In the late 1970s, when I was in junior high school and first getting into music, I preferred New Wave bands like The Cars, Devo, Squeeze, and The Vapors. I found their songs to be upbeat and fun, which correlated well with my love of skateboarding and hanging out with friends. Plus, New Wave…

  I take the same route to my office every day. I’ve done this for a long time and only once have I been forced to detour. On that occasion, an 18-wheeler had been trying to avoid an accident and, in turn, caused a massive pile-up that blocked the entire highway.  I came upon the…

  This past Sunday, my wife and I decided to do some errands together. So, after breakfast we each knocked out a few household chores before finally jumping in my truck to head out.  We were about a mile down the road when I realized that I had forgotten my cellphone. My first instinct was…

  I took my family on a vacation to the North Carolina shore this past week. We rented a house on a quiet street a short distance from the beach. The house conveniently came with a golf cart, which made the back-and-forth trips to the ocean bearable. The temperatures were astounding. I don’t think I’ve…

  I grew up in a family with two older brothers; one was 8 years older and the other was 13 years older. Given the age gap, we did not play together much. So, by default, I was left to fend for myself, and while there were plenty of neighbor kids around, when I was…

  I watched an interview recently that featured a 70-year old man sitting in a wheelchair. He was mild-mannered and well kept and when prompted, spoke openly about his life and experiences. He was born in the United States, but because his father was involved in the military, he found himself growing up in Okinawa,…

  The internet is quite a place, even though it isn’t really a place at all. Over the years, I’ve watched it morph from a little known tech speciality to a worldwide phenomenon. And while I originally viewed it as the answer to all life’s problems, I now question whether we’d be better off without…

  I’ve had a couple close calls in my life. One summer during my mid-teens, I was at a lake with friends when we decided to hike up a trail that promised a grand view of the region. When we got to the top, we sat on a rock outcropping to enjoy the vistas. Being…

When I was in 7th grade, a couple girls in my class decided that I was going be the focus of their attention. The two girls wrote me a note explaining how cute I was and that they both liked me. I was admittedly, taken aback. It was impressive to have one girl like you…

  I was digging through some attic containers a few months ago when I came across a small black box with a familiar imprint on the outside. I knew I recognized the design, but my memory couldn’t place it. I opened up the box and pulled out some packaging before my eyes latched onto the…

One of my college roommates called me up to tell me that he died recently. He’s a bit of a jokester, so I laughed off his initial statement. But then I sensed an air of forlorn seriousness in his voice.  It turns out he wasn’t kidding.  I’ve known “Phil” for 35 years, and if I…

  When I was a child, I was always contemplating what I might do if I had one (or several) wishes bestowed upon me. My desires for these wishes changed over time, but they all had a thread of consistency about achieving some level of renown in the disciplines I was interested in. For the…

  Evelyn Adams loved playing the lottery and dreaming about the day she might finally win big. Initially she spent $25 a week on tickets, but over the years her growing passion to play drove her spending to over $100 a week, hinting at the first signs of a burgeoning gambling problem.  Adams was in…

  As a child, my parents were against excessive television watching, so, consequently, I had to find something else to do when the outdoor option was unavailable. Because of this, I became enamored with board and card games. I started with Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, checkers, and a variety of card games. Once I…

  I had an inkling that something big was happening, so when the truck pulled up and the guys got out, I ran outside to investigate. It was Christmastime circa 1980 and my father had been working with one of his buddies to secure a used pinball machine to house in our basement playroom. And…