The Grim Reaper at the Car Wash
Last week, I took my Chevy Colorado to get emission tested, a Texas requirement for registration. Since the car wash here does the testing, I decided to double up and...
Hurl's Treehouse
A Breach of Etiquette (or Bad Manners in Public Places)
I’m not good with manners. Ask anyone in my family. Or my friends. Even co-workers. I take too big bites and chew my food loudly and badly (which is also...
Transformational Grammar
Most people have one of two reactions to that second word in the title. Either they yawn in anticipation of total boredom, or they sigh in abject defeat to an...
Mr. Miyagi and Me
In high school, I wasn’t allowed to work. “You take care of the grades, and I’ll pay the freight,” my dad told me. So it went. Working for a livin’...
I Am Not Afraid of Flying Monkeys!
There was a time, long before DVR’s and VCR’s, when the arrival of the TV Guide was must-reading. I’d begin my survey with their list of televised sports for the...
The Hook, the Rack, and Strong Verbs
You gotta hand it to the Ancients. They knew little about medicine, but they made up for it with ingenuous torture devices. And the names! The Brazen Bull. Chappy Chopper,...
The Voices in My Head
No, I’m not crazy. At least not any crazier than before. I’m not describing malevolent, audible commands, like Son of Sam. These are my memory loops stored over six decades....
The Punctuation Personality Test
Ever seen those clickbait ads/quizzes on Facebook or Yahoo? What kind of Thanksgiving dish are you? or We can guess your home state in ten questions! Maybe, These are the...
Five Things I Don’t Like
I’m the outlier, the alien invader (reminds me of Space Invaders, the first video game I played, beginning a transition from pinball to arcade games). I’m the salmon swimming upstream,...
Walter and I Work Out
(In honor of James Thurber, creator of Walter Mitty.) I exercise a few times a week at the Joe Farmer Rec Center in Allen. It’s adequate–a full-court gym, two racquetball...
