Today is my 54th birthday. I started this blog 4 years ago, shortly after my 50th birthday. It’s been neglected, mostly because I’m either posting boring stuff on my business blog, or I’m honing the art of drive-by snark on facebook. A lot has happened in the last year: We have a son-in-law. My mother [...]

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A funny thing happened on the way to Mari & Charlie’s brunch today. We were in the middle of the no-man’s-land between Roxboro & Markham…you know, that part of The Worst-Designed Intersection in Durham (or is it in all of North Carolina?) where you’ve already crossed northbound Roxboro and are waiting for a break in [...]

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Check out the coverage in Durham magazine and of course, the Beaver Lodge Local 1504 website. Share on Facebook

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The Post Office is one of those government entities that people love to hold up as models of bureaucracy, inefficiency and incompetence. Historically, I’ve been a contrarian about this, because except for one letter that arrived late about 20 years ago, I had never had a single problem with postal delivery. Then I moved to [...]

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I want to emphasize this point: I was NOT looking for a job. Heck, I’m scheduled to speak at an IABC meeting this month about the joys of not having a job. A couple of weeks ago I got an email from someone saying “we have a job opening, here’s the description, are you open [...]

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Anyone who’s spent time in downtown Durham has seen what has come to be known as the “We Want Oprah!” building: (Photo used utterly without permission after downloading from a lovely photo essay of Durham posted by Snowpea on citydata.com) Looks like Oprah’s coming to Durham. Well, to Duke, anyway. Does that count? Share on [...]

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This first tale has a happy ending. The second is an adventure in progress. I met Barry down at the ‘shmong Friday night, parking in the lot next door. When I returned to my van, a small postcard had been stuck in the driver’s side window. I went to pull it out (and discard of [...]

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Mr. D. and I took a tour of the new studios at Golden Belt last night. Some of the work was excellent, but overall, it was not the highest caliber of art I’ve ever seen. But one of the things I like about Durham is that it’s not an art-snobby place. If you are working [...]

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Spectacular thunderstorm going on here in the Bull City this Fourth of July; the folks who bought tickets for the fireworks are getting a different show than they bargained for. Mr. D. is watching the Twilight Zone marathon; the constant thunder and pounding rain and constant flashing are an appropriate backdrop. I’ve lit the candles, [...]

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I’ve been going to a gym or pool pretty much consecutively for about 30 years, but tonight was the first time I had to leave in less than 10 minutes because I was becoming physically ill. The booming bass from the spinning class at the downtown YMCA was so loud that I couldn’t take it [...]

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