The season is officially upon us. And I couldn't be any more excited, but not for the reasons you may think. Allow me to explain:

Growing up in Chicago, every Sunday Mass ended with some derivation of  "Go in Peace". If this happened to be during football season, the translation would be the equivalent of "Gentlemen, start your engines". Everyone would race home in time for the earliest scheduled kick-off. Whatever your favorite team, there was always the common denominator of...Da Bears.

By d...

Over the weekend, I re-watched The Graduate. It's been a decade and a half since I've seen that movie. There is a scene towards the end of the movie where Dustin Hoffman is pounding on a large glass window on a balcony overlooking the altar where his love interest is about to get married. In his desperate attempt to halt the ceremony, he repeatedly yells her name.

Over time that scene grew on me, but for whatever reason, I could never remember the girl's name. For years I walked around randoml...

Today is 9/11. I don't believe in God. But if I did, I would be spending the day begging Him to turn Osama bin Laden into a pillar of salt for the sole purpose of selling him on e-Bay for $1.26.

So to those of you that are so inclined, make it happen.

For the rest of us, never forget.

Peace out.

But I am here to change all that.

Today is 09/09/09. So what does that mean? Some predict the end of the world, but my research shows that this date falls on a Wednesday in September (both of which have 9 letters). September 9 also is the 252nd day of the year. 2+5+2 = 9. In addition, if you multiply any single digit number by 9, the resulting two digits add up to 9. Lastly, note that 999 is 666 upside-down which signifies the number of the Beast, the Antichrist in the Bible's Book of Revelati...

I enjoy hiking. Growing up in Chicago and then spending a few years in Boston, I never had much of an opportunity to appreciate this activity until I moved to Seattle. Out here, everyone drinks coffee, complains about the weather, and hikes. Pretty much in that order.

My friend Don is an avid hiker, and when the opportunity presents itself, we will hit the trails. Now Don is an interesting person. During the day he acts as the VP of Finance to a large corporation tossing around financial deriv...

Actual Caption: A poster of Iran's moderate presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi is seen on the ground in Tehran months after the June 2009 election.

          

Actual Caption: (L)...

On a whim, I recently tried to reconnect with an old friend using one of the popular social networking sites. Not being a member, I had to send an anonymous email without any obvious proof of who I was. In response, like the "secret question" you have to answer when you forget your password, he asked what I had once given him for a birthday present in order to prove my identity. Fair enough. Here is my story:

We met during my first couple of weeks in college. As far as guys were concerned, he...