Americans are quite comfortable about discussing our own mortality, but preferably when it’s "like in that movie," or involves all the cool death-defying things we think we can do before we, you know, die.

Not surprisingly, it was Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman acting like (funny) dying pe/… Read full post »

We’ve all been told the healthy things to do when life is freaking us out, when we find ourselves unable to serenely detach from things like the computer crash, our brother’s indictment, our spouse admitting an affair.

 There’s going to a quiet place, even for a few moments,/… Read full post »

This weekend little American flags will fly over the graves of my father and the 30,000 other servicemen buried at the Presidio of San Francisco. Having the best view any dead person could hope to have was one of the perks of Army service, my dad joked. Also, his ashes were… Read full post »

I am considering exactly how best to word a thank-you note to Arnold Schwarzenegger for keeping his mouth shut even when he couldn’t keep his pants zipped. Not that I approve – I surely don’t, but whether or not I approve is immaterial. It’s just that, had Arnold not so egregi… Read full post »

It says so right there on the billboards.  These are Southern California freeway-priced billboards, so somebody’s paid some serious dough to get the message out:

JUDGMENT DAY

May 21, 2011…  The Bible Guarantees It!

Now, there’s a slight… Read full post »

           Pack a little sweater, and something nice for evening. We’ll invite 900 equally fun and adventurous people and, for just $233.33 apiece* head for the gorgeous Alpine country of Liechtenstein, nestled between Switzerland and Austria.&n… Read full post »

Most all of us have experienced it at one time or another. You're out enjoying a nice birthday dinner and suddenly six waiters in sombreros, carrying a slice of cake ablaze with candles,  gather round your table, clapping and singing "Happy Birthday!"   It's embarrasing. It's sweet. Mo… Read full post »

     They’re messing with us at the grocery store again.  According to the New York Times, marketers have discovered that messy stores make people buy more stuff.

     Store managers had already mastered the trick of moving stuff around so that… Read full post »

I’ve been here before, in exactly this place, sitting on the upholstered bench with a book in my lap. As if, while waiting for my name to be called, I might become engrossed in Chapter 3 of  The Imperfectionists instead of staring stupidly at the fake philodendron in the blue ceramic/… Read full post »

This support group thing was never for me. Not once in three years did I sit around a table or on a sofa with women in wigs and terror in their eyes. It was enough to keep my own life together, and sharing the thing that kept trying to rip it… Read full post »

I’ve never been with a man who used Viagra or Cialis (have I?), but according to the incessant commercials, those drugs turn guys into insatiable studs for up to four/… Read full post »

Before there were self-serve checkout counters, Internet shopping and punching “the following menu” to be placed on 20 minutes of musical hold, before we did most of our shopping online, all business and commerce was conducted between live human beings.

You’d hand your cash to a c… Read full post »