For quite a few years now I have been plagued by back pain. It started when I misstepped while running a half-marathon in 2012. I stepped wrong, felt my spine compress, and ever since about every year or so I have a herniated disc that falls out of place and decides I am going to have to go a lot slower for a while. And I hate going slow. And it showed in my recovery. The cycle would go; I hurt my back working out, working in the yard, sleeping, whatever. Then for the next two weeks I stubbornly power through. Generally in great pain and I become very grumpy and lash out at people. Not the best way to recover. I would get mad, yell, and otherwise become a jerk because I did not want to show vulnerability in any way. Continue reading →

This morning on the way to work I witnessed a near death. A car, turning into a parking lot just blew by a young woman who had to jump back to avoid becoming the latest casualty on Orlando’s roads. The car just kept going, the woman, visibly shaken stared the car down and then started walking. This is not a new occurrence. In 2017 24 people were struck and killed by cars in Seminole, Orange, and Osceola Counties. This was a new Central Florida record. And honestly I am surprised is not more.  Continue reading →

Apologies to Chuck Klosterman and his notion that the Say Anything character of Lloyd Dobbler ruined dating for all of Gen X but I think there is a deeper influence on our relationship building. It all happened in 1987 on an episode of Family Ties. In that episode the main character Alex planted a now famous kiss on his love interest Ellen while the Billy Vera and the Beaters song At This Moment was playing. This week in 1987 that song hit #1 on the pop charts on the backs of that scene. The kiss sent a rocket of emotions through Gen X. Alex was the guy every girl wanted to bring home and to marry and raise a family with. Ellen was the girl next door who every guy wanted to meet. Smart, funny, and beautiful she was the archetype for who we wanted to spend our lives with. Continue reading →