Personal blogs are all fine and good, but if you actually want people to read them, they’ve got to have a focus. There are people who read this blog just because it’s mine, and I’m very glad they do, but that’s a very small community. If you want your blog to appeal to anyone beyond […]

Remember Joe Walsh, the Republican Congressman and Tea Party darling from Illinois who lost his reelection bid in November? Remember that list of reasons why he’s a total asshole? Well, looks like it’s time to add another: He just filed a request in Cook County Circuit Court to stop paying child support payments, because he […]

My daughter’s aunt Jocelyn taught her a new game while we were all on vacation. It’s called “Mean Face, Happy Face,” and it’s just about the cutest thing you ever saw. It started out simple enough. Jocelyn trained my daughter to frown by scrunching up her own expression and growling “Mean face!” Then, with a […]

This year’s Family Day is off to a much better start than last year’s Family Day, but that’s mainly because the theme of last year’s Family Day was apparently “colic.” There’s a hundred percent reduction in screaming babies this year, and that’s a definite improvement. Even if this year’s theme turns out to be “unexpected […]

A few days ago, I joked about giving up swearing for Lent for my daughter’s sake. My wife thought it was a good idea, and suggested we give it a go. It was a nice idea, but we never really got it off the ground – and it’s too late to try, since we’ve both […]

A little while back, I mentioned that I’d made a list of five simple priorities for the year ahead. It’s an idea that Peter Bregman laid out in his book 18 Minutes, and although I’m only a few weeks into the year, I think it’s given me some real focus. These are the five I […]

I’m headed through Florida with my family today, on the way back from our vacation. I haven’t been there in years, and even though it’s just a seven-hour layover, I’m looking forward to it. When I was a kid, a family vacation usually meant a trip down to Florida. My grandparents were snowbirds, and every […]

Here’s an interesting item that I shared on @nomoregundeaths this morning. Despite the American gun lobby’s insistence that Barack Obama is coming to take everyone’s guns away, Mother Jones has noted that federal weapons prosecutions have declined under his administration, to their lowest levels nearly a decade. In fairness, the decline has less to do with Obama’s policies […]

My daughter can barely speak, but it’s becoming clear that she understands at least some of what we’re saying. My wife spent some time this morning asking her to point to various people and things in the room, and just about every time, she got it right. Moments like these are as surprising as they […]

Today’s the day the good people at Bell are hosting their Let’s Talk campaign to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health issues in Canada. So far, it’s also turned out to be a good day to vent about Bell, its competitors, and phone companies in general. In addition to promoting discussion, Bell […]