Some random thoughts on turning 53! I think frequently about the fact that I'm just one year away from the age at which my mother died. I know this doesn't have more than emotional power. Facing life threatening illness with my friends in my 20s taught me none of us can take a day of life for [...]
Two recent endings have me feeling a bit deflated, though it's been tough to figure out exactly why. First, I'm giving up standing at work, or at least most of the time. I'd had great hopes for the benefits (health! vigor!), but after more than a year trying it, I think it's mostly substituted back stuff [...]
It wasn't long after we started trying marijuana that we realized we wanted another dog. Even though the pot was being ingested by our elderly dog Finnegan, I'm sure more than one person hearing this news will think we're high on drugs ourselves, but no. (For the record, the canine cannabis is non psycho-active. You can read more here.) We'd [...]
I’ve never been a big fan of marijuana. The couple times I tried it, decades ago, I had strong, unpleasant reactions. I’m told it’s exponentially stronger today, which sounds much worse. I have no particular feelings about its use, though stoner culture doesn’t appeal to my German Protestant work ethic. For relaxation (not that we [...]
As a somewhat introverted person, my different roles sometimes feel like parallel lives. I'm a father, a son, a husband. A web producer, geek, proud member of the PTA. I'm a gay man, a political moderate (not easy!) and have my level 2 Reiki certification. But perhaps my most solitary, private role is reader. Absorbed in a book, I [...]
The girl scout industrial complex landed this week and there was nowhere to hide. Of course it's my own fault. Last year Shayla got excited and we sold lots of cookies. When the Troop needed a Cookie Manager, it seemed harmless enough. Why not store a few cookies in the garage and help out? Fast forward: [...]
The rains keep coming, and if it's not the full solution to our drought, it's a step in the right direction. Besides, I love the rain. Nothing like a few hours of quiet, reading the paper, enjoying the rain outside... Oh. Maybe I mean I loved the rain before kids (BK). I'm sure even BK I [...]
We had a lovely Thanksgiving visit with Grandpa Ted and Grandma Mary, packed with adventure. We joined 40,000 in a downpour for the Austin "Turkey Trott," the one mile kid version, raising funds for local housing and food services. The kids dug for genuine Texas dinosaur bone casts buried beneath a giant sand pit at the Nature [...]
As Woody Allen put it, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." Our little baby rat, Mr Bubbles, rescued from our psychopathic cat at maybe a week old, eyes still closed, improbably stayed alive, fed by hand with milk from a dropper. He was thriving. Don't fear, he's alive and well. But [...]
In my (priviledged) experience, you have to look pretty hard in Berkeley to find somebody who'll object to gays, or two guys raising children, polytheistic and vegetarian. (We're actually omnivores, that last bit just an example). I don't think my expressive dance therapy, Ojai psychic, or Reiki training could manage a rolled eye for at [...]
I don't know if it's because I tend toward the depressive, or if it's just a human thing, but there's a moment early in most projects when I feel pretty sure it won't be worth it. Today it was getting the bike racks on the car, and the bikes onto those, the kids into the car, the car [...]
I thought I'd be one of those prepared dads, with a little pocket screwdriver, duct tape, some crayons and a bunch of grapes at the ready. But I often fail to have even the essentials. This is compounded by the new math. Getting two kids to one school at the same time sounds easier than getting two [...]
Yesterday there was rain in the air, and that's a good thing for parched Northern California. But the gutters were choked with leaves, and I'd put off getting up there and dealing with it. I had two hours before my next client call, so I got the ladders and went to work against the elements, sweeping away a million [...]
I had such a vision for my family enjoying culture and the arts. I'd get dreamy seeing young kids at the museum, or when friends brought a baby to a party. It gave me a refreshing hope that creative parents can keep their lives going and integrate the kids. If they can do it we can do it, right? Right? [...]
I can remember only a few things about kindergarten. Making paintings with string, all of us in our painting aprons. Somehow getting poor Mrs. Gibson in a conversation about whether God exists. (She and my mother became lifelong friends, so whatever that was about they worked it out.) I barely remember how it felt to [...]