Costco 101 Fans of Costco are quick to praise its prices and products, especially when it comes to groceries — and stocking up for a pandemic in one quick trip, from toilet paper (when it’s in stock) to frozen pizza. I had long resisted the warehouse store because of […]
Read Time : 19 Minutes
Terry Lundahl wasn’t an artist. Now her art will be on TV
CLOSE STURGEON BAY – How could a new, local artist get one of her paintings purchased for a new TV series? In Terry Lundahl’s case, it took: Losing a longtime job because of the COVID-19 pandemic; Worrying about possibly losing her husband of more than 40 years to a medical […]
Read Time : 4 Minutes
The Rise of Sierra Online Wasn’t Exactly a Fairytale
My father was a computer programmer for a large pharmaceutical corporation for a good portion of his career. This was rather cool, as he brought home many computer curiosities and oddities for us to “test” over the years. In the late spring of 1984, he brought us a novelty named […]
Read Time : 7 Minutes
2020 wasn’t all bad. How one writer embraced the mantra of relax and have a homebrew.
Like many people, I needed a new hobby. As spring faded into summer my typical, fully-loaded work schedule cleared up and to my surprise I had time on my hands. It felt bizarre. When the shock of Tiger King wore off, my next undertaking was tackling a bunch of new […]
Read Time : 13 Minutes
We left the UK for Portland expecting a liberal dream. That wasn’t the reality
It was Labor Day. We were having a barbecue in our back garden when gale-force winds started out of nowhere. As we scrambled to hold down plates and glasses, our neighbour’s horse chestnut trees swayed menacingly, their leaves swirling around us. Over the next hour, smoke filled the air and […]
Read Time : 8 Minutes
The pandemic techno-future that wasn’t
Exactly six months ago today, while Americans were still conflating Corona beer with coronavirus, I found myself suddenly, guiltily, free. It was March 15, and my governor, New York’s Andrew Cuomo, had just asked all businesses in the state to voluntarily close to stop the spread of COVID-19; five days […]