The Weekly J

It’s time to revive old hobbies. So here we are. So much time has passed that I don’t even know how to use these WordPress features. How aging slows down my adoption of new technology is humbling. I’m a father now. The best word I can use to describe it is “surreal”, especially because I…

I was bored on a plane recently and decided to list every US (or territory) airport that I’ve flown through. MEM (Memphis) BNA (Nashville) PHX (Phoenix) XNA (Fayetteville) LAX (Los Angeles) OAK (Oakland) SNA (Orange County) SFO (San Francisco) SJC (San Jose) GJT (Grand Junction) DEN (Denver) MIA (Miami) MCO (Orlando) PNS (Pensacola) TPA (Tampa)…

I’m a big fan of metaphors. Of course good ones are preferred, but I’m not to o bothered by awkward metaphors or clunky metaphors…they can be charming sometimes. I’ve settled on the term “seismic” as a quasi-metaphor to describe the death of my mother. Like an earthquake there have been aftershocks, most notably this week.…

Summer began with a death and ended on a party bus. I don’t know how to adequately answer the question “How are you?” because I’m not really sure I know the answer. I think it’s something like “I think okay compared to how I thought I would be, but definitely feeling unmoored and moody and…

The website told us to be prepared for good days and bad days. What the website didn’t tell us was how aggressively the bad days would eclipse the good. It also failed to mention that the scale we use to gauge “good” vs. “bad” would evolve over the course of the illness. That we would…

Toward the beginning of the summer I began my 47th fitness program. The Downtown Y is the new setting for this journey. Another trainer has been cast and the MyFitnessPal password has been reset. So far I’ve been happy with results as I work to undue the damage done over the past 3 years. I…

“Outrage Fatigue” It’s not a new state of being for me, just one that has been ratcheted up and is eclipsing my other states (like joyous, content, or petty). Each day brings a new flood of upsetting news or spotlights a previously unknown/ignored injustice. As the news grows and the Twittersphere reaches a fever pitch…

I’m in the midst of wedding planning which has quickly become one of my least favorite things I’ve ever done (more on that later, maybe). One interesting observation throughout this process is the number of assumptions I’ve run across. In no particular order, here are a few of the assumptions I keep running into: Wedding…

A fresh slate to tackle things previously ignored and delayed. Will this be the year the can stops being kicked down the road? Stay tuned.

It doesn’t seem possible that Christmas is 5 days away. Where has the time gone this year? That’s all.