Sitcoms are the only type of entertainment I can think of that get more entertaining the less you pay attention. If you actually sit and watch – really watch, not just look at – most sitcoms, they become infuriatingly un-funny. But if you just sit back and stare at the television, you’ll find yourself grinning [...]

Not the day, the detective.
In lieu of a light, meaningless story about some trivial aspect of my life, I’d thought I’d treat you to something more substantial. I don’t claim to be knowledgable about anything, but I am quick to use new technology to help do the things I want to do, so here’s [...]

Sooner or later, you’re going to have to find a way to keep track of your keys. This is a task for which humans are not inherently well suited. Locks, from an evolutionary standpoint, make a lot of sense; they keep predators out. But keys aren’t really good for anything; they can’t protect your young, [...]

Credit: Bill Bamberger (interview)

Bus #663
The driver is compassionate. He waits at the stop for a balding Chinese man who is running at the bus like it was home plate. He wears glasses and a blue checked shirt. He sits on a bench seat across from the wheelchair lift.
A big wide-spaced-teeth smile flashes on the face [...]

Sometimes traffic just kills me. Tuesday driving home felt like trying to run in a swimming pool. Suffocating.
I left work about five. Normally it takes me a half hour, but I had a feeling it would be worse that day, so I took a different route. Back roads. Because I am so clever.
But the [...]

…sort of:

Labor Day; to point out the irony of its title is no great accomplishment. If it’s a day of labor, why doesn’t anybody work? This is the stuff of hospital-lounge stand-up acts. And even (or especially) there it would be ill received.
Still, Labor Day is no slouch. Aptly named it is not, but in [...]

Perhaps now is a good time to introduce you to my uncle, Ruben. He goes by various pseudonyms, which I won’t enumerate for his privacy’s sake. But if you meet him you will know it (at least, that’s the object of this description).
I come to this subject in a roundabout way; I was reading a [...]

For some, these are the final hours of summer. It’s 10:13pm. Across the state hundreds of children are splayed out on their bedroom carpets, organizing their school materials into stacks, laying out the next day’s outfit, and then laying it out again.
For me the first day of school always required about the same preparation as [...]

When I was in third grade at Brimhall Elementary School in Roseville, a rare and amazing thing happened: the school decided to install a completely new playground. What’s more, they wanted the kids’ help designing it.
This was, in my case, literally a dream come true. I don’t know about other kids, but the amount of [...]