Tag Archives: author
How Did We Survive? The Grumpy Guy’s Guide
The other day I asked a youngish kid, maybe 10 years old, to kindly not play behind my car, in my driveway, because it wasn’t very safe. Her response to me was, “I don’t have to. I can play wherever I want.” Which led me to: Only the strong survive… How did we manage to […]
Have you tried plugging it back in?
I swear I was completely sober when this all began. Maybe “completely” isn’t accurate, but the point is, customer service drove me to drink. I should rewind a few days and start from the beginning, then you can get all judgey on my level of sobriety. It’s all about customer service and the times we […]
How It All Began…
Meet George Black. George was ordinary guy. A guy who put in his 40 hours (plus or minus) slaving away at a dead-end job, in some soul-sucking factory where he polished widgets. Day in and day out, George clocked in and clocked out. Mind numbing drudgery. At the end of the week he’d collect his pay, a […]
Are You Outraged?
Outrage! You see expressions of outrage everywhere. It’s on social media, television, and you can find it in your neighborhood. We seem to be outraged about something, all the time. Therein lies the problem. We’ve cheapened outrage by overuse. Not all outrage is created equal. There is righteous indignation and then there is the self-possessed […]
The Spam Game – What does your spam say about you?
I’m overwhelmed with spam. These unsolicited messages are a waste product of all of our new fangled technology and electronic lifestyle. Spam defies a concise definition. It’s like porn — you know it when you see it. If I were a sensitive little buttercup and overthought the subject line of each spam e-mail in my in-box, I […]
An Unexpected Windfall
Since I’m the “Not Independently Wealthy” kind of guy, I’m always looking for get rich quick schemes sound investment strategies. Halloween, as it turns out is a vastly ignored windfall of untapped economic opportunity. You won’t find a free seminar, or an an e-mail from Ethiopian Prince on this little venture. It doesn’t require a chain […]
The Petting Zoo
The Petting Zoo is something that’s been around for almost one hundred years. (The first Children’s Zoo opened in London in 1938. Feel free to impress your friends and family with this fun fact). The city kids went to the Petting Zoo at the local carnival and got to see what a cow, or sheep looked […]
After The Dust Settles – Burning Man
Several thousand years from now, alien archeologists will examine the burnt strata of our planet and conclude we were a shallow species, bent on self destruction. They will judge us on our mummified remains, adorned with metal piercings, body art and bong resin. After careful analysis, the archeologists will sanitize and quarantine the planet to […]
The Participation Trophy Generation
When did it become the standard to do just enough mediocre work to get through the day? A recent outing, away from the protective bubble I call home, reinforced a belief I’ve held for a while. An entire generation of helicopter parenting and participation trophies started a crack in the very fabric of our society. If […]
#Whose Lives Matter?
#Whose Lives Matter? That debate seems to drive blood pressure and rhetoric from every corner. And, frankly, I’m sick of it. #BlackLivesMatter, #WhiteLivesMatter, #BlueLivesMatter… This isn’t about that past, or transgressions. This is about now. None of us is a special little snowflake. We all matter, or nobody matters.
James L'Etoile 