Category: Life

Losing Online Friends

It’s weird thinking of myself as an online personality.

I’ve been writing this blog for about two and a half years now, so you’d think I’d be a little more used to it by now. I write these posts about my family, my sports allegiances, my beliefs about parenting, my views of the world around me and, the truth is, nothing much happens afterwards. I get the chance to process my feelings and let people in on the “secret” of what thoughts are swirling around in my head and that’s usually the end of it.  Continue reading “Losing Online Friends”

Don’t Feed the Trolls

Once upon a time, there was a far away land called Tenretni. Tenretni was an interesting place, full of interesting things to see. There were the usual supermarkets and restaurants, movie theaters and sports arenas and even a Red Light District.1 But, there were also zoos full of baby animals doing cute things and libraries dedicated to old television shows and museums just for cat videos. There were gigantic department stores that sold clothes and furniture and toys. There were also other places that sold things that were much weirder, like this or this or this.2 Continue reading “Don’t Feed the Trolls”

May There Always Be Ice Cream

Dear E,

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is coming up in a few days, so I decided to write a sort of personal blessing for you and our family for the coming year. You get ritual blessings every time we see our relatives in person and by proxy when I speak with my parents on the phone every Friday, but I thought I would write something a little more unique for you.  Continue reading “May There Always Be Ice Cream”

Torah Reading and No-Hitters (and Vomit)

This past weekend, T, E and I drove down to Philadelphia to visit my grandparents for a long weekend. They live in a great location; a block away from the funky South Street shops and a short walk from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It’s obviously always a pleasure getting the chance to spend time with them, but being able to walk around the neighborhood and live the “city life” (albeit, on a smaller scale than New York) has a real allure, as well.

I’m not going to write about our time in the city, though.  Continue reading “Torah Reading and No-Hitters (and Vomit)”

Riding Like the Wind

I rode my bike all the time when I was younger.

I rode a fair amount when I was 9 and 10, but the neighborhood where we lived in Chicago was laid out as a grid, so I never really had to worry about getting lost. I was also fairly young, so I wasn’t going to venture too far away from home. I would usually ride up to the park a couple blocks away and then circle back around, although I do remember widening my radius gradually around the time I turned 11. A month after my birthday, though, my family moved to Long Island, New York, which was a more typical suburban neighborhood. We had left the grid behind; our new home was in an area with winding streets and lush green lawns. Everything was new for me, from the strip malls and diners to the stand-alone houses and the people with their “Lon-Giland” accents. I didn’t meet a lot of other kids right away, so I spent a lot of time on my bike.  Continue reading “Riding Like the Wind”

Just For Fun

The other day, I was listening to a podcast interview with Scott Weinger, a Hollywood writer and actor. Weinger is probably most well known for his roles as Steve on Full House (Kimmy Gibbler’s DJ Tanner’s boyfriend) and as the speaking voice of Aladdin in the 1992 Disney movie (the singing voice was a different actor). Weinger was a teenager when he acted in those roles but he starred in a few commercials when he was younger, as well. During the interview, Weinger made a number of references to his wife telling him that he did not have a childhood because he grew up working in show business, as opposed to living a more typical life. He said that she makes that type of comment anytime he mentions working in a recording studio with Robin Williams or something about having a trailer or traveling for a movie premiere. Weinger said that his response to his wife’s comment is always some version of correcting her assessment.

“I had a childhood,” he says. “I just didn’t have a ‘normal’ childhood.”  Continue reading “Just For Fun”

Turning Sadness Inside Out

A couple of weeks ago, on Father’s Day, in fact, T and I took E to the movies to see Inside Out. We had not made any significant plans for Father’s Day, aside from having dinner with my in-laws, partially due to the threat of inclement weather and partially due to the fact that the rest of June was so busy with other activities, like E’s moving up ceremony from preschool, his birthday party and my brother’s wedding. A movie seemed like a nice relaxing way to spend some time together as a family.  Continue reading “Turning Sadness Inside Out”

Getting Back On Track

Dear E,

We’ve had a couple of big days over the last month or so that I haven’t addressed on the blog. In fact, since my last two posts were both sports-related and I haven’t been writing as consistently, it’s now been two full months since I’ve actually written directly about fatherhood. I’ll admit, I was tempted to write another sports post this week, in the wake of the Chicago Blackhawks winning their third Stanley Cup in six years and establishing themselves as a dynasty in today’s salary cap era. But I’m still pretty proud of the post I wrote when they won their second Cup two years ago and I didn’t think it was worth trying to top it. (I will say, though, that I appreciated you not having stomach issues during this championship run. It certainly made watching the Cup-clinching game 6 a lot more enjoyable.)  Continue reading “Getting Back On Track”

The Chicago Legacy

Spring is a great time of year to be a sports fan.

March gives us the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments that cripple workplace productivity as people replace spreadsheets and phone calls with box scores and online play-by-play logs. It’s the time of year when NBA and NHL teams really start to jockey for playoff position and NFL teams conduct their player evaluations in preparation for the draft in May. March also marks the start of Major League Baseball’s spring training. Spring training means warmer weather is on its way, along with the optimism that every fan feels at the start of a new season.  Continue reading “The Chicago Legacy”

Just Keep Breathing

E gets sick somewhat frequently. It’s usually something mild. It always starts with a cough; he wakes up one night with that rasping, barking cough that sounds like his throat is so dry there might as well be cactus growing inside it. Either the next day or the day after, his nose starts dripping and the fever follows soon as well. He’s usually fine during the day. He does his part to keep the tissue industry afloat, but he plays and watches movies and is generally pretty stoic about the whole process. He takes the Tylenol or Advil without any protest and does his best to sleep the virus away. He misses a couple days of school, then goes back and gets re-exposed to the germs that probably got him sick in the first place.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Continue reading “Just Keep Breathing”

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