The Billy Pulpit

"Why does NASA keep telling us stories about asteroids slamming into earth any year now?" I was preparing that line as a witty comeback on Social Media just like my Mom and I joke with each other about space stuff all the time since the day we saw that UFO on the way home from … Continue reading End Times →

In my years immediately prior to and throughout Junior High, an older boy on the block used to threaten me every time I rode my bike past his house on the way to my friend’s house, but my friend did not know that, and so one day my friend suggested we walk (!) the 12 … Continue reading Hollowed Eggs →

ESPN Monday Night Baseball. Athletics v. Cubs.  Cubs scored like 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th, and now the announcers don’t seem so interested in the game.  They’re chatting about all kinds of stuff, mostly speculating on how other teams are doing, who’s been sharp, who do we have concerns about, who needs … Continue reading Even A Dull Game Has Its Moments →

I drove my roommate’s new(ish) car on the Interstate today. I keep cars it seems like forever. Friends who haven’t seen me in a while ask, “You’re still driving that grey Civic?” They used to say, “You’re still driving that yellow Beetle?” (“Super Beetle,” I’d reply.) The car 3 cars before the one I’m driving … Continue reading The Importance of User Interface; or, Riding in a car that’s too new for you to operate successfully. →

A near-historic game tonight! Perfect game broken up by a clean single through the shift in the 9th.  Too bad there weren’t 2 out, because that would’ve been even more historic. But there’s another story here that makes this one they’ll talk about years from now if they were in the stadium. Seems just a … Continue reading The Beauty of Baseball →

Just watched a classic short on Turner Classic Movies (I checked their online schedule [http://www.tcm.com/schedule/,] but it wasn’t listed – it was right between “The Battle of Algiers” and  “Algiers” - so you’ll have to take my word.) Remember when we used to decide that certain social change topics were worth spending taxpayer dollars to … Continue reading The New Normal →

An update on my friend’s 48 days of sobriety: I met my friend after work yesterday out front (actually, out back) of the LA Central Library on my way to the bus stop at 5th and Fig.  I asked the policemen on the steps outside what kind of services were available to a newly homeless … Continue reading Oregon, My Friend? →

Look up names from my past on social media.  Find.  Do I want to reach out with a friend request or a connection request?  Job placement companies say you need 500 LinkedIn Connections, so don’t be shy. I have looked for her before, my friend’s former wife.  Tonight I thought of her again when I … Continue reading What You Can Do During A Televised Baseball Game →

I notice lately that NASA, and to some extent the conservative astronomical community as a whole, are simultaneously giving us conflicting messages: "Doom comes from forces beyond our control!" and "There's ice on Mars!" Asteroid impacts taking us from the Cretaceous Era to the Paleogene! Supernovae effects taking us from the Pliocene Epoch to the … Continue reading Who Is Paying for This Message, Steve? →

One Saturday night around 1972, me and my brothers, Terry and Charley, my cousin Tom, and our neighborhood friends Ben and David piled into Mrs. DeChaine’s blue station wagon – Chevy? Dodge? Plymouth? I think we were a Ford neighborhood – and set off for a night of adventure. We were Newbies, 14 thru 17, … Continue reading Last Man: A Memorial Day Story for Some of The Rest Of Us →