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The Unplanned Visit
Note: What follows is the start of a short story, which I haven’t finished, about a man who returns to his decaying, old home town and unearths a startling secret which he wishes he had not discovered....
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Stuff Happens!
I have stuff. The stuff is everywhere. It grows in closets, shelves, drawers, along bookcases, in the attic, the basement, the utility room. I have books, tax forms, collectibles, old photographs,...
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Finagle’s Creed
I worked for many, many years in the Information Technology (IT) business. Throughout my checkered career (and there were many checkered moments), I encountered all sorts of problems and ways to solve...
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Bad Decisions
We all have bad days and we all make bad decisions. I, myself, have had bad decades. I often feel that I walk around with a black cloud over my head like the L’il Abner character Joe Btfsplk, who...
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No Easy Answers
I have a friend – let’s call him ‘Jim’ – who never, ever gives a straightforward answer to any question. Regardless of how many times and how many ways I rephrase a question posed to him, I do not get...
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What do you REALLY want?
We start our lives full of innocence and without pretensions. Along the way, we start gathering aspirations – some small, others grandiose – the ones that our parents or guidance counselor or life...
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Change my Gravatar, Please!
When I started my blog, I chose a gravatar to represent an old, grouchy curmudgeon. Statler the Muppet seemed a good choice. Now I wonder if my image as a Curmudgeon-at-Large needs an update. But...
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Writing the Next Great American Novel
Happy writers are all alike. Every unhappy writer is unhappy is his own way.1 1 paraphrased from Anna Karenina Actually, that’s not true. Unhappy writers are all alike as well. Like me, they stare...
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How to Curmudgeon
A number of people have asked me “How, exactly, do you become a curmudgeon?” Actually, no one asked me that but I’m sure a few have thought about it and a few more have even hinted at it. I’m here …...
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Masters of the Universe
I have, of late, been beset with a literary drought of curmudgeonly material but, thanks to people in my nearby neighborhood, I have been restored to my usual crankiness. Have you noticed the great...
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Think You Can Stack Firewood?
It has been a cold winter in North America. These people are prepared. Filed under: Peculiar Science Tagged: cold winter, comments, contest, firewood, life, musings, stack firewood
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Why?
Why? Because I was away for a while and now I’m back. Why? Because sometimes you need to get away and ponder for a bit. Why? Because I couldn’t think of what to say or the right thing to say … Continue...
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Static
I really hate – dislike, am not keen on, disapprove of, cannot stand, wish it never existed, should not become its own reality show - static electricity. Winter weather, combined with cold, windy, dry...
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The Official Rules
In an earlier post, I wrote about Finagle’s Creed which described every information technology project that was ever worked on or will be worked on. Several of you commented by adding laws and...
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Push the Panic Button!
Many, many years ago I had a summer job in the research and development arm of IBM. It may seem very unlikely today but back then IBM was known solely as an all-male organization where you wore only...
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Did I Read That Right?
This assembly of signs and article headlines comes from a friend of a friend. They are not new but too good to pass up. Proofreaders, editors (or former proofreaders and editors), English teachers and...
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Did I Read That Right? – Part 2
Once again, I am saved by a “friend of a friend” with a whole new set of weird newspaper headlines: MESSIAH CLIMAXES IN CHORUS OF HALLELUJAHS - The Anchorage, Alaska Times THANKS TO PRESIDENT CLINTON,...
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When Nature Shouldn’t Call
“To what do you attribute this unexpected visit?” This was the question posed to me by a clear but disembodied voice disturbing my reverie as I sat privately in my stall in the men’s room. Well,...
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Blogging at the Three Year Mark
I was responding to a post by nursekelly on the trials and tribulations of blogging. It piqued my interest and resulted in a post of its own. As of this January, I have now been blogging for 3 years...
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Bonfire of the Vanity Plates
Vanity plates have served for a long time as both a source of revenue (for the licensing authorities) and as a source of amusement for the rest of us. Lawrence Welk had a vanity plate that read...
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