I recently visited Las Vegas for the first time in 12 years. I spent 20 times as much money while gambling, but that statement is deceptive. The last time I was in “Sin City,” I plunked one dollar into a slot machine 30 minutes before my flight departure. Otherwise, I’d…

I had the rather unsettling experience of crossing paths with an ex-girlfriend at a concert in Manhattan a few weekends ago. The encore was over, the lights went up, and my +1 and I waited as the crowd squeezed through the foyer towards the stairs. I glanced down towards the…

The easiest way for a kid to lose track of friends is by moving to a different location. Girls are better at collecting addresses, writing letters, and making long-distance phone calls. Before the Internet, those were the available options. I was having very little of it in 1978 when my…

Whether the guy who delivers my newspaper knows it or not, we are at war. So far, he has won most of the skirmishes. I am frustrated but not defeated. Like Putin against the Ukraine, I am playing the long game. If I am lucky, one day I will fly…

When the little things make a bad situation worse. — Reaching live customer service staff is often frustrating. In the past, I used the GetHuman website to bypass recordings. During the pandemic, all rules went out the window. When our father took ill in 2020, my brothers and I took control over his affairs. …

“Brad is gonna need braces.” The declaration that my older son would need orthodontia was not a surprise. More than once, Brad’s pediatric dentist remarked on his frenulum (the space between your top two front teeth) and said it might need to be surgically closed. …

Well, I had a good run. More than two years into the pandemic, I contracted coronavirus. But it took an unqualified Trump-appointed Federal judge striking down mask mandates, a new variant, and a school break filled with many activities. It’s not the first time that COVID-19 struck my family. Both…

If you use the “N word” at an intimate gathering of your closest friends, is it still inappropriate? …

Judy, the 21-year-old front desk receptionist, was pregnant and married. Not terribly unusual. What stunned us was learning Judy got married when she was 16 — and kept it a secret from everyone outside her family until she graduated from high school. Legal age of marriage varies from state to…