The Crotchety Old Man

Category: Habits

  • My Clean House

    Jennifer Senior, author of All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood, points out in an interview I heard on NPR that the housewives and homemakers of the sixties have morphed into today’s stay-at-home moms. The emphasis has changed from keeping house to parenting. Staying home with the kids has become a luxury. Whether…

  • Tethered to the Coffeemaker

    I drank my first coffee — heavily laced with cream and sugar — a very long time ago. We’d spent the night with Uncle Don and Aunt Mary. Uncle Don got up hours before everyone else to make breakfast before he went to work. He kept his radio tuned to a country music station, and…

  • Ten Things I Never Do Anymore

    Change is a fact of life. No, I don’t mean nickels, dimes, and quarters. I’m talking about things being different than they were before, largely as a result of progress. Thinking about changes in my own life, I came up with ten things I don’t do anymore — some thanks to progress, others due to…

  • My New Fireplace

    Fireplaces have never impressed me much. I can’t even recall my first indoor encounter with burning logs. Until I was older, none of my relatives had working fireplaces. My first childhood home didn’t have a fireplace. The second — the house my father died in — didn’t have a fireplace when we moved in. A…

  • On Becoming a Gym Rat: Revisited

    January is the month for resolutions, and for lots of people, getting more exercise tops the list. We year-round gym rats see the influx of new faces every January. Some will stick around, but in a matter of weeks, most will give up and quit coming. Read on if you want to be around next…

  • DVR Changed My Life

    For longer than I care to admit, my evenings revolved around the television. I had shows to watch every night of the week. Picking favorites for some nights was easier than others, but somehow, I always found something to watch. Looking back, the quality of my viewing selections makes me cringe. I couldn’t stay awake…

  • An Update on My Healthy Lifestyle

    Two years ago, because the monthly membership fee was cheaper than paying by the class for Zumba, I joined a gym. To make sure I didn’t pay for something I never used, I got the most expensive plan available. Having never set foot in a weight room in my life, I figured the weekly sessions…

  • A Writer’s Temperament

    Anything I’ve done — whether writing a novel, losing fifty pounds, becoming a runner, or whatever — I tend to believe anyone can do. On the other hand, just about everyone I know does something I could never do.  I’m not smart enough, don’t think that way, or lack the talent. I’m an ordinary guy…

  • The Serious Writer

    The first advice aspiring authors get is to write every day.  Jobs and other responsibilities are just excuses. The serious writer should get out of bed several hours before anyone else, or stay up after they’ve gone to bed. Whatever it takes to meet the daily requirement. Writing time, when I can find it, has always…

  • My MVPs

    I am not a hoarder. The neat freak in me couldn’t handle the mess. If anything, I err in the opposite direction, tossing stuff others would probably keep. Whether the result of nature or nurture, I can’t say. As with most traits, I suspect both play a role. My parents were both OCD control freaks. At…