Story

I recently spent some time up a ladder to paint the trim on the house. It’s an extension ladder that stretches to twenty-some feet and I’ve gotten fairly comfortable, even when I’ve climbed to a reasonably unsafe height. It briefly crosses my mind that something bad could happen without a lot of effort on my … Read more

Kids are notorious for doing dumb stuff, but it’s only “dumb” in the way dogs can look dumb when you pretend to throw a ball and they chase after nothing. As kids grow up, though, they mostly  get better at  knowing when they look and fixing the situation. Still, it is pretty dumb stuff. I … Read more

I grew up around boats, as I’ve mentioned before. They were fishing boats–small boats with outboard motors, suitable for small, inland lakes, and they were parked all over our back yard. My father took us out on Lake Erie in those boats, and once or twice we were caught in storms that are memorable to … Read more

I did not want to study chemistry in college. I had been accepted to the College of Engineering, and it seemed to make sense (economic sense) to pursue that, but the closest to technical subjects I wanted was computer programming. To stay in Engineering, I had to take one Chemistry class. I didn’t want to … Read more

Being a kid ain’t easy, and figuring out what you’re going to do with the rest of your life is the most important thing you’ll do. It takes some people decades to reach the correct decision. But when you’re fifteen, figuring out what to do after school or on the weekend can be debilitating in … Read more