I was sitting in my family room trying to think of what music to feature for this week's blog when I realized it was all around me. We had all our windows open, and all I could hear were the sounds of the katydids, putting on their free nightly concert. So I thought I'd take … Continue reading Music Monday: The Beautiful Sounds of Nature
I just finished reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and to sum it up in one word, wow. Many people may have read The Jungle in high school; it seems to be a popular choice on school reading lists. Somehow, I got out of school without ever having read it. But I'm glad I read … Continue reading I’ll Never Complain about My Job, or My Life, Again
This is a repost of the second entry in my first short-lived attempt at blogging back in 2012. The link to the original post can be found here. No site dedicated to reviewing sports biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs would be complete without a review of Ball Four. I grew up loving baseball and could recite … Continue reading Greatest Sports Book Ever? Ball Four – the Twentieth Anniversary Edition by Jim Bouton
I know I'm an outlier on this one. I like commercials. I consider them to be like the tweets of the video world, short, sweet (usually), and to the point. I've featured many of my favorite commercials over the years on my blog, and I'm always on the lookout for a new one to feature. … Continue reading Another Winning Ad: Instacart and Aliens
This past week I wrote about my first attempt at "flash fiction", writing a 99-word blog post in response to a prompt. The prompt last week was "rock star", and this week it is "poisoned apple". Here is my entry for this week's prompt: I was working in the lab late one night, tasked with … Continue reading Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction – Poisoned Apple
Seth Godin notes that today is the 11th year in a row of daily posts to his blog. He estimates that this amounts to nearly 5,000,000 words since his first post twenty years ago, and he hasn’t missed a day since 2008. He writes: "Streaks require commitment at first, but then the commitment turns into … Continue reading Blogging and Streaking: Godin, Wilson, and Kanigan
Each year, YouGov takes a survey of people from around the world so that they can compile a list of the world's most admired men and women. This year, the study expanded to cover the views of people in 41 countries – the most ever – with more than 42,000 people being interviewed to compile … Continue reading It’s Nice to Know I’m Not Alone in Whom I Admire
Last week, a fellow blogger and educator, Norah Colvin, commented on a post I had written about the "spotlight effect", suggesting that "a story based on this would be perfect for the ‘rock star’ prompt at the Flash Fiction Challenge at Carrot Ranch this week." I wasn't familiar with Flash Fiction or Carrot Ranch, but … Continue reading Challenge Accepted: Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction – Rock Star
I never fully realized how many great songs John Denver produced over his lifetime until I played him on Spotify during our recent road trip to Cleveland. I think it kept us entertained for close to 90 minutes, and it seemed as if I knew most of the words to most of the songs. Hit … Continue reading Music Monday: John Denver – Prolific, Poetic, and Poignant
This was our second visit to Cleveland, where our oldest son lives. I previously wrote about our first visit, where we discovered how nice all the people seemed to be. On this visit, we discovered how many wonderful things there are to do and see in "The Land". We arrived on Friday and had a … Continue reading A Wonderful Weekend Visit to The Land
Borden's Blather 