My biggest goal this winter is to finally get serious about soup. I made a good start at it last year, but this year I’m really trying to dive in and fill my ladle.
I’ve long since banished Mr. Campbell from the cupboard, but I’ve been stuck on Progresso for at least a decade now. Sure, the low sodium route has revolutionized my approach, but it’s time to bring my soup game out of the bargain bin and into the modern age. Read More
The best conversations I’ve ever had have been entirely in my head.
In my head, I always know the right to thing to say. I stand up for every wrong against myself or anyone else and say the smoothest lines that cause women to swoon and men to spontaneously cheer.
The only problem is, these conversations never make it out of my head. Read More
I used to think each new year needed to come with a resolution, but I gave up that nonsense years ago.
New Year’s resolutions are the willpower’s equivalent to setting three alarms because you know you’ll sleep past the first two. It is an exercise in tricking yourself into trying to be a better self, with a safety net to cushion your inevitable failure. Read More
I’ve spent every Christmas Eve that I can remember at West Avon Congregational Church in my home town of Avon, Connecticut. This includes the years I lived in Texas, and the year just after Mom died, when Jenny and I stayed at a hotel with no refrigerator and our breakfast consisted of leftover pizza that froze in the car. Read More
I miss the prevalence of coin return slots. As a kid, I couldn’t pass a payphone or vending machine without pushing the coin return button and thrusting my fingers into the slot to see if there was any change inside.
Newspaper machines were my favorite and promised the biggest payout when they hit. A reward for persistence and for curiosity. Discovered treasure in a modern world.
I rarely ever put my fingers into strange places anymore… Read More
I love watching bad TV. Not all the time and not in some ironic hipster way. I simply watch to be entertained.
When the mood is right, like on a rainy Saturday, there’s nothing more relaxing. Read More
Today would have been Mom’s seventieth birthday; sadly, she never saw her sixty-sixth. Today’s date, December third, 12/3, remains etched into my soul, even now that she has passed.
I wanted to share something special for Mom’s seventieth birthday, so I modified a speech I first gave two years into a video titled “Choosing Hospice.”
Each time I’ve given this speech, it has helped someone who has gone (or is going) through a similar situation. Read More
I love to hold a newspaper in my hand, to read it and to feel it. Paper is, admittedly, not the most effective way to get the news. I have a system for rehabilitating waterlogged copies and my snowblower has had a run in with one or two, but the overall user experience can’t be beat.
The sound of the pages turning, the satisfaction of completing a good fold to keep the section crisp. It isn’t a good Sunday unless there’s a little bit of ink smudged on my hands. Read More
The first thing everyone notices when they walk into my house is the old box TV sitting prominently in my front living room. This seems like a source of embarrassment to most people, as one time, the front door hadn’t even shut when a visiting ten-year-old asked “How can you watch that thing!?”
It was perhaps the first picture tube his entitled little eyes had ever seen. Read More
During the recent hoopla over the latest lottery jackpot, I asked my wife what she would do with herself if money were no longer a concern. I don’t know what she said because as soon as I asked the question, I started thinking of my own answer and stopped listening.
This happens often.
My answer was simple – if I could do anything with my life, I would be a modern-day Andy Rooney. Mostly, just to get away with using words like “hoopla.” Read More