Home For The Holiday
It’s tricky, this Thanksgiving thing. There’s plenty to be grateful for, and I have no problem taking an abitrary calendar page and using it for inspiration. I am grateful and why not? There is peace in this household currently, music and warmth and a dog, phone calls (now video!) and plenty of possibilities. On the other hand, I’m also really grateful to eat pie for breakfast. That’s right up there toward the top. It’s complicated to dig into the holiday with three people, which is what our Thanksgiving looked like this year (again). It’s dumb to prepare food for ambience only, but some things are necessary. It felt all ri

On A Scale Of 1 To Something
The answer turned out to be 11, which makes sense. Eleven is logical, manageable, relatively insignificant and justifiable if you ask me. I’m good with 11. Pounds we’re talking about, pounds of extra, unneeded energy that my body has stored for a rainy day, conveniently located in my butt. Call it an investment. It’s really amazing, when you think about it. A pound of fat contains 3500 calories, enough to last 3 days if it were actual food. Two cans of Campbell soup weigh more than a pound. We are efficient creatures. And I justify it by noting that I had a stressful year and this fall I’ve sort of relaxed a little, been busy but indu

Future Boy
Beth and I walked into a restaurant in South Carolina last June, halfway to Atlanta and hungry, and we immediately knew where we were, if there had been any question, no GPS needed. “Smoking or nonsmoking?” the hostess asked, and I thought, Really? Living on the Left Side as I do, in the Land of the Nannies. It felt less like an anachronism than an echo, maybe, and mostly just struck me as polite. The food was pretty good too, as I recall. Good iced tea, anyway. I’ve had conversations about The Future lately, several with several different

On A Clear Day (Like That’s Gonna Happen)
The other day I needed a new computer monitor. Now, yes. I’m a middle-aged American guy. Maybe just a guy. So, when it comes to electronics, we might need to delve into the difference between “want” and “need.” But seriously. I needed one. Because of middle-aged American guy back issues, when I’m at the computer I tilt. I lean backwards in a recliner, keyboard on my lap, with my monitor about 3 feet away on an extendable arm. This works for me, comfortable and sort of lazy feeling, even when I’m seriously working, which lately I’ve been doing a lot. I do believe I said something about middle age.

Between The Lines
There’s a bumper sticker and now apparently T-shirts cropping up in certain parts of the country (oh, guess), encouraging people to pray for our president as he attempts to guide the nation. Good intentions, I suppose: “Pray for Obama – Psalm 109:8” As they say, let’s go to the text: Psalm 109:8 (KJV) Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his l