The last time I wanted to make a big to-do about my birthday, Showbiz Pizza was still a thing, with its janky simulations of jugband critters and state-of-the-art flashy blinky machines. Now at age 50, I myself have become a janky critter simulation, and I don’t do nearly as much flashing and blinking as I used to.
Twenty Twenty Two Point Oh You ever have the feeling that you just want to reboot 2020? Just unplug it, wait ten seconds, and then plug it back in? Well, at the Anderson household, that’s exactly what we’re doing. At the halfway point of the year, we’re declaring this 2020 2.0 and making a fresh … Read more
John P.A. Ioannidis points out that data is important, and we don’t have enough of it yet to justify making the world-altering decisions we’re currently making: Reported case fatality rates, like the official 3.4% rate from the World Health Organization, cause horror — and are meaningless. Patients who have been tested for SARS-CoV-2 are disproportionately … Read more
Well, I was going to provide a link to an article about the overreaction to the Wuhan Flu that was jam-packed with statistics and graphs and rational arguments. But I checked it this morning and, whaddaya know, it’s gone: https://medium.com/six-four-six-nine/evidence-over-hysteria-covid-19-1b767def5894 Replaced by a message that says, “This post is under investigation or was found in … Read more
I am the most optimistic guy in the whole pandemic. And why shouldn’t I be? My commute time has gone from about an hour a day to zero. All my meetings have either been moved online or eliminated entirely. The amount of time I’m spending with my wonderful wife and kids has gone way, way … Read more
Well, that was an eventful 2019. Let’s review. January 2019 – Upon returning to my job from Christmas vacation, I’m called into two surprise meetings. The first, to announce that the company I work for had just been bought out by a competitor. The second, to let me know that the new owners had decided … Read more
We’re just back from the big Anderson family trip to the beach, and now we’re into the recovery phase of vacation; washing all the swimsuits, putting away our gathered seashells, and processing the memories. And as we were taught in that great movie Meatballs, what’s a summer vacation for if you can’t bring back a … Read more
There aren’t many places less comfortable, less restful, less conducive to healing than a hospital, at least not many allowed by the Geneva Convention. So, when my four-year-old daughter had to go into one for minor surgery recently, we expected an experience that was akin to being held captive overnight in a compound of obsessive/compulsive … Read more
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t claim to be a parenting expert, but I do have a plan. It’s not a set-in-stone kind of plan where any deviation could bring destruction and ruin. I’m not building a hydroelectric dam; I’m raising kids, and I hope that my parenting style can adapt and grow along with … Read more
You have to enter a lottery to even get a chance to buy tickets to the Masters. My Dad has entered every year for the last twenty years and never hit. Until this year, when a woman wearing a sundress and white gloves, cradling a manicured toy poodle in one arm, reached into an upturned … Read more
Douglas Wilson hits on one of my most peevish pet peeves: the nonsense of the cliche “you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.”
But the way we dress is communication. What we are doing is communicating, and then insulting as a bigot anybody who is stupid enough to believe what we just said.
As a compliment to my “Best of 2016” post, I thought about doing a “Worst of 2016” post. But then I decided that my web server probably doesn’t have enough storage space for a post that enormous. Also, “Worst of” anything is kind of a downer, and who wants that going into the promise of … Read more
Knowing the craptaculousness that has marked most of the year, anything that says “Best of 2016” is going to inspire a smirk. Like saying “Best of My Root Canal” or “Highlights of My Bitter, Drawn-Out Divorce.” But even the worst, most miserable experience can have some good come out of it. It usually doesn’t, but … Read more
I’m a big fan of the idea that there is no separation between the physical world and the spiritual world. They aren’t two different things; they’re two parts of the same thing, both equally real. Physical events affect the spiritual world and spiritual events affect the physical world. Anyways, you see what I’m driving at. … Read more
1. Let us now praise the Brieftons Vertico Spiralizer: In an effort to eat healthier, we’re trying to cut down on carbs. Unfortunately, pasta is made out of carbs, and pasta appears in approximately 150% of our meals. (You haven’t lived until you’ve had Cap’n Crunch Alfredo.) To the rescue comes the Brieftons Vertico Spiralizer, a handy little … Read more
I’m a little late this month, because… 1. Whoever designs Samsung dryers is a sadistic monster: A couple of weeks ago my wife discovered that our dryer was spinning but not drying. Well, that’s not good, I thought, but it’s probably just a bad heating element. No problem, I’ve replaced a dryer heating element before. Let … Read more
My son Graham is a pretty happy-go-lucky soul. He needs structure and is apprehensive about change just like any other kid, but for a four-year-old he rolls with the punches pretty well. So when he started to pitch screaming fits whenever we tried to drop him off at his preschool or Sunday school class, we … Read more
1. Double-check the time on those theater tickets – We backed into some free tickets to Wicked courtesy of my wife’s brother and his wife. It was a Sunday matinee; they told us to meet them at the theater at 1:30 for the 2:00 show. When we got there, there was not another soul in sight. As … Read more
My lovely wife has challenged me to make some blog posts that are more personal, and one of her suggestions is a post every month with a “5 things I learned this month” format. This is a challenge because I am fairly dense and don’t learn a whole lot. I could go several years without learning … Read more
Six years ago today I did the smartest thing I’ve ever done and married Rachel. Happy anniversary, sweetheart! Since we’re both movie fans, we showed a preview trailer before the ceremony, like you see at the movie theater. Here it is, as cut together by my brilliant friend Don.