Archive for May 2022

Charlie despises swearing. He can’t stand graffiti. He is an aggressive rule follower, which can really annoy me at times. But while playing golf the other day, we sat on a bench while waiting, where he found this small bit of graffiti. Despite being graffiti and an unequivocal example of someone who didn’t follow the…

I asked my student how he spent this weekend. He told me that it saw the film The Velocipastor. I thought I heard him wrong, but no, The Velocipastor is a real film. Rated 56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. A tight running time of just 75 minutes and made for a budget of $35,000. The…

I’m quite certain that Acme Music in Cheshire, CT is a brilliantly operated business, but there was a moment when someone chose this name, and I can’t help but think they weren’t trying very hard. “Acme” admittedly begins with two letters at the front of the alphabet, so if we were living in the age…

I’ve made some outstanding parental decisions in my time: Marrying Elysha was probably the best. If you want to have outstanding children, marry an outstanding person. It’s no guarantee that your child won’t be rotten or impossible, but it’s a solid hedge on your bet. Agreeing to adopt cats after our last two cats and…

It’s 6:30 AM on a Thursday. I’ve just requesting cash from an ATM inside my local grocery store. It might be the first time I’ve used an ATM in years. Probably since the pandemic first landed on our shores. Venmo has all but eliminated the need for cash in my life, and I have a…

In case you haven’t seen this 42 second video yet, this is the parental dream. An uncommonly brilliant child would be great. A tenacious, relentless, persistent child would be fantastic. A child who takes great pleasure in folding laundry and sweeping the kitchen floor would be appreciated beyond measure. A child who pays for their…

I often say that everyone should learn to tell a better story, for lots and lots of reasons. My TEDx Talk from last summer offers five of those reasons. My recent TEDx Talk – released later this summer – offers several more. My next book on storytelling – whatever it may be – will offer…

On Saturday, we joined the in-laws for dinner at Wood-n-Tap, a lovely restaurant along the Farmington River. When it came time for Clara to order, she stumbled over the words while speaking to the server, practically spitting them out of her mouth. “You want a quesadilla,” I asked. “Right?” “Yes,” she said. “Bleh. I hated…

Clara had a tough day at school. She learned that one of her friends was moving away at the end of the year. I understand this pain well. Many of my friends have moved away over the years, and it’s awful. People placing their own lifestyle and career choices over their ability to spend time…

One of the beauties of golf is the memories that it creates. I’ve played a great deal of basketball in my time, for example, but singular games of basketball rarely etch themselves in my mind. There are a few, of course. Last second victories and defeats. Games in which I went to war with an…