Consolation
The Christmas season is over and I often feel sad during the first few days of January, but this year I don't. It's possible that coming down with bronchitis during the long Thanksgiving weekend and then taking weeks to recover from the resulting pneumonia had an...
Happy New Year
Here's the payoff for getting a dog that eats everything he can get his snout on: as activity outside our first floor, Chicago apartment gets weirder this weekend, he's there for me. A 45-pound pitbull mix can be a strangely comforting thing, especially on New Year's...
How was Christmas?
Christmas Eve: Bob worked. I had dinner in Niles at the Omega Restaurant with friends. When I got home, Bob called and said that in the course of his job (in the restaurant industry) he'd been forced into a physical confrontation. Sadly as a result, Bob was in the...
Merry Christmas!
The Evil Christmas Dog says, "Merry Christmas!"
How to Avoid Visiting Family for the Holidays, without Lying
This is merely a public service. I am not talking about the family I just visited last weekend (uh, hi Dad). Family gatherings are often fun and pleasant. This post is just for those few people who have family they'd rather avoid. 1. If you have a job with vacation...
Christmas in Not-Mexico-But-Not-Really-the-US-Either
I just learned that the fence that separates Mexico from the U.S. doesn't actually run along the Mexico-U.S. border. According to a post on The Lookout, a news blog, the Rio Grande forms the natural boundary between the two countries, but because of a treaty with...
My Perfect Christmas
Okay, it's not my perfect Christmas, since I won't spend it with my husband, but it's the next best thing.Bob's working Christmas Day because his restaurant is open every day of the year. I spent Easter and Thanksgiving volunteering with Little Brothers Friends of the...
Things I’ve Learned about Dogs Recently
1. During my battle with bronchitis in the weeks after Thanksgiving, I discovered that our pitbull mix, Ozzie, will stay next to me no matter how much I cough, hack and sweat on him. He's my first dog ever and this is his third month with us. I'm amazed by how this...
“Isn’t There Anyone Who Knows What Christmas Is All About?”
[I originally posted this on January 5, 2006. I'm running it again, with slight editing. The title refers to Charlie Brown's plaintive cry as he tries to reconcile his "commercial dog" with the party atmosphere of his play rehearsals and the original nativity story.]...
Target Clinic Misdiagnosed Me
I started feeling achy on the day before Thanksgiving. I felt so crappy (achiness, fever, headache, chest congestion, horrible cough, alternate chills and sweats), that I went to a Target store health clinic on Sunday where a nurse practitioner told me it was the flu...
Why I’m Enjoying My Nasty Flu
1. I keep alternating between chills and sweats, so things stay interesting.2. I'm cheaply getting through a week without needing any real groceries (just juice and symptom relievers).3. Caught up on all my TiVo'd programs by the third day of the illness.4. I'm doing...
Singlehood and Marriage Are Getting Better for Women and Worse
It's the article that everyone has blogged about and discussed, and I know I'm about two months late, but I still want to make some notes. If you want a nuanced reading of Kate Bolick's All the Single Ladies, which came out in the November 2011 Atlantic, please go...