Dan vs. Dan - A Time-Traveling Writing Challenge

One of my occasional responsibilities at work is to meet prospective hires for our team.  It's still work, but really a welcome break from the routine.  Aside from generally forcing me to be sociable, I am also tasked with giving their writing samples a look.

A recent quest for an obscure book title brought me back to my own late-college writing samples.  Which, naturally, led me to ponder, have I become older and wiser?  Or have my skills only atrophied in the mind-numbing corporate world?  Get it on!

Hollinger's Playoff Oddities

With less than twenty games left in this shortened NBA season, it's not at all too early to keep an eye on the conference standings.  And how 'bout those Knicks?!  More thoughts to come on what's been going on at the Garden...  In the meantime, they may be just barely in the playoff picture at the moment, but based on talent and recent form, their spot seems more secure.  How secure?  Let's see what number John Hollinger can put to that.

Taming Tilapia

Our ancestors have done battle for generations with the noble beasts of the sea.  These brave fisher-folk have risked all in the pursuit of swordfish, salmon, crab, even whale to feed their families on the ocean's bounty.

What would they think of tilapia?  They may never have heard of that freshwater runt.  As one point of reference, the strictest forms of the paleo diet seem to frown on its fish farms' grain feed and possible mercury content(?).

Whatever.  It's cheap and easy to cook.  I've tried different versions of in recent months, and finally decided to commit some of the key permutations to the record.

A Tale of the Wood Elves

On mountain slope, 'neath forest bough and beside tumbling stream lies the realm of the frolicsome wood elves.  Even as the world shivers ere the turning of the year, their gambols continue undisturbed by cold and frost.

MediumBrow's 2011 Reading List

I may think it's silly to dwell on arbitrary markers of the passage of time, but everyone's doing it, and that's a good enough reason to get me back on the blog (with a vengeance - this post turned out long) with a look back at 2011. 

Alright.

The most popular new years' resolutions have to be exercise/weight loss, travel or reading.  (Hmmm, it appears I missed saving money and spending time with family.)  For the bibliophiles, now is the time to assess how much of their ambitious goals were met in 2011.  Based on my own lists and notes, my tally worked out to more than one book a month, which came as a pleasant surprise.  Sure, there were a couple page-turners and even some that were mostly pictures...  But some weighty stuff too.  To wit: