When Helen and I returned from living in Italy and got our first real place — a dumpy, $400 per month duplex owned by a short order cook — one of the first things we did was head to Denver Dumb Friends league to find a dog. As my wife tells it, Maggie was in a pen with ten other puppies, and she wasn’t among those that came running to

Wife out of town on business, a sick baby, and an older son who needs rides to and from school — then has to go to practice — leaves me no time to tell you about how your country is going into the shitter. Except to say your country is going into the shitter. Rapidly. Like, it drank the water in Mexico-rapidly. *flush*

I remember as a kid being shocked the first time I even ran into one of my teachers outside of school. I had never grasped they had a life outside of the classroom. These students were particularly stunned: