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Boots is going to have two babies, and he’s already set on their names – Lighting and Juan Pablo. The latter is a NASCAR thing.
But what if one’s a girl? What’s her name going to …
It started out ugly yesterday afternoon, but it ended with a peace accord that made all sides happy.
Big Guy and a friend from school were playing tag at a park when another kid came along …
Yeah, we have all the toys: Digital audio recorder for capturing bedtime stories, digital video recorders (yes, plural) for reliving sports and school programs, a digital still camera for everything in between and a scanner …
It was a blunder so classically moronic that you wonder how the person who posted it was deemed intelligent enough to serve in the military – any country’s military, including countries with mandatory service.
“On Wednesday, …
It was the second week of karate, and Boots was starting his new sport the same way he’d started soccer.
He’d flop. He’d flit. He’d spin merrily and smile broadly. Then he’d look appropriately chagrined when …
Life was so much simpler when I was in school. History texts focused on presenting facts – and back then, a fact was a fact was a fact.
Today, though, there are some who think the …
It was garden-variety stuff – cat chases mouse, cat catches mouse, mouse bonks cat’s head with an iron skillet, dog pummels cat – but I hadn’t heard Big Guy laugh so hard in ages as …
Where does “protest” end and “publicity stunt” begin?
With PETA and its propensity to station costumed characters in high-traffic public places – always making sure the media are aware of the big news- it’s hard to …
I’m certain it was the bright-blue goggle-eyed pug on the cover that drew Big Guy’s attention. The fact that I was trying to steer him to what I thought was more age-appropriate reading material – …
It’s not quite the east coast and west coast rappers sitting down over tea and crumpets, but when three manufacturing rivals get together for a joint project, it’s big news.
Except in the case of the …
It’s funny how a simple question can stop you dead in your tracks, like when a high school classmate I’d recently reconnected with asked, “How do you like Cali?”
I love it, I thought.
Then I wondered …
It was, admittedly, a new take on the old “these kids and their short attention spans and self-absorbed natures are ruining the world” spiel.
Instead, a British education union leader blamed a culture of “instant gratification,” …
I don’t know what I was thinking when I opened two cans of tuna the other night.
Before deployment, those two cans wouldn’t have lived to see the next day. Dad would have made four tuna …
I pay $65 a month for satellite TV service, and that’s way too much considering that we regularly watch only Nickelodeon, ESPN and the local FOX affiliate. The package includes 200 channels, many of which …
She had the same reaction I did when she went to the pre-season meeting for soccer parents and found out that her 4-year-old’s team didn’t have a coach: This will never work.
The director assured everyone …
Back when my job involved actually leaving my house, there wasn’t a lunchbox in the world big enough for me.
I usually ran out the door without breakfast, triggering the need to pack snack one. The …
We’ve read the books, and we’ve eaten the cake at the library. That’s all old Cat in the Hat now. What else could we do to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Read Across America, I …
It’s unfortunate that the AFL-CIO did its job today and jumped into fray in a Rhode Island district that’s firing the entire staff at the low-performing Central Falls High School.
Unfortunate because that gives more ammo …
When we last left Big Guy, his big mouth was causing problems at school on a daily basis. It’s a seasonal issue for him that’s going to crop up just as sure as the teacher …
Here’s a tricky one to tackle:
According to an article in March’s edition of Pediatrics, nearly 30 percent of overweight teens don’t know that they’re overweight. And if they don’t know they’re overweight, they’re less likely …
The U.S. Army recognizes that I might need a little help when Dad is away. That’s why the military offers 16 hours’ care a month to children whose parents are deployed are wounded.
So why did …
Have you ever had the bad luck to be good at something you don’t like doing?
It happened to me once, between my sophomore and junior years in college. I’d accepted a summer internship as a …
What’s worse than a YouTube video showing a developmentally disabled boy being bullied?
A court verdict in Italy that finds Google executives guilty of invasion of privacy because the video was posted to begin with – …
What could possibly be more annoying than a 6-year-old who fritters away every dime on candy or a bright shiny object that’s going to hold his interest only for as long as it takes to …
Two contradictory tidbits from a CNet story this morning about an Federal Communications Commission report on expanding broadband Internet access to more parts of the country:
A third of adults who don’t have broadband at home …
When she rang the doorbell Monday after school, tears streamed down the second-grader’s face. I was shocked, because while I don’t know her well I do know that she’s a tough kid who doesn’t hesitate …
I consider myself to be a fairly thrifty person. Not as tight as my grandfather who recycled coffee grounds – for brewing, not gardening – but I’m hardly a spendthrift in most areas.
For example, when …
First rule of complaining about media coverage: Whether it’s a philandering golfer or a foot in mouth and ink on hand politician, if you’re sick of hearing about someone don’t say something that’s going to …
Big Guy came home excited after library day at school a few weeks ago – not that he isn’t usually excited, because the library is like shopping, only everything is free.
This time, though, he’d scored …
If computer manufacturers wanted to do the world a big favor they’d include, not a shortcut to software,but a direct link to snopes.com on every box sold.
It wouldn’t end all the “Starbucks is anti-military” emails …
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
I cannot change soccer snacks. Well, technically speaking I suppose I could if I …
Every time Big Guy’s class has a substitute teacher, his regular one says she’ll get a report about their behavior from her “spies” when she gets back.
She’s joking. In a certain school district in suburban …
Mommy, BFF’s been lying to me, Big Guy said last night. He doesn’t really have a brother.
I had suspected as much for months.
In the fall, the “brother” was a teen-ager who’d left a few weeks …
You’re a soldier spending your last day with your family before you deploy. In your dream world, the schedule would include:
Waking up at 10 to a nice leisurely breakfast, followed by an afternoon of lolling …
Big Guy wanted a Nerf gun for Christmas – a big one. “A pazooka,” he said.
He also wanted night vision goggles. And he “needed” walkie-talkies because he was tired of squawking into a fake plastic …
Once upon a time there was an Army post in the middle of the desert.
It had a weekly newspaper, but editions often failed to make it to all the boxes on post.
It had a radio …
In part because I live in a place where egg replacer isn’t readily available and in part because I’m tired of toting ingredients when I’m on the road, I’ve been experimenting lately with baking with …
A mere 12 hours after I’d plowed through the top row of a Whitman’s Sampler in an attempt to console myself because we wouldn’t see Dad for at least six months, my phone rang.
It was …
There’s often a reason why Big Guy does the seemingly quirky things he does. A reason that makes sense only in his 5-year-old brain, but a reason nonetheless.
I usually don’t question, because if it’s genuinely ...
Parties in the park seem to be the rage around here of late – a rage that will be over by the time Big Guy’s birthday rolls around in 103-degree July – and today’s was ...
