It was a busy month. On the downside, I got through fully half of The Book of M before finally getting bumped enough by issues that I had to walk away from it. It has an intriguing premise, though, so I want to find a synopsis somewhere that’ll at least fill me in…
I realized pretty early on that not all children’s books are equal. There’s everything from excellent to terrible books written for kids. Which should perhaps have come as no surprise—why should they be any different than any other books?—but when Laila was born, children’s books quickly became a pretty big part of my life rather…
For something over a year, I’ve been posting monthly lists of what books I’ve read, what I started and stopped reading, and what I’m currently reading. Part of it is just to keep track for myself, but since I… y’know… post them to social media, it’s also been intended as a potential conversation starter. Thus…
We’ve finally hit that brief sweet spot in Toronto weather where the wet snow has stopped—yes, I’m aware it’s late May, but we still had wet snow only a couple of weeks back, because too often here winter can’t keep its goodbyes short and sweet—and it’s getting warm but it isn’t yet stinking hot, which…
Last Father’s Day my daughter gave me a mug that she had painted at a local paint-your-own-ceramics place. It was vibrant and cool and had ladybugs made out of her finger prints and it was messy and handmade and, because it was a personally made gift from my daughter, perfect. Looking, that is. Perfect looking….
It’s Bike To School Week at my daughter’s school. They do that a couple of times a year, as our sometimes crazy Toronto weather allows for it. On the one hand, I’m all for it. I’m not an outdoorsy, let alone athletic guy, but goddamn, I love to bike. Jackie and I want to get…
Since we finally made the jump to a music streaming service—I was a steadfast CD purchaser until well after things like Apple Music and Spotify were commonplace—we’ve been (ok, I’ve been) going to town with playlists. I have one for commuting to work; there’s one for our daughter (always chasing down new songs she hears…
I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with technology. By which I mean, I love it and it hates me. I need to clarify at this point to those who don’t know me, or don’t know about this side of me: I don’t mean that in some cutesy way like I’d put on a dating app…
I don’t like cutting grass. It’s sweaty work, and while one can see the results of the effort (which I always prefer), I’m acutely aware the entire time that I could be doing something simultaneously more enjoyable and way less sweaty. Reading. Writing. Taking a nap. Anything shy of running or working out… But I…
Yesterday I saw a motorcycle cop pull over a taxi. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but whatever he’d done garnered the taxi driver a ticket. That event was unusual enough—I’m far more used to seeing police cruisers pulling over cars than motorcycles doing it—but what really struck me was the helmet the officer was…