Michael T. Miyoshi's Blog, page 35

Give It Away

We should all give something away every single day.

I think we should all give something away every single day. No. I am not talking about material possessions, even though that might be good too. Getting rid of clutter is always a good thing to do. (Says the man with too much clutter.) But like I said, I am not talking about giving away material possessions. I am talking about something we can all give away each and every day. And it does not cost anything.

I am sure there are skeptics out...

A Man Cold

Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases
published by Central Council for Health Education
This work is in the public domain.

I am sure that I have had a man cold before, but I had not heard the term before.

If you are a wife, you probably laugh when you hear the term man cold. If you are a husband or might want to be a husband someday, you either cringe when you hear the term or you are appalled that somebody would actually write about it. Or maybe you never heard the term and are as amused as I...

Reading Your Own Stuff

I do not do it very often, but sometimes I read my own stuff. And sometimes I cringe.

I have been blogging since 2007. (Actually a little longer than that, but who is counting.) Since that time, I have written hundreds of posts. And from time to time, I have even gone back and read some of those posts. Some of them are okay. Some of them are not so okay. And like I said, some of them make me cringe.

The nice thing about blogging for a long time, or for that matter doing anything for a long...

Baby Water Bottle

I have gotten a lot of grief over the past couple years about my baby water bottle. But it is not a baby water bottle.

I have this small Nalgene water bottle that I have used for the past few years. The first few times I took it to work people kept commenting on how small it was. And I suppose it is compared to those 32- to 64-ounce gargantuan bottles people lug their water around in. I cannot imagine carrying around 2 to 4 pounds of water in a metal or even plastic container. It might hurt...

30 MPG

I was astounded when I realized I got 30 miles per gallon (MPG) on my old Camry. Not around 30. Above 30.

I know that I do not always do easy math very well (which is a completely different story), but I was amazed when I calculated that I had gotten just over 30 MPG over a weekend. Sure, I was driving almost all highway miles, but I had to deal with Seattle area traffic on two of the four long trips. And a little delay on a shorter trip. Just over 400 miles in four or five days. And it onl...

Another New School Year

There is something special about starting the new school year. Even when I have had 24 new school years already (not including those I had as a student).

Fall is the beginning of a new school year. A time to get reacquainted with colleagues. A time to meet new students. And even after twenty-four new school years, I still find a freshness to it all.

Yes, I really do enjoy getting back to school and seeing my colleagues, most of whom I have not seen for a couple months. Many of whom I have h...

Fantasy Football Contemplation

For some reason, the fall seems to be a time of reflection and contemplation. Especially, when it comes to fantasy football.

I know it seems a bit shallow and silly, but there is something about fantasy football. Maybe it is just that it gives people something to talk about besides the weather. Maybe it is because there are statistics involved. Maybe it is because it gives people a reason to get together. Even if it is just online. Whatever it is, there is something deeper about fantasy foo...

Summer’s Almost Over

There is something melancholy about the words, “Summer’s almost over.” But whether you are a kid, a parent, or a teacher, the words, “Summer’s almost over,” conjure up different images and feelings.

We have all certainly heard those words as students and thought we needed to shush our peers for saying them. Or we cursed our parents under our breath for saying those words. Or we secretly cheered when somebody said those words. At least those are the reactions that I imagine my friends and I...

Snorestorm

I do not know if it is a new word or not, but I am claiming that I created the new word: Snorestorm.

Snorestorm is simply a noun that means one of two things. It is either a boring event or a bunch of people sleeping in the same room. In either case, the people present are snoring up a storm. A snorestorm.

I suppose it could be a Snoresymphony if all those people could coordinate their various snoring styles to make beautiful music. But that does not seem likely. Snorecacophony would be mor...

Love-Hate Relationship

I have a love-hate relationship with blogging.

I love to write. I love to post my writing on the internet each week (regardless of its quality). But there are days when I really hate blogging.

I am not new to blogging. I have done it for over a decade now. Every week is different from the one before. But week to week, the process looks something like the following:

Write, edit, post, repeat. Write, edit, post, repeat. Write, forget the editing, just get the doggone thing posted. Write, edit...