be vaccinated, and because my father is vaccinated but immunocompromised. I am committed to keeping them safe,…

The reality is that dining hall employees know all of these things are happening. They see them in real time. Students are not as slick as they think they are. The employees just don’t give a shit, and why would they? It makes very little difference to the dining hall workers if a student rips off their giant…

They should just send Phil Dunster all of the best supporting actor awards for next year based on the 30 seconds between when Jamie punches his dad and when he breaks down in Roy’s arms. He acted the hell out of that scene without hardly moving a muscle. It is incredible. 

It’s not helped by the fact that Sam’s entire Season 1 arc was that he’s a very young kid away from home for the first time. We see his 21st birthday celebration. We see his homesickness. Like you, I think that better chemistry would help things and I love both actors separately. But together it’s not working for me…

Yeah, I think it will be OK, too. The show is rightly recognizing that there needs to be a little work done in the Beard department to get to where it’s going. There is an inevitable Beard and Ted moment that has to happen in the upcoming episodes, and I think we need this next episode focused on Beard to get to it.

Yeah, same here, except I’m a smidge taller, at 6'. I come from giant German and Nordic stock on my mom’s side, with all of my uncles and male relatives being 6'2" and up. Grandpa was like 6'5". My dad was the outlier at 6' in his much shorter family, where the women are all like 5'3" and the guys top out at around…

I’m the same way as a 6' woman.

As a 6' woman, can confirm. It’s difficult if you care about height. Like, height isn’t a total dealbreaker for me, but if I’m being honest there is a cutoff. For me, it’s around 5'7" or 5'8". Sorry, I know it’s shallow, but I don’t want to tower over my boyfriend. I’ve got enough hangups about my size without adding…

And scholarships are wonderful, but $2 million in the coffers of each of these schools would go a long way toward ensuring their financial viability so that they can continue to serve hundreds of students, not just one, into the future. That amount of money would double Central State’s entire endowment overnight. The…

Sixteen-year-old me swooned at the following exchange from Ever After:

It holds up. I’ve never been one for fairy tale live-action movies, and I still watch Ever After once every couple of years. And if I’m flipping through the channels and it’s on, I will watch it, despite owning it on DVD. 

If you’ve got a shaker, bar spoon, strainer, and a jigger, you’ve got the basic tools you need to get started. Others have said bitters and vermouth (although vermouth needs to be refrigerated after opening), so I’ll say these:

In my life, “per my last e-mail” is second only to “As per the syllabus.” I love my students, but it seems like 75% of their questions are about the late work policy, assigned readings, or due dates, all of which are addressed in detail on the course syllabus and available to them 24/7 in at least 4 different places…

It took me a couple of weeks to separate out the instructors who value their work and the ones who just want to be influencers, but it can be done. On the cycling side, for me that’s Denis Morton, Sam Yo, Jenn Sherman, and Ben Alldis. I’ve done a few of Bradley Rose’s rides, too, and he seems pretty good, but he’s new…

I don’t even consider “Per my last e-mail” to be excessively passive aggressive. To me, it’s succinct and to the point. But I’m the person who is out there trying to normalize more direct professional communication without all of the equivocating bullshit that we often expect (particularly from women) in the…