Marty worked with a man who recently retired after thirty years of teaching. He taught military history and was one of those rare and special teachers whose subject matter was also one of their greatest interest. Given his personal investment in the topic, over the decades Terry arranged all sorts of unique and next-level experiences for his students. War veteran guest lecturers, field trips to wo...

A feat of engineering, Marta style.

Marta likes having a ready basket of fruit in her kitchen. 

Marty does not like having a thriving community of fruit flies in her kitchen. 

The problem is it is hard to have one without the other. 

Her solution—her personally designed fruit fly catcher. 

How it is made. You first need a small jar or container. Y ...

A quick follow-up on yesterday’s story. 

Kurt was part of a dinner party we had over the holidays. That moving story got retold at the table. My boys were hearing it for the first time, and the tale produced wild gales of laughter. Then Kurt said he recently learned Marc had died. He wasn’t sure of the circumstances but did share a few memories about him. 

Marc collected music back in the vinyl, CD, and tape days. He approached this hobby with a professional seriousness. For bands that interested him, he worked to collect everything from them, including obscure recordings and international exports. Then, after some period of time, he would bring the entire collection into the shop Kurt worked at to trade it in. Kurt, a collector himself, would study the bounty and question Marc’s decision, explaining this trade-in would come at a substantial financial loss to Marc. Marc would wave it off, saying he wasn't interested in them anymore and was moving on to a new band. He'd leave the box with Kurt to be valued. He would then build a new collection by a new artist, and in time approach Kurt's counter with an overflowing box and the cycle would repeat itself. 

Another thing Kurt remembered about Marc was when he young, like most kids his age, he was obsessed with everything Star Wars. When new movies were released, Marc's mother would take him to the show. Then on the drive home while they excitedly talked about the film and traded their favorite scenes, his mother would say, “Marc, you should check beneath your seat.” And with wide eyes he would fall into the footwell (this being back in the seatbelt optional days), dart his small hand in to the dark space and come out with an action figure or two from this latest film. Kurt commented on how thoughtful and kind he thought that was of Marc's mother. Fully impossible not to agree. 

Rest in peace Marc. You were an interesting (and helpful) soul. I hope you have all the clean urine you require and music and action figures you desire in your new/next home. 

I stopped into a music store to ask a friend who worked there to help me move. When I walked in, I saw Kurt at his usual post behind the register. After a few pleasantries, I told him of my need and asked if he could help this coming weekend. I said I had very few things, so it would be super quick, and pizza at a popular eatery afterward was on me. He said he would be happy to help. 
< ...

To close the books on the year, I thought I'd share a few of the more memorable sentiments I ran across in 2024:

Yesterday, I talked about a clever solution to a situation. It occurred to me that not many of us probably oversee schoolyard basketball courts, so it was not something we could ever take advantage of. As to not leave you empty-handed, here is a trick that any of us can use. 

I am not allowed to answer our house phone. Yes, we do still have a home line. It is even an eighties-style landline—and it is still true that nothing beats the crisp, clear, ever-reliable sound of an old-school landline. The reason I am not allowed to answer this phone is that when I do, there is a 63% likelihood that Marty, two months later, is going to cut a check to the fire department or some wildlife fund. Marty’s answer to these repeated checking account debits is that Troy/Dad is no longer allowed to answer the house phone. 

But there are times when we might be expecting a call from a serviceman or relative, and the phone needs to be answered, and on the rare occasion where I am the only one home, I have to answer the phone, and we all have to hope for the best. 

Then I overheard Alex answer the phone. He exchanged a few pleasantries with the caller and then said, “Sorry, my dad’s not here right now.” A moment later, he returned the receiver to the cradle. Alex was fourteen at the time, and his voice had turned the adult corner. I could imagine the person on the other end raising an eyebrow, trying to evaluate the sentence and the voice. But either way, the call was over. 

Ever since that moment, any time I’m on phone duty and get surprised by someone expected, I simply say the seven greatest words ever said over the telephone, “I’m sorry, but my dad’s not here right now.” I’m sure those words from my decades-worn vocal cords cause more than a furrowed brow, but before they are able to do the math, I happily drop the phone in its cradle and walk away, whistling. Ok, so I can't whistle. But if I could, this would absolutely be a time I would employ that elusive talent.

The first elementary school my kids went to had a basketball court on their playground. It was a full proper court with nice nets hanging from orange metal rims. They were popular during recess, but they also got plenty of play from all sorts of folks who lived in the community. 

It was not uncommon for late-afternoon pickup games to happen. When school let out, the bus-riding kids would...

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. Druggies

Marty, Bella, and I were chatting in my office when the notion of me having an affair on Marty came up. At the suggestion, Bella sprang to hypothetical action, saying if I cheated on her mother, the very first thing she would do is wreck both of my cars, driving them into trees or cement walls until they ceased operation. In the pause that followed, she added in an oh-by-the-way, she would never, ...

I was serving as a judge at a local startup competition. The judge on my left is one of the most accomplished executives I’ve ever run across. I’ve known this woman for a few decades (our spouses worked together). When Bella was first out of college, the two of them chatted on occasion. I can’t recall who or how that connection came to be, but each spoke highly and appreciatively of the othe ...

As we prepare to don our thinking caps for the coming holiday season, I thought I'd share a few recent wins I've had on the gift-giving front. Perhaps it may help any with a blank space or two in their gifting spreadsheet this season (I mean, you do have a gifting spreadsheet, right?).

THE CHALLENGE
Many would agree that finding gifts, let alone inspired gifts, is one of the most chal...

My first-ever girlfriend was Anna Smith. She moved to Fort Collins from Nebraska in the middle of ninth grade. I had two classes with her, and we found it easy to talk with one another right away. I don't recall how long it was before our multi-hour phone calls began but each ended by one of our parents picking up another phone in the house and saying they thought we had talked long enough. ...

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. Gotta

I have a friend, Justin, whose wife, Heather, wanted to write a book. Now, sure, lots of people want to write a book, but Heather wanted to so much that she actually did write a book. After writing it, she sent it to a load of publishers, all of which, in return, sent her their boilerplated rejection letter.

Justin wanted to help, but Justin has no experience with writing or publishing bo...

Marty recounted a story from when she was twelve to Tony and I. She went to a lake house with a cousin of hers. While there she and her cousin, who was also a super-cute girl, ran into some boys also visiting the area. One of the boys became very interested in Marty. In the retelling of the story Marty said the boys first and last name, a name she has remembered all of these years given the awkwar...

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. Spelling-Challenged

Before the start of his senior year, Tony decided he was going to produce a weekly "zine" that would aim to present stories the more conventional channels were missing. If you've never heard of a zine, it is simply a non-commercial magazine that is often homemade. His interest here emanates from a few sentiments, but one is he doesn't feel the school-sanctioned outlets are encouraged to present a ...

Below is one of my favorite book openings. I’m posting it now as it relates, albeit loosely, to Halloween (I know this is a June gallery entry—but it is being posted in October).

There are some who might think a book written about checklists was specifically (and only) written for me, and I was for-sure plenty geeked to put hands on it, but then to have it start with a memorable stor...

For a few reasons, my 5-part essay on aging, which was scheduled to be shared this week, is not finished. Apologies. This doesn’t mean there will be no new content this week, just not the content I originally said there would be. Instead of the essay, this will be just another week of standard posts.

As punishment, let me share this not-too-flattering-for-troy troyscript I’ve been sitting on for awhile now.

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. take your best shot

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. Haters

For his Fall 2023 semester, Alex took advantage of a study-abroad program and spent the term in the Netherlands. Aside from him letting us know he successfully arrived at his destination, Leiden, we didn’t hear a whole lot from him for the first month. Then he sent an email saying that he had a problem—the university asked him if he would move out of his single room into a shared room so a new ...

I've eaten at Chick-fil-A maybe a dozen times, usually while traveling, which means I typically go to different places. Regardless of what part of the country I'm in, I'm always met with a smile at the counter, served in moments, given food that resembles the picture on the wall, and while I ate, was repeatedly asked if I wanted my sweet tea (!!!) refilled, also with a smile. And that is in the lo...

Anthony starts his senior year of high school this week. For college, presently, it is looking like he might be attending Mizzou to study Journalism. Given this interest Marty, Anfer and I visited the school on their summer visit day. It was a fun day that began at day-break when we had to set out on the two hour drive to the school. We enjoyed seeing the campus and hearing the various schools and...

a new TROYSCRIPT was posted today. Mystery Solved