Philip Brewer
I write science fiction and fantasy stories.
I also write about personal finance and frugality for Wise Bread.
I speak Esperanto, and use it to communicate internationally. Esperantistoj, legu mian esperantan hejmpaĝon.
Personal finance articles (at Wise Bread)- Interesting stuff
Category Archives: Local
Tai Chi class I’m teaching
I’m going to be teaching a Tai Chi class this summer for the Champaign Park District. Classes will be 8:30–9:30 AM Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There’ll be a first session running from June 3rd to July 26th and then a … Continue reading
New longest walk
By merest happenstance, Jackie and I both had the same distance as the furthest we’d ever walked: 14 miles. She’d hiked hers at Yosemite. I’d hiked mine in the Uinta Mountains in Utah. On today’s hike, we topped that. It’s … Continue reading
Posted in Fitness, Local, News
Tagged endurance, endurance exercise, exercise, Fitness, walking
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“Safety” long run
Every year I look forward to the point when I’m in good enough shape to go for open-ended runs—that is, the point when I can just run off in whatever direction I like, confident that intuition will let me know … Continue reading
Long walks
It happened this way: I suggested to Jackie that we might hike the full length of the Kal-Haven trail. She’s a long-distance walker from way back, so she said yes. The Kal-Haven Trail is a rail trail. It runs from … Continue reading
Posted in Fitness, Local, News
Tagged bicycling, endurance exercise, exercise, Fitness, hiking, kal-haven trail, kalamazoo, walking
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Teaching Tai Chi this summer
I’m going to teach a Tai Chi class for the Champaign Park District this summer. The park district doesn’t put their course descriptions on the web except in the form of the pdf file of the course catalog, which wouldn’t … Continue reading
Champaign considers allowing backyard chickens
The News Gazette had an article yesterday saying that the Champaign City Council has agreed to “schedule a study session” on the topic of legalizing backyard chickens. Tom Bruno, who was the guy who offered me some encouragement when I … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Local, News, Policy
Tagged backyard chickens, Economics, sustainability
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The wonderful Spurlock Museum
A hundred-odd years ago, a lot of towns and cities had their own museum. In those days, international travel was beyond the reach of ordinary people, and museums saw it as part of their mission to bring the great artistic … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Local, News, Photography
Tagged art, museums, public art, sculpture, spurlock museum, Wise Bread
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Morgan Craig at the Parkland Art Gallery
Jackie and I were over by Parkland College to do the final harvest at our garden plot, and took the opportunity to visit the Parkland Art Gallery, where the current exhibit is a set of large oil paintings by Morgan … Continue reading
Success at the Bike Project!
Jackie and I made good use of the Bike Project last week. I’m not quite sure how to describe the Bike Project. Let’s try this: It’s a group of people and a collection of tools, using space in the Independent … Continue reading
An open-ended run
Yesterday, I went on my first open-ended run of the season. On earlier runs, I pretty much knew how far I was going to go and what route I’d follow. Occasionally there’d be a bit of room for variation—I might … Continue reading