My back yard in the north Toronto neighbourhood of Willowdale was the closest thing to a cottage that I ever owned. It was private, fenced in, surrounded by cedars. I could enjoy the inground pool without feeling watched. On long weekends, it felt like the entire city emptied and headed for cottage country. I only had to open a sliding door to get there.
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The Amazon Echo, also known as Alexa, is becoming more popular every day. Derek and I have had one for a few years, dating back to the start of our involvement with the company Witlingo. We both contribute voice work to the Witlingo stable of “skills” – the term for apps in the voice-first world.
…This is the second and last column I wrote for a magazine that had a change at the helm. You know what that’s like; the new person wants to make their own decisions and hire their own people. It’s all good. But why let a collection of carefully chosen sentences go to waste? And so I ranted:Â …
I was “let go” from a magazine before I even got started! The Managing Editor hired me to write a column titled Brandt’s Rant and then she left for another job. The new M.E. didn’t see me as a fit for the mag unless I wanted to write about something I have no interest in. And so it goes. …
Girlfriends, remember when we first realized that we could wear yoga pants to do anything and go anywhere and it was fashionable? That was a great day. …
I’ve written and set aside at least a half-dozen columns about the #metoo movement. Most of what’s worth saying has already been said. Then I considered my own experiences and realized I had an unusual one, long ago, that might serve as a cautionary tale. It became my final column before Our London closed its pages for good. I was also invited to talk about it this week on News 95.7 in Halifax. …
In my second-last column for Our London, I wrote about the paper’s end, just days away. Many of us work for big corporations now. They have to eat their young in order to keep up appearances. And so I wrote…Â …
2017 has nothing to apologize for. It’s not the year’s fault that we lost my father in it. That blame goes to Parkinson’s Disease which robbed us of him even before it took his life. This is our first Christmas without Dad. …
It was tempting to write a scathing column about the coming end of Our London and other newspapers. …
According to New York financial services expert Jack Kelly, they’ve all been fired. …
Every year it happens and I brace for it. The predictable outrage about when Christmas decorations go up. No one can do anything about when they appear in stores, so they crab about peoples’ personal preferences. Can’t someone wear a poppy and install Christmas lights at the same time without being judged for it? …
A couple of years ago, I wrote about how I became an unwitting subscriber to the magazine Camelid Quarterly. My subscription finally ran out and I no longer receive their newsletter. But these animals still fascinate me. …
My latest column for Our London considers the cynic and why I think it’s a bad thing to become. …
Traffic experts in many cities and now mine, claim that the so-called zipper method of merging traffic from two lanes into one is the best way to keep traffic flowing in construction zones. …
Of all the things that have come along with the campaign and Presidency of Donald Trump – gah, every time I say President Trump I feel my blood pressure rise – the most egregious in my opinion is the proliferation of fake news. …
This week in Our London, I told everybody what size clothing I wear. But my weight? You’ll never get that out of me. …
In the six-and-a-half years since my personal victory over sepsis, a lot has changed. Sepsis is the body’s overreaction to a minor infection that leads to a blood infection that’s fatal if it isn’t treated. Here’s an update, for this World Sepsis Day 2017. Â …
Writing an opinion column is hard. Writing a daily blog is hard. Writing is hard! …
“The scariest moment is always just before you start” ~Stephen KingRead More »