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The Unexpected Benefit of Cabin Ownership
We’ve been up at our cabin the last two weekends working to get ready for the summer. We planted a bunch of new trees this year. We got out the kayaks, launched the jet ski, mowed the lawn, and did some beaver-proofing on our favorite trees. I removed four wheelbarrow loads of muck and weeds…
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Have It Your Way
I was embarrassingly old when I found out that you could request alterations to your meal at any restaurant. Like… really embarrassingly old. I’m talking post-college. Yeah. But what am I supposed to think if Burger King is going to use the tag line “Have it your way!” in their advertising? If it’s special that…
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Documentary Reviews x2/ Score: A Film Music Documentary, and Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel
Score: A Film Music Documentary(currently available on Amazon) This is a fantastic documentary that gives us a peek behind the scenes at how film scores are created and recorded. I watched this several years ago but there are a few bits that have really stuck with me: Definitely worth a watch, even if you know…
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Shuffling off to the doctor again.
Last Thursday my youngest kid woke up and croaked out the words that I dread hearing from him because he’s always correct in his diagnosis: “I think I have strep.” Off we went to his favorite urgent care location and favorite pharmacy (you would have a favorite urgent care and pharmacy too if you got…
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Documentary Reviews…?
I am trying to figure out how I want to handle documentaries on this blog. My intention had been to write a very short, generally positive review every time I watched a documentary. Eventually someone looking for a documentary to watch could click on the “documentary review” tag and find a list of documentaries I…
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Tiny Dinosaur
When I was little, I accidentally dropped a small, plastic dinosaur out the back window of my dad’s 1987 Ford Ranger. I was five years old and had been pretending that the dinosaur was running quickly through the woods, holding him up against the open pop-out window as we sped through the Cascade Mountains. My…
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Check ID
I started working retail in 2001, back when I was still in high school. I was at this little shop in my small hometown that sold patio furniture and pool chemicals and swimming toys and all sorts of junk that nobody needs. There was no computer when I started. We were still using those little…
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I am reading a parenting book.
I hate parenting books–they make everything seem so dire. “Keith’s parents were slow to respond to him when he cried as a baby so as an adult he robbed an ATM and is now in prison.” “Taylor’s parents were always patient and kind to him. They knew exactly what to say and exactly what to…
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Accidentally revealing my small-town, middle-class roots.
I was with a friend and some acquaintances at the playground the other day, and my friend was mentioning that her sister had just chaperoned the French Club trip. “Oh, where did they go?” I asked. “Uh, to France,” one of my acquaintances chimed in with an amused tone that signaled the absurdity of my…