Over 40,000 New Laws. Whatever Happened to Gridlock? It’s that most wonderful time of the year when I get myself into trouble with some readers simply by pointing out a handful of the staggering number of new laws that have been foisted on Americans in general and Californians in particular as the New Year begins. […]
New Year Notes to Self It’s popular this time of year to make profound personal pledges – more commonly known as resolutions – to self and significant others as a way to set a corrective course for the upcoming 12 months. Whatever. I’ve learned through first-hand experience that the sad majority of these resolutions are […]
A Post-Christmas Poem (Please, don’t try this at home!) (With my annual apologies to both Clement Clarke Moore and the good Dr. Seuss, of course.) ‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the Valley, The kids were wiped out, every Jeong, Anoosh and Sally; The gift cards were stacked and the best sales scoped […]
Barking Up The Christmas Tree It’s official: My dogs think I’m crazy. Since we brought the two of them home as newly weaned pups last February, it’s been a constant battle to keep them from dragging all sorts of branches, pine cones, sticks, bark, twigs, pine bows, palm fronds, potted plants, roots and assorted other […]
Christmas by Choice It often seems as if Christmas time is all about making choices. See? I just made one right there – choosing to use the traditional name of the holiday instead of the secularly sanitized euphemism, “Holiday season.” But this column is not an update from that battlefront. The Christmas choices I’m thinking […]
Trudging Through A Turkey Coma So how are you feeling? Guys, can you button your pants yet? Ladies, are you still defaulting to sweat pants whenever possible? Is that Ziploc bag of turkey still in your family’s fridge? If so, it’s likely that most of your family members jet out the front door at the […]
A Face Full of Thankfulness A trend on Facebook is to post something you’re thankful for every day throughout November. There’s another November Facebook phenomenon alternately called “No Shave November” or “Movember,” in which male participants pledge not to shave for the entire month. Having sported a mustache, goatee or full frontal beard since the […]
Fall Wonders Everywhere I go lately, more people (myself included) are commenting on how fast time seems to be going by – this year more than any other. For example, how could it already be almost six months since I “wondered” in this space? Better fix that right now. Ready? I wonder … how many […]
A Reunion with High School Angst The 40th reunion of the Crescenta Valley High School Class of 1973, my class, was held last month at the Chevy Chase Country Club. I didn’t go. It’s not that I was out of town. I didn’t forget to put it on my calendar. I wasn’t in bed with […]
Of Dogs & Daylight Savings Time Arizona and Hawaii have the right idea. They’re the only two states in the union with the collective common sense to ignore the biannual foolishness that goes by the name of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Actually, it’s a little more complicated than that. The Navajo Nation within the state […]