I am genuinely surprised and a little bewildered. I filed for renewal for my passport and passport card one week ago today. Today I was informed that everything was approved and the passport and the passport card are being printed and should be here by Tuesday. I am bewildered because I can’t imagine any part of the US… Read More »
I have my share of vices. Gambling is not one of them. I think I’ve bought maybe five scratch-off tickets in my life, all before the age of 23 if I recall correctly. I used to play poker for fun, badly, back in college, but not since. I’ve been to Las Vegas multiple times for fun and for… Read More »
It is no great boast these days to say that you’re really good at leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT to do things for you. People don’t trust AI, they don’t like AI, they worry that AI is sapping and impurifying their precious bodily fluids. When asked about their views of generative AI, many people would say… Read More »
I have had a throbbing, occasional pain just above my right ankle, on the outside of the leg, for a couple of years now. Probably screwed it up somehow doing a Susan G. Komen 3-Day or training for one or something. The pain comes and goes and can be pretty intense at times. I finally saw a doctor… Read More »
Twenty-five years ago tonight. Y2K. In late 1999 I was working as a technical trainer at a software company (the same one I’m working for today, in fact, just under another name). Our workforce had been divided into four groups — people who would work 8 pm to 8 am Tuesday through Thursday, people who would work 8… Read More »
When I was 22 or so, my mother noted reddened areas on the backs of my arms which I hesitantly explained were rug burns (the result of extensive fooling around in my girlfriend’s individual office) and looked at me and said “Joel, do you know how to get a girl pregnant?” I said “Yes.” She said “Don’t.” And… Read More »
Little things that pop into one’s head unbidden department: the heavyset Russian guy with the diamond pinky rings who wound up sharing a hot tub with us on our first (Western Caribbean) cruise in 2004. He did not appear to speak any English and we certainly didn’t speak Russian and we didn’t know him from Adam’s off ox,… Read More »
At some point, in a bout of what turned out to be utter foolishness, I gave my cell phone number to ActBlue, which promptly resold it or shared it with every Democratic candidate from the candidate for the Billings, Montana dog-catcher race to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. I get at least one text every day asking for… Read More »
Two random thoughts that popped into my head today at almost the same time: 1) I have never had to sleep in a bathtub. In movies and sitcoms this sort of thing seems to happen all the time; you have one more person than you have beds and couches and next thing you know the person whose house… Read More »
When I was a kid growing up in the mountains of Virginia, there was a large black walnut tree directly behind our house, close enough that on windy days you would hear thump! thump! thump! as green walnuts dropped from the tree and onto the flat roof of our house, especially over the room I slept in. Dozens… Read More »