Last Sunday, Vlad and I accidentally got caught up in a mob. (One brimming with teeth and claws.) Innocently enough, we were headed out for our early afternoon walk to the wine store when we spied a roving pack of dogs at the intersection. Vlad immediately recognized our friend Miku the Weimerehne...

I’ve witnessed this scene countless times (and I’m sure you have, too). In fact, I feel I watched it at least twice this week in Netflix binges I’ve already forgotten. Our hero needs some vital information. She/He sits before a stony bureaucrat who has the necessary intel, pleading their case. ...

It may be both the most sincere and also the most ruthless thing I do. Each year, I invite my nearest and dearest over to decorate our Christmas tree. It is a delightful gathering where I serve only gingerbread. At the same time, it’s also an incredible time saver. It’s perhaps a no...

Vlad and I entered innocently enough, arriving at our small rooftop dog park as we do several times a day. This time, however, things immediately felt different. The air itself was highly charged, thick with intense debate. It seemed wrong to attempt to jump into such a heated conversation so we s...

It was a startling––and although I hesitate to say it––near-miraculous moment. Firing up my MacBook Air, out of habit, I reached for my drugstore reading glasses. I put them on and something truly odd happened. Instead of helping my vision, they actually made things worse. To my astonishment, I...

I haven’t thought about this in a LONG time but… I had a flashback while writing this newsletter to my first official job, meaning one where you had to fill out forms and got a regular paycheck. Namely, I worked in the local Sears department store, mostly in the catalog pick-up department. My memo...

I hate to be gender-normative (or even breed-ist) and yet… At the end of the day, my chocolate lab Belle was always the perfect lady. She was the straight-A student (and class president) who was kind to all her friends and still found time to read to the blind. Vlad is…well… A lovable bad boy m...

It’s often incorrectly attributed to Dorothy Parker, but the sentiment has been expressed by everyone from Oscar Madison in an episode of The Odd Couple to George R.R. Martin creator of Game of Thrones: “I hate writing, but I love having written.” This week, in fact, rather than crossing th...

Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; You can use it anytime, anywhere unobtrusively.” –Sharon Salzberg Almost everyone now believes they “should” be meditating. There are endless studies proving how just good it is for us. (And God knows we need it.) And yet something so...