You’ve probably already figured out I'm a horror fan. I mean, I wrote a 1,000-word essay around my Alien head canon. And described my Predator growth theory in the Lightning Round. And heck, it’s right there in this newsletter's banner: “Occasionally monsters.” To
So I said I’d post, what, every other week? Ha! The only excuse I have is that I was busy — at Jazz Camp! It was an amazing experience. I learned many new things. And I relearned some important stuff that I kind of forgot and had to relearn because
I’ve been thinking about icebergs this week. It’s not a climate warming kind of thing, although boy howdy, we’ve had to set up an umbrella to protect a prize hosta in our backyard from the very un-Seattle heat. You know how the What’s Going On section
Your phone is not the boss of you. Your apps are not free-range chickens, allowed to constantly peck at you. It’s time to make them earn your attention. Soon after I concluded my “constantly iPad” experiment, I started a new one: taming my iPhone. I wanted a quietly helpful
Get ready for a roundup of items that are too short to be a main essay, but meatier than your typical Fun Fact. It’s a jambalaya of thoughts, quotes, news, and yes, even poems – it’s the Lightning Round! I have to warn you, there’s going to be
About the link appropriately titled “Doom" Folks, I noticed that for some reason the Fun Facts link to a New York Times article on the history and ubiquity of the video game “Doom” showed up blank on the email. So here’s a link that should work: Management regrets
Many thanks to everyone who responded to the poll at the end of Better living through compliments. I truly appreciate you taking time from your day to help me with this crazy little newsletter. And the results of that poll were hilariously inconclusive. The votes were evenly split between 4
When Mari had her knee replaced, it came with a lot of benefits: * She was able to walk pain-free. * We became closer as a couple. * Our sleep habits improved. * We started reading a lot more books. All this from a new knee? Well not directly. What happened was, as part
First, look at this. This is Troy Hawke, the alter ego of a standup comedian from England who created the fictional “Greeter’s Guild.” He’s one of my heroes. He stands in public places and greets people, like this: If you are an introvert like myself, you may be
(The shocking facts about this newsletter and its “value statement”?) When I started reading about running a newsletter, I kept encountering the term “value statement.” Simply put, it’s “why?” Why should someone read this newsletter? What’s in it for them? Here’s some sample value statements from newsletters
💡Ahoy! I’m still somewhere on the Atlantic, so here’s a repeat view of one of my fav issues of the newsletter. A friend of mine once asked me what it was like to be a writer, and I said, “A constant state of grief and disappointment.” That was
💡Part V (and the finale) of The Edinburgh Cycle: five unlikely and useful things about creativity I learned from performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe It was well after midnight. Danny O’Hare and I stood alone on a makeshift stage in a vaulted stone cellar in Edinburgh’s Old