January 2007
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The Aged Parent, who's ninety-four, received a curious letter from AARP MedicalRX Plans. MedRX is the insurance company that we've chosen to use as part of the Bush drug plan for the old folks. In point of fact, the benefit hasn't been very significant, especially since we fell into the infamous "donut hole." We pay…
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Here's the eagerly-awaited all-Johnson NBA team: Magic, Marques, Kevin, Dennis, Gus. Everyone knows the first four, but only those with a few years on their backs will recall Gus Johnson, who averaged 17 points a game and 13 rebounds in nine season with Baltimore. Johnsons in reserve: Vinnie ("the Microwave"), Larry, Joe, Avery. There's not…
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Readers might be tempted to disbelieve the outrageous silliness that follows, but here it is, exactly as it appeared in the newspaper. If you don't believe me, check for yourself. DEAR ABBY: Am I a "sicko" because I step out of the shower naked in front of our dog? My wife, Amy, thinks so. The…
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High on the list of The New York Times' "most e-mailed articles" is one with the catchy title "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage," by a writer named Amy Sutherland. Apparently it's a well-regarded, influential essay. I think it's misleading and wrong-headed, and I think that couples who heed its advice will soon…
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I've been staring into my crystal ball, sorting through chicken bones, tea leaves and the Tarot cards, observing the flights of birds, inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals, and diddling with the Ouija board. Now I'm ready. Here are my widely-anticipated predictions for the year 2007. 1) there will be unusual weather patterns in North…
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Our local basketball team is in the Big 12. We're far from the best team in the league, but the Big 12 is a major conference and as a consequence we have the opportunity to see some well-played, exciting games and also a goodly number of excellent young players. Great athletes appear regularly, mostly, I…
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Intermittently throughout the decades, I've been afflicted with what has been called, at various times in history, "the spleen," "vapors," "falling into a brown study," "melancholy," "the blues," and currently, "depression." But now I have devised a very effective remedy for this affliction. With the help of the Ellis Island Foundation, I located the manifest…
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I received the following note from Marion Morrison, who is an associate professor of English at the University of Iowa. It was written in response to my entry a few days ago concerning H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines. I'm extremely grateful to Professor Morrison for taking the time to comment on my observations. "Dear Dr.…
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Thoughts about Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis's fraud of a preacher, were still reverberating in my brain when I read in The New York Times the outrageous stranger-than-fiction story about the "nationally renowned evangelical preacher," Darlene Bishop. Reverend Bishop, who pastors the 4000-member Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Indiana, and has a famous-in-certain-circles TV program, apparently…
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As an adolescent, I was a passionate enthusiast of novels by Sir Henry Rider Haggard. I read everything that was in the collection of the McDonald Avenue public library. Not only King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain and She and Allan's Wife and Ayesha, but also some of the non-"African" adventures as well. I particularly…