An idea can be perfect in your mind. But it will never be perfect when incarnated in the world. It can’t be. But if we expect it to be then we will always be chasing something that can never be caught. Because the laws of nature don’t apply in your imagination. So anything could […]

I’m standing in what I believe to be the line for the tickets at the entrance of the firemen’s Labor Day fair. It’s a bit cattywampus, I’ll admit. It’s hard to tell exactly who’s in line and who’s loitering. I’m not saying that I was rewarded because I was there. But, because I was there, […]

You and I are made of atoms. On this we can agree. Everything in the universe as we understand it is made of atoms. The same stuff is in everything. It’s just arranged differently. (<— That’s a massive oversimplification to explain away details I don’t fully understand but believe don’t matter for the larger point […]

Music makes me happy. Even when it makes me sad. Because music points to feelings that are worth feeling and things that are worth thinking about. Music connects your present, when you listen today, to your past, when you first heard that song or a period of time. The music becomes a shortcut to memories. […]

I was born second. But not last. That honor goes to Michael, “The Unexpected.” Paul was the first and I was always okay with that. So that makes me the middle and I’m told that makes me a little messed up. They say middle children suffer from lack of attention. We weren’t the first. We […]

My grandfather, Norman Dumais, taught me many things. Mostly through the stories he told. Sometimes through direct advice. He taught what was important in life. Family. Doing the right thing. Being generous. Working hard. Working smart. Standing up for yourself. Going with the flow. That sort of cliche stuff that grandfathers think is important. One […]

One of my life’s goals is to be able to drive anywhere without thinking some snarky thought about one or several other drivers. I’ve written about this before, how we all should swallow a huge chill pill before we get behind the wheel, or do just about anything these days it seems. It’s not a […]

Boy and Girl get married but don’t have a ton of money for a honeymoon. So Boy and Girl decide to drive from a Great Lake to an ocean Atlantic. They stay at the only bed & breakfast on the entire Ocean City boardwalk. (Maryland, that is.) It’s a tiny little thing compared to the […]

Sometimes you can care too much about things that just don’t matter. Some examples: I play hockey in an over-30 league. It’s great exercise. It’s okay hockey. So the outcomes of these games are inconsequential. Yet somehow a player from the other team managed to get ejected from the game with under two minutes remaining […]