This correspondence with eMachines/Gateway customer service gave me a chance to stretch out as a writer. Something about being an anonymous "consumer" (their term) gave me license to fly with whatever rhetorical skill and sarcasm I could muster!

By way of back story: I sent in the paperwork--complete and double-checked--to claim a $50 rebate on our new monitor, an in-store floor model. After a month I received notice that the claim was rejected because... read more

A story picked up at a conference on mobility and traveling skills of blind people, told by a wonderful instructor named Dona Sauerberger.

All I can say is, Yikes!!

While we're on the subject, here's another little tale about finding money. This one has a different outcome....

One great thing about money is that is shows you something about who people are. Here's a tale about my sister Nance and her son Peter doing the Right Thing.

In which Kathy realizes her spiritual union with Stephen Colbert through eating his ice cream; and Fred is relieved of a heavy debt even while taking on another.

Americone Dream, The Final Chapter ... or is it?

Our neighbor can now, at long last, bask in the reflected glow of our ever-burning fame, rather than a sunny cow-field. Actually, it may not turn out to be an improvement, but try telling that to all the celebrity seekers; they won't listen.

I'm happy to have found this place--more for the well-loved and homey feel than for the food--kind of hidden downtown. As you can tell from the conversation, it has its regulars (but then, it's the kind of place where you'd feel like a regular after about three visits).

Apparently the mac & cheese brings 'em in, and breaks their hearts when it's gone!

It's a strange title for this podcast, but if you sing it like a three-year-old it makes more sense.

This is basically just a trip to Oscar's hardware store with our teenage pal to buy the parts needed for our coat rack project. Somehow we managed to work in some mildly naughty conversation, as we often do.