Author: Joe

Click here to find out what that bastard on the left is. In case you haven’t noticed, I have multiple personalities. When I decide what to do, I give speeches in my head and refer to myself as, “we.” “We need to do this.” “We’re going to do that.” “This is why we need to…

This guy to the left is one of my favorite people. He’s still out there, you know. One of my favorite activities is to decide what I would say to guys like this if they were suddenly transported to the future. This begs the question, did I come up with that idea or was it…

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree…

Today is the last day of the five year period I am going to forever call, “The 5 Years.” By New Year’s Day in 2004, it was pretty obvious my marriage was over. I had been and continued to go off the deep end and made most everything worse. By May of 2004, my business…

Happy birthday! You’re turning 13 today and I couldn’t be prouder. When you were little, you loved to hear stories about when you were even littler. The day you were born, I got a call at work from your soon-to-be-mother. She said it was time and that she was going to take a shower. When…

I was asked by Eric Santos of 5 GUYZ BLOG to write a guest post. Their blog is written by five high school students, each “guy” posting on a particular weekday. Emily is not a guy, but she’s definitely one of the “guyz.” I’ve used “guys” as a unisex term before and I think it’s…

I believe in evolution. I believe in gravity. I believe in God. The idea of evolution is that some individuals of a species find themselves with an advantage over their cousins and therefore live long enough to reproduce. Hopefully, some of the good stuff gets passed to their progeny and they find themselves with the…

Your web browser does not maintain a connection to the server between page loads. When you go to a site, a new TCP connection is made to the web server to request the page. Once the page is sent, the server drops the connection. Then a new connection is made to the server for each…

I had a burger basket today in a diner. Yes, I asked for the mustard setup and not the mayonaise!! I’m a psycho, not a nut. What is a burger basket? It’s a burger and some fries, served in a basket. A basket is a plastic basket lined with some thin paper. The burger was…

A few years ago I discovered a way to go crazy. I don’t mean that I found a way to get really excited, I mean that I found a way to meditate on a version of reality I preferred and make it stick for a while. Whatever I made up become the truth and it…

My daughter’s 13th birthday is coming up this month. The last time I got to see her and my son was at one of her 9th birthday events. My dad and his wife treated the kids, their mother, and I to a visit to a pizza and video game place in Tulsa. I was really…

It’s been three weeks since I wrote the blog entry, Life in the Homeless Shelter. I think you deserve an update on what’s been happening. Dan the Canadian world traveler is still working at the grocery store. He enjoys his job because he has a chance to schmooze with the ladies. I have mentioned to…

I just saw the 2009 movie by Quentin Tarantino called Inglorious Bastards (or “Inglourious Basterds”) and was taken aback by my reaction. Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen Inglorious Bastards and you’re planning to do so, then don’t read this yet. Please bookmark this page and return at your convenience. 🙂 The IMDB page…

If you’ve seen more than four of my tweets then you have seen me mention Jennifer Aniston. This picture to the left is one of Jennifer Aniston. It’s used without permission. I’m sorry. Recently I’ve been analyzing my thoughts about Miss Aniston and trying to figure out why I have decided to like her. First…

Little Man, I don’t know if you remember much about me. I am your father. We last saw each other at a gathering to celebrate your sister’s 9th birthday. It was at a pizza and game place. Your grandfather, my dad, and his wife treated us all to a great time. We ate some good…

Believe it or not, I am licensed to drive by the State of Oklahoma. I’ve been licensed since I was 16 – for 25 years. My license still says I weigh 143 pounds, but that was my weight when I was 16. They always ask me if I want to change it, and I decline.…

In 1983, I had made some friends online on local bulletin board systems. A bulletin board system was a computer connected to a phone line by a modem. You would sit down at your computer and have it dial directly to the BBS system and connect. You would be prompted for your username and password…

I’m too self-obsessed, so instead of writing about me, I’m now going to write about you. I see you around town. I see you order your morning coffee. I see you enjoying your lunch. I see you playing with your kids. I see you walking your dog. I see you driving to the store. And,…

Ok, so it’s the first day of The Better 5 Years. How am I going to make this 5 years better than the last? (1) I’m not going to sabotage myself. (2) I’m going to admit I’m okay. In fact, I’m going to admit that I’m awesome, just the best, better than you, leader of…

This is making its rounds mainly via email. Thanks, Dad.

Dear God, thank you so much for the opportunity to stay at the Salvation Army. As you know, I’ve slept outside on several occasions and I’ve gone without food. These are inconveniences. Worse than going without creature comforts is going without human company. Please bless the people who stay at, manage, and support shelters like…

A guy in the homeless shelter told a story this morning. He chalked his good fortune up to luck, but I don’t believe in luck, I believe in God. His story goes like this: Two days ago, he was riding his bicycle to the edge of town. When he got back, he noticed his wallet…

I rarely dream about you, but tonight I did. You and I went out on a date. We were going to see some show at the performing arts center. I picked you up. You looked nice. We made it to the theater, but I had left the tickets pinned to my bulletin board at work.…

While writing a blog post about Dr. McMurtry, my Introduction to Music for Non-Majors professor at OSU, I found out that he had died, so I wrote a letter to his wife accounting how much I loved his class. **UPDATE 2025: She returned a nice note that I scanned but now have lost. Looking for…

I only enjoyed one class in college.  It was a music history class for non-music majors at Oklahoma State University instructed by Dr. McMurtry.  This was also my hardest class, ever… and I’m more proud of that A than any grade I ever earned in any school. The paper I had to do was a…