Today is the fifth anniversary of my very first journal entry. When I first started blogging, I dreamt of being that daring, edgy writer whose ideas would grab a tragically dull world by its lapels, punch it in the face and knee it in the groin. I was going to change everything. In commemoration, here’s [...]
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“Good Economics.”
A few days ago I received an e-mail from a former student who’s gone on to major in economics. Hopefully said student won’t mind that I’ve published my response online. [Parts of the original message have been edited for privacy and dramatic effect.] Good Evening… Just this week I finally got into taking some real [...]
Opportunity.
This morning I received an e-mail from my principal. It was short, sweet, and to the point: go see him because he had an “opportunity” for me. I didn’t have a chance to go see him until lunch, which gave me plenty of time to mull over all the horrible, agonizing things I might be [...]
The new year…
…begins Monday. The good: Paycheck on Friday. Paperwork’s ready to go, plans are laid out. The new room is bigger than the old one. More windows. More sunlight. It’s as decorated as it’s going to be all year and the flags are back up. The admins probably won’t stop by because I’m now on the [...]
Questionnaire 5.
Here’s to the end of my worst summer ever, even though it really wasn’t that bad. I’ve spent large chunks of the last few days getting ready for the new school year, and almost forgot to prepare a post for this week. Therefore I shall once again lean on my favorite crutch, the questionnaire. Here [...]
Miscellany as the school year looms.
Today I’m going to play in a soccer game for the first time since visiting the ER. It’s the beginning of a new season, the team is back in a more appropriate division for our skill level (i.e., the lower division), and I feel a hell of a lot better than I did two months [...]
Treadmill.
Today I have an all-kinds-of-fun-sounding stress test. As far as I know, it’s the simple version where they’ll hook up a bunch of sensors and have me walk and run on a treadmill for half an hour. If everything goes as expected (and hoped), this’ll be the final, once-and-for-all, yeah-we-know-everything’s-probably-fine-but-we-still-wanted-to-do-this-last-test confirmation that my ticker’s OK. [...]
I have a niece!
Congratulations to my little brother and his wife on the birth of their daughter “Jensniece”! She escaped the womb at 9:24 last night, July 29th, and left no evidence of a vanishing twin, which is less rare in my family than you’d normally expect. This means two things: 1. I am a real live uncle! [...]
My trip to Chicagoland, Part Two.
This trip up north was occasioned by a Zaccardi family reunion. The family’s story deserves at least a quick recap: Tommaso and Maria Zaccardi were my dad’s mom’s blood-parents. They came to America, got married, and over the course of eleven years had four sons and four daughters. All four daughters were named “Maria Something” [...]
My trip to Chicagoland, Part One.
I arrived in Chicagoland last Thursday night after a 1,100-mile drive. My first stop was at my old apartment in Wheaton, to hang out with my old roommate Kenny. I had forgotten that the place was essentially a live-in chimney. However, my old room was vacant, had a clean bed, fresh paint, new carpet, and [...]