When I was a student in elementary school we had a big activity where we all went outside with helium-filled balloons that had notes attached to them. The notes had our name, school and address and a brief request to whoever found the balloon to send us a postcard. I didn’t realize this event occurred […]

My name is on a headstone (or grave stone, tomb stone or whatever you call it). The story goes like this: My Dad was setting up the affairs of my grandmother several years ago and she had requested to be buried in a cemetery in our town. When he began making the necessary arrangements, he […]

When I was living in Spain, I was robbed. Twice. The first time it happened I was caught totally unaware because they did it in such a bizarre way. A guy named Chris and I were talking with two guys in Retiro Park and one of them asked if we played fútbol (soccer). We said […]

I had a paper route when I was 13. There was a bowling alley with arcade games towards the end of the route who subscribed to the paper who provided a much-appreciated respite from the drudgery that is newspaper delivery. They always paid me in quarters which was extremely convenient to plop into their video […]

I lived on the same street as my elementary school for third and fourth grade so I would often pass the school in the afternoon as I went about my various activities. There was a white iron fence in front of the school separating the sidewalk from the grass. The paint was chipped and worn […]

I was a pedestrian nearly the entire time I lived in Spain, and in Toledo I learned a thing or two about how to survive. The most dangerous part was when you were walking down a narrow road and a car would drive up behind you and honk. The roads in the old part of […]

I was in a public bathroom, minding my own business (Hah! I didn’t even mean it like that) when I heard a sound. There are many sounds you expect to hear in a bathroom, and there are some you’d rather not hear and some which are to be expected, but this sound was different. It […]

When I was in college, I lived in an apartment with five other guys. The apartment was small, but cheap. It had two bedrooms, with three beds in each, a medium size kitchen, a small living room and a single bathroom. We got along well though and I have many fond memories. Here’s one of […]

In one of Bill Cosby’s stand up routines he talks about how people who get scared lose their cool. To add to that premise, people who slip are in the same category. We’ve had a lot of snow recently and on the way to my car tonight I walked over some ice and ended up […]

Seven-year-old Jimmy walked into the schoolyard where the other kids were playing. He reached down to pick up a small blue ball on the ground and suddenly he was back in his bedroom. “What happened?” he thought to himself as he looked around. (Add a comment to continue the story)

When I was a teenager I had an infatuation with yo-yos. Due to my youthful zest I had a rather humorous (in retrospect) experience. I had recently purchased a butterfly yo-yo and as a result was able to perform more tricks. They are more stable than their narrow cousins and I could make it sleep […]

An uncle of mine had a rather interesting experience during his visit to Lassen Park. His writing is usually clever and entertaining, but this one made me laugh out loud. This last trip to Lassen Park, where you and I went one summer, was o.k. but not as spectacular an end to the summer as […]

I have a normal wheel mouse at work and haven’t bothered to clean it since Michael Jackson had a fro. Whenever it felt sluggish I just increased the acceleration and sensitivity settings. Today I hit the last notch on acceleration and it still felt sluggish. It was like I was dragging my mouse through a […]