Class-Coffee-Beer Triforce 4

Holy Triangle

Back in college I had what I called the “Holy Triangle”: the three places I spent the bulk of my day. There was Espresso Royale Coffee, Berkey Hall and a bar called the Peanut...

Playing Office Monopoly 1

Playing Office

Are you working. Or are you playing office? There are an awful lot of office workers out there who “play office”, like a little kid imitating her parents. This is a subtle and pernicious...

Welcome to Newark Sign 2

The Layover: Hurry Up and Wait

Like most people, I hate waiting rooms. While doctors’ offices and DMVs come directly from the Ninth Circle of Hell, there is also an.other kind of waiting that is more akin to the Christian...

U-Haul Ship 5

The Auction

When moving to the South Pacific, you can’t just load up a U-Haul truck and drive there. Everything’s got to go by plane or by boat. This gets expensive, so you have to learn...

Route 66 Shield 1

Route 66: The Great Mother Road

My oldest memory is of Route 66. I was around three years old watching “E.T.” at the Route 66 Drive-In on Watson Road, just outside of St. Louis. The drive-in is long gone, paved...

New Apartment with Painting 4

The 3 Rules of Moving

When it comes to moving, I have one word of advice. Don’t. Moving sucks, and if you can avoid it, you probably should. Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to relocate. Though moving can be...

UHT Milk 4

The Greatest Breakfast of My Life

The greatest breakfast of my life was at a Holiday Inn near Midway Airport in Chicago. It was a continental breakfast buffet, and it wasn’t the food that was so great. It was the...

Mocha Frappuccino Cheez-It Crackers 2

27 Kinds of Cheez-Its

Cheez-It Crackers are delicious, but there are too many kinds. Go to your local supermarket, and you’ll find half an aisle of them. Just out of curiosity, I went to the Cheez-It website. It...

SPQA American Flag 3

Dying Days of the Republic

Sometimes it feels like we are in the dying days of the republic. Have previous generations felt so pessimistic about America’s future? I don’t think so. While I think that a democracy is fragile...