Overheard at foster parent orientation

Me: So, the first step in becoming certified as a foster parent is to decide you are inter–
Guy: I have a question.
Me: Sure, go ahead.
Guy: I had a little CPS (child protective services) issue a while back with my stepson. Would that have any effect on my becoming a foster parent?
Me: Well, each case is [...]

The Mac is in the shop

The wife says I look like Lon Cheney from nearly a week of packing, so I’ll make this quick. The Mac is indeed in the shop, apparently the victim of my ham-handed typing and knack for spilling water on the keyboard. I didn’t spill much but it doesn’t take much, as I learned from the local [...]

Random Monday thoughts

The Missus packs away the Biblical commentary collection while looking resplendent in contrasting colors of the season. Yowza!

Five boxes: a good start, only a start.

The packing is going so-so. After an initial rush, we’ve slowed to a crawl. I should be worried, but why start so early when I can worry the night before [...]

A change is gonna come

With each new post, I am increasingly dissatisfied with the appearance of italic text. Instead of italics, the text is red. It looks like a link and competes with the color of the real links, which are light green.
To have the complete creative control I want, I’ll need to upgrade wordpress and migrate my blog [...]

Porto’s

The missus is at work educating the not-so-little fifth-graders while I sip an insanely powerful cup of coffee from my Stars & Stripes staffer mug. This coffee is no joke. Even now, I can feel myself recovering from a 7-hour drive Sunday from the in-law’s house in San Bernardino.
Under normal circumstances, it’s a 6-hour drive. [...]

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Editor’s note: the following is a partially completed travel sketch written during our vacation in Monterey County in July. I was going to delete it from my drafts, since I never finished it, and I can’t or don’t have time to recall what I did a month later. But I figure it’s just enough material [...]

The Man: Fighting the Forces of Good Health

So, I have this rash. It’s painful, not to mention that I feel like the town leper when I shake hands with the good people at church.
I went to the doctor on Friday morning. He prescribed an antihistamine. A good antihistamine. I go to my pharmacy to pick up my prescription.
“Rivera, Rivera — what’s your [...]

They come in sizes?

The following conversation just happened during a discussion with two co-workers at our foster care agency.
C: So, M. brought in a case of diapers yesterday.
C2: What size are they?
Me: They come in sizes?
C2: Jay. (With accompanying look of pity and disapproval.)
Hey, it’s a reasonable question.

Summer sloth

Must. Wake. Up. And. Be. Productive.
Must. Get. Off. Couch.
Help.