Happy Birthday, R.E.M.

Something remarkable happened in a very unremarkable fashion 30 years ago tonight. A young woman named Kathleen O’Brien threw herself a birthday party. From all reports, she wanted it to rival any party that Athens, Ga., had ever seen. She arranged for some bands to play, including one which featured her two roommates at the […]

Missing the Shore

We all lost a national treasure recently. Some of you may not have noticed, but you can trust me when I say many of us feel terrible about what happened. “Jersey Shore” finished its short season on MTV. I can’t believe we only got to know The Situation, Snookie and the gang a couple of […]

Serve It Up

My wife pretty much only follows one sport – tennis. That means the current action at the Australian Open is one of the few times she gets truly engaged in the kind of idiotic emotions I feel all the time as a sports fan. Part of this has to do with the matches that ESPN […]

Shuffle Up and Deal

A wonderful thing happened last week. Magical, almost. The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed a law which will allow casinos in the state to offer table games such as craps, roulette, blackjack and poker. Six months from now, I will have the opportunity to drive an hour or so from my house and play cards. I […]

Creative Punishments

By now, everyone has probably heard about the Salahis, the couple which went to a state dinner at The White House without an invitation. If you haven’t, count yourself lucky. This couple joins the ever-growing ranks of people intent on doing whatever it takes to become famous for no real reason at all. They wanted […]

Time Zone Troubles

Most of the time, I enjoy change. I like experiencing new things and seeing what I may have previously missed. But there are kinds of change I don’t like. I recently discovered one of them when I had to travel for business. I hate changing time zones. I’m not talking about heading to Illinois for […]