I worked extremely hard this weekend for nothing. The weather in Kansas City this winter has been extremely severe. There are several inches of snow on the ground, nightly lows below zero and we haven’t seen 32 degrees since Christmas Eve. I’ve probably shoveled our driveway ten times already and the forecast is calling for [...]

I spent almost two years of my life completely addicted to something. Virtually every day and sometimes more than once a day I would seek and get my fix. Like any junkie, any stressful event would force me to be an abuser. I used first thing every morning and I can even remember leaving work [...]

I have a strange habit of driving home from work a different way every night. I’m not much of a Robert Frost fan, but somehow I always seem to take the road less traveled. When you live in a city, this habit can occasionally be dangerous. (If they offer to sell you drugs, just buy [...]

“Hey, Keith, it’s Joe!” I have 11 different Joe’s saved currently to my contact list, but I knew exactly which one was calling me. This particular Joe’s name is Joe Hardy, and he is the 87-year-old founder of 84 Lumber Co. He wasn’t calling to talk about inventory or sales or anything that even remotely [...]

My wife is a high school guidance counselor, and last month, I got the opportunity to go to the prom. Okay, the truth is I was required to go, but I actually kind of enjoyed myself. My wife wore a nice new dress that somehow saved me almost 50 bucks because she bought it on [...]

Mother’s Day is just around the corner. I hope that everyone who reads this article will reach out to their mother this year. When I was a kid, my mom did everything around the house. These days, most of us men get shamed into at least a little bit of housework, but that wasn’t so [...]

I have no mechanical ability whatsoever. I don’t really understand why, but for some reason I am unable to perform even the simplest of automotive tasks. Anything that requires me to raise the hood on a vehicle makes my pulse rate quicken just little bit. I am, simply put, an automotive idiot. This fact, however, [...]

Back when my wife and I first started dating, I called her and asked her out for a date on a Friday night. To my surprise, she turned me down and told me that she had other plans. “Other plans? What kind of other plans?” (My ego couldn’t stand being turned down, so I was [...]

In 1995 after I got out of the Army, I spent about six months of my life as a car salesman. At the time I really didn’t have a care in the world. I had only a small apartment with no wife, no kids (I had plenty of money) and I played golf almost every [...]

My wife had a birthday this past weekend. Ordinarily, this fact would come and go on an annual basis without incident. A couple of presents, a nice dinner, a card with a few phrases, such as “you complete me” or “our eternal love” or my favorite “I would be lost without you,” and we go [...]