Wellbeing

A tale as old as fire

We’ve been bad lately. Few of our meals have been home cooked the last few weeks. It begs the question: has my mood driven our dinner selection, was it the other way around, or were we involved in a tragic dinner-depression feedback loop? Begging or not, that’s not really why I’m writing. I’m writing because we didn’t have salsa. “Holy hot sauce…
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Family and Friends

Thirty!

My immediate family is small, so I try not to let events go unnoticed. One almost slipped past my radar though. Fifteen days ago I got my customary alert on my phone. A birthday was imminent. That birthday is today. What I didn’t realize is it’s a milestone. My cousin is now a full-fledged, card carrying member of adulthood. It’s not a particularly exclusive organization, if you…
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Kitchen Sink

They came on a truck

A few months ago life presented us with a rare opportunity. My aunt was moving to a smaller place and couldn’t keep all of her furniture. We got a call, asking us if we wanted it – otherwise she would have to sell it or give it away. Normally Cheryl would answer a question like this with an unqualified and unequivocal: “No, we’ve already got too much stuff.” It became…
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Computer

Why you always backup your stuff

I’ve got a post I’ve been working on for a couple days now, off and on (doing a lot of thumb typing on the phone in my spare moments). There’s a picture I wanted to include in the post, but I thought it was lost. It’s a favorite of mine, taken back in the dark ages when people used something called “film” which you then had “developed,” giving you…
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Kitchen Sink

The next time

People never get used to the unexpected. At the height of the terrorism scare of the early twenty-first century, uncertainty was the only constant. Governments raised alarms on anniversaries and holidays, only to find the biggest threat was sowing complacency. They fortified airports, so terroists turned to subways and buses. Fearing “weapons of mass destruction,” security efforts…
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Kitchen Sink

First fiction: Missing

This is my first attempt at fiction since the mid-1980s… unless you count exaggeration. What the heck. I thought I’d try something different. — No. His eyes were closed. He was shaking his head, willing disbelief, and not succeeding. Please God, no. Another book was missing from his shelf. He never knew for sure when it happened first. Jack was looking for one of his favorite…
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Family and Friends

Travel much?

Clearly, I do not. I arrived in Tallahassee Friday night with all of the essentials: my computer, phone, and their cables. However, I did not have the little things; like a brush, toothbrush, or deodorant. A sticker on the mirror at the hotel reassured, “Forget anything? Ask for it at the front desk.” So I asked. I can follow instructions. I didn’t think the answer would be…
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Family and Friends

Drive

I have a plan. Do you have any idea how odd those words sound in my head, coming from my mouth? Thanks to a gentle nudge from Cheryl, I’m going to try to exorcise a pinch of guilt this Friday by making the long drive up to Chattahoochee to see my mom. Let it be known: this doesn’t make me a good son. A good son wouldn’t suffer from mixed feelings. Don’t get me wrong…
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Family and Friends

Unheralded classics

Among the likes of the wheel, the steam engine, integrated circuits, the moon landings, and the polyester cotton blend, one of humanity’s greatest (if overlooked) achievements is the Koosh Woosh. In the late 1980s, a small toy company made a bundle selling funny little balls made of strands of rubber. Maybe you never had one. Maybe your parents didn’t love you. We had several &#8211…
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Going for Broke

Saving money in the wrong places

There are some lines I won’t cross on this blog. Don’t you laugh. I’ll find you. I’m not going to elaborate, not that it’ll be necessary. I think your imagination will fill in capably. I’ve decided not to save money on toilet paper anymore. I say that now, but just you wait. A few years from now I’ll be reposting this entry, complaining about how rough it…
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