Chris Rodell's Blog, page 71
October 16, 2015
Who I'm liking in baseball playoffs (hint: it isn't the Chicago Cubs)
(1,056 words)
I wrote just last week how the death of a dear friend had given me crucial life perspective, that in the great scheme of things the Pirates losing a one-game wildcard playoff didn’t really matter.
I lied.
I am bereft! Devastated! Bereaved! Disconsolate! Mournful!
Forlorn?
Hell, it’s been more than a week and I still feeling closer to eightlorn.
I really thought this was
I wrote just last week how the death of a dear friend had given me crucial life perspective, that in the great scheme of things the Pirates losing a one-game wildcard playoff didn’t really matter.
I lied.
I am bereft! Devastated! Bereaved! Disconsolate! Mournful!
Forlorn?
Hell, it’s been more than a week and I still feeling closer to eightlorn.
I really thought this was
October 13, 2015
Dialing up nostalgia for my old phone number
(854 words)
I hid in the basement and punched in the 10 numbers. I didn’t want my wife to know what I was doing. It felt like something illicit.
She might not understand.
My jealous smart phone might not either.
I wasn’t surreptitiously checking up on an old girlfriend. It felt more intimate.
I was dialing the phone number I grew up with.
I wanted to see who the number belonged to now
I hid in the basement and punched in the 10 numbers. I didn’t want my wife to know what I was doing. It felt like something illicit.
She might not understand.
My jealous smart phone might not either.
I wasn’t surreptitiously checking up on an old girlfriend. It felt more intimate.
I was dialing the phone number I grew up with.
I wanted to see who the number belonged to now
October 12, 2015
Sharing your toothbrush with a loved one
(662 words)
It’s another confounding aspect of human behavior that couples in long, stable and loving relations recoil in disgust at the idea of their partner using the other’s toothbrush.
I don’t get it.
Many of these people have combined to conceive children and — let me tell you, you innocents — there’s a lot more than spit being swapped in that raucous procedure.
Yet, it’s my
It’s another confounding aspect of human behavior that couples in long, stable and loving relations recoil in disgust at the idea of their partner using the other’s toothbrush.
I don’t get it.
Many of these people have combined to conceive children and — let me tell you, you innocents — there’s a lot more than spit being swapped in that raucous procedure.
Yet, it’s my
October 11, 2015
Re-Run Sunday: Why trusting strangers can always count on me to give 'em wrong directions
It’s a beautiful day for a Sunday drive. Why not get lost? Is that your goal? Then just ask me for directions.
I was going to re-post about “Walking Dead” (AMC season 6 premier tonight, 9 p.m.), but I saw I’d recently re-posted that one already. So here’s one about the lost art of getting lost.
My favorite line: “We somehow wind up missing so much whenever we always end up going exactly
I was going to re-post about “Walking Dead” (AMC season 6 premier tonight, 9 p.m.), but I saw I’d recently re-posted that one already. So here’s one about the lost art of getting lost.
My favorite line: “We somehow wind up missing so much whenever we always end up going exactly
October 9, 2015
Greatest American speeches & why mine's better
(931 words)
My darling little 9th grader flattered me by asking me to name which great American speech she should analyze for a class assignment.
I was very pleased.
I register near zero on the provider scale, but she knows she can count on me for intellectual heft. She always sees me reading thick history books, hears me at dinner weighing in on current events and understands the
My darling little 9th grader flattered me by asking me to name which great American speech she should analyze for a class assignment.
I was very pleased.
I register near zero on the provider scale, but she knows she can count on me for intellectual heft. She always sees me reading thick history books, hears me at dinner weighing in on current events and understands the
October 8, 2015
A day for real mourning; RIP Angelo Cammarata
(880 words)
Yesterday was a great day. I spoke before 250 members of the Pennsylvania Librarians Association and it couldn’t have gone better. It was a true home run. I’ve never enjoyed a longer and more raucous ovation.
Honest, some were in tears and all laughed. They loved me and my message. It was a big payday, too, with speaker’s fee and more than $600 in book sales.
But that’s a
Yesterday was a great day. I spoke before 250 members of the Pennsylvania Librarians Association and it couldn’t have gone better. It was a true home run. I’ve never enjoyed a longer and more raucous ovation.
Honest, some were in tears and all laughed. They loved me and my message. It was a big payday, too, with speaker’s fee and more than $600 in book sales.
But that’s a
October 5, 2015
Climbing over 200 dead bodies way up on Everest
(755 words)
I want it on record that I’m the first to propose Mt. Everest is made handicapped accessible. See, I’d like to go to the top of the world, but I don’t want to bother with the suffering of having to actually climb the thing.
Or maybe it needs a 29,035-foot escalator or freight elevator.
Or maybe a really souped-up hearse.
Did you know there are more than 200 petrified bodies
I want it on record that I’m the first to propose Mt. Everest is made handicapped accessible. See, I’d like to go to the top of the world, but I don’t want to bother with the suffering of having to actually climb the thing.
Or maybe it needs a 29,035-foot escalator or freight elevator.
Or maybe a really souped-up hearse.
Did you know there are more than 200 petrified bodies
October 2, 2015
Don't
(361 words)
Don’t worry.
I’m not going to be writing about that today.
Don't believe it.
Well, sort of.
Don’t watch TV for the next four days.
The funerals will all be over by then and the news will have marched on.
Don’t be afraid.
The odds of it ever happening to you or someone you love are still long.
Don’t think it couldn’t happen here.
The odds of that plummet exponentially
Don’t worry.
I’m not going to be writing about that today.
Don't believe it.
Well, sort of.
Don’t watch TV for the next four days.
The funerals will all be over by then and the news will have marched on.
Don’t be afraid.
The odds of it ever happening to you or someone you love are still long.
Don’t think it couldn’t happen here.
The odds of that plummet exponentially
September 30, 2015
5-star Tweets of the Month
My best twitter month ever? Hard to say, but September was prolific for @8days2Amish. I think that’s because it was so news heavy and I was really plugged in. With Trump rampaging across the GOP primary field and the Pope’s visit, lots of comments were bound to arise. Plus, my new office has wifi. If something popes into my head, I just dash it right off
And, yes, that popes typo was
And, yes, that popes typo was
September 29, 2015
Pope re-gifts an $8 million Bible
(725 words)
We can add another title to the ones decorating Pope Francis’s already illustrious LinkedIn profile.
Yes, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Bishop of Rome, the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church and the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles is now The World’s Biggest Re-gifter!
He was presented on Thursday an $8 million, hand-written, lavishly illustrated St. John’s
We can add another title to the ones decorating Pope Francis’s already illustrious LinkedIn profile.
Yes, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Bishop of Rome, the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church and the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles is now The World’s Biggest Re-gifter!
He was presented on Thursday an $8 million, hand-written, lavishly illustrated St. John’s
