Going fishing - feet first (07/23/08)
Despite what my wife may say, I am not one for being pampered. Oh sure, I like it when my wife brings me food and drink while I sit in my recliner watching television, but I'm talking real pampering like getting a pedicure and such. My wife on the other hand is big on the pampering things like a pedicure. ...

Bombarded by really bad ads (07/16/08)
Why is it when you go on vacation, or staycation in my case, you always come back more tired than when you left? For me, I know why and I am going to blame everything on television. You see, my staycation was filled with reading, playing softball and watching plenty of television. But unfortunately most of my television viewing took place late at night where I was bombarded by awful TV commercials. If you have ever stayed up late to watch television you know what I am talking about...

Dr. Bracketology is at work (03/19/08)
Beginning tomorrow, workloads will decrease across the country thanks to a little thing I like to refer to as the Holy Grail. That's right, tomorrow the NCAA tournament begins. With the exception of women's beach volleyball there is no greater sport than basketball and I am a basketball junkie. ...

Having the answer isn't trivial (01/30/08)
For years I have thought my college education was virtually useless. I never understood the point of taking science and math classes when your field has nothing to do with those subjects. On Saturday, I learned the reason. It is called trivia night. Groups of six-to-eight people form teams and answer 10 questions in 10 categories with the team answering the most correctly winning...

Paving priorities for Sikeston (01/23/08)
I have been alarmed by some of the front page stories and photos that have appeared in the Standard Democrat recently. If you've missed them, let me tell me what you're missing. First, we have Sikeston's mayor laying down the law to those that litter in Sikeston. ...

Pwease hep me unnerstand (12/05/07)
There are two things that I hate. OK, really I could write for a week about all of the things I hate, but for today there are two things that I'm worried about: asking for help and telephone support lines. Unfortunately, both have been irritating me lately. ...

Trying to understand the fans (12/28/05)
While it is cold outside and the start of baseball season is still months away, the talk never dies in "Cardinal Country." While I have been an Atlanta Braves fan since I was a little leaguer (yes middle America, there is one amongst you who does not live and die with the Cardinals), I do consider myself a Cardinal observer. ...

"It's the most, wonderful time of the year ..." (12/27/05)
We have all heard this Christmas song and every time I hear it I want to scream. Now it isn't that I don't like Christmas because, in fact, I hate it; at least the season anyway. First there is Christmas shopping. To me, shopping rivals such chores as going to the dentist and cutting the grass with a pair of scissors...

Don't bring the bricks back (12/21/05)
I am sure that both of my readers (you are reading them, right Mom and Dad?) are aware that downtown Sikeston is converting the nice, semi-smooth paved roads for the visually appealing, driving unfriendly bricks. This is part of an effort to beautify downtown in hopes of drawing more people to visit the businesses that reside there...