Category: Blog

For decades I had a Rubik’s cube as a permanent fixture on my desk at work.  I first learned to solve it during middle school.  I got one at a bookstore close to the family restaurant.  This deluxe unit had tiles instead of stickers.  When I first got it, it bore the trademark Rubik’s logo on a center square, but it rubbed off long ago.  This very same cube sat in my office decades later.  In some ways, this little device not only provided much of my amusement when I was young, but it also defined part of my identity.  I was that guy who could solve a Rubik’s cube; it was distinctive.

Continue reading “How a Rubik’s cube demonstrates why your intuition is wrong” →

On typical Florida afternoons, my time was filled with reruns of older television shows and some newer ones.  I confessed to my wife that a disproportionate part of my English education was watching “Three’s Company” on television; this simple truth amused her.  We spent those moments crowded around a console television; it was closer to furniture than electronics.  The local stations aired “Leave it to Beaver” and “Gilligan’s Island” regularly, and they became an integral part of my childhood.  In later years, those afternoons were filled with episodes of “M*A*S*H”.  I can remember more details about the members of the 4077th than elements of my own life.

Continue reading “We have always been here” →

It started years ago.  Every other Tuesday, we met for breakfast.  We typically numbered around four to eight, and you need not actually eat breakfast, just sit and chat.  Sometimes we networked; occasionally we would vent about tech.  As we sat in the cafeteria, we’d motion for any familiar face to sit down with us.  Naturally, this was before the pandemic started.

During one such morning, I patiently walk to the station that cooks breakfast and order an omelet and hashbrowns, which take a few minutes.  Next, I wander to the coffee station where I order two items: a tall latte with whipped cream and a bacon maple bar to go along with my breakfast.  I watch as the man at the espresso stand makes my drink and hands it to me.  He then proceeds to reach for a pair of green tongs to get my bacon maple bar and puts it on a cardboard plate.  Finally, I set those on the nearby table where we normally congregate.  As I wait for my breakfast, I watch as that same man reaches for a croissant with that same pair of green tongs and hands it to a customer.

Continue reading “‘Have you checked the children?’” →

Months ago, we stand outside one of the local grocery stores.  We reach into a large bin made of corrugated cardboard and sort through the different pumpkins.  We each have different criteria for our selection as we look through the large collection of these orange masses.  Many years ago, my wife introduced me to the activity of carving pumpkins, one in which she insists that I have artistic ability.  Meanwhile, we put our selections in the cart, go inside to pay for them, and load them into the car.

These large bins are outside the store.  Certainly, there’s absolutely nothing that prevents anyone from simply taking pumpkins home without paying for them.  Can they steal them?  Yes, absolutely.  Do they steal them?  No, they generally don’t.  While I’m sure that some steal these pumpkins that sit outside the store, it’s not a big enough problem where they are compelled to address it.

Continue reading “Photo identification and the ‘integrity of the vote’” →

It is 2001, and I meticulously track the baseball season.  My favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, are tracking well into yet another division title.  I am both a bachelor and a night owl and routinely fall asleep to the television on ESPN’s Sports Center.  This is precisely what happens on this September Monday; I expect to wake to the morning version of Sports Center.  I do not.  The conventional news plays on ESPN, which perplexes me.  Then, I watch in horror as I see a plane strike one of the Twin Towers in New York City.  Quite abruptly, the world changed.

Continue reading “The price of perceived safety and security” →

Shortly after I arrived in Washington, my friend had a few people over; it was a party.  I was young and new to the team and most of my friends were a group of interns to whom I was closer in age to my full-time peers.  In this particular case, I brought a lot of Rolling Rock beer.  I drank it too quickly, and my body reacted accordingly.  I subsequently spent some time in the single bathroom in the apartment vomiting violently.  While my friends were sympathetic to my predicament, my friend eventually threatened to pee on my head.  I collected myself and cleared out of that single bathroom.

Continue reading “Racism and how do we know what is appropriate?” →

I drove a 1966 Mustang when I attended college.  Her name was Lisa, and she was two years older than I.  I loved that car, but she was an incredible nuisance.  I learned to service many elements of that car and shuttled back and forth between my school in Miami and my home in Fort Lauderdale with a trunk full of tools.  It was a love/hate relationship.  I could write an entire blog post reminiscing about Lisa, but I won’t do that today, besides…  I’ve already done that.

Instead, I’ll marvel about the safety features of that car, which is to say nearly none.  The car had a set of lap seatbelts, which didn’t retract.  A shoulder strap that extended from the roof of the car, and you could extend that and clip it on.  You had a choice strapping in across the belt or the shoulder, but not both.  That’s about the extent of the safety features of the car.

People often describe cars of that era as ‘tanks’, since they are much more likely to survive an accident.  The subtle subtext is that the car survives, but the passengers incur more injury.

Continue reading “What are the odds?” →

I sat in my living room as the verdict came in for former police officer Kim Potter, who shot Daunte Wright to death on a routine traffic stop.  The verdict subsequently came in as guilty for two counts of manslaughter.  About a year ago, I watched this video clip of a motorist with a gun on their dashboard on a traffic stop.  He defies the police and even drives off against their instructions without incident.  That driver is white and alive; Daunte Wright is black and dead.  People who talk to me, or read my posts, will know that I generally lean left when it comes to social issues.  If I were to follow that trend, I would be celebrating this conviction.  I’m not; I’m conflicted.

Continue reading “Where is the line between accident and negligence?” →

Decades ago, I moved from Florida to Washington state after graduating to start my professional career.  While conversing with friends they told me this outrageous tale that occurred here in the Pacific Northwest.  The story goes that a whale had become beached in Oregon and died.  The decomposing whale had literally become a stinking problem and the locals contemplated how to remedy this problem.  They concluded that the easiest way to address the issue was to blow it up with dynamite, which would vaporize the whale.

Continue reading “What do exploding whales have to do with racism?” →

The year is around 1980.  I, a boy about twelve years-old, quietly exit the school bus; I hope to avoid detection.  Unfortunately, I do not.  The bullies subsequently harass me as I walk home in quiet humiliation.  Repeatedly, they shove me hard enough to lose my balance and fall to the ground.  The bullies continue yard after yard.  Other kids meanwhile watch in fascination as they witness the altercation but do not intervene.

Months later, I attend school like any other day.  Some boys and I take a break between classes, and we start to horse-play.  In one of those exchanges one boy shoved me much like those instances off the bus.  This shove was different; this time another boy kneeled behind me.  In this position, I failed to break my fall and land squarely on my clavicle, fracturing it.  I initially believed that they merely dislocated it; my friend naively tried to pop it back in place.  It hurt… a lot.  With the pain persisting, I went to the school nurse, who consequently called my mom.

Continue reading “Are your intentions honorable?” →