More Go-Go’s
My column for this coming week focuses on the motivations and meaning of the Go-Go's concert I saw last week. That will post on Tuesday. I wanted to talk a…
Book Review: The Accidental Billionaires
After the last book I read, I knew I needed something which would restore my reading motivation. I needed something fast, but substantive. I needed something which would make my…
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Something remarkable happened over the past nine months. I went an entire television season without wanting to break up with any of my shows.
This might not sound that remarkable, but I have managed to shed at least one show each of the past few years. Over time, I have found myself incapable of sitting through most one-hour dramas. That meant shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” slid off my radar the past few seasons.
I tried to focus most of my entertainment energy on sitcoms. Thankfully, the networks have responded by cranking out more and more funny shows. That, of course, led to another dilemma. Will I have time for all these shows in my life?
Going (Back) to the Go-Go’s
In January 1982, my brother Kevin took me to my first rock concert. Ostensibly. we went to the Cap Centre in Landover, Md., to see The Police, but the opening…
Book Review: The Pig Did It
Sometimes I let my passions get the best of my better judgment. That's my explanation for how "The Pig Did It" by Joseph Caldwell ended up on my stack of…
Mission Accomplished … Finally
I had a dream. I dreamt I could order piece of a computer on the Internet and easily build my own machine. My family would live in a land of speed and magic.
That’s what I thought three months ago when I hatched this scheme. To make things worse, I told friends about it and even wrote a column. A couple of people I know asked me questions in the ensuing weeks. I had some trouble carving time into my schedule at first to set up the new system so I had a good excuse.
I finally had a chance one night to hook everything up. As I wrote before, I have done a number of upgrades on computers in the past, but this would be my first attempt at building one from scratch.
Naturally, the thing didn’t work on my first try. I got a whir from the fan, but the rest of the system wouldn’t start. I took a few deep breaths and headed to the Internet to see if I could figure out how to diagnose the problem.
Knowing My Value
As it happens sometimes in my family, we have a very busy summer ahead without even really trying. A couple of graduations, a wedding, the annual beach trip. It all adds up pretty quickly.
Which means we have to find time when we can for other activities. We combined the two things a couple of weeks ago as Maria took advantage of a trip to my nephew’s graduation party to take me shopping so she could utilize my greatest skill as a husband: calculating the price of sale items.
I don’t think I exaggerate when I call this talent vital to my success as a spouse. I can’t really fix things too often. I have been banned from helping with painting projects. My cooking talents are largely relegated to grilling.
I don’t blame my wife. She just does a better job at all these things. I wish we had enough money to let other people take care of all these things for us, but life doesn’t work that way so she ends up carrying more of the burden.
These means I have to look to contribute in other ways. I drive both ways to almost all family events so she can relax for the ride. I find a way to take Bridget somewhere fun when Maria needs to just sit back and relax in peace and quiet. And I easily calculate the 30 percent discount for a blouse she might want when she finds a good sale.
Happy Friday
I try to maintain a happy attitude most of the time. That proves to be difficult sometimes, but I manage to generally stay positive. Carrying a good mood around on…
High School Reunion
Twenty-five years ago, I wanted to move on more than anything. I had just a few weeks before I graduated high school and looked forward to the next challenge in life.
I can’t say that I had a horrible time in high school. I took part in a number of activities, did well enough in the classroom and have lots of fond memories. But I never really created a solid core of friends.
Most of the time, I hung out on the fringes. I could blame the distance between my home and the school – I commuted from one side of Baltimore to the other – but grade school classmates of mine had no problem finding their place in the social scene.
By the time I got over my fear of getting in trouble, the time had pretty much come to leave for college. So I just had what fun I could, then went off to the wilds of western Pennsylvania to start over.
I’m getting a little nostalgic about all of this because I went to my 25-year high school reunion the other week. Actually, I passed on the formal reunion event for a number of reasons and attended the more casual Happy Hour event with 25 or so guys.
I Love Happy Endings
No, I'm not frequenting sketchy massage parlors. I simply have added a new television show to my weekly mix. "Happy Endings" premiered a month or so ago on ABC and…