When Donald Trump speaks, all I hear is BLAH BLAH BLAH… That’s because I have a longstanding policy to ignore public bombast. It’s not political, although during election years, I tune out a lot of campaign rhetoric from all sides of the political spectrum. Even when professional football players trash talk other players and teams […]
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The most politically conservative friend I know was incensed when he heard rumors that his employer might mandate “sensitivity training.” “That’s an insult to my mother,” he fumed. “She raised me better than that.” How true. While the LGBTQ community has been celebrating the Supreme Court’s recent ruling allowing same-sex marriage, and their detractors continue […]
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I grew up in California, which is about as distant from a Civil War battlefield as any American in the continental United States could get, so most of the Confederate flags I ever saw were in history textbooks. When I moved to Pennsylvania, though, I was surprised and curious when I occasionally saw a Confederate […]
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I know I’m not the kind of person who should sit next to strangers. “Can I join you?” I recently asked a woman who was sitting by herself in a row of seats as she waited for an event to start. “Sure,” she said. Not a fair question. How else could she respond? With four […]
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In a current TV commercial for a luxury car brand, I noticed the announcer pronounced the vehicle Jag-U-Ar, instead of Ja-Guar, which is the way I have pronounced it my whole life. I’m certain the reason I never noticed this before is because I am way too gauche to be in the market for a […]
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In all the years that I’ve camped, hiked and backpacked in mountains and forests, I have never seen a bear, but I always wanted to. My old Personal Bear Policy was this: I would like to see a bear in the wild close enough to cause me to gasp and get excited, but preferably far […]
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My stomach muscles still hurt from laughing so hard from watching the most high-tech robots in the world compete in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals last weekend. Apparently, after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, it seemed that not a single robot existed that could reasonably spare human beings from extremely dangerous relief and clean-up […]
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I’ve never been the winning-type. People with fiercely competitive natures win awards for footraces, chess matches and science fair projects, because winners strive for perfection and can drum up the singular determination and laser-like focus it takes to succeed. Winners always expect to win. That’s my problem. I never expect to win. I’m just not […]
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Someone needs to tell us where to park on Route 31. Seriously, we couldn’t find the LHHT Trailhead Parking Lot to drop off our “finish car.” But that’s because our pre-hike parking preparation went like this: Me: Pat, the trailhead overnight parking lot is on Route 31. Do you know where that is? Pat: […]
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OMG. That is seriously the acronym that the Department of Justice calls Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, referring to bands of chopper-riding thugs whose main purpose is to engage in lawless activities, not promote the wind-in-your-face pleasure of riding a Harley. I’m having a really hard time comprehending the events in Texas on Sunday where nine bikers […]
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