Category: Columns
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…
Gaga for Gadgets
I remember coming home one day as a teenager to a deafening roar inside the house. Puzzled, I walked into the kitchen to find my mother, basically nonplussed by the noise. I looked at her quizzically. “Your father has a…
Suitcase Paranoia
I generally like change. People who cower at anything out of the ordinary bother me. But some changes make me step back and wonder what’s going on. When I came home from work one day last week, something new sat…
Hooray! Another Singing Competition
I was just sitting around the other week thinking, “We don’t have enough television shows which judge people’s singing ability.” Well, to be honest, I didn’t say that. I would never say that. But some television executive said it at…
Soup Season Is Over
Like most adults, my life basically revolves around calendars. I have many of these I need to follow with varying degrees of importance. At the top of the heap sits the calendar on the side of the refrigerator. That carries…
Navigating Like It’s 1981
I had to take a different route than usual home from work the other day. I had an event to attend in downtown Baltimore so it just made sense at the time. Luckily, I left before the real bad part…
Coffee Panic
I thought I had planned everything perfectly. I scheduled two days off for the beginning of March Madness and the NCAA wrestling tournament. If I went into work on those days, I would have no motivation so I figured I…
Packaging Our Secrets
The way things go these days, we hear a lot about national security and how we have to protect the secrets which keep us safe. I don’t really believe in conspiracy theories or anything. I think the government puts the…
‘Ello Guv’nor, Put the Telly on the Lift
One night in college, my friend Jeff and I had a little too much to drink. I do not recommend this course of action, but it happens. We walked to a party at some point and found ourselves a corner…
Move Over Oscars, Here are The Brians
Nine years ago, I had an idea. I decided that since I had no connection to the movies honored by Hollywood at the Oscars, I needed to come up with my own awards. That’s how I decided to start The…