Archive

• The Kindness of Strangers: How a simple greeting can brighten someone’s day
• Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows
• Bacon Hollow Overlook
• Backyard birds on a cold winter’s day
• Don’t be that parent at a youth sporting event.
• How to become a writer in 10 minutes
• Pedal
• A walk in the woods
• Pileated woodpecker
• What really killed My Buddy
• Pop culture lies I tell my kids: U Can’t Touch This
• The man who hated caller ID
• William Wordsworth once said that the best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
• This is the story of when my cousin pranked his best friend by posting a For Sale: Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pigs ad on Craigslist.
• The meditation of running
• Do birds sing in Ukraine?
• Beautiful crow (haiku)
• When you write an original song but keep messing up
• Embrace silence
• Sketch off!
• Don’t be angry. Be Keanu.
• Red-tailed hawk
• Homemade pizza on a kerosene heater
• A Christmas (Eve) to remember
• Show, don’t tell
• Cake
• Keeping a daily journal
• This Is Me Being Uncomfortable: October 2021
• Writing about running
• The snake and the vine
• The frog and the fish
• Before it is lost
• Nothing turns my wife on more than when I’m holding one of these in my hand
• The birds are still asleep
• Lovesick for you
• No, I wasn’t hacked
• I saved a chickadee’s life
• South Boston Speedway, 1988
• You can’t be stuck in your own head when you run
• Godwin’s
• What the world sounds like when you wake at 5 a.m.
• To hell and back with a cigarette break in between
• Stowaway On a Cloud
• Ants Like Cattle at a Trough
• The Catbird
• If I abruptly go silent while on a conference call at work
• Tin Whistle
• A Curious Wind
• The Water Sure Is Cold. Deep, Too.
• A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
• Panic Attacks Suck (Alternate Title: The Exploding Tell-Tale Heart)
• The Seizure
• The First Phone Call
• Stephen King comes to Phenix, Virginia
• Who Is My Ideal Reader? Definitely Not Who You Think
• The New Kid
• The Music Stops
• The Gilliam Shed
• Creature from the Black Lagoon
• 10 Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes still relevant today
• Robins in Winter
• Always Love. Hate Will Get You Every Time
• Should a sense of dread come over you, go for a walk
• How to use fear as motivation
• ’Twas the day before Christmas
• Apologies In Advance
• Why I’m giving up blogging — at least for now
• A zen apprentice walks into a bar
• Pandemic beard progression
• My kids didn’t think I could still dunk. I had to prove them wrong.
• The secret to a long and happy marriage
• William Carlos Williams was no poet
• Summer waterpark alternative
• The real reason I left Facebook
• The holder of ropes
• Don’t let anger guide you
• The proper recourse now
• A young child asks a zen monk how to take care of her anger when she is mad
• Crow buddha crow
• Today is a blank page
• The jumping spider and the tree
• Dear kids, stop calling my shorts “a bathing suit”
• When my kids start talking to me about Minecraft
• The birds and the bees
• A poem of immense depth to my wife
• An open letter to my suburban neighbors on the state of my sanity
• Why God made tall people
• I no longer believe in daily meditation
• The Banana Heads: A graphic novel
• Rabbits
• I don’t smoke weed anymore
• The coordination of crows
• Dinner in spring
• Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail still rings true to this day
• Black men matter. Black women matter. Black children matter.
• The 4-minute read that needs to go viral
• But is it kind?
• The last words of George Floyd
• My wife needs to create her own mandala coloring book
• Even Squirrels Relax
• When you’re angry, pull weeds
• I still see you
• The Need to Explain
• Instead of…
• Simpler Times
• When you sweep, sweep.
• Perspective: Exploring the Streets of New York City on a BMX During COVID-19 Lockdown
• 41
• One Sentence at a Time
• The Domino Effect
• Her Own Pace
• The Factory Model Economy Is Dead
• Totally Awesome Music Playlist from Twelve Years Ago
• Dog Eyeballs
• Rain or Shine
• There’s Always a Silver Lining
• First Haircut After COVID-19 Pandemic Ends
• An Ode to Scott 1000
• About Damn Time
• Andrew W.K. vs. COVID-19
• Listen to Your Mom. Don’t Talk On the Phone When It’s Lightning
• Not Your Typical Shopping List
• When I Worked In Construction, My Nickname Was PP
• Depressed? Watch This and You Won’t Be, At Least For a Few Minutes
• That’s Right Kids, Michael Jordan Was My Teammate
• Should I Stay or Should I Go?
• Rest in Peace, Kobe Bean Bryant
• Raw Potatoes
• Stranger In a Strange Land
• The Apparition
• The accidental book
• Sentimental Journey
• When Was the Last Time You Looked Up?
• My Little Anti-Authoritarians
• Simple Math Really
• There’s always a reason to laugh
• The Silver Lining of a Chest Cold
• Writing Is Freedom
• In Need of a Summer Read?
• Sometimes Sadness Feels Happy
• The Simple Pleasure of Walking Your Dog
• Here Lies Someone Serious
• Sitting On a Hillside While My Son Practices Soccer
• Slow Down, Time
• For anyone complaining about the Ty Jerome double dribble no-call during last night’s Virginia vs Auburn Final Four game
• Coaching advice from your new soccer coach who knows nothing about soccer but has seen the original Karate Kid more than a dozen times. Sweep the leg, Johnny!
• A Slight Digression On My Own Experience Starting a Rock Band
• The single worst date of my life, aka: First, last date; otherwise known as Never reserve a ‘Table for Two’ at Red Lobster
• An Open Letter to My New Neighbor Who Yells at People Who Is No Longer My Neighbor Because He Yelled at Too Many People and Was Likely Evicted
• How Not To Fry An Egg
• Robbie, Junior
• Sometimes I Don’t Like My Brain
• Words
• Episode 6: This Is Me Being Uncomfortable
• The Court
• Then and Now: A Brief History of Phenix, Virginia
• Welcome to Phenix: A Nice Place to Live
• The Ghosts of Childhood
• To Blog or Not To Blog — That Is the Question
• A Peaceful Walk Down By the Water; Or, A Fish Hook to the Groin
• Handwritten Notes While Eating Alone
• I Started Writing Poetry Again; Or, A Brief, Soul Crushing History of Working In a Bagel Shop
• Mikey, the Ninja Turkey: A Thanksgiving Tale, As Told By My Five Year Old Son
• Perhaps You Should See a Counselor
• Author Insights: Writing a Book Is a Very Different Experience Than Reading a Book
• Today Is Not About Me: It’s About the People Who Made Me, Me
• Author Insights: Writing Is a Lonely Endeavor
• What’s In a Name: Why I chose the title I did for the memoir I am writing
• The Water That Carried Them Away
• Red fire trucks and police cars
• Text Messages with Friends: Power ballads, Foster’s beer, and pick-up lines
• Who am I, who are you?
• Dear literary agent, I wrote a children’s book—call me
• I feel like a failure every time I sit down to write
• The flash mob that wasn’t
• Flying death monster from above
• My dog was bitten in the face by a squirrel
• When your thoughts won’t stop racing, pick up a book
• Creativity isn’t something you should suppress
• Your job title isn’t important
• You are replaceable
• Book Update: Two
• The many benefits of being sick—no, really
• I fell in love with my wife in high school, but thank goodness we never dated
• The Successful Writer’s Secret to Writing Every Day: A Condensed Manifesto
• Polly Was a Fat Dog
• Your Story Matters: Processing Pain and Trauma
• 2017: The Year I Started Writing Again
• My Dad Died, But He Is Not Dead
• Early Bird Gets the Worm
• Writing By Hand Is an Act of Creative Rebellion
• Is My Writing Any Good?
• Book Update 1
• The Last Letters of Vincent van Gogh
• The Day We Went Back In Time
• I’m afraid to write this story because…
• Episode 5 of This Is Me Being Uncomfortable
• I listened to Taylor Swift and my ears did not bleed. Instead, they rejoiced
• If I am not being creative, I become a lukewarm version of myself and jeopardize my happiness
• Charles Bukowski on living the life you aspire to live despite all odds
• #Charlottesville
• But whatever I am has its source back there…
• An empty chamber, black and hollow and alone
• The Red Lollipop
• El Chupacabra on a Friday night at 1 a.m.
• The Man Who Walked Off the Face of the Earth
• Where My Father Once Stood
• When Depression Comes to the Workplace
• Grief Is a Fire, Smoldering
• When the nightmares began
• Babies Have Soft Spots on Their Skulls
• In Phenix, Virginia, I Was Born and Raised
• This is Happiness
• Peace of Mind
• Ready or Not, Here I Come
• It starts with the breath
• Gentle, Little Bird
• Just Be
• It Doesn’t Matter Where We Go
• Sleeping Birds Do Not Sing: A Novel (Excerpt)
• This Is Me Being Uncomfortable: Episode 004
• Do you not know how beautiful you are?
• The Way I Love You
• This Is Me Being Uncomfortable: Seasonal Affective Disorder (Ep. 003)
• Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: A Brief Book Review
• What Others Think
• I Miss Your Speech Impediment
• A Simple Meditation
• Ease Stress and Anxiety in Your Life by Taking a Mindful Walk
• Contemplating death and the fragility of life
• A List of Things I Dislike Strongly Yet Would Still Prefer Do Than Wrap a Christmas Present
• The Junk Drawer of My Childhood
• This Great Big Scary Thing
• The Last Leaf
• Cal Meets Leon Phelps the Cat (When the Lights Go Out at 10:16)
• This Is Me Being Uncomfortable: Episode 2 (Audio)
• Without Mud, There is No Lotus
• I Cry Myself to Sleep at Night Sometimes
• Stuff My Three Year Old Son Said Today: Volume 2 (A Halloween Special)
• I Was Not Mauled or My Face Eaten Off by a Territorial Bear
• This is Me Talking About Meditation, This is Me Being Uncomfortable
• True Facts from the Small Town of Phenix, Virginia: The Aces
• Down by the Water
• But When You Give a Feast, Invite the Poor, the Crippled, the Lame, the Blind
• Stuff My Three Year Old Son Said Today: Volume 1
• The War is Over
• This Is Water
• The Lady Next Door: An Update
• My Interview with Richard Cox, Author of The Boys of Summer: A Novel
• Thoughts From My Grandmother’s Funeral; or, This is Not Sad, Depressing Commentary
• Snapping Green Beans with Granny
• The novel that wasn’t a novel
• Birds of One Feather
• A pocket knife from my grandfather
• So You’re a Minimalist. What Does That Even Mean?
• I Am a Minimalist, and This Is the Story of When I Began to Question All of the Superfluous Stuff In My Life
• A father’s letter to his children on Father’s Day
• Calm the Negative Voice in Your Head; or, My Son Urinated on a Toilet Seat and Couldn’t Be More Proud of Himself
• Fish Swim Forth and Stay
• Hello, Anxiety. I Know You Are There
• In response to Phenix Being Named to the 10 Small Towns In Virginia Where You’d Never Want To Live
• One bacon, egg, and cheese bagel later
• Letter to my Grandmother
• Interview with Sean Beaudoin, author of Welcome Thieves
• Looking from the outside in re: tornado aftermath in Appomattox, Evergreen, Waverly
• Overcoming Anxiety: What is Anxiety?
• 3 Reasons We Were Meant to be Together
• 7 books that will initiate a positive change in your life
• Overcoming Anxiety: Meet the Author
• We None Truly Ever Die
• Overcoming Anxiety: An Introduction
• Re: Community Mourns Local Running Man Killed
• How to Make a Grown Man Cry
• How To Take a Break From Facebook
• My Facebook Sabbatical: How a Social Media Cleanse Gave Me New Perspective and More Insight on the Important Things In Life
• While On a Run, I Met a Man Who Had Lost 80 Percent of His Hip to Lymphoma. He Talked, I Listened
• Lord, Help Me Be the Person My Dog Thinks I Am
• Two Simple Words
• Hi, My Name is Jeff, and I Suffer from Anxiety
• Do I Pack for My Dad’s Funeral?
• Let It Wayne
• Throwback Thursday with Duke Blue Devils Great Bobby Hurley
• Text Messages with Friends: The Longtime Friend
• No Other Place I Would Rather Be
• How to administer ear drops to a small (very strong) child
• What brings value to my life?
• Are you comfortable driving a tractor?
• May 21 Is My Dog’s Birthday, Not the Day My Dad Died
• You don’t need an app for that and 11 other things I learned from running over the last 11 months
• Tweets I would tweet if I still had a Twitter account: #2
• A brief history of Anti-Lou
• Henry, stop biting the trash can
• I’ve been thinking about my own mortality a lot lately
• Do One in Four Women Sell Younique 3D Fiber Lashes? I Think Maybe So
• A Child’s Imagination
• The Lady Next Door, Now on Kindle
• A little piece of Shauna’s heart
• Seeking Validation, Grasping for a Sense of Accomplishment
• Setting the Setting
• Welcome to the First Week of Swimming Lessons
• Shakespeare at the Beach (During Shark Week)
• When geese attack; or, how I almost got my ass kicked by a Canadian goose
• The Reluctant Runner
• Conversations With My 2 Year Old Daughter: Episode 1
• The Chris Bosh Disappearing Act
• Colored Sketch of My Son Henry
• The Wind at My Back: End of Week 1
• The Wind at My Back
• 2013 NBA Playoffs: Separated at Birth
• Tweets I Would Tweet If I Still Had a Twitter Account: #1
• (Oh) Henry
• Ten Things You Shouldn’t Say To Your Pregnant Wife Who is Full Term and Could Go Into Labor Any Minute
• Fudged Resume in a Difficult Economy
• On Second Thought, I Think I’ll Just Hang Out Here a Little Longer
• Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
• One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed
• The Demon in the Freezer: Brief Book Reviews
• Movember Misspeak
• Scene from an Awkward Christmas Dinner at Buss Family Household
• Exclusive Video of President Barack Obama After Winning in Ohio, Elected to Second Term
• I Love You So Much, I’m Eating Sardines
• Bruce Springsteen Setlist
• Bruce Springsteen in Charlottesville and I’m There, Oh Yeah
• It’s Friday, It’s My Birthday, Time to Listen to the Delta Force Theme Song
• Review of Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
• The Sound of His Voice, Mumbled and Deep
• Sweet Potato Pancakes at 7 AM
• Craig Lancaster vs. Jonathan Evison
• How to Enable Enhanced Rich Text Editor in SharePoint Announcements
• I Don’t Want To Be a Writer Anymore: Part III
• Chuck Norris Has Officially Lost His Shit
• Something You Pass Around
• Author Magazine interviews Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins, Financial Lives of the Poets, The Zero et al
• August 28, 1963: I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Rare Photo of Paul Ryan at Free Mumia Rally Wearing Rage Against the Machine t-shirt
• Joseph Conrad on Writing, Storytelling
• All Adult and Youth Book Sales, January 2012
• American Segregation: The Mask Unveiled
• Jamie Iredell, What Happens When You Read
• David Foster Wallace on humor, addiction
• Chris Mullin Hairstyles That Never Were – The Pat Riley
• A Greater Plan: A Son Remembers His Dad on Father’s Day
• Fathermucker: A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Dad
• The Other F Word: From Punk Rocker to Father
• My Facial Hair Reminds Me of a Lagwagon Song
• I Don’t Want To Be a Writer Anymore: Part II
• An Observation on the Lunch Time Habits of Co-Workers
• Justin Anderson, UVA Men’s Basketball Recruit
• Interview with Thomas Thwaites, author of The Toaster Project
• Colored Sketch of My Daughter Annabelle
• Words that begin with “in-” that the New York press can use to describe Jeremy Lin’s game
• I Don’t Want To Be a Writer Anymore: Part I
• Chris Mullin Hairstyles That Never Were – The Rick James
• Kevin Love: The New Big Fundamental
• David Robinson Spotted at 3:23
• Shit Nobody Says
• Good Books
• The Lady Next Door
• Rabbit, Run