Second only to riding a motorcycle, where the rider’s attention must be sharply focused in order to avoid death or dismemberment, having a puppy requires an exceedingly high level of concentration. With the ever-present danger found in a young canine’s all-too-small bladder, her impossibly rapid digestion of puppy chow, and the attraction of shoes and […]

Read more "Present Moment Awareness"

Today I was checking my bank account, my business bank account. Every once in a while, I put personal stuff on my business account. Self-employment has some “gray areas.” That’s where I tend to use the business plastic. Anyhow, I see charges in June, July, August, and September for $39.99 to “Rocket Lawyer,” a company […]

Read more "Re: Free Trial You Forgot to Cancel"

One of the many terms of art with which I have become familiar since embarking on the vocation of writing is WIP, short for “work in progress.” Unlike other acronyms that are read as words in and of themselves, e.g., AWOL, WIP reads letter for letter, like DOB or RMV. The hashtag, “#WIP,” appears in […]

Read more "A Work in Progress"

Today, my 16-year-old daughter bought her first prom dress. Although I thought I was the one to take her shopping, her father took her. The two of them found a gorgeous, yet simple, floor-length, sleeveless, black dress as well as a pair of patented leather pumps with a reasonable heel height. They bought this outfit […]

Read more "The First Prom Dress"

When given the opportunity to spend long stretches of time with someone, we have the opportunity to get to know that person better, learn more about that person’s life, and see aspects of that person’s character that perhaps are only revealed with hours of “togetherness.” For the most part, when those with an established affinity […]

Read more "To See and Be Seen"

With recount deadlines looming in Florida, the cynical have the opportunity to use the fact that a recount is happening as another example of the failures of our voting system. The temptation to point to the “need for a recount” as evidence that the initial vote was flawed in some way neglects the fact that […]

Read more "The Intolerance of the Process"

Last week I wrote about a cheap fry pan that my family has been using, much to our dismay, for a while now that inevitably burns either the food we’re cooking or the person cooking the food itself. I used the opportunity of that essay to illustrate how some “things” in our lives might seem worth it, […]

Read more "The Restoration of Confidence in Selflessness"

A few weeks back, I had a conversation with a married couple and a high school classmate about the benefits of hiring a regular house cleaner. These three people were more than enthusiastic about their “help,” so much so that the classmate said that she “would give up lots of things, but never Angelica.” Of […]

Read more "Why get a House Cleaner if You Have $3.99"

As a family of six, we have instilled a sense of reasonableness with respect to how we spend our money. So when the opportunity arises that we can find something we need cheaply, we tend to jump on it. When the day came that we found this fry pan, we were sure that it would […]

Read more "Getting Burned by Attachment"

In the middle of a cerebral conversation with a dear friend, it occurred to me that we humans seem to believe that we have the capacity to make thoughtful and genuine choices for ourselves but that this notion is illusory. Let’s say that someone is considering the pros and cons of two options. And for […]

Read more "You Never Really Had a Choice"