The inspiration for this essay comes from today’s Saturday Slant. No matter how hard you try to be tolerant and patient, there’s that one thing that gets under your skin every time. There’s that one something other people do that annoys you without fail. What is your pet peeve? I don’t need to be “entertained”.… Continue reading

I was summoned to appear for Jury Duty on April 12. The case before the coourt was neither a criminal nor a civil case but one of a type I had not known about. The respondent (not defendent, although dictionary.com treats the words as being synonymous) was tried before, in 1987, for “discharging a weapon… Continue reading

Do you ever find yourself looking at something someone else has done — a creative effort of some kind, be it an essay, a handmade greeting card, a drawing, a Flash video, a handknitted sweater, a proposal — and hear yourself saying “That person has too much time on their hands!” Just what, exactly, does… Continue reading

How long has it been since you have received really good customer service? It’s harder and harder to come by, I’ve found, and wonder if your experience is the same? What does it mean to you to be served well? Who do you think of when you think of really good customer service? … Customer… Continue reading

A recent topic in a technical discussion group I belong to has been the state of education in the United States. Members have been discussing this based on their own experiences (as children) in the system, as well as their perceptions as parents of children in the system today. An (obvious) conclusion has been that… Continue reading

I received this comment about dream interpretation when I mentioned that I often dream one or more of my cats has gotten outside: Many cultures see cats as representing a type of aloofness and leadership qualities. … Not long after that, a friend on another list posted this: I thought you all might find this… Continue reading

One of the online writing groups I participate in (Personal Writing) posts a weekly topic and then discusses the topic through the week. I was particularly interested to discover that this week’s topic is dreams; I posted some of my thoughts on dreams last week, before this topic came up, inspired by a largely unrelated… Continue reading

A fellow listgroup member recently started a discussion thusly: I was thinking about the topic of left-handed vs. right-handed drawing… I was born left-handed (and left-footed too). My mom taught me to write when I was 4, and I did everything (drawing, eating, etc.) left-handedly. When my first-grade teacher came on a visit the month… Continue reading

I went to our local Large Hardware Emporium yesterday morning to return some of the remodeling supplies we won't be using in our dining room remodeling job — specifically nine pieces of pre-cut pre-fab baseboard molding in the "other" style than the one we decided to install. These were worth the trip to return —… Continue reading

Note to family members – you’ve already read this one. A republication of my Household Hazardous Waste story. This entry was originally written at 16:00 on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004, and posted to my (private) family-only weblog. I decided to post it on commentary as well. Continue reading