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BEST BUY TACTICAL COMMANDO

I made a birthday run to Best Buy for my wife’s birthday.
Married people do this all the time. Maybe just husbands?
The difference was, my trip was on the birthday, which some people call irresponsible, tactless, whatever.
But I knew what I wanted and where to get it. And I knew the timeline.
How was I so well informed? My wife told me.
What I didn’t expect to see in Beaverton Best Buy was a greeter in a full tactical commando rig.
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MY TOP JULY FOURTH: 1976

In 1976 July Fourth found me living in Philadelphia, of all places.
I was standing in the audience listening to President Ford address the nation from the Liberty Bell.
I was a regular Army private two months from being discharged after two years.
My uncle, a career Marine, was with me.
It felt different than July 4, 2026.
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PIECES OF A LIFE TOGETHER, AND ‘THE PAST’

If you spend enough time with someone you may eventually get the feeling of living a life, of sharing a life, together.
With that in mind, why wait until the last minute to get, or give, the flowers.
Is there a plan for how to do that?
How do two people put those pieces together?
I’m glad to tell you:
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THE CUVEE PROM PLAN: TUXEDO REQURIED

The Cuvee prom plan works when the star align:
A birthday? An anniversary? A retirement?
Combine all three and it’s time to break out the tuxedo?
Yes, it’s time.

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WALK THAT LONESOME VALLEY, OR BABY SHARK, PICK ONE

You know you’ve got to walk that lonesome valley. That’s just how it is.
The part about walking it by yourself? I’m not so sure about that.
I tried walking it by myself and got pretty far, even though I wasn’t alone.
Technically.
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toughen up

Self Glossing Portland Writer Gives Cancer Warning

  “Warning? We don’t need no cancer warning,” said everyone who’s never followed directions even once.   With cancer warnings around every corner, every speck of asbestos in the ceiling, breath of air, drink of water, it gets wearing to the point of being normal.   More people with cancer? More young people? More millennials, […]

CANCER TREATMENT: 5 THINGS I KNEW BEFORE STARTING

    I will submit to the cancer treatment sequence of events that may or may not do what is predicted. Like a lamb to slaughter, I would submit to whatever it took to kill the shit out of hpv16 throat cancer.   In the writing world we all dream of that one ‘YES’ that […]

RADIATION, HYDRATION, SATURATION, REPEAT

      From cancercenter.com Because radiation is used on and in their bodies, some patients mistakenly worry that this automatically means their bodies become “radioactive” after they treatment. Most patients just want to finish radiation and don’t care about the baggage. That comes later. If they beat cancer, they accept the side effects. Once […]

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boomer years

Climate Change In My Kitchen Is Real

  The first step to take when the air conditioning fails on the hottest week of the year, with an even hotter week on the near horizon?   Stop making things hotter. No cooking. Eighty five degrees in the kitchen with nothing on is hot enough.   Thinking of baking a polenta pizza? Maybe flattening […]

MILLENNIALS NEED BOOMER ‘LEAVING LESSON’

    Leaving Lesson for the younger generation? Stick around. Once upon a time solving problems was simple. If something didn’t go your way, you left. The first class for Leaving Lessons explains how it works. You’ll learn the best time to bail is not a year on a calendar, but an age. 20 – […]

SEX, DRUGS, AND ROCK AND ROLL. OR JUST DRUGS

How To Live Next To A Heroin House. A move to the suburbs in most cities means a move away from drugs and crime. Not Portland, Oregon. My inner eastside apartment was too dangerous for a young family. Houses had metal barred windows and bad yards. The juice was never changing. It was a bad […]

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buckle up

NEW YORK CITY 1980: HOW TO QUIT A GREAT TOWN

    New York City is easy to quit. Get on a bus, train, or plane and leave. Go ahead and be a quitter.   Except moving on isn’t the same as quitting. You got promoted and the new job wasn’t in New York City? You’re significant other got promoted and their new job wasn’t […]

DEADSPIN’S ‘WHY YOUR TEAM SUCKS’ IS NO WAY TO LEARN ABOUT ARIZONA

  Arizona is a lovely place. A little warmer than most, but still worth a visit. Deadspin’s annual take down of every team in the NFL paints a different picture. It’s supposed to be funny and sports related, something the rest of the world finds confusing. Football isn’t a world sport like soccer, like basketball. […]

DESERT RAIN

A poem in desert rain. Desert Rain From ice to sand the flight landed in coulds so thick the rain sounded like dirt shoveled against a window with a big shovel. All of my sun clothes stay packed until the missing weatherman crawls out of his hole and changes desert rains  to dry desert plains

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