My lovely wife walks by this apple tree twice every day on her way to work. I’ve walked by it with her during evening walks as well. It’s frustrating because the apples are so ripe and perfect-looking, but we can’t reach them. She could get her hand through the chain link fence, [...]

Yesterday, as I was walking along a street watching my iPhone in amazement as the little blue dot representing my location moved ever so slightly towards the intersection I was approaching, four clothing stores were marked with flags after entering the word “clothing” into the map search. And, with my mind raised on hours [...]

Anyone who lives in Spain and has a television that they turned on this past Easter will have seen video of two celebrities kissing on a balcony under a McDonalds sign. I care zero about the Spanish celebrity gossip scene that overruns the broadcast networks day and night. I do my best to [...]

My mother-in-law was diagnosed with sleep apnea a couple years ago and uses one of those machines that blows air into your nose when she sleeps. Several of my parents’ friends have similar diagnoses and machines. Recently, my wife has started telling me that she notices that sometimes, as she listens to me [...]

Europe, and the rest of the non-US world that likes taking an hour of sleep from its citizens every spring, changed over to daylight savings time this weekend. They had a special report about it on the mid-day Saturday news. The reporter was interviewing a nerdy-looking fellow who was sitting at a huge [...]

A couple years ago, a friend and I, while staying at a beachside condo, were standing on the balcony staring at the flat, distant horizon, and we got to wondering, “I wonder how far we can see right now?” and “I wonder how much further we can see up here on the 9th floor than [...]

Have you ever noticed how, every time there is some sort of terrorist attack, the very first thing that all the politicians do is say, “I condemn this attack.” And the second thing they say is that the attack was an act of cowardice and that the attackers are cowards. This confuses the [...]

One year ago, today, some guy I had never met in Slovenia, who you all know as sgazzetti, left a comment on my blog. It was informative, funny, and knocked me down off my high horse, three qualities that I still admire in him, and in all friends generally. I checked out his [...]

It took longer than I expected for my wedding ring to become a part of my body. I was expecting to not regularly notice its existence by Christmas, but it still felt odd as we entered the new year. Today is my five month anniversary, and I can definitely say that I no [...]

I’ve had a slight cold all week, sniffling and nose-blowing every couple minutes all day long. Just as the horrible weather we’ve had lately reminds me to appreciate good weather more, being sick helps me to appreciate how nice it is to be well. I tell myself that, psychologically, these valleys are absolutely [...]