I read the other day that people born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s — today’s young adults — cannot fathom a world before the internet, cellphones and instant entertainment. They are Generation Z. Most likely, you will find them with their noses melded to a digital screen. I do ...

Today’s column was going to be brilliant. I laughed out loud at the silly thought that popped into my mind. I sprinted through the house to relay the hilarity to Terry. “Oh, there you are,” she said. “What was the date of your cousin’s wedding?” “It’s, uh...” I sighed and ...

Occasionally, someone asks me how I’ve managed to write a column every week for the last 25 years. Usually, that person is an insomniac hoping to be bored to sleep. “Panic,” I answer before he can drift off. “Panic and deadlines. And a good disaster.” It’s the deadline thing that ...

Octopuses — or possibly octopi — came from outer space. That’s the word from 33 scientists who postulated their octopus ponderings in the March issue of “Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology.” My wife, Terry, has another theory — octopuses are spiders that fell into the ...

Remember those first essay assignments of the school year? Teachers tried to ease us kids back into the classroom drudgery by assigning us to write how we spent our summer vacation. It was the very topic most of us jabbered about right up to the ringing of the class bell. Now our minds were as ...

I miss telephone books. They could level a chair with a short leg, help little kids sit tall enough to join the big people’s table at Thanksgiving, and they’d swat flies like nobody’s business. The coolest thing of all — they were chock-full of phone numbers. Or turn to the Yellow ...

Aesop was confused. The guy credited with cooking up a Crock-Pot full of fables packed with wisdom couldn’t make up his mind. The sages who followed did little to untangle the wacky webs he weaved. We’re left with dueling nuggets like these: Look before you leap, but he who hesitates is ...

Researchers at The Ohio State University offered advice last week on how to turn old and boring into exciting and new. Get weird. They worded it a bit more scholarly than that, but weird is what they meant. For example, they suggest eating popcorn — a known and habitual hand food — with ...

Walking, I suppose, is a wonderful workout. Also, I can’t afford to fill my gas tank. According to the annoying herd of health cranks, walking’s good for you. Really good. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, my-oh-my-what-a-wonderful-day good. I’d jump in the car and speed away from these exuberant ...

Giddiness set in every time Mom bought a new box of Quaker oats. Not for the cereal. I was an Alpha-Bits kind of guy, myself. It was for the box. Back then, rolled oats came in a big cardboard tube. With strings, crayons and a wooden spoon, Quaker Oats boxes converted into great tom-toms. ...

I don’t know why the dishes have to be washed first. Why can’t we leave home without them being out of the sink? It’s frustrating. Or maybe it’s just being a guy. We established days ahead of time that to make our appointment, we needed to leave the house by 8 a.m. The night before, ...

Lately, people have mistaken me for someone with wisdom. I don’t know why. I think it’s the beard. When one’s beard is snowy white, and his hair is well on its way to matching, people tend to think, “Now there’s a guy who’s been around for, like, a million years. He must have ...

The world has turned so bitter that I propose we institute a moratorium on meanness on holidays. Fortunately, every day is a holiday! So let’s stop calling each other names, break out the cake and ice cream, and celebrate. Here’s a sampling of actual events, oddities and strange doings — ...

“You should scrapbook your memories,” our enthusiastic crafter friend said. “We do.” I led her to the refrigerator. “Isn’t it a beaut?” She peered on either side of the fridge. Stood on tiptoes to peek at the top. Scratched her head. “All I see is the refrigerator.” “The ...

My friend Warner observed that we do ourselves a disservice by killing ants that crawl into the house. “It makes sense,” he said. “You drop crumbs. They take them away. If you kill the ants, you’re stuck cleaning up both insect carcasses and crumbs. Let the ants live and they clean the ...

I am literally annoyed. And so, the survey says, are you. The phrases we use daily create this whole synergy thing, in a ballpark kind of way, that give 110 percent when you stay in the loop but think outside the box. At the end of the day, it’s a win-win situation that is what it is. Yeah, ...

I squinted at the small print and bellowed. “Who shrunk my book?” I focused on the usual suspect. “Terry, did you run my favorite book through the wash?” My wife rubbed her temples. She does that a lot, for some reason. “Why would you think I’d run a load of books through the ...

All my life, I’ve had this distressing problem with animals. They like me. It’s nearly impossible to keep up my reputation as a grumpy old codger with a kitten curled up in my lap. What’s a grouch supposed to do? My childhood was filled with cats, dogs, cows, pigs, chickens, goldfish, ...

I need to start padding my obituary. Otherwise, it’s going to read, “Who?” I’ve taken to glancing at obituaries lately and noticed that every last one of them is for a wonderful person who was loved by all. I tried being wonderful once but it was exhausting. I gave it up after three ...

Terry looked thoughtful. “Is there a side road that I can take to get there?” “Oh, sure,” I said. “Six or seven of them.” “Which one would you take?” “That depends. ... Where might you be going?” She had done it again. She had dropped me into the middle of her internal ...