Louie Vegas With Puppies Over the years I've had friends tell me that once you start having kids, everything takes ten times longer. No outing is uncomplicated. No activity can ever truly be spontaneous.
Skylar Handyman "I can't find the charger for the drill," the ominous text said without any further explanation. I started typing back. The first word of my text was "why," which I
Skylar What Color Are My Eyes? "What color are my eyes?" Skylar had shut them before he asked me, a measure aimed at preventing me from "cheating." "Dazzling?" My answer was rejected because "that's not a
Grandma La Donna My great aunt La Donna called me last week to let me know she was coming into town from Palm Desert to attend my grandma's 90th birthday party. "They've asked
Louie Brownies Look. I didn't intend to fill your lives with puppy poop stories this year. I had hoped to have a more diverse catalogue of anecdotes for you in 2022. This
Skylar The Sock Drawer "Are you doing this just to annoy me?" I answered by telling Skylar he needed to be more specific. That's when he held up a sock. A perfectly fine sock.
Skylar Emergency Wedding Skylar's mother has had some health scares recently, which has stressed both of us out greatly. I won the mother-in-law lottery and it makes me sick to think of anything
Louie The Gate I was pulling weeds from the flower bed in the front yard when I realized I suddenly had company. "Oh, hello there," I said to Louie who was standing on
Louie The Side Door There's a door to our house that you access through the driveway. We call it "the side door." We don't have any door that goes directly to the backyard, an
Skylar How Match Day Went Skylar's parents flew in on Thursday. He told us Match Day (when he'd find out where his residency will be) is a much bigger deal than graduation so he asked
Skylar Match Day Somehow Skylar's four years of medical school are coming to an end next month. "Wow. That really wasn't so bad!" I told him recently, realizing how quickly the time flew
Ukraine Ukraine Fundraiser Report If you follow me on any social media, you might be aware that I've been The Most Sad And Tired Man In The United States Of God Bless America for
Ukraine Ukraine, A Brief History In light of recent events, and feeling somewhat helpless and sad, I thought I'd try to give a concise overview of the recent history to help anyone interested understand what
Louie Muddy Puppy My phone was propped up on the ledge of the bathtub—a man was asking another man some question about his educational background. I kneeled, hunched, bent, over the side
Skylar Civic Duties "I'm the new Erin Brockovich." Skylar whispered that to me just now. He's sitting across from me at a tea shop near our house where we like to go on
Skylar Are you disappointed? "Oh darn." Skylar was scrolling through his phone when he said it. "No reservations?" I asked him. "None. Well, none before 7:30, anyway." I was disappointed. We had been
Skylar Hungary This week's Strangerville story is one I wrote about a very stupid fight Skylar and I had on our first big trip together. Text included below. I had been dating
Essays Pioneers In Petticoats: A 1969 BYU Film About Trashy Women I've been putting this one off for years because it felt too overwhelming. But at long last, please enjoy my recap of the 1969 BYU cinematic masterpiece, Pioneers In Petticoats,
Skylar Phone Calls This man I'm married to has been on a break from school since before the Titanic. It's been mostly a good thing. Obviously I love having him around. And we
Palau Straight and Narrow In the summer of 2013 I was living in Palau, on the Equatorial Pacific, for work. I had been on the islands for nearly a year—a very hard year.
Skylar Skyman's Birthday It's Skylar's birthday today, or so he reminded me promptly at 8:18 this morning with a pointed throat clearing from the other room, followed by an acerbic "well are
Louie Baby Monster I'm not sure Louie is ever actually going to learn his real name. Not because he's dumb. This dog is not dumb. I wish he was a little dumber than
Skylar 2021 Our house is covered in pee. I know that's probably not literally true, but I still think it might be. As it turns out, 10-week old puppies are just constantly
Skylar Fraxeling I knew I was in for a very inconvenient few weeks when I saw it get added to the calendar. "Fraxeling, Skylar." He instituted a strict calendar sharing arrangement a
Skylar Rage Cleaning Suddenly I found myself gripped in a cleaning rage. It was Saturday morning, nearly 9:30. Skylar had planted himself on the floor to play with Louie and start a