Here we are just a few weeks into a new year and the flu epidemic has hit our country unusually hard. So hard, in fact, that Boston health officials now greet visitors at the airport and immediately hand them a return ticket and a stern warning to “Go away. Everybody here is sick.” While I remain healthy…
DetailsI spent the downtime between Christmas and New Year’s engaged in athletic pursuits, meaning I watched football on television. While my beloved Bears frittered away a season on my flatscreen, my trusty iPad monitored other games via live streaming video. This is known as “couch potato multitasking.” Eventually I extricated myself from my sofa sectional long enough…
DetailsI have been driving for just over two hours and have yet to see another vehicle. Cellphone reception is nonexistent and I am silently praying that I chose the most dependable rental car on the lot. Horrible thoughts flash through my mind: “Who will find me if I break down?” “What if it’s the Kathy…
DetailsAs the holiday gift-buying clock winds down and all you cybershoppers sit smugly at your computers, bragging to anybody who will listen how easy it was to shop online, allow me to taint your eggnog. You have no idea how much time you wasted — time you could have saved had you only jumped into…
DetailsI chopped down the tree. I scaled the ladder, balancing precariously on one foot so those innermost, hard to reach branches would sparkle with light. I endured the physical ardors of hauling boxes of decorations from the basement, knowing full well that my creaky back has less than a month to recover before I perform…
DetailsThere is apparently a new cabinet position at the White House, one created and filled in secret, but whose occupant is starting to make his or her presence known. Of course, I’m talking about the Secretary of Twitter. Does anyone seriously believe President Obama himself has time to tweet? His recent lunch with Mitt Romney…
DetailsI groggily looked at the alarm clock, which registered 2:30 a.m. Time to get up and honor a commitment I apparently made to my 15-year-old-daughter less than six hours earlier: Drive her and her friends to Black Friday sales. I have served as chauffeur for countless sporting events, school dances, movies and the like. But…
Details“Let’s have a family meeting!” I yelled, repeating verbatim what the Salt Lake City father of six bellowed on the television. “I’m doing homework, Dad,” came the reply from my two daughters. “NOW!” I said, struggling to keep panic out of my voice. “A biological terror attack is imminent! Forget homework.” It was the last…
DetailsI open the hotel room door, gaze at my temporary home and immediately wonder where they are. Are there any behind the bed? Will I have to pull the mattress away from the headboard to find them? Wait, here are two on the nightstand and a third affixed to the bedside reading lamp. Moving…
DetailsI have a few questions for every kid who rang my doorbell this past Halloween: Do you have any idea how to trick or treat? Do you even know what you’re supposed to do when I answer the bell? WHY DIDN’T I JUST SHUT THE DOOR IN YOUR CONCEALED FACE? OK, before everybody thinks I’m…
DetailsMy daughter burst through the front door, dropped her backpack, grabbed a handful of potato chips and flopped on the couch. A typical after-school entrance. I tepidly approached. “Any homework tonight?” “Mmmmm.” A typical after-school response. “Are you still carrying an ‘A’ in physics?” “Unfortunately, yes.” “Unfortunately?” “Don’t get used to it Dad. By Christmas…
DetailsIt is 8 inches high, 18 inches around, made of crystal and, in my house, as dangerous as a loaded gun. It appears each year in mid-October and does not vanish until after Easter. It occupies the space between my home office and my bathroom; I pass it at least six times a day, more…
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