Vivid, critical insomnolence

Once upon a time, your humble narrator sat at a table in a dormitory courtyard with a girl I shall once again refer to as “Martha Quinn.” That is her alias because she looked like Martha Quinn, one of the first MTV VJs. (My stories about girls actually named “Martha” are for another time and place.)
Mario Puzo once [...]

The best teacher I had in high school was Mr. Rushing, who taught my AP Government courses. He had a pretty dry sense of humor, was very intelligent, was well-respected by the students, and his red-inked pen was feared by all. I had him again for two weeks at the beginning of AP European History, [...]

I was watching Jack Cafferty on CNN today, and the topic was Congressional salaries and pensions. The commentators were complaining about the fact that Congress has a cushy retirement system and guaranteed salaries for itself while in the private sector—where the bottom line matters—salaries and pensions are not nearly as secure, and people worry about their [...]

I think I’ve stopped crying long enough to discuss the end of the Bears’ season. Here goes.
Once again, only half of the team showed up to play. The bizarre thing was that this time it was the offense. They scored three touchdowns on offense; only the third time all year that happened. However, the vaunted [...]

My resolutions for the New Year 2006:
I shall procrastinate less.
I shall be a better friend to my friends, and better enemy to my enemies.
I shall pass Illinois’s’s Assessment of Professional Teaching.
I shall drink more water and milk, and less soda and pop.
I shall pretend that Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III simply never happened.
I shall lose thirty [...]

Pop quiz:
There are just under two-and-a-half minutes left in the national championship. You have a five point lead, you have the ball at the fifty yard line, it’s second down with seven to go. You have two running backs with over one thousand yards this season. The clock is running. Do you call:
(A) a running play? It’s a low-risk play, [...]

On the way to lunch today, I noticed that some disgruntled employee had scrawled “I QUIT” on the window of a local shop. The problem was that the “Q” was backwards. The line or tail slanted “southwest” instead of “southeast.” I imagine that the owner of the store was probably relieved to part ways with [...]