It occurs to me that I have been writing essays for most of my life. At some point, early in life, the thought of writing an essay, a.k.a., a book report, filled me with dread. I’m not sure why, except that it was work I had to do and I always put off that work…

The mail arrives, and rather than be full of junk ads for political campaigns, insurance companies, and furniture far too rich for my blood, it comes with three or four personalized advertisements for this college or that one. They are not addressed to me or Kelly, but rather to Zach, who, a year from now,…

My girls convinced me to take them to a local Barnes & Noble because they were searching for something called a Squeezy Squishy toy — or something like that. So we braved the unseasonably cool, dreary, rainy weather to drive the short distance to our nearby B&N so that they could seek out their treasure.…

Isaac Asimov died 34 years ago today. 30 years ago today, inspired by Asimov’s lifelong habit of keeping a diary, I started my own diary habit, one that continues today. I woke up this morning and headed into my office, looking at the shelf of reference books beside my desk. In addition to half a…

At a recent back-to-school night, I was astonished to learn that science education takes a back seat to Virginia Studies in 4th grade. Part of the reason seems to be that 4th grade students take a standardized test on Virginia Studies, and there is much to pack in to prepare students for the test. I…

Today was my first full work day with the new sit/stand desk. I needed a benchmark to gauge how much I should stand and how much I should sit. I decided that, for today, I would stand while working and sit when I wasn’t working. Since I consider my writing work, and since I write…