It was 40 Years Ago Today

I met Deb in our sophomore year at SUNY-Binghamton. My girlfriend moved on to her floor so we were just friends. But I liked her and in time I grew to like her a lot. Fortunately, I got dumped and she eventually broke up with her boyfriend. May 1980, engaged and graduating from college. We

Watching Lots of Television

An upside to the social distancing has been our sampling lots and lots of television series. As our normal fare ended their runs, we began working through shows across the various streaming platforms. Beecham House was an interesting look at India at the end of the 18th Century. I’m having trouble recalling all the shows

The Final Day of Summer Break

Thanks to an adjustment to the academic calendar, teachers were granted three bonus days of summer. Alas, today is the final weekday of my summer break. I report back to school on Monday with the kids arriving a week later. A highlight of the summer was adding Albert to our family. He loves perching here.

In Memory of Bob Martin

When I graduated from SUNY-Binghamton, I was fortunate to have a job waiting for it. Although it didn’t start until September, I was grateful to join Starlog Press as Managing Editor of Fangoria. Now, the title sounds impressive, especially for a 22-year-old straight out of college, but the reality was that each publication was a

12 Years

We’re taking the day to ourselves. A very young Kate and Robbie at Howard Weinstein’s wedding. The dogs are accompanying us on an outing, away from the world for the most part. It’s not that we need the solitude, but it helps. Each year brings us closer to that odd point of equilibrium, as many

Report from the Home Office

This has been a much needed week, a break from the high-pressured adjustment to teaching online and working with the students along the way. It’s Spring Break and I have been enjoying it immensely. Yes, I’m still doing my part to flatten the curve but I like being home at the desk. While I cannot

I’ve Been Thinking about the Rise of Skywalker

As things developed, I had the chance to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker twice in December, and in-between I had the opportunity to read up and discuss at length as we all tried to process the final installment in the nine-picture saga. Right up front, I’ll say I was entertained and mostly satisfied

My Year of Reading

On this, the final day of 2019, as is my custom, I am looking back on my reading. I appear to have read 214 books, a mix of fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. According to the stats at Goodreads the shortest work was Eric Zawadzki’s Eternal and the longest, at 1008 pages, was The Books

So, What Kind of Year has it Been?

As 2019 ends, and the final year of the decade begins (at least that’s how I count it), it’s time to take stock and judge the year as a whole. Deb and I had a relatively quiet, relatively good year. We saw plenty of television, a handful of plays and a bunch of movies, did

11 Years

Last year was tough. A decade is a solid block of time. Notthat eleven years is any lighter, but doesn’t have the same psychic weight. We continue living a day at a time, often getting stopped inour tracks by music, a line from a movie, a reference overheard. All bring backmemories of Robbie. Time certainly