Our Old Dad
Family life, slow travel, playlists, and advice from an old dad.
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Latest posts
- Ode to Assholes
Sometimes an asshole does you a favor by making you leave. I only had to cross a couple of ball fields to find somewhere better.
- Why Aren't You Complaining?
I've been called a complainer for most of my life. But I've also fixed a lot of problems. Why aren't more people complaining about what doesn't work?
- The Napkin
A fictionalized story from the early '80s, when a fraternity road trip became an exercise in terrible decisions, bad explanations, and trying not to laugh.
- Whose Garden Is It, Anyway?
I built a tropical garden, gave two Rottweilers the perimeter, and spent months trying to keep them out of the beds I'd put there.
- Straight Greats No. 6: Pink Floyd Had Four Perfect Albums in a Row
Pink Floyd made four perfect albums in a row from The Dark Side of the Moon through The Wall. Of those four monsters, Animals is still the one I pick.
- I Hate Everything but I Need the Money
Forty years after cheering for overtime at Andersen Consulting, I’m staring at the same old bargain: I hate what success seems to require, but I still need the money.
- Don’t Shoot Me. These Handcuffs Keep Falling Off.
Toy manufacturers spent nearly a century making handcuffs safe for children. The NBI apparently went one step further.
- The Five Years Before I Was Born
A five-year musical constraint turned into 150 songs, a classroom math idea, and proof that old music was never one genre.
- Straight Greats No. 5: The Rolling Stones Had Six — and the Weird One Counts
The Rolling Stones made six straight great albums from Their Satanic Majesties Request through Goats Head Soup: five Certified, one On the Edge, and the weird one counts.
- How the Straight Greats Scorecard Works
The rules behind Straight Greats: what counts as a skip, how the three badges work, where a streak begins and ends, and why the argument belongs at track level.
- Straight Greats No. 4: The Cult — Three Great Reincarnations Before They Fucked It Up
The Cult made three nearly perfect albums by becoming a different band each time—then Kurt slept through their peak from the front row.
- Straight Greats No. 3: R.E.M. and the Years I Was Lost
Three R.E.M. albums arrived at three moments when I was lost. Two clear the line clean; one survives a single strange, irritating detour.