Do it Right: Steak on the Grill Growing up, my family was not a steak-and-baked-potatoes-on-Sunday type of family. Early, with money tight, we were more likely to serve up chipped beef on toast, or liver and onions, or - hell - Dinty More beef stew with buttered bread. But my parents displayed an adventurousness with... Continue Reading →
Dumb Shit I Say to Restaurant Management I confess: sometimes I get bugged by the dumbest, littlest things. And yeah, I act like an asshole. But it comes from a... never mind. Nope. I act like an asshole. One thing that seems to cue that raging, jerkface inside me is whenever the wife and I... Continue Reading →
Watch Me Now: Developing an Appreciation for Timepieces Blame it all on me forgetting to bring my Fitbit charger to China. During a week's business trip to Beijing earlier this year, by day three the well-worn wrist computer had gone dark and I spent the next few days gazing, expectantly, at the mole at the... Continue Reading →
2018 Drum Corps Season Kicks Off Tonight! The big moment has arrived. Or, is it just the accumulation of a thousand tiny moments, stretching from winter tryouts through the first weekend sectionals on to the weeks that have already been spent rehearsing, developing the base tan, pulling a show together good enough to debut under... Continue Reading →
Making Sense of the 'Menutiae' in Life's Middle Passage When our division vice president flew into town last Fall, we hosted a team dinner, and as an icebreaker she asked the group to name something they each did well that would be a surprise to everyone else. Now, as my direct boss, she'd known me... Continue Reading →
Dumb Shit I Say: Public BathroomsThis first installment in "shit I say" takes a look at my passive-aggressive side. And perhaps yours, too? Today we visit that delightful destination of discomfort -- but necessity -- the public bathroom. Let's skip ahead to when you've finished your business and you dutifully, habitually -- right? -- make... Continue Reading →
Fantasy Set List: Elton John At a corporate retreat this week we ended up at a dueling piano bar. My nostalgic tendencies being what they are, I couldn't help remembering the me in my 20s who felt most comfortable, of anyplace in the world, behind a piano. I offered the dudes on the keys a... Continue Reading →
Dadtritus Alert: Endless Stacks of White Undershirts Once of the nicest compliments -- albeit, a little odd -- I consistently got from discerning females back in college was when, upon encountering me at the tail end of a run, I still, somehow, smelled great. Now, take a whiff today (or, really: don't), and after a... Continue Reading →
Lost Lexicon: Hair Styling Settings I haven't owned a comb since about age 14. Blessed -- or cursed -- with kinky hair that runs wild unless shorn to a tight, tennis ball fuzz, my usual morning method consists of a good, vigorous shampooing/conditioning, a good, vigorous towel-drying, then, finally, a good, vigorous whipping around with... Continue Reading →
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