On Christmas Day Tidings

Merry Christmas, one and all! Since I’m not around to blog today, I’m going to share with you two videos. The first, the trailer to what I’m most looking forward to today, Doctor Who‘s “A Christmas Carol”: The second, because I do love Elbow, the England FIFA World Cup 2018 bid video, which amounts toContinue reading “On Christmas Day Tidings”

On Christmas Eve Reflections

I’m out of town this weekend for the Christmas holiday, visiting friends and family in North Carolina. Yes, even atheists celebrate Christmas. 🙂 I thought I’d go to the archives and share two Christmas Eve stories. I used to be a store manager for EB Games, first in Pennsylvania, then in North Carolina. Christmas EveContinue reading “On Christmas Eve Reflections”

On Childhood Memories and the Christmas Sensawunder

As I left the office Monday evening, the moon, a waxing crescent, held in the sky to the south southwest. There was a planet nearby in the sky, I presumed it was Jupiter, just from its brightness, but I didn’t honestly know. In general, the sky was remarkably clear. Monday had been a brutally windyContinue reading “On Childhood Memories and the Christmas Sensawunder”

On Scott Simon’s Upcoming Talk In Baltimore

My Saturday mornings are regimented. I get up. I fix a cup of coffee. I read the newspapers online. I listen to Scott Simon and Weekend Edition Saturday. (As an aside, a fun story on today’s broadcast was on the dueling atheist-Catholic billboards at the Lincoln Tunnel. Wonder American Atheists powers, activate!) There’s something aboutContinue reading “On Scott Simon’s Upcoming Talk In Baltimore”

On Thoughts Towards Christmas Gifts

Ah, Christmas. The time of year when people give other people — friends, loved ones, family, even complete strangers — gifts large and gifts small. When I worked retail, I heard it said that if Christmas, as a shopping/buying tradition, didn’t exist, marketers would have invented it. Like Valentine’s Day. 😉 I stopped asking forContinue reading “On Thoughts Towards Christmas Gifts”

On My Life, As a Reality Show

Some people are public. Some people are private. I'm a private person. I couldn't imagine myself as a star of a reality television series; besides the feeling that my life really isn't that interesting (sorry, not all writers lead Hemingway-esque lives, though I would settle for a Fitzgerald-ian life), even blogging skirts the level ofContinue reading “On My Life, As a Reality Show”

On Flattening Pennies on Train Tracks

I flattened a penny on the train track. Today was grey and gloomy. The alarm, when it trilled, ripped me from a dream about Taco Bell and the fall of governments to the pattering sound of rainfall on the roof and outside the window. I thought briefly of driving to work. The rainy dampness wasContinue reading “On Flattening Pennies on Train Tracks”