Month: May 2019

The list of items that “do for themselves” continues to grow, and I fully support this movement. I was reading that one horse running in this year’s Kentucky Derby threw its rider just out of the gate, but that plucky steed kept right on running the course.  Sadly, it was disqualified because it seems that not having a human aboard is against the rules.  Surely that horse should get credit for initiative.  If we can have driverless cars and trucks, why not jockey-less horse racing?  Dogs did it for years.  In recent years, all manner of unpleasant chores have been reduced or removed by technology, and that has made life easier through the generations.  I know I enjoy the benefits. Continue reading “DIFM (Do It For Me)”

“You have the right to remain silent.” This phrase is usually accompanied by handcuffs and an arrest warrant.  It is, however, something that is underused in today’s world.  I’m convinced that the Founding Fathers would never, ever, have included freedom of speech in the Bill of Rights had they been able to envision Twitter and Facebook. It was supposed to be confined to King George III and the Redcoats. They also never dreamed of air travel.  Said a passenger on a recent flight, whose neighbor was removed from the plane for setting off the flight attendant, “Flying is almost scary because you don’t know who you’re going to anger,” he says. “You can’t say anything to anyone.”  He meant it as a complaint and an assault on basic freedoms.  However, it’s actually wise counsel.  You should indeed exercise restraint in what you say, particularly on a packed airplane where humor is not always appreciated and mostly undervalued. The wise philosopher Anonymous once said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt.”  Good one, Anon. Continue reading “The Right to Remain Silent”

He or she who controls the television remote controls the kingdom. In our house, my wife is master of the television remote.  She rules over it like Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.  Oh, Prince Albert may have thought he had a certain degree of mastery, but no.  It resides squarely in the hand of, well, the hand.  Control is seldom relinquished – most usually if she’s still in bed or has gone to use the computer in another room.  In those cases, I wait a discreet amount of time, then cautiously approach the remote, fingers trembling. Continue reading “Riding Remote Shotgun”

This isn’t really about having a new car – it’s more about buying one, and the ways people approach it. We (my wife and I) tend to be spontaneous buyers.  You’ve seen them in car commercials. We walk into the dealership thinking solidly in our minds that “we’re just starting to look”.  It ends up with a hurried cleaning out of the glovebox and the trunk, checking under the seats for anything there because the new car will be ready in an hour.  On two occasions we’ve picked up our daughter someplace in a new car she didn’t recognize. The last incident happened at our niece’s wedding in Pennsylvania.  And here’s how it happened. Continue reading “That “New Car” Smell”