Easy to get grilled about barbecuing

Written by David Vogel Tuesday, 15 June 2010 16:51

The other morning I woke up in the early afternoon—as is my customary summer vacation practice—to find that the rest of my family had decided to leave town for the day.

So I went back to bed.

But when I finally pulled myself out of bed a while later, I decided that I should make some lunch. My choice of menu: grilled bratwursts.

This is a big deal for me. When left to fend for myself I will almost always go with a frozen pizza.

However, on this particular day I was feeling motivated. I was feeling tough and rugged. I needed a man’s lunch.

And grilling is a very masculine activity.

This manly art of cooking meat over an open flame dates back several millions years to the early cavemen.

Having just invented fire (and failing...

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Sorry about those obnoxious e-mails

Written by David Vogel Tuesday, 01 June 2010 20:06

I would like to make a public apology to anyone who arbitrarily received an obnoxious e-mail from me last week.

Your irritation is quite understandable to me: I got it too.

I was astonished one morning to open up my Hotmail account and find that I received an e-mail from a certain “David Vogel” at a certain e-mail address that I no longer actively use.

For those of you didn’t get the e-mail, here it is in its full broken-English glory:

“hello, I have bought one ipad from this website. and have received it until now, much cheaper than others and genuine. if you want, you can order one from them, this is theri website. you can check it out , Kind regards –david”

Imagine my surprise to see my full endorsement for a product...

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Tornado warning? Let the chips fall...

Written by David Vogel Tuesday, 18 May 2010 18:33

It’s about a quarter to 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Not quite suppertime, but I’m hungry anyway.

So while working on my computer I’m munching on Nabisco-brand Ritz sour cream and onion-flavored toasted chips from a bag that has been sitting in my dorm room for the better part of the semester.

It’s to the point where I don’t really need any more chips—after all, pizza will be waiting for me in the school cafeteria in only 45 minutes—but the bag is just empty enough that I would feel bad stopping now.

Normally, this situation wouldn’t seem terribly extraordinary. But, by the time you’re reading this a week later, you must remember just what exactly was going on at 4:45 p.m. last Wednesday.

That’s right: We were in a...

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For all these things, thank-you, Mom

Written by David Vogel Tuesday, 04 May 2010 19:33

I reviewed a whole slew of current events while preparing to write this week’s column. The idea was that somewhere amid the mass of frantic headlines there would be something of at least a little interest to pontificate on for a few hundred words.

There was the car bomb attempt that failed miserably in New York City. Apple’s iPad gadget is still the talk of the town. The 2010 World Expo opened in Shanghai, and seems to be quite the buzz. There is the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And finally, Stephen Hawking has warned that it would be risky for anyone to attempt to make contact with him.

But none of this seemed all that exciting. At least not in comparison to the big event of this coming Sunday. That’s right, it’s...

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