Playing It By Year

I never intended to write a New Year’s Eve Post.  Just happens that as I write this, we are on the cusp of January.  Our collective dance card is moving along to the next two-stepping pardner (“Scat you old coot – new cowpoke is up next and they’re coming in a bit ornery, like a…

Cranberry Maple Vinaigrette Recipe

I thought it would be a nice way to break things up here during the holiday break by sharing a recipe.  No, I don’t have the “ultimate” Brown Betty, nor do I possess a zesty, low-cal, Paleo and Atkins-blessed boneless, skinless chicken recipe (you’re on your own, hippie).  But I do have something that I…

Why Won’t You Die, Secret Santa? Or, My Craptacular Suckitude In Gift Buying

When I was about 16 years old, I had a dish washing job at a local Mexican restaurant.  Not a single Mexican worked in there, but they reckoned that tossing a jalapeno into something sort of made it south-of-borderlicious. Nonetheless, it was fun, and the staff liked to party.  I got strong armed into going…

Apples To Orangutans to Xylophones to Squatty Legs

You know what’s worse than doing something that is a no-winner?  Knowing what you’re doing in a no-winner.  You picking up what I’m putting down?  Like scarfing down a Costco-sized satchel of fig newtons and a pail of egg nog just before hitting Six Flag’s new Vomitorium Ad Nauseum roller coaster.  With vertigo and a…

I Never Saw Perspective Like That…And A Big Thank You

Yesterday was my day in court.  Or to be more accurate, one of my days – I count it my 8th or 9th day in court.  My sentence was at hand, as many of you know.  Just yet another day at the office.  And in doing so, it was time for me to pull out the monkey…

The Pity Patter Of Little Defeats

“Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the non-pharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality” John Gardner Self-pity. The word itself (or compound word, at least) alone sounds desolate. The hyphen plays for dramatic pause. Looks wise, the hyphen resembles a metal bar between two heavy weights. A…