Facebook likes to make suggestions. It likes to show you things that it things you might be interested in. I wonder how it knows what I might be interested in. Because, truly, it seems to show me only things I don’t want to see. 😉 It’s the friending suggestions that I sometimes find unnerving. ItContinue reading “On Facebook Follies”
Category Archives: Life
On the Simplicities of Binary Day 10-10-10
10-10-10. I’ve been calling today “Binary Day.” One-Zero-One-Zero-One-Zero. All ones and zeroes. A binary day. Oh, there have been others this year — in January and in November — but this particular Binary Day is unique. It’s the only Binary Day that is exactly the same on both sides of the Atlantic. Our British cousins,Continue reading “On the Simplicities of Binary Day 10-10-10”
On What I Miss About Childhood
At times, I miss the smell… Of cow manure. In my childhood years, I lived in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. My elementary school, Linville-Edom, stood on a barely paved road in the midst of the valley's rolling farm country. Across the street was a farm. To either side of the school? Farms. And what was notableContinue reading “On What I Miss About Childhood”
On Awkward Subway Encounters
She sat hunched over on the subway car’s bench. It wasn’t the coat she wore that I noticed first — brown, long, heavy, wintry, a fur-lined hood, wholly inappropriate to the day’s weather. Rather, it was the savage odor that permeated the subway car — sweat and grime and soiled clothes. The smells mixed togetherContinue reading “On Awkward Subway Encounters”
On a Paean to Punctuation
Today, September 24th, is National Punctuation Day. I, who have never seen a comma I didn’t like, wanted to take a moment to encourage each and every one of you, my readers, to revel in your love of and need for punctuation. Whether it is the curiosity inherent in a question mark, the certainty inContinue reading “On a Paean to Punctuation”
On Chocolate-Covered Gummi Bears and Other Things
Recently I discovered the greatest food invented by the mind of man. Juice-filled gummi bears. Long have I had a passion for gummi bears. I liked going to a candy store at the mall and filling a bag with scoops of gummis right out of the bin. I like gummi bears soft and chewy. IContinue reading “On Chocolate-Covered Gummi Bears and Other Things”
On Contemplating Pseudonyms
Many years ago, when I was a manager for EB Games, I told a friend of mine that I did some writing on the side and that someday I hoped to be published. "Do you write under your own name? Or do you use a pseudonym?" he asked. "Under my own name," I said. "I'veContinue reading “On Contemplating Pseudonyms”
On Curiosity About Parking Garages
I decided this morning to park the Beetle on the sixth level of the parking garage at the subway station. I had parked on the fourth level. Recently I changed to the fifth — I could park closer to the stairwell on the fifth, thus cutting down on walking time, even though it was anotherContinue reading “On Curiosity About Parking Garages”
On Conversations on the Train
On the train tonight, I talked to a homeless man. To my luck, I caught the slightly earlier train, despite leaving the office at my usual time. (In a span of about fifteen minutes, there are southbound trains terminating at Cromwell, BWI, and North Avenue, in that order. I normally catch the BWI train atContinue reading “On Conversations on the Train”
On Publishing Tweets in the Newspaper
Two days in a row this week — Thursday and Friday — I had Tweets published in b, the local free daily paper. Actual conversation from yesterday: ME: Guess what! Guess what! I had another Tweet published in b. That’s two days in a row! Two days! COWORKER: What? ME: Yesterday, they published my TweetContinue reading “On Publishing Tweets in the Newspaper”