In my senior year of high school, I had the choice of two electives – Mechanical Drawing or Typing 101. That was an easy decision. I had been accepted at NC State and was considering architecture as a career, so I took Mechanical Drawing. Besides – typing? I had no plans to become a secretary. After a semester of struggling to make lines meet where they were supposed to on a graph paper, I decided … [Read more...]

There was – maybe still is – a show on TV called The Hoarders – people who can’t seem to part with anything. Their homes are jam-packed with junk. We may not be in the official “hoarder” category, but Nancy and I have also amassed many things we can’t seem to part with. Like coffee cups and mugs. I moved to Charlottesville as bachelor in 1967 and brought along one coffee mug from home. We … [Read more...]

I never thought much about passwords until I got my first computer. Right off the bat, the computer began asking me for passwords, so I made up stuff and revealed them to my computer, not realizing that I would have to remember them at a later date. In my early years, the only thing I had that was even close to a password was having to remember the combination to open my locker. Now, every … [Read more...]

There is something called the World Cup taking place right now. It is like the Super Bowl for the entire world, except for the United States, which only accepts a long-pointed ball as a real football, and not a black and white volleyball. The World Cup is a soccer championship, and soccer is a strange game. I’ll try to explain it to you. For starters, in order to play soccer, young men have to … [Read more...]

I call it my Baby Beast – my 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage. It’s a small – really small – hatchback. I bought it about a year ago for a couple reasons. First, it was a one-year old car with less than 13,000 miles (meaning it had a ton of warranty remaining) and second, I bought this like-new car for about 12 grand. When I factored in that my 2004 Jeep Liberty would cost about $2,500 to get back into full … [Read more...]

I hate going to the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. I didn’t like it even before they opened the parking garage and said, “Come and in and park. We’ll read your license plate and if you flash your credit card to us (and anybody else in cyber space) and we’ll let you park here without checking in at a gate. Nobody else will ever see your credit card, we double-pinkie promise.” So, I no longer … [Read more...]

In the old days (like 25 years ago), we used to have maps. If we wanted to get someplace, we had never been before, we used road maps. We had them stuffed in glove compartments and in the sides of the doors. We bought new ones every couple of years in case a new highway came into play. The big problem with the old maps was how to fold them. They were like paper Rubik’s cubes. You had to fold … [Read more...]

We have a female coffee maker. I knew they made coffee makers to handle both Keurig and regular drip blends. I also know they make fancy coffee makers for Espresso and other exotic barista creations, and I am aware of digital and programmable coffee pots. What I didn’t know was that coffee makers came in sexes. Ours is clearly a female. It has mostly good days, and then again, some not-so-good … [Read more...]

We drove through Madison last week and stopped by an amazing hi-tech Tastee Freez. You won’t believe this. Instead of having to drive your car all the way around the restaurant and spit out your order to a little box beside the drive-thru lane, and having to repeat your order several times, and instead of then having to drive to the next box to pay for your order and then drive to another … [Read more...]

This is snake season, when the slithery reptiles shake off their winter chills and make their presence known in yards and beneath porches and around sheds. Unless it’s a copperhead, there is nothing to be concerned about. Snakes are good to have around the house because they wouldn’t be there unless they had a reason – like eating mice and rats. I once took a nap with a snake, tough I had not … [Read more...]