Archive for July 2010
Pleasure in another person’s pain
From time to time, I have expressed an occasional appreciation for schadenfreude: pleasure in the misfortune of others. It turns out that I am not so unusual. after all Thanks to the ability of scientists to conduct brain scans, new research has demonstrated that when a person learns about the misfortune of a colleague or…
Read MoreShort-sightedness
Occasionally I make the mistake of thinking about my friends’ needs ahead of my own. Rarely does it work out well. About a month ago, I suggested that my friend launch his own landscaping business after he successfully tamed the small-growth forest in my backyard and replaced it with a a lawn. I provided him…
Read MoreYou have some explaining to do, John Boy.
I watched the Project Runway season premier last night. I realize that this may sound odd coming from a man who professes to despise the fashion industry, but I find the creative demands of the show to be fascinating. In last night’s episode, one of the designers, a twenty-something female designer, was preparing to go…
Read MoreThe precipice of publication
Just a few days before the release of UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO and some good news has been pouring in. The Hartford Courant’s review of the book was excellent: We are happy to report there’s been no sophomore slump for novelist Matthew Dicks, the Newington resident and West Hartford teacher who follows the success of his first…
Read MoreBelievers always welcome
A reader recently sent me an email explaining that she has not yet posted a comment on my blog even though she has wanted to many, many times because she wasn’t sure if I would welcome her presence and opinions here. She is a devout Christian who spends much of her time thinking, reading and…
Read MoreOnly in corporate America
I was sitting in Red Robin yesterday, waiting for my wife to arrive. Beside me, spread across two tables that had been pushed apart, was the cartoon map of a Red Robin restaurant. A manager, a middle-aged man with a perpetually furrowed brow, and a younger, more affable corporate wonk were placing cards on the…
Read MoreAs a writer, I often have no idea what I’m doing
Here’s how crazy my writing process can be: I open the next chapter of my manuscript in a restaurant. Protagonist, father and son sitting at a table, waiting for their pancakes. Why are we here? I ask myself. I honestly don’t know. Father and son begin a conversation. Protagonist listens. Still not sure why we’re…
Read MoreStupid tee shirt made stupider
I saw a woman in the gym today with a tee-shirt that read: A friend will help you move… Then on the back of the tee-shirt, it read: But a real friend will help you move a body. Of course, in order to read the back of her shirt, I had to dismount my elliptical…
Read MoreI was right! (insert self-congratulatory jig)
I received the following email (links added by me) from a reader this morning, who gave me permission to post it here absent his or her name: _____________________________________ Your post entitled Top 3 Blogger on this Blog really upset me. I thought that it was- and that’s where I got stuck. It was- rude? No. Condescending? No. …
Read MoreThe first table is merely a suggestion.
The fact that I cannot walk into a restaurant full of empty tables and simply choose the table that I want baffles me. I understand that when the joint is jumping and customers are waiting, you will be assigned to a table of the hostess’s choice. But on a Tuesday night at 6:00, I should…
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