Pack It In

By brian August 18, 2010Columns, Things I Hate, Travel

Maria and I went on a trip recently. Nothing fancy, just a weekend in Washington, D.C., to see some tennis and have a celebration for our 15^th anniversary a couple of months early.
As is our usual custom, we flew by the seat of our pants for most of our plans. That meant enjoying lunch the first night at a pub we just happen to read about in a guide book that afternoon.

I love this part of traveling. You never know what you will find when you stop for a meal in a city like D.C. In fact, on the next night, we ended up meeting the brother of a guy I went to high school with at our dinner spot.

That coincidence, however, paled in comparison to what happened on our first night. We had settled in our booth with a couple of drinks and waited for our sandwiches when I saw it.

At first, I could not believe my eyes. It had been a long day, and I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but there was no mistaking it. A family of four walked into the bar and the father, probably about five to 10 years older than me, wore something that made my jaw drop.

A fanny pack.

Home Alone Again

By brian August 12, 2010Columns, Family

Nothing makes me happier than coming home at the end of a hard day and seeing my wife and daughter. We really have a lot of fun together.

But when I get a chance to have the house all to myself for three days, I’m not going to turn that down.

Maria and Bridget went to visit some friends last week, leaving me to my own devices.

Remembering Mayor Maggie

By brian August 9, 2010Columns, Hanover

I had enough to worry about on my wedding day. I had a family full of people who could embarrass me at the drop of a hat. My best man had an incriminating picture hidden in his tuxedo jacket that he kept threatening to show my wife. I didn’t need the celebrant losing track of things.

But that’s just what happened. After I did my vows – or Maria did hers, I forget who went first – things skipped ahead to the next part without allowing the other one of us to say the vows. I tried to get the celebrants attention, but it took a moment or two, so we had to backtrack and re-do the vows then get to the rings part.

That’s my favorite Maggie Hormel story. There are others, but the laughter she brought while celebrating my wedding will always top the list.

Knowing My Shelf Life

By brian July 22, 2010Beach, Columns

Most sports fans know that one of the saddest things you can ever witness is a great champion not knowing when it’s time to step aside.
Not many athletes step aside at the top of their game. The yearly intrigue of whether certain players will retire has almost become a punch line in some circles.
Yeah, I’m looking at you Brett Favre.
But these situations don’t always apply to the monied stars we see on television. Sometimes the guy who hangs around too long only lives in some niche universe where only a handful of fans understand the dilemma.
Then there are those who face this dilemma inside themselves. They only disappoint an audience of one when they can’t compete at the level they are accustomed to.
That’s how I felt one day last week on my family’s annual beach vacation. I realized that I might not have the chops to take on the kind of waves I used to in my younger days.

Pillow Talk

By brian July 21, 2010Columns, Sleeping

Ordinarily, I like change. I think fighting the inevitable flow of life simply makes people upset for no good reason.

Sometimes this means letting go of the things we hold near and dear to our hearts, but that’s the price we pay for living in this modern world. As with most things, however, there are exceptions.

Like my pillow.

Somehow over the past decade or so, my pillow has evolved from a source of comfort and rest to a floppy piece of fabric unfit for man or beast. The thing has lost any source of support.

I stuck by my old friend for a long time. I would fold him up to try and make a half-sized pillow that would meet my needs, but that never quite worked. More often than not, I ended up with an arm underneath the pillow for some support, which would kind of help me sleep, but always resulted in my arm falling asleep.

We have plans to buy a new bed because our current mattress has seen better days, but we started the process the other day by shopping for pillows.

Apple of My Eye

By brian July 6, 2010Columns, Computers

Apparently Apple released some sort of new phone the other day. I think I heard about it because people were camped out in front of stores hours before they opened to get the new product.

I may be wrong though because I think these Apple people were camped out in front of stores a few weeks ago for something else new, something I heard described as just a really big phone without the phone capability.

So I didn’t know at first if they really had a new phone out or if these people had just missed the memo and showed up too late for the iPad thingamajig. Or maybe they just like spending the night in front of Apple stores.

Get The Name Right

By brian June 30, 2010Columns, Movies

I had lunch with several people from work last week, and we discussed our plans for the upcoming weekend. One friend shared what she had on tap, and I almost lost my mind.

At first, I felt angry. Then I worried for her sanity. I finally settled on a healthy case of arrogance as I realized that she would not have any fun in the end.

I don’t know why I get so worked up when I hear people want to go see the new version of “The Karate Kid.”

Climbing a Big Mountain

By brian June 22, 2010Books, Columns

I recently found myself in a bit of a reading rut. I have managed to stay ahead of the pace I hoped for – I like to read at least 12 books a year – but have had problems with some of the things I read.

I found myself under whelmed with back-to-back novels. The first one had been on my reading list for a number of years. I now wish I had left it there. The second was by an author whose first book really entertained me. He failed this time.

I didn’t know what to do. This time of year helps me easily meet my reading goals because our porch offers the perfect place to escape into a book. I didn’t want to just throw my arms up in frustration.

I had started and set aside a book I purchased years ago at a used book sale. The story actually got better as it went along, which helped kick me out of the rut a little bit, but I needed more. I needed something really spectacular to get me on a roll for the summer reading season.

World Cup Time

By brian June 21, 2010Columns, Soccer, Sports

I wrote this for last week's column, but forgot to post it. I intended to blog a lot during the World Cup, but have just been too distracted. Hopefully I…

Why Do We Need These Things?

By brian June 8, 2010Columns, Things I Hate

Sometimes, I have very complex philosophical views, especially when it comes to technology and business. You could say I’m almost the opposite of Amish.

You see, I think we have been given the kind of knowledge and imagination that we possess as a species in order to stretch the limits of what we can do. I think coming up with new ideas and products helps fulfill our purpose.

But once in a while, something comes along to make me wonder why we have this capability. This happens when I see something that just makes me shake my head and wonder if we’d be better off as primates.

Sadly, I had this feeling twice within a week recently.