I'm having real coffee this morning. Real coffee has always been the first order of business each new day ("decaf coffee" being a contradiction in terms, you see), but in these first weeks of Solo Living, I haven't always managed to pull it off. Earlier this week, for example, I ground the beans, measured the water, and shortly thereafter poured disappointingly hazy brown liquid into…
Rollercoasters. I think you either love them or you don't. Jack was one who did. Favorites included the ride that twirls like a corkscrew, the one that goes straight up and straight down, and even the one suspended over water that swings back and forth two or three times until it flips over entirely, slows a bit and starts again. And though I have never liked rollercoasters, nor…
My brother and I spent time talking finances with a guy at the bank. Turns out when he's not talking stocks and bonds, he runs, and in fact had recently completed a triathlon. He swam for a couple miles, biked for a bunch more, and, when he "was really warmed up," ran for 26 more! How did he keep going, we asked him. "Well, around…
One of Jack's coworkers recently brought me three rulers that had gotten left behind on his bench, and the sight of those three rulers has me thinking. My first thought is Andy Rooney's comment that he found it easier to go out and buy a new screwdriver than to find the other three he had somewhere in his shop. My next, closer to home, is that Jack…
Some years ago, to fulfill a birthday wish, three friends and I went ice skating at Rockefeller Center in NYC. To be clear, this was not my wish. I don't skate, not in the truest sense of the word. But I do love my friends and I do hate missing out, so I bundled up and came along. While one of the four of us (wisely,…