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...
Category: Travel
Car Free in America
It’s hard to live car free in America. Ever since General Motors conspired to eliminate the nation’s streetcars, our national infrastructure has been built around the automobile. You might be able to go car...
The Finest Hell is a Waiting Room
There is no finer hell than a waiting room. In fact, if there is such a thing as Hell, it’s probably just the waiting room outside the Pearly Gates. You sit there waiting for...
A Charming Little Shithole
It was a charming little shithole: a small town whose rustic beauty belied its backwardness. Anywhere else in the country, it would be full of mobile homes and mini malls. But in the verdant...
A Stint in Stand-Up
After college, I was fumbling my way through life, looking for a career. Somewhere in the haze I got the idea to do stand-up. There was a comedy club in Lansing with an amateur...
Boston, We Have a Problem
Car problems can make a mess out of any vacation. It started when I arrived at Logan Airport. I got off the plane and called my mom. She was just coming off the bridge....
Samoa Stories: Where the Streets Have No Names
In American Samoa, the streets have no names. Not officially, anyway. Sometimes people refer to “the main road”, which crosses the island, or “the airport road”, which leads to the airport. Sometimes roads are...
Late Night Thoughts on Sixth Street
Even though Dallas is a bigger city than Austin, I feel like I just fell off the hay wagon when I walk down Sixth Street on a busy Saturday night. I also feel old,...
Samoa Stories: Queen Mary 2
There wasn’t always a whole lot to do in American Samoa, so I found my entertainment where I could. One of my favorite things was trolling cruise ship passengers, like the time I went...
Park Güell: High Atop Barcelona
Jamie and I got off the subway and walked back above ground. I was expecting a large expanse of grass, but instead I saw a dense urban streetscape. “I thought you said we were...
