My annual obsessive passion for fantasy football is currently at its neurotic peak, as my big-money league is now into the fantasy football playoffs. At the moment my team is down by 11 points, and my season hangs in the proverbial balance on the [...] 
Pictured on your left is a small white female miniature poodle who found her way to my house yesterday in West Toledo. She has some significant vision problems and she is very sad, whining [...] 
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I found myself stuck in a mile-long traffic backup this morning on Secor Road, as Columbia Gas crews repaired a half-dozen problems between Laskey and I-475. I grew increasingly agitated as my usual 8-minute trip to work turned into a 25-minute odyssey of aggravation. Of course, [...] 
Dear Vehicular Imbecile:
Please: stab me in the eardrums and make the noise stop
Over the past few years as I started my climb up the academic ladder, a few students have approached me with questions about how, exactly, one goes about teaching at the college level. I received another query from a former student today, and after an exchange [...] 
On your left is the one and only Louis, a 24-pound male Puggle we rescued from a local animal shelter. He was previously adopted, but his new owner had trouble with Louis scaling a four-foot cyclone fence, so anyone who adopts Louis should have either: a) [...] 
I spent most of the past 48 hours fretting about my dissertation defense, an event that occurred this afternoon. After hearing of the horror stories, I feared that the defense would be a grueling exercise of academic torture, but my committee was much more supportive and [...] 
It looks like I will be defending my dissertation this Wednesday, which represents the last hurdle in my quest for a PhD. I now get to spend the next 48 hours or so of my life preparing for the academic inquisition, so I suspect I will [...] A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.
I doubt that the owners of this restaurant intentionally manipulated their neon sign, but I am reluctant to assume that it was just mere chance that caused the sign to malfunction in such a derogatory fashion. Yoko Japanese Restaurant restaurant is in a strip mall [...] 
While driving up to visit with my grandfather today, the odometer on my 1994 Hyundai Accent rolled over past the 100,000-mile mark. Since I had my camera with me, I pulled over to the side of the road and photographed the occasion.
My lovely wife is one of those people who really enjoys cooking Thanksgiving dinner, and her excitement is contagious, though not to the extent that I actually engaged in cooking anything. Her planning begins many days before the holiday, and she multi-tasks in the week [...] 
One of my adult children who moved out has wound up in some financial difficulty, and bill collectors have recently been tying up my home phone line with a series of annoying calls. Over the years my other kids have also struggled at times, and unfortunately [...] 
I came across a gift that an employer gave me a few years ago in lieu of a pay raise or some tangible benefit. I am sure that the small gift was intended by the administrator who approved the multi-dollar expenditure to convey some sort of [...] 
In a previous post I discussed my first sleep study, which documented my until then undiagnosed problems with sleep apnea. Last night I participated in another sleep study, and the picture on the left depicts me with dozens of electrodes glued to my body. A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.
Photo by historymike
Pictured on your left is Petey, an 8-pound Yorkshire terrier mix who was rescued from a local dog pound. We think Petey is about nine months old, and he is a friendly and affectionate little guy who has a lifetime of love to give his [...] 
My students in one of my courses kept bugging me the last two classes about the semester evaluation, and it was not until after they finished that I learned the reason for their interest. You see, I have a self-deprecating comment when I mis-speak or say [...] 
For most of the day I was unable to access my email and Web accounts in my job at Bowling Green State University, a problem that the IT people indicated was due to a severed fiber optic cable in central Ohio. Especially problematic for me [...] 
I posted late last week about participating in a sleep study to determine if I have sleep apnea, and today I met with the sleep specialist. He confirmed my suspicions about having a sleep disorder, which was not a surprise, but it was the magnitude [...] 
At some point early last week I lost my keys, and thus began many days spent in frustrated searching for them. I searched all over my house, retraced my steps to a variety of external destinations, and still there was no sign of my keys.
I have been putting off the sleep tests my physician ordered for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I sleep most poorly away from my own bed. However, I am tired of always being tired, and tonight I am [...] 
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Pictured on your left is my oldest Puggle, a handsome three-year-old male whose name is Eddie Haskell. In this image Eddie is hiding under my work desk, and the reason that he lurks at my feet is that he has accumulated portions of five rawhide [...] 
I frequently pass the pictured panhandler at his regular post, which is at the off-ramp from southbound I-75 at U.S.-20 (Fremont Pike). Though I consider myself a relatively generous person, I am much more discriminating when I encounter people cadging money on the street, and I [...] 
My grandfather has an ancient wheelbarrow in his yard, a device that has to be at least two decades older than me. I took a picture of the rusty cast iron wheelbarrow this afternoon, and I hollowly chuckled when he referred to the garden implement as [...] 
Screenshot taken November 4, 2009 at 6:31 pm
It was with sadness that I learned this morning of the death of Ronald A. Bradshaw, Sr., who passed away at his home at the age of 78. I first met Ron in 1989 when I was starting a career as a franchise owner, and [...] 
Left: No rest for the ad-weary
War relic: my grandfather's Navy-issue sailor's cap
Well, at least the draft of my dissertation that I turned over this afternoon to my committee members is finished, but I reached the point today where I decided I had written enough to prove my academic worth. Now comes the weeks of nail-biting while my [...] 
Just a quick plug for a remarkable organic salad mix we bought at Costco last week. The product's brand name is Taylor Fresh Organic Baby Spring Mix, and the blend of greens has been a tasty accompaniment to our dinners the past week.
After six hours of painfully laborious writing and editing work on my dissertation, I finally reached the point where I knew I had to leave this maddening document and go outside for some fresh fall air. If I spent one minute more on this blasted behemoth [...] 
Pictured on your left are my brother Chuck and his new wife Cheryl, who were joined together as husband and wife in front of a group of family and friends yesterday. In this photo are also my nephew Chris, who is an Army Ranger who has [...] 
Thanks for your patience, dear readers, for putting up with my lack of blog activity the past month. The Muses have been smiling upon me this week, and I have been able to generate almost 25 pages of dissertation text in that time, putting me into [...] 
True, the title of this post lacks the sense of poetic meter or world-weary advice of the song made famous by Waylon and Willie, but this is what popped into my head after seeing the damage wrought by unknown members of the family Sciuridae in recent' [...] 
This is an irregular feature - both in frequency and oddness - dedicated to a word I came across that I have never previously used.
The stars seemed aligned for a productive afternoon of dissertation writing: no kids were in the house, and I had a few intriguing ideas that needed to be fleshed out in written form. Just turn on some quiet instrumental music - say, Andres Segovia - and [...] 
While I was busy at work today the mail carrier attempted to deliver a certified letter, and when I arrived home I found the orange "We Missed You" notice in my mailbox. I saw that I would have to wait a few hours until the carrier [...] 
I took a break from dissertation-writing to observe the progress of the installation of some new vinyl replacement windows in my kitchen. Besides, the sounds of hammers and electric drills are not exactly conducive to the creative muse, though the installers from Toledo Window and [...] 
I have taught at a number of institutions that have accreditation as an online university, and one factor is ultimately more important than any other in online education. It is the individuals who teach the course that inevitably create an environment where engaged learning [...] 
Though I never paid a great deal of attention to the musical genre of barbershop music, a friend called me the other day and invited me to the the fourth annual Barbershop Bash. The event was hosted by the Stateline Chorus, who sang well and [...] 
In our personal bid to stimulate the American economy through consumer spending, my wife and I purchased a new set of furniture for the house. Among the economic experts weighing in on the effects of our stimulus package was our resident Bichon-Maltese, Candy.
Pictured on your left is Lucy, a 13-pound Pug whose former owner could no longer care for her. She is not the proverbial spring chicken, as she is somewhere around seven years old, but Lucy seems to have many good years ahead of her.
(Mount Clemens, MI) We recently attended a wedding north of Detroit, which is my hometown. While driving on the northern east side we decided to take a detour and drive past a house we owned from 1988-1990.
I am heading into the home stretch of my dissertation, the rough draft of which I plan to complete by the end of this month. Because of this increasing workload, I have been less-than-dutiful in responding to blog emails and - more importantly - the many [...] 
While surfing Facebook the other day I encountered an especially weird combination of words that seemed to be telling some sort of story. The letters spelled out the words "romping Gerald," and I found odd the verb-noun combination and the images it evoked.
I opted to spend my day attacking a backlog of items that I have been putting off for a few weeks. I was getting to the point where there were enough of these relatively small projects piling up that their collective weight was beginning to approach [...] 
I came across an old drawing today that kept me puzzled for over an hour. Pictured on your left is a woodcut illustration of a late fifteenth century chapbook for some poems by Giuliano Dati, a prominent Italian poet. The first of these poems was entitled [...] 
I started going gray in my mid-thirties, and I have to admit that the first few years I used some of that "Just for Men" beard coloring. This had less to do with me wishing to avoid looking my age than the fact that my gray hair [...] 
Left: MSU's Larry Caper scoring the winning touchdown in OT against the Michigan Wolverines (photo by Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)
Pictured on your left is Bolt, a one-year-old Australian shepherd mix who was rescued from a local shelter. He is quite a bit underweight, weighing in at only 27 pounds today at the vet. Bolt looks like he will probably be around 40 pounds when he [...] 
Today has been a strange, strange day, a day that started with me going off to work with mismatched socks. After arriving at work I noticed that I had walked around campus for at least 10 minutes with my fly open, and then I remembered that [...] A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.
The official start to fall occurred last week, but it was the sudden appearance of the first chilly weather of the season that reiterated the point for me this morning. Thunderstorms rolled through overnight, and the neatly manicured lawn I achieved yesterday afternoon in sunny 73-degree [...] 
We purchased a Nintendo Wii unit for Christmas last year, and one of the reasons my wife was so gung-ho about the game system is that owners can use Wii to exercise. We have burned more than a few calories playing virtual tennis, bowling, baseball, and [...] 
On your left is a picture I took this morning of the new roof on my house, which was created by Toledo-area contractor TFL Roofing. I am posting about the roof as a Web testimonial from a satisfied customer who wants to extend his gratitude for [...] 
I gave students in one of my distance learning classes a Web-based assignment, which was to locate and analyze a short propaganda film from the World War II era. I suggested a few sites to them, like this collection at the site Museum of the [...] 
Pictured on your left is an image of the New England aster, known to scientists as Symphyotrichum novae-angliae. I have been seeing these on the roadsides the last week or two, and my sharp-eyed wife correctly identified them as a member of the aster family [...] 
Pictured are some wildflowers I pass on my trips down Interstate 75 to my office at Bowling Green State University. Over the past few weeks there has been a Siren-like call emanating from the simple beauty of these flowers, and yesterday I packed a hand trowel [...] 
I received an intriguing email this morning in one of my university email accounts. The subject of the email was an announcement of a Swine Flu School Planning Workshop in Chicago for people associated with higher education. Here is the beginning of the email:
In a previous post I listed quite a few tunes that work well for walking, focusing on songs with 110-120 beats per minute (BPM). Since that time my walking speed has gradually progressed, and I find that songs closer to 110 beats per minute do [...] 
I came across an old document yesterday while cleaning, at least "old" in terms of my own life. Pictured is an acknowledgement letter I received in 1982 from the Selective Service System that verified that I, indeed, filled out the necessary paperwork to register for [...] 
Left: Making the bouzouki sing
Robert Shaw had his Great White Shark, Buck Owens had his Great White Horse, Ted Nugent had his Great White Buffalo, but I have finally captured (at least in digitized form) Toledo's Great White Squirrel. I am not sure if this is a true albino, if [...] 
Pictured on your left are the men working on my roof as I write this post. While the pounding and scraping might make for a less productive day in terms of dissertation, there is a secret glee I harbor for their work sounds: it woke up [...] A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.
(Toledo, OH) Pictured on your left is the intersection of Alexis Road and Hagman on the north side of Toledo. The cloudy skies and my wife's higher rate of speed combined to produce a less-than-ideal image, but I think you can make out the "NO PED XING" [...] 
Left: Useful but annoying word count tool
My recent lifestyle changes have translated into daily walking between three and eight miles, depending on my schedule, and I find the time useful for thinking. Among the subjects that I have been mulling over is that of voluntary simplicity, or the conscious embrace of simpler [...] 
I have used the same profile picture for well nigh five years now, and I thought it was time to update my website. Hence I present an image that my wife took today while we were out looking at furniture. A frequent feature on this site; feel free to comment on the quote or to supply a competing quote.
Pictured on your left is a small garden I created this afternoon, and at the moment I took this picture my Puggle (whose name is Chauncey Gardiner) already appears to be plotting ways in which he might make mischief.
Pictured on your left are a group of guys with whom I share a passion for fantasy football. This particular league - with the unassuming name of "Jim's Fantasy Football" - has been together 15 years as of the 2009 season, and there are six original owners' [...] 
One of the downsides of being a person who works many part-time jobs is that sometimes I neglect to pay regular attention to my employers and their abilities to pay me on time. As a result several times last year my wife reconciled our accounts and [...] 
One of the more in-demand educational programs that returning students seek out is an organizational development degree, especially from an institution that offers online degree programs. Regular visitors to this site know that I have taught online for a few years now, and I spent [...] 
As the current owner of a pair of Puggles, I can testify to the fun-loving nature of these affectionate dogs, and our new foster Sam (or "Sammy," as we have been calling her) possesses all the most lovable qualities about Puggles. 
Just a quick plug for a worthy cause, Planned Pethood. The group - which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded over 30 years ago - has a goal of reducing the overpopulation and suffering of dogs and cats through educational programs as well as low-cost [...] 
What? You were expecting a prurient story about some sort of brutal assault against former President George W. Bush? Sorry to either alarm or disappoint you (depending on your political views), but the bush I'm talking about is my snowball bush, known to horticultural' [...] 
My time-stealing, disorganized collection of keys prior to their reformulation
Pictured on your left is my latest attempt at creating a decorative display for the dinner table. Yes, I am secure enough in my masculinity to play with flowers, folks, though the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" from our dinner guests lead me to believe that the gathered [...] 
There is an especially gratifying quality to walking into your backyard and picking from a variety of homegrown vegetables for the evening dinner. Such was the case this afternoon after I finished working in the yard.
Regular readers of this blog already know about Missy, a female terrier mix we have been fostering. You can read the earlier posts about Missy's abusive former owners if you want to know the background of this abused dog.
The old saw about weight loss is that diet and exercise are the real keys to shedding unwanted pounds, and I have to say that this simplest of advice is certainly the best. Since early June when I started walking 3-4 miles a day and cutting [...] 
It was a bittersweet moment as I saw the broad grin on my son's face when he walked back in with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles road test employee. I knew immediately that he was successful in his latest attempt to score that holiest of teenage' [...] 
Left: not to be eaten raw, and wash your hands after handling, please
It is just a summer thunderstorm that I am experiencing as I write this post, just an ordinary opening of the heavens that results in a heavy downpouring of rain. Add in some hail and a fair amount of nearby lightning strikes, and the result is a [...] 
