This take on fish tacos began when I watched an episode of Chef John in which he makes puffy fish tacos. In the video, Chef John opines that a little more crunch could improve most fish tacos. I have made a lot of fish tacos at my house, and they…

While a good part of the United States in 2022 began to heat up and burn, Oregon, where I live, experienced the wettest spring in recorded history. It rained, and it rained, and it rained some more. We were soggy and depressed. Picnics got canceled and suicides were up. …

It started innocently enough about twenty years ago. I was enjoying an espresso with my friend Charley on a rainy Portland afternoon in the Anne Hughes Reading Room at Powell’s Books. The conversation turned to the National Book Awards. Charley was rooting for poet Harryette Mullen’s, Sleeping with the Dictionary…

I’m old. I like being old, and I am good at being old. Being old fits me. I was not good at being young or being middle-aged, and it is nice to discover an age I am good at. What’s not to like about it? I don’t have to work…

My family physician is considering quitting and going to a different HMO, but she needs to work things out with her husband before she makes a move like that. My physical therapist is very unhappy with his new receptionist. I don’t think he understands how much she contributes to the…

I have gone soft. I realized it as I sat watching the Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building, a goofy comedy with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez playing a trio of crime-fighting podcasters. …

For me, getting old led to retirement, and retirement meant saying goodbyes. Some were sad goodbyes. Others not so much. Three of my favorite goodbyes were to credit reporting agencies. Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax Hasta la vista, assholes. I need you no longer. My house is paid for. My car…

I am ordinarily a novel-reading guy, but a while back I decided I would read biographies of the American presidents. In order. From the beginning. I just finished Abraham Lincoln, and I need a break, so I’m reading novels again. But after reading sixteen presidential biographies, it seemed to me…

Anosognosia: A neurological condition where a person is unable to perceive, or is unaware of his or her own illness. When practicing probate law, I was on the court bailout list. Judges used the list to put probate lawyers on cases that needed them but didn’t have them. Due to…