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SELF DEFENSE WITH THE PROPER MOVES

Self defense? I’ve never taken a class, but I encourage anyone to do it. Learn how to find a solution to a difficult problem. How much is too much? How far is too far? Where to start? In my mid to late teens I was a small town high school wrestler.

HOW COLLEGE FOOTBALL MATTERS

Football matters to everyone who has played the game in the backyard, in the street, and on the football field. It matters because we all like to think we were as good as the guys playing today; our teams were better than their record. No matter the level of play, we were so much better […]

LISTENING PRACTICE: START SOONER THAN LATER

Listening practice with Ernest Hemingway: “We learn to talk by two, we learn to listen by sixty.” That he was dead at sixty-one says something about his listening skills? Nooooooo.

HARD RAIN FALLING, GUTTERS OVERFLOWING, NOW WHAT?

I’ve got a hard rain falling in drops you can see. Not the usual drizzle, not a sheet of water, but individual drops spaced and timed to perfection. It’s cold out, the kind of day that makes you think of other places you’ve heard about, seen on advertisements, the kind of cold and wet people […]

ON REMEMBERING ANNIVERSARIES

My wife is great for remembering anniversaries and birthdays. It’s an encyclopedic memory of family, friends, and pretty much anyone who has ever been born. At least that’s what it feels like in comparison to her husband, who is more selective. I remember plenty, I’m not saying I don’t, but ask me the birthday of […]

EVERYBODY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE? GET OVER IT

Q: Where are you from? A: All over the place. Q: Where did you grow up? A: It’s a long list.

2025 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR, SO FAR

2025 highlights have come every day, with each new one besting the last. And, like last year, 2024, it’s come to this. The End. Also like last year, and the years before, tomorrow is a: New Beginning. Let’s say it together. New. Beginning.

GENTLE SUGGESTIONS FOR GOOD TIMES

Who doesn’t make gentle suggestions? Call it good manners if you know the difference between a request and an order. ‘Would you please help me?’ instead of, ‘Get over here and make yourself useful.’ This happened recently:

BE DIFFERENT, BUT HOW DIFFERENT

Be different, be better, be something. Just not the old coot where every day is the ol’ same ol’. It’s not the same, day after day, and neither are you no matter how you try. Why not be stable and dependable? That’s different enough.

HOW TO OREGON DUCK FOOTBALL PLAYOFF AT AUTZEN

Oregon Duck football begins where all college football begins: on campus. This is the lovely yard we passed on the way to Autzen from Max’s Tavern in Eugene, Oregon. The place was hopping with Duck shirts, Duck jersey’s, and a few James Madison people. One in our group spent their college years at University of […]