Everyone’s tired. Everyone’s grumpy. We're all exhausted. We pulled in last night at 9:30 after our whirlwind tour of North Carolina colleges. We live in Pennsylvania. It’s practically a southern state compared to New England states like New Hampshire or Vermont, but our winter suits none of us. Especially Sophie. She’s a high school junior, … Continue reading Regrets, I’ve had a few
Blogging
Anxious, obsessed
At 8:22 this morning, Tommy woke me up. Accustomed to getting fed at 5:00, I applaud his restraint. His method is always the same, he reaches out a paw and tentatively taps the top of my head. In the winter, I sleep with the covers drawn over my ear and nose. Not much left to … Continue reading Anxious, obsessed
What makes me *Me*
Edited: 2022. I've done an about face on person-first language when it comes to autism. Almost all autistic adults I've encountered prefer being termed autistic. Own it! Look on the bright side! Why fight it if you’re not going to win? Why, indeed? I just picked a fight with an Autistic dude. If you’re in … Continue reading What makes me *Me*
Winter Storm Jeff
There’s nowhere I need to be. Today is the third snowy morning of the winter. They’ve cancelled school and my workplace, the county library system, is operating on a delayed schedule. I haven’t worked there long enough to know if we’re likely to close for the day. This is the first real storm we’ve gotten … Continue reading Winter Storm Jeff
On Good Men and Twitter
Lately, I’m on Twitter all the time. I’m suddenly learning that maybe it isn’t waste of time. I was late to the social media party. I joined Facebook in 2016, more than a decade after everybody else. Here’s something to consider: by jumping on the platform after everyone already figured it out, it was difficult … Continue reading On Good Men and Twitter
Dad-Jokes
“What an adorable little house!” This was Fiona’s friend talking. They came over to babysit Sophie. Eli wasn’t born yet. It was a long time ago; Eli’s now thirteen. Actually, only Fiona came over to babysit, we told her she could bring a friend. It was close to Sophie’s bedtime. My adorable little house was … Continue reading Dad-Jokes
My Bad
I'm failing miserably. Actually, I posted it twenty-four hours ago, so I guess I've already failed. Miserably. Like everyone else in the United States, part of my past four days included thoughts about a certain Catholic high school boy and a soon-to-be-a-senior-citizen Native American. I've thought about them while driving home from work (because NPR … Continue reading My Bad
WordPress, Facebook, Twitter
I’ve got this routine. WordPress, Facebook, Twitter. I do this slowly, wanting to savor the alerts. The WordPress red dot, the numbers in the Facebook and Twitter bells. These are my social media. No Instagram, that’s where my kids hang out. I don’t want to crash their party. I do it again. WordPress, Facebook, Twitter. … Continue reading WordPress, Facebook, Twitter
But I had a Plan…
I had a plan. Wednesday night, I heard about the coming weather. Back to back snow storms. Eleven inches between Thursday and Saturday night. This was my chance for a long, snowy run. Years ago, a friend once accused me of Overuse of Superlatives Syndrome. With me, everything is either the best or it’s the … Continue reading But I had a Plan…
Censored by Decency
Gone are the days when I wake up an hour early to write. Long gone. This morning I was up at 5:15. That early alarm setting allows forty-five minutes of quiet self-care—coffee, news, cereal—before my kids grudgingly get out of bed. They require constant and sometimes not-so-gentle nudging towards door to start their school day. … Continue reading Censored by Decency
Shades of Gray
I recently changed jobs. I now work at a library—the finance manager: budgeting, analysis, accounting. My office, with it’s dark-stained wooden doors and frosted transom windows, is massive: 14’ x 14’ x 14’. It’s true, my office ceiling is fourteen feet high. Susan says I suffer from TMF—that’s too much furniture: three desks, five filing … Continue reading Shades of Gray
Dream Job
Blog readers of a certain age grew up with Seinfeld—NBC’s famous sitcom about nothing. That was the tagline: A show about nothing. Have you ever considered what that really means, “about nothing?” No big topics were ever raised. Each episode delved into the minutiae of the characters’ lives. We know about their personal grudges, their … Continue reading Dream Job
Dry. Part 2.
Dry. It really sucks. Dry, meaning alcohol free, it’s miserable. At least it is for me. Lots of us (dry people) use the euphemism sober. It sounds adult, more mature. I don’t call myself sober because of what it implies, which is: not drunk. It’s not that I’m not not drunk, it’s just that before, … Continue reading Dry. Part 2.
BADASS (the book)
Does anyone wonder where I’ve been? Am I being self-aggrandizing to think that anyone cares when I write a blog post? That people might notice when I’m not commenting on their blog? When I go missing for what, two weeks? I just passed my five-year anniversary as a blogger. If you’re astute, you might look … Continue reading BADASS (the book)
Six Word Story – Part II
Sometimes, I fall flat on my face. That’s seven words, this isn’t a six word story, it’s an essay about my most recent post, Six Word Story . As bloggers, I suppose we all do this from time to time. We post something truly special (to ourselves), our A-work, and no one sees the brilliance. … Continue reading Six Word Story – Part II
Six Word Story
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, kaboom. Copyright © 2018 by Jeff Cann All rights reserved. No part of this story, in full or by segment, may be copied, reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including analog or digital print, photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior … Continue reading Six Word Story
Bloggers: What is your best post?
There’s a guy who reads my blog every day. He reads my new posts over and over again. He rereads last month’s posts on a regular basis. And he reads through the old stuff, the stuff I wrote years ago, even when no one else does. That guy is me. I like what I write, … Continue reading Bloggers: What is your best post?
Teresa Gunn
Reprint: A story that pre-dates this blog: “Hey Teresa, can I buy you a beer?” This was a safe question in the mid-eighties. Beer was cheap. Miller or Bud, maybe a Heineken for an extra fifty cents. No getting blind-sided with a Dogfish Head IPA or a Troegs Mad Elf at eight bucks a bottle. … Continue reading Teresa Gunn
World Blogger
Greenland! Bah! My biggest failure. Does anyone even live there? This is a map of my blogging world. If the country is colored, someone in that country has read my blog. Or at least they’ve landed on my blog. How many actually read it? I need better analytics to answer that question. Last week, I … Continue reading World Blogger
Everyday Strange
Of the seventy-nine million blogs on the WordPress platform, Everyday Strange is one of my favorites—and yes, I've read them all. Most blogs, like mine, require a time investment. Five or ten or fifteen minutes of reading through heavily preened prose trying to decipher the point, if there is one at all. Conversely, the posts on … Continue reading Everyday Strange
The Other Stuff 