One of my memories of a two-week-long tour of Italy is what I would do with my sister, stepbrother and cousin Rachelle during the two-hour siesta. I had brought along an MP3 player (I don't think the iPod had been invented yet), and a deck of cards ,but there's only so many rounds of solitaire and President that you can play before your eyes bug ( Read more... )

With a week having passed after the shootings in Tucson, I think we're now able to discuss some angles of the story. I think Jon Stewart had things exactly right when he addressed the nation on The Daily Show. You can't explain crazy, sometimes people do things you can't explain, and trying to divine meaning from the actions of a whacked-out ( Read more... )

If you're in the area, you've probably heard the story of Grendan Bailie, the Pittsburgh Steelers fan who had hs dad pick him up from school because he wore his team's jersey to school, instead of a Seahawk one, on Seahawks Pride Day. His choice was to either take off the shirt and replace it with something that conforms to the code, or be ( Read more... )

In 1995, then-thirty-something Ed Gonda had a sexual relationship with a fifteen year old girl while the two of them were living together. Ed pled guilty to the charges, served four years in prison, paid $10,000 in fines and restitution and participated in sex offender treatment. To this day he has kept his nose clean, and has been branded a Level ( Read more... )

On New Year's Eve a deadly fire in Redmond took the lives of four children and their father. The fire was caused by marijuana ashes in a bathroom wastebasket along with some toilet paper, because Mom said "Toilet paper? That's not flammable." The parents were toking up in the bathroom while the kids played in the next room. In order to hide the ( Read more... )

One of my mom's quirks is that she sends me various newspaper articles, usually with "thought you'd find this interested" scrawled in the margins. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes the article is thought provoking, and sometimes it's like having my very own Ric Romero in house. Anyway, last week Mumsy sent me this guest column by the ( Read more... )

In the last three days, two events have reinforced my belief in the necessity of tonight's Modest Proposal. On Monday morning, I'm driving over to Covington to take care of the doggies. Not more than a mile on my trip, I come across a really bad wreck, with cones and blue lights an a really badly ruined car. I say something mildly vulgar, figuring ( Read more... )

I haven't had much call to bring this back, but a story over the last week marks the triumphant return of the Mah-Rone du Semaine.

Before 11p on December 30, a local constable notice a young man beating the tar out of his female companion. Whereas any local wimp might just pass on without saying or doing anything, the officer inquired what was going ( Read more... )

With less than thirty minutes left to go in 2010, I wanted to send out this message to everyone on Livejournal, and the Facespace, or even people who don't read this but I know in real life. Don't get too caught up in examining your life today and tomorrow that you forget to live. Yes, this as good a time as any to take stock of what you've done, ( Read more... )

When I hear someone like Nina Totenberg apologize for using the phrase "Christmas party," I remember back to when I was a teenager. There were times when I was a walking-talking feminine hygiene product. I wholeheartedly bought into the politically correct movement, hook-line-and-sinker, and believed it was my duty--nay! my destiny!-- to eradicate ( Read more... )