Some titles I’ve tossed around that won’t make it past the livingroom to the blog: Why Your Opinion Doesn’t Matter: A Look at Movies, Books, Music and TV Your Kid: She’s Not Precocious, She’s a Brat Yes, You Are that Great: A Historical Look at the Yawn

It’s summer, a time of picnics, BBQs, social gatherings which all amount to potlucks and you’ve got to bring something. When I was in college working summer jobs for my employer, they knew they could always count on me to sign-up for plates, napkins, cups, or plasticware. Occasionally, when someone beat me to it, I’d…

My step-mom suggested it might be good if I let people know I was still alive while encouraging me (along with my aunt and cousin) to get something up on the Mess. So, I’m here to say that yes indeed, I am still alive and yes indeed, I do need to get something posted. It’s…

In an ideal world there are no “stupid questions”. Every question presents an opportunity to impart knowledge…. unless you’re in IT. I know. I was part of that dark underbelly where you are the puppet master controlling the strings of the almighty network and thus the strings of many users who just want to get…

I have a story to tell and it’s just killing me that I can’t reach anyone to get it off my chest. Out of desperation I’ve been scrolling through my Caller ID (I don’t think the local city lawn service wants to know or the guy running for office) and through my address book (absolutely…

The other day (and in my world that could be anywhere between yesterday and 5 months ago) my co-workers burst into my office still high from their previous night’s shopping experience. See, we no longer have malls in my city, we have experiences and the latest experience is the high end shopping strip known as…

Have you ever been influenced to try something new based on something you’ve read or heard? You read a blog by a favorite author and think, “you know, I might just read that book, try that bath soap, watch that program, listen to that song” just to try something new. It’s similar enough to your…

I have a confession to make, I’m a geek. Now I know, my friends who are reading this aren’t particularly stunned. In fact, they could have told you that had you known to ask. But you see, when I’m away from my friends and family I like to pretend that I lead a nice quiet…

The Monday before… Last Monday I was in “a mood”. I woke up mad and I managed to stay mad for a good part of the day – no particular reason either – I was mad. My first order of business was to send my tap teacher a note, “Dear Brenna, I’m not going to…

My self-imposed project for the weekend was to assemble our newly acquired grill. I went into the garage, pulled out all the pieces and stared blankly at the very un-grill like mess in front of me. I broke out the instructions and read slowly and loudly the first step while eyeing the bags of nuts,…

[Picture of Lynn in her element – holding court at a convention giving everyone the Lynn attitude of “Look…” (I’ll let Lynn fill in the rest of that very Lynn statement)- this picture captures the essence of Lynn.] … and on our first day in Vegas, we (Jay, Jeff, Kendra, Buddy & Lynn) crossed some…

I’m not sure when the tide turned for messengers – maybe someone once had a lot of bad news to deliver, was running a little low and had to call a moratorium, “hey, please stop shooting my guys, I’ve still got some more bad news to come and I’m sure as hell not going to…

Just a little more on the helicopter tour – I completely forgot to mention the music that was piped through our noise reducing headphones. As we taxied (as much as a helicopter can taxi) down the runway the first song scampered into our headsets – the theme to Top Gun. I shot Jay the “YAY!…