We enter the 21st century

High definition for our life The weekend before last, we bought a big screen HD television because of the Walk For Hunger. Every year at (apparently) around this time a large number of people in the Boston area participate in a fund-raising event called the Walk For Hunger.  What happens is a shit-ton of people…

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Open letter to a moron

To the gentleman crossing the street in Jamaica Plain yesterday during a DON’T WALK signal, who nearly got creamed by an SUV legally traversing the intersection, and who then turned to the cyclist that STOPPED two inches into the crosswalk SIX FEET AWAY FROM YOU and declared, “better stop for the red light, buddy,” and then,…

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The more things change

Never assume the French make sense In World War II, prior to the Normandy invasion, the Allies sent planes with cameras over France to take photos of the countryside.  This was important and dangerous intelligence-gathering which provided invaluable information to the Generals planning the attack, but it had a few drawbacks. The Normandy countryside is…

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The Better to See You With

The eyes having it I spend five days a week looking at a large computer screen, and when I’m not looking at that large computer screen I’m looking at a smaller laptop screen, and when I’m not looking at that I’m looking at an iPhone screen.  Or reading, which is thankfully still a low-tech book…

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Options

You wake up in the middle of the night with a heavy weight on your chest. You can’t breathe or move. You feel a presence in the room, studying you. You want to touch it, or move it, but your arms are pinned. You can feel its hot breath on your cheeks. Option 1: You…

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If I had my way

It’s “hopeless wish list” day If I had my way… Being the smartest person in the room wouldn’t be a political liability. I would be able to convince some high school graduating class, somewhere, to make “Woo Hoo” by The 5,6,7,8’s their graduation song. Imagine a hundred teenagers bouncing up and down, going “Woo hoo,…

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The strangest dream

Bees for dinner I hardly ever have active, memorable dreams and when I do it usually means I have to start writing again to quiet the noise in my head. Last night I distinctly recall going to the refrigerator in a strange house somewhere, looking for something to eat.  What I found was two bees.…

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The longest title you'll ever own

The OTHER Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: A Parody (Anniversary Edition) The big news first: you can now buy a brand-new Anniversary Edition of the funniest book since the invention of hyperbole: The OTHER Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook.  The new edition is in e-book only, for a perfectly modest sum of $4.99.  Why don’t…

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Working it out

We keep it in the basement We have an unfinished basement in our house that is decidedly awesome because, A: it is utterly dry, all the time, B: it is easily the largest single space in our home, C: it has no heat, finished flooring walls or ceiling, so the city’s property taxes ignore it.…

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Paris bucket list

If you can’t give bad advice, what’s the point of giving any advice at all? Daughter Becky has a friend who is on her way to Paris for a semester abroad.  On Facebook, she was tasked with drafting a “bucket list” of things her friend had to do while she was there.  Perhaps foolishly, she…

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