Category Archives: blog snax

A Tale of Two Blogs

Posted on by under blog snax, photos

A dear relative of mine has a blog which I’ve just begun following. There are significant differences between his and my contributions to the blogosphere:

  • His is erudite and engaging while mine is scatterbrained and scattershot.
  • He has insight into the workings of our government and culture. I barely know the workings of my household.
  • His posts sometimes make the news. I don’t even watch the news.
  • His blog has real followers. Mine is followed by people who feel sorry for me and those who are trying to leverage my blog to widen the reach of their own networks—the joke’s on them. There is scant but semi-legitimate evidence that one or two people actually read these ramblings.
  • His latest post is an insider’s analysis of the actions of a nationally known figure that could impact all our lives for better or worse. My latest post has two goofy pictures:
A piece of celery doing an impression of a floppy inflatable tube man…
…and a Terracotta warrior about to have lunch (or maybe attack?!?) using red plastic utensils.

You decide: Which is making a more important and indelible contribution to society? I think we all know the answer but let’s keep it to ourselves. I wouldn’t want that poor fellow to be aggrieved by the harsh truth. 😉

Christmas Profile

Posted on by under blog snax, Generic Rant

A multi-talented friend of mine made this sketch about a hundred years ago, give or take fifty. Recently, I unearthed it from deep in my archives. It deserves exposure so that it might perhaps prompt meaningful Christmas reflection for some amidst all the Santas, reindeer, and hyper-consumerism of this faux joyous season.

Like it or not, Jesus is in fact the reason for the season.

May you be blessed by Him this Christmas and always.

Newsletter time!

Posted on by under About writing, blog snax

If you’re reading this blog, perhaps you’d like to subscribe to my newsletter as well. Even though it’s 75% shameless self-promotion, something for which I’m justifiably famous (or infamous—the difference between the two has been lost in these days of ethical and moral ambiguity) there are occasional tidbits to entertain or make you think. For example, in the latest edition, released just this week, there is a mutant lobster story! Where else are you gonna see that?!?

To subscribe, visit the bottom of the welcome page of this blog (for your convenience, you can reach it here) and enter your email address in the box at the end of the article. Hey, it only comes out twice a year. Whaddya got to lose?

That’s all from here for now.

The place to run out of gas…

Posted on by under blog snax, photos

A BlogSnax© post

No time for a full length post but here’s a picture worth checking out. If you ever run out of gas on a quiet country road, this is the one you want to be on.

What’s this pump doing in the middle of nowhere? Good question. If you figure it out, tell me. Also, if you can identify the location, put it in the comments. I’ll try to come up with a prize for the first person who comes close. General or specific is fine. Hint: It truly is in the middle of nowhere… or at least on the outskirts of it.

It Had To Be… that song again

Posted on by under blog snax, Generic Rant, Movies

A BlogSnax© post

I saw a new (2024) movie last week. It was otherwise forgettable but one thing sticks with me. A character in the movie sang the song, “It Had To Be You”. It’s a good, venerable old song—first published in 1924, Happy Birthday!—but the time has come to declare a moratorium on it. According to Wikipedia, between its first use in a short film in 1936 and today, no less than 27 movies, shorts, TV shows, and even cartoons, have used it.

After hearing it in great movies such as When Harry Met Sally and Annie Hall, most any other use will pale by comparison. So give it up. Find another song or, better yet, write a new good song.

(Continuing the BlogSnax to maximize writing time on the new book, which is coming along great.)

More Word Fun!

Posted on by under blog snax, Generic Rant

A BlogSnax© post

Is it just me or is it weird that the phrases “fill out” and “fill in” mean the same thing? You can fill out a form or fill in a form. Same result. What’s with that?

(Sorry for the terse post. I’m busy trying to get book #10 ready.)

The NFL Blame Game

Posted on by under blog snax, Generic Rant

A BlogSnax© post

It’s football playoff time. Like a lot of guys, I spend (too) much of my weekends watching overpaid, overhyped, often overweight men pound each other into the artificial turf in pursuit of their big dream: dating Taylor Swift. No, not really. Well, yes, really, but the other dream: a Super Bowl©® championship, which entitles them to wear an immense, cumbersome, ostentatious ring causing their knuckles to drag on the ground for the rest of their lives. But at least they can flash them when making commercials for Subway©®.

One football scene that always amuses me is when there is movement at the line of scrimmage before the ball is hiked. The flags are thrown and action stops while referees confer about whether the offensive line had a false start or the D-line was offsides. Meanwhile, the players on the field blame each other. Seriously, it’s hysterical to watch mountainous men wagging their fingers at each other. “It’s not my fault, Mommy! He made me do it!”

Case in point (pun intended) is this screenshot from the Ravens/Texans game on 1/20/24:

No doubt the refs counted the number of fingers and made their decision based on that. Or maybe they responded as any frustrated parent of juveniles would, yelling, “Kids, stop arguing or we’re going home right this minute!”

By the way, on an only tangentially related note: Football was made for watching on TV.* At the stadium, it’s cold, it’s crazy, and you can’t really see the game. Unless you like to be surrounded by drunks painting their faces and chests and wearing pirate, S&M, animal, or other insane attire like rejects from a junior high costume party, stay home where you can eat anything you want anytime you want and at reasonable prices, see endless replays from every possible vantage point (including that of a slug crawling along the goal line), and you can easily get to the bathroom whenever you want. (Never underestimate the value of an easily accessible bathroom.)

[*On the other hand, baseball was made for viewing live. There’s nothing like sitting in the sun in a non-obstructed view seat, hot dog and favorite beverage in hand, while the greatest sport ever leisurely unfolds before you.]

Happy Gripesgiving!

Posted on by under blog snax, Generic Rant

A BlogSnax© post

In Disney’s delightful 1951 adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland”, the following discussion takes place:

Alice: I’m sorry I interrupted your birthday party…

March Hare: Birthday? Hahaha! My dear child, this is not a birthday party!

Mad Hatter: Of course not! Hehehe! This is an unbirthday party!

Alice: Unbirthday? Why, I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand.

March Hare: Its very simple. Now, thirty days have sept- no, when… an unbirthday, if you have a birthday then you… haha… she doesn’t know what an unbirthday is!

Mad Hatter: How silly! Ha ha ha ha! Ah-hum… I shall elucidate! Now statistics prove, prove that you’ve one birthday.

March Hare: Imagine, just one birthday every year.

Mad Hatter: Ahhh, but there are 364 unbirthdays!

The same can be said of Thanksgiving. It takes up 1/365th of the year. The rest of the year is spent complaining and griping. Why not make it official and declare every day except the fourth Thursday of November to be “Gripesgiving”?

All this is put forth with tongue firmly embedded in cheek, of course. But we probably do gripe about 365 times more than we give thanks, so this isn’t as far-fetched an idea as you might think. We should either celebrate consistent with our behavior or reverse that ratio. (Try this idea to get things started.)

[Confession: I thought I’d come up with this original thought but it turns out many others have used the same idea. Oh, well. It was new to me. And maybe to you.]