A Life Worthy

Social Media

Posted on July 30, 2013 by michaelJuly 30, 2013

I only ever started because of this blog.

I was a confirmed social media neverwannabe. Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Vine, Tumblr, LookI’maweirdo.com—I had no interest in any of them. Too many people with too much time on their hands sharing details of their lives that nobody cares about. And pictures of cats.

Yeah, but then I started this blog. My mentor wanted me to commence tweeting and liking and posting and whatnot. When I told him I wasn’t interested, he asked an important question: Continue reading →

Squeaky Wheel

Posted on July 24, 2013 by michaelJuly 24, 2013

squeaky wheel My mother-in-law has cancer.

Sorry to start off with such a downer, but there it is. It’s pertinent to the rest of this story, so you kinda need to know. And now you do.

Anyway, she was diagnosed about two months ago, and underwent a series of tests to determine the scope of the problem and the best course of treatment. The doctors, concluding that surgery was not a viable option, introduced her to the mind-numbing world of radiation and chemotherapy. In essence, their plan is to bombard her person with all the radiation and unpronounceable chemicals that normal people struggle to avoid. They intend to cure her by making her body such a toxic environment that no self-respecting mutation would want to live there. Continue reading →

Getting Ready

Posted on July 19, 2013 by michaelJuly 25, 2013

My mom is coming to visit.

I spent the better portion of yesterday in the yard, weeding, hoeing, sweeping, and sweating. My goal was to let Mom see the place looking a little more like a garden and a little less like the Amazon rain forest. I filled five trash cans. Twice. Now, if Mom ventures into my back yard, I don’t have to call Search and Rescue to bring her out. Continue reading →

Guest Posting

Posted on July 15, 2013 by michaelJuly 15, 2013

Hey, you get to travel today!

I have been given the opportunity to write a guest post for Captain Dad, a hilarious cartoonist and blogger. Come check it out…

Nicknames

Posted on July 12, 2013 by michaelSeptember 3, 2015

I don’t know why we spent so much time choosing names for our kids—we hardly ever use them.

As we waited for the twins to arrive, my wife Cathy and I went round and round considering names. If you have kids, you know what I’m talking about. For the boy, something that sounds intelligent, but won’t get him beat up on the playground. For the girl, something feminine, but with an undertone of black belt. No names that might have unpleasant associations—and since I’m a middle school teacher, that narrowed the field quite a bit.

Finally, we chose the perfect names for our little ones…Alec Daniel and Carissa Joy. Simple. Classy. With wonder and awe, I wrote their precious names carefully on the birth certificates and never used them again. Continue reading →

Competence vs Congeniality

Posted on July 9, 2013 by michaelJuly 9, 2013

I bought something that was supposed to be a refrigerator but isn’t.

It looks like a refrigerator. Quite an attractive refrigerator, at that. It’s gleaming white, oh so clean, and very spacious. It came from a refrigerator company and was delivered by certified refrigerator delivery people. It is in all ways a refrigerator, except for one annoying detail.

It does not refrigerate.

I plugged it into the appropriate wall receptacle, returned in the requisite four hours, and made an important discovery.

Are you ready? You might want to write this down. Continue reading →

The Call of Freedom

Posted on July 4, 2013 by michaelJuly 4, 2013

This morning I was thinking about an assignment I give my U.S. History students. Now, I know that in the past I have shared with you some of the less-than-stellar examples of my students’ efforts. This time, let me share something that worked out pretty well. It’s not as funny, but it may be worth thinking about as we celebrate our Freedom. Continue reading →

Tradition

Posted on July 2, 2013 by michaelJuly 2, 2013

It’s a powerful thing.

And like any powerful thing, tradition is full of potential benefits, but also fraught with danger.

Kinda like nuclear energy.

Or drone surveillance.

Maybe GMOs. Continue reading →

What I Can Do

Posted on June 28, 2013 by michaelJune 28, 2013

I’m still hoping that I wasn’t scammed.

They looked like a family having hard times, but for all I know those “kids” may have been actors of very small stature.

All right, so maybe that’s a little cynical.

Maybe. Continue reading →

$14.21

Posted on June 20, 2013 by michaelJune 20, 2013

OK, so some of you are going to call me an idiot, a patsy, a pansy-faced sucker.

And maybe I am.

I’m sitting in a fast food joint, slurping a soda that I’m not supposed to have because I have braces (don’t tell my orthodontist). I came here to write a post just for you, because you’re one of my favorite people. The plan was to write about a cool tradition my family has for my wife’s birthday, but then I got distracted by the news that the AMA has officially designated obesity a disease. I decided that I needed to vent about the inanity of that concept, and, having an hour or so to kill, I plopped down on a stool to ingest sugar and fat while ranting and raving.

You’re going to have to wait for both of those posts (and I hope you do), because when I did the afore-mentioned plopping, I saw something. Continue reading →