Saturday morning I got up early, put on my long johns, dressed quietly, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, slipped quietly into the garage to hook the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour. There was snow ... read more
Don't be scared when you feel you are about to die. You're not frightened when you wake up in the morning, are you? Pretty much the same thing. 'Life is but a dream!'We are from beyond the Pleiades, in the eig ... read more
We made it this far! The plane ride was terrible for several minutes when we had to fasten our seat belts, which Elizabeth did not want to do. She SCREAMED loudly for quite a while, ticking off everyone nearby. Luckily, part of it was dro ... read more
It was just another night out walking our Boston terrier, Cleo. Or so I thought. I put my boots on instead of the usual sneakers because of the recent rain. I like to keep both pairs tied but loose enough to slip on. Still, I have t ... read more
For most people, winning $300 million in the lottery would be enough. They would retire, buy a big house and travel the world. Not Benny. He took the money and ran... for president. The house he had in mind was the White House. He didn't want to travel the world so much as save it from politicians. Retire? "I'll retire when I'm dead!" he said, not knowing so many people had that exact retirement plan in mind for him.
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Benny sat alone by the door in a recently opened Asian restaurant. The laminated menu offered Mongolian, Chinese and Japanese dishes, with each written in its native language. He had to flip it over for the English version on the back.
He was taking his therapist's advice, "throwing caution to the wind" and "letting the chips fall where they may." A sex therapist branching out to grief counseling, she was all about the clichés.
Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it. -- Laurence J. Peter, The Peter Prin ... read more
I've decided the world in fact DOES owe me a living. But until it pays up, I'll keep working. A novel is the fine art of never getting to the point. Stay loose, keep moving, stay true to yourself... always. All the lies we deal wi ... read more
Louis L'Amour once said he could write while sitting in the middle of the freeway. That didn't impress me at the time, but now it does. Not one, but two dogs threw up behind me as I wrote. Was that a commentary on my writing? Wouldn't be ... read more
The Friends of Humanity website. Don't know anything about it, but I like the sound of it. :) Friends of Humanity is active in the defense of human rights, education, health care, and environmenta ... read more
... lying in bed, social networking on my laptop, listening to my wife and daughter fight/tease each other in the other room, while I've got the cat cuddled up on my left and two out of three pugs cuddled up on my right. ... read more
It WAS a good Friday. There was nothing religious about it. If you know me at all, that wouldn't surprise you. I was just reading my previous post and wanted to have something more positive this time. We're all still adjusting to each o ... read more
I'm wondering about internet access now that we've tentatively planned to stay in a weekly apartment in Astrakhan instead of the hotel the entire time. We'll probably want/need that internet access for the sake of something to do. Normall ... read more
Me (folding clothes): I need some of your hangers. Elizabeth: Here you go. Me: Wow, a variety of hanger types, thanks. Elizabeth: Well, I am diverse! Her friends are diverse, actually, but it's an inside joke with us about her overbearing ... read more
Sunday, November 25, 2007, 5:00pm CSTWe're in the air on our way back to Moscow. Delta Flight 46. The current in-flight movie is Evan Almighty, which we saw on one of our other flights to or from Moscow last time. You know, when you je ... read more
You probably guessed what that means: We are going to the aiport this morning. It's probably not grammatically correct, but I ain't got no time for linguistic correctitude. :)Unlike last time when the cat kept waking me up, this time I wa ... read more
Apparently, those bastions of capitalism are in fact socialists, at least when it works for them. As a result of substantial enhancements we have made to our Subsidy Tracker database, it is possible for the first time to estimate the share ... read more
Tara and I left Nashville for Chicago on a Thursday morning. At the last minute I decided to let my cat Myca out. I figured he would return shortly after doing his business in the neighbor's bushes, as usual, and I ... read more
My mom is retired, amp she spends her winters volunteering at a sea turtle rescue center in south Texas. The cold snap is stunning the local turtles amp they're doing a lot of rescues. She sent me this photo toda ... read more
I've always heard people use the words wilderness and Alaska in the same sentence. It didn't mean a lot to me until recently when my wife Carla and I cruised the Inside Passage of Alaska. The state is huge, but it still takes a good s ... read more
By B. N. Frank Even though more schools worldwide are banning kids use of personal cell phones (see 1, 2, 3) that may not be enough... Teens Using Smartphones 4 Hours/Day at Risk for Psychiatric, Sleep, Musculoskeletal, and Eye Problems, ... read more
The Holmes Family Newsletter Vol. 1, No. 4, August 1, 1989 Largest Tri-Weekly Newsletter Circulation in the West! tri-weekly (tri-week'lee) 1. we TRY to get it out weekly) Editor's Note: This will probably be the last issue. See article ... read more
NEWS Vol. 3, No. 5, July 6, 1991Northern California's leading newsletter since 1989 (except for those few months when we were Southern California's leading newsletter) Record heat melts Sacto!Molten ... read more
news from La-La Land HAPPY NEW YEAR!!Vol. 3, No. 1, January 4, 1991Newsletter editor murdered!The editor of this newsletter was apparently murdered some time over the weekend according to police. We think it was ... read more