Avoiding and preventing burn-out
One thing I learned about myself a long time ago is that I am prone to overcommitting. I get intensely productive: deeply involved in work, in personal projects, in writing, various side businesses, and have…
Awful things people say to waitresses and waiters
Continuing on my train of thought from yesterday. I was writing about finances then, but right now I’m writing about dignity. There are some people out there who just seem to enjoy feeling superior to…
VA Faces Two Crises: Paul Sullivan
My old friend, veterans advocate Paul Sullivan (formerly with Veterans for Common Sense and now outreach director at Bergman and Moore) writes in the Bay Citizen about the crises facing VA. Hopefully, VA Secretary Eric…
Driving the working poor into the dust
“Charles, can you print off my last four pay stubs? I need them for….” Since I made my career change to the restaurant business, this has been a frequent, regular request I get from some…
On being young and in love
See, there was this girl…. That’s a really bad way to start a blog entry, especially when you’ve been happily married for nearly twenty years. But I’m thinking Veronica will understand (let’s hope!!!) since I’m…
An Interview with Jackie Trippier Holt
A couple of months ago I read a fantastically interesting novel called Annie, the Doll, its Thief, And Her Lover by Jackie Trippier Holt. The book follows the return of Kate to the industrial north of…
Book Review: Septic Zombie by Aquila Robinson
I want to tell you about a book I read today which amazed and delighted me. It was brought to my attention by Jeremy Robinson, the insanely prolific author of the Antarktos saga and a whole…
Here comes the Bad Boss
“Charles, I think you’ve been falsifying your time sheets.” I was speechless. It was 1995, and I was in the early stages of getting the National Gulf War Resource Center started, not long after Veronica…
Teenagers are evil
So, it’s my mission in my life to be a good, calm, patient parent. That’s why I found myself the other night literally banging my head into a door, saying something articulate and meaningful to…
Revisiting an old topic: what does it feel like to kill
So, I’m revisiting this topic. Why? It’s come up in conversation a couple of times recently, first of all. Second, in looking at the statistics on my blog, I realized that over the course of…