One sign gave an ominous warning, “Do not cross. Thank you.” Another advertised a national weight loss program. Still another promoted a new video streaming service. Finally two more announced a train crossing and “Road Work Ahead.” I felt like the Aerosmith song was playing itself out in front of me: “Sign, sign, everywhere a... Continue Reading →
The Ice Queen
The woman stood in the middle of the ice rink, one toe up on the edge of the skate, and watched over the rink like a queen inspecting her staff or a hardened general watching over a battlefield. The woman wore a matching blue jacket and pants and a white headband that kept her hair... Continue Reading →
Cold, hard cash
As a kid, I used to save my pennies in a glass Teddy Bear bank. Later I moved onto a miniature wooden barrel that my parents had picked up at a local bank. You’d turn the barrel up on one end and on the bottom was a plug that you would pull out to get... Continue Reading →
Erasing the past
I hesitated. I looked at my cell phone again. The "erase" button jumped off the screen. At my wife's urging, I recently purchased a new phone and was getting ready to trade in my old one. To protect my information, I needed to erase everything and return the phone to its original factory settings. In... Continue Reading →
A perfect day
The coffee was weak, my toast was burnt, and my omelet tasted bland. My wife’s breakfast wasn’t much better—her crêpes looked soggy and lumpy. That’s not all. The restaurant was loud and had a strange echo and a cold breeze shook me every time a customer opened the door. Despite the food and the surroundings,... Continue Reading →
Snow Day
As a young kid, you dreamed about the perfect mix: cloudy skies, brisk temperatures in the air, and the local television and radio meteorologists going crazy predicting an impeding snow storm. You’d cross your fingers, pull out the silly rabbit’s foot that you picked up at a Shrine Circus, all hoping against hope for snow... Continue Reading →
A dog’s love: Welcome home
I’ve never won a Golden Globe Award given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an Emmy, an Academy Award or even a Pulitzer Prize for that matter. There's no Grammy Awards hanging on my fireplace mantle and I’ve never thrown three touchdown passes in an NFL game or won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award.... Continue Reading →
The pain of perfection
I write the first action item on a blank piece of paper. I don't like how the thought looks in black and white so I roll the paper up into a small ball and throw it into the trash can. I start over, I try again. This time I get through two items on my... Continue Reading →
Gone in the blink of an eye: The past decade
The decade started with viewers rushing home from work or wherever they had been for round-the-clock updates on the miners trapped by the Chilean mining accident. The cave-in took place on Thursday, August 5, 2010 at the San José copper–gold mine, located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Television cameras from around the world... Continue Reading →

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